@histamiini: What if a clone summons them? Based on the spell and item files, it looks like the demons become allies if the summoner has the grimoire's spell effect active (which is permanent and therefore should apply to clones), but the "Damned" spell and the alignment change are caster-only, which would mean that clones would be the only ones suffering the negative side effects.
@semiticgod I don't really know, possibly? When Project Image casts them it says the same Triss: Damned: Triss. My Simulacrum only casts level 5 spells. Also my Project Image seems to be little bugged, because it can't be seen if it goes out of sight. Is it supposed to be like this?
@histamiini: It's normal for a Project Image clone to not be visible if it goes out of sight. Only Wizard Eyes, familiars, and party members can reveal the fog of war. A clone is like a summoned critter; it won't reveal it's surroundings on its own.
The message should be the same whether it's your clone that gets damned or your main character, since they share the same name. You could check to see if there were any new effects added via EEKeeper, or use EEKeeper to change your alignment and see if the clone can change it by summoning critters, but I'm pretty confident it's the clone that takes the hit.
Draconis was no trouble. I baited him with elementals, nailed him with an Arrow of Dispelling when I could, kited him a bit, then ran from his dragon form to summon a clone and prepared to kill him with STR drain. Called Shot imposes severe enough THAC0 penalties that I could actually tank him while firing arrows at him.
It took ages for the Archer to deal with the Lizard Men in Abazigal's lair. The two Lizard Man Shamans of the group now have Chain Contingency spells, including one that casts Nature's Beauty (!) and Insect Plague (!). Apparently one or both of them is a Druid/Mage--you have to deal with enemy Earth Elementals, Efreet, Mountain Bears, and even a Fallen Planetar, sometimes all at once. That scared me off and sent me back through the tunnels to escape. I fled multiple times, since I could never find a safe place for my clone to use stealth (the only form of invisibility that the Cloak of Non-Detection would protect) and therefore erect its defenses.
Nor could I tackle the shamans reliably. They combined PFMW with Protection from Normal Missiles, which meant only fist attacks could break through (I didn't bring nonmagical weapons besides arrows since I thought this behavior was rare), and our clone didn't have the APR to knock back the other enemies with Smite. Plus, the poor range of unarmed attacks once made it difficult for the clone to even touch the mage because the fighters got in the way.
Since I'm still deathly afraid of Fallen Planetars even though they're not a serious threat to my Archer (our saving throw bonuses and Hardiness should be enough to keep us safe even if they dispel Armor of Faith), I tried to get my clone to do the heavy lifting on its own. Eventually, I found that the only way I could make progress without committing my main character to a dangerous situation was to have my clone use Greater Whirlwind Attack with the Firetooth crossbow and Bolts of Lightning. Nature's Beauty thwarted my efforts depending on positioning, but by repeatedly retreating through the tunnels to rest and coming back with a new clone, I cleared out the area until only the shamans were left.
Since the area was clear, I had enough room to use stealth, which meant I could summon a clone and then hide it. Killing the remaining two enemies was as simple as sneaking up to them and using Smite on Arrows of Dispelling.
I spammed the Staff of Fire to help with the Kuo-toa and then ran past the demons on the way. Now we have to deal with the quadruple dragon ambush. We're almost to the Scorcher Ammunition!
In the quadruple dragon ambush, we landed two extremely quick kills on the black dragons thanks to some excellent luck with the Wand of Wonder. We fled from the green dragon, summoned a clone, and prepared a STR drain kill offscreen. The green dragon fell within seconds, and once we refreshed Called Shot, the red dragon fell the same way.
For the Tyrant Golems and Death Tyrants, I hid to the south under invisibility while a clone cast Improved Invisibility, Improved Haste, and two Called Shot spells before it went north to land quick STR drain kills on the Tyrant Golems with Arrows +3. All of this was guided by Farsight from the Book of Daily Spell; my Archer didn't approach the beholders at all. This took multiple rests since the clone couldn't wear the Cloak of Mirroring to block the various eye lasers from both beholders and eyeballs and still have Improved Haste active for more than a few seconds (I don't yet have the Amulet of Cheetah Speed, which would give us another 23-round Improved Haste spell). Once the beholders were gone, we donned the Cloak of Mirroring and cleared out the eyeballs. I drank a Potion of Invisibility before entering the tunnel to Iycanth the Mad, because I correctly suspected that I might accidentally pick the tunnel leading to the Elder Orb group instead.
Bondari the reloader gave us the Bronze Pantalettes, we forged the Big Metal Unit and the Scorcher and Pulse Ammunition and Frag Grenades, and we headed off to Sendai's lair, where the Scorcher Ammunition obliterated practically everything. For Glabrezus and Yochlols, we also deployed the Pulse Ammunition, and in a few cases, we also used Frag Grenades.
Our clone only used the Scorcher Ammunition in VERY specific circumstances, when I knew for an absolute fact that neither the clone nor its targets nor our main character was not going to wander around. A stream from the Scorcher Ammunition can easily, easily kill the main character if you get caught in it, which means it's only truly safe for the main character him or herself to use it.
Again: don't let clones use the Scorcher Ammunition unless you KNOW your main character can't possibly get caught in the stream, because the stream can kill any character in seconds--or even instantly, depending on the circumstances.
Using a Protection from Undead scroll on Odamaron neutralized him, though we had to wait out his PFMW Contingency and also catch one of his Apprentices within the Scorcher Ammunition stream to disrupt a different spell. Once Odamaron fell, we hurried out.
Ogremoch dispelled my Archer's Improved Haste, but the clone still managed to land a STR drain kill using the Pulse Ammunition. The Scorcher Ammunition killed Diaytha via clone. We drank 20-something Potions of Genius for the mind flayer fight, but failed to buff entirely before entering the door, forcing our clone to use Smite to buy our Archer some time to use Improved Haste and Armor of Faith and such.
Sendai was very scary. It seems that the Sendai clones and the drow are not fooled by ordinary invisibility, and there are multiple Oracle spells among the mages along with at least two True Seeing spells from the Sendai clones. That amounts to 20 rounds during which Potions of Invisibility are useless without excellent timing and the right circumstances for any character without SI: Divination (who should already be using the Staff of the Magi anyway). There's no room to hide until the field is cleared of enemies, so the Cloak of Non-Detection is insufficient.
Our clone was killed early on; it simply didn't have the resilience to stand up to the drow. I think only a Dwarven Defender clone would be sturdy enough to tank them unless you're willing to use your own aura to use the Rod of Resurrection on it.
We got caught without Hardiness and came perilously close to dying after the drow boxed us in despite my best efforts to squirm away from them, and fortunately we decided to use the Rod of Resurrection rather than re-casting Hardiness. We spent multiple charges of the rod before we managed to escape, I believe thanks to a hostile Teleport Field spell that let us maintain our freedom until we took position in the southwest platform, blocking off the drow and preventing them from cornering us.
We spent a few rounds there under invisibility, waiting for the enemy's defenses to wear thin while we refreshed our own. Ultimately, the only way to avoid a hopeless tanking scenario (the Archer can't tank without the Defender of Easthaven, and it can't deal meaningful damage with melee weapons) was to use Smite and the Scorcher Ammunition to blast the drow all across the map, then take root at the center of the map and burn down the weaker ones, opening up enough room to kite the survivors.
I let one Sendai clone remain standing so I could drink a Potion of Invisibility and summon some Lesser Fire Elementals. We disrupted some of Sendai's spells with the Scorcher Ammunition, using two drow mages (who thankfully escaped my attention and broke invisibility when I restarted the fight) as targets. Power Attack failed to stun Sendai, but it did stun her Fallen Planetar when I caught it in the stream, and the Pulse Ammunition and another Power Attack let me finish it off. I used stealth to wait out Sendai's weapon immunities when necessary and then torched her.
The only meaningful fights left are Abazigal, the Ravager, and the final battle itself. I assume we'll lose our Improved Haste during the fight with Abazigal, but we should still be able to land a STR drain kill using the Scorcher Ammunition, since the Better Stat Drain mod replaces vanilla stat drain deaths with a Harm effect and 10 unblockable magic damage. For the Ravager, we can re-charge the Cloak of Stars multiple times in Amkethran to get a supply of Darts +5 that will get past its weapon immunities and enable a STR drain kill on the Ravager as well.
Then comes the Throne of Bhaal. I'm really not looking forward to the opening fight with the twin Fallen Solars and their Creeping Doom spells. I think we might just have to spend a lot of time kiting and using the Rod of Resurrection to handle the damage. Fortunately, the save bug hotfix should make Balthazar immune to the Fallen Solars' vorpal strikes, so he should survive a long time.
I plan on carefully micromanaging the Five, but I'm guessing that it's just going to end up being an issue of brute force. The primary sticking point is the conflict between the Fallen Solars, who will take time to kill without burning certain resources (they have 611 base HP, or 1,222 if you factor in their 50% damage resistance), and Abazigal, who will regain his spellcasting 100 rounds after we use the Protection from Magic scroll on him. I think the only realistic way to kill them with my character within that time frame is to just give up on the Shield of Reflection, accept the loss of our buffs to their dispelling arrows, and catch them in the Scorcher Ammunition stream with Yaga-Shura as a target.
It might even be worth hitting Yaga-Shura with the Rod of Resurrection just to make sure we can kill both Fallen Solars before we kill any of the Five.
Once the Fallen Solars are gone, I can bring the rest of the Five to Near Death pretty quickly even without buffs. Then we can slap a Control Circlet on Sarevok, kill Abazigal, and quickly polish off the rest of the Five while Melissan struggles to stay conscious. Last of all, we summon a clone to Smite Melissan and try to land a STR drain kill.
Things are getting really hot here: We just reached 5k posts while @histamiini and @semiticgod are close to the first complete 2.5 nR runs. Keep going!
P.S. As our challenge looks "far too easy" - especially for @histamiini - i readded another devilish challenge from the old days. You remember the "Bane of the Wizard Slayer" dont you?
Bane of the Wizard Slayer [Bane]
Your character is afflicted with the bane of the Wizard Slayer and therefore unable to use any of the following items:
- No Necklaces, Rings, Gloves/Bracers
- No Potions except for Healing
- No Cloaks and Girdles
- No Wands
@Harpagornis I remember it, Natural Redux did beat Bel with Bane of the Wizard Slayer, but she was F/M and probably the best suited for it. 2.5 LoB might change things a little, but doesn't really change the effect of Martyr's Morningstar.
Marching Mountains, Triss and Planetar pawned Master Wraith. First level of Yaga-Shura Stronghold passed with 100 FR and just looting with insta insvisibility from the Staff of Magi. Brimstone was lured to the door and stoned. With SoC charmed couple Fire Giants and they killed the Fell Cats. Then charmed rest of the Giants one by one until Brenn was all alone, and wasted his spells and Deva. Brenn was then easy pickings for my summons. Then the Planetar soloed Imix, respect. Nyalee was killed with Time Stop. Yaga-Shura was charmed with SoC after he became vulnerable, and was then killed by his own army.
Now I also remembered to update Familiar hp because it doesn't automatically update if your Familiar is in you pocket when the ToB starts. LoB familiar hp from 34 to 58, gave Triss 198 hp with Helm of Balduran. Second Pocket plane challenge and used again the summon door trick. Triss smacked his clone during double Time Stop, and Magical Swords and Planetar easily wasted Tamoko and Angelo. Semaj was then killed during my last Time Stop. Got Regeneration as reward. Oasis suffered surprising sand storm, no survivors, although they tried to act like penguins do to protect them from cold, Better Calls for Help doesn't always help. After doing the mundane things in Amkethran and selling all the loot I had 300k gold, spent 200k on scrolls.
Woodcutter was killed during double Time Stops which opened the Sendai Enclave. Rested and then hacked Thelynn during double Time Stop. Glabrezus were lured away and I entered Lich room. PfU and Runehammer +5 quickly dispatched it. Rested and entered Diyathas Room. Time Stop and Imprisoned Ogremoch which opened door to Diaytha, and her was killed during Time Stop, nobody even saw me. Captain Egeissag was Smited and smacked around. At this point I wasn't hit once in the Enclave.
Before entering the last Mind Flayer base I rested. 30x Mind Focus to 98 Int, Potion for Absorbtion to -29 AC vs Crushing, and Roranachs Horn for 50 DR + 40 from Hardiness if needed. 10 apr FoA +4 started smacking. The first big party was hacked just around one Improved Haste, so in 23 rounds, still Stoneskin on. Next party smacked just in time when Absorption ended, so 50 rounds all in all. I don't think I even lost health once. The two mages were then hacked during Time Stops and Planetar swept the rest.
Now for the fun part, I had 150 Cloudkills and Staff of Magi, what did the Drow have, not much. Well Deva which I had to kite. But after it was unsummoned, the Drow were in trouble. After using 70 Cloudkills only 3 Sendai's and 1 Drow were left, and after 3 Time Stops only a non casting Sendai was left. Escaped to Pocket Plane and rested. 8 apr Planetar then hacked the last false Sendai, and real Sendai arrived. Planeter kept hitting it and spending her PfMW's and Improved Mantles before being unsummoned. Waited a little, and then double Time Stop was enough to kill Sendai.
@histamiini: I forgot about Yaga-Shura's vulnerability to charm--thanks for reminding me. Clever use of the choke point on Brimstone as well.
I have a new idea for how to tackle the Throne of Bhaal fight. Since I never got the immunity to +1 weapons in Hell, I can use both my Archer and our clone as a target for the Scorcher Ammunition, which means we have free access to the stream (our summoned elementals, unfortunately, are immune to +1 weapons). Without any buffs at all, a single Called Shot will let both Archer and clone drain 10 STR from each other and 20 STR from everyone in between them in 2 rounds, only one of which needs to involve any attacking. If both clone and Archer have the Belt of Inertial Barrier, Hardiness, Armor of Faith, Ring of Fire Control, and Batalista's Passport, the damage should be minimal. Since Fallen Solars and Melissan have 19 STR, and the highest STR score belongs to Yaga-Shura at 23, we should be able to easily kill anyone as long as we make sure neither our Archer nor our clone's STR drops too low (even non-fatal STR drain could over-encumber us).
The reality will be more complicated, but having access to a solid target for +1 weapons could break the difficulty.
I rolled another character to try out the "Bane of the Wizard Slayer" after i failed once with a pure Ranger against Big B in 2.4. This time its a Cleric/Ranger which i havent played for a long time. However: With SCS v32 and the new IWD spells there should be hopefully some nice combo potential and beside Big B the only real troube i can see are the attacks on Coalition Camp - we will see.
One nice combo i have already spotted is Animate Dead + Blood Rage which turns the Skeletons into real killer machines dealing 17-24 damage (instead of 8-15) while THAC0 drops down to 1 (instead of 5). As they are immune to the berserker effect this will boost them quite nicely for at least 2 turns. Imagine to put spells like Haste on top of that - too bad i still dont like Mages.
If i can now move around the biggest obstacle called "time" the real fun can begin...
Triss hacked Draconis during single Time Stop so that he transformed immediatelly to a Dragon. With Magical Swords in the field I kited Draconis Haste out, then two True Sights. After this summoned Planetar who dispelled Draconis and after doing some damage, double Time Stops was too much for the dragon.
The Greater Werewyvern was hacked with single Time Stop. Didn't bother with the Lizard men but just ran through to Anadramatis. Again managed to back up before Anadramatis got her dialogue out. Summoned 4 hasted Swords. They were too slow doing damage, so I had to call Planetar to finish the job. Dragon talked, then surrendered and lastly died during continuous Planetar hacking. Rested before Kuo-Toa area because I didn't take immunity to +1 weapons from the Hell Trials. Triss and Planetar had no trouble with the place. 8 apr Planetar was 0.3 seconds faster when I competed against it killing the Greater Water Elementals, and the same result second time, not bad. Although Triss took the win in the third try.
After fetching the rope it was time for the quadruble Dragon attack. Buffed with 100 AR and started kiting with WoW the first two Dragons, and it took 16 hits to stone the first one. After couple more the second one was stoned. Soon the green Dragon was petrified too. Buffed with 100 FR for Carnifex. Kited his Haste and after it was out he was stoned soon after. Didn't bother fighting the Beholders, just ran through and picked the Bronze Pants and built the BMU. Fll'Yissetat was killed during trible Time Stop for the 12h Improved Invisibility ring, which is nice for even mage.
For the quadruble Wyverns I buffed with 2x PfF, 2x PfC, 2x PfE, 2x PfA, 2x Mind Focus, 2x Magic Shielding and 12h Improved Invisibility among other buffs, -35 AC vs piercing with BMU. 10 apr FoA +4 got to work. Shellig was first to fall, used one Improved Haste scroll and Rill, Rance and Quenash fell soon, they hardly even hit me. Then wiped the Salamanders off with the Wave Blade in like 10 seconds.
Rested and prepared, then four Magical Swords and Planetar attacked Abazigal. Death Spell destroyed Swords immediatelly, but Planetar managed to change Abazigal after Triss helped with few RoR's. Then Triss cast Imrpoved Alacrity, 3x Pierce Magic trigger, 3x Greater Malison sequencer and 6x Feeblemind in a second. And Abazigal couldn't evade it with his about 7% chance. Tamah survived trible Time Stops, but was soon hacked afterwards with Critical Strikes. Tamah also triggered my PfMW, Spell Turning, Spell Deflection trigger. After this Triss could freely slap Abazigal around. After Abazigal was at 1 hp, one strike from Staff of Magi and he was dispelled, and gave his final speech.
Second and third Pocket Plane challenges were basic smacking with upgraded 10 apr FoA +5 and BMU. Got Dark Taint and Hand of Murder. 2-2-3-2-1-1-1-3-3-1-1-2-1-1 convinced Balty to join me in ToB. Summon door trick for the Ravager, and lured the Bone Blades away with Magical Sword. I had 240 +4 Bullets which with Reflection Shield was enough, Ravager wasn't even moving but throwing his own missiles, which actually hurt himself. 233 Bullets were enough, and got 25 DR as a reward.
The Archer is now right before the Throne of Bhaal. Since testing found that the Scorcher Ammunition was far too dangerous to use between Archer and clone, I decided to kill Anadramatis for the Yellow Dragon Scales, and a bug prevented her from fighting back (not that it would have made much difference if she did). Cespenar forged the Yellow Dragon Scale for us, giving us slightly better AC than the Shadow Dragon scale and 50% resistance to piercing and missile damage. Note that the Scorcher Ammunition does piercing damage; not missile, so the Belt of Inertial Barrier doesn't help.
We drank 2 Potions of Magic Protection before Abazigal, then kited Tamah to death, though we lost our clone in the process since it took so long to kill her. I nailed both Tamah and Abazigal with an Arrow of Dispelling (once the latter's PFMW spells were down) and managed to kill Abazigal with STR drain, though pure damage would have easily won the fight anyway. Abazigal never did dispel my Potions of Magic Protection, which meant we had over 100% magic resistance and therefore immunity to Maze, which he never attempted to cast on us. He only hit us with Breach, which didn't dispel the potions.
We then recharged the Cloak of Stars in Amkethran, as planned, and used the Darts +5 to kill the Ravager with STR drain alongside our clone.
I think I'll tackle the final battle either tomorrow or maybe even the day after, because I want ample time to reflect on the fight before I head into it. I don't think failure is likely at this point, though, since none of the enemies really have the means to kill me--thanks to the Tears of Bhaal trick and Boots of Speed, we don't need dispellable buffs to resist disablers or instant death effects and outrun the enemy, which means kiting should actually be perfectly capable of winning the fight.
I'm probably going to level up to level 45, where previously I've stayed at 34 per the vanilla ToB XP cap. I doubt I'll need the extra HP, Hardiness spells, the slightly stronger clone, or the harder-to-dispel Armor of Faith spells, but I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
Now that Wand of Polymorph doesn't work anymore against Belhifet with the fixed saves, I was thinking how Sorcerer could beat Belhifet. Anyone tried the Fireshield Blue and Otilluke's Resilient Sphere combo? I tested it few scrolls and the tactic works in principle and numbers look good for Sorcerer. There's 31 Otilluke's Resilient Sphere scrolls, 7 Fireshield Blue scrolls, Sorcerer can cast 7 himself and 2 from Robe of Arcane Aptitude (Spell Sequencer). Basically each one lasts 10 rounds because you need to refresh Fireshield when you refresh Otilluke's. Belhifet only needs 103 rounds on average to kill himelf, and 16 castings of Otilluke's gives 160 rounds of safety. Of course there's time lost between castings and Belhifet will lose apr on summoning Demons, but 60 rounds of leeway sounds good.
Did some testing and apparently Sorcerer level 31 Simulacrum clone can cast 4 9th level spells including Time Stop and Improved Alacrity. Not only that but Simulacrum can also cast another Simulacrum that can also cast 4 9th level spells. Only 7th Simulacrum clone can't cast another Simulacrum. So effectively there can be 8 Sorcerers on the field who all can cast 9th level spells. This leads into interesting things like almost unlimited Time Stops and Imprisonments with single rest. I need this in my life.
As i said from the very beginning of this challenge (when it was called the Solo LoB Warrior Challenge): All kinds of Mages are banned.
Now the one and only thing remaining my dear @histamiini will be to beat this challenge using poverty rules (plus no Reload of course). Can you do the seemingly impossible where all of my Totemic Druids (hundreds!) have failed so far? Maybe!
@Harpagornis Was Poverty so that no items could be used besides cast ones? Maybe it's finally impossible with ridiculous AC bonuses of 2.5 LoB. Maybe I could try how far Sorcerer can advance, after getting Skull Traps every place could be trapped deadly I think, except Sarevok...
Yeah, poverty means you can use no items at all @histamiini - except using quest essential items to finish the quests - so Mages even wont be able to scribe or use scrolls. Except for Sorcerers and (Totemic) Druids the selection seems rather limited.
Druids are a bit more powerful regarding poverty runs when using SCS v32 and IWD spells as Spike Growth + Spike Stones stacking can easily kill even Davaeorn (without making him move) thanks to 128d4 (average 320) damage. This wont be enough for Sarevok but on top of that he gets 4x Static Charge (each 10x 12d8 damage, half if saved). If you manage to get rid of his haste and use summons as decoy this might be enough to kill him. Still the Skeleton Warriors might cause troubles if you dont park them right.
The only real downside with Static Charge in BG is: Its no longer stacking (like in IWD) and it will break invisbility. So the good old: Stack Static Charge -> Invisibility cheese will no longer work. What a pity!
Will have to test the new IWD spell combos later on in more detail...
@Harpagornis I've never played IWD so I've no idea of those spells, but sound nice and maybe gives just enough edge to at least try poverty. Need to install that component for the next run so I can start learning about them. I've never been able to get Sarevok Haste off as it has always been ring based in my installs, and the same is true for SCS v32 I think?
I dont think that the ring is a SCS component as i dont use any other mods (except for the improved saving throws) @histamiini. I dont know about the IWD Mage spells but the Cleric/Druid ones give them "a bit" more options - which i like a lot.
P.S. In my installation Sarevok only uses a Ring of Free Action.
Somewhat to my surprise I didn't seem to have a save for a totemic druid. However, with only a few minutes rolling I managed to get a 96 total to give Raven a head start at the poverty challenge. I expect that just means that his head will get chopped off all the sooner, but we'll see .
Regarding poverty i am playing around with the idea of Cleric/Thief - either Mulit- or Dual Classed with Bounty Hunter for better traps. With Trap and Glyph stacking there should be "some" potential. Not to forget the beefed up Skeletons.
I also learned - after dozens of years - that you can backstab with Flame Blade. Even more fun incoming!?
Progress has been relatively simple so far though. After Candlekeep, Raven's first main stop was at the Lake area where he kept track from a distance while a gnoll attacked Drizzt. After half an hour of that, the gnoll still had an unbroken weapon so Raven retreated out of the area before coming back to start again. This time the gnoll duly did its job and knocked Drizzt unconscious. Without an oil of speed, I didn't think Raven would be able to get there in time to get the kill with a shillelagh. However, I was hopeful that a spirit lion could do the job - but sadly a gnoll comfortably beat it.
Shoal provided a rather smaller helping of XP before touring areas taking out worthwhile targets. That initially involved using spirits aided by spells like doom, sunscorch and alicorn lance. Once 3rd level spells were available call lightning started thundering down outside, while spike growth was effective in finishing off ankhegs in the nest once they had killed an attacking spirit. With 4th level spells giant beetles made an appearance, along with the odd long-lasting static charge. Killing a couple of battle horrors at Durlag's Tower has just pushed Raven up to level 8.
I've decided to delay tackling Melissan until tomorrow since my ring finger hurts and Ibuprofen doesn't appear to be helping, and I don't want any distractions or misclicks during the fight.
I'm not all that worried about the fight, though. After considering my options, I don't think we're in any real danger as long as I keep the Ring of Free Action equipped or the Greenstone Amulet active during the pool fights with the Balors.
We have deeply subzero saving throws that will negate any disablers or vorpal strikes that offer saving throws, and the Yellow Dragon Scale, Belt of Inertial Barrier, and Ravager bonuses give us undispellable, item-based immunity to missile damage and 50% resistance to magic damage, which means that ranged attacks cannot realistically threaten us--even without using Hardiness. Even two Fallen Solars and Illasera could only deal about 75 damage per hit round, and with 199 max HP, three Rod of Resurrection, and a virtually bottomless supply of potions (not to mention lots of room to run around in), there's really no way they could kill us before we slew both Fallen Solars.
I mean, it would take a long time to kill the Fallen Solars with just the Firetooth crossbow and no buffs, but we have plenty of time in the first fight, and during the fight with the Five, we'll have valid targets for the Scorcher Ammunition. Better still, the Fallen Solars have no resistance to fire damage! That's probably a bug, but it's not a game-changer--it just means we can deal up to 265 damage per round with the Scorcher Ammunition instead of 200.
Heal spells will slow down our progress, of course (we can't disrupt the Fallen Solars and I might overlook Sendai), but the basic calculus is that, aside from simple healing potions, we don't need to use limited resources in order to deal with Irenicus and Bodhi or the Five. The most we'll lose is a few charges from the Rod of Resurrection to keep Balthazar and maybe Yaga-Shura (or one of the other Five) afloat. By the time Bodhi comes around, all the Five should be deep in the red and we will be at full strength right off the bat.
The only realistic way I can foresee us dying requires several key things to happen:
1. We use all the Improved Haste charges from the Improved Cloak of Protection +2, Amulet of the Cheetah, and the Bracers of Blinding Strike before Melissan is alone (unlikely and not necessary).
2. We lose our clone before Melissan is alone (unlikely and not necessary).
3. We lose our Armor of Faith spells before Melissan is alone (unlikely and not necessary).
4. We lose our Smite spell before Melissan is alone (possible)
5. We drop down to fewer than 5 Hardiness spells before Melissan is alone (easily possible).
6. Melissan teleports on top of us and pins us in place via the new teleportation bug (easily possible).
7. We fail to land a STR drain kill using the Efreeti Bottle as a target (easily possible).
In which case we would be stuck with tanking Melissan and, with a maximum APR of 5 (not counting the Improved Haste from the Ring of Gaxx, which only lasts 10 seconds and is insufficient), we would only be able to drain 18 STR from Melissan's 19. That would force us to tank Melissan, which would involve surviving for over 60 rounds in melee combat against her.
But the teleportation bug would justify a reload anyway, so... we're basically just going to shred everything with the Scorcher Ammunition. It won't work on Melissan without a valid target, but we should still have enough resources to land a STR drain kill on her just by using Darts +5--of which we have 150.
At Durlag's Tower, Raven finished clearing the walls before going inside. Bunches of ghasts were pulled into multiple spike growths and didn't last long. I made a fatal mistake though in taking on Kirinhale. She was wounded by spike growths, before coming out to be confronted by summons. I dodged one dire charm using the stairs, but then tried to go back up immediately to retarget the summons. It didn't surprise me that Kirinhale was able to cast another charm, even though that was in the same round. However, I was caught out by the fact that her charm was instant casting and, although I had paused after the area transition and started straight back to the exit point a couple of steps away, the charm took effect on the way back downstairs.
Eklun the Elven Totemic Druid has started another poverty run following his countless ancestors who have died in so many different places without ever touching Big Mel. Will 2.5 and SCS v32 make things even more impossible? We will see!
Kobold Archer Ambush → Two hits took HP down to 12/30
Mutamins Garden → Cleared with Korax and Spirit Snakes (!) → Level 6
Killed two Ankhegs with Spirit Lions → Level 7
Bandit Archer Ambush → Five hits brought Eklun down to 24 HP
Bowl for Tenya → 2500 XP
Cleared Ankheg Cave and farmed outside with Spirit Lions and Beetles → Level 8
Cleared the coast from Sirenes with Spirit Snakes and Beetles → 18000 XP
Bassilus had no chance against the summons while Mellicamp survived the transformation
Killed Battle Horrors at Durlags Tower with 2x Spirit Lion, Beetles, Call Lightning, Static Charge and several Alicorn Lances → Level 9
Durlags Tower with Pixie Dust meeting the Greater Basilisks → 2x Spirit Snakes + 3 Nymphs owned them really hard
Some more quests until meeting the Doomsayer → 2x Spirit Lions and three casts of Giant Insects were needed to take him down while softening him up six times with Alicorn Lance → Level 10
Conclusion so far: Leveling in 2.5 isnt really different and with some care reaching Level 10 is no big deal. Spirit Snakes are a good choice at lower levels thanks to their better immunities (petrification!) while their poison also tick in quite regularly against most enemies. Alicorn Lance is great to soften up enemies AC while Call Lightning and Static Charge are strong damage options. The Boring Beetles and Bombardier Beetles are another great addition as they are quite tough while the Bombardies can also stun enemies for even easier kills. Put the infamous Spike Stone stacking on top of that and i dont worry about anything but Sarevok himself. Well, maybe about the Ogre Mage ambush, but thats another story.
The Archer is through the first part of the Throne of Bhaal fight, and while we were successful, I am deeply concerned about the next phases of the final fight. I don't plan on continuing until I figure some things out.
The first problem was that the Fallen Solars cast Imprisonment on Balthazar. He never even had a chance to fight, and there was nothing we could do to save him. If I had known about those spells, I'd have had a chance to disrupt them.
The second problem was that the Fallen Solars have infinite Heal spells, infinite Improved Invisibility spells, and infinite Remove Magic spells. Plus, they are immune to stun effects. The Fallen Solars can cast Heal once every 5 rounds, but they each have 611 HP in LoB mode, and 1,222 HP if you factor in their 50% resistance to physical damage. We can't beat that without Improved Haste. I only had five means of getting past their immunity to +3 weapons and below, each of which has its own drawbacks:
1. The Firetooth crossbow, which exposes me to their arrows.
2. The Sling of Everard, which limits me to 2 APR.
3. Darts +5, of which I only have 150.
4. The Flail of Ages, which limits me to 2 APR, or 3 if I give up the Shield of Reflection in favor of Belm.
5. The Scorcher Ammunition, which requires me to have a valid target that's vulnerable to +1 weapons.
It was not possible for me to deal damage to the Fallen Solars fast enough to prevent them from casting Heal on themselves, each other, or Bodhi. While their Heal spells were not instant-casting, their Improved Invisibility spells were. Plus, their Remove Magic spells stopped me from maintaining Improved Haste or even an Oil of Speed. I managed to kill one of them by using a Vhailor's Helm clone and nearly all of my HLAs, and then I was stuck with a fully healthy Fallen Solar, Bodhi, and Irenicus, though Irenicus was not a threat and did not even chase us when we didn't enter his field of vision.
In the end, the only way to kill the final Fallen Solar was to use the Scorcher Ammunition on Irenicus (of all targets) and catch the Fallen Solar in the stream... even when it was invisible and I couldn't tell where it was. This required Armor of Faith and Hardiness to survive any melee attacks from the Fallen Solar (it alternated between sword and arrows with no discernible pattern). Only by disrupting the Fallen Solar's Heal spells during its invisibility could I eventually wear it down, and I had to use multiple charges from the Rod of Resurrection in the process.
I'm proud of having pulled through, but that was just horrible. Without access to the Scorcher Ammunition, I do not see how a single-classed Archer could possibly kill the Fallen Solars unless it had access to True Seeing from the Book of Daily spell to remove their Improved Invisibility spells and had a shot at disrupting their Heal spells (and it's about a 50/50 chance you get True Seeing before you get stuck at the Burning Hands page). After all, Improved Invisibility was instant-casting even while Heal was not. An Archer has no means of maintaining APR above 5, no means of disabling a Fallen Solar, and no other means of removing invisibility aside from Invisibility, which has a casting of 8 and is essentially useless (Bodhi would have disrupted it if I had had any memorized).
The third problem is a scripting issue. During combat, my main character would spontaneously cancel orders, whether it was making attack rolls or using items. This prevented me from either drinking potions or using the Rod of Resurrection for several rounds and nearly killed me. @DavidW, do you have any idea why the main character might suffer from that? This wasn't an issue of aura being fogged; it happened with a clear aura and sometimes I noticed the portrait icon for the item being used vanishing immediately after appearing. I have no idea what causes it, but the behavior seems identical to the old Simulacrum bug, in which clones would constantly cancel orders unless you didn't give them orders during their first 1 or 2 seconds of existence.
If that scripting issue persists, the rest of the fight could very well be impossible. You can't survive if you can't drink potions or use the Rod of Resurrection, and you can't fight if you can't make attack rolls.
Even then, we're still faced with the issue of the fight with the Five, which features another two Fallen Solars. I'll have even more targets for the Scorcher Ammunition, but not all of the Five are as sturdy as a Fallen Solar. Sendai, Illasera, and Abazigal will die much earlier than the Fallen Solars if exposed to the same stream, and Gromnir and Sarevok will die after suffering about the same amount of damage. I can only use the Rod of Resurrection once per round, so if two members of the Five take too much damage in a round, I might not be able to save them, and then I'd have to deal with Melissan alongside one or both Fallen Solars.
Using Yaga-Shura as a target seems like a safe strategy at first glance, but we've got a lot of characters on the field to worry about. If all of the Five are closing in on us, I don't really have the option of catching just one enemy in the stream. That said, we do have 25 more charges in our Rods of Resurrection, and we can still kite the enemy almost indefinitely. @histamiini, is there a way of dividing up the enemies so only a few of them follow you around? If I could isolate Yaga-Shura and the Fallen Solars, we'd be completely in the clear.
@semiticgod Yeah you can separate them. What I did last time was to run invisible to bottom left pit, and Sarevok wandered there as he has like homing beacon, charmed and left him there. And even though Abazigal and Gromnir see through invisibility, they can be left in the fog of war, if you get out of sight, being invisible I think. I think the fog of war is the key here, so one of the pits and you could deposit them to bottom right pit. Then you could lure Yaga from above with ranged attack so that Sendai doesn't notice, and lure him to top right pit, as I did.
Btw there shouldn't be any Fallen Solars with the Big 6 until Melissan arrives.
In that case, I'll want to hit Yaga-Shura with the Rod of Resurrection before I trigger Melissan. If everyone is at Near Death, I won't be able to kill the Fallen Solars with the Scorcher Ammunition because my Scorcher Ammunition targets will die too soon, and then the Fallen Solars will be free to throw Remove Magic spells at us and prevent us from using Improved Haste.
But we can still land a STR drain kill on Melissan without Improved Haste, as long as we have a clone and three rounds of freedom to act, which we can get with a single Smite spell. We have 4.5 APR with Darts +5, which means we could drain up to 33 STR over the course of 10 seconds if we activate Called Shot twice in a row on both Archer and clone.
Comments
The message should be the same whether it's your clone that gets damned or your main character, since they share the same name. You could check to see if there were any new effects added via EEKeeper, or use EEKeeper to change your alignment and see if the clone can change it by summoning critters, but I'm pretty confident it's the clone that takes the hit.
It took ages for the Archer to deal with the Lizard Men in Abazigal's lair. The two Lizard Man Shamans of the group now have Chain Contingency spells, including one that casts Nature's Beauty (!) and Insect Plague (!). Apparently one or both of them is a Druid/Mage--you have to deal with enemy Earth Elementals, Efreet, Mountain Bears, and even a Fallen Planetar, sometimes all at once. That scared me off and sent me back through the tunnels to escape. I fled multiple times, since I could never find a safe place for my clone to use stealth (the only form of invisibility that the Cloak of Non-Detection would protect) and therefore erect its defenses.
Nor could I tackle the shamans reliably. They combined PFMW with Protection from Normal Missiles, which meant only fist attacks could break through (I didn't bring nonmagical weapons besides arrows since I thought this behavior was rare), and our clone didn't have the APR to knock back the other enemies with Smite. Plus, the poor range of unarmed attacks once made it difficult for the clone to even touch the mage because the fighters got in the way.
Since I'm still deathly afraid of Fallen Planetars even though they're not a serious threat to my Archer (our saving throw bonuses and Hardiness should be enough to keep us safe even if they dispel Armor of Faith), I tried to get my clone to do the heavy lifting on its own. Eventually, I found that the only way I could make progress without committing my main character to a dangerous situation was to have my clone use Greater Whirlwind Attack with the Firetooth crossbow and Bolts of Lightning. Nature's Beauty thwarted my efforts depending on positioning, but by repeatedly retreating through the tunnels to rest and coming back with a new clone, I cleared out the area until only the shamans were left.
Since the area was clear, I had enough room to use stealth, which meant I could summon a clone and then hide it. Killing the remaining two enemies was as simple as sneaking up to them and using Smite on Arrows of Dispelling.
I spammed the Staff of Fire to help with the Kuo-toa and then ran past the demons on the way. Now we have to deal with the quadruple dragon ambush. We're almost to the Scorcher Ammunition!
For the Tyrant Golems and Death Tyrants, I hid to the south under invisibility while a clone cast Improved Invisibility, Improved Haste, and two Called Shot spells before it went north to land quick STR drain kills on the Tyrant Golems with Arrows +3. All of this was guided by Farsight from the Book of Daily Spell; my Archer didn't approach the beholders at all. This took multiple rests since the clone couldn't wear the Cloak of Mirroring to block the various eye lasers from both beholders and eyeballs and still have Improved Haste active for more than a few seconds (I don't yet have the Amulet of Cheetah Speed, which would give us another 23-round Improved Haste spell). Once the beholders were gone, we donned the Cloak of Mirroring and cleared out the eyeballs. I drank a Potion of Invisibility before entering the tunnel to Iycanth the Mad, because I correctly suspected that I might accidentally pick the tunnel leading to the Elder Orb group instead.
Bondari the reloader gave us the Bronze Pantalettes, we forged the Big Metal Unit and the Scorcher and Pulse Ammunition and Frag Grenades, and we headed off to Sendai's lair, where the Scorcher Ammunition obliterated practically everything. For Glabrezus and Yochlols, we also deployed the Pulse Ammunition, and in a few cases, we also used Frag Grenades.
Our clone only used the Scorcher Ammunition in VERY specific circumstances, when I knew for an absolute fact that neither the clone nor its targets nor our main character was not going to wander around. A stream from the Scorcher Ammunition can easily, easily kill the main character if you get caught in it, which means it's only truly safe for the main character him or herself to use it.
Again: don't let clones use the Scorcher Ammunition unless you KNOW your main character can't possibly get caught in the stream, because the stream can kill any character in seconds--or even instantly, depending on the circumstances.
Using a Protection from Undead scroll on Odamaron neutralized him, though we had to wait out his PFMW Contingency and also catch one of his Apprentices within the Scorcher Ammunition stream to disrupt a different spell. Once Odamaron fell, we hurried out.
Ogremoch dispelled my Archer's Improved Haste, but the clone still managed to land a STR drain kill using the Pulse Ammunition. The Scorcher Ammunition killed Diaytha via clone. We drank 20-something Potions of Genius for the mind flayer fight, but failed to buff entirely before entering the door, forcing our clone to use Smite to buy our Archer some time to use Improved Haste and Armor of Faith and such.
Sendai was very scary. It seems that the Sendai clones and the drow are not fooled by ordinary invisibility, and there are multiple Oracle spells among the mages along with at least two True Seeing spells from the Sendai clones. That amounts to 20 rounds during which Potions of Invisibility are useless without excellent timing and the right circumstances for any character without SI: Divination (who should already be using the Staff of the Magi anyway). There's no room to hide until the field is cleared of enemies, so the Cloak of Non-Detection is insufficient.
Our clone was killed early on; it simply didn't have the resilience to stand up to the drow. I think only a Dwarven Defender clone would be sturdy enough to tank them unless you're willing to use your own aura to use the Rod of Resurrection on it.
We got caught without Hardiness and came perilously close to dying after the drow boxed us in despite my best efforts to squirm away from them, and fortunately we decided to use the Rod of Resurrection rather than re-casting Hardiness. We spent multiple charges of the rod before we managed to escape, I believe thanks to a hostile Teleport Field spell that let us maintain our freedom until we took position in the southwest platform, blocking off the drow and preventing them from cornering us.
We spent a few rounds there under invisibility, waiting for the enemy's defenses to wear thin while we refreshed our own. Ultimately, the only way to avoid a hopeless tanking scenario (the Archer can't tank without the Defender of Easthaven, and it can't deal meaningful damage with melee weapons) was to use Smite and the Scorcher Ammunition to blast the drow all across the map, then take root at the center of the map and burn down the weaker ones, opening up enough room to kite the survivors.
I let one Sendai clone remain standing so I could drink a Potion of Invisibility and summon some Lesser Fire Elementals. We disrupted some of Sendai's spells with the Scorcher Ammunition, using two drow mages (who thankfully escaped my attention and broke invisibility when I restarted the fight) as targets. Power Attack failed to stun Sendai, but it did stun her Fallen Planetar when I caught it in the stream, and the Pulse Ammunition and another Power Attack let me finish it off. I used stealth to wait out Sendai's weapon immunities when necessary and then torched her.
The only meaningful fights left are Abazigal, the Ravager, and the final battle itself. I assume we'll lose our Improved Haste during the fight with Abazigal, but we should still be able to land a STR drain kill using the Scorcher Ammunition, since the Better Stat Drain mod replaces vanilla stat drain deaths with a Harm effect and 10 unblockable magic damage. For the Ravager, we can re-charge the Cloak of Stars multiple times in Amkethran to get a supply of Darts +5 that will get past its weapon immunities and enable a STR drain kill on the Ravager as well.
Then comes the Throne of Bhaal. I'm really not looking forward to the opening fight with the twin Fallen Solars and their Creeping Doom spells. I think we might just have to spend a lot of time kiting and using the Rod of Resurrection to handle the damage. Fortunately, the save bug hotfix should make Balthazar immune to the Fallen Solars' vorpal strikes, so he should survive a long time.
I plan on carefully micromanaging the Five, but I'm guessing that it's just going to end up being an issue of brute force. The primary sticking point is the conflict between the Fallen Solars, who will take time to kill without burning certain resources (they have 611 base HP, or 1,222 if you factor in their 50% damage resistance), and Abazigal, who will regain his spellcasting 100 rounds after we use the Protection from Magic scroll on him. I think the only realistic way to kill them with my character within that time frame is to just give up on the Shield of Reflection, accept the loss of our buffs to their dispelling arrows, and catch them in the Scorcher Ammunition stream with Yaga-Shura as a target.
It might even be worth hitting Yaga-Shura with the Rod of Resurrection just to make sure we can kill both Fallen Solars before we kill any of the Five.
Once the Fallen Solars are gone, I can bring the rest of the Five to Near Death pretty quickly even without buffs. Then we can slap a Control Circlet on Sarevok, kill Abazigal, and quickly polish off the rest of the Five while Melissan struggles to stay conscious. Last of all, we summon a clone to Smite Melissan and try to land a STR drain kill.
P.S. As our challenge looks "far too easy" - especially for @histamiini - i readded another devilish challenge from the old days. You remember the "Bane of the Wizard Slayer" dont you?
Bane of the Wizard Slayer [Bane]
Your character is afflicted with the bane of the Wizard Slayer and therefore unable to use any of the following items:
- No Necklaces, Rings, Gloves/Bracers
- No Potions except for Healing
- No Cloaks and Girdles
- No Wands
I can already smell the pain...
Now I also remembered to update Familiar hp because it doesn't automatically update if your Familiar is in you pocket when the ToB starts. LoB familiar hp from 34 to 58, gave Triss 198 hp with Helm of Balduran. Second Pocket plane challenge and used again the summon door trick. Triss smacked his clone during double Time Stop, and Magical Swords and Planetar easily wasted Tamoko and Angelo. Semaj was then killed during my last Time Stop. Got Regeneration as reward. Oasis suffered surprising sand storm, no survivors, although they tried to act like penguins do to protect them from cold, Better Calls for Help doesn't always help. After doing the mundane things in Amkethran and selling all the loot I had 300k gold, spent 200k on scrolls.
Woodcutter was killed during double Time Stops which opened the Sendai Enclave. Rested and then hacked Thelynn during double Time Stop. Glabrezus were lured away and I entered Lich room. PfU and Runehammer +5 quickly dispatched it. Rested and entered Diyathas Room. Time Stop and Imprisoned Ogremoch which opened door to Diaytha, and her was killed during Time Stop, nobody even saw me. Captain Egeissag was Smited and smacked around. At this point I wasn't hit once in the Enclave.
Before entering the last Mind Flayer base I rested. 30x Mind Focus to 98 Int, Potion for Absorbtion to -29 AC vs Crushing, and Roranachs Horn for 50 DR + 40 from Hardiness if needed. 10 apr FoA +4 started smacking. The first big party was hacked just around one Improved Haste, so in 23 rounds, still Stoneskin on. Next party smacked just in time when Absorption ended, so 50 rounds all in all. I don't think I even lost health once. The two mages were then hacked during Time Stops and Planetar swept the rest.
Now for the fun part, I had 150 Cloudkills and Staff of Magi, what did the Drow have, not much. Well Deva which I had to kite. But after it was unsummoned, the Drow were in trouble. After using 70 Cloudkills only 3 Sendai's and 1 Drow were left, and after 3 Time Stops only a non casting Sendai was left. Escaped to Pocket Plane and rested. 8 apr Planetar then hacked the last false Sendai, and real Sendai arrived. Planeter kept hitting it and spending her PfMW's and Improved Mantles before being unsummoned. Waited a little, and then double Time Stop was enough to kill Sendai.
Onto dragon territory.
I have a new idea for how to tackle the Throne of Bhaal fight. Since I never got the immunity to +1 weapons in Hell, I can use both my Archer and our clone as a target for the Scorcher Ammunition, which means we have free access to the stream (our summoned elementals, unfortunately, are immune to +1 weapons). Without any buffs at all, a single Called Shot will let both Archer and clone drain 10 STR from each other and 20 STR from everyone in between them in 2 rounds, only one of which needs to involve any attacking. If both clone and Archer have the Belt of Inertial Barrier, Hardiness, Armor of Faith, Ring of Fire Control, and Batalista's Passport, the damage should be minimal. Since Fallen Solars and Melissan have 19 STR, and the highest STR score belongs to Yaga-Shura at 23, we should be able to easily kill anyone as long as we make sure neither our Archer nor our clone's STR drops too low (even non-fatal STR drain could over-encumber us).
The reality will be more complicated, but having access to a solid target for +1 weapons could break the difficulty.
One nice combo i have already spotted is Animate Dead + Blood Rage which turns the Skeletons into real killer machines dealing 17-24 damage (instead of 8-15) while THAC0 drops down to 1 (instead of 5). As they are immune to the berserker effect this will boost them quite nicely for at least 2 turns. Imagine to put spells like Haste on top of that - too bad i still dont like Mages.
If i can now move around the biggest obstacle called "time" the real fun can begin...
The Greater Werewyvern was hacked with single Time Stop. Didn't bother with the Lizard men but just ran through to Anadramatis. Again managed to back up before Anadramatis got her dialogue out. Summoned 4 hasted Swords. They were too slow doing damage, so I had to call Planetar to finish the job. Dragon talked, then surrendered and lastly died during continuous Planetar hacking. Rested before Kuo-Toa area because I didn't take immunity to +1 weapons from the Hell Trials. Triss and Planetar had no trouble with the place. 8 apr Planetar was 0.3 seconds faster when I competed against it killing the Greater Water Elementals, and the same result second time, not bad. Although Triss took the win in the third try.
After fetching the rope it was time for the quadruble Dragon attack. Buffed with 100 AR and started kiting with WoW the first two Dragons, and it took 16 hits to stone the first one. After couple more the second one was stoned. Soon the green Dragon was petrified too. Buffed with 100 FR for Carnifex. Kited his Haste and after it was out he was stoned soon after. Didn't bother fighting the Beholders, just ran through and picked the Bronze Pants and built the BMU. Fll'Yissetat was killed during trible Time Stop for the 12h Improved Invisibility ring, which is nice for even mage.
For the quadruble Wyverns I buffed with 2x PfF, 2x PfC, 2x PfE, 2x PfA, 2x Mind Focus, 2x Magic Shielding and 12h Improved Invisibility among other buffs, -35 AC vs piercing with BMU. 10 apr FoA +4 got to work. Shellig was first to fall, used one Improved Haste scroll and Rill, Rance and Quenash fell soon, they hardly even hit me. Then wiped the Salamanders off with the Wave Blade in like 10 seconds.
Rested and prepared, then four Magical Swords and Planetar attacked Abazigal. Death Spell destroyed Swords immediatelly, but Planetar managed to change Abazigal after Triss helped with few RoR's. Then Triss cast Imrpoved Alacrity, 3x Pierce Magic trigger, 3x Greater Malison sequencer and 6x Feeblemind in a second. And Abazigal couldn't evade it with his about 7% chance. Tamah survived trible Time Stops, but was soon hacked afterwards with Critical Strikes. Tamah also triggered my PfMW, Spell Turning, Spell Deflection trigger. After this Triss could freely slap Abazigal around. After Abazigal was at 1 hp, one strike from Staff of Magi and he was dispelled, and gave his final speech.
Second and third Pocket Plane challenges were basic smacking with upgraded 10 apr FoA +5 and BMU. Got Dark Taint and Hand of Murder. 2-2-3-2-1-1-1-3-3-1-1-2-1-1 convinced Balty to join me in ToB. Summon door trick for the Ravager, and lured the Bone Blades away with Magical Sword. I had 240 +4 Bullets which with Reflection Shield was enough, Ravager wasn't even moving but throwing his own missiles, which actually hurt himself. 233 Bullets were enough, and got 25 DR as a reward.
ToB awaits.
We drank 2 Potions of Magic Protection before Abazigal, then kited Tamah to death, though we lost our clone in the process since it took so long to kill her. I nailed both Tamah and Abazigal with an Arrow of Dispelling (once the latter's PFMW spells were down) and managed to kill Abazigal with STR drain, though pure damage would have easily won the fight anyway. Abazigal never did dispel my Potions of Magic Protection, which meant we had over 100% magic resistance and therefore immunity to Maze, which he never attempted to cast on us. He only hit us with Breach, which didn't dispel the potions.
We then recharged the Cloak of Stars in Amkethran, as planned, and used the Darts +5 to kill the Ravager with STR drain alongside our clone.
I think I'll tackle the final battle either tomorrow or maybe even the day after, because I want ample time to reflect on the fight before I head into it. I don't think failure is likely at this point, though, since none of the enemies really have the means to kill me--thanks to the Tears of Bhaal trick and Boots of Speed, we don't need dispellable buffs to resist disablers or instant death effects and outrun the enemy, which means kiting should actually be perfectly capable of winning the fight.
I'm probably going to level up to level 45, where previously I've stayed at 34 per the vanilla ToB XP cap. I doubt I'll need the extra HP, Hardiness spells, the slightly stronger clone, or the harder-to-dispel Armor of Faith spells, but I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
1130 hp
50 CR
6.5dmg * 4apr = 26dmg * (1 - 50CR/100) - 2hppr = 11 average damage per round
1130hp / 11 = 103 rounds
16 * Otilluke = 160 rounds
31 Otilluke's Resilient Sphere 10r
1 Shandalar
1 Durlag's Tower (Goblet Level)
20 Sorcerous Sundries (Chapter 5)
3 Sorcerous Sundries (Chapter 7)
6 Belegarm
16 Fireshield Blue 1d8 +2 6.5 avg
1 Resar (Thieves Guild)
6 Belegarm
7 Sorcerer Slots
2 Robe of Arcane Aptitude (Spell Sequencer)
All kinds of Mages are banned.
Now the one and only thing remaining my dear @histamiini will be to beat this challenge using poverty rules (plus no Reload of course). Can you do the seemingly impossible where all of my Totemic Druids (hundreds!) have failed so far? Maybe!
The only real downside with Static Charge in BG is: Its no longer stacking (like in IWD) and it will break invisbility. So the good old: Stack Static Charge -> Invisibility cheese will no longer work. What a pity!
Will have to test the new IWD spell combos later on in more detail...
P.S. In my installation Sarevok only uses a Ring of Free Action.
Regarding poverty i am playing around with the idea of Cleric/Thief - either Mulit- or Dual Classed with Bounty Hunter for better traps. With Trap and Glyph stacking there should be "some" potential. Not to forget the beefed up Skeletons.
I also learned - after dozens of years - that you can backstab with Flame Blade. Even more fun incoming!?
That makes one of us then
Progress has been relatively simple so far though. After Candlekeep, Raven's first main stop was at the Lake area where he kept track from a distance while a gnoll attacked Drizzt. After half an hour of that, the gnoll still had an unbroken weapon so Raven retreated out of the area before coming back to start again. This time the gnoll duly did its job and knocked Drizzt unconscious. Without an oil of speed, I didn't think Raven would be able to get there in time to get the kill with a shillelagh. However, I was hopeful that a spirit lion could do the job - but sadly a gnoll comfortably beat it.
Shoal provided a rather smaller helping of XP before touring areas taking out worthwhile targets. That initially involved using spirits aided by spells like doom, sunscorch and alicorn lance. Once 3rd level spells were available call lightning started thundering down outside, while spike growth was effective in finishing off ankhegs in the nest once they had killed an attacking spirit. With 4th level spells giant beetles made an appearance, along with the odd long-lasting static charge. Killing a couple of battle horrors at Durlag's Tower has just pushed Raven up to level 8.
I'm not all that worried about the fight, though. After considering my options, I don't think we're in any real danger as long as I keep the Ring of Free Action equipped or the Greenstone Amulet active during the pool fights with the Balors.
We have deeply subzero saving throws that will negate any disablers or vorpal strikes that offer saving throws, and the Yellow Dragon Scale, Belt of Inertial Barrier, and Ravager bonuses give us undispellable, item-based immunity to missile damage and 50% resistance to magic damage, which means that ranged attacks cannot realistically threaten us--even without using Hardiness. Even two Fallen Solars and Illasera could only deal about 75 damage per hit round, and with 199 max HP, three Rod of Resurrection, and a virtually bottomless supply of potions (not to mention lots of room to run around in), there's really no way they could kill us before we slew both Fallen Solars.
I mean, it would take a long time to kill the Fallen Solars with just the Firetooth crossbow and no buffs, but we have plenty of time in the first fight, and during the fight with the Five, we'll have valid targets for the Scorcher Ammunition. Better still, the Fallen Solars have no resistance to fire damage! That's probably a bug, but it's not a game-changer--it just means we can deal up to 265 damage per round with the Scorcher Ammunition instead of 200.
Heal spells will slow down our progress, of course (we can't disrupt the Fallen Solars and I might overlook Sendai), but the basic calculus is that, aside from simple healing potions, we don't need to use limited resources in order to deal with Irenicus and Bodhi or the Five. The most we'll lose is a few charges from the Rod of Resurrection to keep Balthazar and maybe Yaga-Shura (or one of the other Five) afloat. By the time Bodhi comes around, all the Five should be deep in the red and we will be at full strength right off the bat.
The only realistic way I can foresee us dying requires several key things to happen:
1. We use all the Improved Haste charges from the Improved Cloak of Protection +2, Amulet of the Cheetah, and the Bracers of Blinding Strike before Melissan is alone (unlikely and not necessary).
2. We lose our clone before Melissan is alone (unlikely and not necessary).
3. We lose our Armor of Faith spells before Melissan is alone (unlikely and not necessary).
4. We lose our Smite spell before Melissan is alone (possible)
5. We drop down to fewer than 5 Hardiness spells before Melissan is alone (easily possible).
6. Melissan teleports on top of us and pins us in place via the new teleportation bug (easily possible).
7. We fail to land a STR drain kill using the Efreeti Bottle as a target (easily possible).
In which case we would be stuck with tanking Melissan and, with a maximum APR of 5 (not counting the Improved Haste from the Ring of Gaxx, which only lasts 10 seconds and is insufficient), we would only be able to drain 18 STR from Melissan's 19. That would force us to tank Melissan, which would involve surviving for over 60 rounds in melee combat against her.
But the teleportation bug would justify a reload anyway, so... we're basically just going to shred everything with the Scorcher Ammunition. It won't work on Melissan without a valid target, but we should still have enough resources to land a STR drain kill on her just by using Darts +5--of which we have 150.
The downside with 2.5 is that the game wont recognize the imported spell slots which means losing three level 1 spells.
Here we go with some short notations:
Spirit Lion vs Shoal 1:0 → Flawless Victory (!) → Level 3
Kobold Archer Ambush → Two hits took HP down to 12/30
Mutamins Garden → Cleared with Korax and Spirit Snakes (!) → Level 6
Killed two Ankhegs with Spirit Lions → Level 7
Bandit Archer Ambush → Five hits brought Eklun down to 24 HP
Bowl for Tenya → 2500 XP
Cleared Ankheg Cave and farmed outside with Spirit Lions and Beetles → Level 8
Cleared the coast from Sirenes with Spirit Snakes and Beetles → 18000 XP
Bassilus had no chance against the summons while Mellicamp survived the transformation
Killed Battle Horrors at Durlags Tower with 2x Spirit Lion, Beetles, Call Lightning, Static Charge and several Alicorn Lances → Level 9
Durlags Tower with Pixie Dust meeting the Greater Basilisks → 2x Spirit Snakes + 3 Nymphs owned them really hard
Some more quests until meeting the Doomsayer → 2x Spirit Lions and three casts of Giant Insects were needed to take him down while softening him up six times with Alicorn Lance → Level 10
Conclusion so far: Leveling in 2.5 isnt really different and with some care reaching Level 10 is no big deal. Spirit Snakes are a good choice at lower levels thanks to their better immunities (petrification!) while their poison also tick in quite regularly against most enemies. Alicorn Lance is great to soften up enemies AC while Call Lightning and Static Charge are strong damage options. The Boring Beetles and Bombardier Beetles are another great addition as they are quite tough while the Bombardies can also stun enemies for even easier kills. Put the infamous Spike Stone stacking on top of that and i dont worry about anything but Sarevok himself. Well, maybe about the Ogre Mage ambush, but thats another story.
To be continued...
The first problem was that the Fallen Solars cast Imprisonment on Balthazar. He never even had a chance to fight, and there was nothing we could do to save him. If I had known about those spells, I'd have had a chance to disrupt them.
The second problem was that the Fallen Solars have infinite Heal spells, infinite Improved Invisibility spells, and infinite Remove Magic spells. Plus, they are immune to stun effects. The Fallen Solars can cast Heal once every 5 rounds, but they each have 611 HP in LoB mode, and 1,222 HP if you factor in their 50% resistance to physical damage. We can't beat that without Improved Haste. I only had five means of getting past their immunity to +3 weapons and below, each of which has its own drawbacks:
1. The Firetooth crossbow, which exposes me to their arrows.
2. The Sling of Everard, which limits me to 2 APR.
3. Darts +5, of which I only have 150.
4. The Flail of Ages, which limits me to 2 APR, or 3 if I give up the Shield of Reflection in favor of Belm.
5. The Scorcher Ammunition, which requires me to have a valid target that's vulnerable to +1 weapons.
It was not possible for me to deal damage to the Fallen Solars fast enough to prevent them from casting Heal on themselves, each other, or Bodhi. While their Heal spells were not instant-casting, their Improved Invisibility spells were. Plus, their Remove Magic spells stopped me from maintaining Improved Haste or even an Oil of Speed. I managed to kill one of them by using a Vhailor's Helm clone and nearly all of my HLAs, and then I was stuck with a fully healthy Fallen Solar, Bodhi, and Irenicus, though Irenicus was not a threat and did not even chase us when we didn't enter his field of vision.
In the end, the only way to kill the final Fallen Solar was to use the Scorcher Ammunition on Irenicus (of all targets) and catch the Fallen Solar in the stream... even when it was invisible and I couldn't tell where it was. This required Armor of Faith and Hardiness to survive any melee attacks from the Fallen Solar (it alternated between sword and arrows with no discernible pattern). Only by disrupting the Fallen Solar's Heal spells during its invisibility could I eventually wear it down, and I had to use multiple charges from the Rod of Resurrection in the process.
I'm proud of having pulled through, but that was just horrible. Without access to the Scorcher Ammunition, I do not see how a single-classed Archer could possibly kill the Fallen Solars unless it had access to True Seeing from the Book of Daily spell to remove their Improved Invisibility spells and had a shot at disrupting their Heal spells (and it's about a 50/50 chance you get True Seeing before you get stuck at the Burning Hands page). After all, Improved Invisibility was instant-casting even while Heal was not. An Archer has no means of maintaining APR above 5, no means of disabling a Fallen Solar, and no other means of removing invisibility aside from Invisibility, which has a casting of 8 and is essentially useless (Bodhi would have disrupted it if I had had any memorized).
The third problem is a scripting issue. During combat, my main character would spontaneously cancel orders, whether it was making attack rolls or using items. This prevented me from either drinking potions or using the Rod of Resurrection for several rounds and nearly killed me. @DavidW, do you have any idea why the main character might suffer from that? This wasn't an issue of aura being fogged; it happened with a clear aura and sometimes I noticed the portrait icon for the item being used vanishing immediately after appearing. I have no idea what causes it, but the behavior seems identical to the old Simulacrum bug, in which clones would constantly cancel orders unless you didn't give them orders during their first 1 or 2 seconds of existence.
If that scripting issue persists, the rest of the fight could very well be impossible. You can't survive if you can't drink potions or use the Rod of Resurrection, and you can't fight if you can't make attack rolls.
Even then, we're still faced with the issue of the fight with the Five, which features another two Fallen Solars. I'll have even more targets for the Scorcher Ammunition, but not all of the Five are as sturdy as a Fallen Solar. Sendai, Illasera, and Abazigal will die much earlier than the Fallen Solars if exposed to the same stream, and Gromnir and Sarevok will die after suffering about the same amount of damage. I can only use the Rod of Resurrection once per round, so if two members of the Five take too much damage in a round, I might not be able to save them, and then I'd have to deal with Melissan alongside one or both Fallen Solars.
Using Yaga-Shura as a target seems like a safe strategy at first glance, but we've got a lot of characters on the field to worry about. If all of the Five are closing in on us, I don't really have the option of catching just one enemy in the stream. That said, we do have 25 more charges in our Rods of Resurrection, and we can still kite the enemy almost indefinitely. @histamiini, is there a way of dividing up the enemies so only a few of them follow you around? If I could isolate Yaga-Shura and the Fallen Solars, we'd be completely in the clear.
Btw there shouldn't be any Fallen Solars with the Big 6 until Melissan arrives.
But we can still land a STR drain kill on Melissan without Improved Haste, as long as we have a clone and three rounds of freedom to act, which we can get with a single Smite spell. We have 4.5 APR with Darts +5, which means we could drain up to 33 STR over the course of 10 seconds if we activate Called Shot twice in a row on both Archer and clone.