Playing it Hardcore: The Adventures of Selangor [No-Reload, SCS, Solo, Insane]
Bynary_Fission
Member Posts: 202
The last session concluded on May 28th. Thanks so much for watching and following everybody!
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Having played through this amazing trilogy countless times since 2002, I crave more of a challenge going through the series again. First it was a no-death challenge (something I did on here a few years ago). Then it was a no-reload challenge. Then it was a no-reload challenge on Insane. But it's not enough. Now, I am going to attempt to do something I'm not 100% sure is even possible for me: playing through the whole trilogy solo, without reloading, on Insane, with SCS installed.
I've actually managed to do it through BG1 three times, each with a different character. But in each of those times, my character was never quite "right". Furthermore, I never properly documented the process, something I intend to change the second time around. Will I successfully do it? I don't know! But what I do know is that I have my heart set out on driving a blade through Amelissan's skull at the end of all this.
These are the parameters I am going by:
-I am playing as a Gnome Fighter/Illusionist
-The game runs at 60 fps
-The XP cap has been removed, and I will max my HP at every available level (this is really necessary for this type of run).
-99.99% solo, exceptions will only be made in a tiny number of very specific instances (e.g Shoal).
-I will try to keep cheese to a minimum.
-Absolutely no RP. Min/maxing and metagaming will be in full effect - this is a technical challenge, and as such all decisions will be made purely in regards to what prolongs my survival.
-Dungeon B Gone has been installed. I'm not proud of it, but I will go as insane as Yakman if I have to play through Chateau Irenicus for the 89742th time.
This is the channel I will be streaming the challenge on: For those of you who do not wish to watch the whole series, I will accompany the streamed sessions with posts detailing the events of each video. The sessions will be saved on my channel if you did not get to see them live, and I will upload them to Youtube permanently once I manage to successfully complete a leg of the trilogy. The videos and streams will also serve as a guide for anybody who wishes to try this challenge for themselves - which quests to complete first, strategies for beating bosses and certain enemies, and the like. I hope to do regular sessions, although they won't necessarily be daily.
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Having played through this amazing trilogy countless times since 2002, I crave more of a challenge going through the series again. First it was a no-death challenge (something I did on here a few years ago). Then it was a no-reload challenge. Then it was a no-reload challenge on Insane. But it's not enough. Now, I am going to attempt to do something I'm not 100% sure is even possible for me: playing through the whole trilogy solo, without reloading, on Insane, with SCS installed.
I've actually managed to do it through BG1 three times, each with a different character. But in each of those times, my character was never quite "right". Furthermore, I never properly documented the process, something I intend to change the second time around. Will I successfully do it? I don't know! But what I do know is that I have my heart set out on driving a blade through Amelissan's skull at the end of all this.
These are the parameters I am going by:
-I am playing as a Gnome Fighter/Illusionist
-The game runs at 60 fps
-The XP cap has been removed, and I will max my HP at every available level (this is really necessary for this type of run).
-99.99% solo, exceptions will only be made in a tiny number of very specific instances (e.g Shoal).
-I will try to keep cheese to a minimum.
-Absolutely no RP. Min/maxing and metagaming will be in full effect - this is a technical challenge, and as such all decisions will be made purely in regards to what prolongs my survival.
-Dungeon B Gone has been installed. I'm not proud of it, but I will go as insane as Yakman if I have to play through Chateau Irenicus for the 89742th time.
This is the channel I will be streaming the challenge on: For those of you who do not wish to watch the whole series, I will accompany the streamed sessions with posts detailing the events of each video. The sessions will be saved on my channel if you did not get to see them live, and I will upload them to Youtube permanently once I manage to successfully complete a leg of the trilogy. The videos and streams will also serve as a guide for anybody who wishes to try this challenge for themselves - which quests to complete first, strategies for beating bosses and certain enemies, and the like. I hope to do regular sessions, although they won't necessarily be daily.
Post edited by Bynary_Fission on
6
Comments
I'm going to stream another session starting at 2pm PST - which is just under four hours from the time of this post. Hope to see you all there!
The next session will take place at 1pm PST tomorrow (May 4th).
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While normally I enjoy writing these from my character's perspective, I'm going to drop any pretense of story narration, and instead focus purely on the technical details: who I killed, where I went, how I survived. It's a bit dry, but very thorough. An important note is that I always start with a Find Familiar spell; the extra six hit points is invaluable in the early phases of the game.
My first order of business involved grabbing Gorion's gear, getting the Ring of Protection and Evermemory, and encountering Brage. While I am playing a fighter/Illusionist, I actually keep the Ankheg armor from Nashkel on for a long time, up until the point where I can cast level 4+ spells. This is especially important in regards to surviving random enemy encounters, which can kill you easily (I'm especially thinking of that lame 10 bandit encounter). I rescue Brage and get his sword, plus 1000 gold and experience. I grab the ankheg armor and set off for Beregost, where I complete the Marl and Firebead quests and sell what gear I can at the Feldepost Inn.
Next came the basilisks. I memorize several Protection from Petrification spells, as Mutamin is fond of using Remove Magic on my character (pro tip: try and stay out of range as much as you can, letting Korax stun him first). I follow a roughly counterclockwise around the map, killing all the other basilisks before engaging Mutamin. A little quirk of my play is that I string Korax along until I'm right next to the basilisks beneath the hostile adventuring party. I've had his self-imposed charm wear off before killing all of the basilisks in past runs, and saving that bit of time by having him walk to them first before going under your command gives you the extra duration you need. Mutamin was stunned quickly, and the battle was won shortly after. My character had about 13,000 XP in each class by the end of it.
My next order of business was to obtain the Girdle of Crushing from Caldo in the southwest corner of the map. This fight didn't present much of a challenge, and I made sure to grab the Gauntlets of Dexterity at the Gnoll Stronghold as well. I sold the gauntlets and used the proceeds to push my reputation up to 18 at the temple adjacent to Beregost. I proceed to do miscellaneous quests around the map to get my last two reputation points up, but I made the mistake of setting my reputation gain to 1/3 of its normal level when installing SCS...and it took doing most of what was available to get the necessary points. Not that this was a bad thing; I got a decent sum of experience for doing so.
Once I obtained a reputation of 20, I made my way up to Ulgoth's Beard and purchased the Greenstone Amulet and the Cloak of Displacement. The Greenstone Amulet in particular is absolutely critical to making it through a no-reload SCS run - it renders you immune to most game-ending status effects. I kill some the ankhegs on the farm and return Brun's son to get the Wand of Fire. I proceeded to return to the basilisk area and kill the adventuring party with it; the Wand of Fire in conjunction with the Greenstone Amulet made the fight easy. I grab the Girdle of Slashing and keep it with me at all times. I also proceed to grab the Gauntlets of Weapon Specialization and the Long Sword +2 now that I have it.
Next come the sirines. This is a fairly easy encounter as I always grab the Potion of Clarity from Candlekeep and save it for this very scenario. Killing them was an easy order of business, so next came the Flesh Golems. The Girdle of Crushing, Mirror Image and the Greenstone Amulet make this an easy quest, although the Flesh Golem's capacity to hit for nearly 40 damage still make them a very dangerous foe. The Tome of Constitution and the Wand of Paralyzation are two absolute must-gets. I head out and grab the Golden Pantaloons at the Friendly Arm Inn, making sure to trigger Dorn's initial encounter for his +1 Wakizashi. I don't add him into my party, naturally. By this point, I have enough money to sell and buy back the Wand of Paralyzation and the Greenstone Amulet, and I waste no time doing so. I finish off the rest of the ankhegs for a bit of extra experience before heading off.
Next came the Mage Island. I used the Protection from Magic Scroll found in the same southeast area where the Ring of Fire Resistance is found, coupled with a fully charged Wand of Paralyzation (100 charges!). That nasty -4 penalty to saves really comes in handy, even for the high-level mages with good saves (side note: I've even managed to paralyze Sarevok with one). The biggest danger to my character was from Melf's Minute Meteors - that +5 THACO bonus and high APR meant I was taking a lot of hits in rapid succession, despite having ankheg armor on. Killing the wolves, bears and ankhegs wasn't an issue, and most of the mages fell quickly to my mighty wand. By an incredible stroke of luck, Tellan walked towards me rather than cast spells following our short conversation. My wand paralyzed him on the first try, drastically shortening what is normally the longest fight of any of the mages.
Finally, Durlag's Tower: the cursed tor itself. Prior to entering, I drink a Potion of Mind Focusing I found on a doppelganger corpse and copy a bunch of level 3 and 4 spells down, including Stoneskin. I actually managed to fail copying Minor Spell Deflection despite having a 98% chance of success. Killing the Battle Horrors wasn't too difficult given that I had ankheg armor plus the Golden Girdle. I needed 15+ rolls to hit, but it was a damn sight better than the 20s they needed. I killed all three (leaving the doom guard behind), progressing straight to the third floor, killing all the ghouls along the way. I made sure to keep my Greenstone Amulet active at all times, and I went to grab the Tome of Wisdom before heading out to kill the basilisks and grabbing the +2 scimitar. This time, I made sure to bring a potion of Fire Resistance along!
Finally, I proceed to the basement. Given that I am not a thief, it is absolutely essential to remain immune to fire and electricity here, as the vast majority of traps inflict these two types of damage. With Protection from fire cast and a Potion of Absorption quaffed, I proceeded to kill what enemies I could, safely avoiding damage from the myriad of fire and electricity damage traps. Killing the Greater Doppelgangers was a snap, as were the spiders. The Flesh Golems presented little challenge with my potion quaffed, but the Skeleton Warriors were a bit more dangerous. I made sure to cast Stoneskin and Mirror Image before putting my armor on and killing them. Despite the protection offered from these spells, I still had to drink several Potions of Healing.
...and that's where my session left off! I'm almost done with all the side stuff, once I finish clearing out the first level of Durlag's I intend to start polishing off the main storyline. I will show you how to tank Drizzt later on - he can indeed be killed without cheese in a relatively safe manner. The time of next stream is on the top of the OP, hope to see more viewers next time!
A more complete synopsis will be written up later, and I will begin streaming again at 4pm PST today (about two and a half hours from now)
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I had a slight setback. While testing a few things out in my streaming software in a different save, I mindlessly pressed the 'quicksave' key and saved over my progress. Thankfully I had an autosave, but at the start of the tower. Regaining my progress took ten minutes at most, thankfully. Because I cannot disarm traps, I drank a Potion of Absorption and cast Protection from Fire, allowing me to absorb the vast majority of traps with ease.
Next came Shoal and Droth. This is the one point in the game where I have to bend the "solo" qualifier, only because getting the Helm of Defense is impossible without a pawn (sorry, willing companion) to be killed by Shoal. I made quick work of her, but strangely I could not kick Imoen from the party when Shoal supposedly resurrected her. I had to save my game and edit her state in EEKeeper before I could properly remove her. That wasn't the worst part - I forgot to put back on my Ankheg armor when I fought Droth, and he busted through my stoneskins and mirror images so quickly I nearly died. I also saved against a charm spell he threw out. That almost ended very badly.
Now for the main plot! Clearing out the Nashkel mines isn't much of a chore; it's more an exercise in patience than it is difficult. Killing kobalds is easy enough, Stoneskin and Mirror Image help me avoid their many arrows and the traps that lie in wait. The menagerie of kobands at the end of the third area proved to be no challenge, my greenstone amulet ensured that the Horror spell thrown out would be for naught. Mulahey was laughably easy - my Wand of Fire blasted his skeleton and kobald minions out of existence, and my Minor Globe of Invulnerability negated his ability to cast spells at me.
The bandit camp. This challenge is significantly changed in SCS, such that old tactics and techniques will not provide a smooth victory as before. There are two main ways to do it: the smart way (with stealth), or the dumb way. I like a challenge, so guess what road I took? I re-charged my Wand of Fire for a king's ransom of 23,100 gold, giving me 50 charges of each ability. My method involves putting on the Senses of the Cat and casting Aganazzar's Scorcher from the wand and fanning it into the dozens of enemies that face you. The only concern was the mage, who seemed to repeatedly slow me despite my Save v. Spell of 3. After killing a bunch of enemies, I fled to sleep, and returned to finish the rest of them off. Minor Globe of Invulnerability made taking the mage out easy, and everybody else crumbled thereafter. On to the Cloakwood.
I generally try to do the side quests in the Cloakwood, given that there is the potential for a significant amount of experience. Killing the druids who attack Aldeth aren't too difficult, but the wildcard is the Insect Plague the main guy casts - it's a level 5 spell that bypasses my Minor Globe of Invulnerability. I made short work of them, but I did get feared a couple of times from the spell. Oh well. It was worth the 6,360 experience. Killing Centeol and her arachnids was easy with the Wand of Fire. Coupled with a Potion of Freedom I had no problem making it to the mines.
The battle at the mines worried me. I've lost several no-reload runs here, so I made sure to play it safe. I kited Drasus out and took him out after buffing. For the other three, I used the Wand of Fire and a spell of Cloudkill to weaken them and interrupt their spellcasting. I made sure to keep a Minor Globe of Invulnerability up as well as my Greenstome amulet active, as to avoid any spells that might end my run. Getting to Davaeorn wasn't too difficult, although the mage on level 2 posed a significant problem. She got stupidly lucky with her saves against my Wand of Paralyzation, saving against nearly ten charges. I had to keep my Greenstone Amulet active at all times to save against her seemingly endless barrage of enchantment spells. Davaeorn was a *lot* easier - thank you Protection from Magic! I have a lot less to say about him, since he could do naught but run away in vain.
Finally, Baldur's Gate...and Drizzt. I went to grab the Helm of Balduran, the Ring of Protection +2 and the Cloak of Balduran (some through legally questionable means). I stocked up on potions and ran to kill Drizzt. I managed to push my AC against slashing weapons down to -20. I could have been lower had I remembered to cast Improved Invisibility, but it didn't matter - he needed natural 20s to hit (surprisingly) while all my spells were active. I never even took a point of damage.
And that's everything of note that happened. I will be streaming again at 4pm PST - about 10 minutes from now. My stream is in the OP, or you can go to my channel and post questions and comments if you so wish - I make sure to answer them as I play. Hope to see you all there!
Carving through the rest of the enemy hordes presented little threat. Slythe and Krystin were easily routed with solid defenses and my good 'ol Wand of Paralyzation. Protecting the Dukes was easy - just had to place a few summoned animals in the way of the dukes and make sure I was hasted good. Sarevok couldn't kill me amidst my iron-class defenses and super-low AC - he was faced with no choice but to flee like a coward. As for the the final battle itself...well, you'll have to watch the video to see how it went! (actually no, the video had some issues during streaming...I may have to re-enact it for Twitch). But let's just say, Sarevok is gonna have nightmares about the Wand of Paralyzation.
Unfortunately, I don't think anybody was there to witness the final battle in the stream. No worries, though - I re-did it for Twitch, and the final battle (part 5) is in my Highlights window.
My next stream will be at 2pm PST on May 5th. Hope to see you all there!
Thank Helm for the Dungeon B Gone mod. I used to enjoy gallanting through Irenicus's dungeon, but 12 years of doing the same stuff over and over and over and over and over just loses its luster after a while. I break free and head immediately for the circus tent. Beating Kalah was a straightforward enough affair, even on SCS it is an easy fight. I sell my stuff and head to Gaelan Bayle - I'm not even going to think about trying to kill Mencar Pebblecrusher's party for a while.
My next order of business is to clear out the slaver compound. Again, an easy enough affair. Minor Globe of Invulnerability protects me against the barrage of hold spells that the kobold and hobgoblin shamans like to cast, and I can just walk below the door that has the Flesh to Stone trap. Taking out the rest of the group in the ship was easy enough, just pack on enough stoneskins, mirror images and Minor Globes of Invulnerabilities and they can't hurt you. And of course, throwing out a few Chaos spells doesn't hurt either.
Next came Trademeet. Solving the Dao Djinn problem is very easy - they cast just one Flesh to Stone, which Minor Spell Deflection negates. I summed a few minions to distract from their fire while I threw out a few Chaos spells and wore down their Stoneskin spells. The Shield of Harmony I got is a critical aspect of being able to play through the game without getting a game over from Enchantment spells - Vampiric Domination and Hold from various forms of undead are two game enders that the shield complete protects against.
I also tried to complete the Druid Grove quest, but guess what? SCS nerfs Cernd to the point where he loses more often than he wins. Because Cernd is incapable of rolling above a 9, he fell to Faldorn, who managed to roll multiple critical hits that Cernd was incapable of managing. Figures. She can't be killed without using cheesy tactics (like Mindflayer form + Time Stop), so that's out of the question. On top of that, I had an extremely close call fighting the three shadow Druids outside the enterance. Insect Plague and Call Lightning reduced me to a mere 7 hit points, and this was with my character chugging Potions of Extra Healing as fast as I could manage!
I also did a smattering of other quests - some of Firkragg, some of Aran's quests, some of Watcher's Keep, but nothing all the way through. Getting enough experience to cut through my enemies like butter is kind of tough, and not being able to complete the Druid Grove quest has been an especially harsh blow as I need that 10.5k gold a lot, as well as the Improved Haste and Protection from Magical Weapons that is sold there. I'm currently in De'Arnise Keep, where I obtained the Flail of Ages. Hallelujah! Once I get the Defender of Easthaven as my offhand weapon, I should be set for the rest of the game, really.
...and that's everything in a nutshell. Tomorrow's session will take place at noon PST (May 6th). Hope to see you all there!
The next streaming session will be at noon PST on May 7th. Hope to see you all there!
So yeah, my run ended - with Bodhi. Specifically, her Drink Blood ability. I have no idea how to stop it, and she does it so fast I die without even getting her past "Barely Injured". A Google search so far has yielded nothing...
Quite the pickle. Also, I think I'll stream at the same time (noon) tomorrow (May 8th). I'd like to see if I can find a solution to the issue; worst case scenario I just re-install SCS without the Improved Bodhi component.
I'll probably go back and re-install the improved bosses if I play with a party in the future, though.
So a strange thing happened. Before I write a synopsis up, I'm wondering if anybody can help answer a question. At the very end of the session (just past the 3 hour mark), my character is sitting on the steps below Valygar's house, summoning some creatures. My character casts Haste...and I disappear; the game says I died as a result. If it helps at all, I had just cleared out the cave with the mimic and umber hulks in Umar Hills, although I was at full health and still heavily buffed when it happened. I'm thinking I'm not going to count it, something that kills me inside as a no-reload purist. It's all in the last four minutes of the broadcast, if anybody wants to take a look. I went over it and didn't see any kind of a status condition that might have caused it, but I'd like to make sure that it was a genuine glitch before I decide to discount it.
"Uh.... What?... just happened...
Uh... What?
...I don't think I even died from anything."
To answer the question, I see no possible explanation for a death. You seem to have been casting Haste while under the effects of MGOI--that shouldn't have had any effect at all, much less instant death. Nor is wild magic a possibility, since you're not a wild mage. Nor does anything in that area have any instant death effects of any kind. Not in vanilla, not in SCS2, and I can only assume not in EE.
No, it doesn't count. I do not think your character died legitimately.
I'm glad to see a fellow no-reloader agree - it makes me feel better about discounting it. I'll have a written synopsis of the session up shortly, once I finish having dinner.
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This is attempt #3 for Selangor - the first run ended when I rolled a critical failure (1) against Tanova's vampiric domination, and the second run ended when Bodhi spammed Drink Blood to the point that I died in seconds (I uninstalled that component - it's basically unblockable as far as I know). This run is going better, but there were a few close calls with bandits and the battle beneath De'Arnise Keep. Let's delve in.
Upon emerging from Le Chateau Irenicus, I was so eager to begin that I forgot to sell my gear at the Adventure Mart. Duh. I made up for it by erasing and re-copying some spells from the compound, a compromise that I do not mind as it provided some 11K worth of experience. Kalah fell within seconds to the fury of my blades...er blade, I only had a single long sword. But it doesn't matter - he died fast. I rested until nighttime to loot the spell scrolls from the hapless Shadow Thieves who were killed by Hareishan. Contingency, yum.
Next involved completing the Slaver Quest. Making sure not to use Sunfire in the room with Hendak (I once hit him and couldn't trigger any of his quest-ending dialogue), I cast Minor Globe of Invulnerability and took down the guards quickly. I swiftly moved to kill the Beastmaster before my buffs wore off. A Chaos and a few Sunfires made short work of him and his beasts. The sewers presented little problem - Minor Globe of Invulnerability rendered the hobgoblins and kobalds helpless, ditto with Captain Heagan's wizards and clerics. It feels nice to do good deeds - the corresponding reputation increase makes buying goods cheaper if you do it enough.
Next came Trademeet. Given the absence of Free Action and Chaotic Commands, the Shield of Harmony is my one and only line of defense against the myriad of game-ending enchantment spells and attacks. Without it, fighting Vampires, Shadow Fiends and all kinds of mages would be suicidal. Even with my amazing gnomish saves I will roll a 1 sooner or later, as my first death demonstrated. Killing the Dao Djinn was simple enough, even if it necessitated making a trip to the Graveyard to pick up a scroll of Minor Spell Turning to guard against their Flesh to Stone spells. Taquee (the genie on the outside of the Dao Djinn tent) cast one at me too, something I thought only Khan Zahraa could do. I made a healthy save, so no matter. With Kithixx serving as a distraction, I wore down their Stoneskins quickly. The reward in relation to the effort required makes this one of the most lucrative quests in the game, and one that can be completed very early.
Next, the Druid grove. Killing Spirit Trolls isn't as much as a pain as it was when I was not used to their tactics. With infinite Unholy Blights and Flame Strikes at their disposal, my first act is to cast the very long lasting Protection from Fire (1 turn/level!), and I keep several Minor Globes of Invulnerability on hand. Getting to Faldorn wasn't difficult, as Haste and DUHM allowed me to take down the trolls quickly, with a Sunfire or Fireball to serve as the finisher. The three druids outside the druid's lair concerned me, as they have killed me in the past. I summon some minions to serve as bait and cast SI: Conjuration to ward against Insect Plague. I cast Magic Missile at the spellcasters to interrupt their spells, and they flounder at the onslaught of my now-5 attacks per round (thank you Belm!). Naturally, Faldorn wipes the floor with Cernd, as SCS apparently decided to make the quest nearly impossible to complete on solo. This means no 45k XP, no 10,500 gold, no good spell scroll merchant near the old Dao Djinn tent...sigh.
I'm getting closer to my ideal set of gear. I decide it's time to do De'Arnise keep, as I'm nearly close enough to reaching 12th level as a fighter, allowing me to put a second pip into flails. The upper floor is easy enough - by now I am well accustomed to killing trolls, even the ones that like to infinitely respawn in various rooms. It's the Yuan-ti mages that scare me. Come to find out, Spell Shield is only sold in the Underdark. I must have gotten it as a lucky drop last game, and so unless I am as lucky this time around, I have no line of defense against the removal spells of the Yuan-ti mages. Damn. Naturally, killing the mage in the south room on the second floor proves to be a difficult task, although I have found that a well-timed Sunfire will usually disrupt their spells, even while invisible. I use this to my advantage to take him out, once the other trolls have been disposed of.
I get the second and third flail heads, and guess what? I level up right as I am ready to assemble the last head - perfect timing! The 3 points of elemental damage pierce stoneskins, a fact that I am more than happy to exploit - it'll be instrumental in taking down mages in the future. I head down to the bottom floor, where I expect a difficult battle. Tor'Gal proves to be a much more difficult foe, given that SCS decides the battle needs multiple Yuan-ti mages and an extra Umber Hulk. I do what I did last game - I bottleneck Tor'Gal in a doorway and wail on him as he unwittingly blocks the others. I time my Sunfires to try and disrupt the spells from the Yuan-ti mages, but it doesn't work from my position - one of the little buggers gets one in and dispels all my protections right as Tor'Gal falls! For some reason, he doesn't die - even while unconscious. My Flail repeatedly hits him for fire and acid damage, but for some reason it isn't working. I summon a genie to try and hit him with a Flame Arrow or Flame Strike, but he isn't able to get a spell in, and the others are spilling into the room. I lost over 3/4 of my health here - I nearly died. I throw up a desperate Stoneskin upon seeing Tor'Gal revive and run back up to me. By some miracle, only a single Spectral Troll follows my non-hasted, fatigued, damaged character. Thank god. He was easily disposed of.
Time for a second try. I rest and re-apply my buffs, taking care to have two Spell Immunities memorized - when the Yuan-ti mages dispel it with Secret Word, I re-apply SI: Abjuration quickly. I go downstairs, and enemies are pouring through the door. About seven trolls and a Yuan-ti mage make it through before I can shut the door, not including Tor'Gal himself. I quickly get completely surrounded behind the table, being attacked by six trolls at once. This looks like it's the end...but it isn't! With DUHM, Ghost Armor and my shield, my AC is down to a crazy low -14. I also have a Girdle of Crushing equipped, and these trolls have to roll 20s to hit my mirror-imaged and stoneskinned character. I proceed to attack quickly, only punctuating my attacks with Sunfires that repeatedly disrupt the Yuan-ti mage's attempts to dispel my protections. I kill all the trolls and the mage, and only Tor'Gal lives. I am too weak to take him on, so I run back upstairs. Finally, I buff a third time and head down to face Tor'Gal himself. Without minions to help him, he quickly falls to my onslaught of attacks. While he resists my elemental damage initially, he eventually falls as he should. I won't even *dare* to try to face the remaining enemies, so I flee and finish the quest.
My next order of business is to do most of Firkraag's dungeon, save for Samia and talking to the big dragon himself (sorry Garren, but I'm not ready for that kind of a mage battle yet!). The most annoying part consisted of killing the SCS-enhanced Vampires, who get a bunch of new abilities they didn't have before. The most annoying one involved transforming into a bat when they were injured. It would have been far worse, except I can still hit them even from a distance. They eventually fall, but it takes two rounds of buffs to kill them all. The Wolfweres were easy enough, as was Tazok. 5 APR + DUHM = well over 100 damage a round. Incidentally, I failed to copy my first spell in the game - Blue Fireshield. I've never gone that long before failing to copy a scroll, so I'm not mad at all.
Finally, I decide to start Umar Hills. I set out to complete the Mimic and Madush quests for some easy XP. Killing the mimic was easy enough, as were the umber hulks. Then, it happened. I summoned some creatures outside of Valygar's house to assist in the battle, and I cast Haste...upon which my character suddenly ceases to exist. There is nobody attacking me, and I have no status conditions that might warrant an instantaneous death. I discuss it more in the posts above, and it basically seems to be one of two things: either I pissed off the gods something fierce, or it was some weird glitch. I am leaning towards the latter (logically heh), and as such I will discount it and continue as if nothing happened - thank god too, I don't want to lose all of my progress so far to a bad Haste spell.
...and that's everything that happened! The next session will begin at the same time tomorrow: noon PST on May 9th. Hope to see everybody there!
First, you said you could roll a 1 and fail a saving throw regardless of what your save was. Is that an EE change? Because in vanilla, you could get immunity to disablers strictly through subzero saving throws (with the exception of Power Word: Stun, which offers no save). Get a save vs. death of -1, and no Finger of Death will every kill you. Get a save vs. spell of -3, and no Chaos will ever affect you. Add another 4 to your saves, and even Greater Malison won't be a problem. I thought only IWD2 had critical save failures.
If there are critical save failures in EE, then you may have to watch out for Spirit Trolls if you come across them again. Depending on your install options, Spirit Trolls can also use Greater Command, which would also spell an instant death if you fail your save (again, I'm basing all this on vanilla experience). It uses the unconsciousness effect, which I don't believe is blocked by the Shield of Harmony. In vanilla, the only two ways to get immunity to the unconsciousness effect are the Troll form of the Cloak of the Sewers and Chaotic Commands (maybe also the Greenstone Amulet, but that's in the Underdark).
As for Faldorn... I normally just hit her with CTRL-Y. Cernd is supposed to be unkillable during that fight--normally he gets an item that prevents him from dying, ensuring his eventual success. It's sort of the canonical end to that fight, which I don't think SCS2 should (or was even designed to) prevent. I don't think such a huge event should hinge on a random chance outside of the player's control. It doesn't feel right that Trademeet should keep suffering just because Cernd didn't get his MINHP1 item. I wouldn't let the quest fail just because Cernd didn't get the same SCS2 buffs that Faldorn did--I would uninstall that part of SCS2 or just kill her with the console, to preserve the vanilla storyline.
Also, Trolls use piercing damage, not crushing, at least in vanilla. The Girdle of Piercing is usually my standard for tanking with Trolls. I'm not sure which makes more sense, though, crushing or piercing or slashing, for Troll attacks.
Congratulations on your progress. Special kudos for trying again after stuff goes wrong. That's always rough.
You are absolutely right about the Spirit Trolls - I make sure to cast Spell Immunity: Enchantment before engaging them (at least when I remember - even with a 95% chance of success I will fail sooner or later). I completely agree with you. SCS didn't give me an option not to install that component, so I basically have to sit there and watch him get hammered by Faldorn's vastly superior THAC0. The thing is, I'm a really strict purist with no-reloads - as unfair as it is for Cernd to lose 80% of the time to Faldorn, I don't like the idea of adjusting the outcome of the game unless there is no other way. Hell, I still feel guilty that I removed the XP cap for the game. I like to see it as yet another roadblock SCS adds to the game - an additional challenge to overcome, not unlike the extra abilities and enemies that like to appear in various encounters and boss battles. However, there is a difference between adding a roadblock that takes skill to overcome and adding a complete luck-based roadblock that the player can't influence in any way. SCS should at least give Cernd a chance, and given that the mod was clearly never designed to be played solo (the "improved" Faldorn is a good example of that), I might actually take your advice on a future run. Ahh, thanks for correcting me - I wasn't 100% sure which type of damage they did, but I figured crushing was a good bet. (also I didn't have any other belts to use haha) Thanks.
But it's not all bad! I restarted and made back my progress even faster than before. And better yet, I slew Firkragg - he didn't put up as much of a fight as I thought he would. I also took semiticgod's advice and CTRL-Y'd Faldorn. I don't feel as bad as I thought I would since it's basically the only way to complete the quest on solo. Also, Improved Haste and PfMW. Sexy. And better yet, it turns out Bernard does indeed sell Spell Shield (but only on SCS) - funny thing is, I only found that out after I had found one as a random drop on a Copper Coronet guard. Still, hooray! A full writeup will be composed very soon.
I will stream again tomorrow at noon PST (May 10th).