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The LoB + SCS Solo Challenge vs Bhaal´s Cataclysm

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  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Grond0: I've never actually killed Drizzt in LoB mode, and forgot that the gnolls could kill him. But is that only because Drizzt is bugged to have zero APR and cannot fight back? I thought a future update might fix Drizzt and allow him to fight back--and therefore potentially survive the gnolls. If Drizzt can't fight back, I'd want to mod my install to fix that bug manually, since I don't want to rely too much on bugs that could be fixed in the future.
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,320
    @semiticgod his APR has been fixed - it's a scripting issue that allows the gnolls to kill him. Like a number of other BG1 encounters, Drizzt doesn't activate fully unless you come in sight of him (whether visible or not). There are some idiosyncrasies associated with his actions, but basically if you activate a gnoll by going into sight of it, but not Drizzt, and then not take any further action yourself (not move around or cast spells etc) Drizzt won't respond to the gnoll's attacks. You can just let it attack totally unsupervised, but there's then a chance of it killing Drizzt. If you want to make certain of getting his XP you need to be prepared to run away and leave the area before Drizzt runs out of HPs, in order to reset the combat - keep doing that until a gnoll breaks its weapon.
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    why go GM with bows if u lose all bow usage when u doing the cleric ? u dont get the bow usage back at all ... @semiticgod
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Mr_Salty: I'm going with a single-classed Archer; I'm not dual-classing to cleric. The challenge will be the same as @histamiini's for BG1 and SoD, but things will get very different in BG2. The absence of summoned critters is going to be pretty painful, but...

    Actually, now that I think about it, it has basically no advantages over the cleric. I was going to say that it could tear apart enemies with Called Shot and the Scorcher Ammunition, but the cleric can already do that; it just has to equip the Big Metal Rod instead of the Firetooth crossbow. Then I was going to say that it would be better at tanking due to Hardiness, but an Archer who dual-classes at level 21 would be able to cast Hardiness three times, which is actually pretty respectable on its own.

    So, the single-classed Archer is just plain worse. It gets to be an elf, which confers some minor advantages, it gets another +2 to hit and damage with ranged weapons by level 34, and it gets more fighter HLAs, but it loses out on a massive, massive trove of powerful spells.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I just managed to record almost an hour of footage showing the Archer dealing with Mutamin's Garden. We had a problem, though, when Korax went hostile midway through the fight with Mutamin, but we got around it by luring our pet Greater Basilisk (the southern one, which we isolated and then paralyzed so we could get away) all the way around to the north of Mutamin, so when we attacked Mutamin and the other basilisks, we didn't draw Korax's attention.

    Then we had another problem, when we accidentally shattered the Greater Basilisk, and I had to go use a Lesser Basilisk as our target, costing us thousands of XP.

    Anyway, we petrified Kirian's party and used a single Stone to Flesh scroll on Kirian herself so we could bring her back at 1 HP and then finish her off to nab her stuff. Since we were out of Stone to Flesh scrolls, we couldn't do the same for any of her fellows.

    Right now I'm trying to convert the video from FLV to MP4 so I can cut out the beginning and end of the video, which are pitch black since the recording began before I entered the game.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I guess the next order of business is to try to get Drizzt killed, then pay a visit to Mulahey, kill Tranzig, and burgle the bandit camp. After that, I'll try to charm Hakt and lure him outside the main tent so I can have him go die against Tazok or something so we can steal his bow.

    Then Cloakwood, and hopefully Davaeorn will die to the charmed guard. If not... well, I'll probably want to gather a bunch of resources just in case.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I'm about to upload it, but I'm deciding on the video description and tags. So far, the only tags I've got are Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, and No-Reload. The description:
    This is a bad idea.

    With instant death scenarios around every corner, no-reload runs are always a nightmare in Baldur's Gate. Playing solo only makes it worse. Playing with SCS installed, the foremost tactical mod for BG, only makes it worse. Playing with Ascension installed only makes it worse. Playing in Legacy of Bhaal mode, the maximum difficulty setting, only makes it worse.

    Doing them all at the same time is just stupid. There have only been three successful runs by four different people, and none by a single-classed character. Shoutouts to @histamiini, @Harpagornis, and @Vynn, my fellow maniacs. This is all your fault. Especially you, Harpagornis.

    In this first session, Frisky Bits the elven Archer (the portrait is courtesy of dreamy94 at tumblr) robs their best friend, loots the corpse of their father, murders a fat guy to steal his cloak, teams up with a hideous ghoul, and then performs the "basilisk XP loop," a trick I invented to get more XP out of Mutamin's Garden by repeatedly petrifying basilisks with your own pet basilisk. Pity it went so poorly.

    Notice we're using CTRL-J to teleport around. This is just for convenience's sake; we don't use it to avoid fights, triggers, or traps, or gain an advantage in combat.

    To qualify as a no-reload saga run, we have to beat all of the BG games consecutively. If we ever die at any point in BG1, SoD, SoA, or ToB, and the death is not due to a bug, we have to start all over from Candlekeep, or else give up on the challenge.

    The pain will not be passing. We may not survive the process.
    I could add audio commentary, but I'm undecided. I'm not sure I'd like the sound of my voice and I might have to get a microphone or something so the quality would be good.
  • HarpagornisHarpagornis Member Posts: 1,658
    edited March 2019
    Yeah, i am always guilty. Ask my wife @semiticgod! B)

    Nice to see the challenge is still rolling like an avalanche with @histamiini crushing every part of it. Time for more restrictions no? :p

    Too bad this thread will more or less have to evolve without me as i quit playing some time ago but i will try to take a look in here once in a while. Happy hunting! ;)
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    edited March 2019
    semiticgod wrote: »
    I just managed to record almost an hour of footage showing the Archer dealing with Mutamin's Garden. We had a problem, though, when Korax went hostile midway through the fight with Mutamin, but we got around it by luring our pet Greater Basilisk (the southern one, which we isolated and then paralyzed so we could get away) all the way around to the north of Mutamin, so when we attacked Mutamin and the other basilisks, we didn't draw Korax's attention.

    Then we had another problem, when we accidentally shattered the Greater Basilisk, and I had to go use a Lesser Basilisk as our target, costing us thousands of XP.

    Anyway, we petrified Kirian's party and used a single Stone to Flesh scroll on Kirian herself so we could bring her back at 1 HP and then finish her off to nab her stuff. Since we were out of Stone to Flesh scrolls, we couldn't do the same for any of her fellows.

    Right now I'm trying to convert the video from FLV to MP4 so I can cut out the beginning and end of the video, which are pitch black since the recording began before I entered the game.

    @semiticgod so if u did not payed for the bandicam, what did u used to record for over an hour ? as bandicam is stuck with 10 minuts
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Mr_Salty: I used Streamlabs OBS.
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,320
    semiticgod wrote: »
    Anyway, we petrified Kirian's party and used a single Stone to Flesh scroll on Kirian herself so we could bring her back at 1 HP and then finish her off to nab her stuff. Since we were out of Stone to Flesh scrolls, we couldn't do the same for any of her fellows.

    If you want the equipment from petrified characters then you can just turn Gore off in the game options - destruction of a character does not then destroy their equipment (works for frost damage etc as well).
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I don't know why I never turn off Gore.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Grond0: I'm mulling my options for dealing with the warders in Durlag's Tower. Let's say I drink two Potions of Fire Resistance, one Potion of Absorption, an Oil of Speed, a Potion of Storm Giant Strength, then use scrolls of Protection from Undead and possibly Protection from Poison. I use a Potion of Invisibility to grab the Mallet Head from the libraries without triggering the doppelgangers, then run around using stealth to force open every lock I can, loot everything, do the puzzles, drink two Potions of Magic Protection or two Potions of Invulnerability to block Fear's paralysis effect (since a Potion of Freedom would remove my haste) and then activate the warders. I then flee upstairs until the other warders follow me, then return and spam the Ring of Energy.

    Are there any traps that will bypass 100% resistance to fire and electricity? Will Love cast any disablers I need to worry about? Will I have to break invisibility in front of any oozes or spiders to loot any important containers?
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,320
    @semiticgod there are a few damage traps, but nothing that should concern you. There's a web trap that could potentially be fatal if something saw you at the wrong time, so free action or low saves would be a good idea. There are several phase spiders around which could teleport to you, so you need to keep concentrating while looting. I'm not sure how many enemies would be triggered by required looting - I'm normally trying to kill them rather than just avoid them. However, I suspect there would be a number of those. I don't think Love uses anything that would bypass saves / MR.
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,441
    edited April 2019
    Only disabler Love casts is Slow I think at -4, but MR should block it. Nothing important close to oozes or spiders.
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,441
    edited April 2019
    Finally got time to play again. I've to say, after getting Cleric levels, the game became a lot easier, as summons sweep pretty much everything.

    With 10 skelis, 5 aerial servants, 3 devas and Farsight Planar Sphere mobs were dirt easy. Lavok surrendered for never ending stream of summons, and Tolgerias couldn't stop them either. Got another level up and the Holy Symbol.

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    Planar Prison, summoned deva from sanctuary, then four skelis were enough to clear the landing. Master of Thralls killed with single casting of Energy Blades. Baited Warden to spend his spells, then sent 5 skelis who easily wasted him, although I got the killing blow with single hit. Got to final level 21Archer->Cleric26.

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    Bodhi's lair pwned with MoD and PfU, then waited Bodhi to leave. Before leaving to Brynnlaw I raided all Mind Focus potions from the temples. Brynnlaw landing was quickly cleared by 4 skelis and deva. Helped Gina and then killed Perth the Adept with Energy Blades for the spell book and the wardstone. Asylum was quickly passed without bothering fighting much, summons handled all the fighting. Irenicus was dealt with the Farsight trick, 2 skelis, 2 aerial servants and deva got him near death, and he surrendered immediatelly when prisoners were released. Lonk the Sane surprised me with some improved abilities, but nothing that Energy Blades couldn't handle. City of Caverns were another victim of my summon army.

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    Some nice things I've noticed, you can cast Deva without breaking Sanctuary and Energy Blades give 4 turn free Haste.
  • ArnoArno Member Posts: 24
    edited April 2019
    Hello, Arno again!

    I have cleared every pixel of the map and resolved every single mission available. Now I'm gathering gold to recharge my wands so when i export to SoD my inventory is full charged of magic. In the history i have escaped from Candlekeep and before going Baldur's Gate im going to clear Durlag, the Ice Island and the Werewolfs island.

    See you soon!
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    Post edited by Arno on
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    edited April 2019
    histamiini wrote: »
    Finally got time to play again. I've to say, after getting Cleric levels, the game became a lot easier, as summons sweep pretty much everything.

    With 10 skelis, 5 aerial servants, 3 devas and Farsight Planar Sphere mobs were dirt easy. Lavok surrendered for never ending stream of summons, and Tolgerias couldn't stop them either. Got another level up and the Holy Symbol.

    @histamiini 10 skellies ? i can only summon 5 :neutral:
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,441
    Well, for one rest. Just realized that Serafina getting 5th slot on level 7 spells would mean getting the wisdom bonus from the Deck of Many Things, which then again is based on chance. Maybe I don't need to bother going through the Watchers Keep at all, which would be the first for me. Archer-Cleric can skip most battles, because I can't use most armors nor weapons, and I have enough money already. Although the best armor before the end for Archer is the White Dragon Scale from the third level of Watchers Keep.
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,441
    edited April 2019
    In Under Dark bothered only fighting the Balor, summons handled the Kuo-Toa and drow. Balor was easy pray for Energy Blades. First Ust-Natha guest didn't go as smoothly, prebuffed with 4 Int and 5 Mind Focus, but my 3 aerial servants, skeli and deva were killed like in 5 seconds. So I had to tank all of them myself, drinking 5 more Mind Focus potions on the go. Luckily the drow were Mazed so they were out of danger, and arrived back just to mob the scraps.

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    With invisibility reached the Elder Orb in Beholder dungeon, waited PfMW and with double Called Shot from Energy Blades, its 10 str were quickly drained. After getting the eyestalk I betrayed the Drow and left from Ust-Natha.

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    Mind Flayer dungeon. Initial battles and the jailor were handled getting AC to 20's. Used the single Mind Flayer to open the locked door. Int to 40, AC vs. crushing to -25, and attacked the first Mindflayer party, which consisted of two and was quickly dealt with. Got the four Control Circlets. Second party AC to -30, two Ulitharids and four Mind Flayers. Had to drink another 7 Mind Focus potions, and spend my other RoR. 3rd party three Mind Flayers, another Ulitharid and Mind Flayer with the Master Brain. Master Brain was killed with Harm and Critical Strike in a second. Another useful kit to have. Now that the way out was open I could casually loot the Staff of Command without bothering fighting the rest of the Mindies.

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    Summons handled couple first parties in the Kuo-Toa dungeon, then we tanked the choke point until I saw the Prince. Who was then targeted with Energy Blades and pretty quickly killed. The Demon Knight encounter is a tough one, good luck to killing all of them. Summons concentrated on the Demon Knight as I retreated, then came back to finish it with Energy Blades. Then quickly made my escape. Adalon swept the whole exit party as I hid behind the rubble. Only bothered to smuggle the Piwafwi Cloak from the Under Dark, which you can do easily dropping it as soon as you surface. Then pausing, using pick afar, and dropping it again which moves it in the map without the turn dust script ever catching it. This need to be repeated in the Drizzt map too.

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    With the cloak and boots my MS/HIS is 219/209, anyone know to how high this scales?
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,441
    edited April 2019
    Me, my double and Deva quickly dealt with the Graveyard. PfU and MoD swept through Bodhi's lair again. Bodhi was hacked no less than three times, before she was killed mostly by me and Deva, Drizzt and company holding the other vampires. Leaving the place I noticed that Drizzt was dead, again.

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    In Suldanesselar didn't fight anybody. For Nizidramaani I summoned couple Skelis and Deva who attacked from Farsight. Tried to Harm with Critical Strike twice, but MR stopped it. So I had to bring forth the trusty old dragon killer, and with second strike it was down. Then under Sanctuary I put the items on the altar, and Rillifane cleansed Suldanesselar.

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    Irenicus Time Stop and summons were bated with single skeli. Waited Efreetis and Cornugons out. Then I bated his protections out with invisibility, then the Pit Fiend. Farsight and the stream of skelis eventually hacked Irenicus to pieces. From the tests I chose Immunity to +1 weapons, 20 FR/ER/CR, +2 saving throws, +1 wis/cha and -2 AC which meant I turned to Lawful Evil. Doesn't matter.

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    Then happened one of the funniest ends for SoA. Started the fight with 5 skelis and sanctuary, quickly escaped to bottom of the map. Somehow in the mayhem Balors started attacking others, first vorpalling the Glabrezus and then casually hacking the Slayer. I did nothing. So Serafina after incredibly hard battle rocks on to ToB. :D

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  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,320
    @histamiini always nice when evil contains the seeds of its own destruction :p.

    I think the limit on all the thief skills is 250. A limitation of the game engine meant that in vanilla if you pushed scores beyond 255 they wrapped back around to 0. I have a feeling that Beamdog avoided that issue by preventing you increasing them beyond 250.
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    @histamiini and @semiticgod do u guys know how to push a cleric passed the coronation ? spell/item wise i cannot get passed this stage at all when i charmed the caster doppelganger before the talk > and put him in the corner .... i managed to kill all of them before belt dies but belt does not talk to me anymore then, i have uploaded all of my run so far so u can check it out on my youtube the one where u can see me beeing stuck on coronation is Part 8 when it is finished uploading, but yea any help is welcome guys!

    its a pure cleric
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Mr_Salty: I think I know what's going on. If one of the pre-transformation nobles is charmed when the fight begins, that can prevent Belt from delivering the next dialog (I forget if this is because the doppelganger doesn't actually transform). The solution is to rest a couple times after you first charm those nobles. That way, you pass 16 hours, which removes the 12-hour duration of the charm effect, and then the nobles will be un-charmed when you start the fight. The nobles don't move around, so you don't have to worry about an un-charmed noble wandering back into the main room while you're resting.

    You know, if the problem is that the charm effect prevents the nobles from transforming, and if the nobles will transform after the fight begins if the charm effect is dispelled or wears off, then you could further micromanage the fight:

    1. Charm the nobles with Algernon's cloak and lure them closer so you can charm them with the shorter-ranged Nymph Cloak.
    2. Charm the nobles with the Nymph Cloak, but charm them with a long time gap in between each noble, so their charm effects are staggered.
    3. Rest for 8 hours.
    4. Put them where you want them and start the fight normally.

    If the above assumptions are true, you would only have to fight the doppelgangers one at a time, with a certain time gap in between each other, since they would transform at different times. It would be a 4-hour window, though, so it might not be worth it for classes that can tackle them conventionally.
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,441
    @Mr_Salty You have to wait the charm duration, and kill the dobbleganger after it changes back. If you kill it before the change, the guest gets stuck.
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    semiticgod wrote: »
    @Mr_Salty: I think I know what's going on. If one of the pre-transformation nobles is charmed when the fight begins, that can prevent Belt from delivering the next dialog (I forget if this is because the doppelganger doesn't actually transform). The solution is to rest a couple times after you first charm those nobles. That way, you pass 16 hours, which removes the 12-hour duration of the charm effect, and then the nobles will be un-charmed when you start the fight. The nobles don't move around, so you don't have to worry about an un-charmed noble wandering back into the main room while you're resting.

    You know, if the problem is that the charm effect prevents the nobles from transforming, and if the nobles will transform after the fight begins if the charm effect is dispelled or wears off, then you could further micromanage the fight:

    1. Charm the nobles with Algernon's cloak and lure them closer so you can charm them with the shorter-ranged Nymph Cloak.
    2. Charm the nobles with the Nymph Cloak, but charm them with a long time gap in between each noble, so their charm effects are staggered.
    3. Rest for 8 hours.
    4. Put them where you want them and start the fight normally.

    If the above assumptions are true, you would only have to fight the doppelgangers one at a time, with a certain time gap in between each other, since they would transform at different times. It would be a 4-hour window, though, so it might not be worth it for classes that can tackle them conventionally.
    histamiini wrote: »
    @Mr_Salty You have to wait the charm duration, and kill the dobbleganger after it changes back. If you kill it before the change, the guest gets stuck.


    u guys are gods :smiley: this made it so much easyer just charming them putting them in corners and just rest undo the charm and get back and fight them first fight 1 guy 2nd fight 2 guys last fight 3 guys this helped alot ! thnx again guys!
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Mr_Salty: Does it actually work? If it does, that sounds like a major game-changer. One of the problems with the Ithtyl strategy is that LoB save bonuses, when implemented properly, would make it even harder to hit any of them with disablers, even with Ithtyl casting Greater Malison, since the doppelgangers (if not the nobles) have spectacular saves. If you really could stagger the charms and tackle the doppelgangers one at a time, the fight would truly be broken 100% for all classes (aside from Wizard Slayers, of course).
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,320
    It certainly works. I don't normally use charm at all in the fight, but I've still done it on a number of occasions and each nobleman doesn't transform until the charm finishes.
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    edited April 2019
    semiticgod wrote: »
    @Mr_Salty: Does it actually work? If it does, that sounds like a major game-changer. One of the problems with the Ithtyl strategy is that LoB save bonuses, when implemented properly, would make it even harder to hit any of them with disablers, even with Ithtyl casting Greater Malison, since the doppelgangers (if not the nobles) have spectacular saves. If you really could stagger the charms and tackle the doppelgangers one at a time, the fight would truly be broken 100% for all classes (aside from Wizard Slayers, of course).

    @semiticgod
    i dont think those Nobles have any good saves lol >< check my video at the beginning >>> on how i beat those Coronation its super easy! the only problem is the lady caster casting teleportation field

    here is the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB3os1AZua8&amp;feature=youtu.be

    wait till its progressed and u can then watch it :smiley:

    and about the broken part: im glad this is a work arround. there is no other way of doing this without cheating....the level cap makes it impossible
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    The nobles will have LoB bonuses if you have the save fix installed, but they actually have high base saves, the same as a typical commoners, with a save vs. breath of 17, or 12 with LoB bonuses. The doppelgangers have saving throws of 2 (3 for spells), which would be -3 (or -2 for spells) with LoB bonuses.

    In-combat, Ithtyl's Greater Malison will bump that up to 1 (2 for spells), and so her Slow and Chaos spells will have a 25% chance of working--possible, but deeply unreliable for no-reload purposes. The player character's Horror spell would only be 5%.
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