Are you a Hoarder or a User?
Jidokwon
Member Posts: 405
Aside of magic ammunition, I rarely use potions, wands, scrolls, etc. and know it would dumb things down considerably using them. I use the chest just inside the Friendly Arm Inn to hoard these items, thinking I'll use them on more difficult encounters, but I haven't found any that I've needed to back out of and return to the chest for yet. That said, I haven't reached the final encounter yet and remember cheeseing out on the one time I beat it chain casting a wand of summoning and wand of fire. I'm playing through again with the Sword Coast expansion this time and have advanced through most of the game, aside of finishing Durleg's(?) Tower and some of the city quests. I hear the last encounter is significantly tougher with the expansion. I'm hoping to beat it going full party on full party with standard buffs, but is this wishful thinking?
1
Comments
I usually challenge myself to complete the quest without resting at all, which forces you to try out some tactics which may include using potions and wands, and it makes me feel it's less cheesy, since I'm just trying to survive . =D
I stash in a couple of places, the same chest as you and a chest in Nashkel in the inn. Nearer end game I'll pick a place in BG itself to stash, usually for some reason the chest behind Black Lilly (where the tome can be found).
My current solo run actually has me using items a bit more - especially in BG1. In BG2 now I have 'acquired' both rings of Gaxx I rarely need to use many items other than wands.
Seriously, all those defense and attack bonuses are too good to pass up. If nothing else, a potion of absorption is a must when fighting monks! (+10 Bonus AC to crushing attacks, and a quivering palm merely tickles XD)
And potion of fire resistance is always handy when fighting red dragons or disarming fire traps.
So I started using them til they ran dry, and oh boy how much easier this game became.
Of course it's wrong to play like that all the time and I only managed to survive certain encounters (Amellyssan, Aec' Latec) by using a lot of consumables. But simply seeing the amount of stuff that I can hoard makes me feel good, it is so difficult to part with every single charge of a wand or a magic item
On the other hand, this has also made me a bit more reckless with my party, because I know I'll be able to heal up after each fight. But that's kind of realistic, isn't it?
i stash stuff in the shelves in the kitchen at the Friendly Arm, the chest in the inn in Nashkel, & the barrel just in front of the Elf Song
At the end of Icewind Dale, in the LAST FIGHT, I thought to myself, "Better not use it. I might need it later." Then I realized what I was saying and snapped out of it and went nuts with all the crud in my inventory.
I also have a habit of exhausting all spells before resting; resting is usually a last resort.
it does make it more challenging.
After I learned about that, I started using wands a bit more freely, at least after I had a strong cash savings built up.
It's harder to manage wands in vanilla BG1, because it doesn't give you the little number icon in the use item button to show you how many charges you have left. Playing BG1 in the BG2 engine will solve that problem automatically.
In BG1, the stronger potion types are a little hard to find in huge supply, so I usually wind up saving all potions (except heals and antidotes), and green scrolls for the battle with Sarevok. I carried the same mindset with me into BG2, but I noticed potions really start to build up in my potion bag of holding that I was never using, so I might try to adjust that attitude a bit.