Got time for Triss again. Before venturing to Cloakwood I decided to kill Dushai and do the reputation run. After failing to charm Dushai with 40 tries, I got bored and attacked with arrows luring him to the edge of the map. Killed him, and none of the towns folk agroed, good. Went and bought rep to 14, before doing the various things. Oublek, Firebead, Samuel, Joia, Brun, Drienne got me to 20/20 economy and then I fetched the tomes. Bought Claw of Kazgaroth, Sandthief Ring and Greenstone Amulet which helped to kill Tarnesh. Also leveled up to 4/3. Escaped Lamalha Waylay by casting Invisibility. Also picked up another Invisibility Potion from the Revenant Cave.
Cloakwood, with invisibility right click looted the Centeol pile for the sword and body. Charmed and fed Kysus (4) for the guards, then Rezdan (8), Genthorn (1), and lastly Drasus (9). Before going further I cashed in for the loot in the High Hedge. Charmed guard first lured the Battle Horrors away and then he casually killed Davaeorn. Level 4/4. Before leaving charmed first Natasha (2) and the Hareishan (1) for some scrolls.
In Baldur's Gate charmed Nypmh smacked Ragefast, whick took 20 minutes. Charmed Ramazith wasted his spells until his Skelis wasted him. Got level 5/5. Bought couple Intelligence Potions and started learning all the spells. In Mutamin Garden charmed Mutamin (4) who got quickly killed, then the lesser Basilisk. Charmed Greater Basilisk who then killed the Lesser Basilisks before starting the xp-loop with the Greater one. Except it accidentally killed the other Greater one before a single loop. Damn, oh well I Hasted it and it stoned the Kirian's party in few seconds. Only made to level 6/5.
Going to Durlag's Tower I first picked WoMS from the Ghast Cave. Looted the Durlag's upstairs, gave the Nymph hair for Riggolo before charming him for killing the Ghost. Then I fed him to the Ghasts. Sold my loot and had just enough money to recharge WoMS. Started another xp-loop in the top of Durlag's Tower by charming a Greater Basilisk and using green scroll of Protection from Petrification on it. And soon made max level 7/7. WoMS then helped me to clear the Ghasts from the basement with arrows. Invisibility, Potion of Absorbtion and Greenstone Amulet allowed me to loot the Warder level and avoid the deadly lightning traps and useless enemies. Selling my loot and after recharging the Greenstone Amulet, I was left with 14k gold.
Ghost Armor, PfE, Blur, Mirror Image, Greenstone Amulet, and started the fight. This time Love, Fear and Avarice all started following. Got lucky with the transtitions and only Love followed to the entrance level, which meant that Love was quickly hacked down by WoMS and Triss. Picked up Durlag's Goblet from the next level before leaving the tower for good.
WoMS easily dealth with Seven Suns. Charmed the Ogre Mage as food for Crawlers. Iron Throne, charmed Diayb who lured Kaalos and Shennara to be executed by WoMS and couple Skelis. Then charmed Thaldorn, then Naaman, Aasim and Gardush behind the pillars. Then the band attacked rest of them quickly killing Zhalimar. In the end only two Skelis stood. Potion of Invisibility helped me to escape Ogre Waylay. Iron Throne leaders got casually charmed and murdered. After casually looting the Catacombs I escaped. Hasted Larze and WoMS easily dispatched Slythe. Quenash was fed for Krystin before she was herself WoMS'd.
Palace Ambush, charmed the mage, rested charmed the shaman and mage again, rested, charmed the assassin. Before activating the combat I charmed bunch of Fists and summoned WoMS. Despite Haste Belt got killed before the three Dobbelgangers were dead. Shaman spawned and was killed after while. Before I managed to kill the assassin, the mage spawned which made things more difficult. Luckily I managed to lure it away until the assassin was dead. Then WoMS eventually grinded the mage to death. After Sarevok left, only Liia was alive. Mainly because she can nowadays keep herself out of harm casting invisibility and not fighting anybody.
Small things before the end battle. Bought bunch of stuff with 60k. Sunin charmed, depleted and killed for 9k ring. Marek WoMS'd. Charmed Rahvin (4) and fed him to Skelis. Then charmed Wudei, Gorf, Haseo and Carston with the Nymph cloak. They wasted Tamoko, and then themselves. Charmed Niemain and the gang, who wasted spells, and then killed themselves. Charmed Helsheera and Ithmeera, who attacked Delorna and after the mayhem all were dead.
Time for Sarevok. Semaj took 28, Angelo 33, Diarmid 38 and Tazok 40 hits from OGL. Sarevok himself 32 hits from OGL and 88 hits from WoF. Used two PfU's to ignore the Skelis. That was easy, nobody even saw me.
@Grond0: When you say luring Drasus away from the others, do you mean running from him far, far away from the other party members so his superior movement rate leaves them behind? It didn't seem possible until I factored in the role of his Boots of Speed.
Have you had any trouble with Kysus or Rezdan using Dimension Door to catch up to you? I've seen at least one of them use the spell before.
If you want to pull Drasus away, then approach on the left so that only he sees you. As soon as he starts to attack, run away - that works well for me.
The Archer is now right before Avernus. We have about 40 Potions of Heroism and 20 Potions of Power, so we should be in excellent shape to handle Belhifet. Even if we run out of Champion's Strength scrolls, we'll still have the staying power to beat him using brute force.
However, testing has found that it's very risky to try to get to the elevator without fighting, as I had hoped. The Lemures can remove your invisibility every round, and since there are multiple Lemures around, it's possible to lose your invisibility when your aura is still fogged. If the demons see you, they will teleport over, and if there are too many of them, you could easily get boxed in. I was able to run in and out just fine (you have to leave the area twice to avoid fighting: once to trigger Thrix's reappearance and then again after his riddle to open the door), but it's entirely possible that some wrong moves or random chance could get you trapped, and certain classes, including the Archer, would struggle to break free without being forced to use precious Greater Restoration scrolls or Durlag's Goblet.
I intend to kite them, since I still have lots of arrows to spare. Really, I just need to distract them long enough to kill the Lemures, and then I should be able to slip past the rest of them.
Porios surrendered. PfU to Korlasz, buffed accordingly, Hasted WoMS and attacked with Dispel Arrows. After dispelling her I switched to Piercing Arrows, and after a while and second dispel she surrendered. Got one scare from huge backstab but I survived after drinking immediatelly from the goblet. Before leaving the place I still murdered Korlasz. For selling my stuff and valuables I got a cool 115k gold, and after buying all the usefull stuff, was left with measly 67k.
Chapter 8. Casually ranged Teleria as she doesn't agro if you get hit from invisibility. Picked up the other Enchanted Weapon scroll from Troll Cave. Did the Menhir's guest which is trivial with invisibility and high charisma. Buffed up and helped the dwarves because I wanted the Secret Revealed so I can easily get the Spell Sequencer robe. It also helped to kill lich of Coldharbor, used one PfU and didn't bother fighting any other undead. Hid behind the tent for the parlay.
Chapter 9. Started with the usual, daggered Morentherene and burned Ziatar with 31 strikes from OGL. Lured the two Aerial Servants out from Akanna's room, before trying to charm her even with the saving throw fix, as her save is 7. But it didn't work with 7 tries. Neothelid teleported in the room, which was actually good as my WoMS kept it in there, and it did nice damage to Akanna too. After couple WoMS, Neothelid teleporting in and out from the room again, Akanna finally fell to Ogre. Surrendered the fort, Dispel and Piercing Arrows handled the bridge mage.
Chapter 10. Did the various guests for items and xp. Before leaving to Underground River I was 40k xp short of max level. Helm of Unwavering Purpose and Hasted WoMS and Stone Ally helped to kill the Myconids. F/I is probably the easiest class before BG2 and it shines yet again, being able to use Wand of Water Elemental Summoning, among the rest of the summoning items. Charmed Ferrusk for the Myconid amulet. Used PfU and Secret Revealed for the Lich in Kanaglym, and all hell broke loose after it wondered to the mages. But in the end it was enough to nick the Spell Sequencer robe from his body and escape. Charmed Strunk and fed him to the Ettin Ghost. 100 MR from Potions of Magic Protection allowed me to loot the chest with the Crown in the Dragonspear Basement, after which I made my hasty escape. Still picked the Ring of the Tiny Fiend before going to Coalition Camp. Also reacher max level 9/10 with
After recharging my summon items I could now summon,
100x 12 HD Monsters
5x 1d4 Myconids
1x 1d4 Mephits
10x 2 Ankhegs
3x Lesser Stone Golems
5x Lesser Water Elementals
without using any spells.
Crusader Attacks. First wave, Soft Freet, Stone Ally, 2x Web sequencer and 14 Arrows of Detonation, done. Second wave, 7x pre Web and 16 Detonators. Third wave, 5x pre Web, 3x pre Cloudkill and 15 Detonators. At this point I wasn't hit even once. Final wave didn't go nearly as smoothly, as my Greater Malison, Web, Web spell sequencer failed to hold most of the enemies. No matter eventually my never ending summons allowed me to range them out.
Based on @Harpagornis advice, 15 minutes of wait in the Dragonspear Attack netted me 9 Power, 9 Heroism, 15 Speed, 4 Invul and 6 Invisibility Potions, among other loot. Ashatiel didn't stand a chance. Thrix was tricked perfectly without even need to exit the level.
And started the lift, hacking with Martyr's Morningstar and Twinkle combo. Drank 40 Heroism Potions during the ascend. With the last enemy my Speed ended, which reminded me to refresh my 1h buffs. Then I killed the last Bone Fiend, and unequipped Twinkle. Stoneskin and Mirror Image, then Enchanted Weapon, Blur, Improved Invisibility sequencer. Hit Bel with Strength, Strength sequencer after the dispel to lower his Thac0. And the mighty Bel fell soon after, before I had to use any healing what so ever, which @Grond0 will surely appreciate.
If F/I is the easiest class to get through BG1 + SoD, I also started something much harder. Constantina, Priest of Lathander to be mage after level 21, in the wake of @Mr_Salty experience. She will have hard time at Crusader Attacks, but we'll see.
Fighter/Mage looks far too easy in your hands @histamiini.
But i must admit that i also got pretty bored with my Mage3/Fighter combo once i got the Wands. However: Priest of Lathander looks much more interesting - should be some interesting fights ahead.
I also noticed that Liia uses Invisbility in your installation @histamiini - is this SCS v32 stuff? Cause in my game she still is doing nothing...
Are Arrows of Dispelling + Piercing also enough for a Swashi with 1 APR less? Still have to test this...
So the fourth and final wave of the Crusader Wave is now to be called the toughest? Cause i am still thinking which one should eat the full trap-package with my Swashi...
Your number of potion drops in the final Siege on Dragonspear looks a bit low but its quite random and if i remember correctly the really higher numbers only appear after 30++ minutes...
What does "Thrix was tricked perfectly without even need to exit the level." @histamiini - invi potion(s)?
@Harpagornis Yeah Liia got some improvements in SCS v32, she'll keep out of the fight and cast multiple invisibilities among other buffs. Which improves the success ratio in this fight. The enemies are just as though as before, just that it doesn't fail on nobility deaths that easily.
Dispel/Piercing combo should be enough against the Bridge Mage, just maximise Thac0 and start from invisibility. I didn't have any pips in bows, so my apr was only 3 too.
I think it depends on the character which wave is the toughest, the final wave is probably the toughest, but the troll wave could be deadly too. I think the mage wave is the easiest.
I didn't take the time for the Dragonspear attack, just guessed it. Maybe 2.5 has changed the scripts a little?
Thrix asked the question immediatelly, and the door opened immediatelly, which meant that I didn't need to exit the level to activate either of those. I always run to Thrix invisible, but it doesn't always work like this.
If F/I is the easiest class to get through BG1 + SoD, I also started something much harder. Constantina, Priest of Lathander to be mage after level 21, in the wake of @Mr_Salty experience. She will have hard time at Crusader Attacks, but we'll see.
If F/I is the easiest class to get through BG1 + SoD, I also started something much harder. Constantina, Priest of Lathander to be mage after level 21, in the wake of @Mr_Salty experience. She will have hard time at Crusader Attacks, but we'll see.
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i wish u good luck on the cleric mate!! its doable haha uve seen it!!
The Archer is right before Belhifet. We got past the demons by selectively killing the Lemures and then sneaking past the others, which involved a fair amount of kiting and running around to make sure we didn't get boxed in. To make sure we could rest safely in the first area, we went ahead and fought Illaruel and company, using the Ring of Energy to help deal with the Hell Cats (who can see through invisibility, apparently) and their constant invisibility spells. My hopes of using the Ring of the Tiny Fiend as a reliable decoy failed, as the Imps could take control of them, oddly enough, with the Charm Person spell. We used Chaotic Commands scrolls and Potions of Clarity and Defense to avoid getting disabled; the enemies can cast Horror, Hold Person, and Command as well as Charm Person.
We got the riddle right and we now have our +3 longsword and +3 shortsword both. Belhifet is doable, but I have to make sure we can manage the elevator fights without using Durlag's Goblet or Greater Restoration scrolls, and I can't make any careless mistakes against Belhifet.
The Potion of Power/Heroism bug is still in effect. When your old Potions of Heroism or Power wear off, your current HP drops down proportionately, and when you drink them consecutively, that means your current HP will go down round after round, until Durlag's Goblet is worthless in the final battle. You'll be at 300 HP and suddenly you'll drop down to 100 just a few rounds later. I had to drink new Potions of Power just to stay afloat, but I had to spend so much time running around and periodically using Greater Restoration scrolls to avoid getting killed by the Erinyes' arrows that my Potion of Clarity and Potion of Magic Shielding wore off at the last minute and got me killed. It wasn't even my first Potion of Clarity; I re-drank it.
Lesson learned. There is a limit to how many Potions of Heroism or Potions of Power you can safely use.
During the elevator fight, wait until your previous Potions of Heroism wear off and drink an entirely new round of potions before you kill the last enemy. If you start drinking Potions of Heroism at the bottom of the elevator, every round you spend on the way up is ticking away at their durations, and if they expire midway through the Belhifet fight, you'll see your HP slowly tick down without warning, and there is no way you'll be able to predict it or adjust for it.
The Potion of Power/Heroism bug is still in effect. When your old Potions of Heroism or Power wear off, your current HP drops down proportionately, and when you drink them consecutively, that means your current HP will go down round after round, until Durlag's Goblet is worthless in the final battle. You'll be at 300 HP and suddenly you'll drop down to 100 just a few rounds later. I had to drink new Potions of Power just to stay afloat, but I had to spend so much time running around and periodically using Greater Restoration scrolls to avoid getting killed by the Erinyes' arrows that my Potion of Clarity and Potion of Magic Shielding wore off at the last minute and got me killed. It wasn't even my first Potion of Clarity; I re-drank it.
I'm not quite sure what the bug is here? I thought at one time there was a bug that meant all your HPs were lost as soon as one potion wore off, but that doesn't seem to be what you're describing. What's the problem with losing basic HPs granted by each potion as they wear off?
Incidentally, were you using all the missile protection you could have? One obvious potential missing item would be the Cloak of Displacement - I don't normally buy that due to inventory overload, but in the final fight (when you're buffed up with potions) it would arguably be better than the Cloak of Balduran. For some characters the Claw would be beneficial and you could even use a shield in between arrow shots - though that would be a bit of a pain in a long fight.
@semiticgod Damn, tough luck. Bel really has been punishing you lately. I still think the sling tanking is the most repeatable for Archer though. Because of the fairly flat damage and it still gives 3 apr. Did a test run and when Champion's Strength had failed, only had to use the Goblet 5 times, and had time to use 60 Bullet's of Darkness, which got Bel to 82 hp. After that it only took 10 or so Arrow's of Detonation to finish him off.
As of the Cleric, against Bel my current plan is to take * in Flail's, Club's, Two-Weapon Style and Single-Weapon Style. First tank with Blazing Glory and Root of the Problem until Champion's Strengths fail, then unequip Root of the Problem and tank until my hp buffs fail, and lastly switch to hitting from invisibility. Boon will give me 1 turn of 4 apr. Should be doable, although with no-reload I'm not sure I'll get there. Need to hoard all the Power Potions I can get and maybe use them in the Crusader Attacks, and then get second patch from the Dragonspear Castle for Bel.
@Grond0 There's still the Power Potion bug where hp suddenly drops from like 500 to 100 when it fails, I think I've seen it lately. Although I don't think that applies to Heroism Potions.
Found something interesting looking the game files. There's thing called the Agathor's Near-Universal Solvent, which Opens at 125 and can be used indefinitely from quick slot. This could open all locks in SoD, including the Vampire Hideout with Sundermaul, Dragonspear Castle Basement with Arrows +3 etc. Problem is that it's held by Roark, who should be at Bridgefort Interior, but I haven't found the correct prerequisite to spawn him there yet.
Found something interesting looking the game files. There's thing called the Agathor's Near-Universal Solvent, which Opens at 125 and can be used indefinitely from quick slot. This could open all locks in SoD, including the Vampire Hideout with Sundermaul. Problem is that it's held by Roark, who should be at Bridgefort Interior, but I haven't found the correct prerequisite to spawn him there yet.
everyone can use it ? if so plz find it out quickly !!! hahaha
everyone can use it ? if so plz find it out quickly !!! hahaha
Yeah, and it's dropped by Roark. His files say something about stakeout guest, but haven't found anything on it yet. I'm not very good at looking the quests with NearInfinity.
@histamiini: Slings aren't the best option for Belhifet even if the kit is modded to allow Grandmastery in slings. Even for an Archer, the maximum damage comes from melee attacks or arrows since Belhifet's missile damage resistance is 50% instead of 25% for other damage types.
@Grond0: A single Potion of Power grants maybe 25 HP for a fighter at the end of SoD, but when it runs out, it reduces your current HP by much more than that. I've seen my Archer lose 100 current HP in a single round, even if maximum HP decreases only slightly. It's a bit of a bug, but since Potion of Power stacking is already unintended behavior, it wouldn't really justify a reload that the glitch isn't working properly.
@histamiini: Is the bug restricted to Potions of Heroism, or is it just that Potions of Heroism are less likely to run out mid-combat? In my case, it could have been either, since I could well have been reaching the end of the duration either of my mid-elevator Potions of Heroism, my mid-Belhifet Potions of Power, or both. For intensive tanking strategies, it's entirely possible that neither might run out: if you don't take much time to get through the elevator and it only takes 20-30 rounds to kill Belhifet, you might never see a Potion of Heroism run out mid-combat depending on when you drank them.
@semiticgod What's the damage scale with swords? Because Archer and Specialized bonuses only add to missile weapons, and the magic damage of the Bullets skip DR too. Archer with Arla's Dragon Bane, Bullets of Darkness etc will do 19-22 damage every hit and double of that with 19 and 20 rolls.
I think I tested it some time ago, and if I remember correctly the bug only applied to Power Potions. There should be some notes in this thread if I can find it.
@histamiini The +3 longsword from Thrix does 1d8+3 base damage and 1d4 acid damage despite the description, and all physical damage is reduced by 25% instead of 50%. The 3 damage from the Archer kit is outweighed by Belhifet's missile damage resistance. The sling does a few points less damage than the sword per round, at least without GM in slings.
Even though i cant compete with the speed of others here Loreth slowly but surely sneaks towards Big B...
Starting SoD:
Easy start as Loreth just sneaked to Porios opening the door to peace him up with some talking. Then PfU made sure she could safely stealth through the undead reaching the door mechanism. There she needed four tries charming the Mercenary Fighter/Thief and both stealthed through to Korlasz. As charming the Mage with Algernons Cloak did not work this time Loreth quickly restealthed before any talk script could activate buffing up with Oil of Speed and DuHM. Now it was all about timing: In the moment she shooted her Arrow of Dispelling the Mercenary (placed behind Korlasz) moved in for some nasty backstab action. Luck was on Loreths side and her new friend critted Korlasz for 92 damage ending the fight before it has even begun.
The rest was looting and disarming but – again – i nearly managed to stumble upon this damn petrification trap as Loreth was only one step away before detecting it. With 236k XP and Level 11 in the pocket it was time again for the city of Baldurs Gate.
The city was quick business assassinating all party-NPC´s for big gold boost while also doing all quests – nothing special. After buying Arrows of Detonation (62+25) and Arrows of Dispelling (29+5 only as i changed SCS settings) and lots of potions the gold count was still at 45k while the number of Invisibility Potions jumped to 97 – seems okay.
Coastway Crossing:
Traveled straight to Coastway Forest helping Isabelle and Ikros to get rid of the Vampire. Trapped the area to soften up the undead and after Ikros managed to knock most Wolfes unconscious the rest was easy going even though the Mage still managed to die against the last wolf – what a pity. Quickly disarmed all traps, crossed the Vampire and got the shield from Isabelle. Before moving back Loreth also stealth-looted the Gemblade for some more fun later on.
Traveling back to Coastway Crossing got the first map event stealthing down the cave looting the Sling +2 and some other things before getting out unseen.
Elwood Dowser and party were charmed and put into a battle against the western spider group which they – surprisingly – lost thanks to the powerful CC of the Gargantuam Spiders. At least they managed to kill Teleria and her Golem who where not reacting at all...
Did all quests until only the Dwarven Caves were left and Loreth decided to go with the Lich this time disarming the southern traps and sneak-looting the first amulet before it was all about waiting until the undead took down all Dwarves. Looted the other four amulets and moved on to the Lich area, used PfU scroll, ignored the Bronze Sentry, solved the riddle and convinced the Lich to help me against Caelar – fast and easy. Before moving out again Loreth smacked some Undead for a little bit more XP and looted the stuff from Crommus- time to get to the next maps.
Temple of Bhaal:
In the Temple Loreth speeded things up quite a lot...
- Ziatar shot down from safe spot with 43 Acid Arrows without any retaliation
- Used four charmed followers to distract the Neothelid for quite some time while also activating PfM and PfP in case of emergency
- Lured the Aerial Servants out of Akannas room and charmed her on third try. Quickly looted her Wardstone once the summons took her down
- Managed to instakill Morentherene after using 53 Throwing Daggers. The Dragon kept sleeping all the time...
The fight for Bridgefort:
- Used Wardstone to get into Bridgefort and let Jegg build the Dragonshield – too bad Loreth cant use this one. After some more talking and walking Loreth surrendered to the Crusade opening up the much more interesting battle against the new Bridge Mage. Test fights with older saves had shown that a character without crit protection can get killed pretty fast here especially if the Mage manages to cast Haste on his allies. Arrows of Dispelling + Piercing + buffing was not enough or at least the risk of getting critted badly was far too high. Only after adding the Lesser Stone Golem things went from „hard“ to „super easy“ as the Crusaders just could not hit him while Loreth was shooting the Mage down buffed up with Potion of Mind Focusing, Oil of Speed and Potion of Power. The real crazyness started after the Mage went down cause for whatever reason the Hobgoblin horde in the north got activated (even though they never had seen Loreth before) and started to attack the allied forces. So while Loreth started to hunt down the rest of the Crusaders the Hobgoblins slowly moved towards the bridge – which could have made things pretty tricky. Two quick Nymph Cloak charms however turned the tide bringing down the last Crusader with the help of two Hobgoblins - time for Coalition Camp
@Harpagornis: What is the safe spot where you can fire arrows at Ziatar? Do you mean repeatedly hiding after firing each arrow?
Which charmed critters did you use against the Neothelid? I assumed the cultists would all be hostile by the time you killed Ziatar, which would make them awfully difficult to charm safely.
My Archer is back up to Baldur's Gate, about to enter Candlekeep. New findings on the Iron Throne fight: This time, I managed to position myself on the Iron Throne stairway so that Zhalimar Cloudwulfe wouldn't go hostile on a failed charm attempt, but there's a problem: Zhalimar and Gardush are both Berserkers, so they both use Enrage early in combat and will turn hostile when Enrage wears off and hits them with 15 damage, tricking them into thinking the player has attacked them. I therefore hid Zhalimar away on the floor below and rested so that he wouldn't turn hostile on the top floor.
With Zhalimar gone, everyone else could be safely charmed, though I still had to dodge the Shennara clones, who ended up following me downstairs. When I lured charmed enemies downstairs to die against the Shennara clones, I somehow ended up in Zhalimar's field of vision, triggering his dialog and turning everyone on that floor hostile--but not turning anyone on the top floor hostile. I therefore was able to charm Diyab and Aasim and whoever on the top floor and feed them to Zhalimar et al on the floor below.
By chance, a charmed cleric managed to land a Hold Person on one of the enemies on the floor below, and a lucky charm let us take control of Zhalimar himself, allowing us to finish off all of the enemies except for a single Shennara clone I wanted to save for Cythandria.
The lesson is to charm Zhalimar and take him down two sets of stairs to make absolute sure you never wander into his field of vision. You'll want to isolate Gardush as well, since he'll turn hostile if he's charmed and in combat for more than 10 rounds. For everyone else, you can feed them to the Shennara clones.
Another new finding: in the Narcillicus area, it's perfectly safe to lure out the ghasts one at a time so you can loot the big tomb to the southeast. This saves you a Protection from Undead scroll.
Another new finding: if you're looting Centeol's lair without fighting, the Sandthief Ring is just barely fast enough to let you escape after you open the container, at least if you time it just right. A Potion of Invisibility is not necessary.
Another new finding: like Raemon and Zhalimar, Denak in the Spider Woods is the only member of his team who can turn his team hostile via dialog, so if you charm him and feed him to the spiders, you apparently don't need to approach the other Red Wizards from stealth or invisibility in order to charm them safely.
@semiticgod: There is a safe spot where you barely can see Ziatar but any shooting will neither trigger the talking nor will she use active abilties/spells - only some potion drinking. I always wanted to take an image of this one but the screenshot is still not working...
If you engage the Cultists before going for Ziatar most of them should be neutral - so easy picks. But i must admit that in 2.5 the Nymph Cloak is showing some weird behaviour as the first charm sometimes breaks whenever i charm a second creature. Is this a bug or intended?
@Harpagornis: Sounds like a bug. I've seen some rare occasions when a charm will mysteriously cancel and leave the creature neutral instead of charmed, and sometimes I've seen the charm effect come back later on for no apparent reason.
I think it's a scripting issue, and since I saw it in the late stages of the Cyclops fight, I think it might be exclusive to SoD.
Other findings: Larze isn't the only strong ally against Slythe and Kristin. You can also lure Tamoko into the fight if you charm her before she speaks to you, take her into the sewers, then bring her to the Undercellars. If you then go back up to Sorcerous Sundries, a second Tamoko will spawn, and you can charm her, too. You can actually do this indefinitely, but since only Algernon's Cloak has the range to charm her without initiating dialog, it might not be possible to get more than 2 Tamokos unless you sell and buy back Algernon's Cloak to recharge it.
You can also charm Halbazzer Drin. He has Time Stop, a couple Horrid Wilting spells, Remove Magic, and not much else of value.
Having finished a little project on another game I thought I would give @semiticgod's War Hulk kit a run in this challenge. My initial impression is that kit would be a bit too easy compared to other fighter types, so in addition to the restriction I previously used (when playing it on core difficulty) of not allowing any ranged attacks with daggers or axes I also won't use any charms in this run. That should make the game play significantly different from most fighter attempts . Here's his starting character record.
An early morning session before work saw decent progress made to get up to level 5. He'd killed a few innocents in the process and had started restoring his reputation. At the lighthouse he'd killed the first worg and left the area to rest up before returning. On that return I was just briefly writing my notes up and obviously failed to pause the game - as on going back to it the SCS worgs had tracked him down across the map and gleefully gobbled him up. I'll try again later ...
Rolled Constantina again, and maxed INT rather than CHA, because I figured I don't need that much moneys in BG1. And if I ever get to BG2 I'll have Friends when I'll need moneys for the scrolls. I also tested the Roark thing in SoD many hours, before concluding that the guest involving him was cut out from the release. It's still there I've done it, just that once you go to Bridgefort Interior, Roark will be visible couple seconds, before he's destroyed from the game. So If there would be a way to kill him in that time you could get the Open All item, but I don't see how. So my proficiencies will still be in order, Flails, Single-Weapons Style, Two-Weapon Style, Clubs.
As of Constantina, she's already in Baldur's Gate, wont repeat the same things I've done many times already. Though here's some notable things.
Wand of Missiles is good for killing joinable npc's.
Cleric needs level 3 and DUHM to open manors for the Invisibility Potions.
Dushai can be killed without charm and without agroing others, if you can lure him away without anybody seeing.
Marl has the best Thac0 in the bar to smack Tranzig around, not good but best, hit with 14 and above rolls.
The single free charm didn't work against Lamalha, so I'm 0/1 in Power Potions already.
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Cloakwood, with invisibility right click looted the Centeol pile for the sword and body. Charmed and fed Kysus (4) for the guards, then Rezdan (8), Genthorn (1), and lastly Drasus (9). Before going further I cashed in for the loot in the High Hedge. Charmed guard first lured the Battle Horrors away and then he casually killed Davaeorn. Level 4/4. Before leaving charmed first Natasha (2) and the Hareishan (1) for some scrolls.
In Baldur's Gate charmed Nypmh smacked Ragefast, whick took 20 minutes. Charmed Ramazith wasted his spells until his Skelis wasted him. Got level 5/5. Bought couple Intelligence Potions and started learning all the spells. In Mutamin Garden charmed Mutamin (4) who got quickly killed, then the lesser Basilisk. Charmed Greater Basilisk who then killed the Lesser Basilisks before starting the xp-loop with the Greater one. Except it accidentally killed the other Greater one before a single loop. Damn, oh well I Hasted it and it stoned the Kirian's party in few seconds. Only made to level 6/5.
Going to Durlag's Tower I first picked WoMS from the Ghast Cave. Looted the Durlag's upstairs, gave the Nymph hair for Riggolo before charming him for killing the Ghost. Then I fed him to the Ghasts. Sold my loot and had just enough money to recharge WoMS. Started another xp-loop in the top of Durlag's Tower by charming a Greater Basilisk and using green scroll of Protection from Petrification on it. And soon made max level 7/7. WoMS then helped me to clear the Ghasts from the basement with arrows. Invisibility, Potion of Absorbtion and Greenstone Amulet allowed me to loot the Warder level and avoid the deadly lightning traps and useless enemies. Selling my loot and after recharging the Greenstone Amulet, I was left with 14k gold.
Ghost Armor, PfE, Blur, Mirror Image, Greenstone Amulet, and started the fight. This time Love, Fear and Avarice all started following. Got lucky with the transtitions and only Love followed to the entrance level, which meant that Love was quickly hacked down by WoMS and Triss. Picked up Durlag's Goblet from the next level before leaving the tower for good.
WoMS easily dealth with Seven Suns. Charmed the Ogre Mage as food for Crawlers. Iron Throne, charmed Diayb who lured Kaalos and Shennara to be executed by WoMS and couple Skelis. Then charmed Thaldorn, then Naaman, Aasim and Gardush behind the pillars. Then the band attacked rest of them quickly killing Zhalimar. In the end only two Skelis stood. Potion of Invisibility helped me to escape Ogre Waylay. Iron Throne leaders got casually charmed and murdered. After casually looting the Catacombs I escaped. Hasted Larze and WoMS easily dispatched Slythe. Quenash was fed for Krystin before she was herself WoMS'd.
Palace Ambush, charmed the mage, rested charmed the shaman and mage again, rested, charmed the assassin. Before activating the combat I charmed bunch of Fists and summoned WoMS. Despite Haste Belt got killed before the three Dobbelgangers were dead. Shaman spawned and was killed after while. Before I managed to kill the assassin, the mage spawned which made things more difficult. Luckily I managed to lure it away until the assassin was dead. Then WoMS eventually grinded the mage to death. After Sarevok left, only Liia was alive. Mainly because she can nowadays keep herself out of harm casting invisibility and not fighting anybody.
Small things before the end battle. Bought bunch of stuff with 60k. Sunin charmed, depleted and killed for 9k ring. Marek WoMS'd. Charmed Rahvin (4) and fed him to Skelis. Then charmed Wudei, Gorf, Haseo and Carston with the Nymph cloak. They wasted Tamoko, and then themselves. Charmed Niemain and the gang, who wasted spells, and then killed themselves. Charmed Helsheera and Ithmeera, who attacked Delorna and after the mayhem all were dead.
Time for Sarevok. Semaj took 28, Angelo 33, Diarmid 38 and Tazok 40 hits from OGL. Sarevok himself 32 hits from OGL and 88 hits from WoF. Used two PfU's to ignore the Skelis. That was easy, nobody even saw me.
If you want to pull Drasus away, then approach on the left so that only he sees you. As soon as he starts to attack, run away - that works well for me.
However, testing has found that it's very risky to try to get to the elevator without fighting, as I had hoped. The Lemures can remove your invisibility every round, and since there are multiple Lemures around, it's possible to lose your invisibility when your aura is still fogged. If the demons see you, they will teleport over, and if there are too many of them, you could easily get boxed in. I was able to run in and out just fine (you have to leave the area twice to avoid fighting: once to trigger Thrix's reappearance and then again after his riddle to open the door), but it's entirely possible that some wrong moves or random chance could get you trapped, and certain classes, including the Archer, would struggle to break free without being forced to use precious Greater Restoration scrolls or Durlag's Goblet.
I intend to kite them, since I still have lots of arrows to spare. Really, I just need to distract them long enough to kill the Lemures, and then I should be able to slip past the rest of them.
Chapter 8. Casually ranged Teleria as she doesn't agro if you get hit from invisibility. Picked up the other Enchanted Weapon scroll from Troll Cave. Did the Menhir's guest which is trivial with invisibility and high charisma. Buffed up and helped the dwarves because I wanted the Secret Revealed so I can easily get the Spell Sequencer robe. It also helped to kill lich of Coldharbor, used one PfU and didn't bother fighting any other undead. Hid behind the tent for the parlay.
Chapter 9. Started with the usual, daggered Morentherene and burned Ziatar with 31 strikes from OGL. Lured the two Aerial Servants out from Akanna's room, before trying to charm her even with the saving throw fix, as her save is 7. But it didn't work with 7 tries. Neothelid teleported in the room, which was actually good as my WoMS kept it in there, and it did nice damage to Akanna too. After couple WoMS, Neothelid teleporting in and out from the room again, Akanna finally fell to Ogre. Surrendered the fort, Dispel and Piercing Arrows handled the bridge mage.
Chapter 10. Did the various guests for items and xp. Before leaving to Underground River I was 40k xp short of max level. Helm of Unwavering Purpose and Hasted WoMS and Stone Ally helped to kill the Myconids. F/I is probably the easiest class before BG2 and it shines yet again, being able to use Wand of Water Elemental Summoning, among the rest of the summoning items. Charmed Ferrusk for the Myconid amulet. Used PfU and Secret Revealed for the Lich in Kanaglym, and all hell broke loose after it wondered to the mages. But in the end it was enough to nick the Spell Sequencer robe from his body and escape. Charmed Strunk and fed him to the Ettin Ghost. 100 MR from Potions of Magic Protection allowed me to loot the chest with the Crown in the Dragonspear Basement, after which I made my hasty escape. Still picked the Ring of the Tiny Fiend before going to Coalition Camp. Also reacher max level 9/10 with
** Flails and Morningstars
** Scimitars
** Two-Weapon Style
* Single-Weapon Style
After recharging my summon items I could now summon,
100x 12 HD Monsters
5x 1d4 Myconids
1x 1d4 Mephits
10x 2 Ankhegs
3x Lesser Stone Golems
5x Lesser Water Elementals
without using any spells.
Crusader Attacks. First wave, Soft Freet, Stone Ally, 2x Web sequencer and 14 Arrows of Detonation, done. Second wave, 7x pre Web and 16 Detonators. Third wave, 5x pre Web, 3x pre Cloudkill and 15 Detonators. At this point I wasn't hit even once. Final wave didn't go nearly as smoothly, as my Greater Malison, Web, Web spell sequencer failed to hold most of the enemies. No matter eventually my never ending summons allowed me to range them out.
Based on @Harpagornis advice, 15 minutes of wait in the Dragonspear Attack netted me 9 Power, 9 Heroism, 15 Speed, 4 Invul and 6 Invisibility Potions, among other loot. Ashatiel didn't stand a chance. Thrix was tricked perfectly without even need to exit the level.
Triss vs. Belhifet
2x PfF, PfC, PfE, PfA (12h)
Violet (24h)
8x Mind Focus (12h)
2x PfP (6h)
Fortitude (3h)
Speed (1h)
2x Invul (1h)
Clarity (1h)
Power (4t)
And started the lift, hacking with Martyr's Morningstar and Twinkle combo. Drank 40 Heroism Potions during the ascend. With the last enemy my Speed ended, which reminded me to refresh my 1h buffs. Then I killed the last Bone Fiend, and unequipped Twinkle. Stoneskin and Mirror Image, then Enchanted Weapon, Blur, Improved Invisibility sequencer. Hit Bel with Strength, Strength sequencer after the dispel to lower his Thac0. And the mighty Bel fell soon after, before I had to use any healing what so ever, which @Grond0 will surely appreciate.
If F/I is the easiest class to get through BG1 + SoD, I also started something much harder. Constantina, Priest of Lathander to be mage after level 21, in the wake of @Mr_Salty experience. She will have hard time at Crusader Attacks, but we'll see.
But i must admit that i also got pretty bored with my Mage3/Fighter combo once i got the Wands. However: Priest of Lathander looks much more interesting - should be some interesting fights ahead.
I also noticed that Liia uses Invisbility in your installation @histamiini - is this SCS v32 stuff? Cause in my game she still is doing nothing...
Are Arrows of Dispelling + Piercing also enough for a Swashi with 1 APR less? Still have to test this...
So the fourth and final wave of the Crusader Wave is now to be called the toughest? Cause i am still thinking which one should eat the full trap-package with my Swashi...
Your number of potion drops in the final Siege on Dragonspear looks a bit low but its quite random and if i remember correctly the really higher numbers only appear after 30++ minutes...
What does "Thrix was tricked perfectly without even need to exit the level." @histamiini - invi potion(s)?
Dispel/Piercing combo should be enough against the Bridge Mage, just maximise Thac0 and start from invisibility. I didn't have any pips in bows, so my apr was only 3 too.
I think it depends on the character which wave is the toughest, the final wave is probably the toughest, but the troll wave could be deadly too. I think the mage wave is the easiest.
I didn't take the time for the Dragonspear attack, just guessed it. Maybe 2.5 has changed the scripts a little?
Thrix asked the question immediatelly, and the door opened immediatelly, which meant that I didn't need to exit the level to activate either of those. I always run to Thrix invisible, but it doesn't always work like this.
That's the way to do it.
If F/I is the easiest class to get through BG1 + SoD, I also started something much harder. Constantina, Priest of Lathander to be mage after level 21, in the wake of @Mr_Salty experience. She will have hard time at Crusader Attacks, but we'll see.
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i wish u good luck on the cleric mate!! its doable haha uve seen it!!
also what is F/l ? fighter ..what
if its a no reload its gonna be tough haha but hey if not he can just do slay living and show him who's boss hahaha
We got the riddle right and we now have our +3 longsword and +3 shortsword both. Belhifet is doable, but I have to make sure we can manage the elevator fights without using Durlag's Goblet or Greater Restoration scrolls, and I can't make any careless mistakes against Belhifet.
God fucking damn it.
I don't believe it.
The Potion of Power/Heroism bug is still in effect. When your old Potions of Heroism or Power wear off, your current HP drops down proportionately, and when you drink them consecutively, that means your current HP will go down round after round, until Durlag's Goblet is worthless in the final battle. You'll be at 300 HP and suddenly you'll drop down to 100 just a few rounds later. I had to drink new Potions of Power just to stay afloat, but I had to spend so much time running around and periodically using Greater Restoration scrolls to avoid getting killed by the Erinyes' arrows that my Potion of Clarity and Potion of Magic Shielding wore off at the last minute and got me killed. It wasn't even my first Potion of Clarity; I re-drank it.
Lesson learned. There is a limit to how many Potions of Heroism or Potions of Power you can safely use.
During the elevator fight, wait until your previous Potions of Heroism wear off and drink an entirely new round of potions before you kill the last enemy. If you start drinking Potions of Heroism at the bottom of the elevator, every round you spend on the way up is ticking away at their durations, and if they expire midway through the Belhifet fight, you'll see your HP slowly tick down without warning, and there is no way you'll be able to predict it or adjust for it.
I'm not quite sure what the bug is here? I thought at one time there was a bug that meant all your HPs were lost as soon as one potion wore off, but that doesn't seem to be what you're describing. What's the problem with losing basic HPs granted by each potion as they wear off?
Incidentally, were you using all the missile protection you could have? One obvious potential missing item would be the Cloak of Displacement - I don't normally buy that due to inventory overload, but in the final fight (when you're buffed up with potions) it would arguably be better than the Cloak of Balduran. For some characters the Claw would be beneficial and you could even use a shield in between arrow shots - though that would be a bit of a pain in a long fight.
As of the Cleric, against Bel my current plan is to take * in Flail's, Club's, Two-Weapon Style and Single-Weapon Style. First tank with Blazing Glory and Root of the Problem until Champion's Strengths fail, then unequip Root of the Problem and tank until my hp buffs fail, and lastly switch to hitting from invisibility. Boon will give me 1 turn of 4 apr. Should be doable, although with no-reload I'm not sure I'll get there. Need to hoard all the Power Potions I can get and maybe use them in the Crusader Attacks, and then get second patch from the Dragonspear Castle for Bel.
@Grond0 There's still the Power Potion bug where hp suddenly drops from like 500 to 100 when it fails, I think I've seen it lately. Although I don't think that applies to Heroism Potions.
everyone can use it ? if so plz find it out quickly !!! hahaha
@Grond0: A single Potion of Power grants maybe 25 HP for a fighter at the end of SoD, but when it runs out, it reduces your current HP by much more than that. I've seen my Archer lose 100 current HP in a single round, even if maximum HP decreases only slightly. It's a bit of a bug, but since Potion of Power stacking is already unintended behavior, it wouldn't really justify a reload that the glitch isn't working properly.
@histamiini: Is the bug restricted to Potions of Heroism, or is it just that Potions of Heroism are less likely to run out mid-combat? In my case, it could have been either, since I could well have been reaching the end of the duration either of my mid-elevator Potions of Heroism, my mid-Belhifet Potions of Power, or both. For intensive tanking strategies, it's entirely possible that neither might run out: if you don't take much time to get through the elevator and it only takes 20-30 rounds to kill Belhifet, you might never see a Potion of Heroism run out mid-combat depending on when you drank them.
I think I tested it some time ago, and if I remember correctly the bug only applied to Power Potions. There should be some notes in this thread if I can find it.
Starting SoD:
Easy start as Loreth just sneaked to Porios opening the door to peace him up with some talking. Then PfU made sure she could safely stealth through the undead reaching the door mechanism. There she needed four tries charming the Mercenary Fighter/Thief and both stealthed through to Korlasz. As charming the Mage with Algernons Cloak did not work this time Loreth quickly restealthed before any talk script could activate buffing up with Oil of Speed and DuHM. Now it was all about timing: In the moment she shooted her Arrow of Dispelling the Mercenary (placed behind Korlasz) moved in for some nasty backstab action. Luck was on Loreths side and her new friend critted Korlasz for 92 damage ending the fight before it has even begun.
The rest was looting and disarming but – again – i nearly managed to stumble upon this damn petrification trap as Loreth was only one step away before detecting it. With 236k XP and Level 11 in the pocket it was time again for the city of Baldurs Gate.
The city was quick business assassinating all party-NPC´s for big gold boost while also doing all quests – nothing special. After buying Arrows of Detonation (62+25) and Arrows of Dispelling (29+5 only as i changed SCS settings) and lots of potions the gold count was still at 45k while the number of Invisibility Potions jumped to 97 – seems okay.
Coastway Crossing:
Traveled straight to Coastway Forest helping Isabelle and Ikros to get rid of the Vampire. Trapped the area to soften up the undead and after Ikros managed to knock most Wolfes unconscious the rest was easy going even though the Mage still managed to die against the last wolf – what a pity. Quickly disarmed all traps, crossed the Vampire and got the shield from Isabelle. Before moving back Loreth also stealth-looted the Gemblade for some more fun later on.
Traveling back to Coastway Crossing got the first map event stealthing down the cave looting the Sling +2 and some other things before getting out unseen.
Elwood Dowser and party were charmed and put into a battle against the western spider group which they – surprisingly – lost thanks to the powerful CC of the Gargantuam Spiders. At least they managed to kill Teleria and her Golem who where not reacting at all...
Did all quests until only the Dwarven Caves were left and Loreth decided to go with the Lich this time disarming the southern traps and sneak-looting the first amulet before it was all about waiting until the undead took down all Dwarves. Looted the other four amulets and moved on to the Lich area, used PfU scroll, ignored the Bronze Sentry, solved the riddle and convinced the Lich to help me against Caelar – fast and easy. Before moving out again Loreth smacked some Undead for a little bit more XP and looted the stuff from Crommus- time to get to the next maps.
Temple of Bhaal:
In the Temple Loreth speeded things up quite a lot...
- Ziatar shot down from safe spot with 43 Acid Arrows without any retaliation
- Used four charmed followers to distract the Neothelid for quite some time while also activating PfM and PfP in case of emergency
- Lured the Aerial Servants out of Akannas room and charmed her on third try. Quickly looted her Wardstone once the summons took her down
- Managed to instakill Morentherene after using 53 Throwing Daggers. The Dragon kept sleeping all the time...
The fight for Bridgefort:
- Used Wardstone to get into Bridgefort and let Jegg build the Dragonshield – too bad Loreth cant use this one. After some more talking and walking Loreth surrendered to the Crusade opening up the much more interesting battle against the new Bridge Mage. Test fights with older saves had shown that a character without crit protection can get killed pretty fast here especially if the Mage manages to cast Haste on his allies. Arrows of Dispelling + Piercing + buffing was not enough or at least the risk of getting critted badly was far too high. Only after adding the Lesser Stone Golem things went from „hard“ to „super easy“ as the Crusaders just could not hit him while Loreth was shooting the Mage down buffed up with Potion of Mind Focusing, Oil of Speed and Potion of Power. The real crazyness started after the Mage went down cause for whatever reason the Hobgoblin horde in the north got activated (even though they never had seen Loreth before) and started to attack the allied forces. So while Loreth started to hunt down the rest of the Crusaders the Hobgoblins slowly moved towards the bridge – which could have made things pretty tricky. Two quick Nymph Cloak charms however turned the tide bringing down the last Crusader with the help of two Hobgoblins - time for Coalition Camp
Which charmed critters did you use against the Neothelid? I assumed the cultists would all be hostile by the time you killed Ziatar, which would make them awfully difficult to charm safely.
My Archer is back up to Baldur's Gate, about to enter Candlekeep. New findings on the Iron Throne fight: This time, I managed to position myself on the Iron Throne stairway so that Zhalimar Cloudwulfe wouldn't go hostile on a failed charm attempt, but there's a problem: Zhalimar and Gardush are both Berserkers, so they both use Enrage early in combat and will turn hostile when Enrage wears off and hits them with 15 damage, tricking them into thinking the player has attacked them. I therefore hid Zhalimar away on the floor below and rested so that he wouldn't turn hostile on the top floor.
With Zhalimar gone, everyone else could be safely charmed, though I still had to dodge the Shennara clones, who ended up following me downstairs. When I lured charmed enemies downstairs to die against the Shennara clones, I somehow ended up in Zhalimar's field of vision, triggering his dialog and turning everyone on that floor hostile--but not turning anyone on the top floor hostile. I therefore was able to charm Diyab and Aasim and whoever on the top floor and feed them to Zhalimar et al on the floor below.
By chance, a charmed cleric managed to land a Hold Person on one of the enemies on the floor below, and a lucky charm let us take control of Zhalimar himself, allowing us to finish off all of the enemies except for a single Shennara clone I wanted to save for Cythandria.
The lesson is to charm Zhalimar and take him down two sets of stairs to make absolute sure you never wander into his field of vision. You'll want to isolate Gardush as well, since he'll turn hostile if he's charmed and in combat for more than 10 rounds. For everyone else, you can feed them to the Shennara clones.
Another new finding: in the Narcillicus area, it's perfectly safe to lure out the ghasts one at a time so you can loot the big tomb to the southeast. This saves you a Protection from Undead scroll.
Another new finding: if you're looting Centeol's lair without fighting, the Sandthief Ring is just barely fast enough to let you escape after you open the container, at least if you time it just right. A Potion of Invisibility is not necessary.
Another new finding: like Raemon and Zhalimar, Denak in the Spider Woods is the only member of his team who can turn his team hostile via dialog, so if you charm him and feed him to the spiders, you apparently don't need to approach the other Red Wizards from stealth or invisibility in order to charm them safely.
If you engage the Cultists before going for Ziatar most of them should be neutral - so easy picks. But i must admit that in 2.5 the Nymph Cloak is showing some weird behaviour as the first charm sometimes breaks whenever i charm a second creature. Is this a bug or intended?
I think it's a scripting issue, and since I saw it in the late stages of the Cyclops fight, I think it might be exclusive to SoD.
You can also charm Halbazzer Drin. He has Time Stop, a couple Horrid Wilting spells, Remove Magic, and not much else of value.
An early morning session before work saw decent progress made to get up to level 5. He'd killed a few innocents in the process and had started restoring his reputation. At the lighthouse he'd killed the first worg and left the area to rest up before returning. On that return I was just briefly writing my notes up and obviously failed to pause the game - as on going back to it the SCS worgs had tracked him down across the map and gleefully gobbled him up. I'll try again later ...
As of Constantina, she's already in Baldur's Gate, wont repeat the same things I've done many times already. Though here's some notable things.
Wand of Missiles is good for killing joinable npc's.
Cleric needs level 3 and DUHM to open manors for the Invisibility Potions.
Dushai can be killed without charm and without agroing others, if you can lure him away without anybody seeing.
Marl has the best Thac0 in the bar to smack Tranzig around, not good but best, hit with 14 and above rolls.
The single free charm didn't work against Lamalha, so I'm 0/1 in Power Potions already.