The concentration check for spell casters piece is definitely something I'm going to need to be more mindful of as any playthroughs continue forward. As alluded to in the above post, Dynaheir got waxed by a lightning bolt from an ogre mage that the rest of the party was beating the hell out of. My first targets are always the spell casters of any attacking party, and in this instance, it is only enemy you have to face. That generally means that my casters are going to pelt the single foe with bullets, seeing as how one enemy is normally no real threat, and spells are valuable. Well, that mindset will have to be no more. Swords not words need not apply anymore...sorry Minsc. It's time to change the tactics up a little bit, and put the sling back in the pocket of any mages.
Brage was saved, half-ogres slain, and several areas along the coast and slightly further inland were cleared up. Drizzt provided some sage advice, and the Chill are known by their rightful name now. It's almost time for the bandit camp push, but a few areas remain to be cleared first.
Edit: Reloads total: 5. 3 due to PC death, 1 due to lightning bolt chunking of Imoen, 1 that will not be mentioned again.
Raises from the dead so far: Imoen twice, Xan once, Dynaheir twice.
We have finished BG1 and transitioned to SoD. The final battle with Sarevok required one reload after Semaj got Brother Todd under Confusion, despite his having drank a Potion of Magic Blocking.
We went to Durlag's Tower, thinking to gather a bit more xp and gold. Against Kirinhale, Minsc succumbed to a Dire Charm that seemed to last *forever*, long after Kirinhale was dead. We ran around in circles trying to avoid him. He still got too close to Dynaheir and killed her with one shot. He could have chunked her. The heck with this place, it's far too dangerous. Let's get back to Baldur's Gate and clear our names.
Back in the city, we attempt to find our way to the Iron Throne headquarters through the sewers. We try to shortcut through the underground brothel, and run into Kristin and Slythe. Dynaheir casts Haste. Minsc almost dies and has to run, but rallies with bow and arrows. Jaheira finishes Slythe. We run up and finish Kristin, who hung back away from Slythe and didn't do him any good. Kristin went down fast. Slythe was far more dangerous.
When we encounter the Flaming Fist, I use my Hold Person spells to evade arrest non-lethally.
We use three Potions of Invisible to rescue Duke Eltan. Imoen used two to get in and out, but I found out the hard way that it should have been Minsc, who is the only party member with the strength to carry the Duke's body. Whoops. Luckily, when Minsc drinks the Potion of Invisible and goes back, he is able to pick up the body without breaking his Invisibility.
The battle to save the Dukes was very scary. The Duchess went down almost instantly to the greater doppelgangers. I made the mistake of coming in here after Dynaheir had already spent her Haste spell, so we had to do it without Haste. (Yikes!) We managed to pull it off just before Duke Belt would have died, and then, Sarevok almost managed to chunk Jaheira (Yikes again!) This was really close.
In the maze below the thieves' guild, despite our best efforts to find and disarm traps, Jaheira still managed to run into both a Lightning Bolt and a Fireball and die. (She could have been chunked. Gulp.) We had to backtrack out to get her Raised. Then, against Sarevok's last guards, I thought Dynaheir had it in the bag with Web and Fireballs, but their archer got out of the Web and killed her with an Arrow of Detonation. We had to backtrack out yet again. The new pathfinding in 2.0 makes going back out through the maze *much* more convenient now. (Yay, 2.0!)
So, the final battle. Our strategy is to hop up on as many potions and scrolls as possible. I had meant to try to use trap cheese, but I couldn't find the lightning plates, if they're even still there, so that didn't work at all. Despite everything going wrong, we almost beat Sarevok, but, Semaj managed to get most of the party confused, despite all our anti-magic precautions, and Sarevok went after me while I was Confused, even though he was at Near Death. It was a devastating loss.
Second time, we tried basically the same strategy, including Doom spells on Sarevok from both Jaheira and me. Then, Dynaheir, who had made level 8 after our partial visit to Durlag's Tower, managed to land a Chromatic Orb on Sarevok, paralyzing him. It was still close, as Angelo, Tazok, and Semaj were all still alive whaling on us. They killed everybody but Jaheira and me before the two of us managed to finish off Sarevok.
We transitioned smoothly into SoD from there. I heard my first new dialogue in 18 years from Imoen, Minsc, Khalid, and Safana. OMG! This is *so* exciting!
So, next up, I'll be going into my very first SoD run, totally blind. Massive, big fat spoilers for SoD will follow.
Is anyone posting or reading here worried about SoD spoilers? I guess I could try to spoiler tag my entire posts from here on out, but I'm not sure if the spoiler tags on my screen shots will still work inside an open spoiler at the beginning of the post, and a close spoiler at the end. I could try to figure it out if someone here tells me to please do so, but, if nobody reading or posting here cares, I'd rather not. Feedback, please?
Well done! As I said above, you're making me rethink the PC cleric role. I've beaten SOD twice, so spoilers won't bother me, though obviously I won't speak for others (LOL). I look forward to reading how Brother Todd deals with SOD! <-though hardly clever, I still chuckled at it. Good luck!
The bandits have been routed from the Sword Coast, and the mercenaries with them. The battle was not without danger, however, thanks be to a bandit ambush costing the party the necessity of raising Dynaheir. Little did they know, that would prove to be but a third of the cost borne.
It's time to prepare...the Cloakwood will be fraught with peril.
P.S. A few foes were frozen, costing the party great equipment that would have proven to be handy. The Amazonian with Harrower, Nimbul and one of the Red Wizards in the woods. A bit annoying to lose great equipment that the party could use, but I'm not going to cheat the items in.
Edit: Reloads total: 5. 3 due to PC death, 1 due to lightning bolt chunking of Imoen. (Told you I wouldn't mention it again. Oh wait...).
Raises from the dead so far: Imoen twice, Xan once, Dynaheir four times, Jaheira once, Minsc once.
Addendum: Got caught in a web right by a Sword Spider, who proceeded to cut my dwarf in half (90 hit points...seriously?) before anyone could kill the spider. Khalid was the only one not webbed, and his bow wasn't killing it fast enough. Literally nothing I could do before Garm was ghosted. Reload total updated, including a fourth Dynaheir death that took place while harvesting ankheg's. I strongly dislike Cloakwood.
Update: The canon party is within the Gate, and making contacts in the city and in the underbelly of the city, at Imoen's suggestion (*Cough* Thieves Guild *Cough*).
Garm has reached level six in fighter, and has come to think of Jaheira as his shield maiden, always there to heal him and the others, along with bashing heads with her club. Garm will have his fifth pip in axes in SOD. His other two pips are in S&S (he is currently at -12 missile AC!). Khalid is coming into his own with a bow, and is performing adequate backline support. Depending on my character type, Khalid usually gets kitted in whatever manner best serves the party, be it range or tank. This play through, he's wrecking face with a bow. Minsc has one pip in warhammer, which means he will wield Ashideena in a duel wield configuration later on in SOD when he picks up a second pip in them. Dynaheir, when not being a pin cushion for enemy arrows, is largely performing wand duty, at this point. Her actual spells will be crucial soon enough. Imoen has shortsword, bow and darts, with her next pip going in I'm not sure what yet.
Soon, the party will be investigating certain goings on within the city, now that they're allied with the Thieves Guild.
Edit: Reloads total: 5. 4 due to PC death, 1 due to lightning bolt chunking of Imoen.
Raises from the dead so far: Imoen twice, Xan once (No longer in the party), Dynaheir four times, Jaheira once, Minsc once.
@EnialusMeliamne , I love your role-played journal entries. Garm sounds like a dwarf I'd enjoy adventuring with. You seem to be having a lot of fun with your run, too, and that spirit of fun and excitement is very contagious. It's great how well the Baldur's Gate game captures the feeling of playing tabletop D&D. Whether playing my own run or reading someone else's role-played run, I always get taken back to the days of youth when I spent far too much of my time playing D&D in person with friends. Those were happy times.
Thanks @BelgarathMTH. I appreciate you sharing that. This run has been fun, more fun than most I've done in fact. When I first read this thread, when it first opened, I decided I'd do something I've never done before but saw others on here do. I decided to use the journal to tell the tale. That has kept it spiced up for me, because the city of Baldur's Gate tends to be the magic zone that spurs on my restartitis. Not this time.
I want to see where Garm's tale takes him. I'm keeping the screenshots in a folder on my desktop, probably to be re-read later. I wish I'd done something similar with my DD, Durim Runeheart, who languishes in BGII. I probably would have enjoyed playing him even more. I think this style is going to be how I play my BG games from now on. I feel more invested in the toon, which will probably translate to more completionist runs (I hope).
A minimal reload run of Baldur's Gate - Siege of Dragonspear - Baldur's Gate II - TOB
Our story thus far
Leaving the temple, our heroes reported to Mayor Ghastkill and turned in Prism's emeralds to Oublek, then they headed back to the inn for a much deserved rest. Outside the inn, another assassin lay in wait, a mage like the one at the Friendly Arm. He said his name, but Michael wasn't listening, he'd had enough of this crap. Dynaheir disrupted his spell with a quick magic missile and with the others joining in, he never got to cast another. Michael strode up to him and split his chest with blow from his longsword.
The group rested the next day while Minsc and Khalid recovered and Dynaheir identified the magic items they'd collected the day before. The sword they'd taken from Greywolf turned out to be quite powerful and Michael replaced his ordinary sword with it. The party then spent the next couple of days retrieving their loot from the various places they'd cached it in the mines.
The documents found on the hired mage and those in the half-orc priest's possession both mentioned a man named Tranzig. After talking it over, Michael and his companions decided to travel back to Beregost to confront this fellow. They arrived in Beregost just in time, as Tranzig, another mage, was obviously packing to leave. He was in a hurry and didn't notice Michael's party until he was already surrounded. Foolishly, he tried to fight when Michael confronted him and died before he could get a spell off. In his documents was another letter from the same Tazok who had also sent letters to Mulahey and the second Nashkel assassin.
When they left Feldepost's inn, Imoen noticed the house across the street bore the same crest as the amulet she had found on the hobgoblins' victims North of Nashkel. They showed the amulet to the master of the house, and as they had feared, the victims had been the gentleman's family.
Back at the Jovial Juggler, our heroes were approached by Officer Vai of the Flaming Fist. She offered a bounty for the bandits that Michael was planning on killing anyway, so he readily agreed. In the morning, the companions made their way North toward the Friendly Arm. Along the way they searched for an ogre they had been asked to hunt down by Unshey at the FAI. After killing the monster they took the belts it had been carrying and continued on their way.
The investigations proved fruitful, and doppelgängers are rampant in the mercantile areas of the Gate! Smooth talking saw the party infiltrate the Throne, working on all but two floors. Fortunately, the party came out unscathed, and the enemy routed. Or are they?
Off to Candlekeep and home to implicate the Throne a wee bit more. A dwarven mini-clan reunion, and buying from old friends again. Sarevok exposed, but so are the party...implicated as murderers! After Tethtoril, Arkanis and Deder helped the party to escape, Beregost and eventually, the Friendly Arm Inn proved to the party that they must go underground.
After dispatching a messenger to the Fist, the party prepares to depart for Ulgoth's Beard where they hope a low profile will burgeon into a timely return to the Gate to cut off the head of the snake.
Journal Entries
Working for the Fist
Home...
All Doppelgängers Must Die!
Murder.
Family: Non-blood and Divine
Reloads total: 5. 4 due to PC death, 1 due to lightning bolt chunking of Imoen.
Raises from the dead so far: Imoen twice, Xan once (No longer in the party), Dynaheir four times, Jaheira once, Minsc once.
DISASTER. Dynaheir got chunked by a thief with an invisibility potion. He rolled a critical hit on a 19, and backstabbed for 80 damage! We have no means to reveal invisibility. I am very pessimistic at this point that we will survive long enough to get out of the starting dungeon of SoD.
All the battles before this one were interesting but not that bad using our usual tactics. Dynaheir's Webs and my Turn Undead were very helpful. But now, we have no mage, unless I start trying to learn magic myself. If I do that now, I will be just as defenseless against thieves as Dynaheir was. And, they all seem to have *multiple* potions of invisibility.
Story wise, if Brother Todd survives, I guess I can say that "the Hooded Man" took Dynaheir just before she got chunked, planning to use her against Minsc and me in the future.
We barely have inventory room now to even carry Dynaheir's equipment, and we have no mage; things look really bad.
If the thieves or some other horror kills Brother Todd, which is looking increasingly likely, I think I'll end this run. It'll be RIP Brother Todd. I haven't decided yet if I'll start all over in BG1 with a new character, or maybe restart at the beginning of SoD with a new character. I'll keep playing a few more hours today, and see if Brother Todd meets his maker.
BTW, the journal isn't working in SoD. It just has Chapter 7 from BG1, and nothing for SoD.
Reloads: 3 from BG1, 0 for SoD
EDIT: I figured out what's wrong with my journal. It mixed all my SoD entries with the entries from the final chapter of Baldur's Gate. The main plot entries were under "Important Events", that was marked "Finished", even though obviously now it's not finished. I found my quests mixed in with all the quests I "Finished" during the last chapter of Baldur's Gate. It's still a bug though, as quests from the end of Baldur's Gate should not be appearing in "Chapter 7" of the SoD journal.
If you're still in the underground facing Sarevok's minions, you're still in Chapter 7 according to the game. You'll progress into chapter 8 and so on, as you move forward. Can you upload a copy of what you're seeing, if you don't mind? For instance, I've uploaded some non-spoiler containing screenshots for reference.
@EnialusMeliamne , here are a couple of screenshots showing the mess that is my current journal: (See post below, this post got hopelessly messed up with screen shots.)
Also, I encountered a hilarious and huge bug. When I went to the Three Old Kegs to recover Minsc, Dynaheir was right there with him, and had been mysteriously "resurrected". I exited the game to come here and report that. Then, I saw your post, and went back into my game to make screen shots. Dynaheir was gone, and in the place of her sprite, was a quivering mass of chunked remains. LOL. But, her portrait was still on my party bar. Clicking on it just went to a darked-out character screen.
I was luckily able to repair my game by removing Dynaheir's portrait and chunked remains from my party, and Minsc didn't leave or object. I seem to be finding a classic case of "The players aren't doing anything the way the devs thought they would." It's like they never dreamed that their invisibility potion drinking, backstabbing thieves would chunk an npc in the starting dungeon, and then the player would actually accept that and NOT reload!
I just hope that my game isn't irretrievably corrupted. For now, I'm going to keep pressing forward with this run. I'm loving SoD so far, but I think it's going to need a lot more patches than just 2.2 before it's fully polished and stable.
EDIT: Something has badly screwed up the image posting in this post. I'll try again with the images, below.
Well, that's just about the zaniest thing I've seen this game engine do in relation to an NPC, dead or alive. WOW! It appears that you could even cast from her quick bar spells, if that one screenshot is any indication.
My playthroughs saw some bugs, and very annoying CTD's on occasion, but overall, I was VERY happy with the game. I will own that part of that is probably nostalgia overriding mechanical criticisms on my part. I loved the story, the NPC's, and cameos.
Based on those shots, I'm guessing that Minsc was talking to a corpse? Being honest, because of how things went down in relation to the bug, I don't think anyone would gripe if you started the minimal reload over man. You're not super far in yet. Either way, I hope you enjoy it at or near as much as I did!
I definitely agree it will take a few patches to make it more stable.
@EnialusMeliamne , I thought about it, and I'm really, really, really, super sad that I'm not going to get to see ANY of Dynaheir's content during my first SoD run. However, I simply DO...NOT...RELOAD unless Charname dies, and I wouldn't even do that if it weren't for the game mechanic that forces you to do so for a Charname death. In other games, like IWD, for example, I only reload if there's a total party kill. I just think reloading violates the spirit of D&D so bad I can't stand it.
In a tabletop group, the woman playing Dynaheir would have re-rolled a new character starting at level one. She could have been any new character she wanted, and the rest of us would have had to carry her and protect her while she leveled. But in the story, she would have been playing a totally different person. *That's* D&D.
As for the SoD design, the Baldur's Gate area where you re-recruit characters implies, in the way that it's written, that your party didn't even just go through the starting dungeon. Much as I like the game so far, this is very bad design. It's like the devs expected the players to arrive in Baldur's Gate City *without* the canon party in tow. And even if they did anticipate that you might, they made those thieves in the starter dungeon who obviously have a high probability of chunking characters, and they designed the BG City area after the starting dungeon clearly not anticipating that there would be "sprite is chunked" flags in place.
Despite this and other problems I'm bound to encounter as I go, I'm still having a great time.
Next up: To the North! And I Sure Hope We Find Jaheira and Khalid There, Because They Took Our Best Tanking Equipment With Them When They Decided To Go On Their Second Honeymoon The Moment We Got Out Of The Starting Dungeon!
A minimal reload run of Baldur's Gate - Siege of Dragonspear - Baldur's Gate II - TOB
Our story thus far
At the Friendly Arm, our heroes checked in with Landrin and Unshey to give them their possessions back. Then Dynaheir bought a potion of genius from the temple so she could fill out her first level spellbook.
Now it was time to decide what to do next. While Michael wanted to pursue his quest to find Tazok and whoever had killed Gorion, he agreed with Dynaheir and Khalid that taking on large force of bandits at once was beyond their current capabilities. They needed more experience and better weaponry before they could think of mounting their attack.
The party moved South again to explore the region around Nashkel. They had heard of the carnival there and Dynaheir and Minsc wanted to end the threat of the gnoll fortress once and for all.
While passing through Beregost, our heroes helped a young wild mage when she was attacked by Thayan wizards. Dyanheir disrupted the red wizard's spell and everyone piled on to make sure he didn't cast another. Jaheira kept the wizard's thugs busy until the wizard was dead. After the thugs fell, the mage Neera rewarded the party with a gem bag and asked to travel with them, but Michael turned her down.
Right on @BelgarathMTH. Seems well thought out, and you're right about the re-roll on table-top point. Maybe I'll start considering that myself.
Ironic that you mentioned a TPK, in that I just had one of those. Werewolves! I will simply say that the AI improvements are, and not a single wolf fell. Once one of the characters fell, that was that. Couldn't get away fast enough, and in the end it didn't matter. The lot of them surged after the party. I'm going to retcon this as a dream, BUT, if the Garm buys it on the next fight, that's that. Re-roll of an NPC.
UPDATE: And that is that, as they say. I'm ending the minimal re-load on the island, where I don't have the ability to res a fallen NPC, never mind two (Imoen and Jaheira). I forgot to trip Garm's berserker state, so he slew Imoen when the Sirine Queen charmed him. Such a simple thing, and one I'd been very good about managing throughout the game, and to miss it one time proved very detrimental. That in itself gives me a deeper appreciation for people who manage them all the way through!
I was reminded tonight as to why I have only gone to werewolves island 3 times. Ugh. Completely got mauled in the TPK fight. No haste, few buffs, forgot how many doggies came to the call of the pack leader. All in all, a humbling experience. Alas, I had a few other bumps in the road with that island, but nothing like the TPK. Ironically, Karoug fell much easier. Confined spaces work to the advantage of the party. Open fields...advantage doggies who flank.
Edit: changed my mind about Garm. New toon for minimal reload sometime in the future. For now, I'll enjoy your runs!
@EnialusMeliamne , condolences on your loss. Even in a minimal reload as opposed to a no-reload, sometimes things go so far south in a run that you just want to accept the death of the character and start over. I understand completely. I seriously considered starting over when Dynaheir got chunked.
But, the danger is what makes it exciting. When you start a minimal or no reload game, you know that terrible things can happen, including things getting so bad that it ends the run. You have no idea how far you're going to make it into the trilogy before you die horribly. I think that's a good thing, though.
For me, reloading too much or reverting to a much earlier save renders death meaningless in the game, and other choices and consequences of choices meaningless, and that ruins it for me. I don't think I'd still be playing this same game after 18 years if I hadn't discovered the no reload and minimal reload community over on the old Bioware boards. It makes every start of a new game exciting; every run becomes different, and the possible outcomes are endless.
I hope you'll post some more about a new character soon. I really love reading about your fantastically role-played characters.
I enjoy reading these types of threads...never really thought I'd join one, but I'm glad I did. I'm definitely going to be in this thread for my next run, as you're right...the role-play investment adds to the fun.
The finality of things sucks though. I really liked Garm. It was hard to let go of him HAHA! I contemplated continuing to tell the tale of Garm here, but that would have conflicted with the spirit of the thread.
For many reasons, I'm definitely wanting to play another dwarf. I have a deity in mind for him, so the class decision is the only thing left really. MTF.
Without further adieu, Hrin Stonefinder begins his journey.
Hrin Stonefinder is a Dwarven Defender who worships Gorm Gulthyn. A little bit more about him is contained in the biography photo upload.
Gaming guidelines: Hrin will be played under Core rules, with max HP at each level. He'll be taking the canon party through the games, and will be completing TOTSC (Here we go again...). I tied Durlag's Tower to his character, which is mentioned in his 'bio' (his bio is written a bit like a cutscene).
Reload guidelines: CHARNAME deaths and Imoen/Dynaheir chunks only. I'm adding Dynaheir to that list for this run, mainly due to her links to the story in BGII. Any other deaths, we're trudging to a temple. Max reload limit of five per game (I'm including SOD as part of BG, since it's an expansion).
Weapons choices: I've decided to go against my normal S&S style with dwarves, relying on equipment and resistances instead. He'll max out axes at 4 pips in SOD, with 3 pips in hammers. He'll max hammers out in BGII. I'm considering duel-wielding once he's deep into BGII, if he makes it that far. We'll see.
Other considerations: My last dwarf was a battlerager who died on werewolf island, so...I will need to manage my DD a bit more, due to charm and other status effects that he won't be immune to. In other words, I need to not play him when I'm tired (like I did with Garm last night!).
Character traits: Hrin is protective, not taciturn per se, but reserved in his responses. He is not particularly rude, but he is not above repartee with close friends. Hrin remains cognizant of his meeting with the cleric of Gorm Gulthyn, and he wonders what it ultimately means for his fate. If you're a friend of his, you're a lifelong friend, worthy of defense or protection. Arkanis and Reevor were mentors to him, having spent much time honing their martial skills together, and he considers them family. He does like his ale, but because of his protective nature, does not drink in excess. But what is excess alcohol consumption for a dwarf anyway?
@EnialusMeliamne , yay! I'm glad you "got right back on the horse", so to speak. I look forward to reading Hrin's story. I like how you tied in Durlag's Tower to his character, sort of like his personal quest. Be careful in there!
A minimal reload run of Baldur's Gate - Siege of Dragonspear - Baldur's Gate II - TOB
Our story thus far
Back at Nashkel, our heroes took the time to fully explore the town, the carnival and the region around the mines. Magic items were bought, kobolds, ogres and mages were killed and a good time was had by all.
Next the party explored the area West of the mines, working their way toward the gnoll fortress. The group defended themselves against Vax & Zal and Sendai's group. They also reunited an adorable child with his lost dog, and there's no more we need to say about that.
At this point, Imoen had enough XP to reach 4th level, but Dynaheir only needed about 70 to reach 3rd. I sent the party hobgoblin hunting North of Nashkel to level up Dynaheir. Then I turned off max HP and leveled up Imoen. Another trip to the Friendly Arm for a potion of genius and Dyna scribes her 2nd level spells. Now this narrative is caught up to where I am in the game, and I can add screenshots when I update.
Party Status: Michael: Level 3 fighter - 30 hp Shortbow, Varscona, Ankheg plate, Medium shield, RoP +1, Brawling hands Reloads: 1 - Cave bear
Okay, I got most of the first map to the north of BG City. I'm not feeling too terribly wordy today, so I'll mostly let the screenshots tell the story of where I am:
Some general impressions so far: -I'm in love with all this new content.
-There *are* some "DM shenanigans", such as pulling my whole party into a climactic battle with an enemy party we probably couldn't beat if CA hadn't called her goons off suddenly, when all I did was have a *stealthed* Captain Corwin scout out their positions, and she stepped on the pixel that activated the shenanigans. We would *not* have walked right into that ambush. We were just scouting out the area and activating the menhirs.
-Dynaheir showed up in my camp as a quivering mass of fleshy chunks with her nameplate over them. I didn't try to click on the chunks for fear of crashing.
-Now I have metaknowledge of who is going to walk off with my best equipment if I give it to them. I'm looking at YOU, Jaheira and Khalid! Beamdog pretty obviously wants to push their new characters, so don't trust ANYBODY to stick around long. Do NOT give NPC's irreplaceable items like bags of holding, or your best tanking equipment.
-Spiders and undead are a lot more deadly now. Spiders can actually shoot webs at individual party members like Spiderman with his web shooters, and both undead and carrion crawlers can drain levels, which they could not do before, making access to the 4th level priest spell Lesser Restoration a LOT more useful and important. Again, another case where pure classes are better than multis and duals.
-Mizhena, the "temple" priest in the camp, had all of ONE LINE that might "gross out" or offend. I cannot believe that people made such a huge deal out of it. I mean really, it leaves me shaking my head in disbelief and total bemusement, as well as taking my assessment of the current spiritual evolutionary state of humanity as a whole down a few notches. Sigh.
-I love, love, LOVE the new NPC's I've met. Corwin, Glint, and M'kihn are all top-notch imaginary friends, and I hope to have long, long imaginary relationships with all three of them. Now I want them written into BG2 more than ever.
-After meeting M'kihn, the shaman class seems like the best thing since sliced bread to me. Druid spells cast as a sorcerer? A new super-useful offensive, crowd control, or condition-removing spell at every level, making the shaman almost as useful as a mage in the mage's party role? Detect Illusion skill per level? OMG, YES, please! The summoning ability is just icing on the cake. Okay, I HAVE to do a PC shaman run now. I'm a spiritualist who seeks balance in the world and can cross the bridge between living and dead, between good and evil, and between the gods and humanity? Yes, yes, yes.
I'll be back a bit later with an introduction to my new shaman. Brother Todd will have to go on hiatus for a while.
Funny you should mention the shaman, MTH. I had one created and started right before joining this thread and starting Garm. The shaman is in Beregost, sitting in save limbo at the moment. I used M'Khin in my last SOD run through. I can confirm...they're pretty fun, and potent! Since my shaman hasn't died yet, I may add him to the thread as well. I'm not feeling Hrin right now (read: today). Back to back armored tanks? Not a lot of nuance there. I may need a few days in between.
Edit: I give Voghiln a lot of high marks, as well. He's pretty much the only bard in the series that I would ever consider using in a party. I hope others get to use him in one of their run throughs.
Bonus Belgarath points to anyone who gets the character's name. He is fascinated with life vis a vis the afterlife, and he believes in the friendliness of most ghosts, and the base good nature of the world and the creatures in it. His goal is to someday join the ranks of the summonable good spirits. In his physical life, he is being given powers by the spirits and a mysterious god. I wonder which deity, if any, is favoring him? I'm thinking perhaps Nobanion, as Casper strives to achieve balance in the world while loving the forests, the animals, especially cats, (and some horses ), nature, and the possibility of redemption of all out-of-balance, "evil" creatures, along with a sense of nobility, honor, and self-sacrifice.
Today, I got through Candlekeep and the FAI map.
Eventual party will be Ajantis, Branwen, Minsc, Dynaheir, and Imoen. He is traveling with Jaheira and Khalid for a time, and really likes them. But he knows that the party needs a cleric, for things like Remove Fear, Silence, and Hold Person. So, he will seek one, and will regretfully part ways with Jaheira and Khalid for a time, when he must.
Our current position, ready to leave the FAI and begin adventuring in earnest:
I can't play tomorrow, Monday, unfortunately, because of work. I may play Tuesday evening if I'm not too tired after work, and I have Wednesday off. Then, I can't play on Thursday because of evening work, and I may or may not play on Friday, depending on fatigue level after afternoon work. So, if you don't hear from me for some days of the week in the thread, that's why.
But, I am very, very excited about my new character.
Interesting, @BelgarathMTH , that you fell for your restartitis and didn't continue with Dynaheir. I think the fact you had Dynaheir chunked in the starting dungeon of SoD because of a backstab is a true testament to the improved enemy AI of SoD, and it's amazing to see (although it may indeed be sad for a player).
So, thanks to those developers of SoD who worked on the enemy AI (and to @AlexT as their guideman).
The only thing that prevented me from losing Safana or Dynaheir in the starting dungeon of SoD (I'm still on my first run and follow a no-reload rule) is my habit from the SCS to ALWAYS have Mirror Image on my mages on during battles so that they don't get one-shot.
@bengoshi , hmm, that's interesting advice about Mirror Image. I don't usually like to use it unless one of my mages comes under direct attack, because of its short duration. But, it might have saved Dynaheir if the thief hadn't hit the real mage. I watched part of a Let's Play, and it looks like, if you start a new game in SoD, Dynaheir is given Stoneskin in her spell book. Unfortunately, I never found a scroll of Stoneskin in BG1.
One brief note about my shaman - I was tired last night when I picked his name, and I decided I'm not crazy about "Casper". It's a bit too silly. So, I took some time this morning to rename him and replay him up to the same place I was last night when I posted. Everything is exactly the same, including the stats and the role-playing idea; I just changed his name to something I like better.
All my characters represent a side of myself, and they all have my name somewhere in their name. I also try to make the name have elements in it that say something about the character class. So, the new name I picked is "Todauras". I like it because it has the word "auras" in it, which seems thematically suitable for a shaman.
I sure do wish I could play a full session today, but alas, real life and work.
Comments
Brage was saved, half-ogres slain, and several areas along the coast and slightly further inland were cleared up. Drizzt provided some sage advice, and the Chill are known by their rightful name now. It's almost time for the bandit camp push, but a few areas remain to be cleared first.
Edit: Reloads total: 5. 3 due to PC death, 1 due to lightning bolt chunking of Imoen, 1 that will not be mentioned again.
Raises from the dead so far: Imoen twice, Xan once, Dynaheir twice.
We have finished BG1 and transitioned to SoD. The final battle with Sarevok required one reload after Semaj got Brother Todd under Confusion, despite his having drank a Potion of Magic Blocking.
We went to Durlag's Tower, thinking to gather a bit more xp and gold. Against Kirinhale, Minsc succumbed to a Dire Charm that seemed to last *forever*, long after Kirinhale was dead. We ran around in circles trying to avoid him. He still got too close to Dynaheir and killed her with one shot. He could have chunked her. The heck with this place, it's far too dangerous. Let's get back to Baldur's Gate and clear our names.
Back in the city, we attempt to find our way to the Iron Throne headquarters through the sewers. We try to shortcut through the underground brothel, and run into Kristin and Slythe. Dynaheir casts Haste. Minsc almost dies and has to run, but rallies with bow and arrows. Jaheira finishes Slythe. We run up and finish Kristin, who hung back away from Slythe and didn't do him any good. Kristin went down fast. Slythe was far more dangerous.
When we encounter the Flaming Fist, I use my Hold Person spells to evade arrest non-lethally.
We use three Potions of Invisible to rescue Duke Eltan. Imoen used two to get in and out, but I found out the hard way that it should have been Minsc, who is the only party member with the strength to carry the Duke's body. Whoops. Luckily, when Minsc drinks the Potion of Invisible and goes back, he is able to pick up the body without breaking his Invisibility.
The battle to save the Dukes was very scary. The Duchess went down almost instantly to the greater doppelgangers. I made the mistake of coming in here after Dynaheir had already spent her Haste spell, so we had to do it without Haste. (Yikes!) We managed to pull it off just before Duke Belt would have died, and then, Sarevok almost managed to chunk Jaheira (Yikes again!) This was really close.
In the maze below the thieves' guild, despite our best efforts to find and disarm traps, Jaheira still managed to run into both a Lightning Bolt and a Fireball and die. (She could have been chunked. Gulp.) We had to backtrack out to get her Raised. Then, against Sarevok's last guards, I thought Dynaheir had it in the bag with Web and Fireballs, but their archer got out of the Web and killed her with an Arrow of Detonation. We had to backtrack out yet again. The new pathfinding in 2.0 makes going back out through the maze *much* more convenient now. (Yay, 2.0!)
So, the final battle. Our strategy is to hop up on as many potions and scrolls as possible. I had meant to try to use trap cheese, but I couldn't find the lightning plates, if they're even still there, so that didn't work at all. Despite everything going wrong, we almost beat Sarevok, but, Semaj managed to get most of the party confused, despite all our anti-magic precautions, and Sarevok went after me while I was Confused, even though he was at Near Death. It was a devastating loss.
Second time, we tried basically the same strategy, including Doom spells on Sarevok from both Jaheira and me. Then, Dynaheir, who had made level 8 after our partial visit to Durlag's Tower, managed to land a Chromatic Orb on Sarevok, paralyzing him. It was still close, as Angelo, Tazok, and Semaj were all still alive whaling on us. They killed everybody but Jaheira and me before the two of us managed to finish off Sarevok.
We transitioned smoothly into SoD from there. I heard my first new dialogue in 18 years from Imoen, Minsc, Khalid, and Safana. OMG! This is *so* exciting!
So, next up, I'll be going into my very first SoD run, totally blind. Massive, big fat spoilers for SoD will follow.
Is anyone posting or reading here worried about SoD spoilers? I guess I could try to spoiler tag my entire posts from here on out, but I'm not sure if the spoiler tags on my screen shots will still work inside an open spoiler at the beginning of the post, and a close spoiler at the end. I could try to figure it out if someone here tells me to please do so, but, if nobody reading or posting here cares, I'd rather not. Feedback, please?
Reloads: 3 - Neera's Encounter, ettercap poison, Sarevok
Here you can post your story
And if you need to post screenshots, you can create a spoiler in a spoiler
Then you can continue your story
It's time to prepare...the Cloakwood will be fraught with peril.
P.S. A few foes were frozen, costing the party great equipment that would have proven to be handy. The Amazonian with Harrower, Nimbul and one of the Red Wizards in the woods. A bit annoying to lose great equipment that the party could use, but I'm not going to cheat the items in.
Edit: Reloads total: 5. 3 due to PC death, 1 due to lightning bolt chunking of Imoen. (Told you I wouldn't mention it again. Oh wait...).
Raises from the dead so far: Imoen twice, Xan once, Dynaheir four times, Jaheira once, Minsc once.
Addendum: Got caught in a web right by a Sword Spider, who proceeded to cut my dwarf in half (90 hit points...seriously?) before anyone could kill the spider. Khalid was the only one not webbed, and his bow wasn't killing it fast enough. Literally nothing I could do before Garm was ghosted. Reload total updated, including a fourth Dynaheir death that took place while harvesting ankheg's. I strongly dislike Cloakwood.
Garm has reached level six in fighter, and has come to think of Jaheira as his shield maiden, always there to heal him and the others, along with bashing heads with her club. Garm will have his fifth pip in axes in SOD. His other two pips are in S&S (he is currently at -12 missile AC!). Khalid is coming into his own with a bow, and is performing adequate backline support. Depending on my character type, Khalid usually gets kitted in whatever manner best serves the party, be it range or tank. This play through, he's wrecking face with a bow. Minsc has one pip in warhammer, which means he will wield Ashideena in a duel wield configuration later on in SOD when he picks up a second pip in them. Dynaheir, when not being a pin cushion for enemy arrows, is largely performing wand duty, at this point. Her actual spells will be crucial soon enough. Imoen has shortsword, bow and darts, with her next pip going in I'm not sure what yet.
Soon, the party will be investigating certain goings on within the city, now that they're allied with the Thieves Guild.
Edit: Reloads total: 5. 4 due to PC death, 1 due to lightning bolt chunking of Imoen.
Raises from the dead so far: Imoen twice, Xan once (No longer in the party), Dynaheir four times, Jaheira once, Minsc once.
I want to see where Garm's tale takes him. I'm keeping the screenshots in a folder on my desktop, probably to be re-read later. I wish I'd done something similar with my DD, Durim Runeheart, who languishes in BGII. I probably would have enjoyed playing him even more. I think this style is going to be how I play my BG games from now on. I feel more invested in the toon, which will probably translate to more completionist runs (I hope).
How fares Brother Todd's journey?
Bhaalspawn Battlemage
A minimal reload run of Baldur's Gate - Siege of Dragonspear - Baldur's Gate II - TOB
Our story thus far
Leaving the temple, our heroes reported to Mayor Ghastkill and turned in Prism's emeralds to Oublek, then they headed back to the inn for a much deserved rest. Outside the inn, another assassin lay in wait, a mage like the one at the Friendly Arm. He said his name, but Michael wasn't listening, he'd had enough of this crap. Dynaheir disrupted his spell with a quick magic missile and with the others joining in, he never got to cast another. Michael strode up to him and split his chest with blow from his longsword.The group rested the next day while Minsc and Khalid recovered and Dynaheir identified the magic items they'd collected the day before. The sword they'd taken from Greywolf turned out to be quite powerful and Michael replaced his ordinary sword with it. The party then spent the next couple of days retrieving their loot from the various places they'd cached it in the mines.
The documents found on the hired mage and those in the half-orc priest's possession both mentioned a man named Tranzig. After talking it over, Michael and his companions decided to travel back to Beregost to confront this fellow. They arrived in Beregost just in time, as Tranzig, another mage, was obviously packing to leave. He was in a hurry and didn't notice Michael's party until he was already surrounded. Foolishly, he tried to fight when Michael confronted him and died before he could get a spell off. In his documents was another letter from the same Tazok who had also sent letters to Mulahey and the second Nashkel assassin.
When they left Feldepost's inn, Imoen noticed the house across the street bore the same crest as the amulet she had found on the hobgoblins' victims North of Nashkel. They showed the amulet to the master of the house, and as they had feared, the victims had been the gentleman's family.
Back at the Jovial Juggler, our heroes were approached by Officer Vai of the Flaming Fist. She offered a bounty for the bandits that Michael was planning on killing anyway, so he readily agreed. In the morning, the companions made their way North toward the Friendly Arm. Along the way they searched for an ogre they had been asked to hunt down by Unshey at the FAI. After killing the monster they took the belts it had been carrying and continued on their way.
Reloads:
1. Kilt by a bar.
Party Deaths:
* Khalid - 2: Neira, Mulahey
* Minsc - 1: Mulahey
To be continued...
Off to Candlekeep and home to implicate the Throne a wee bit more. A dwarven mini-clan reunion, and buying from old friends again. Sarevok exposed, but so are the party...implicated as murderers! After Tethtoril, Arkanis and Deder helped the party to escape, Beregost and eventually, the Friendly Arm Inn proved to the party that they must go underground.
After dispatching a messenger to the Fist, the party prepares to depart for Ulgoth's Beard where they hope a low profile will burgeon into a timely return to the Gate to cut off the head of the snake.
Journal Entries
Working for the Fist
Home...
All Doppelgängers Must Die!
Murder.
Family: Non-blood and Divine
Reloads total: 5. 4 due to PC death, 1 due to lightning bolt chunking of Imoen.
Raises from the dead so far: Imoen twice, Xan once (No longer in the party), Dynaheir four times, Jaheira once, Minsc once.
DISASTER. Dynaheir got chunked by a thief with an invisibility potion. He rolled a critical hit on a 19, and backstabbed for 80 damage! We have no means to reveal invisibility. I am very pessimistic at this point that we will survive long enough to get out of the starting dungeon of SoD.
All the battles before this one were interesting but not that bad using our usual tactics. Dynaheir's Webs and my Turn Undead were very helpful. But now, we have no mage, unless I start trying to learn magic myself. If I do that now, I will be just as defenseless against thieves as Dynaheir was. And, they all seem to have *multiple* potions of invisibility.
We barely have inventory room now to even carry Dynaheir's equipment, and we have no mage; things look really bad.
If the thieves or some other horror kills Brother Todd, which is looking increasingly likely, I think I'll end this run. It'll be RIP Brother Todd. I haven't decided yet if I'll start all over in BG1 with a new character, or maybe restart at the beginning of SoD with a new character. I'll keep playing a few more hours today, and see if Brother Todd meets his maker.
BTW, the journal isn't working in SoD. It just has Chapter 7 from BG1, and nothing for SoD.
Reloads: 3 from BG1, 0 for SoD
EDIT: I figured out what's wrong with my journal. It mixed all my SoD entries with the entries from the final chapter of Baldur's Gate. The main plot entries were under "Important Events", that was marked "Finished", even though obviously now it's not finished. I found my quests mixed in with all the quests I "Finished" during the last chapter of Baldur's Gate. It's still a bug though, as quests from the end of Baldur's Gate should not be appearing in "Chapter 7" of the SoD journal.
That really sucks about Dynaheir, man.
(See post below, this post got hopelessly messed up with screen shots.)
Also, I encountered a hilarious and huge bug. When I went to the Three Old Kegs to recover Minsc, Dynaheir was right there with him, and had been mysteriously "resurrected". I exited the game to come here and report that. Then, I saw your post, and went back into my game to make screen shots. Dynaheir was gone, and in the place of her sprite, was a quivering mass of chunked remains. LOL. But, her portrait was still on my party bar. Clicking on it just went to a darked-out character screen.
I was luckily able to repair my game by removing Dynaheir's portrait and chunked remains from my party, and Minsc didn't leave or object. I seem to be finding a classic case of "The players aren't doing anything the way the devs thought they would." It's like they never dreamed that their invisibility potion drinking, backstabbing thieves would chunk an npc in the starting dungeon, and then the player would actually accept that and NOT reload!
I just hope that my game isn't irretrievably corrupted. For now, I'm going to keep pressing forward with this run. I'm loving SoD so far, but I think it's going to need a lot more patches than just 2.2 before it's fully polished and stable.
EDIT: Something has badly screwed up the image posting in this post. I'll try again with the images, below.
My playthroughs saw some bugs, and very annoying CTD's on occasion, but overall, I was VERY happy with the game. I will own that part of that is probably nostalgia overriding mechanical criticisms on my part. I loved the story, the NPC's, and cameos.
Based on those shots, I'm guessing that Minsc was talking to a corpse? Being honest, because of how things went down in relation to the bug, I don't think anyone would gripe if you started the minimal reload over man. You're not super far in yet. Either way, I hope you enjoy it at or near as much as I did!
I definitely agree it will take a few patches to make it more stable.
@EnialusMeliamne , I thought about it, and I'm really, really, really, super sad that I'm not going to get to see ANY of Dynaheir's content during my first SoD run. However, I simply DO...NOT...RELOAD unless Charname dies, and I wouldn't even do that if it weren't for the game mechanic that forces you to do so for a Charname death. In other games, like IWD, for example, I only reload if there's a total party kill. I just think reloading violates the spirit of D&D so bad I can't stand it.
In a tabletop group, the woman playing Dynaheir would have re-rolled a new character starting at level one. She could have been any new character she wanted, and the rest of us would have had to carry her and protect her while she leveled. But in the story, she would have been playing a totally different person. *That's* D&D.
As for the SoD design, the Baldur's Gate area where you re-recruit characters implies, in the way that it's written, that your party didn't even just go through the starting dungeon. Much as I like the game so far, this is very bad design. It's like the devs expected the players to arrive in Baldur's Gate City *without* the canon party in tow. And even if they did anticipate that you might, they made those thieves in the starter dungeon who obviously have a high probability of chunking characters, and they designed the BG City area after the starting dungeon clearly not anticipating that there would be "sprite is chunked" flags in place.
Despite this and other problems I'm bound to encounter as I go, I'm still having a great time.
Next up:
To the North! And I Sure Hope We Find Jaheira and Khalid There, Because They Took Our Best Tanking Equipment With Them When They Decided To Go On Their Second Honeymoon The Moment We Got Out Of The Starting Dungeon!
Reloads: 3 in BG1, 0 in SoD
Bhaalspawn Battlemage
A minimal reload run of Baldur's Gate - Siege of Dragonspear - Baldur's Gate II - TOB
Our story thus far
At the Friendly Arm, our heroes checked in with Landrin and Unshey to give them their possessions back. Then Dynaheir bought a potion of genius from the temple so she could fill out her first level spellbook.Now it was time to decide what to do next. While Michael wanted to pursue his quest to find Tazok and whoever had killed Gorion, he agreed with Dynaheir and Khalid that taking on large force of bandits at once was beyond their current capabilities. They needed more experience and better weaponry before they could think of mounting their attack.
The party moved South again to explore the region around Nashkel. They had heard of the carnival there and Dynaheir and Minsc wanted to end the threat of the gnoll fortress once and for all.
While passing through Beregost, our heroes helped a young wild mage when she was attacked by Thayan wizards. Dyanheir disrupted the red wizard's spell and everyone piled on to make sure he didn't cast another. Jaheira kept the wizard's thugs busy until the wizard was dead. After the thugs fell, the mage Neera rewarded the party with a gem bag and asked to travel with them, but Michael turned her down.
Reloads:
1. Kilt by a bar.
Party Deaths:
* Khalid - 2: Neira, Mulahey
* Minsc - 1: Mulahey
To be continued...
Ironic that you mentioned a TPK, in that I just had one of those. Werewolves! I will simply say that the AI improvements are, and not a single wolf fell. Once one of the characters fell, that was that. Couldn't get away fast enough, and in the end it didn't matter. The lot of them surged after the party. I'm going to retcon this as a dream, BUT, if the Garm buys it on the next fight, that's that. Re-roll of an NPC.
UPDATE: And that is that, as they say. I'm ending the minimal re-load on the island, where I don't have the ability to res a fallen NPC, never mind two (Imoen and Jaheira). I forgot to trip Garm's berserker state, so he slew Imoen when the Sirine Queen charmed him. Such a simple thing, and one I'd been very good about managing throughout the game, and to miss it one time proved very detrimental. That in itself gives me a deeper appreciation for people who manage them all the way through!
Edit: changed my mind about Garm. New toon for minimal reload sometime in the future. For now, I'll enjoy your runs!
But, the danger is what makes it exciting. When you start a minimal or no reload game, you know that terrible things can happen, including things getting so bad that it ends the run. You have no idea how far you're going to make it into the trilogy before you die horribly. I think that's a good thing, though.
For me, reloading too much or reverting to a much earlier save renders death meaningless in the game, and other choices and consequences of choices meaningless, and that ruins it for me. I don't think I'd still be playing this same game after 18 years if I hadn't discovered the no reload and minimal reload community over on the old Bioware boards. It makes every start of a new game exciting; every run becomes different, and the possible outcomes are endless.
I hope you'll post some more about a new character soon. I really love reading about your fantastically role-played characters.
The finality of things sucks though. I really liked Garm. It was hard to let go of him HAHA! I contemplated continuing to tell the tale of Garm here, but that would have conflicted with the spirit of the thread.
For many reasons, I'm definitely wanting to play another dwarf. I have a deity in mind for him, so the class decision is the only thing left really. MTF.
Hrin Stonefinder is a Dwarven Defender who worships Gorm Gulthyn. A little bit more about him is contained in the biography photo upload.
Gaming guidelines:
Hrin will be played under Core rules, with max HP at each level. He'll be taking the canon party through the games, and will be completing TOTSC (Here we go again...). I tied Durlag's Tower to his character, which is mentioned in his 'bio' (his bio is written a bit like a cutscene).
Reload guidelines: CHARNAME deaths and Imoen/Dynaheir chunks only. I'm adding Dynaheir to that list for this run, mainly due to her links to the story in BGII. Any other deaths, we're trudging to a temple. Max reload limit of five per game (I'm including SOD as part of BG, since it's an expansion).
Weapons choices: I've decided to go against my normal S&S style with dwarves, relying on equipment and resistances instead. He'll max out axes at 4 pips in SOD, with 3 pips in hammers. He'll max hammers out in BGII. I'm considering duel-wielding once he's deep into BGII, if he makes it that far. We'll see.
Other considerations: My last dwarf was a battlerager who died on werewolf island, so...I will need to manage my DD a bit more, due to charm and other status effects that he won't be immune to. In other words, I need to not play him when I'm tired (like I did with Garm last night!).
Character traits: Hrin is protective, not taciturn per se, but reserved in his responses. He is not particularly rude, but he is not above repartee with close friends. Hrin remains cognizant of his meeting with the cleric of Gorm Gulthyn, and he wonders what it ultimately means for his fate. If you're a friend of his, you're a lifelong friend, worthy of defense or protection. Arkanis and Reevor were mentors to him, having spent much time honing their martial skills together, and he considers them family. He does like his ale, but because of his protective nature, does not drink in excess. But what is excess alcohol consumption for a dwarf anyway?
Bhaalspawn Battlemage
A minimal reload run of Baldur's Gate - Siege of Dragonspear - Baldur's Gate II - TOB
Our story thus far
Back at Nashkel, our heroes took the time to fully explore the town, the carnival and the region around the mines. Magic items were bought, kobolds, ogres and mages were killed and a good time was had by all.Next the party explored the area West of the mines, working their way toward the gnoll fortress. The group defended themselves against Vax & Zal and Sendai's group. They also reunited an adorable child with his lost dog, and there's no more we need to say about that.
At this point, Imoen had enough XP to reach 4th level, but Dynaheir only needed about 70 to reach 3rd. I sent the party hobgoblin hunting North of Nashkel to level up Dynaheir. Then I turned off max HP and leveled up Imoen. Another trip to the Friendly Arm for a potion of genius and Dyna scribes her 2nd level spells. Now this narrative is caught up to where I am in the game, and I can add screenshots when I update.
Party Status:
Michael: Level 3 fighter - 30 hp
Shortbow, Varscona, Ankheg plate, Medium shield, RoP +1, Brawling hands
Reloads: 1 - Cave bear
Minsc: Level 3 ranger - 33 hp
2h sword, Composite longbow, Dual maces, Plate mail, RoP +1, Dale's protector
Deaths: 1 - Mulahey
Imoen: Level 4 thief - 29 hp
Shortbow, Short sword +1, Studded leather +2
Dynaheir: Level 3 invoker - 18 hp
Magic missile, Chromatic orb, Web
Sling, Dagger, Knave's robe, Evermemory, One gift lost
Jaheira: Level 3 fighter / Level 3 druid - 36 hp
Cure light wounds, Bless, Charm person or mammal
Sling +1, Club, Splint mail, Small shield +1, Honorary ring of Sune
Khalid: Level 3 fighter - 39 hp
Longbow, Longsword +1, Battle axe, Throwing axes, Splint mail, Medium shield, RoP +1
Deaths: 2 - Neira, Mulahey
Next - Dryads and Dead Cats...
Heavy SoD spoilers follow!
****************************************************
Okay, I got most of the first map to the north of BG City. I'm not feeling too terribly wordy today, so I'll mostly let the screenshots tell the story of where I am:
Some general impressions so far:
-I'm in love with all this new content.
-There *are* some "DM shenanigans", such as pulling my whole party into a climactic battle with an enemy party we probably couldn't beat if CA hadn't called her goons off suddenly, when all I did was have a *stealthed* Captain Corwin scout out their positions, and she stepped on the pixel that activated the shenanigans. We would *not* have walked right into that ambush. We were just scouting out the area and activating the menhirs.
-Dynaheir showed up in my camp as a quivering mass of fleshy chunks with her nameplate over them. I didn't try to click on the chunks for fear of crashing.
-Now I have metaknowledge of who is going to walk off with my best equipment if I give it to them. I'm looking at YOU, Jaheira and Khalid! Beamdog pretty obviously wants to push their new characters, so don't trust ANYBODY to stick around long. Do NOT give NPC's irreplaceable items like bags of holding, or your best tanking equipment.
-Spiders and undead are a lot more deadly now. Spiders can actually shoot webs at individual party members like Spiderman with his web shooters, and both undead and carrion crawlers can drain levels, which they could not do before, making access to the 4th level priest spell Lesser Restoration a LOT more useful and important. Again, another case where pure classes are better than multis and duals.
-Mizhena, the "temple" priest in the camp, had all of ONE LINE that might "gross out" or offend. I cannot believe that people made such a huge deal out of it. I mean really, it leaves me shaking my head in disbelief and total bemusement, as well as taking my assessment of the current spiritual evolutionary state of humanity as a whole down a few notches. Sigh.
-I love, love, LOVE the new NPC's I've met. Corwin, Glint, and M'kihn are all top-notch imaginary friends, and I hope to have long, long imaginary relationships with all three of them. Now I want them written into BG2 more than ever.
-After meeting M'kihn, the shaman class seems like the best thing since sliced bread to me. Druid spells cast as a sorcerer? A new super-useful offensive, crowd control, or condition-removing spell at every level, making the shaman almost as useful as a mage in the mage's party role? Detect Illusion skill per level? OMG, YES, please! The summoning ability is just icing on the cake. Okay, I HAVE to do a PC shaman run now. I'm a spiritualist who seeks balance in the world and can cross the bridge between living and dead, between good and evil, and between the gods and humanity? Yes, yes, yes.
I'll be back a bit later with an introduction to my new shaman. Brother Todd will have to go on hiatus for a while.
Edit: I give Voghiln a lot of high marks, as well. He's pretty much the only bard in the series that I would ever consider using in a party. I hope others get to use him in one of their run throughs.
Casper Todd the Shaman
Bonus Belgarath points to anyone who gets the character's name. He is fascinated with life vis a vis the afterlife, and he believes in the friendliness of most ghosts, and the base good nature of the world and the creatures in it. His goal is to someday join the ranks of the summonable good spirits. In his physical life, he is being given powers by the spirits and a mysterious god. I wonder which deity, if any, is favoring him? I'm thinking perhaps Nobanion, as Casper strives to achieve balance in the world while loving the forests, the animals, especially cats, (and some horses
Today, I got through Candlekeep and the FAI map.
Eventual party will be Ajantis, Branwen, Minsc, Dynaheir, and Imoen. He is traveling with Jaheira and Khalid for a time, and really likes them. But he knows that the party needs a cleric, for things like Remove Fear, Silence, and Hold Person. So, he will seek one, and will regretfully part ways with Jaheira and Khalid for a time, when he must.
Our current position, ready to leave the FAI and begin adventuring in earnest:
I can't play tomorrow, Monday, unfortunately, because of work. I may play Tuesday evening if I'm not too tired after work, and I have Wednesday off. Then, I can't play on Thursday because of evening work, and I may or may not play on Friday, depending on fatigue level after afternoon work. So, if you don't hear from me for some days of the week in the thread, that's why.
But, I am very, very excited about my new character.
Reloads: 0
So, thanks to those developers of SoD who worked on the enemy AI (and to @AlexT as their guideman).
The only thing that prevented me from losing Safana or Dynaheir in the starting dungeon of SoD (I'm still on my first run and follow a no-reload rule) is my habit from the SCS to ALWAYS have Mirror Image on my mages on during battles so that they don't get one-shot.
One brief note about my shaman - I was tired last night when I picked his name, and I decided I'm not crazy about "Casper". It's a bit too silly. So, I took some time this morning to rename him and replay him up to the same place I was last night when I posted. Everything is exactly the same, including the stats and the role-playing idea; I just changed his name to something I like better.
All my characters represent a side of myself, and they all have my name somewhere in their name. I also try to make the name have elements in it that say something about the character class. So, the new name I picked is "Todauras". I like it because it has the word "auras" in it, which seems thematically suitable for a shaman.
I sure do wish I could play a full session today, but alas, real life and work.