PfM and puffed up and activated the Avernus bridge battle, then activated Thrix and he opened the door immediatelly, good didn't have to bother fighting them.
During the lift battle, 5x Heroism, 5x Power, 2x Invul, Clarity, Durlag, Blur, Spell Sequencer, Spell Sequencer, Clarity, Speed.
Opened the battle after the dispel with Minor Sequencer, which didn't work, it said something about "one of the spells have failed", have to check that one out. Started smacking Belhifet, and it was going fairly well, I got him to the last bar when I still had 11 goblets left.
Tried to restart my Spell Sequencer which failed, and then started the long wait for the last crit, very long psychologically, but very short as my buffs started to disappear and had to use the goblet almost every round. And when my goblet had dissappeared I finally got the last hit.
But there was still Hepernaan to deal with, and my PfM disappeared so I turned invisible. Luckily Hephernaan doesn't attack when you're invisible. So I used my last PfM and last potion buffs and smacked him down.
Interestingly like with my Cavalier, Belhifet never teleported away, I wonder why that sometimes happen. It would be a great help if you could repeat that. Do you have any insight on this? @semiticgod
@histamiini: I'm guessing that he doesn't teleport away if you're engaged with him in melee. I'm on a different computer at the moment, so I can't check his script in Near Infinity. @Harpagornis probably knows more about Belhifet; he's the one who basically invented the metagame for Belhifet.
@semiticgod It's not about melee, I think it's this part:
IF !GlobalTimerNotExpired("BD_Cast","LOCALS") !GlobalTimerNotExpired("BD_IConv","LOCALS") OR(6) Range(NearestEnemyOf(Myself),10) Range(SecondNearestEnemyOf(Myself),10) Range(ThirdNearestEnemyOf(Myself),10) Range(FourthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),10) Range(FifthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),10) Range(SixthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),10) OR(6) CheckStatLT(NearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE) CheckStatLT(SecondNearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE) CheckStatLT(ThirdNearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE) CheckStatLT(FourthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE) CheckStatLT(FifthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE) CheckStatLT(SixthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE) !NearLocation(Myself,730,900,30) THEN RESPONSE #100 SetInterrupt(FALSE) SetGlobalTimer("BD_Cast","LOCALS",ONE_ROUND) SetGlobalTimer("BD_IConv","LOCALS",FOUR_ROUNDS) SetGlobalTimer("BD_NoTeleport","LOCALS",TWO_ROUNDS) ForceSpellRES("BDBELINF",Myself) // Infernal Conveyance SmallWait(5) ReallyForceSpellPointRES("BDBELTEL",[730.900]) // No such index SetInterrupt(TRUE)
And tested with it my Dwarven Defender, Bel doesn't teleport away if your fire resistance is 100 or more, but does use the Infernal Conveyance teleport if your resistance is below 100. Knowing this is a huge help in the fight if you're tanking because you don't have to crowd control with invisibility potions, and can use every round for goblet spamming.
EDIT: Now I also understand why it only happened with Cavalier previously. Because I've only had Daeros Full Plate and Twinkle usually which gives 90, but Cavalier 20 bonus puts it over the threshold. Man I've said it before, Cavalier is made for Bel, even more than anybody knew.
EDIT: Another thing I learned, you can't put Strength (modification) and Melf's Acid Arrow (attack) spells onto same Minor Sequencer. Well you can put it doesn't work, other spell will always fail. So you should put two Strengths to one Minor Sequencer to lower Bel's Thac0.
Hey @Harpagornis, I got another challenge to propose, if you're interested. You could call it the Noble challenge.
In pnp, Paladins are restricted to own only 10 magical items : - 4 weapons (a stack of magical arrows count as one magical items); - 1 suit of armor; - 1 shield; - 4 misc items, like rings, belts, potions, etc... (a stack of potions also count as 1 magical item).
The trick is that you can't have a stash where you gather everything and switch things to keep 10 items on you : when you discard an item, you can't use it ever again, because you have forfeit ownership on said item. You have fire arrows and just found a bunch of poison arrows, but already have 4 weapons ? You discard the fire arrows and never touch them again.
It could be a fun way to play. What do you think ?
@Arctodus: While you're around and I'm thinking about it, I'd like to thank you for discovering the Potion of Power trick. It's a powerful tool for Belhifet--absolutely critical in a no-reload context--and definitely the only reason my Archer/Mage made it to BG2.
I really like how far we've pooled our knowledge together and worked out the kinks in our strategies. It's taken over a year but we've made amazing progress on this challenge. I appreciate everyone who's contributed to this thread and made this all possible.
After learning quite a few things in previous fight, I've changed to the Bane fight:
Minor Sequencer: 2x Strength (can't use attack spell because other one fails) Spell Sequencer: Enchanted Weapon, Blur, Improved Invisibility (Fireshield Blue to Blur because offence was puny and defense is more important)
Missile Boots because now I can stop Bel teleporting with 100 fire resistance, Speed Boots are thus pointless
Swap Helmet of Balduran to Wizard Hat (casting speed +1) when using Sequencer during the fight as it makes it instant, it failed previously because the normal casting speed of Sequencer is one. Same applies to PfE, Mirror Image and Stoneskin scrolls if I'll have use them in the fight.
When the two Improved Invisibilities (26 rounds) are out, I need to equip Draconscale Shield and sacrifice 19 critical to keep my saves vs. Death below 2 so I won't get stunned, and also to maintain the same AC.
PfM, 2x PfF, 2x PfC, 2x PfP, Stoneskin, Blur, Improved Invisibility, PfE go. Lift powered through with hasted Animal Summons, didn't need goblet at all. Enchanted Weapon, Blur, Improved Invisibility Sequencer, made another, PfE, Haste. Waited Dispel, and Strength Sequencer on Bel to lower his Thac0 by 3:
Start went again very well, I noticed that Stoneskin scroll + Wizard Hat is almost better defense than goblet because it's instant and cancels first five hits, Bel only makes 3 apr and with about 50% hit probability it's a good alternative.
After six goblets Bel was already in his last legs, but again I didn't have time to get my defences again up, and my haste ended which meant only 2 apr so it was getting pretty hairy.
Interestingly it went faster and better than my Knight battle, although my hp went very low many times. So you can actually tank Bel with 127 hp, without potion buffing and most of you gear. In no-reload this is probably a coin toss, but that's the nature of Martyr's Morningstar.
Natural Redux deserves rest after all this, and I think Seven is already anxiously waiting to smack Sendai around.
The Noble challenge is very interesting @Arctodus - will keep this in mind for later!
Hmmmmm.... that was a fight to remember - no @histamiini? My question is now how good are the chances? Maybe you can do 100+ battles to get the numbers? Okay, that was more or less joking! For real: How high would you rate the chances for F/M: 50/50? Better? However: Good job! Let Seven finish Melissan - its time!
Hmmmmm.... that its possible to beat Big B on Bane was never in question @histamiini. My question was how good are the chances. Maybe you can do 100+ battles to get the numbers? Okay, that was more or less joking! For real: How high would you rate the chances for F/M: 50/50? Better? However: Good job! Let Seven finish Melissan - its time!
Well on average I'll make (32+32)*0,75+340 damage per 20 attacks (not hits) which means with 3 apr, Bel's hp and regen, an average about 20 rounds. That's not really a long time, and is just enough time to keep all my buffs and haste up if I use one Sequencer during the fight. So mathematically I think the chance is good, maybe more than 50%.
If I was to improve I would use Stoneskin, Haste, Improved Invisibility Sequencer, to keep my Haste the 20 rounds, and Stoneskin to give the goblet effect and protect me at least a round. Also I would take another * on Single Weapon Style and sacrifice one in Scimitars probably to give an additional AC and quicker first hit.
Okay, yeah - thats not that bad if you consider that - except for Druids - every other non-Mage class would suffer until the end of time here. And even Druids with Harm will be below 50%. The Crusader Challenge however should be quite painful for Mages at least on the highest destiny levels as they have to use one point for Mage Scrolls. But as no one disagreed i hope that its one of the not-so-bad options to tone Mage-Classes down a little bit.
I will take a look at the proposal from @Arctodus again as it has potential. But is it true the the restriction only counts for MAGIC items - so normal weapons, armor, ammunition etc. is unlimited? What does the rule-book say here in detail? Would be very interesting!
@Harpagornis Yeah, the restriction is only for magical items : in theory, you could have as much unenchanted arrows as you want. Or use an unenchanted bow, to have one more stack of magical arrows, for instance. I think it's fair, because you won't get very far in the game if you use only unenchanted items. However, it's always possible to have rougher restrictions...
Edit : Don't forget that the restriction is also categorized. If you want to use an unenchanted armor, it won't give you a fifth misc item : it's one magic armor max or nothing. Also, if you use a two-handed sword, you're stuck with only 9 magical items equipped, because no shield can be used at the same time.
Edit 2 : Optional rougher restrictions : when you sell an item, you can't buy it back because you have forfeited ownership. You can't recharge items !!
It would be funny now to return to normal no-reload:
Strength on Belhifet to lower his Thac0 to -9
-3 Full Plate -4 Helmet of Balduran -7 Slashing Belt -9 Amulet of Protection +2 -10 Cloak of Balduran -12 Ring of Purity -15 Ring of the Crusade -19 Dexterity Bonus -21 Single Weapon Style ** -24 Blur 23 rounds -26 Protection from Evil 20 rounds -30 Improved Invisibility 13 rounds
, would make Bel hit only 20's, or 19,5 average damage per 20 attacks.
Hrhrhr, thats really good stuff @histamiini. Poor Big B has just become a normal critter...
Krell used his little time rushing to Mulahey with Pixie Dust. Thanks to Algernons Cloak this was a quick charm and feed session for the Kobolds. Tranzig was the next victim even though he managed to instakill two Nymphs with Chromatic Orb. Not enough. Bandit Camp was next. My testruns with older saves have shown that without any armor options the rush-in-and-out-tactic can easily go wrong therefore Krell went for another option. Buff up with Protection from Lightning and Cold, Armor of Faith, Barkskin, Iron Skin and Pixie Dust and place three Nymphs out of sight from Raemon that casted Hold Monsters right before Krell ran to the chest. The distraction worked perfectly. Venkt casted Horror but Rage canceled this one easily before Krell got out with still 100% HP. I did this setup 10 more times and every time Krell escaped even though he got down to 50% HP a few times. Cloakwood will be next. Maybe tomorrow...
I like these calculations, here's the Power Build vs Bel
Fighter/Mage AC
-3 Full Plate -4 Helmet of Balduran -7 Slashing Belt -9 Amulet of Protection +2 -10 Cloak of Balduran -12 Ring of Purity -15 Ring of the Crusade -19 Dexterity Bonus -21 Single Weapon Style ** -24 Blur 23 rounds -26 Protection from Evil 20 rounds -30 Improved Invisibility 13 rounds
Fighter/Mage Thac0
14 Base 11 Power Potion 40 rounds 9 Martyr's Morningstar +2 8 Specialization 7 Gloves 6 Helmet of Balduran -1 Violet Potion 24 hours
Fighter/Mage Damage
4-10 Martyr's Morningstar 6-12 Specialization 8-14 Gloves 22-28 Violet Potion 24 hours 26 average damage per hit with Chant
Belhifet Thac0 -9 (with Strength) and AC -16 (with Improved Invisibility)
Belhifet average damage per 20 attacks = 19,5 F/M average damage per 20 attacks (26+26+26+26+52+52)*0,75+340 = 496
Which means the fight last 15 rounds on average, and Bel manages to do average damage of 44 during that time, 0 if you've Stoneskin on.
Krell went through the Cloakwoods only grabbing Cloak-of-Non-Detection (burning the Tasloi down with Call Lightning) while sneaking through enemy lines with Pixie Dust. Davaeorn once more. Okay! Just for fun i tested the way @Grond0 played this. Charm the Guard, lure the Battle Horrors away with Far Sight and Nymphs to send in the Guard to smack down the Mage. In the past Davaeorn always went invisible but - for whatever reason - he did absolutely nothing this time. Okay, the Guard´s weapon broke so Krell had to get in landing the killing blow - no problem with this one! But the whole thing is still a miracle to me...
Same why Fear isnt following Love anymore...
At least the game isnt get boring this way!
With the City of Baldurs Gate opened the next OP Cloaks are not far away anymore. Say hello Cloak of Balduran and Nymph Cloak!
It would be funny now to return to normal no-reload:
Strength on Belhifet to lower his Thac0 to -9
-3 Full Plate -4 Helmet of Balduran -7 Slashing Belt -9 Amulet of Protection +2 -10 Cloak of Balduran -12 Ring of Purity -15 Ring of the Crusade -19 Dexterity Bonus -21 Single Weapon Style ** -24 Blur 23 rounds -26 Protection from Evil 20 rounds -30 Improved Invisibility 13 rounds
, would make Bel hit only 20's, or 19,5 average damage per 20 attacks.
The AC bonus from the Ring of Purity will not stack with Protection from Evil because they use the same opcode. It's also possible that the Ring of the Crusade will only grant +1 to AC because it also uses the same opcode, but I'm not sure if it won't stack because the parameters of that opcode are different. Improved Invisibility will impose no penalties on Belhifet because he is able to see through invisibility innately. Same goes for the Erinyes; the only demons affected by Improved Invisibility are the Cornugons, Abishais, Hamatulas, and maybe Hephernaan. However, if you stacked Potions of Mind Focusing, your DEX bonus should be +5 (or maybe +6), not +4.
So depending on whether DEX bonuses max out at +5 or +6, and depending on whether the Ring of the Crusade stacks with the protection from evil effect from the Ring of Purity, your maximum AC against Belhifet would range from -23 to -26.
It's still enough to force him to roll critical hits, but other classes might not be able to make that happen. A single-classed fighter would have 3 higher AC due to missing Blur; a bard would be 5 higher due to the lack of full plate and the Helm of Balduran; an Archer or Barbarian would be about 6 higher (some types of armor may still give +1 AC vs. slashing damage); a cleric would be 4 higher; and a thief or monk would be 8 higher. This is assuming we used Potions of Defense or Potions of Invulnerability for those without full plate mail.
@semiticgod Nice info, never thought about that. I wondered why it felt like Bel hit more than he should. Also forgot those Mind Focusing potions, good for buffing because they're fire and forget (12 hours).
After a long rest Seven finally had some fun with the Sendai Enclave. Outside, Sim and jumped on the deer (mage Drow), and smacked the Captain and all others down. Inside, dominated the Spore Colonnies with SoC and cleared the level with the help of the Myconids.
Barracks, smacked everybody down including Thelynn, Spider cave done mostly with AI. Crossroads, smacked everybody down. Odamaron, PfU, Sim PfM, done.
Diyathas Room. Sim charmed Ogremoch with Control Circlet where as I dominated the two Greater Elementals with SoC. If this wasn't funny enough, they all got killed by their own trap.
Went to say hello to Diyatha, Invisibility and ran out of the level. Back and watched the Nabassu first kill the Demon Knight, then the Hive Mother, then the Ancient Vampire, and finally Diaytha herself, and the door opened. I did nothing.
Arena, smacked the ridiculously underpowered Drow captain. Last Mind Flayer dungeon, PfM, BMU, Blunt Belt, 2x Mind Focusing, Absorbtion, 5x Int and Hardiness, and leveled the whole place in no time.
That was a nice warm up for Sendai herself, but the wench can wait for tomorrow.
@histamiini: Good luck! Sendai should be a cinch, but I'm concerned that one of the mages might have Maze in store. Abuse the crap out of that Protection from Magic scroll!
Seven vs Sendai, PfM and activated the battle and stayed at the doorway, which protected me from two sides of attacks, and made my Defensive Stance there. With 93 DR it was just matter of grinding everybody down. Although had still to use RoR 7 times, because the attacks were fast and relentless and distrupted my Gww many times, if I remember correctly the Drow have like -25 Thac0 or something crazy like that.
After killing almost all the Drow and couple Sendai statues, invisibility and went to Pocket Plane to rest. I possibly could have grinded everyone with one PfM but why risk it? Another PfM, back and smacked all but the one mage down, Pocket Plane rest, back, Sim, invisibility, PfM on the Mage and then on me, and smacked it down. Sendai herself was pretty trivial, mostly let AI hunt her down, and after her PfMW's were out, and I cancelled her invisibility with True Seeing, she was done.
Not too hard, I've to say that the fight was easier than with Cavalier, because Cavalier AoF is dispellable, so I didn't need to use the Pocket Plane as frequently. Sir Vanderley though was more hardcore without PfM.
3rd Pocket Plane challenge was pretty funny, because the assassins don't have +2 weapons. But again I didn't get the Negative Plane Protection +5 MR reward as it promised, I've to see if I can add that with EE-keeper. The same happened with my Cavalier and the DR bonus, so I suspect that will also have to be added manually. Next to see Balty.
This is a remake of the original LoB+SCS Solo Warrior Challenge inspired by @Arctodus.
Living beyond the mundane life your Warrior is restricted to own only 10 magic items. Remember: A stack of magical arrows, scrolls or potions count as one magic item. Unenchanted items are not counted.
Another fact dividing you from a normal adventurer is that you can't have a stash. With other words: When you discard a magic item, you can't use it again, because you have forfeit ownership on the dropped or saled item. Chose wisely what to pick up on your travels!
The following classes/kits are considered „Warrior“ for the purpose of this challenge: Fighter, Berserker, Wizard Slayer, Kensai, Dwarven Defender, Ranger, Archer, Stalker, Beast Master, Paladin, Cavalier, Inquisitor, Undead Hunter, Blackguard, Swashbuckler, Monk, Dark Moon Monk, Sun Soul Monk, Barbarian. Dual-/multi-classing is not allowed!
P.S. As spellcasters and especially Mages would get an advantage here i banished them completly. Maybe we can lower the number of magic items for them but i am not sure what would be fair. Any ideas? However: A remake of the old Warrior Challenge also does not seem to be a bad idea...
@Harpagornis It's true that this challenge is more or less designed for warriors, but I can see it working for mages too. Some of these restrictions don't do much for them, I agree : having four weapons doesn't really help or hinder them, and 1 armor doesn't change their gamelay much. However, they can't use shield so they're stuck with only 9 magic items. Also, only 4 misc can be a challenge : each type of wand would count as a magical item, but if you discard a type of wand once, you can't use it ever again. And you can't recharge wands, don't forget, so no wand of monster summoning spamming ! I don't know, it's an easier challenge than a poverty one, but I don't see a mage having an easy time against Belhifet under these rules.
If we use the pnp Paladin rules we are running into troubles vs Big B i think. Thats why i wrote "10 magic items" so its open to the player which one he picks. Even then it will NOT be easy.
But what would be the perfect setup for a Warrior? This one?
Kiels Helmet (no crits, fear protection)
Full Plate Armor (does not count)
Martyrs Morningstar (One-Handed-Spec)
Ring of Purity Ring of the Crusade
Potions of Power Oil of Speed Potions of Magic Shielding Durlags Goblet
If the restriction is to 10 magic items then arguably you might be better off with unenchanted full plate - won't potions of magic shielding block fire spell damage anyway? With the relatively poor AC you've got I also wonder if dual-weapon wielding is best - if you're going for hit and run then single weapon would be better (you can also dual-wield with a single weapon by using fists as your main weapon if necessary).
Managed to get Balty to join even being evil, thanks to @Harpagornis 2-2-3-2-1-1-1-3-3-1-1-2-1 20 rep, 20 cha, 18 wis. Recharged all three RoR's and Wand of Wonder. Last Pocket Plane Challenge, summon door trick, invisibility, lured all the Bone Blades to opposite side of Pocket Plane, summoned Efreeti for them and left. Then it was just a smacking time with Sim and Gww's.
Interestingly now the 25 DR reward worked. I now have 65/100/100/100 item based DR, and 17 turn undispellable 100 DR for the end battles!
Okay, with my old restartitis striking back again i decided to reanimate one of my oldest characters in this thread for the Noble-Warrior-Challenge: The Barbarian! With all the knowledge aquired in the meantime combined with the new restrictions this should get interesting. Hopefully!
Say hello to Xaghul the Dwarven Barbarian:
He immediately cracked the chest with a precious Star Sapphire inside. Ah - i like Barbarian Rage!
Quite a good start for Xaghul after kiting Shoal with 36 Arrows. Next stops were Drizzt (Chain Mail +4) as well as Scrolls and Algernons Cloak for the Basilisk XP loop. 15 minutes later he hit level 8. Great.
Next was Dushai for his Ring of Free Action which took 39 tries before charm worked. The burial outside of the village followed shortly after. Quite nice that the Barbarian movement speed bonus does not get negated by the ring.
I also noticed that the Wiki is wrong as it states that Barbarian Rage does not work against stun. Thats not true. Even though the stun effect is dispayed in the log the Barbarian can still act like normal.
Another thing: Thanks to the potions and scrolls that are all around you hit the 10 magic items restriction really fast so even though the adventure has just started i had to sell quite some stuff. Good planning will be needed here... hmmmmm.... can this work for a chaotic Barbarian who likes to smack first and only then starts thinking? We will see! However: Time to get some reputation back!
Comments
Spell Sequencer: Enchanted Weapon, Fireshield Blue, Improved Invisibility.
Minor Sequencer: Strength, Melf's Acid Arrow.
Natural Redux Knight vs Bel
PfM, 2x PfP, 2x PfC, 2x Mind Focusing, Storm, 3x Heroism, 2x Invul, Speed, Go.
During the lift battle, 5x Heroism, 5x Power, 2x Invul, Clarity, Durlag, Blur, Spell Sequencer, Spell Sequencer, Clarity, Speed.
Opened the battle after the dispel with Minor Sequencer, which didn't work, it said something about "one of the spells have failed", have to check that one out. Started smacking Belhifet, and it was going fairly well, I got him to the last bar when I still had 11 goblets left.
Tried to restart my Spell Sequencer which failed, and then started the long wait for the last crit, very long psychologically, but very short as my buffs started to disappear and had to use the goblet almost every round. And when my goblet had dissappeared I finally got the last hit.
But there was still Hepernaan to deal with, and my PfM disappeared so I turned invisible. Luckily Hephernaan doesn't attack when you're invisible. So I used my last PfM and last potion buffs and smacked him down.
Interestingly like with my Cavalier, Belhifet never teleported away, I wonder why that sometimes happen. It would be a great help if you could repeat that. Do you have any insight on this? @semiticgod
!GlobalTimerNotExpired("BD_Cast","LOCALS")
!GlobalTimerNotExpired("BD_IConv","LOCALS")
OR(6)
Range(NearestEnemyOf(Myself),10)
Range(SecondNearestEnemyOf(Myself),10)
Range(ThirdNearestEnemyOf(Myself),10)
Range(FourthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),10)
Range(FifthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),10)
Range(SixthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),10)
OR(6)
CheckStatLT(NearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE)
CheckStatLT(SecondNearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE)
CheckStatLT(ThirdNearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE)
CheckStatLT(FourthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE)
CheckStatLT(FifthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE)
CheckStatLT(SixthNearestEnemyOf(Myself),100,RESISTFIRE)
!NearLocation(Myself,730,900,30)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
SetInterrupt(FALSE)
SetGlobalTimer("BD_Cast","LOCALS",ONE_ROUND)
SetGlobalTimer("BD_IConv","LOCALS",FOUR_ROUNDS)
SetGlobalTimer("BD_NoTeleport","LOCALS",TWO_ROUNDS)
ForceSpellRES("BDBELINF",Myself) // Infernal Conveyance
SmallWait(5)
ReallyForceSpellPointRES("BDBELTEL",[730.900]) // No such index
SetInterrupt(TRUE)
And tested with it my Dwarven Defender, Bel doesn't teleport away if your fire resistance is 100 or more, but does use the Infernal Conveyance teleport if your resistance is below 100. Knowing this is a huge help in the fight if you're tanking because you don't have to crowd control with invisibility potions, and can use every round for goblet spamming.
EDIT: Now I also understand why it only happened with Cavalier previously. Because I've only had Daeros Full Plate and Twinkle usually which gives 90, but Cavalier 20 bonus puts it over the threshold. Man I've said it before, Cavalier is made for Bel, even more than anybody knew.
EDIT: Another thing I learned, you can't put Strength (modification) and Melf's Acid Arrow (attack) spells onto same Minor Sequencer. Well you can put it doesn't work, other spell will always fail. So you should put two Strengths to one Minor Sequencer to lower Bel's Thac0.
In pnp, Paladins are restricted to own only 10 magical items :
- 4 weapons (a stack of magical arrows count as one magical items);
- 1 suit of armor;
- 1 shield;
- 4 misc items, like rings, belts, potions, etc... (a stack of potions also count as 1 magical item).
The trick is that you can't have a stash where you gather everything and switch things to keep 10 items on you : when you discard an item, you can't use it ever again, because you have forfeit ownership on said item. You have fire arrows and just found a bunch of poison arrows, but already have 4 weapons ? You discard the fire arrows and never touch them again.
It could be a fun way to play. What do you think ?
I really like how far we've pooled our knowledge together and worked out the kinks in our strategies. It's taken over a year but we've made amazing progress on this challenge. I appreciate everyone who's contributed to this thread and made this all possible.
Minor Sequencer: 2x Strength (can't use attack spell because other one fails)
Spell Sequencer: Enchanted Weapon, Blur, Improved Invisibility (Fireshield Blue to Blur because offence was puny and defense is more important)
Missile Boots because now I can stop Bel teleporting with 100 fire resistance, Speed Boots are thus pointless
Swap Helmet of Balduran to Wizard Hat (casting speed +1) when using Sequencer during the fight as it makes it instant, it failed previously because the normal casting speed of Sequencer is one. Same applies to PfE, Mirror Image and Stoneskin scrolls if I'll have use them in the fight.
When the two Improved Invisibilities (26 rounds) are out, I need to equip Draconscale Shield and sacrifice 19 critical to keep my saves vs. Death below 2 so I won't get stunned, and also to maintain the same AC.
PfM, 2x PfF, 2x PfC, 2x PfP, Stoneskin, Blur, Improved Invisibility, PfE go.
Lift powered through with hasted Animal Summons, didn't need goblet at all.
Enchanted Weapon, Blur, Improved Invisibility Sequencer, made another, PfE, Haste.
Waited Dispel, and Strength Sequencer on Bel to lower his Thac0 by 3:
Start went again very well, I noticed that Stoneskin scroll + Wizard Hat is almost better defense than goblet because it's instant and cancels first five hits, Bel only makes 3 apr and with about 50% hit probability it's a good alternative.
After six goblets Bel was already in his last legs, but again I didn't have time to get my defences again up, and my haste ended which meant only 2 apr so it was getting pretty hairy.
Interestingly it went faster and better than my Knight battle, although my hp went very low many times. So you can actually tank Bel with 127 hp, without potion buffing and most of you gear. In no-reload this is probably a coin toss, but that's the nature of Martyr's Morningstar.
Natural Redux deserves rest after all this, and I think Seven is already anxiously waiting to smack Sendai around.
Hmmmmm.... that was a fight to remember - no @histamiini? My question is now how good are the chances? Maybe you can do 100+ battles to get the numbers? Okay, that was more or less joking! For real: How high would you rate the chances for F/M: 50/50? Better? However: Good job! Let Seven finish Melissan - its time!
If I was to improve I would use Stoneskin, Haste, Improved Invisibility Sequencer, to keep my Haste the 20 rounds, and Stoneskin to give the goblet effect and protect me at least a round. Also I would take another * on Single Weapon Style and sacrifice one in Scimitars probably to give an additional AC and quicker first hit.
I will take a look at the proposal from @Arctodus again as it has potential. But is it true the the restriction only counts for MAGIC items - so normal weapons, armor, ammunition etc. is unlimited? What does the rule-book say here in detail? Would be very interesting!
Edit : Don't forget that the restriction is also categorized. If you want to use an unenchanted armor, it won't give you a fifth misc item : it's one magic armor max or nothing. Also, if you use a two-handed sword, you're stuck with only 9 magical items equipped, because no shield can be used at the same time.
Edit 2 : Optional rougher restrictions : when you sell an item, you can't buy it back because you have forfeited ownership. You can't recharge items !!
Strength on Belhifet to lower his Thac0 to -9
-3 Full Plate
-4 Helmet of Balduran
-7 Slashing Belt
-9 Amulet of Protection +2
-10 Cloak of Balduran
-12 Ring of Purity
-15 Ring of the Crusade
-19 Dexterity Bonus
-21 Single Weapon Style **
-24 Blur 23 rounds
-26 Protection from Evil 20 rounds
-30 Improved Invisibility 13 rounds
, would make Bel hit only 20's, or 19,5 average damage per 20 attacks.
Krell used his little time rushing to Mulahey with Pixie Dust. Thanks to Algernons Cloak this was a quick charm and feed session for the Kobolds. Tranzig was the next victim even though he managed to instakill two Nymphs with Chromatic Orb. Not enough. Bandit Camp was next. My testruns with older saves have shown that without any armor options the rush-in-and-out-tactic can easily go wrong therefore Krell went for another option. Buff up with Protection from Lightning and Cold, Armor of Faith, Barkskin, Iron Skin and Pixie Dust and place three Nymphs out of sight from Raemon that casted Hold Monsters right before Krell ran to the chest. The distraction worked perfectly. Venkt casted Horror but Rage canceled this one easily before Krell got out with still 100% HP. I did this setup 10 more times and every time Krell escaped even though he got down to 50% HP a few times. Cloakwood will be next. Maybe tomorrow...
-3 Full Plate
-4 Helmet of Balduran
-7 Slashing Belt
-9 Amulet of Protection +2
-10 Cloak of Balduran
-12 Ring of Purity
-15 Ring of the Crusade
-19 Dexterity Bonus
-21 Single Weapon Style **
-24 Blur 23 rounds
-26 Protection from Evil 20 rounds
-30 Improved Invisibility 13 rounds
Fighter/Mage Thac0
14 Base
11 Power Potion 40 rounds
9 Martyr's Morningstar +2
8 Specialization
7 Gloves
6 Helmet of Balduran
-1 Violet Potion 24 hours
Fighter/Mage Damage
4-10 Martyr's Morningstar
6-12 Specialization
8-14 Gloves
22-28 Violet Potion 24 hours
26 average damage per hit with Chant
Belhifet Thac0 -9 (with Strength) and AC -16 (with Improved Invisibility)
Belhifet average damage per 20 attacks = 19,5
F/M average damage per 20 attacks (26+26+26+26+52+52)*0,75+340 = 496
Which means the fight last 15 rounds on average, and Bel manages to do average damage of 44 during that time, 0 if you've Stoneskin on.
Krell went through the Cloakwoods only grabbing Cloak-of-Non-Detection (burning the Tasloi down with Call Lightning) while sneaking through enemy lines with Pixie Dust. Davaeorn once more. Okay! Just for fun i tested the way @Grond0 played this. Charm the Guard, lure the Battle Horrors away with Far Sight and Nymphs to send in the Guard to smack down the Mage. In the past Davaeorn always went invisible but - for whatever reason - he did absolutely nothing this time. Okay, the Guard´s weapon broke so Krell had to get in landing the killing blow - no problem with this one! But the whole thing is still a miracle to me...
Same why Fear isnt following Love anymore...
At least the game isnt get boring this way!
With the City of Baldurs Gate opened the next OP Cloaks are not far away anymore. Say hello Cloak of Balduran and Nymph Cloak!
So depending on whether DEX bonuses max out at +5 or +6, and depending on whether the Ring of the Crusade stacks with the protection from evil effect from the Ring of Purity, your maximum AC against Belhifet would range from -23 to -26.
It's still enough to force him to roll critical hits, but other classes might not be able to make that happen. A single-classed fighter would have 3 higher AC due to missing Blur; a bard would be 5 higher due to the lack of full plate and the Helm of Balduran; an Archer or Barbarian would be about 6 higher (some types of armor may still give +1 AC vs. slashing damage); a cleric would be 4 higher; and a thief or monk would be 8 higher. This is assuming we used Potions of Defense or Potions of Invulnerability for those without full plate mail.
Barracks, smacked everybody down including Thelynn, Spider cave done mostly with AI. Crossroads, smacked everybody down. Odamaron, PfU, Sim PfM, done.
Diyathas Room. Sim charmed Ogremoch with Control Circlet where as I dominated the two Greater Elementals with SoC. If this wasn't funny enough, they all got killed by their own trap.
Went to say hello to Diyatha, Invisibility and ran out of the level. Back and watched the Nabassu first kill the Demon Knight, then the Hive Mother, then the Ancient Vampire, and finally Diaytha herself, and the door opened. I did nothing.
Arena, smacked the ridiculously underpowered Drow captain. Last Mind Flayer dungeon, PfM, BMU, Blunt Belt, 2x Mind Focusing, Absorbtion, 5x Int and Hardiness, and leveled the whole place in no time.
That was a nice warm up for Sendai herself, but the wench can wait for tomorrow.
After killing almost all the Drow and couple Sendai statues, invisibility and went to Pocket Plane to rest. I possibly could have grinded everyone with one PfM but why risk it? Another PfM, back and smacked all but the one mage down, Pocket Plane rest, back, Sim, invisibility, PfM on the Mage and then on me, and smacked it down. Sendai herself was pretty trivial, mostly let AI hunt her down, and after her PfMW's were out, and I cancelled her invisibility with True Seeing, she was done.
Not too hard, I've to say that the fight was easier than with Cavalier, because Cavalier AoF is dispellable, so I didn't need to use the Pocket Plane as frequently. Sir Vanderley though was more hardcore without PfM.
3rd Pocket Plane challenge was pretty funny, because the assassins don't have +2 weapons. But again I didn't get the Negative Plane Protection +5 MR reward as it promised, I've to see if I can add that with EE-keeper. The same happened with my Cavalier and the DR bonus, so I suspect that will also have to be added manually. Next to see Balty.
The Noble Warrior Challenge
This is a remake of the original LoB+SCS Solo Warrior Challenge inspired by @Arctodus.Living beyond the mundane life your Warrior is restricted to own only 10 magic items. Remember: A stack of magical arrows, scrolls or potions count as one magic item. Unenchanted items are not counted.
Another fact dividing you from a normal adventurer is that you can't have a stash. With other words: When you discard a magic item, you can't use it again, because you have forfeit ownership on the dropped or saled item. Chose wisely what to pick up on your travels!
The following classes/kits are considered „Warrior“ for the purpose of this challenge: Fighter, Berserker, Wizard Slayer, Kensai, Dwarven Defender, Ranger, Archer, Stalker, Beast Master, Paladin, Cavalier, Inquisitor, Undead Hunter, Blackguard, Swashbuckler, Monk, Dark Moon Monk, Sun Soul Monk, Barbarian. Dual-/multi-classing is not allowed!
P.S. As spellcasters and especially Mages would get an advantage here i banished them completly. Maybe we can lower the number of magic items for them but i am not sure what would be fair. Any ideas? However: A remake of the old Warrior Challenge also does not seem to be a bad idea...
P.P.S. Keep going @histamiini!
P.P.P.S. Hhhmmmm... Big B could get really tricky with this rule setting...
But what would be the perfect setup for a Warrior? This one?
Kiels Helmet (no crits, fear protection)
Full Plate Armor (does not count)
Martyrs Morningstar (One-Handed-Spec)
Ring of Purity
Ring of the Crusade
Potions of Power
Oil of Speed
Potions of Magic Shielding
Durlags Goblet
+ Two More....
What could it be?
Interestingly now the 25 DR reward worked. I now have 65/100/100/100 item based DR, and 17 turn undispellable 100 DR for the end battles!
Say hello to Xaghul the Dwarven Barbarian:
He immediately cracked the chest with a precious Star Sapphire inside. Ah - i like Barbarian Rage!
Next was Dushai for his Ring of Free Action which took 39 tries before charm worked. The burial outside of the village followed shortly after. Quite nice that the Barbarian movement speed bonus does not get negated by the ring.
I also noticed that the Wiki is wrong as it states that Barbarian Rage does not work against stun. Thats not true. Even though the stun effect is dispayed in the log the Barbarian can still act like normal.
Another thing: Thanks to the potions and scrolls that are all around you hit the 10 magic items restriction really fast so even though the adventure has just started i had to sell quite some stuff. Good planning will be needed here... hmmmmm.... can this work for a chaotic Barbarian who likes to smack first and only then starts thinking? We will see! However: Time to get some reputation back!