@histamiini: Congratulations! If you give me a link to your first and last posts for Trabb's saga, I can add it to the Hall of Heroes in the no-reload thread.
Whoa just watched the final battle and great job @histamiini and how did you set up 500 skull traps? and the contigency with pierce shield/Harm amazing...I'm doing my first SCS/Ascension run on insane with my C/M duel with many reloads already but great inspiration!
@histamiini - Congrats! Not only an amazing achievement (and I can't imagine the amount of patience it must have taken to go through the 500 skull traps process, multiple times), but this does actually make you the first cleric/mage in the hall of heroes, as there have only been cleric/Illusionists so far!
@brunardo Resting in Pocket Plane, you get that back after you do one of the pools.
@Grond0 Nah now that there's a way to beat Melissan naked, I'm already thinking doing the Blade challenge with 3 items or so. Still debating between F/M, C/M and F/M/C. For C/M the bottleneck will be Belhifet without Heroism potions and 2 apr. If I wait 2.5 version, F/M/C should blow Bel out of the water with 4 apr Martyr's, even without any gear. But I would lose 9th level mage spells, which are probably fine because I used Improved Alactrity once against Solars, which Gww can replace I think. There's 4x Chain Contingency scrolls in the game which is plenty I think, and Time Stop can be used with Simulacrum from scrolls. Planetar is another loss, but that's more like convenience thing than anything else. So F/M/C with Archmage difficulty could be go, although I would like to wait 2.5, but can't probably resist starting one soon.
Anyone know what is the actual Charm prerequisite for Balty to join you in Throne of Bhaal? I'm thinking F/M/C ability scores and what would be the optimal roll, because of no gear. This is what I think, which would give the best result after getting the tomes in BG1,
99 optimal roll for F/M/C
18 STR (more the better) 17 DEX (you can't achieve 21 DEX and -5 AC by normal means so 18 and -4 is the practical max) 18 CON (19 gives 5 hp bonus in BG1) 15 INT (allows 8th level spells after the INT tome, some INT potion sessions needed to learn spells) 18 WIS (more the better, with 21 WIS you summon 5 Skelis in BG1) 13 CHA (more the better but is the dump stat, Friends gives 6 so 14 is the practical max)
Why I'm thinking about CHA and Balty is because you can't kill him with Skull Traps because he has 90 MR, 90 MDR and 1040 hp. Well you can but you need like 1040/(35*0,1*0,1) about 3000 Skull Traps on average, which is well beyond what the engine can handle.
EDIT: tested it and being evil you can convince Balty with even 1 CHA, so it can be the dump stat. Actually you can convince him with 1 WIS too, so the only prerequisite is reputation I think.
EDIT: tested it further, being evil and with 1 WIS and 1 CHA you need at least 19 reputation to get Balty to join you with 2-2-3-2-1-1-1-3-3-1-1-2-1, which is pretty trivial to achieve.
@histamiini intelligence can also be more of a dump stat. At least in v2.3 spell restrictions only apply when learning and not casting and you can just use potions to allow you to learn whatever you need.
@Grond0 Hmm, that's good news, somehow I always thought you needed INT to cast spells. Means that I don't have to keep rolling hours to get a good enough roll, CHA might be more useful than INT because of some speech checks.
So I was testing the Shadow Altar xp-loop, and in LoB you've to be at level 21 Turn Undead to explode a Shadow. Which is slightly weird because everywhere I read, they say you have to be 7 levels above. But 21 is only 5 levels above Shadow's level of 4+12 LoB, anyone know why is that? Classes that can take advantage of this in LoB difficulty,
Cleric from 2,925M xp Paladin from 4,500M xp C/M from 5,850M xp F/M/C never
So because I don't plan to take shields which rules Gauth xp-loop out, I may have to turn old Firkraag into a xp-loop.
5 levels doesn't sound unreasonable. I don't think I've ever seen an authoritative statement of the turning table within BG. However, my experience is that it's modelled at least reasonably closely on PnP - here's the table for that.
So I could resist starting new game a whole day, but had to do it. I thought first that I would do Blades & Stars with Archmage, but decided that without boots the game would be just too slow for my liking, so taking boots is more of an convenience choice than anything. Maybe mages should be allowed taking boots only as a bonus, because they are punished by needing to learn spells? @Harpagornis Anyway so this is with 2.3 so I will only have 3 apr Martyr's vs Belhifet, if I get there.
Rolled Pi, Half-Elf Fighter/Mage/Cleric. Blades & Stars challenge with Archimandrite difficulty, choices Mage Scrolls, Wands and Boots & Gauntlets.
War Hammer ** Single-Weapon Style ** Starting hp 33 with Ferret
Pi robbed Candlekeep and collected all the valuables near. And after selling Drizz stuff had already 25k gold, not that there's much to buy, other than scrolls and potions. Bought 17 Stone to Flesh scrolls, which was a mistake I figured soon after. No Algernon cloak, no Basilisk xp-loop. Bought 120 Fire, Cold and Electricity bullets, bunch of potions and scrolls and was left 18k gold.
Tenyas Bowl, and Vitiare were the first fights, 3x invisibility potions. With Sanctuary picked up the CHA tome, and soon after realized another mistake, as I already had 14 charm, it's useless. Should have put 1 point more to Intelligence. Tried to kite Gnarl and Hairtooth, but I was too weak still. After Revenant got first level up. Picked up WoMS with Sanctuary and started making progress.
Meilum 2x WoMS and got his gloves. Brage, level up. CON tome with Sanctuary. Bassilus 1x WoMS, level up. Paralyzed Mellicamp Wolf with WoP and hacked down, rescued Mellicamp. Joias Flamering, 1x WoMS, level up. Helped Dryadd, 1x WoMS. Cat, PfU. Ingot, 1x WoMS. Albert. Androuine, 1x WoMS, level up and got 2nd level mage spells. With 18/20 economy I recharged WoMS with 10k. Shoal, 1x WoMS, level up. Gnarl and Hairtooth, 1x WoMS, Potion of Magic Protection. Greywolf, 2x WoMS, level up and 10k gold. Tarnesh Silenced, 1x WoMS. Girdle Ogre, 1x WoMS. Double Ogrillons, 1x WoMS. Quadruple Half-Ogres, 1x WoMS, 20/20 economy. Spiders, 2x WoMS. Silke Silenced, 1x WoMS, level up to 4/4/4. Karlat, 1x WoMS. Neira Silenced, which is pretty funny because she can't start her dialogue, nor agro even when WoMS is hacking her. Ankheg cave, 1x WoMS per 3 Ankhegs, Potion of Magic Protection, another level up, third level Cleric spells.
Now that I've played a little, I'm thinking taking War Hammer instead of Sling was probably another mistake because slinging with WoMS has been my goto plan. WoMS pretty much wins you all in the Chapter 2 and I've had zero problems. Couple more levels still needed before heading to mines.
Teamed up with Korax and he killed Mutamin, 1 Greater and 3 Lesser Basilisks where as I took it easy and watched invisible. PfP, 2x Skelis and killed Korax and the rest of the Basilisks. Got two level ups to 5/5/5 and 3rd level mage spells. Which meant that I could cast Minor Spell Deflection and pick up the WIS tome from Durlag's Tower without wasting Potion of Clarity. Had first spell learning session, 3x Int and 1 Mind Focusing potions and learned all spells available at this point. Picked up the WIS tome from Durlags and hacked the Basilisks with 3x Skelis. Helped Kirinhale and then WoMS'd Riggilo. After farming 10 Ankhegs with WoMS I made to 6/5/6, one level before the cap.
Time to say hello to Mulahey, well not really, Silence and WoMS and he couldn't even say hello. Nimbul, Silence, WoMS, couldn't agro either. Got the missile boots. Tranzig agroed after Silence WoMS, but there was little he could do. It's been very easy going so far, maybe Bandit camp has something more challenging?
Well Bandit Camp was the easiest thing ever, Sanctuary, pick up the documents, done. Skipped Cloakwood invisible picking up the valuables. Laskal gave one Potion of Invulnerability. Lamalha and Molkar waylays skipped. Drasus mob was the first encounter that needed some special attention. Silenced the gang without activating them, 3 skelis and WoMS was enough then to kill Kysus. Rest, the same procedure again and was able to kill Rezdan. Never ending WoMS then grinded Genthorn and Drasus out. Got the first, and second last end game gear with Boots of Speed.
Skipped the mines with invisibility. Charmed (2) Davaeorns guard, lured Battle Horror to me, positioned the guard away and WoMS hacked the Battle Horror. Rest and the same procedure (5) again for the second Battle Horror. Rest, summoned 3 skelis and silenced Davaeorn who didn't even agro when my summons casually hacked him away. Looted the place. After getting to Baldur's Gate I sold my loot except jewels, and had 50k gold already. Which was nothing after I had bought everything from Black Lily and Sorcerous Sundries. Had another spell learning session and got the DEX tome for the max AC bonus. Also I'm already at the level cap of 6/6/6, with 89 hp and ** in War Hammers, Flails and Single-Weapon Style. Still need more moneys so that's the next focus, and probably Durlag's Goblet too.
Convinced Ragefast to release the Nymph, went Ramazith's tower, with invisiblity skipped the floors, WoMS and looted the place. Ferret was able to pickpocket the WIS tome from Chanthalas. Did the first guest for Scar, and skipped the second. Looted Iron Throne invisible and didn't bother fighting which meant that I would pass on one PfU scroll. Ogre Mage waylay done with pause invisibility trick. Looted Candlekeep, PfP and WoMS hacked the Phase Spiders. Looted Catacombs, got the STR and last WIS tomes, which gave me 4th skeli, escaped the place invisible.
Slythe and Krystin silenced and then 4 hasted skelis and 1 WoMS were enough for Slythe. Krystin somehow snapped out of the silence and started casting spells, so I didn't bother with her and left. Palace Ambush, 5 skelis (one from the only scroll), Spirit Armor, 2x Mind Focusing, Storm, Speed, PfE, Blur, Haste and activated the battle by making Liia invisible. First ordered skelis on the Shaman where as I PfM'd the mage. Shaman got killed, then the assassin and then it was just free for all hacking party. Lastly everybody ganged on the mage. That went well and Liaa and Belt both survived.
Picked up the Magma Plate from Underdark and also killed Tamoko, Silence and 4 hasted skelis, and couple of WoMS as she was tough to hit with that Plate of the Dark. Selling all the loot I've again 50k gold. After double charming Bentan and feeding him to the Kobbos I've also 5 PfM's and 5 PfU's. Durlags Goblet and Sarevok only left I think.
Durlag's Tower, cleared the floors to Wardens with skelis and WoMS, looted the place, did couple trips back and forth and sold everything, recharged three 50x WoF, 50x WoMS, 100x WoP, and still had 40k gold left. Buffed up, Clarity and activated Wardens, invisibility, hit couple times with WoF to get Love to wonder, lured him with sling to the entrance level, and invisibility. 4 hasted skelis and attacked, and then I noticed that they couldn't hit him. So I had to feed 9 times the WoMS, because only Ogres were able to hit him and of course I got them like every 3 summons. But because WoMS was never ending, he got eventually clubbed down. Got the Durlag's Goblet.
Visited Sunin, Silence and 4 hasted skelis started hacking him. Interestingly he could vocalize being silenced, that's how computer rolls. But even that cheating wasn't enough for the skelis and I got the second Ring of Wizardy, zero use, but the most valuable item in the game. Then I invested all my money to jewels and what not, and bought 4th WoF. I now had 200 Fireballs when facing Sarevok.
Temple of Bhaal, invisibility, in, wait 2 hours, start feeding Fireballs. Semaj took 22, Diarmid 32, and Tazok 36 fireballs, WoMS hacked Skeleton Warriors. Angelo didn't agro, and got killed with 29th WoF. Lastly started hitting Sarevok with WoF and after 107 hits, he got killed.
Finally did the end battle without seeing any of them. BG1 was super easy, F/M/C, or C/M only needs Wands to win everything. Taking War Hammer ** at the beginning was a complete waste, I didn't use it at all, only slings, so that's something to remember for the next run. Although slings are useless again in SoA so maybe that was smart even, I don't know. Anyway Pi rolls to SoD like a steamroller.
Interestingly he could vocalize being silenced, that's how computer rolls. But even that cheating wasn't enough for the skelis and I got the second Ring of Wizardy
Nice going @histamiini. Vocalize is a spell that doesn't require a verbal component (for obvious reasons!), so that's not an example of the computer cheating.
@Grond0 Oh, well you learn something new every run. This was the first time I'm really spamming Silence, and first time that ever happened to me I think. Silence is very strong in BG1 because it can break dialogue scripts and some silenced npc's won't even agro when you hack them.
Korlazs Crypt, with invisibility made my way to Porios, and persuaded him to surrender, level up. With PfU and invisibility made my way to Korlazs, buffed up, 4 hasted skelis and hacked her to surrender, which was closer than I would've liked. Made two level ups to 7/7/7 and looted the place.
Sold all my loot and jewels for 75k and after buying Sorcerous Sundries out I was left 48k gold. I also figured that I won't have Spell Sequencer for the Crusader attacks because I can't wear the Robe of Aptitude which makes it harder, but we'll see.
Did all the mundane guests in Baldur's Gate, Chapter 8, level up and 4th level mage spells. Another spell learning session with Belegram, and after buying everything interesting had only 4k gold left. Did the Menhir and Teleria guests, picked up Firefly +2 from the Orc vs Troll waylay with Sanctuary. Didn't bother with the Dwarves or Undead because no use of Secret Revealed nor anything else there. Hid behind the tent for the parlay.
Chapter 9, looted the Troll Cave with Sanctuary and got the other Enchancted Weapon scroll. Glimmer of hope for 22 WIS, looted the Goblin waylay cave with Sanctuary. Morentherene no, Ziatar and the two mages burned with 25 WoF strikes. Neothelid, buffed up, 4 hasted skelis, done. Akannas servants lured out, and double WoMS got her, another level up. Surrendered the fort, lured the Greater Fire Elemental to the camp, and as nothing could hit it, I slinged it with +3 bullets.
Chapter 10, did all the mundane guests and got to the max level of 8/9/8 with 405k xp. Sometimes low level cap is good so that you don't have to grind too much, although I'm close to 500k already. Max level also gave 5th level mage spells and 113 hp. Got also Martyr's Morningstar. Myconids hacked with 4 hasted Skelis. Freed Daeros in the basement and escaped without fighting anybody. Next up the Crusader Attacks, which is the first and second last bottleneck for F/M/C in this difficulty I think. Although no Spell Sequencer, I've already,
37 Heroism Potions 11 Power Potions 17 Skull Trap scrolls 6 Cloudkill scrolls 13 Web scrolls 9 Animate Dead scrolls Lesser Golem, Lesser Water Elemental and Myconid summons
Crusader Attacks, Troll wave, 20 pre cast Skull Traps went off beautifully, and after 2 Fireballs all but one enemy was down. Mage wave, 5 skelis back rank, buffed up, 6x pre web, Soft Feet and hit the mages with Web + Silence sequencer. Then I started feeding Fireballs, and after Webs were out, skelis joined the fun. Shortly after using couple WoMS, mages were dead. Paladin wave, 5 skelis back rank, buffed up, 9x Power Potions to 300 hp, 7x pre Web and activated the battle with the help of the archers. Web + Silence sequencer, 6x Cloudkills and skelis joined the fun. But then I was hit by Dispel and lost all my buffs and skelis started to to die, at this point it looked pretty bad. Myconids to the rescue as I started to rebuff myself, and after using all 5 summons, there's only two crusaders and me left. Summoned Water Elemental and easily beat the last two enemies. The last wave was trivial because you've couple unkillable tanks. That went pretty well, considering that I even lost my buffs at pretty critical point, so Spell Sequencer isn't needed either, even without Detonators.
WoMS, Haste, Resist Fear and started chugging Heroism potions during the monster waves. The lift took about a hour, 27 Heroism and 2 Power potions later I had about 450 hp. Enchanted Weapon, Blur, 2x Invul, Clarity, Speed, Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin and Speed were the last buffs before Bel.
Escaped Bel's Dispel, lowered his Thac0 to -9 with Strength spell, which still helps, even without gear, Invul 0, Dex -6, Single-Weapon Style -8, Blur -11, PfE 10' -13 AC. Then it was just matter of hacking, and keeping your health above 100. 450 hp is good enough, so I could even take Heroism potions between using Durlag's Goblet. Stoneskin was fairly useless in this fight though because it got removed like immidiatelly. And after a while he went down, and with Myconids I then smacked Hephernaan. This was somewhat improved fight, there's no need for PfM, and 2 hours constraint, if you can get negative saves, and PfM doesn't even protect you from Cornugon stun etc. F/M/C can fairly easy beat Bel with 3 apr Martyr's, Heroism and Invulnerability potions, even without any gear, there's absolutely no need for Boots and Gloves which I took only for convenience. C/M, with 2 apr Martyr, Power Potions, no Invul and no gear is another matter though.
Hmm, C/M can still get negative saves without gear by stacking Potion of Stone Form, which Dex drain you can then counter with Mind Focusing potions. It should make the fight possible.
Irenicus Dungeon was no biggy for Pi's skeletons, got 186k xp and 8k gold when I surfaced. Bought reputation from 8 to 14 with 2900, Scroll Case and Gem Bag, and was left 4,6k gold. Picked up War Hammer +1 from Borinils house and did the easy Graveyard guests and leveled up to 5th level cleric spells. Robbed Maevar's Guildhall and temples and picked up Potion Case from Watchers Keep. De'Arsine looted with invisibility, dispelled Glaicus, got FoA +3, two level ups to 9/10/9 and started putting points to Two Weapon Style. After selling all the loot, got 33k gold.
Slightly improved Seven Vales. Silenced Mencar, and casually hacked him out without anybody agroing. Dominated Amon, who dominated Pooky. Skelis then hacked Orcslicer and Pooky died too. Interestingly Riesling said adios, and escaped with the Invisibility ring. So if you need that, it's good to kill him first. Lastly hacked Amon out. Currently sitting at 37k gold.
Did some rep guests, Circus (+1), Skinner (+1) and Sir Sarles (+1), nothing hard. Temple sewers, the same Silence trick for Tarnor, and he didn't agro when skelis hacked him. And his pals just watched by and did nothing. Tried to dominate Gaius but it didn't work, which was fine as nobody else apparently agroed, so I lured him away and skelis hacked him. Same for Draug Fre, same for Zorl although him I was able to dominate, then same yet again on Gallchobhair, dominate, lure, hack. Lastly ganged on Rengaard. The same trick worked on Mekrath too and he did nothing.
Got the RoR and after selling all the loot and Extra-Healing potions got 67k gold. Started Haer-Dalis, level up. Did the Slave guests in the Copper Coronet and the sewers (+2), cool 90k gold and 19/20 economy. Had a spell learning session and bought Sling of Everard and Defender of Easthaven which reduced my gold to 9k. 5 skelis on Gethras yard, lured Mephits out, 5 skelis on the first floor and lured the golems down, and skelis distracted as I hacked them. Gethras silenced and casually hacked yet again with him not even agroing. This is now silly. Mae'var and the Priest silenced, and although Mae'var Vocalized out of it, skelis were able to hack all but four assassins, which I was able to then kill. Level up again and I'm already half way through to the first HLA.
Pi got the Acorns to the Dryadds, started Umar Hills, buffed and hacked Prebek, rest and the same for Sanasha, did Harper hold, 33k gold. Firkraag dungeon, picked up the key invisible, skelis killed the guardians without agroing them, and also the Director. Samia silenced and hacked as his pals watched.
Dominated one of them but I was too close and the others agroed too, nevertheless I was able to kill them all. Adamantine golem blocked by the door and slinged, which took more than 10 minutes. Got the sewer key and 62k gold. Unseeing Eye, skelis hacked all, level up to 6th level cleric spells and improved skelis, which were able to hack all undead in the bridge too. Looted the place, and smugled the Rift Device out of the sewers with the help of the Ferret. Bought all PfU's and a lot of intelligence potions etc. which reduced my gold from 70k to 36k. Completed De'Arnise before Tor'gal, Temple ruins cleared with skelis and one PfU. Level up to 6th level mage spells.
Mind Flayer base in the Temple sewers, buffed up, 5 skelis and easily wasted the first mob. Rest, another buff and cleared the second mob. Rest, buff and wasted one PoA and hacked the last mob. Alhoon no, just stole the Hammer of Thunderbolts, Wand of Wonder and escaped. Shadow Dragon petrified, and wasted another PfU on the Shadow Altar and Lord. 20/20 economy and 73k gold. Started Chapter 4 with 60k gold and did the couple guests for Linvail, another level up to 2,7M xp. Back to Windspear Hills, waited Consters spells out and skelis then hacked him.
Time to see this Firkraag xp-loop out, 2x Potion of Fire Resistance, and started spamming WoW, and everytime he was petrified, I used Stone to Flesh scrolls. 46 times WoW petrified him 6 times, or 384k worth of xp in about 5 minutes, not bad. Another level up and got first HLA, Power Attack, and put another point in Two Weapon Style. Recharging WoW costs 7400 gold so I think I'll make couple more visits there. You only need 100 Fire Resistance and it's no risk xp-loop, and you can come back as many times you like, if you don't kill him.
EDIT: recharged WoW petrified Firkraag no less than 11 times, or 704k xp in about 5 minutes. Took Critical Strike, Smite and 6th level bonus spell.
EDIT: had money for one more WoW, and petrified Firkraag another 7 times or 448k xp, got Deva and I'm currently level 13/13/14. So I got about 1,5M xp in about 20 minutes from 3 full Wand of Wonders.
Hmm it got me thinking, as WoW petrified so frequently, on average 8 times with 50 charges, that Magic Resistance can't affect it, because with Firkraag 65 MR I should only get 2 on average from 50. I checked it out, and opcode 134 Petrification is no school, which I think means MR doesn't affect it? If so it's flat 12% rate against anybody who's not immune to Petrification. This means also that it's probably the fastest xp-loop in the game, 64000xp / (50/6*6s) = 1280 xp/s, or about 4,6M xp per hour on average. Or twice as fast with Simulacrum, so you could get to the level cap in less than hour on average.
@Grond0 No I knew there was no save, but I've always thought magic resistance still affected it, I think.
Yeah, this is what I wrote in the Did You Know-thread in january.
"Did you know how good Wand of Wonder really is? It has 50 charges and 1/7 chance of petrificating target with no save (MR negates). And because all other effects than Lighting Bolt doesn't agro, and because Lightning Bolt itself has a casting time which you can cancel, you can basically Petrificate every non agro enemy, like dragons without any risk."
Magic resistance still affects the other effects of the WoW I think.
EDIT: checked it out, Magic Resistance negates all other effects of Wand of Wonder except Petrification.
Improved the Firkraag xp-loop a little. You don't need the 100 Fire Resistance or any other buff, if you rest after turning Firkraag back to flesh, he will forget his semi agro. Turned him back and forth 6 times again. What did he say, "it's been interesting game but I grow tire of it", not yet it has.
Also did the Planar Sphere, 6 apr Improved Haste Deva really was the bane of Halfings, Golems and Fire Elementals. Lavok resisted Silence, but I spent his spells sending one skeli at the time through the door. And when he started casting magic missiles, 6 apr Deva and one skeli got him. Tolgerias and his pal Silenced, Farsight and hacked down. Currently level 14/14/15 and 22k gold.
Comments
@brunardo Resting in Pocket Plane, you get that back after you do one of the pools.
@Grond0 Nah now that there's a way to beat Melissan naked, I'm already thinking doing the Blade challenge with 3 items or so.
99 optimal roll for F/M/C
18 STR (more the better)
17 DEX (you can't achieve 21 DEX and -5 AC by normal means so 18 and -4 is the practical max)
18 CON (19 gives 5 hp bonus in BG1)
15 INT (allows 8th level spells after the INT tome, some INT potion sessions needed to learn spells)
18 WIS (more the better, with 21 WIS you summon 5 Skelis in BG1)
13 CHA (more the better but is the dump stat, Friends gives 6 so 14 is the practical max)
Why I'm thinking about CHA and Balty is because you can't kill him with Skull Traps because he has 90 MR, 90 MDR and 1040 hp. Well you can but you need like 1040/(35*0,1*0,1) about 3000 Skull Traps on average, which is well beyond what the engine can handle.
EDIT: tested it and being evil you can convince Balty with even 1 CHA, so it can be the dump stat. Actually you can convince him with 1 WIS too, so the only prerequisite is reputation I think.
EDIT: tested it further, being evil and with 1 WIS and 1 CHA you need at least 19 reputation to get Balty to join you with 2-2-3-2-1-1-1-3-3-1-1-2-1, which is pretty trivial to achieve.
A complete poverty-no-reload-run would be a godlike achievement - the C/M should have here even better chances than my good old Totemic Druid.
Yeah, CHA and WIS are dumb stats when convincing Balthy so at the end only REP counts. And the right dialogue choices.
Too bad i still cannot motivate myself to play BG again - Blackguards with heavy restrictions is much more fun at the moment...
However: Have fun! Will update the Hall of Fame soon. Hopefully!
Cleric from 2,925M xp
Paladin from 4,500M xp
C/M from 5,850M xp
F/M/C never
So because I don't plan to take shields which rules Gauth xp-loop out, I may have to turn old Firkraag into a xp-loop.
Rolled Pi, Half-Elf Fighter/Mage/Cleric.
Blades & Stars challenge with Archimandrite difficulty, choices Mage Scrolls, Wands and Boots & Gauntlets.
War Hammer **
Single-Weapon Style **
Starting hp 33 with Ferret
Tenyas Bowl, and Vitiare were the first fights, 3x invisibility potions. With Sanctuary picked up the CHA tome, and soon after realized another mistake, as I already had 14 charm, it's useless. Should have put 1 point more to Intelligence. Tried to kite Gnarl and Hairtooth, but I was too weak still. After Revenant got first level up. Picked up WoMS with Sanctuary and started making progress.
Meilum 2x WoMS and got his gloves.
Brage, level up.
CON tome with Sanctuary.
Bassilus 1x WoMS, level up.
Paralyzed Mellicamp Wolf with WoP and hacked down, rescued Mellicamp.
Joias Flamering, 1x WoMS, level up.
Helped Dryadd, 1x WoMS.
Cat, PfU.
Ingot, 1x WoMS.
Albert.
Androuine, 1x WoMS, level up and got 2nd level mage spells.
With 18/20 economy I recharged WoMS with 10k.
Shoal, 1x WoMS, level up.
Gnarl and Hairtooth, 1x WoMS, Potion of Magic Protection.
Greywolf, 2x WoMS, level up and 10k gold.
Tarnesh Silenced, 1x WoMS.
Girdle Ogre, 1x WoMS.
Double Ogrillons, 1x WoMS.
Quadruple Half-Ogres, 1x WoMS, 20/20 economy.
Spiders, 2x WoMS.
Silke Silenced, 1x WoMS, level up to 4/4/4.
Karlat, 1x WoMS.
Neira Silenced, which is pretty funny because she can't start her dialogue, nor agro even when WoMS is hacking her.
Ankheg cave, 1x WoMS per 3 Ankhegs, Potion of Magic Protection, another level up, third level Cleric spells.
Now that I've played a little, I'm thinking taking War Hammer instead of Sling was probably another mistake because slinging with WoMS has been my goto plan. WoMS pretty much wins you all in the Chapter 2 and I've had zero problems. Couple more levels still needed before heading to mines.
Time to say hello to Mulahey, well not really, Silence and WoMS and he couldn't even say hello. Nimbul, Silence, WoMS, couldn't agro either. Got the missile boots. Tranzig agroed after Silence WoMS, but there was little he could do. It's been very easy going so far, maybe Bandit camp has something more challenging?
Skipped the mines with invisibility. Charmed (2) Davaeorns guard, lured Battle Horror to me, positioned the guard away and WoMS hacked the Battle Horror. Rest and the same procedure (5) again for the second Battle Horror. Rest, summoned 3 skelis and silenced Davaeorn who didn't even agro when my summons casually hacked him away. Looted the place. After getting to Baldur's Gate I sold my loot except jewels, and had 50k gold already. Which was nothing after I had bought everything from Black Lily and Sorcerous Sundries. Had another spell learning session and got the DEX tome for the max AC bonus. Also I'm already at the level cap of 6/6/6, with 89 hp and ** in War Hammers, Flails and Single-Weapon Style. Still need more moneys so that's the next focus, and probably Durlag's Goblet too.
Slythe and Krystin silenced and then 4 hasted skelis and 1 WoMS were enough for Slythe. Krystin somehow snapped out of the silence and started casting spells, so I didn't bother with her and left. Palace Ambush, 5 skelis (one from the only scroll), Spirit Armor, 2x Mind Focusing, Storm, Speed, PfE, Blur, Haste and activated the battle by making Liia invisible. First ordered skelis on the Shaman where as I PfM'd the mage. Shaman got killed, then the assassin and then it was just free for all hacking party. Lastly everybody ganged on the mage. That went well and Liaa and Belt both survived.
Picked up the Magma Plate from Underdark and also killed Tamoko, Silence and 4 hasted skelis, and couple of WoMS as she was tough to hit with that Plate of the Dark. Selling all the loot I've again 50k gold. After double charming Bentan and feeding him to the Kobbos I've also 5 PfM's and 5 PfU's. Durlags Goblet and Sarevok only left I think.
Visited Sunin, Silence and 4 hasted skelis started hacking him. Interestingly he could vocalize being silenced, that's how computer rolls. But even that cheating wasn't enough for the skelis and I got the second Ring of Wizardy, zero use, but the most valuable item in the game. Then I invested all my money to jewels and what not, and bought 4th WoF. I now had 200 Fireballs when facing Sarevok.
Temple of Bhaal, invisibility, in, wait 2 hours, start feeding Fireballs. Semaj took 22, Diarmid 32, and Tazok 36 fireballs, WoMS hacked Skeleton Warriors. Angelo didn't agro, and got killed with 29th WoF. Lastly started hitting Sarevok with WoF and after 107 hits, he got killed.
Finally did the end battle without seeing any of them. BG1 was super easy, F/M/C, or C/M only needs Wands to win everything. Taking War Hammer ** at the beginning was a complete waste, I didn't use it at all, only slings, so that's something to remember for the next run. Although slings are useless again in SoA so maybe that was smart even, I don't know. Anyway Pi rolls to SoD like a steamroller.
Korlazs Crypt, with invisibility made my way to Porios, and persuaded him to surrender, level up. With PfU and invisibility made my way to Korlazs, buffed up, 4 hasted skelis and hacked her to surrender, which was closer than I would've liked. Made two level ups to 7/7/7 and looted the place.
Sold all my loot and jewels for 75k and after buying Sorcerous Sundries out I was left 48k gold. I also figured that I won't have Spell Sequencer for the Crusader attacks because I can't wear the Robe of Aptitude which makes it harder, but we'll see.
Chapter 9, looted the Troll Cave with Sanctuary and got the other Enchancted Weapon scroll. Glimmer of hope for 22 WIS, looted the Goblin waylay cave with Sanctuary. Morentherene no, Ziatar and the two mages burned with 25 WoF strikes. Neothelid, buffed up, 4 hasted skelis, done. Akannas servants lured out, and double WoMS got her, another level up. Surrendered the fort, lured the Greater Fire Elemental to the camp, and as nothing could hit it, I slinged it with +3 bullets.
Chapter 10, did all the mundane guests and got to the max level of 8/9/8 with 405k xp. Sometimes low level cap is good so that you don't have to grind too much, although I'm close to 500k already. Max level also gave 5th level mage spells and 113 hp. Got also Martyr's Morningstar. Myconids hacked with 4 hasted Skelis. Freed Daeros in the basement and escaped without fighting anybody. Next up the Crusader Attacks, which is the first and second last bottleneck for F/M/C in this difficulty I think. Although no Spell Sequencer, I've already,
37 Heroism Potions
11 Power Potions
17 Skull Trap scrolls
6 Cloudkill scrolls
13 Web scrolls
9 Animate Dead scrolls
Lesser Golem, Lesser Water Elemental and Myconid summons
, so we'll see how it goes.
Tomorrow Dragonspear castle and Bel himself.
Pi vs. Bel
Stoneskin
2x PfF 12h
2x PfE 12h
2x PfC 12h
PfP 6h
2x Mind Focusing 3h
Storm 2h
2x PoMR 2h
PfE 10' 8 turn
2x Invulnerability 1h
Clarity 1h
Speed 1h
Go
WoMS, Haste, Resist Fear and started chugging Heroism potions during the monster waves. The lift took about a hour, 27 Heroism and 2 Power potions later I had about 450 hp. Enchanted Weapon, Blur, 2x Invul, Clarity, Speed, Improved Invisibility, Stoneskin and Speed were the last buffs before Bel.
Escaped Bel's Dispel, lowered his Thac0 to -9 with Strength spell, which still helps, even without gear, Invul 0, Dex -6, Single-Weapon Style -8, Blur -11, PfE 10' -13 AC. Then it was just matter of hacking, and keeping your health above 100. 450 hp is good enough, so I could even take Heroism potions between using Durlag's Goblet. Stoneskin was fairly useless in this fight though because it got removed like immidiatelly. And after a while he went down, and with Myconids I then smacked Hephernaan. This was somewhat improved fight, there's no need for PfM, and 2 hours constraint, if you can get negative saves, and PfM doesn't even protect you from Cornugon stun etc. F/M/C can fairly easy beat Bel with 3 apr Martyr's, Heroism and Invulnerability potions, even without any gear, there's absolutely no need for Boots and Gloves which I took only for convenience. C/M, with 2 apr Martyr, Power Potions, no Invul and no gear is another matter though.
Slightly improved Seven Vales. Silenced Mencar, and casually hacked him out without anybody agroing. Dominated Amon, who dominated Pooky. Skelis then hacked Orcslicer and Pooky died too. Interestingly Riesling said adios, and escaped with the Invisibility ring. So if you need that, it's good to kill him first. Lastly hacked Amon out. Currently sitting at 37k gold.
Got the RoR and after selling all the loot and Extra-Healing potions got 67k gold. Started Haer-Dalis, level up. Did the Slave guests in the Copper Coronet and the sewers (+2), cool 90k gold and 19/20 economy. Had a spell learning session and bought Sling of Everard and Defender of Easthaven which reduced my gold to 9k. 5 skelis on Gethras yard, lured Mephits out, 5 skelis on the first floor and lured the golems down, and skelis distracted as I hacked them. Gethras silenced and casually hacked yet again with him not even agroing. This is now silly.
Dominated one of them but I was too close and the others agroed too, nevertheless I was able to kill them all. Adamantine golem blocked by the door and slinged, which took more than 10 minutes. Got the sewer key and 62k gold. Unseeing Eye, skelis hacked all, level up to 6th level cleric spells and improved skelis, which were able to hack all undead in the bridge too. Looted the place, and smugled the Rift Device out of the sewers with the help of the Ferret. Bought all PfU's and a lot of intelligence potions etc. which reduced my gold from 70k to 36k. Completed De'Arnise before Tor'gal, Temple ruins cleared with skelis and one PfU. Level up to 6th level mage spells.
Mind Flayer base in the Temple sewers, buffed up, 5 skelis and easily wasted the first mob. Rest, another buff and cleared the second mob. Rest, buff and wasted one PoA and hacked the last mob. Alhoon no, just stole the Hammer of Thunderbolts, Wand of Wonder and escaped. Shadow Dragon petrified, and wasted another PfU on the Shadow Altar and Lord. 20/20 economy and 73k gold. Started Chapter 4 with 60k gold and did the couple guests for Linvail, another level up to 2,7M xp. Back to Windspear Hills, waited Consters spells out and skelis then hacked him.
Time to see this Firkraag xp-loop out, 2x Potion of Fire Resistance, and started spamming WoW, and everytime he was petrified, I used Stone to Flesh scrolls. 46 times WoW petrified him 6 times, or 384k worth of xp in about 5 minutes, not bad. Another level up and got first HLA, Power Attack, and put another point in Two Weapon Style. Recharging WoW costs 7400 gold so I think I'll make couple more visits there. You only need 100 Fire Resistance and it's no risk xp-loop, and you can come back as many times you like, if you don't kill him.
EDIT: recharged WoW petrified Firkraag no less than 11 times, or 704k xp in about 5 minutes. Took Critical Strike, Smite and 6th level bonus spell.
EDIT: had money for one more WoW, and petrified Firkraag another 7 times or 448k xp, got Deva and I'm currently level 13/13/14. So I got about 1,5M xp in about 20 minutes from 3 full Wand of Wonders.
Yeah, this is what I wrote in the Did You Know-thread in january.
"Did you know how good Wand of Wonder really is? It has 50 charges and 1/7 chance of petrificating target with no save (MR negates). And because all other effects than Lighting Bolt doesn't agro, and because Lightning Bolt itself has a casting time which you can cancel, you can basically Petrificate every non agro enemy, like dragons without any risk."
Magic resistance still affects the other effects of the WoW I think.
EDIT: checked it out, Magic Resistance negates all other effects of Wand of Wonder except Petrification.
Also did the Planar Sphere, 6 apr Improved Haste Deva really was the bane of Halfings, Golems and Fire Elementals. Lavok resisted Silence, but I spent his spells sending one skeli at the time through the door. And when he started casting magic missiles, 6 apr Deva and one skeli got him. Tolgerias and his pal Silenced, Farsight and hacked down. Currently level 14/14/15 and 22k gold.