That's because the spell Non-Detection is classified as an illusionary protection. Despite it being an abjuration spell. Weird, but that's the game for you. (Oracle and TS have two protection removal effects each, one based on the illusion school and one based on the illusionary protection type.)
Both Oracle and True Sight/True Seeing have their "detect invisibility" effects last, so they'll negate a Non-Detection spell first and then break any invisibility.
Right. The salient point here is that the Cloak of Non-Detection + non-illusionary invisibility will work against True Sight and Oracle, but the spell Non-Detection + non-illusionary invisibility will not. Illusionary invisibility will be dispelled in either case.
Wilton's creature file and dialogue are in the base game, but he's not actually present without a mod. I'm pretty sure it's Unfinished Business that adds him.
Thanks. A plus one protection robe doesn't affect the game much, but the dialogue does make the game a little more interesting.
That's why I like mods. After twenty years playing the game, it's good to have a bit of variation. Even poor mods can help slightly. You soon learn which mods to avoid.
And btw, condolences on the loss of your run, Corey. Do you have any screenshots from the Diyatha battle?
No. I looked at the game text but my death was listed. I assume it was above. There wasn't much to see just the death screen. Like I mentioned all of Diyatha's minions were dead only hive mother left and even she was near death.
Hmm, something strange happened. I got the basilisk ambush, but for the first time the basilisk appeared at the BOTTOM of the screen. Before I could even see the basilisk it had petrified me. Guess I needed the pause on enemy sighted turned on, as otherwise there was no way to avoid it.
No. I looked at the game text but my death was listed. I assume it was above. There wasn't much to see just the death screen. Like I mentioned all of Diyatha's minions were dead only hive mother left and even she was near death.
Noted. I was just curious about the mechanics there. You had said your paladin had a save v spell of 0. My guess is that he succumbed to the Hive Mother Disintegration Ray, which rolls against spells and has a -4 penalty. In the absence of status effects that affect saves, the likes of which would appear on your character's portrait, we could rule out other explanations.
There are three different random encounter areas that can spawn basilisks.
AR5600 (rocks and dirt) spawns a lesser basilisk at (566, 234). For context, the vertical scale of these ambush maps is 960; that's about three quarters of the way to the top.
AR5601 (same terrain as AR5600) spawns a greater basilisk at (641,255). Still near the top edge.
AR5901 (mostly grassy with some scraggly trees) spawns a lesser basilisk at (547, 710). That's the one that got you.
AR5600 pops up on lots of links; basically anything through Ulcaster, Gullykin, Firewine, or the basilisk hub will run the risk of a lesser basilisk ambush through this random encounter area.
AR5601 pops up on exactly one link, from the spider woods to the basilisk zone. That's the only link that can get you a greater basilisk ambush.
AR5901 pops up on four links: Bandit camp to spider woods, spiders to bandit camp, spiders to Peldvale, and basilisks to spiders. That's the only way to have the basilisk spawn right on top of you.
All of these areas choose their spawns based on time of day. Theoretically, you could avoid the spawns with timing. But it's a lot easier to just remember the location. That aggressively placed basilisk only shows up on links to and from the spider zone, and the link to and from Larswood is safe. Any other link through that area, have your mirrored eye potions and stone to flesh scrolls ready.
@jmerry Yes I DID have the mirror eye potions and stone to flesh scrolls handy - but issue was I think I got petrified before the screen even drew itself. Pause on enemy sighted was my only hope in that context. @Alesia_BH I did NOT get the portraits going black, so it wasn't that mysterious death bug. My guess I failed my save on the disintegration ray.
@Alesia_BH I did NOT get the portraits going black, so it wasn't that mysterious death bug. My guess I failed my save on the disintegration ray.
Noted. I just wanted to confirm that Russel hadn't been level drained by the demon knight or the vampire. If he had been it could have been either hive mother disintegration or death ray, If not it was hive mother disintegration.
It's easy to get blindsided by that one. Other beholders have insta kill rays, but they don’t have a save penalty. Hive mother disintegration is more dangerous, sporting a -4 penalty. Since hive mothers are semi-rare, and beholders are common, it's easy to get duped into a false sense of security with respect to the disintegration ray.
@Alesia_BH Russell XXX did NOT engage until we ran out of summons - by that point Diyatha and all her minions were dead except for the Hive Mother. So the other enemy characters never had a chance to attack Russell XXX.
Because I want to make faster progress, I rolled a solo character (Coremage XXVI). I decided too I need to learn the magic system better in order to have more success in EE. So what better way then a half-elf cleric/mage which doesn't have melee power and am I am forced to use my spells if I want success. A key purchase was the sleep wand, I learned of the use from this long time ago from @Alesia_BH 's runs on the BioWare forums. It's been invaluable. I am a level 6 cleric/5 mage. I intentionally didn't choose illusionist because I want the option of skull traps. In Chapter two right now, but soon will work on the main quest.
If you're looking for some tips on the cleric side, from a concurrent run, I have a priest of Talos going at TavernRPG right now. She's in early-mid SoA, approaching level 15. It's an SCS insane run, but most of the ideas will translate to vanilla.
Coremage XXVI is at his level cap, so it's upgrades and main quest from hereonin. Although I think I have the equipment I want, so might just be a few tomes in the City of Baldur's Gate. I think I am playing better than usual as I am not a melee power-house so I am setting up my attacks up, which means I rarely give my opponents a chance to damage me. Here he is crushing the enemies in Tazok's Tent:
NOTE: Ajantis is in the party as he was sacrificed so I could get the gift of peace helm - I actually like this helm more than the helm of Balduran. Imoen died right after Candlekeep, she saved Coreemage from a wolf. Coremage actually ran away he didn't like his chances. Their portraits are kept to remind me of their contribution.
Coremage XXVI the half-elf cleric/mage - FINAL Update!
Coremage had done really good this entire run - until he wasn't. He had made it to the fight with Sarevok, and had the proper buffs, including potion of magic shielding - problem though? I didn't notice that Semaj had dispelled my potion of magic shielding - then a simple domination ended my game. Situations like this is why playing elves or humans are so hard...
Trio 51 Update - Ust Natha quests, Bodhi, Suldanesslar, Irenicus Tree of Life Fight
Corecleric XX - halfling priest of Lothander, protagaonist (Corey_Russell)
Mirazi - human mage (Grond0)
Betson - human dark moon monk (Gate70)
The party made tremendous progress this session. Some party member deaths, but nothing Corecleric couldn't put back together. First order of business was starting the Ust Natha quests so we did in order:
1) Talked to the Silver Dragon to start the quest
2) Killed a beholder quickly
3) Instilled some fear in some sverfbiliin
4) Rescued Phaere - luckily Mirazi got off a death spell, could have been bad otherwise.
5) We let Soulafein live
6) We switched eggs for Phaere, not telling her we also switched her eggs we gave her.
7) Phare and her mother get killed by the demon, the party runs out of there.
We did some battles during the exit, then we ran out to talk to Elhan. We then had some unfinished business in the sewers, some "hidden" needed to be dealt with. This went pretty well with Mirazi spells and Coreclerics summons plus Betson's very powerful melee power. We then forged the Crom Faeyr for Corecleric. Corecleric normally dual-wields that weapon and the Easthaven flail.
We then did Bodhi. Corecleric recruited thieves for traps, but Grond0 said he doesn't like getting help because they take their experience. But Corecleric can pop undead even vampires, is this really a problem? As it turned out yet it was as Arkanis got the kill shot on Bodhi and we lost 90,000 experience! Oops...We still got levels from staking Bodhi and Corecleric even got a nice reward from his god with a nice ring that boosts his high level spells.
We tried to get to the Underdark exit but in the adventurer ambush (I couldn't turn them away due to Corecleric's poor CHA) Mirazi got his with a triple melf's acid arrows and died quickly. But Corecleric had a raise dead and complete heal available so Mirazi was back in business.
We then headed for Suldanesslar. With Corecleric's summons and Corecleric's and Betson's melee the battles here went pretty well. Even the dark dragon guarding the goblet died fairly quickly. The only thing left was go to the Temple to open the gates to the Tree of Life. Betson did the turn in, but somehow got killed before the God could wipe out the enemies here. Was surprising due to Betson's 83% magic resistance. So Corecleric resurrected him.
Finally we get to the Tree of life. A few buffs were done. Mirazi said just put a skeleton warrior by Irenicus and he won't have to buff much. In actuality? Irenicus switched targets, did a spellstrike on Mirazi plus a bunch of nasty spells on her and she died. Corecleric had to engage Irenicus directly. However, with his armor of faith he had tremendous resistance so didn't take too much damage.
However at one point Irenicus was near death and Corey_Russell paused - do we need to loot Mirazi's equipment before going to hell? We couldn't remember if dying in hell lost equipment or here. Just in case, Corecleric looted all of Mirazi's equipment and sure enough the bullet that was mid-air killed Irenicus.
While Corecleric gave Mirazi her things, she will need to equip next session as we ran out of time here.
Just FYI. Decided to try Coremage XXVI again from a starting save, I like the idea of the PC character being a cleric/mage. But instead he will have party. Intending party of Shar-Teel, Montaron, Kagain, Xzar and Imoen. We are still in the early stages (most of us are still level 1).
The party continues to make progress. We are working on upgrades and we are about level 3. Powerful melees still give us lots of trouble. We had a very chaotic battle with the Flinds near high hedge, they were surprisingly tough.
I don't know what went wrong with my last game. I'm hoping that it was just one corrupted file. Trying a new game and we'll see if that is so or if I need to re-install.
A Dwarven Cleric/Ranger. I could never understand some of the restrictions concerning race and class, so I am pleased that a mod has removed them. In my portrait I am standing on a dragon/wyrm so it made sense to have dragons as my racial enemy. Upon doing so I was given the extra name Wyrmslayer which I hope is prophetic.
As can be seen from the portrait I am a follower of Helm. I do wish that multi-class clerics could choose the kit of their chosen deity. She had quite a good roll which will enable her to get a charisma of 18 before SoD. All the important stats are maximised, only intelligence being on the low side.
Being lawful I accepted the due penalties when caught opening chests: firstly a fine and then a whipping. However I refused to participate in a kinky session with the second guard. I'm not that kind of girl!
I dis however give Alec a goodbye kiss. That seemed appropriate.
I killed the three assassins quite easilly using Command.
Camryn gave me the present of a bookbag which could prove to be useful.
And my reputation increased upon helping Sir Trun with his emotional difficulties.
The portal keeper wouldn't allow me re-entry to Candlekeep, but did give me 100gp which could prove helpful.
I equipped Imoen with extra equipment prior to saying farewell. She could need that equipment more than I do.
I have now reached High Hedge without being ambushed.
There I was able to help Melicamp.
Upon going to Beregost I calmed Marl and took a tome to Firebead.
Heading south I found a letter on the body of an ogrillon. I delivered the letter to Mirianne and received a ring as a reward.
In the same area I returned Kessey's rabbit to her.
Heading further south I found the Colquetle amulet, and Lord Foreshadow gave me another ring which raises my charisma.
In Nashkel I found some ankheg armour, talked with Noober, and turned down a reward from Oublek that I didn't deserve.
At the Carnival I took on Zordral. The result was touch and go. I did howeveer prevail though I used many healing potions in the process.
I then went to Beregost where I gave the Colquetle Amulet to the family.
Nearby I killed Silke and Karlat.
I was then able to restore Eltoth and Tonder.
I headed north, returned Joia's ring to her and killed Tarnesh.
To the north we were able to help Farmer Brun and in the process earned a lot of gold.
Coremage XXVI part 2 the half-elf cleric/mage update
Traveling with Shar-Teel, Kagain, Montaron, Xzar, Imoen
This run has been really smooth. In particular, I have been noticing how helpful it is to have two thieves in the party. Montaron has almost all his skill at stealth/hiding (he eventually go to 100/100 in those). He would tend to scout ahead, then Xzar and Coremage would inflict arcane pain such as webs, stinking clouds, skull traps and fireballs. This strategy has been working really well. Below is an example against Sendai and her archer buddies:
Near the end, Xzar became a very powerful level 8 mage, he has so many spells. He can't take a hit, he only had 23 HP. Was surprised he managed to avoid getting chunked. He did manage to die often though, at least a dozen times. The end game was pretty smooth except against Prat - Coremage got spotted and ran. His party rushed to help, but they were unbuffed and got hit with chaos. Coremage spammed summons to try to distract the enemies, but still two party members died. Took forever to loot everything. But we eventually made it out of the crypts.
Coremage had 5 skeletons buffed with bless, chant and haste, his 3 fighters had frost giant potions and the dopplegangers were even slowed. They had no chance, and even both dukes survived. No problems in maze. For Undercity Iron Throne party, Montaron scouted ahead and directed summons to attack. Then Montaron tried to backstab, run away and repeat. This only partially worked, eventually the party needed to help.
Finally time for the main event! I had used invis 10' radius, the idea was for a heavily buffed Montaron protected by protection from magic scroll to try to solo Sarevok. This failed, because it was too hard and dangerous with Sarevok hasted. Also, Semaj was stand in the worst places, making it hard for Montaron to hide. Eventually Imoen dispelled Sarevok and Semaj but she paid with her life. Semaj was still alive, so sent Kagain to finish Semaj off, but Kagain died as well. Shar-Teel finally rushed Sarevok so Montaron could get some backstabs in. This still wasn't enough, so Xzar put in some summons - then Sarevok died. Not sure if summons got him or maybe a skull trap from the center trap might have killed him.
Regardless, on to Amn Coremage goes! Not sure who to put in the parry.
@Wise_Grimwald Thanks! Ranger/clerics are a cool class, but when I try that class I always get some kind of disaster....
Wanda has now joined up with Tenya who is now Level 7. She has all her quota of spells, which means that the problems in my last game were just a corrupted save game file. I was concerned that it might have corrupted my entire set-up. It didn't.
@Wise_Grimwald: I think I remember that conversation with the guard in Candlekeep! The Romantic Encounters mod, right? I was very shocked and amused when I saw the dialog there.
@Wise_Grimwald: I think I remember that conversation with the guard in Candlekeep! The Romantic Encounters mod, right? I was very shocked and amused when I saw the dialog there.
It was indeed. With a different character I might have chosen different options. As I roleplay, I try to choose appropriate options for the character that I am playing. My current character wouldn't go for kinks, but another might be a bit more raunchy. I find that the portrait that I use affects the way that I play him/her.
Journal of Wanda
I have joined up with Tenya who is level 7. Since then we have investigated the cave near the Temple of Lathander and wiped out the mixed group of canines to the east.
We headed further east and cleared the area of basilisks and Medusae before killing Mutamin. The asventurers there were also killed before we headed south to Gullykin where we returned Smeagol's Precious before killing more assassins who were led by Molkar.
The archaeologist was then helped on the way to the lighthouse area where numerous sirines were killed and a cave was raided.
Xzar and Montaron joined with me, Montaron choosing to be an expert pick-pocket.
He acquired Algernon's Cloak before pickpocketting those who had an altercation with Silke.
Upon going to Ulgoth's Beard he proved his skill to the utmost. I left him and Xzar there.
I started this run right after finishing with the Avatars, so it's been a while and my memory might be hazy, though I do have a lot of screenshots to go by. The idea, after the grueling completionist run I just had behind me, was to have some fun with a challenge that was bound to be over very quickly one way or the other. This is just a one-time experiment, kind of meant to test some of the design principles of the game (which is one of the reasons this run is played unmodded and on core rules). The core question here:
How far can I get if I only ever follow the critical path - aka the main storyline?
There are some very specific rules for this. I'm basically walking in a straight line from primary objective to primary objective, but I'm not going for the shortest possible approach - there are quite a few storyline skips in BG1 - parts that seem critical and the game tells you to go there, but you never actually have to do it - for example, entering the Iron Throne building and leaving it immediately is enough to "investigate" it, and the FAI, while the game very strongly suggests that you go there, is entirely optional. I'm basically following primary quest dialogue and journal entries in regards to what is part of the "critical path", so I will go to FAI, fully explore the Iron Throne HQ etc.. I am also allowing myself to turn in sidequest items if I inevitably run into them on the critical path - which will be Mirianne's letter, the Colquete family amulet and Josephs's ring. I'm always staying on roads if possible, and I won't talk to random people unless I have a plot critical reason to do so - I can talk to Jaheira and Khalid because the games tells me to, I can talk to people if they start a conversion with me by themselves (such as Marl, or Neera), and I will allow myself to talk to additional NPCs and explore certain places only if my objective is to "investigate" them - for example, I can explore the Nashkel- and Cloakwood Mines and talk to people there, same is true for Bandit Camp, Seven Suns, Sewers, Iron Throne HQ and Candlekeep (upon my return).
Regarding stores, my rule is: I am allowed to return to stores if I have found them organically while following the critical path. In practice, this means that I will never be able to go to High Hedge or Ulgoth's Beard, but propably to the Beregost blacksmith and Sorcerous Sundries. Same is true for inns.
With almost zero sidequests and almost zero exploration, the party will not only be severely underleveled, but also lacking gold all of the time. The question of class choice was an interesting one - Just in the very unlikely case of a success, I wanted to go with a class not yet in the Hall of Heroes. It needed to be a class that's very strong at super low levels and with bad gear - so I ended up selecting a Shapeshifter, as the werewolf form is quite powerful for the first couple of levels (though not exactly strong in terms of defenses).
My Bhaalspawn is called Lada - a true neutral half-elf with 10/18/16/11/18/18 stats. My prediction for this run was: I'd propably make it past the Nashkel Mines, the Bandit Camp will be tough but maybe doable, and the Cloakwood Mines will likely end the run. If I'd make it past those, though, there would be a decent chance to actually finish BG1.
The start was easy enough: Talk to Gorion and leave. Pick up Imoen, don't talk to any strangers, head to FAI. I didn't pick up the Ring of Wizardry, because it was not in my line of sight. Tarnesh suffered a quick death at the claws of a werewolf:
We talk to Jaheira and Khalid, and get our next objective - travel to Nashkel. While in Beregost, I end up organically getting into dialogue with Neera, which I didn't actually expect to happen, but our newly formed party emerged without getting hit:
I took the opportunity to take Neera along for her sleep spell. Wild surges can instantly end the run, but the risk seems worth it at our levels. We move south, picking up the mentioned letter and amulet before entering Nashkel. We talk to the mayor and make our ways to the mines, still at level 1. Our AC could be much better at this point, and some unlucky kobold hits quickly force us to rest for the first time:
Further down, as Imoen tries to disarm some potentially deadly traps, she gets one-hit-killed by an unlucky crit:
Since we need her to disarm further traps, we have no choice but to return to Nashkel and pay for her resurrection (at least it's quite cheap due to our levels). Since we also have to rest, I encounter Neira, who dies to werewolf claws:
The first level up, though it's only Jaheira at this point.
Back in the mines, Lada gets hit and poisoned by a giant spider, and we have to drink a blue healing potion to survive, since we have neither antidotes nor access to second level spells:
Neera really makes all this so much easier - her sleep spell takes down otherwise very, very deadly ranged kobold groups:
Lada really shines when taking down Mulahey, quickly dealing lots of damage, while Neera sleeps the kobolds:
I'm allowing myself to talk to Xan, because this is one of the "investigate" missions. We add him into the party and return, encountering Nimbul on the way. Imoen also levels up. It's a good thing we have these amnian soldiers to help us out, because as of now, we can't do anything against Nimbul's horror - though Lada is unaffected:
We talk down Marl while taking down Tranzig. From the FAI we move east to Peldvale, and while we go east we finally spot the Ring of Wizardry. We also happen to spawn next to Viconia and run into her - this is another forced dialogue, so we replace Neera with Viconia to get access to cleric spells and remove the risk of wild surges. Since we're still at levels 1-2, we don't plan to actually assault the bandit camp, going for the sneaky solution and convincing Raiken that a werewolf would be a very good addition to the Bandit's forces - Tazok is convinced as well:
I actually never ever do this - I looked up the correct dialogue choices, but I have no idea what will actually happen at the camp once I attack the guys in the tent - if everything will go hostile, if there is a timer for when the bandits notice that something's wrong, or if everything will stay neutral outside for the entire time. Well, we have to find out. Remove fear and bless are now available to us, and armor for Xan. This is where we use our first potion: An oil of speed for Lada, who does a great job again, taking full advantage of the early power of her kit:
However, the death of the wizard doesn't turn this encounter into a trivial one: The hobgoblin archer is quite deadly, poisoning both Lada and Jaheira, and we're forced to work with healing spells- and potions to survive the poison effect again - however, we do reach level 2, finally!
We immediately run out of the camp and don't explore it further - we have the information we need, and, as mentioned, I know nothing about the mechanics of the infiltration strategy. On to Cloakwood (meanwhile, we have bought a bunch of +1 weapons from the Beregost smithy, as our lack of exploration and sidequests leaves us with almost no magical weapons otherwise). I am allowing myself to talk to Aldeth, because finding the Iron Mine is kind of an exploration mission and since we run into him anyway, asking for clues is justified. With Jaheira in our party, we end up siding with Seniyad:
Now, things are bound to get interesting. Basically no further battles in Cloakwood until Drasus, except for a few spiders and ettercaps in the spider area (though the experience from the ettercaps is very, very welcome - Imoen, Lada and Viconia make it to level 3! Btw, we don't help Tiber despite being allowed to talk to him, because that's clearly not a justifiable detour). Drasus and his allies are a significant upgrade in difficulty compared to previous encounters. However, despite our low levels, some of our spells can be devastating - as we run away after initiating dialogue, the wizards aren't really active yet, and we manage to charm Genthore with Xan's enchanter bonus while commading Drasus via Viconia's spells:
Now, how do we deal with 2 wizards, both of whom dwarf us in levels? Well, Viconias does have level 3, which means second level spells. The odds are stacked against us, so I have no qualms with cheesy tactics and throw silence 10' radius at them from off-screen:
Well, that worked out for us. And since it's been such a success, Hareishan gets the same treatment:
Here we go - sleep + glitterdust into the room, and let's attack!
A quick rest at level 1 (after A LOT of attempts) and Natasha shares the same fate:
Can you guess how exactly we took down Davaeorn? I'll give you a hint: Once he only has access to his quarterstaff, he isn't very dangerous at all:
Level 4 for some of us! Exploiting silence has really worked out in our favor and trivialized some potentially game-ending encounters here. While travelling to the Gate, we get our first bandit ambush, but at this point, this isn't enough to pose a game-ending threat:
Next time, we shall see how the big city treats this fourth-level party.
We picked up Ajantis, Dynaheir and Alora. No problems at present.
We killed Droth, Shoal and the nearby Sirines and are now where we helped Drizzt. During a rest we were attacked by ogres. Alora was reduced to 1hp but survived.
Comments
Both Oracle and True Sight/True Seeing have their "detect invisibility" effects last, so they'll negate a Non-Detection spell first and then break any invisibility.
Thanks. A plus one protection robe doesn't affect the game much, but the dialogue does make the game a little more interesting.
That's why I like mods. After twenty years playing the game, it's good to have a bit of variation. Even poor mods can help slightly. You soon learn which mods to avoid.
No. I looked at the game text but my death was listed. I assume it was above. There wasn't much to see just the death screen. Like I mentioned all of Diyatha's minions were dead only hive mother left and even she was near death.
Hmm, something strange happened. I got the basilisk ambush, but for the first time the basilisk appeared at the BOTTOM of the screen. Before I could even see the basilisk it had petrified me. Guess I needed the pause on enemy sighted turned on, as otherwise there was no way to avoid it.
Back to the drawing board once more.
Noted. I was just curious about the mechanics there. You had said your paladin had a save v spell of 0. My guess is that he succumbed to the Hive Mother Disintegration Ray, which rolls against spells and has a -4 penalty. In the absence of status effects that affect saves, the likes of which would appear on your character's portrait, we could rule out other explanations.
AR5600 (rocks and dirt) spawns a lesser basilisk at (566, 234). For context, the vertical scale of these ambush maps is 960; that's about three quarters of the way to the top.
AR5601 (same terrain as AR5600) spawns a greater basilisk at (641,255). Still near the top edge.
AR5901 (mostly grassy with some scraggly trees) spawns a lesser basilisk at (547, 710). That's the one that got you.
AR5600 pops up on lots of links; basically anything through Ulcaster, Gullykin, Firewine, or the basilisk hub will run the risk of a lesser basilisk ambush through this random encounter area.
AR5601 pops up on exactly one link, from the spider woods to the basilisk zone. That's the only link that can get you a greater basilisk ambush.
AR5901 pops up on four links: Bandit camp to spider woods, spiders to bandit camp, spiders to Peldvale, and basilisks to spiders. That's the only way to have the basilisk spawn right on top of you.
All of these areas choose their spawns based on time of day. Theoretically, you could avoid the spawns with timing. But it's a lot easier to just remember the location. That aggressively placed basilisk only shows up on links to and from the spider zone, and the link to and from Larswood is safe. Any other link through that area, have your mirrored eye potions and stone to flesh scrolls ready.
@Alesia_BH I did NOT get the portraits going black, so it wasn't that mysterious death bug. My guess I failed my save on the disintegration ray.
Noted. I just wanted to confirm that Russel hadn't been level drained by the demon knight or the vampire. If he had been it could have been either hive mother disintegration or death ray, If not it was hive mother disintegration.
It's easy to get blindsided by that one. Other beholders have insta kill rays, but they don’t have a save penalty. Hive mother disintegration is more dangerous, sporting a -4 penalty. Since hive mothers are semi-rare, and beholders are common, it's easy to get duped into a false sense of security with respect to the disintegration ray.
Best of luck with your next party! Btw, was that Meg Ryan in the second slot?
If you're looking for some tips on the cleric side, from a concurrent run, I have a priest of Talos going at TavernRPG right now. She's in early-mid SoA, approaching level 15. It's an SCS insane run, but most of the ideas will translate to vanilla.
Cheers,
A.
NOTE: Ajantis is in the party as he was sacrificed so I could get the gift of peace helm - I actually like this helm more than the helm of Balduran. Imoen died right after Candlekeep, she saved Coreemage from a wolf. Coremage actually ran away he didn't like his chances. Their portraits are kept to remind me of their contribution.
Coremage had done really good this entire run - until he wasn't. He had made it to the fight with Sarevok, and had the proper buffs, including potion of magic shielding - problem though? I didn't notice that Semaj had dispelled my potion of magic shielding - then a simple domination ended my game. Situations like this is why playing elves or humans are so hard...
Corecleric XX - halfling priest of Lothander, protagaonist (Corey_Russell)
Mirazi - human mage (Grond0)
Betson - human dark moon monk (Gate70)
The party made tremendous progress this session. Some party member deaths, but nothing Corecleric couldn't put back together. First order of business was starting the Ust Natha quests so we did in order:
1) Talked to the Silver Dragon to start the quest
2) Killed a beholder quickly
3) Instilled some fear in some sverfbiliin
4) Rescued Phaere - luckily Mirazi got off a death spell, could have been bad otherwise.
5) We let Soulafein live
6) We switched eggs for Phaere, not telling her we also switched her eggs we gave her.
7) Phare and her mother get killed by the demon, the party runs out of there.
We did some battles during the exit, then we ran out to talk to Elhan. We then had some unfinished business in the sewers, some "hidden" needed to be dealt with. This went pretty well with Mirazi spells and Coreclerics summons plus Betson's very powerful melee power. We then forged the Crom Faeyr for Corecleric. Corecleric normally dual-wields that weapon and the Easthaven flail.
We then did Bodhi. Corecleric recruited thieves for traps, but Grond0 said he doesn't like getting help because they take their experience. But Corecleric can pop undead even vampires, is this really a problem? As it turned out yet it was as Arkanis got the kill shot on Bodhi and we lost 90,000 experience! Oops...We still got levels from staking Bodhi and Corecleric even got a nice reward from his god with a nice ring that boosts his high level spells.
We tried to get to the Underdark exit but in the adventurer ambush (I couldn't turn them away due to Corecleric's poor CHA) Mirazi got his with a triple melf's acid arrows and died quickly. But Corecleric had a raise dead and complete heal available so Mirazi was back in business.
We then headed for Suldanesslar. With Corecleric's summons and Corecleric's and Betson's melee the battles here went pretty well. Even the dark dragon guarding the goblet died fairly quickly. The only thing left was go to the Temple to open the gates to the Tree of Life. Betson did the turn in, but somehow got killed before the God could wipe out the enemies here. Was surprising due to Betson's 83% magic resistance. So Corecleric resurrected him.
Finally we get to the Tree of life. A few buffs were done. Mirazi said just put a skeleton warrior by Irenicus and he won't have to buff much. In actuality? Irenicus switched targets, did a spellstrike on Mirazi plus a bunch of nasty spells on her and she died. Corecleric had to engage Irenicus directly. However, with his armor of faith he had tremendous resistance so didn't take too much damage.
However at one point Irenicus was near death and Corey_Russell paused - do we need to loot Mirazi's equipment before going to hell? We couldn't remember if dying in hell lost equipment or here. Just in case, Corecleric looted all of Mirazi's equipment and sure enough the bullet that was mid-air killed Irenicus.
While Corecleric gave Mirazi her things, she will need to equip next session as we ran out of time here.
Traveling with: Kagain, Shar-Teel, Montaron, Xzar, Imoen
The party continues to make progress. We are working on upgrades and we are about level 3. Powerful melees still give us lots of trouble. We had a very chaotic battle with the Flinds near high hedge, they were surprisingly tough.
I don't know what went wrong with my last game. I'm hoping that it was just one corrupted file. Trying a new game and we'll see if that is so or if I need to re-install.
A Dwarven Cleric/Ranger. I could never understand some of the restrictions concerning race and class, so I am pleased that a mod has removed them. In my portrait I am standing on a dragon/wyrm so it made sense to have dragons as my racial enemy. Upon doing so I was given the extra name Wyrmslayer which I hope is prophetic.
As can be seen from the portrait I am a follower of Helm. I do wish that multi-class clerics could choose the kit of their chosen deity. She had quite a good roll which will enable her to get a charisma of 18 before SoD. All the important stats are maximised, only intelligence being on the low side.
Being lawful I accepted the due penalties when caught opening chests: firstly a fine and then a whipping. However I refused to participate in a kinky session with the second guard. I'm not that kind of girl!
I dis however give Alec a goodbye kiss. That seemed appropriate.
I killed the three assassins quite easilly using Command.
Camryn gave me the present of a bookbag which could prove to be useful.
And my reputation increased upon helping Sir Trun with his emotional difficulties.
The portal keeper wouldn't allow me re-entry to Candlekeep, but did give me 100gp which could prove helpful.
I equipped Imoen with extra equipment prior to saying farewell. She could need that equipment more than I do.
I have now reached High Hedge without being ambushed.
There I was able to help Melicamp.
Upon going to Beregost I calmed Marl and took a tome to Firebead.
Heading south I found a letter on the body of an ogrillon. I delivered the letter to Mirianne and received a ring as a reward.
In the same area I returned Kessey's rabbit to her.
Heading further south I found the Colquetle amulet, and Lord Foreshadow gave me another ring which raises my charisma.
In Nashkel I found some ankheg armour, talked with Noober, and turned down a reward from Oublek that I didn't deserve.
At the Carnival I took on Zordral. The result was touch and go. I did howeveer prevail though I used many healing potions in the process.
I then went to Beregost where I gave the Colquetle Amulet to the family.
Nearby I killed Silke and Karlat.
I was then able to restore Eltoth and Tonder.
I headed north, returned Joia's ring to her and killed Tarnesh.
To the north we were able to help Farmer Brun and in the process earned a lot of gold.
Traveling with Shar-Teel, Kagain, Montaron, Xzar, Imoen
This run has been really smooth. In particular, I have been noticing how helpful it is to have two thieves in the party. Montaron has almost all his skill at stealth/hiding (he eventually go to 100/100 in those). He would tend to scout ahead, then Xzar and Coremage would inflict arcane pain such as webs, stinking clouds, skull traps and fireballs. This strategy has been working really well. Below is an example against Sendai and her archer buddies:
Near the end, Xzar became a very powerful level 8 mage, he has so many spells. He can't take a hit, he only had 23 HP. Was surprised he managed to avoid getting chunked. He did manage to die often though, at least a dozen times. The end game was pretty smooth except against Prat - Coremage got spotted and ran. His party rushed to help, but they were unbuffed and got hit with chaos. Coremage spammed summons to try to distract the enemies, but still two party members died. Took forever to loot everything. But we eventually made it out of the crypts.
Coremage had 5 skeletons buffed with bless, chant and haste, his 3 fighters had frost giant potions and the dopplegangers were even slowed. They had no chance, and even both dukes survived. No problems in maze. For Undercity Iron Throne party, Montaron scouted ahead and directed summons to attack. Then Montaron tried to backstab, run away and repeat. This only partially worked, eventually the party needed to help.
Finally time for the main event! I had used invis 10' radius, the idea was for a heavily buffed Montaron protected by protection from magic scroll to try to solo Sarevok. This failed, because it was too hard and dangerous with Sarevok hasted. Also, Semaj was stand in the worst places, making it hard for Montaron to hide. Eventually Imoen dispelled Sarevok and Semaj but she paid with her life. Semaj was still alive, so sent Kagain to finish Semaj off, but Kagain died as well. Shar-Teel finally rushed Sarevok so Montaron could get some backstabs in. This still wasn't enough, so Xzar put in some summons - then Sarevok died. Not sure if summons got him or maybe a skull trap from the center trap might have killed him.
Regardless, on to Amn Coremage goes! Not sure who to put in the parry.
Wanda has reached level 6 as both a ranger and a cleric.
Wanda has now joined up with Tenya who is now Level 7. She has all her quota of spells, which means that the problems in my last game were just a corrupted save game file. I was concerned that it might have corrupted my entire set-up. It didn't.
It was indeed. With a different character I might have chosen different options. As I roleplay, I try to choose appropriate options for the character that I am playing. My current character wouldn't go for kinks, but another might be a bit more raunchy. I find that the portrait that I use affects the way that I play him/her.
Journal of Wanda
I have joined up with Tenya who is level 7. Since then we have investigated the cave near the Temple of Lathander and wiped out the mixed group of canines to the east.
We headed further east and cleared the area of basilisks and Medusae before killing Mutamin. The asventurers there were also killed before we headed south to Gullykin where we returned Smeagol's Precious before killing more assassins who were led by Molkar.
The archaeologist was then helped on the way to the lighthouse area where numerous sirines were killed and a cave was raided.
Xzar and Montaron joined with me, Montaron choosing to be an expert pick-pocket.
He acquired Algernon's Cloak before pickpocketting those who had an altercation with Silke.
Upon going to Ulgoth's Beard he proved his skill to the utmost. I left him and Xzar there.
I started this run right after finishing with the Avatars, so it's been a while and my memory might be hazy, though I do have a lot of screenshots to go by. The idea, after the grueling completionist run I just had behind me, was to have some fun with a challenge that was bound to be over very quickly one way or the other. This is just a one-time experiment, kind of meant to test some of the design principles of the game (which is one of the reasons this run is played unmodded and on core rules). The core question here:
How far can I get if I only ever follow the critical path - aka the main storyline?
There are some very specific rules for this. I'm basically walking in a straight line from primary objective to primary objective, but I'm not going for the shortest possible approach - there are quite a few storyline skips in BG1 - parts that seem critical and the game tells you to go there, but you never actually have to do it - for example, entering the Iron Throne building and leaving it immediately is enough to "investigate" it, and the FAI, while the game very strongly suggests that you go there, is entirely optional. I'm basically following primary quest dialogue and journal entries in regards to what is part of the "critical path", so I will go to FAI, fully explore the Iron Throne HQ etc.. I am also allowing myself to turn in sidequest items if I inevitably run into them on the critical path - which will be Mirianne's letter, the Colquete family amulet and Josephs's ring. I'm always staying on roads if possible, and I won't talk to random people unless I have a plot critical reason to do so - I can talk to Jaheira and Khalid because the games tells me to, I can talk to people if they start a conversion with me by themselves (such as Marl, or Neera), and I will allow myself to talk to additional NPCs and explore certain places only if my objective is to "investigate" them - for example, I can explore the Nashkel- and Cloakwood Mines and talk to people there, same is true for Bandit Camp, Seven Suns, Sewers, Iron Throne HQ and Candlekeep (upon my return).
Regarding stores, my rule is: I am allowed to return to stores if I have found them organically while following the critical path. In practice, this means that I will never be able to go to High Hedge or Ulgoth's Beard, but propably to the Beregost blacksmith and Sorcerous Sundries. Same is true for inns.
With almost zero sidequests and almost zero exploration, the party will not only be severely underleveled, but also lacking gold all of the time. The question of class choice was an interesting one - Just in the very unlikely case of a success, I wanted to go with a class not yet in the Hall of Heroes. It needed to be a class that's very strong at super low levels and with bad gear - so I ended up selecting a Shapeshifter, as the werewolf form is quite powerful for the first couple of levels (though not exactly strong in terms of defenses).
My Bhaalspawn is called Lada - a true neutral half-elf with 10/18/16/11/18/18 stats. My prediction for this run was: I'd propably make it past the Nashkel Mines, the Bandit Camp will be tough but maybe doable, and the Cloakwood Mines will likely end the run. If I'd make it past those, though, there would be a decent chance to actually finish BG1.
The start was easy enough: Talk to Gorion and leave. Pick up Imoen, don't talk to any strangers, head to FAI. I didn't pick up the Ring of Wizardry, because it was not in my line of sight. Tarnesh suffered a quick death at the claws of a werewolf:
Back in the mines, Lada gets hit and poisoned by a giant spider, and we have to drink a blue healing potion to survive, since we have neither antidotes nor access to second level spells:
We picked up Ajantis, Dynaheir and Alora. No problems at present.
We killed Droth, Shoal and the nearby Sirines and are now where we helped Drizzt. During a rest we were attacked by ogres. Alora was reduced to 1hp but survived.