Avoiding the too-easy trap
Loldrup
Member Posts: 291
I'm on Android, so I can't. (easily) mod my way out of Baldurs Gate being slightly too easy.
Earlier I invented various restrictions on my playing options, but they ended up feeling, well, restrictive..
Now I've come up with some new ways to combat easiness, in a way that make nearly all game aspects a bit harder, in contrasting to simply banning a few specific power strategies. They all revolve around restricting how quickly I level up. Here's what I do:
Earlier I invented various restrictions on my playing options, but they ended up feeling, well, restrictive..
Now I've come up with some new ways to combat easiness, in a way that make nearly all game aspects a bit harder, in contrasting to simply banning a few specific power strategies. They all revolve around restricting how quickly I level up. Here's what I do:
- Do quests, but don't turn in for the reward. This gives me less money, less items, less experience and less reputation, which all helps to slow down party progress.
- Are you waylaid by a winter wolf, polar bear, or a bunch of Ethercaps? Don't give yourself that massive XP bump. Reload from the auto save until get to pass freely, or get waylaid by something less rewarding.
- Skip the super high reward enemies like Sirenes, Clay Golumns and Basillisks. Sneak yourself through, if you must do these areas.
- Did you go Durlags tower to get a few sweet items, but in the process ruined your low slung XP levels? Oh, well, just EEkeeper away those silly 20000 XP for a few silly double gangers and them dwarfs guarding the entrance to level 2.
- Always carry 6 party members. Also: swapping party members often lands you a lesser experienced character, so feel free to swap as you go. Or take in characters now, and kick them back out, so they are stalled for those future automatic XP boosts they get outside your party.
- aaand... my most novel contraption: Don't level up until *all* characters are ready to level up. And then only level op the one character that has the greatest overhead of XP.
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Comments
if you're that low level, the warders should chomp you alive. Unless you're cheesing with potions and wands or on Easy but that wouldn't be very productive with your mindset.
1. Never reload if you make a mistake, no matter how silly or unfair it was.
2. Dead is DEAD for everyone! This means you can't do the Shoal encounter or finish the Shield of Falling Stars quest the good way.
3. The inventory bag is for quest items only. You can fill up your quick/weapon slots and quiver, but anything else must be left for the crows!
4. Make a wimpy Bhaalspawn and use the crappy NPCs!
If you feel you have broken a rule or used too much cheese, then you must punish yourself. My prefered method is self-flagellation.
1) No re-rolling stats or adjusting stats - take what is given to you. or adjust stats BUT no minimum stats allowed, everything must be at least 9.
1a) No weapon proficiency that exceed 2 points at the start of the game. Should you decide to dual wield weapons no illogical combos - meaning no flails and anything - and no dual flailing at all; no using weapons the same size - the offhand must be a smaller weapon; no blunt weapon (unless it is a club) and sword combo - that means no mace/hammer/morningstar + sword combo.
2) No reloading for mistakes or bad dialogue choices or deaths
3) Play on core rules - means no shifting the bar for easy spell learning
4) No full healing when resting - also a core component - you have to unclick this button if you have it activated
5) NO using metagaming for anything in the game.
5a) Follow the natural progression of the story -it does not matter if you are evil or good - follow the story as it unfolds - that means going to the Friendly Arms Inn and meeting Jaheria and co - really you are a newbie so you will add jaheria and khalid to your party and as such go south.
6) No using fog of war tactics and no using cheap cheesy tactics to battle anyone - no spamming summons, using the ghoul or xp farming; no closing doors or walking into buildings to escape; no walking into a building or cave and dragging the monster out to battle you on your ground - you face them on their turf.
7) play to your alignment - BUT you were raised by Gorion so no matter if you are evil - you are not a murderous bastard that kills innocents and does horrible deeds.
8) No breaking into homes that are locked
9) No pre-buffing or pre-planning before battles UNLESS it is painfully obvious you are facing a boss type battle - and it MUST be obvious. No use of traps unless it is also OBVIOUS.
10) If a NPC leaves - adjust the gold so he/she takes their portion with them - and NO taking their equipment - they leave with their magical gear if you equipped them with it. You must reasonable equip them as best as possible as you would normally regardless of this rule. All magical gear is evenly spread out and used by the character that can use them.
11) No splitting up teams of NPCs in any way - if one should die naturally in battle (is chunked or if you play no raising dead) then the other NPC will leave as well - so no keeping one. You lose one you lose them both regardless of what happens or what the game allows.
12) No potion stacking - meaning you can't drink multiple potions of master thievery even if the game allows it.
13) No going to Totsc before the end of the game or at least not until after the return to candlekeep - and no you CANNOT use any weapons, items or spells used from that area to play out the rest of the game - should you level from going to Totsc you also cannot level up.
14) No use of invisibility + thief remove traps combo - its an exploit that was never fixed - thieves should not be able to interact with the environment when invisible and untrapping is considered interacting with the environment - so no using this combo.
15) No using boots of speed to scout and then run away from the monsters. You can still do this but no using magical speedy boots to help you run away.
16) Thieves should no detect traps unless they are in an obvious dungeon setting - that means no detecting traps in the open unless you first hit one. And while in an open area outside you should travel together as a group unless it becomes painfully obvious that you need a scout to go ahead - no use of metagaming of any kind as mentioned earlier.
16a) you are NOT ALLOWED to backstab using staffs - that is just dumb regardless that the game allows it - this is just totally illogical. No using engine and spell exploits to backstab (mostly for cleric/thieves mutliclass and shadowdancers).
17) If you meet a new NPC you must do their quest in a reasonable time - should you remove them adjust gold and they keep their good magical gear (as mentioned); no picking and choosing NPCs - you meet they join you if you have the space. When their quests is done NPC that are more mercenary will leave - so that means no keeping certain thieves, no Edwin (actually you should not do his quest at all since it is an assassination); no keeping Korgan - if his quest fails he leaves - similar to quests that are not done in a timely manner.
18) Semi play to your alignment - you were raised by Gorion so you are not a monster even if you are an evil aligned character. This means you take Imoen with you along with Jaheria and Khalid for a time; you also don't do obviously bad things (unless you have a WIS of 9 and INT of 10) - in general you are a good and helpful person being raised by Gorion but play to your character as well - so if you play a bit selfish be that way and don't help everyone or do everything quest regardless if you can force them to give you money for the deed - just don't do them - some fetching quests are really pointless. Also when choosing dialogue role-play the dialogue that said PC and alignment would pick rather than the best answer or the correct one.
19) Role-play your PC and that means you must read things like books and texts as required of the game to solve puzzles - no skipping things even if you know the answer - like I said NO metagaming at all.
20) when you leave a battle field after filling your inventory with loot no returning to get more loot
21) No using containers that are lying around town to store excess gear - realistically if you left the stuff there it would be gone or taken by someone else.
22) No potion hoarding or ammunition hoarding - NPC should be able to use them as they would normally. Meaning in a fight with more monsters most characters would shift to arrows that do more damage just to ensure the battle goes their way even if you know (through metagaming) that it would not be necessary. Similarly with potions pass them out to your team - and use them as the NPC would use them if given the situation that arises. Outnumbered you use potions even if you know you can defeat them without it - as I said NO METAgaming.
23) NPC - if you don't like them after they join your party drop them - NO doing their quests just for XP and then kicking them out.
Killed all except one
The reasons for this were a) simplicity for the DM and b) the fact that we invariably never took the route he had planned for us (due to either internecine warfare or incompetence).
Thus, when even walking in the park is fraught with danger, and killing someone/thing when nipping out for a pint of milk is not unusual, it makes sense to reduce the XP reward for random acts of gratuitous violence that are basically an everyday occurrence. Rather, make the rewards outcome based, whatever the methodology used in order to achieve those outcomes.