Ahaha, okay. At least this time I know what to avoid. I was actually planning on doing the Mook quest for some quick XP, but I remembered that vampires can use Domination, and I was probably gonna fail my save against it. Guess that line of thinking didn't do me much good haha.
against vampire domination, buy the protection against undead scroll from temples. Vampires, liches and any undead cannot see you anymore. For charm protection, you should sneak up behind the mage and backstabs him/her, save a potion of invisibility for emergency.
base on my 20+ playthroughs (not no-death challenge) for bg2, i would recommend doing the following quests base on difficulty.
1. Solve the murder on the bridge district. 2. Harper quest. 3. Slavers in the slum. 4. Shadow Thief quest (10000 gold) 5. Trademeet (both genie quest and druid fight) (can you fulfill this quest w/o cernd or jaheira?) 6. Temple Beholder quest (require shield of balduran)
Get the power amulet, robe of vecna. Steal the ring of regeneration from ribald and ring of the ram from that mage guy in government.
Rescue Haerlis and do the playhouse quest. (boot of speed) Nalia's quest Windspear Hill Temple Ruins. Planear Sphere (actually kind of tough for FMT because those demons can stun, but FMC should be a piece of cake) Mindflayers under the sewer in temple (actually this is easy, but I have been playing the tactics mod...) Fight any liches, gaxx demilich (immunity from abjuration)
@Bbear: Thanks for the tips. Though in regards to the scrolls of undead protection, only a few places carry those, and there are many more Vampire encounters than scrolls. I'd just stick to using Chaotic Commands (it lasts a turn per level so it last as long as I need), save for Kangaxx, of course.
----------------- Recovering the Keep -----------------
Woo, dying that previous game sucked, but fortunately it did not take long to get back to where I was before. my HP was edited down to its proper 72 (at the start of the game) so at no point did I have more than I should. After re-doing Irenicus' dungeon, I was sure not to forget the Helm of Balduran this time.
My biggest conquest so far was clearing out the first level of Watcher's Keep, then heading over to the De-Arnise Keep to get the stronghold as well as the immensely valuable Flail of Ages. the trolls were a bit of a pain to kill, since I had far fewer Melf's Acid Arrows than trolls, and I didn't yet buy Sunfire. Plus, I didn't really bother to memorize other fire spells since the Flail of Ages would do its work shortly enough. Getting through the keep was quick, I made sure to cast my buffs each time I rested so I has essentially safe from almost any spell (including the enchantment spells from the Yuan-ti mage). Furthermore, Righteous Magic makes for one HELL of a combat buff - coupled with other buffs, my fighter classes and my 3+ attacks per round my character was basically a buzzsaw.
After selling off all my stuff, I have about 27K in gold - more than enough to get the Robe of Vecna. I'm also going to kill the party in that inn in Waukeen's Promenade (with Mencar Pebblecrusher), and also go to the sewers to procure the cloak that grants +1 AC. I still haven't done a whole lot else - I was sure to return the acorns to the dryads and to begin the Firkragg quest, but that aside I am still fairly early in the game and I am sitting on a bit under 1.2 million XP - a very long ways to go before hitting the 8 million cap. I'm likely not going to finish every quest before hitting the Underdark - I want to leave room for improvement, plus I'd like to make it through the game in reasonable time.
I'm only planning on going so far into Watcher's Keep at the moment - the machine of Lum the Mad will enhance my character's stats even further than they already are, plus many of the items (especially the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization) represent an extremely lucrative grab, though getting through all of those enemies will be an absolute nightmare, if it's even worth the risk at all. I won't use the glitch that lets you skip right to Demogorgon, either.
Thanks for the tip. Don't be ashamed if you laugh, if anything my own extreme (re: normal) bad luck is to blame. I actually laughed myself.
Nah, my AC is fine. I can get into the negative double-digits some time into the game, especially with the awesome stuff I can get (Robe of Vecna, Ring of Protection +3, etc). That stuff may not be early in the game but my buffs keep me quite safe - and IMO, the extra attack per round is worth it.
Hmm...the problem with the Flail of Easthaven is that it's only a +2 weapon, and a lot of strong enemies in the game are immune to that. It would make a good weapon early in the game but I'd have to find something better later on. Crom Faeyr is another one, though that's at the very end of the game. What other suggestions do you have?
you dont want to use the protection from undead scroll for kangaxx because you can never trigger the script. Wait, arent you a cleric? Why dont you sanctuary and turn undead when fighting vampires. For equipment, I think ribald sells a bracer 4 ac (or was it 3 ac, i dont remember).
I wouldnt recommend going directly toward watcher's keep at low to mid level. At the 3rd level of watcher's keep, there are several parties of demons that can hit pretty hard. Also, there are area with no magic or wild magic zones. I would recommend waiting for your HLA (3 million xp) before going there. I think your stats are stellar already, getting +1 stat in each category gives you only marginal benefits.
@bbear: Agreed in that respect to Watcher's Keep - the demons always kept me on edge, and my initial dungeon crawl would involve me only going into the first two levels. For Kangaxx, I just use the scroll right as he turns into a lich. I don't know about you but it has never failed to work for me. The Sanctuary+Turn Undead is a pretty neat idea, but I wouldn't use it unless it killed them - having to chase them down is just a pain in the ass when I can kill them easily without having to worry about domination and level drain.
The stat benefits are less pronounced going from 19 to 20 than from 18 to19, but I still believe some of them (like Strength, Constitution and Wisdom) are worth getting. Strength for the extra point of damage, Wisdom for the extra spells and Constitution because it enables automatic regeneration at 20+ and above.
EDIT: I'm aware that traps always hit you. I just needed a way to stop petrification, and the spell Protection from Petrification would work, but it only lasts 10 rounds in BG2...
No matter how many attacks per round you have (sorry if you already know this) you still only hit with your off-hand weapon once. Thus the enchantment on it usually is not as important as the benefits that it provides. For clerics the only real offhands I see as being good are Defender of Easthaven and Crom Faeyr. At least until you get the +5 Warhammer from ToB.
That said you don't really have a lot of truly "stellar" (in terms of sheer amount) of main hand weapons either. You're pretty much limited to Flail of Ages, Mace of Disruption and I guess maybe the Storm Mace thingy from Watcher's Keep. And that last one is a definite maybe.
Also what is your approx. end levels (end of ToB) because Defender might even outweigh Crom Faeyr like it does for normal Fighter/Clerics due to draw upon holy might.
@Dragonspear: I am aware, yes. But that extra attack becomes two when cast with Improved Haste, which can be procured in Trademeet by completing the main quest. Capping it off at 3.5 base attacks (4 with the gauntlets), that can lead to 7-8 attacks per round. Couple that with Righteous Magic and Draw Upon Holy Might and my character becomes an unstoppable juggernaut of destruction.
I'm okay with sticking with the Flail and Crom Faeyr for the time being. In ToB I can upgrade the Flail of Ages to +5 and get the hammer as well, and those will round out my character nicely. And of course, there's also the club, which coupled with a Protection from Fire buff can be very effective.
Ah I thought I remembered reading somewhere that it was still capped at only 1 attack per round with the offhand so my bad there.
Also I completely forgot about the clubs in this game as I never run with a cleric. FoA +5 as well as the ToB hammer I could see being a great combo though late game. Only reason I mentioned Mace of Disruption is for dealing with all the pesky Undead in BG2. Really turns em into a cakewalk and even works on the nastier high level liches if I remember correctly. It either hits as a +4 or +5 I don't remember which.
I just wish there was a way to do it and not screw your church at the same time. Seems kinda weird honestly for one of the faithful or a paladin (from an RP perspective).
A question: where do you get the Mace of disruption upgraded? I remember once bringing it to Cromwell, but he didn't mention anything about it (I've never used that mace to be honest...shameful, I know). Furthermore, do you use the Illidium given to you by the church quest involving Neb, or does it come from somewhere else?
You need the Illidium that you would otherwise get for the quest for your church. If you instead give the guy fake Illidium, you still get the experience as if you complete it but the guy doesn't make it since he knows its not pure.
Basically you go back and their like "ya he was asking for too much oh well".
You get the mace itself inside one of the pools in the Bodhi's lair area of the grave yard as early as chapter 3 (I'm not sure if you can get it before then). The only weapon that comes even remotely close to the undead killing potential of Mace of Disruption +2 in SoA is Daystar, but since you're a FMC you can't use that. Plus I think MoD+2 has innate negative plane protection on it. It might also have death ward I honestly don't remember. I just remember is dang good.
5. Trademeet (both genie quest and druid fight) (can you fulfill this quest w/o cernd or jaheira?)
Yes. Just tell Cernd you will see him at the druid grove, then tell him after you enter the grove and exit, that Faldorn requires a "duel". Then, you talk to Faldorn again, sit back, and eat some popcorn as AI Cernd destroys Faldorn with ease.
I think there should be a cap on stats to make it more of a challenge. Starting BG1 with 18/18/18/18/18/5, and BG2 with 19/19/19/19/21/6 is a bit overkill.
Btw, here's an interesting 30 min speed run of BG with a FMT. I like his use of the wand of lightning especially lol.
I think there should be a cap on stats to make it more of a challenge. Starting BG1 with 18/18/18/18/18/5, and BG2 with 19/19/19/19/21/6 is a bit overkill.
Now now, one step at a time. Once I complete my initial no-death run in the whole trilogy, that's when I'll shake it up.
I got a quick update my way, since I haven't done any in a few days now (and quite frankly, forgot where I left off, I believe it was the Ankhegs?)
At any rate, I'm still alive and kicking after killing the various Mulahey, Amazons, Nimbul, Tranzig and utterly destroyed the Bandit camp (admittedly - Boots of Avoidance + Cloak of Displacement + Shield = no arrows ever hitting you. -11 Missile AC for the win!) Made it to Cloakwood 2 and killed Centeol, at which point I switched weapons with the Spider's Bane as it is more useful to me right now.
Hit level 9 as well so right now... it's a straight run to the finish :
Got also 2 slots for Cloudkill up and running, should solve the more intense battles, but with the mages being instantly KO (from Improved invisibility of course), I am not able to see any problem throughout the game, maybe just the ducal palace battle.
Just a small update - in addition to making up my old progress (finally), I managed to slay Firkragg:
It was kind of tough - the fight was a bit segmented between saves & reloads but a combination of offensive spells, two Lower Resistance spells and a Wand of Frost granted me victory.
Thanks...funny you mention that, I got killed in Watchers Keep when that snake poisoned me and I didn't even realize it because my portrait was so stacked with icons.
I'm probably gonna take a small break...dying at that point felt like a punch in the nuts, since I had so many quests done. I had even just gotten my first HLA.
Comments
1. Solve the murder on the bridge district.
2. Harper quest.
3. Slavers in the slum.
4. Shadow Thief quest (10000 gold)
5. Trademeet (both genie quest and druid fight) (can you fulfill this quest w/o cernd or jaheira?)
6. Temple Beholder quest (require shield of balduran)
Get the power amulet, robe of vecna. Steal the ring of regeneration from ribald and ring of the ram from that mage guy in government.
Rescue Haerlis and do the playhouse quest. (boot of speed)
Nalia's quest
Windspear Hill
Temple Ruins.
Planear Sphere (actually kind of tough for FMT because those demons can stun, but FMC should be a piece of cake)
Mindflayers under the sewer in temple (actually this is easy, but I have been playing the tactics mod...)
Fight any liches, gaxx demilich (immunity from abjuration)
I thought Ribald had a ring of free action
-----------------
Recovering the Keep
-----------------
Woo, dying that previous game sucked, but fortunately it did not take long to get back to where I was before. my HP was edited down to its proper 72 (at the start of the game) so at no point did I have more than I should. After re-doing Irenicus' dungeon, I was sure not to forget the Helm of Balduran this time.
My biggest conquest so far was clearing out the first level of Watcher's Keep, then heading over to the De-Arnise Keep to get the stronghold as well as the immensely valuable Flail of Ages. the trolls were a bit of a pain to kill, since I had far fewer Melf's Acid Arrows than trolls, and I didn't yet buy Sunfire. Plus, I didn't really bother to memorize other fire spells since the Flail of Ages would do its work shortly enough. Getting through the keep was quick, I made sure to cast my buffs each time I rested so I has essentially safe from almost any spell (including the enchantment spells from the Yuan-ti mage). Furthermore, Righteous Magic makes for one HELL of a combat buff - coupled with other buffs, my fighter classes and my 3+ attacks per round my character was basically a buzzsaw.
After selling off all my stuff, I have about 27K in gold - more than enough to get the Robe of Vecna. I'm also going to kill the party in that inn in Waukeen's Promenade (with Mencar Pebblecrusher), and also go to the sewers to procure the cloak that grants +1 AC. I still haven't done a whole lot else - I was sure to return the acorns to the dryads and to begin the Firkragg quest, but that aside I am still fairly early in the game and I am sitting on a bit under 1.2 million XP - a very long ways to go before hitting the 8 million cap. I'm likely not going to finish every quest before hitting the Underdark - I want to leave room for improvement, plus I'd like to make it through the game in reasonable time.
I'm only planning on going so far into Watcher's Keep at the moment - the machine of Lum the Mad will enhance my character's stats even further than they already are, plus many of the items (especially the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization) represent an extremely lucrative grab, though getting through all of those enemies will be an absolute nightmare, if it's even worth the risk at all. I won't use the glitch that lets you skip right to Demogorgon, either.
These are my current stats and items:
Which brings me to a question - what spell protects against Flesh to Stone? I had Death Ward activated, but it failed to stop it.
Also is it bad that I got a giggle outta this since we were talking of Basalisks earlier?
Anyway I'm surprised that you're dual-wielding already. I think I'd be likely to continue using a shield until I was pretty much maxed level.
Nah, my AC is fine. I can get into the negative double-digits some time into the game, especially with the awesome stuff I can get (Robe of Vecna, Ring of Protection +3, etc). That stuff may not be early in the game but my buffs keep me quite safe - and IMO, the extra attack per round is worth it.
I wouldnt recommend going directly toward watcher's keep at low to mid level. At the 3rd level of watcher's keep, there are several parties of demons that can hit pretty hard. Also, there are area with no magic or wild magic zones. I would recommend waiting for your HLA (3 million xp) before going there. I think your stats are stellar already, getting +1 stat in each category gives you only marginal benefits.
The stat benefits are less pronounced going from 19 to 20 than from 18 to19, but I still believe some of them (like Strength, Constitution and Wisdom) are worth getting. Strength for the extra point of damage, Wisdom for the extra spells and Constitution because it enables automatic regeneration at 20+ and above.
EDIT: I'm aware that traps always hit you. I just needed a way to stop petrification, and the spell Protection from Petrification would work, but it only lasts 10 rounds in BG2...
No matter how many attacks per round you have (sorry if you already know this) you still only hit with your off-hand weapon once. Thus the enchantment on it usually is not as important as the benefits that it provides. For clerics the only real offhands I see as being good are Defender of Easthaven and Crom Faeyr. At least until you get the +5 Warhammer from ToB.
That said you don't really have a lot of truly "stellar" (in terms of sheer amount) of main hand weapons either. You're pretty much limited to Flail of Ages, Mace of Disruption and I guess maybe the Storm Mace thingy from Watcher's Keep. And that last one is a definite maybe.
Also what is your approx. end levels (end of ToB) because Defender might even outweigh Crom Faeyr like it does for normal Fighter/Clerics due to draw upon holy might.
I'm okay with sticking with the Flail and Crom Faeyr for the time being. In ToB I can upgrade the Flail of Ages to +5 and get the hammer as well, and those will round out my character nicely. And of course, there's also the club, which coupled with a Protection from Fire buff can be very effective.
Also I completely forgot about the clubs in this game as I never run with a cleric. FoA +5 as well as the ToB hammer I could see being a great combo though late game. Only reason I mentioned Mace of Disruption is for dealing with all the pesky Undead in BG2. Really turns em into a cakewalk and even works on the nastier high level liches if I remember correctly. It either hits as a +4 or +5 I don't remember which.
I just wish there was a way to do it and not screw your church at the same time. Seems kinda weird honestly for one of the faithful or a paladin (from an RP perspective).
Basically you go back and their like "ya he was asking for too much oh well".
You get the mace itself inside one of the pools in the Bodhi's lair area of the grave yard as early as chapter 3 (I'm not sure if you can get it before then). The only weapon that comes even remotely close to the undead killing potential of Mace of Disruption +2 in SoA is Daystar, but since you're a FMC you can't use that. Plus I think MoD+2 has innate negative plane protection on it. It might also have death ward I honestly don't remember. I just remember is dang good.
Btw, here's an interesting 30 min speed run of BG with a FMT. I like his use of the wand of lightning especially lol.
At any rate, I'm still alive and kicking after killing the various Mulahey, Amazons, Nimbul, Tranzig and utterly destroyed the Bandit camp (admittedly - Boots of Avoidance + Cloak of Displacement + Shield = no arrows ever hitting you. -11 Missile AC for the win!)
Made it to Cloakwood 2 and killed Centeol, at which point I switched weapons with the Spider's Bane as it is more useful to me right now.
Hit level 9 as well so right now... it's a straight run to the finish :
Got also 2 slots for Cloudkill up and running, should solve the more intense battles, but with the mages being instantly KO (from Improved invisibility of course), I am not able to see any problem throughout the game, maybe just the ducal palace battle.
It was kind of tough - the fight was a bit segmented between saves & reloads but a combination of offensive spells, two Lower Resistance spells and a Wand of Frost granted me victory.
I'm probably gonna take a small break...dying at that point felt like a punch in the nuts, since I had so many quests done. I had even just gotten my first HLA.