@brunardo Well it's a challenge, so you always take the easiest route after setting up the difficulty. I noticed already that F/M/C can't cast Harm from Contingency because mage will only get to level 17, so it should be slightly different.
Spent another three WoW's on Firkraag getting 16 loops, found out that recharging is cheaper with Sister Garlena, 4900 a pop with 20/20 economy. So the price of 1M xp is less than 13k on average. Also leveled to 16/15/17 and picked up Elemental Summoning, last point on Two Weapon Style, 2x Hardiness and 3x Critical Strike.
Time to make some more money in Planar Prison. Buffed up, SI:Abjuration, PfMW and landed invisible on the Prison, and after casting 7 Cloudkills, the landing was cleared. 4 Death Warded skelis as backline, Farsight and started casting Cloudkills on the Yuanti-Mages, and they got killed before finding me. 6 apr Deva then mobbed the floor with the rest of them, including Master of Thralls. Rest, buff, 4 Death Ward skelis, 6 apr Deva, Farsight, and my summons quickly pawned the Warden. Got Boots of Speed, the second last end game gear, and 30k gold after selling all the loot.
This challenge is all about cheese. That can be good or bad - its all about perspective. @histamiini however is showing how to make it work in a nearly flawless way. Maybe he is some kind of Cyborg!
My friend @Vynn for instance is trying to beat the challenge using poverty rules with a Totemic Druid (my own favourite class) for more than a month now. As he got plenty of time and – unlike me – neverending motivation he has given me a short list of what has happened so far:
1. Died to mad Trolls during Crusader Attacks cause they ignored all summons and went directly to Andrus triggering the next waves. P.S. They were not blinded. 2. Got feared by Demons in the Avernus Elevator 3. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 4. Got killed by Sarevok cause Haste was not dispelled. 5 Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 6. Killed by Diarmid and Sarevok as Mental Domination failed. 7. Neothelid used an invisible (!) Poison Nova for lucky instakill 8. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 9. Got feared by Demons in the Avernus Elevator 10. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 11. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 12. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 13. Failed against Belhifet even though Harm hit as Caelar and summon got killed too early 14. Infamous Bandit Archer Ambush 15. Sarevok managed to land two lucky hits from max range when trying to kite him 16. Got killed by Demons in Avernus cause the final talking with Thrix did not trigger 17. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 18. Got charmed by Sirene near Lighthouse when going AFK 19. Tried to kill Morentherene for fun with Harm and failed... 20. Summons killed Semaj with crit triggering the talking with Sarevok so Diarmid and Angelo did not show up – GG! 21. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 22. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 23. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 24. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 25. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 26. Got feared again by the Abishai in Avernus Elevator 27. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 28. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 29. Died to the Undead Army in the Korlasz Dungeon cause of bad positioning 30. Got feared by another Abishai in Avernus Elevator 31. Final talking again not triggering with Thrix 32. And again feared in Avernus Elevator 33. Diarmid refused to get dominated – GG! 34. Tranzig somehow managed to cast Chromatic Orb through two walls without having vision. Say cheese! 35. Finally reaching Belhifet again but: No! 36. Ziatar found a new way of cheese too as she used her poison breath immediately after talking. Instakill. 37. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 38. Failed during the Siege on Dragonspear after getting killed by an unknown and invisible force outside of the Castle. 39. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 40. Diarmid does not like Nymphs and Mental Domination failed another time. 41. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 42. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 43. Say hello again to the Reign of Fear in Avernus Elevator 44. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 45. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 46. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 47. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 48. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 49. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 50. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 51. The Dopplegangers in the Ducal Palace went crazy focusing down the Dukes in no time. 52. Angelo managed to port away from the Spirit Lion landing his one and only Chromatic Orb. 53. Diarmid refused to get dominated another time... 54. Got petrified by Basilisk ambush 55. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 56. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 57. Got feared by Abishai in Avernus Elevator 58. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 59. Ambush by Skeleton Archers who were in need of some fresh meet 60. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 61. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 62. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 63. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 64. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 65. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 66. Talking with Thrix again not triggering so the door to Belhifet remained closed. 67. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 68. Got feared by Demons in Avernus Elevator 69. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 70. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 71. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 72. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 73. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 74. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 75. Three teleporting Phase Spiders in Cloakwood landing two hits. Poison. Death. 76. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 77. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 78. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 79. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 80. Another fear from the Demons in Avernus Elevator 81. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 82. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 83. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed. 84. Diarmid saving another time against Mental Domination – GG!
Number 85 finally managed to survive the horrors of SoD landing the MR + Harm combo while the Spirit Lion jumped in landing the final hit. With another Spirit Lion and some kiting Hephernaan joined his master shortly after.
At the moment @Vynn is nearing the Druid Grove to challenge Faldorn. Thanks to the Gauth XP loop using Spirit Summons and Fire Elementals he is already level 18. Now the real fun can start...
@Harpagornis Nice going, damn that's a lot of tries! Also didn't know that Druid doesn't have anything for Fear. What were the Poverty rules again? No items, except learning spells?
So I was thinking this poverty Bel and how could C/M deal him. Isn't 5th level Slay Living pretty much the same as 6th level Harm except instead of no save, MR doesn't affect it? I checked them up with NearInfinity and these are the differences I think:
Type, Slay Living - Harm Level, 5th - 6th Save, Spell - No Save MR, No Effect - Negates Casting Time, 1 - 9 Duration, 3 rounds - 2 rounds Thac0 Bonus, -3 - -2 Effect, Slay - Reduce hp to 1
Bel isn't immune to Slay, and with Greater Malison + Doom you can set his save vs. spell to 6, so you would've 30% of chance of slaying Bel if you don't count hitting probability.
Spent another 4 WoW's and got to the level cap, after which Pi said to Firkraag: "It's been interesting game but honestly, I grow tired of it.", and slayed him on the spot.
Power Attack Critical Strike x10 Smite Hardiness x2 Deva Elemental Summoning Bonus Spells 6,7,8
Now that I've got Simulacrum, it's time to get main guest rolling again.
Also here's how the Wand of Wonder works to my knowledge, the first 0-12 chance is Fireball but somehow that never happens. Must be something in the coding, but I couldn't figure it out. Maybe @semiticgod has some info on this?
@histamiini: No idea. To my knowledge, those percentile rolls are perfectly functional. If you copied and pasted all of the Wand of Wonder opcodes onto a custom spell and then used a Cast Spell opcode (maybe with a 1-second delay) to make the spell cast infinitely, you could cast the spell and then see if a Fireball ever comes out.
Why Death Ward on the skeletons? That shouldn't prevent them from dying to the Death Spell. The Death Spell uses the slay opcode for level 7 or 8 characters and below, but for summoned critters and I think illusionary clones, it uses the Replace Critter opcode via an .eff file, which nothing in the game is immune to. Only SI: Necromancy can block that effect.
@semiticgod Only thing in the WoW code I found different in all spells was, that Fireball had #dice thrown set to 1, where's others had 0, maybe that somehow prevents it? But anyway I've used it so long, and never seen Fireball from it, that it doesn't work.
Thanks for the Death Ward tip, now I don't have to figure it out unexpectedly!
@histamiini: You mean the dice was set to 1d0? For non-damage and non-healing spells, that indicates which level the target must be to be affected. If those parameters are set to 1d0, that means only level 1 characters will be affected.
@histamiini: Yup. There are actually some other bugs caused by dice roll parameters being set to the wrong values, especially with mod-introduced spells and items where the creator didn't understand how those parameters worked. 0d0 works on all levels.
@semiticgod In practice this also means that it doesn't happen, in LoB-mode there's no level 1 creatures, nor should you ever need to use WoW against them anyway. I reported it in the redmine.
Pi has made some nice progress. Bodhi's Sanctum was destroyed with the help of PfU, Bodhi herself waited out without fighting. Did the Mage Stronghold and got the Staff of Power, which I tested on Perth the Adept and he was stunned without a save for casual hacking. Irenicus dungeon was easy, Irenicus himself Farsight trick, 4 skelis and Deva, and although he got death spell on the skelis, Deva and I got him. Recharged RoR and WoCK, 55k gold. City of Caverns nothing interesting, although first time ever sold the Cloak of Mirroring. Underdark, robbed Beholder dungeon and didn't bother fighting anybody. Shopped Ust Natha and after selling all the loot had 57k gold. Mind Flayer dungeon was done with summons, INT buffing and Potion of Absorption. With Hardiness, Improved Haste and Critical strike the Flayers didn't really possess much threat. Master Brain Cloudkilled, got 4 Control Circlets and Staff of Command.
Did the Drow guestline, first time ever dodged the Demon Knights blind with 100 MR. But it still wasn't perfect because now I forgot level drain, and lost few levels before I equipped the Mace of Distruption. With summons hacked them out. Got the last piece for Crom Fayer, so it was time to leave.
Back in Athkatla, built the Crom Fayer and bought scrolls with 100k. Twisted Rune, Simulacrum, 2x PfU and slinged Shangalar out, you don't need PfM him. Farsight and sim then tried to charm Layene but she had her spell protections on and it failed. Waited some time for her protections to end, and another sim then charmed her, and she got killed. Then I charm killed Revanek and Vaxhall, didn't bother with Shylressa but just left with the Staff of Magi. Bodhi again PfU'd.
Picked up money from the bank (Guarded Compound) with SoC and the Time Stop scroll from the North Forest. Time to leave, Suldanesselar skipped with invisibility, Nizi double petrified.
Waited Irenicus spells at tree of life out, and then tried twice to Farsight, Project Image, Harm him, but PI didn't want to hit him. What's with that? So I had to Harm Irenicus myself with Critical Strike.
Chose protection from +1 weapons, -2 AC, -2 saves,+20 resistances and +1 WIS/CHA from the Hell Trials. Buffed up, 5 skelis and activated the last battle. Ran away, waited Fallen Planetar to unsummon, cast Simulacrum, who casted Time Stop and hacked one Balor out, and hurt the second. Second Sim was able to kill the rest of Irenicus summons. Buffed again, Harm, Critical Strike, done.
Got the ToB familiar and 185 hp, and currently hanging around at the start level. Haven't really had any problems, F/M/C doesn't need body gear to beat SoA. Lets see how Illasera feels without Shield of Reflection.
Illasera, summoned Deva to prevent her dispel arrows from hitting me, quickly escaped, Farsight, Simulacrum, Improved Haste and it easily hacked Illasera during Time Stops.
Pocket Plane challenge, summon door trick, 2x Potion of Magic Protection for 100 MR because no Ring of Gaxx, and cloudkilled the first 3 mobs. When the main wave spawned I quickly escaped to cast Farsight Sim Time Stop. But Linvail somehow smelled me and followed, I quickly summoned 6 apr Deva who was able to slay Linvail. Farsight, Sim, Improved Haste and it easily hacked both Ellesime and Duke Eltan down.
Did all the easy guests in Saradush and bought scrolls with 120k. Gromnir's mob was easy pray for my Staff of Command and I toyed by charm killing them one by one. After Eler Had and Gromnir were the only one left, I summoned Deva who slayed Eler, and then four skelis who got Gromnir himself. Gromnir's invisibility see through is weird, because sometimes he sees you, and sometimes he doesn't. Got another Spell Trigger scroll with the loot.
Master Wraith PfU'd, with invisibility to the last level of Yaga-Shura's Stronghold. Staff of Command again cleared the field from Fire Giants, 6 apr Deva hacked the Fell Cats, Berenn died from his buddies, Brimmstone first hit with Spellstrike because I didn't want to wait forever his protections to disappear, and then petrified. Farsight and simulacrum charmed Imix for no reason, because he didn't have anything useful for me, but I got to see a good brawl again. Nyalee almost killed me last playthrough so I took it more seriously, activated and escaped, Farsight, Simulacrum, Improved Haste, Time Stop, done. Meh-Yaga charmed twice with SoC and killed by his own army.
Charm killed all the high value opponents in Oasis and did the mundane stuff in Amkethran, picked up components for the Rune Hammer and built it. I'm thinking skipping Watcher's Keep again, because five levels of it for 1 apr? Of course there's perma stat buffs, but I don't know if I need them at all.
Fallen Solars will again be the toughest part of the Throne of Bhaal because no Ravager +6 for Vorpalling them, nor Improved Alacrity for Lower Resistance spamming + Harm. So I've to use Time Stop scrolls and hack them out, because otherwise they just teleport out and heal when they get injured.
With Runehammer +5, Crom Fayer +5 and Critical Strike I'll do 54 average dmg per hit. And Fallen Solars have 611 hp + 50 DR so I've to do 1222 dmg twice to kill them. I've 7 apr with Improved Haste, picking up the apr gauntlets from Watchers Keep would give me 1 apr more.
Casting Time Stop without gear also takes a round, so I can use only 2 rounds for hacking, which means that with 7 apr I need to waste 4 of my 6 Time Stop scrolls, instead of 3. But I think just one Time Stop scroll lost for the rest of the battle is enough to warrant the Watchers Keep skip.
EDIT: Using Spell Trigger scroll would also spare one Time Stop scroll.
Time Stop scroll 3x Lower Resistance trigger Spell Trigger scroll Time Stop scroll 3x Lower Resistance trigger Harm + Critical Strike Time Stop scroll Harm + Critical Strike Escape
2nd Pocket Plane challenge, summon door trick, Semaj and Angelo charm killed with SoC, Tamoko hacked, and skelis then hacked my evil twin.
Draconis, waited his spells and summons out, Death Spell to kill his Invisible Stalkers, one skeli to deplete his own Death Spell, second skeli to attack him where as I summoned another 3 skelis and Deva. The one skeli was able to hack poor Draconis human form down, but as Draconis transformed I was reminded that it killed all my summons on the spot with the Death Field. No problem because they were just decoys anyway, 3x Pierce Magic trigger, Harm, Critical Strike done.
Got blinded by Anadramatis, 2x PoMR, and hacked down eventually. Mental note, get 100 MR beforehand.
Quadruble Dragon ambush and I was in for some pain. The usual, buffed, sim and started WoWing Ziri. And omg did it take a long time to get through, 32 strikes before he was stoned. I had already lost all my buffs and used multiple RoR's to heal. Luckily Orin didn't attack me at the same time. Now, 32 strikes, really computer? Let me take my another computer out, chance of that not be cheating is 0.88^32, or about 1 in 60, wait, that wasn't as much I expected, nevermind, I guess it was just awful luck. Anyway buffed again and Orin was stoned with 10th strike from WoW. Ithy spawned, which I had prepared, 3x Pierce Magic trigger, Harm + Critical Strike, not done. I forgot that Ithy had one heal scripted. Another Harm + Critical Strike got him though, but it was damn close. Rest, 4 skelis, deva, Farsight, attack, 3x Pierce Magic trigger, Harm + Critical Strike, and Carnifex was killed. Oh boy, that was much longer and far closer than I had expected.
Eyeball area skipped with invisibility, FII freed from geas. Buffed up, Hardiness and DoEH to 60 DR, and started hacking the drakes, which took all my abilities, 10 Critical Strikes, Power Attack, Smite, 4x PfMW and about 15 heals from RoR, but eventually I grinded them out. Rest in Pocket Plane, hunted Ice Salamanders out, Tamah 3x Pierce Magic, Harm + Critical strike, done. Another rest in Pocket Plane, 5 hasted skelis, buffs, Farsight, and skelis made Abazigal transform to a dragon. 3x Pierce Magic trigger, Harm + Crit, done.
I've to conclude Abazigal guest line is easily the hardest of the bunch in ToB, I don't expect to be even hit in Sendai enclave.
How do you improve something where you didn't even get hit? How about not hitting anybody either. Drow Captain Sim Imprisoned, first level skipped with invisibility, Thelyn Sim Time Stop Imprisoned, spider cave skipped with invisibility, SI:Abjuration and skipped the Glabrezus to the lich. Odamaron, 3x PfU, and Imprisoned.
Ogremoch, Sim, Farsight, charmed with Control Circlet, who then smacked the two Greater Earth Elementals, Sim then Imprisoned Ogremoch. In, out, in trick and listened Nabassu to kill all including Diaytha. Egeissag was yet another victim of Sim Imprisonment. Mind Flayer level skipped just running through with invisibility, who didn't have even time to spawn.
Non Detection and activated Sendai, Sim, Time Stop, and Imprisoned Cleric Sendai, Time Stop and Imprisoned the second Sendai. 2x PoMR and started casting cloudkills with the help of insta invisiblity from the Staff of Magi. Drows were like angry bees running which ever way not knowing what to do. 41 cloudkills later all Drow were dead. Sim, Time Stop and Imprisoned yet another two Sendais, True Sight, Sim, Improved Haste, Time Stop and Imprisoned the last two Sendais. Real Sendai spawned and my last Sim then hacked her to pieces with 5 consecutive Time Stops.
Well that was fast and didn't need Pocket Plane, only had to smack the real Sendai a little, maybe next time I can reduce that to one Harmful slap.
I decided it was about time for another attempt at making progress with Frey the sorcerer - using the Favored of Bhaal rules with additional restrictions. For most of BG1 I won't be using any items, but I can't think of any strategy that would give even a slight hope of success against Sarevok doing that, so will have to resort to wands if I get that far.
His starting spells were blindness and find familiar and his pseudo-dragon made short work of Shoal - L3 (magic missile). At the basilisk area the familiar nibbled away plenty of basilisks - L5 (invisibility, shield, web).
Moving on to Durlag's Tower, more basilisks were nibbled - L6 (skull trap).
A blinded ogre was finished off on the way to the FAI. Tarnesh was webbed and blinded there on the way to return the belt to Unshey.
North again and a bunch of ankhegs were webbed and blinded. There was one mis-click during that resulting in Frey getting hit by some spit, but he survived - L7 (PfE, acid arrow, monster summoning I).
After finally going down to Nashkel to learn CLW, Frey attempted to get another major XP boost by finishing Drizzt off after the gnolls rendered him unconscious - but lightning got the kill first.
Smaller gains were achieved from returning Tenya's bowl and a number of reputation quests. Those included killing the Doomsayer by accumulated damage over several rests and that eventually added up to L8 (stoneskin).
A couple of golems at High Hedge were shot down as a prelude to restoring Melicamp. Summoned monsters then helped deal with the sirines at the Lighthouse before more golems were shot. The sirines up the coast then provided another decent chunk of XP.
Returning to Durlag's Tower the familiar acted as an invisible blocker while Frey attacked the battle horrors on the path. The final battle horror was stuck helpless on the wall while being bombarded with spells - L9 (mirror image, haste, monster summoning II). At the end of the session I indulged in a moment of madness when grabbing the wisdom tome despite having no protection against the trap - the gods were kind this time though.
Frey sneaked through the Nashkel Mine, renewing invisibility when the shaman dispelled it. Mulahey was webbed, then blinded and chopped down by hasted summons. I didn't bother with Nimbul, but Tranzig became another victim of summons.
At the Bandit Camp Frey sneaked into Tazok's tent using mirror image, shield, PfE and stoneskin. The trap could easily have been deadly (I didn't use any green scroll protection), but he was only hit once by it and saved for half damage. Frey left the tent too quickly and had to go back later to trigger the chapter change before travelling invisibly through the Cloakwood - avoiding the SCS ambushes in the process.
At the mine I very rarely leave Drasus alone, but decided this time there really was no point attacking and Frey just carried on into the mine. After sneaking down to the bottom level there was another close call after killing the guard when Frey somehow managed to avoid tripping one of the traps in the corridor on the way in - that firing on the way back out in addition to other trap damage took him down to 3 HPs. After resting up, summons killed the battle horrors and then successfully attacked Davaeorn without retaliation after Frey moved into sight too briefly for the mage to notice.
Frey flooded the mine and moved on to Baldur's Gate. Summons continued to be the easy option as he grabbed the tomes and did a few reputation quests. With that back up to 20 he invested some money in wands before sneaking into the Iron Throne then reporting for duty in Candlekeep. The ogre magi ambush there was foiled by using a scroll of PfM.
Frey couldn't get either of the tomes at Candlekeep, but DUHM did allow him to replace the PfM scroll used earlier (mirror image successfully defeating the lightning trap). Invisibility then took Frey past the dopplegangers and Prat's gang before the familiar feasted on a couple more basilisks. I had intended to nerf reputation again in order to get vampiric touch as a final Bhaal power (to help protect against trap damage), but forgot to do that.
Back in the City, Slythe failed to survive an attack from summons. After resting Frey moved on to the palace where his initial summons concentrated on the cleric. They all died, but Frey helped out at the end to finish the cleric off, after putting Liia into invisibility. After all the Flaming Fist were dead Frey used the rest of his spell summons to attack the mage. That got rid of its remaining spells, but inflicted no damage at all on it and darts of stunning failed to have any effect. With a speed disadvantage the familiar would have been killed in moments if it had shown itself, so Frey resorted to producing some wand summons to finish the mage off. Having done that once there seemed no point not doing it again, so more wand summons dealt with the remaining dopplegangers as well.
After stocking up on wands and sneaking through the maze, Frey successfully stuck Sarevok, Semaj, Tazok and Diarmid in a corner before luring Angelo out of invisibility using summons. The use of horror and confusion means there's a chance doing that will bring the others into action and trying to prevent that happening resulted in Frey taking a magic missile, but eventually Angelo fell. Fireballs from out of sight and monsters for the skeleton warriors soon left Sarevok on his own and another dozen or so monster charges whittled him down enough for a skull trap to provide the finishing touch.
In the SoD prologue invisibility and PfU allowed Frey to get through to Korlasz. I surrounded her with hasted summons to prevent her running around and attacked - and she immediately ran through a non-existent gap! That meant she was far harder to hit, so Frey tried to help out by using a wand of frost. He hit her once from cover behind the door, meaning one more hit should have prompted her surrender. Attempting to target her again though, Korlasz's movement dragged Frey into the doorway and all the archers immediately switched from the summons to Frey. I left him there just for about a second to launch the frost blast, but in that time his stoneskins were torn down and he was poisoned. He tried running the few steps back behind the door, but didn't make it ...
Pi did the rest of the preparations for Throne of Bhaal. 3rd challenge Slayer, PfMW, 3x Lower Resistance Trigger and Harmed. 4th challenge, Sim Time Stop hacked the assassins. Convinved Balty to join my cause. 5th challenge, used one of my four Chain Contingency scrolls to put 3x Pierce Shields in it. Buffed up, summon door trick, activated the battle, contingency, Harm + PfMW + Stoneskin trigger, Critical Strike and Harmed the Ravager. Got 25 DR, which means I can get to 85 DR with DoEH and Hardiness. Recharged all my stuff and I'm now ready to start the ascension to the Throne of Bhaal.
@Grond0 Sorry to see Frey die, does the surround of Korlasz work? I don't think I've ever seen it work. After reading your run, I'm anxious to get my current run done, so I can follow the suite with Favored of Bhaal. I'm thinking F/M with Mage Scrolls, which interestingly Sarevok would be the bottleneck.
I read part of this topic and i am little scaried by your skills and patience. I consider myself sort of IWD/IWD2 geek before, but now i am positively... incarnadine.)
@Harpagornis, whole topic need many time to read, although I will definitely do it. But interesting to know right now, did somebody try to do old LoB+SCS challenge with dualclass archer/cleric?
@Harpagornis, whole topic need many time to read, although I will definitely do it. But interesting to know right now, did somebody try to do old LoB+SCS challenge with dualclass archer/cleric?
I don't remember anyone trying that - why don't you give it a go?
So I was thinking if Sarevok was doable with just scrolls. There's at least fixed
11x Fireball scrolls dealing average saved damage of 192,5 7x Skull Trap scrolls dealing average saved damage of 122,5 3x Cloudkill scrolls dealing average damage of 165 1x Ice Storm scroll dealing average damage of 36
Also I can learn 2x Fireballs for another 24 average saved damage, which brings total potential average saved damage to 540. Now this is easily enough for all the minions if I can hit them at the same time, which I don't think is the case because Angelo is always in different place. So I may have to kite Angelo with a bow.
Diarmid 395 hp (spell 5) Semaj 239 hp (spell -1) Tazok 374 hp (spell -4)
Angelo 305 hp (spell 0)
Sarevok 830 hp (spell -4)
Sarevok can't be killed before all of his minions are dead, and he loses his MR 25 and regen 25% everytime one of his four minions die. But because I've to also fight skelis, he will most likely regen any damage dealt before all of his minions are dead. With average luck this should leave him around 670 hp when I go bow on him. Which will be very hard because in my install, he has Haste ring which can't be dispelled, and with Oil of Speed I get just a small speed advantage.
EDIT: Is Sarevok supposed to have the Haste ring, and if yes why does he drink Oil of Speed when it does nothing?
Comments
Time to make some more money in Planar Prison. Buffed up, SI:Abjuration, PfMW and landed invisible on the Prison, and after casting 7 Cloudkills, the landing was cleared. 4 Death Warded skelis as backline, Farsight and started casting Cloudkills on the Yuanti-Mages, and they got killed before finding me. 6 apr Deva then mobbed the floor with the rest of them, including Master of Thralls. Rest, buff, 4 Death Ward skelis, 6 apr Deva, Farsight, and my summons quickly pawned the Warden. Got Boots of Speed, the second last end game gear, and 30k gold after selling all the loot.
My friend @Vynn for instance is trying to beat the challenge using poverty rules with a Totemic Druid (my own favourite class) for more than a month now. As he got plenty of time and – unlike me – neverending motivation he has given me a short list of what has happened so far:
1. Died to mad Trolls during Crusader Attacks cause they ignored all summons and went directly to Andrus triggering the next waves. P.S. They were not blinded.
2. Got feared by Demons in the Avernus Elevator
3. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
4. Got killed by Sarevok cause Haste was not dispelled.
5 Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
6. Killed by Diarmid and Sarevok as Mental Domination failed.
7. Neothelid used an invisible (!) Poison Nova for lucky instakill
8. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
9. Got feared by Demons in the Avernus Elevator
10. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
11. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
12. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
13. Failed against Belhifet even though Harm hit as Caelar and summon got killed too early
14. Infamous Bandit Archer Ambush
15. Sarevok managed to land two lucky hits from max range when trying to kite him
16. Got killed by Demons in Avernus cause the final talking with Thrix did not trigger
17. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
18. Got charmed by Sirene near Lighthouse when going AFK
19. Tried to kill Morentherene for fun with Harm and failed...
20. Summons killed Semaj with crit triggering the talking with Sarevok so Diarmid and Angelo did not show up – GG!
21. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
22. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
23. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
24. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
25. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
26. Got feared again by the Abishai in Avernus Elevator
27. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
28. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
29. Died to the Undead Army in the Korlasz Dungeon cause of bad positioning
30. Got feared by another Abishai in Avernus Elevator
31. Final talking again not triggering with Thrix
32. And again feared in Avernus Elevator
33. Diarmid refused to get dominated – GG!
34. Tranzig somehow managed to cast Chromatic Orb through two walls without having vision. Say cheese!
35. Finally reaching Belhifet again but: No!
36. Ziatar found a new way of cheese too as she used her poison breath immediately after talking. Instakill.
37. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
38. Failed during the Siege on Dragonspear after getting killed by an unknown and invisible force outside of the Castle.
39. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
40. Diarmid does not like Nymphs and Mental Domination failed another time.
41. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
42. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
43. Say hello again to the Reign of Fear in Avernus Elevator
44. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
45. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
46. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
47. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
48. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
49. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
50. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
51. The Dopplegangers in the Ducal Palace went crazy focusing down the Dukes in no time.
52. Angelo managed to port away from the Spirit Lion landing his one and only Chromatic Orb.
53. Diarmid refused to get dominated another time...
54. Got petrified by Basilisk ambush
55. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
56. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
57. Got feared by Abishai in Avernus Elevator
58. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
59. Ambush by Skeleton Archers who were in need of some fresh meet
60. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
61. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
62. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
63. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
64. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
65. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
66. Talking with Thrix again not triggering so the door to Belhifet remained closed.
67. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
68. Got feared by Demons in Avernus Elevator
69. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
70. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
71. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
72. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
73. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
74. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
75. Three teleporting Phase Spiders in Cloakwood landing two hits. Poison. Death.
76. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
77. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
78. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
79. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
80. Another fear from the Demons in Avernus Elevator
81. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
82. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
83. Failed against Belhifet cause Harm missed.
84. Diarmid saving another time against Mental Domination – GG!
Number 85 finally managed to survive the horrors of SoD landing the MR + Harm combo while the Spirit Lion jumped in landing the final hit. With another Spirit Lion and some kiting Hephernaan joined his master shortly after.
At the moment @Vynn is nearing the Druid Grove to challenge Faldorn. Thanks to the Gauth XP loop using Spirit Summons and Fire Elementals he is already level 18. Now the real fun can start...
Type, Slay Living - Harm
Level, 5th - 6th
Save, Spell - No Save
MR, No Effect - Negates
Casting Time, 1 - 9
Duration, 3 rounds - 2 rounds
Thac0 Bonus, -3 - -2
Effect, Slay - Reduce hp to 1
Bel isn't immune to Slay, and with Greater Malison + Doom you can set his save vs. spell to 6, so you would've 30% of chance of slaying Bel if you don't count hitting probability.
Pi, Fighter(18)/Mage(17)/Cleric(19)
Hp 161
Flail **
War Hammer **
Mace *
Single-Weapon Style **
Two-Weapon Style ***
Power Attack
Critical Strike x10
Smite
Hardiness x2
Deva
Elemental Summoning
Bonus Spells 6,7,8
Now that I've got Simulacrum, it's time to get main guest rolling again.
Also here's how the Wand of Wonder works to my knowledge, the first 0-12 chance is Fireball but somehow that never happens. Must be something in the coding, but I couldn't figure it out. Maybe @semiticgod has some info on this?
Why Death Ward on the skeletons? That shouldn't prevent them from dying to the Death Spell. The Death Spell uses the slay opcode for level 7 or 8 characters and below, but for summoned critters and I think illusionary clones, it uses the Replace Critter opcode via an .eff file, which nothing in the game is immune to. Only SI: Necromancy can block that effect.
Thanks for the Death Ward tip, now I don't have to figure it out unexpectedly!
Fireball, dice thrown/maximum level 1
Lightning Bolt, Stinking Cloud, Web, dice thrown/maximum level 0
Also, you tagged yourself!
Damn it.
Did the Drow guestline, first time ever dodged the Demon Knights blind with 100 MR. But it still wasn't perfect because now I forgot level drain, and lost few levels before I equipped the Mace of Distruption. With summons hacked them out. Got the last piece for Crom Fayer, so it was time to leave.
Back in Athkatla, built the Crom Fayer and bought scrolls with 100k. Twisted Rune, Simulacrum, 2x PfU and slinged Shangalar out, you don't need PfM him. Farsight and sim then tried to charm Layene but she had her spell protections on and it failed. Waited some time for her protections to end, and another sim then charmed her, and she got killed. Then I charm killed Revanek and Vaxhall, didn't bother with Shylressa but just left with the Staff of Magi. Bodhi again PfU'd.
Picked up money from the bank (Guarded Compound) with SoC and the Time Stop scroll from the North Forest. Time to leave, Suldanesselar skipped with invisibility, Nizi double petrified.
Waited Irenicus spells at tree of life out, and then tried twice to Farsight, Project Image, Harm him, but PI didn't want to hit him. What's with that? So I had to Harm Irenicus myself with Critical Strike.
Chose protection from +1 weapons, -2 AC, -2 saves,+20 resistances and +1 WIS/CHA from the Hell Trials. Buffed up, 5 skelis and activated the last battle. Ran away, waited Fallen Planetar to unsummon, cast Simulacrum, who casted Time Stop and hacked one Balor out, and hurt the second. Second Sim was able to kill the rest of Irenicus summons. Buffed again, Harm, Critical Strike, done.
Got the ToB familiar and 185 hp, and currently hanging around at the start level. Haven't really had any problems, F/M/C doesn't need body gear to beat SoA. Lets see how Illasera feels without Shield of Reflection.
Pocket Plane challenge, summon door trick, 2x Potion of Magic Protection for 100 MR because no Ring of Gaxx, and cloudkilled the first 3 mobs. When the main wave spawned I quickly escaped to cast Farsight Sim Time Stop. But Linvail somehow smelled me and followed, I quickly summoned 6 apr Deva who was able to slay Linvail. Farsight, Sim, Improved Haste and it easily hacked both Ellesime and Duke Eltan down.
Did all the easy guests in Saradush and bought scrolls with 120k. Gromnir's mob was easy pray for my Staff of Command and I toyed by charm killing them one by one. After Eler Had and Gromnir were the only one left, I summoned Deva who slayed Eler, and then four skelis who got Gromnir himself. Gromnir's invisibility see through is weird, because sometimes he sees you, and sometimes he doesn't. Got another Spell Trigger scroll with the loot.
Master Wraith PfU'd, with invisibility to the last level of Yaga-Shura's Stronghold. Staff of Command again cleared the field from Fire Giants, 6 apr Deva hacked the Fell Cats, Berenn died from his buddies, Brimmstone first hit with Spellstrike because I didn't want to wait forever his protections to disappear, and then petrified. Farsight and simulacrum charmed Imix for no reason, because he didn't have anything useful for me, but I got to see a good brawl again. Nyalee almost killed me last playthrough so I took it more seriously, activated and escaped, Farsight, Simulacrum, Improved Haste, Time Stop, done. Meh-Yaga charmed twice with SoC and killed by his own army.
Charm killed all the high value opponents in Oasis and did the mundane stuff in Amkethran, picked up components for the Rune Hammer and built it. I'm thinking skipping Watcher's Keep again, because five levels of it for 1 apr? Of course there's perma stat buffs, but I don't know if I need them at all.
With Runehammer +5, Crom Fayer +5 and Critical Strike I'll do 54 average dmg per hit. And Fallen Solars have 611 hp + 50 DR so I've to do 1222 dmg twice to kill them. I've 7 apr with Improved Haste, picking up the apr gauntlets from Watchers Keep would give me 1 apr more.
1222 / (54 * 7) = 3,2 rounds
1222 / (54 * 8) = 2,8 rounds
Casting Time Stop without gear also takes a round, so I can use only 2 rounds for hacking, which means that with 7 apr I need to waste 4 of my 6 Time Stop scrolls, instead of 3. But I think just one Time Stop scroll lost for the rest of the battle is enough to warrant the Watchers Keep skip.
EDIT: Using Spell Trigger scroll would also spare one Time Stop scroll.
Time Stop scroll
3x Lower Resistance trigger
Spell Trigger scroll
Time Stop scroll
3x Lower Resistance trigger
Harm + Critical Strike
Time Stop scroll
Harm + Critical Strike
Escape
Draconis, waited his spells and summons out, Death Spell to kill his Invisible Stalkers, one skeli to deplete his own Death Spell, second skeli to attack him where as I summoned another 3 skelis and Deva. The one skeli was able to hack poor Draconis human form down, but as Draconis transformed I was reminded that it killed all my summons on the spot with the Death Field. No problem because they were just decoys anyway, 3x Pierce Magic trigger, Harm, Critical Strike done.
Got blinded by Anadramatis, 2x PoMR, and hacked down eventually. Mental note, get 100 MR beforehand.
Quadruble Dragon ambush and I was in for some pain. The usual, buffed, sim and started WoWing Ziri. And omg did it take a long time to get through, 32 strikes before he was stoned. I had already lost all my buffs and used multiple RoR's to heal. Luckily Orin didn't attack me at the same time. Now, 32 strikes, really computer? Let me take my another computer out, chance of that not be cheating is 0.88^32, or about 1 in 60, wait, that wasn't as much I expected, nevermind, I guess it was just awful luck. Anyway buffed again and Orin was stoned with 10th strike from WoW. Ithy spawned, which I had prepared, 3x Pierce Magic trigger, Harm + Critical Strike, not done. I forgot that Ithy had one heal scripted. Another Harm + Critical Strike got him though, but it was damn close. Rest, 4 skelis, deva, Farsight, attack, 3x Pierce Magic trigger, Harm + Critical Strike, and Carnifex was killed. Oh boy, that was much longer and far closer than I had expected.
Eyeball area skipped with invisibility, FII freed from geas. Buffed up, Hardiness and DoEH to 60 DR, and started hacking the drakes, which took all my abilities, 10 Critical Strikes, Power Attack, Smite, 4x PfMW and about 15 heals from RoR, but eventually I grinded them out. Rest in Pocket Plane, hunted Ice Salamanders out, Tamah 3x Pierce Magic, Harm + Critical strike, done. Another rest in Pocket Plane, 5 hasted skelis, buffs, Farsight, and skelis made Abazigal transform to a dragon. 3x Pierce Magic trigger, Harm + Crit, done.
I've to conclude Abazigal guest line is easily the hardest of the bunch in ToB, I don't expect to be even hit in Sendai enclave.
Ogremoch, Sim, Farsight, charmed with Control Circlet, who then smacked the two Greater Earth Elementals, Sim then Imprisoned Ogremoch. In, out, in trick and listened Nabassu to kill all including Diaytha. Egeissag was yet another victim of Sim Imprisonment. Mind Flayer level skipped just running through with invisibility, who didn't have even time to spawn.
Non Detection and activated Sendai, Sim, Time Stop, and Imprisoned Cleric Sendai, Time Stop and Imprisoned the second Sendai. 2x PoMR and started casting cloudkills with the help of insta invisiblity from the Staff of Magi. Drows were like angry bees running which ever way not knowing what to do. 41 cloudkills later all Drow were dead. Sim, Time Stop and Imprisoned yet another two Sendais, True Sight, Sim, Improved Haste, Time Stop and Imprisoned the last two Sendais. Real Sendai spawned and my last Sim then hacked her to pieces with 5 consecutive Time Stops.
Well that was fast and didn't need Pocket Plane, only had to smack the real Sendai a little, maybe next time I can reduce that to one Harmful slap.
His starting spells were blindness and find familiar and his pseudo-dragon made short work of Shoal - L3 (magic missile). At the basilisk area the familiar nibbled away plenty of basilisks - L5 (invisibility, shield, web).
Moving on to Durlag's Tower, more basilisks were nibbled - L6 (skull trap).
A blinded ogre was finished off on the way to the FAI. Tarnesh was webbed and blinded there on the way to return the belt to Unshey.
North again and a bunch of ankhegs were webbed and blinded. There was one mis-click during that resulting in Frey getting hit by some spit, but he survived - L7 (PfE, acid arrow, monster summoning I).
After finally going down to Nashkel to learn CLW, Frey attempted to get another major XP boost by finishing Drizzt off after the gnolls rendered him unconscious - but lightning got the kill first.
Smaller gains were achieved from returning Tenya's bowl and a number of reputation quests. Those included killing the Doomsayer by accumulated damage over several rests and that eventually added up to L8 (stoneskin).
A couple of golems at High Hedge were shot down as a prelude to restoring Melicamp. Summoned monsters then helped deal with the sirines at the Lighthouse before more golems were shot. The sirines up the coast then provided another decent chunk of XP.
Returning to Durlag's Tower the familiar acted as an invisible blocker while Frey attacked the battle horrors on the path. The final battle horror was stuck helpless on the wall while being bombarded with spells - L9 (mirror image, haste, monster summoning II). At the end of the session I indulged in a moment of madness when grabbing the wisdom tome despite having no protection against the trap - the gods were kind this time though.
Next up will be the main quest I think.
At the Bandit Camp Frey sneaked into Tazok's tent using mirror image, shield, PfE and stoneskin. The trap could easily have been deadly (I didn't use any green scroll protection), but he was only hit once by it and saved for half damage. Frey left the tent too quickly and had to go back later to trigger the chapter change before travelling invisibly through the Cloakwood - avoiding the SCS ambushes in the process.
At the mine I very rarely leave Drasus alone, but decided this time there really was no point attacking and Frey just carried on into the mine. After sneaking down to the bottom level there was another close call after killing the guard when Frey somehow managed to avoid tripping one of the traps in the corridor on the way in - that firing on the way back out in addition to other trap damage took him down to 3 HPs. After resting up, summons killed the battle horrors and then successfully attacked Davaeorn without retaliation after Frey moved into sight too briefly for the mage to notice.
Frey flooded the mine and moved on to Baldur's Gate. Summons continued to be the easy option as he grabbed the tomes and did a few reputation quests. With that back up to 20 he invested some money in wands before sneaking into the Iron Throne then reporting for duty in Candlekeep. The ogre magi ambush there was foiled by using a scroll of PfM.
Frey couldn't get either of the tomes at Candlekeep, but DUHM did allow him to replace the PfM scroll used earlier (mirror image successfully defeating the lightning trap). Invisibility then took Frey past the dopplegangers and Prat's gang before the familiar feasted on a couple more basilisks. I had intended to nerf reputation again in order to get vampiric touch as a final Bhaal power (to help protect against trap damage), but forgot to do that.
Back in the City, Slythe failed to survive an attack from summons. After resting Frey moved on to the palace where his initial summons concentrated on the cleric. They all died, but Frey helped out at the end to finish the cleric off, after putting Liia into invisibility. After all the Flaming Fist were dead Frey used the rest of his spell summons to attack the mage. That got rid of its remaining spells, but inflicted no damage at all on it and darts of stunning failed to have any effect. With a speed disadvantage the familiar would have been killed in moments if it had shown itself, so Frey resorted to producing some wand summons to finish the mage off. Having done that once there seemed no point not doing it again, so more wand summons dealt with the remaining dopplegangers as well.
After stocking up on wands and sneaking through the maze, Frey successfully stuck Sarevok, Semaj, Tazok and Diarmid in a corner before luring Angelo out of invisibility using summons. The use of horror and confusion means there's a chance doing that will bring the others into action and trying to prevent that happening resulted in Frey taking a magic missile, but eventually Angelo fell. Fireballs from out of sight and monsters for the skeleton warriors soon left Sarevok on his own and another dozen or so monster charges whittled him down enough for a skull trap to provide the finishing touch.
Favored of Bhaal with Mage Scrolls.
33 hp
** Longbow
** Single-Weapon Style
I believe so, yes.
11x Fireball scrolls dealing average saved damage of 192,5
7x Skull Trap scrolls dealing average saved damage of 122,5
3x Cloudkill scrolls dealing average damage of 165
1x Ice Storm scroll dealing average damage of 36
Also I can learn 2x Fireballs for another 24 average saved damage, which brings total potential average saved damage to 540. Now this is easily enough for all the minions if I can hit them at the same time, which I don't think is the case because Angelo is always in different place. So I may have to kite Angelo with a bow.
Diarmid 395 hp (spell 5)
Semaj 239 hp (spell -1)
Tazok 374 hp (spell -4)
Angelo 305 hp (spell 0)
Sarevok 830 hp (spell -4)
Sarevok can't be killed before all of his minions are dead, and he loses his MR 25 and regen 25% everytime one of his four minions die. But because I've to also fight skelis, he will most likely regen any damage dealt before all of his minions are dead. With average luck this should leave him around 670 hp when I go bow on him. Which will be very hard because in my install, he has Haste ring which can't be dispelled, and with Oil of Speed I get just a small speed advantage.
EDIT: Is Sarevok supposed to have the Haste ring, and if yes why does he drink Oil of Speed when it does nothing?