Starting Irenicus dungeon Lord Vanderley immediatelly got to 10th level as I somehow got 670k xp when I imported the character. Well it doesn't really matter, one or two Sanctuaries, should be enough. Dungeon easily passed with Sanctuary looting both Oil of Speeds, Helm of Balduran, Blunt Belt etc. Mephits lured with speed to other room behind the door, didn't bother fighting anybody.
Looted Maevars guild hall so I could buy the Nymph cloak, couple Invisibility potions and Oil of Speed. Rested before transition and got ready for a waylay, but it didn't happen. Graveyard guests, then looted temple area. Then Suna Seni waylay happened, and I had Sanctuary on so it was an easy escape. Leveled during De'Arnise although I left Glaicus be, so that I could get Dispel Magic first. I could now cast Silence '15 so time to visit in Seven Vales. Silenced Mencar which took some tries. Then charmed Pooky who cast invisibility on me, and I blocked the door. Then he charmed Orcslicer who wasted Brennan before getting himself killed, then Pooky got killed. Lured Amon outside, and Mencar downstairs. Sanctuary and Mencar got casually killed by the neutral guard. This took a long time as Mencar has a lot of health, 545 hp to be exact. Went outside and another neutral Guard was casually attacking Amon, and after a while he too got killed. That was very interesting fight, it's almost like it's always different. Got the things I was after at, Sandthief ring and Full Plate.
Went in Trademeet and then to Druid Grove and with two Sanctuaries and Sandthief ring picked up Belm +2, which is going to be the goto sword some time. Level skipped Prebek and Sanasha spells before putting hurt on all. Sanasha was freaking annoying drinking invisibility potions, so I had to wait those out before killing her. Did the rest of Harper Hold, 25k gold. Got level 12 doing the temple quest.
Neb can be Silenced from the corner and casually hacked for some nice potions. As can Bregg and Cohrvale, Borinall, and Mad Cleric. Started chapter 3 with 15k, and got Ring +2 and Amulet of Power which Cavalier can use. Jaylos can be Silenced and casually hacked too, Caehan agroed from Silence. With invisibility picked up Mace of Distruption and improved it. Bought PfU and instakilled the first two minor Liches. The Shade lich managed to get his triggers out though. And it took some time to kill it, but in the end it was powerless. With PfU killed Tanova and Lassal, then waited Bodhi to leave. Level 13, which meant a Skeleton Warrior, and I could now Dispel Glaicus out of sight and build FoA +3.
Mephits were divided and hacked by Lord and Skeli. Failed to Silence Rayic, but Skeli depleted a lot of his spells, before I joined the hacking, and he was soon killed. This time I remembered using the pre charm tactic against Maevar. Silenced the Cleric , then Maevar attacked assassins while I killed the Cleric. Then took the xp and gave the killing blow for Maevar. I was able to take on the three remaining assassins, although had to spend 10 Extra Healing potions. Level 14 and 35k money. Bought Vhailors Helm and Shield of Balduran with 33k and went to try the Gauth xp-loop. And it was on with the clone and 3.5 apr Belm +2. But it was still slow business. It took about 30 minutes to get to level 15, and I got bored and left.
Mekrath was Silenced and my clone then attacked it. Mekrath managed to Vocalize and eventually kill my clone. Then I Silenced him again and sent in a Skeleton Warrior. This time he didn't Vocalize and we killed him easily. Recitation seems to be a nice level 4 spell. Just like Teleria, Beastmaster doesn't agro if you get hit from invisibility. Captain Haegan and the band was lured to the Cloudkill trap to choke out. Didn't bother with the wizard mob. 30k gold.
Prayer and Recitation combo really is amazing, -3 Thac0/Saves for allies, +3 for enemies. Easily wasted the Windspear Hill Paladins with clone, and without healing nor speed. The same combo easily wasted Tazok and his mob. Got the sewer key, looted the place and left. 55k gold. Saving Throws vs spell to -4, and easily fetched the WoW with Speed and Sanctuary. Bought 19 Stone to Flesh and went back to see Firkraag. After my clone got Conster on a Slowed state, I joined the fight and he was quickly killed. Got 5 loops from the wand and got to level 17.
Vampiric Wraiths are tough, had to burn 4 RoR's to kill them. Then the Trolls were tanked on the doorway. Before activating any of the statues I wanted Deva so I went and spent another WoW on Firkraag, getting to level 19. Two Skelis, Deva and clone was enough for the first four statues. The six non casting statues were easily separated and killed. Mages are a lot tougher so caution is adviced. They were separated, then baited out of Planetar and Time Stop and then attacked with Summons. When the mage starts casting Time Stop it's important to be out of reach and invisible, that way Planetar will never find you. Got to level 20. Elemental level was solid smacking and resting for every room. Level 21 with Smite, 0 Base Thac0 and got the final 4th level spell slot. It took 8 hits from WoW to stone Chromatic Demon, as summons were keeping it busy. Wont bother with Maze level before turning evil. Got double level up spending another WoW on Firkraag, at level 23 my Skeleton Warriors are now top of the line models. Deva made Kalah pretty non event.
Kangaxx was easily transformed with FoA +3 whirlwind, and demi Kangaxx easily killed with MoD +2 whirlwind. Planar Sphere easily done with Recitated 3 Skelis, Deva and clone, resting for each enemy mob. Lavok two Skelis and Deva attacked under Farsight which wasted a lot of his spells including Time Stop and Planetar. Sent in another Skeli and Lavok was casting Magic Missiles, so I summoned clone to finish him off. Tanar'ri Farsighted and killed with summons.
For Tolgeriars tried Silence but they both Vocalized, sent in Skeli who was able to make them summon amazing amount of help, including a Cornugon who attacked all. Waited summons out before sending another Skeli. It was able to pull out Planetar before getting killed. Then waited it out. Third Skeli still pulled Earth Elemental, Nishiruu and a Stalker. Lastly Deva and clone went in before Lord joined to claim the victory. Got 100k gold so it was time to do some shopping. And after buying all but Temple district out of useful stuff I was broke again.
Temple Ruins blasted with clone and Deva, used one PfU to pass the liches killing the other one, and then killed Shadow Lord and Shadow Altar, which actually can be Smited away. Thaxll casually petrified. After making the Shadow Dragon Armor, 28k gold, 10k after buying rest of the Athkatla out. Got 13 xp-loops from couple WoW's, and got to level 28 which means max casting level for Cavalier, Prayer+Reciation now lasts full 2 turns. Also said bye for Firkraag the last time, killed him and got Carsomyr +5 for some Dispel fun. Samia's gang Silenced before ultrabuffed death squad wiped them off. Some small things before heading to Brynnlaw.
Cavalier spells and summons really help a lot in start of SoA. Sanctuary and Silence '15 were the first goto spells, then Animate Dead, Prayer Recitation combo and Farsight all help a lot. 3 Skeletons, Deva and clone pretty much can wipe any mob, without Lord even needing to show up.
I thought paladins were stuck at level 3 spells, and hence had no access to Recitation, but apparently that only applies for rangers, which is a bit odd.
@histamiini: You might consider drinking a couple of Potions of Fire Resistance or using Protection from Fire or Resist Fire/Cold before Rayic Gethras next time so you can repeatedly trigger the Fireball trap. It's a very fast and reliable way to burn down Ray-Ray.
What's your strategy for waiting out lich PFMW spells? Do you just run away and wait, or do you try to tank spells?
@semiticgod Yeah seems bit random, but in that way Paladin is stronger. Level 4 has good situational spells like Farsight, Death Ward and spells that are always useful like PfE '10 and Recitation.
I've read you doing that plenty of times, but I've always forgot to use that. Oh well the next time then, I did remember the Maevar pre charm this time.
Character wise always backing of when target casts PfMW, and preferably invisible, but summons I always leave there to waste spells. Against liches I never use summons though, so they can't target me indirectly.
@Harpagornis: I have no need for the basilisk XP loop. The Cleric of Lathander(3)->Mage has absolutely no need of high XP until SoA. In BG1 and SoD, practically all of its power will come from wands and other items, and a few thousand XP won't make much difference by BG2.
I'm not sure if I can use Silence on Mutamin without losing several minutes. I need 3000 XP to get cleric level 3, and the only efficient way to do that is to have Korax kill basilisks. Right after that, I have to dual-class to mage, and while I can hit level 3/4 before Mutamin, I'd have to rest in order to memorize Silence 15' Radius (and my other memorized spells get erased by dual-classing, oddly enough). If I rest, Korax goes hostile. But, I've heard that staying out of Korax's line of sight will prevent him from going hostile, so maybe that is possible.
Currently my only strategy for Diarmid is to combine some anti-missile AC options with the Wand of Monster Summoning and a Protection from Magic scroll to smoosh Diarmid with summons and kite the other enemies. Once Diarmid is out of the equation, no one can hit me from range, and I can finish off the survivors with wands.
Ziad had no problems crushing the Bridge Mage with four Skels using Farsight to not immediately trigger the talking which gave them several seconds of free punching before the Mage went hostile. After that he quickly sneaked in with True Seeing active which dispelled two times his Mirror Images so the Skels could easily land the killing blow.
He then did not bothered with Dragonspear Castle but moved right into the Underground River sneaking up to Hephernaan and getting out without any problems. He then had to avoid two True Seeings and one Oracle before sneaking through all enemy lines unseen while not forgetting to place the explosive barrel.
With the Crusader Attacks right in front of him we should now take some time to investigate all options. If Glyphs of Warding could be placed all around the place Ziad could instakill all waves with ease but as there are lots of allies moving around the whole place this does not look like an option.
At least one thing we have discovered so far:
Its possible to safely place Glyphs of Warding around the Troll spawning point if you constantly dominate exactly those Soldiers who would trigger them. So before doing anything we had to monitor the troop movement for quite some time. Too bad the spawning of those wandering soldiers is endless while the good thing was that only three of them (two Waterdhavian Soldier & one Daggerford Militia) could potentially trigger the Glyphs and they only appear once every 1-2 minutes (the Daggerford Milita looks more random sometimes not showing up for five minutes). As they also do not spawn at the same time its absolutely possible to dominate them one after another while placing new Glyphs and resting in between. As their Save vs Spell is only 13 (15 against Domination) and they are also waiting for several seconds before starting to move Ziad has at least two tries to dominate them.
With other words: With lots of patience - and most likely - several resetts it should be possible to get LOTS of Glyphs at the Troll spawning point or on one of the others. Controlling more than one spawning point and protecting all Glyphs at least for now looks impossible. Which opens up the question which Wave would be the best to get instakilled by the Glyphs. Trolls? Clerics and Paladins? Using stacked Glyphs against the last wave looks not manageable as there are too many soldiers wandering around.
The observations so far can lead to the following conclusion:
1. Troll Wave -> Instakilled by Glyphs
2. Mage Wave -> Wizard Slayers + Raged Skels
3. Clerics & Paladins -> Greater Command, Silence, ?????
4. Named Ones -> Pray
@Harpagornis: If you can only maintain Glyphs of Warding on one of the spawn points, I'd go with the 3rd wave instead of the 1st. The Coldhearth lich's skeletons and your own are 50% resistant to the trolls' attacks if not the ogres', so you'd be better equipped at handling the 1st wave without Glyphs of Warding than the 3rd, since the clerics mostly use blunt weapons. The clerics are especially nasty because Rhayla will use Remove Magic, which means you can't maintain buffs in the 3rd wave.
Greater Command might actually be an important game-changer, even if the odds of success are below 50% per enemy. Unlike paralysis, sleep effects can't be cured with cleric spells without Spell Revisions installed... unless SoD clerics are able to use Exaltation in SCS v32.
On an unrelated note, I'm learning how to edit videos. Once I know how to speed up video segments and once I know the ideal uploading settings for Youtube, I'll be able to dramatically reduce footage time for my Archer run. Even then, though, it may be difficult to record commentary for the whole thing. Even if I cut the duration in half, that's still 19 hours of videos! I might have to speed up all sorts of things (inventory management, travel times, etc.) in order to get a reasonable total video length.
The Cleric of Lathander/Mage died due to a simple error, but we're all the way up to Baldur's Gate within 2 hours. All other side quests have been cleared except for Durlag's Tower, from which we still need to get Durlag's Goblet and Kiel's Helmet for safety's sake. We even have a fully-charged Greenstone Amulet and 90 charges from the Wand of Monster Summoning as well as all of our potions and scrolls bought. We still need a fully-charged Wand of Fire, though.
Another death, this time to Kristin. Apparently Kristin can cast the Death Spell, which means instant death for anything below level 9.
I really don't like that I keep dying in BG1. SoD is safe besides Belhifet, SoA is easy, and ToB is easy albeit tense, but BG1 is finicky for me.
The speedrun is too hard on my hands; my fingers are twitchy and imprecise and it hurts if I play for very long. It's really not worth the trouble.
It looks like it's possible to beat BG1 in less than 4 hours while still collecting all the necessary resources for SoD. SoD might be 2 hours or maybe even less, but I'm less certain about BG2 and ToB, which could vary wildly depending on class.
I might not return to this challenge for a while. Anything harder than the Archer would be oppressive and anything easier would feel like a downgrade. Zero-exploit runs seem slow and dicey, poverty runs seem slow and far more dicey, and restless runs don't look good for BG2 for several reasons (limited Hardiness spells, limited PFMW scrolls, expensive healing options, and limited gold sources before ToB, among other things). It seems like the extra restrictions would just mean spending more time outside the game planning and considering our options.
With Carsomyr on hand Lord Vanderley only needed to drink one Protection from Magic to evade the Maze and pick up the Warrior horn. It's easily the weakest of summons, but could have some purpose at some point. Also picked up Kitthix and Efreeti bottle. After this it was time to leave to Brynnlaw. Landing was a massacre with three MoD +2's.
Summoned clone and Deva from Sanctuary for Perth the Adept, and he was stunned by Power Attack and killed before he realized anything. Got Spell Turning from the Book of Infinite spells, so I probably wont bother with the Spell Turning shield in Neera's guest, although two would be nice. Cavalier doesn't lose Duhm like other fighters in Asylum because he can cast it from spells. Asylum 1st and 2nd levels were basic smacking for summons, used one PfU for the Undead. Third level again basic smacking. Finally got Boots of bloody Speed. Irenicus Farsighted and smacked by summons and when he was at 1 hp I made the transtition and he surrendered almost immediatelly. 94k gold for selling my stuff for the Shaguain, then summons smacked through of them. Level 31.
Summons grinded Underdark clean, Balor was Smited and exploded by the death squad. The machine mage was pretty tough killing my squad, but waiting his buffs out he didn't have a second wind. Used one PfU to instakill the lich with MoD. Before going to Ust Natha I wanted to get Kuo-toa blood, so I went there and with three rests wasted the whole lot. Buffed up and only killed the Demon Knight with the loot before making a hasty escape.
Buffed for the Mind Flayer ambush, 50 Int, Absorption, Drow Full Plate etc. And it took probably 6 rounds to whirlwind them all with the clone. Deva and one Skeli even survived. Did the small guests before betraying the Drow. Adalon started pawning everbody and I backed off invisible, so that she actually would kill all, rather than left some alive. And I also still needed to visit the Mind Flayer base.
The first Arena fights were basic smacking without using much resources, only one Oil of Speed. Used the one Mind Flayer to open the door. For the first mob, I buffed Int to 100, saves -4 vs spell and the two Mind Flayer mob was quickly done.
The next big mob, Absorption, AoF and Hardiness. 4x Mind Flayers, 2x Ulitharids and 1x Umber Hulks, used my 50 seconds of Improved Haste to get 9 apr with FoA +3. Topped my Invulnerability so it had taken 50 rounds, but didn't need anything else, not even healing. Next mob was the biggest, 6x Mind Flayers, 2x Ultiharids, 1x Umber Hulks. Used 4 times RoR and took another Invulnerability so it was past 100 rounds, but wasn't close. Even though Master Brain dispelled us, Lord, Clone and Deva easily killed him in few rounds. Picked up Fire Control Ring and Staff of Command before escaping, also got the four Control Circlets. Used drop & pick method to smuggle the Drow Full Plate +5 out of the Underdark, which can be used until ToB.
Also made max level 34 and these are my picks for HLA and Weapon Proficiencies.
1 Whirlwind
4 Greater Whirlwind
1 Power Attack
7 Critical Strike
1 Smite
2 Hardiness
1 Deva
I don't plan using much Long Swords nor Daggers, but Halberd was taken solely for the Fallen Solars. Haven't really had any scares or trouble to this point.
Invisible Lord Vanderley lured Kruin to the neutral guards, and made him agro. After the guards had casually wasted his gang, me and Deva ganged on him. Built the Silver Sword and Crom Fayer. Roger the Fence did a great favor of giving his life by smuggling the Rift Device out from sewers. PfU to Bodhi and three MoD's casually hacked her, although it took all my HLA's. Suldanesselar passed with Sanctuary, Nizi petrified behind the summons, and Rillifane then cleansed the place. At Tree of Life escaped Jon invisible, then started bating his spells out, triggers, summons and Time Stop. Being invisible this is easy as Irenicus casts stuff based on sight, although he doesn't see you. Once being near him didn't produce any castings, it was time to summon the death squad to finish the job. Irenicus didn't last two rounds.
Used Farsight on Wraith Sarevok so that I had time to charm him before dialogue with the Control Circlet. Then made him do the transition, and killed him. Transitioned back hitting pause, and after getting the tear quickly did the transition back before losing my Cavalier abilities. Carsomyr on quick slot, used the tear three times on the wall to get 25 strength and turn evil. I could now use both Carsomyr and Soul Reaver. Then Selfishness, after dialogue backed up, cast Silence on the Peasant, then Death Ward. Opened the doors, and directed Lord to the exit, Selfishness spoke to me on the way out and gave the tear, but I was already at the exit and quickly made the transition before falling. Beautiful. Summoned skelis, and used the tear two times on the wall getting -4 AC, which means I could hit -20 AC gap with BMU, Ring of Gaxx, Ring of Earth Control, Cloak +2 and Helm of Balduran. The fight started and I backed up quickly. Balor's then casually hacked the Glabresuz, and I was waiting them to kill Irenicus, but the other Balor chose to attack and kill the other one. This meant that the last Balor couldn't do fast enough damage to kill the Slayer. I tried luring the Balor out, but he wasn't interested. So I summoned a Deva which made Slayer summon Planetar, which I had to wait out. Then I summoned clone and we buffed and huffed, and the Slayer was dead after 4 rounds or so.
With Reflection Shield on, 5 whirlwinds with FoA +3 and Illasera was dead. First Pocket Plane challenge, used summon door trick and the commoners and Knights of the Order were easily smacked. Then Linvail and Eltan were lured away and easily smacked dead. 9 APR FoA +4 then easily killed Ellesime. Saradush landing easily handled by Lord and Deva. Kaiser Silenced and casually hacked, mage Smited. Prison passed with the help of clone and Deva with three MoD's. Second level thiefs were Charmed with SoC to get 13 Invisibility potions, which are important for the battle against Sendai.
Meeting with Gromnir, charmed Elkan and Lasharra, who almost killed Drin. Lasharra got killed and Elkan turned red cricle, but continued attacking her allies and killed Eler and the fighter. Elkan and Drin were both near death, and easy pickings for Lord. Then Ramazith and Gromnir lured away from the mages, and 9 apr FoA +4 easily smacked them dead.
Time to do the Watchers Keep. Casually passed the Dead Magic Balor room to Tahazzar, and now I could make a deal with him. Charmed Yochol with SoC, then summoned the death squad, and critical strikes from 9 apr double FoA +4 killed Tahazzar in a little over round. Now came the lot trickier part. 2x Mind Focus, 9x Heroism to 400 hp, Invul, Speed, AoF, Hardiness, Spell Turning, Mirror Image, Invisibility. Quickly passed the Quasit and Succuby to Ka'rashur. Managed to pause and back up before Karashur got his dialogue out which was great. Used clone to Smite Ka'rashur, which actually stopped him from getting his dialogue out. In the end nobody even agroed. Quasit, Tiefling, Demon Knight, Demon Wraith, and I arrived to Aesgareth's room.
Charmed the four Tieflings with SoC and moved them far away from Aesgareth, then stoned his pets with WoW. Then summoned the death squad, and after double Smiting Aesgareth, the poor sucker never got an attack out. Apparently Tieflings had some internal disputes, and started fighting amon themselves. Waited until Planetar got unsummoned and then escaped the level. Something Cavalier can't do is to use Deck of Many things, unless you want to risk getting -1 penalty on saving throws.
Fourth level, first cleared the entrance area, then used Sanctuary to casually loot the Githyanki area, stoning Saladrex on the way. Didn't bother with the hardest Lich, because I've learned my lesson and I'm not insane. For the hardest Mind Flayer base, Int to 100, Absorption, Speed, Invul, Roranach's Horn, Improved Haste, clone etc. It took probably 10 rounds to waste the first mob. Half way the second mob clone left, but I easily wiped them off. Rested 8 hours so I could cast Improved Haste again, didn't need to buff Int because I used 12 hours Mind Focus potions. It took exactly 18 rounds to hack the biggest Mindflayer mob in the game, and no healing required. Looted the oil and left.
Final Seal level, Test of Stamina can be waited invisible, Dragon stoned. Spirit Warrior test, North, East, Search, North, East, North, Scroll, West, Archway. I've now passed that like 6 times in a row, so I don't know if that tactic ever fails. Now I had both the Spirit and Heart keys I needed. Azamantes easily destroyed with PfU and 8 apr MoD, got the Ravager component. For the Heart Seal I summoned death squad, clone Smited Y'Tossi and I used Control Circlet to charm the Hive Mother. Had to wait Y'Tossis PfMW out before doing some damage, but I just couldn't do it fast enough, before my summons were dead, although the Hive Mother was still tanking. Y'tossi is a Marilith and they can cast infinite PfMW's, what am I doing? Remembered the trusty old weapon against Mariliths, and first hit from WoW and it was dead, and I could escape with the loot.
Getting the apr gloves and buffs from the Machine of Lum, Lord Vanderley got his final form.
Ziads poverty run ended vs the Crusader Attacks...
To make it short: As the Trolls and Ogres do not spawn at the exact same time not even half of them were killed by the Glyphs so the Ogre Mages just hasted up the rest killing the Skels and Archers in no time. Greater Command did not work against anyone but the Barbarian and when Ziad tried to help with a bare fisted backstab he got hacked to pieces by Yarok.
No, that was no fun and with the Glyph stacking not working i cant see a reliable way to even beat the first wave. At the moment it looks like Totemic Druids are the only ones that have decent chances getting through those attacks. Maybe later...
Like @semiticgod i might take a little pause as poverty runs are so damn exhausting and things can get out of control really easy. So good luck to @histamiini who seems to crush everything with ease.
Finally I've arrived vs Belhiphet. I relied all my hopes in my best friend: the Wand of Polymorphing. But after a lot of tries it seems not to work. After 1 Lower Resistance + Oracle + another Lower Resistance, sometimes i can break his resist magic ability and Big B dices vs wands. But for three times the game doesn`t announce neither the resist magic nor the dice vs wands and that should be a success... but Big B doesn`t polymorph.
So, like semiticgod said when I started this challenge, this seems to be the final of my journey.
Thank you for all the wisdow you have shared with this pure mage, now I think I`m going to start another game.
New SCS-version made me revisit this thread and read about @semiticgod s ranger adventures.
If you're willing to manipulate aura cleanse by quicksaving and reloading Archer/Cleric seems to be the most ridicolous op class in SoA by far:
Cast Energy Blades, then called shot, quicksave, quickload, rinse and repeat till all your called shots are gone.
I tested witch Archer 21/Cleric 26 and had 5 called shots = 5 str drain per hit, with energy blades 10 apr this means any enemy dies in half a round.
while i traveled around and had a little fun with this I also found out that using the elemental summoning hla (which summons princes quite regularly) doesn't break sanctuary, so you can stand in plain sight of enemies and summon as long as you have sanctuary on.
@Victor_Creed_SFV Yeah I almost beat the nR challenge on that character. Only trouble comes against enemies that have to give a script before dying, like Abazigal and Sendai, and against Melissan when the Big 6 needs to die before her.
The Better Stat Drain mod lets stat drain kill those bosses. It prevents them from falling below 1 in any ability score, then reduces their HP to 1 and deals 10 unblockable damage to finish them off. Due to scripting issues, though, it won't let you kill Melissan before her allies die.
Finally I've arrived vs Belhiphet. I relied all my hopes in my best friend: the Wand of Polymorphing. But after a lot of tries it seems not to work. After 1 Lower Resistance + Oracle + another Lower Resistance, sometimes i can break his resist magic ability and Big B dices vs wands. But for three times the game doesn`t announce neither the resist magic nor the dice vs wands and that should be a success... but Big B doesn`t polymorph.
@Arno not displaying a save doesn't necessarily mean that a saving throw was not required and made. One of the oddities of the game engine is that it doesn't display a save if the original die roll would not have been sufficient to save, even where an adjustment to the save means that the saving throw is actually made. I think Belhifet has a saving throw of 9 against wands in LoB, assuming that you haven't installed the saving throw fix. If he rolls, say, a 10 you will see the text reporting that he saved with a roll of 10 + 5 (the standard LoB bonus to saving throws) = 15. However, if he rolls a 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 you won't see a text message even though the adjustment means he has actually saved. Only if he rolls a 1, 2 or 3 will he actually fail the save (though you could improve the chances if you can affect him with something like malison.
@Victor_Creed_SFV Yeah I almost beat the nR challenge on that character. Only trouble comes against enemies that have to give a script before dying, like Abazigal and Sendai, and against Melissan when the Big 6 needs to die before her.
I mean as a cleric one could prolly just kill those with the good old "friendly" Magic Resistance + Harm "wombo combo"?
Also since one also reduces saving throws with called shots stuff like wand of polymorph could be quite good?
edit: technically also slay living since it ignores Magic resistance, but casting actual spells can be quite tricky on some enemies with scs while the wand doesnÄ't seem to have that problem.
(this might also be true for slay living tho since technically it is a touch atatck)
Master Wraith was easily killed with 3 MoD's, Yaga-Shura fort 1st level passed with 100 FR and Sanctuary without fighting anybody. Charmed the first two Fire Giants who killed the Fell Cats. Petrified Brimstone with the first hit from WoW so didn't need even to lure him to the door. Berenn evaded first charm attempt, so I had to wait his spells and summons out. The next two charm attempts failed too, so I decided to Charm his whole army to do the job for me. I attacked Imix with two Elite Fire Giants, two Fire Giants and the death squad. Tought it would be a joke... it wasn't. After a terrible start, Imix dispelling all, and fearing the Fire Giants, I managed to eventually kill him, but had to see some trouble to do so. Looted the stuff, left and built the Ravager +6.
With Nyalee, clone started hacking with Critical Strike 10 apr FoA as I talked to her, and after continuous hacking through the cutscene, Nyalee died almost immediatelly. Yaga-Shura was charmed with SoC, and Fallen Planetar then vorpalled the poor soul. Oasis passed without fighting, don't need money, although I charmed Jamis for the Answerer +4. Did the small guests in Amkethran and bought K'logarath +4, the only ranged weapon Cavalier can hit the Ravager with Reflection Shield on.
Draconis was Silenced and casually hacked to 1 hp, so when the Silence ended he turned immediatelly to the Dragon. Managed to back up without him following, so I could casually wait his Haste out. With Shadow Dragon scale and Cavalier bonus I had 70 Acid Resistance, and kiting without his Haste was easy. After a while I summoned Deva to distract him a while, and then summoned couple Skelis and then refreshed Deva with RoR. Then summoned clone, and with double whirlwinds from Soul Reaver +4 Draconis became powerless, although he died during the third whirlwind, so the amazing Thac0 penalty didn't really play any part.
The Greater Werewyvern is the only one seeing through invisibility, so I lured hit to the doorway, and hit it with two Soul Reaver whirlwinds, after which it was easy pickings with clone. Trying to evade Anadramatis dialogue failed, so I went into @semiticgod spot, and waited the PfMW out, before Soul Reavering her. After this it was basic smacking. Got both scales and the amulet. Lord and clone had some fun with the Kuo-Toa area with 10 apr FoA +4's, and then fetched the rope. It took 28 hits from WoW to petrify the first two Dragons in Quadruble Dragon ambush, but it's pretty casual kiting with Shadow Dragon Armor, and Cavalier Acid Resistance bonus. The Green Dragon was stoned after he spawned, which then spawned Carnifex. Kited his Haste out, before continuing using WoW, and after 35 hits all four Dragons were stoned. Picked up the Bronze pants without fighting anybody and built the BMU.
Tried to petrify the dragon before Abazigal, but my summons got wasted, so I decided to Soul Reaver her Thac0, and then called clone to finish it. Got the 12h Improved Invisibility ring. For the quadruble wyverns, 100 FR/CR/ER/AR, 2x Mind Focus, Improved Invisibility, PfE '15, and got my AC vs Piercing to -38. Improved Haste and pressed on. And it was a massacre I've not seen in this point yet. Dispelling their stoneskins with Carsomyr (they've six of them), and smacking with 10 apr Critical Strike FoA +4, the fight was probably done in 10 rounds or so. The Frost Salamanders were wiped just in time when Improved Haste ended.
Lord vs. Abazigal. Rested, and summoned a death squad who managed to turn Abazigal to a dragon in less than 2 rounds. I went hiding and watched Abazigal to Imprison the Deva and waste the skelis. Drank two Magic Protections the get 100 MR to stop most of the bad spells happening and equipped Reflection Cloak. Tamah was the first one to find me in @semiticgod inspired hiding place which was not big enough for the dragons. I sniped her with 5 apr Firetooth +3 with Critical Strikes and she was soon dead. Then tried luring Abazigal there, but he wasn't moving. Don't know why, but it suited Lord just fine. Anyway started with Soul Reaver whirlwind, and then dispelled his Stoneskins with Carsomyr. But then Aba went invisible, and wasn't showing himself. I had exactly one item to counter this, and it was Peridan which dispelled it. Aba wasn't doing much but mostly just trying to use breath weapon, but my Reflection Cloak stopped all that. And after a while he was dead.
Tomorrow Sendai, which probably is the toughest part for Cavalier, at least after Melissan.
@Arno not displaying a save doesn't necessarily mean that a saving throw was not required and made. One of the oddities of the game engine is that it doesn't display a save if the original die roll would not have been sufficient to save, even where an adjustment to the save means that the saving throw is actually made. I think Belhifet has a saving throw of 9 against wands in LoB, assuming that you haven't installed the saving throw fix. If he rolls, say, a 10 you will see the text reporting that he saved with a roll of 10 + 5 (the standard LoB bonus to saving throws) = 15. However, if he rolls a 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 you won't see a text message even though the adjustment means he has actually saved. Only if he rolls a 1, 2 or 3 will he actually fail the save (though you could improve the chances if you can affect him with something like malison. [/quote]
Mmm, ok Grond0. I will make other tries expecting that miraculous 1 ^_^
@Arno: LoB mode is supposed to give all enemies +5 to their saving throws, but a bug prevents this from happening. A few pages back, @subtledoctor posted a small mod that added +5 to the saves of all non-joinable creatures in the game, replicating the intended LoB mode save bonus. That mod is basically a hotfix for a bug that might not be fixed via an official update for a while into the future.
Note that the mod will have the same effect outside of LoB mode, so you'd have to uninstall it before trying a non-LoB mode run, or else your non-LoB enemies will have the same saving throw bonuses as they would in a fixed LoB mode run.
@Arno: LoB mode is supposed to give all enemies +5 to their saving throws, but a bug prevents this from happening. A few pages back, @subtledoctor posted a small mod that added +5 to the saves of all non-joinable creatures in the game, replicating the intended LoB mode save bonus. That mod is basically a hotfix for a bug that might not be fixed via an official update for a while into the future.
Note that the mod will have the same effect outside of LoB mode, so you'd have to uninstall it before trying a non-LoB mode run, or else your non-LoB enemies will have the same saving throw bonuses as they would in a fixed LoB mode run.
Used summon door trick again in the second Pocket Plane challenge, and picked the enemies up one by one. Third challenge was casual tanking, got Regeneration and Dark Taint.
Time for Sendai. The Woodcutter was casually petrified and killed. Thelynn was killed with 10 apr FoA +5 and one Critical Strike, before I drank Invisibility potion. But then I was surrounded by the drow and couldn't move. Had to escape to Pocket Plane, rest and get Sanctuary, then summoned Deva without breaking the Sanctuary, and the drow then released me by attacking it. Another victory for the Sanctuary, Deva combo. Lured the two Glabrezus and Yochol away, and smacked them dead with Carsomyr whirlwinds. With single PfU and MoD the lich was easily destroyed.
Then I remembered something awful, I forgot to get the Blackrazor +3 in the Hell. This was bad as it's the only weapon I think, fighter can easily kill Ogremoch. Lets meet Ogremoch:
Level 32
1520 hp
-22 AC
-12 Thac0
-2/0/-1/-1/1
Immunity +2 Weapons
24-69 dmg
5 apr
Earthquake, sleep -6 vs. Spell, 2 rounds
Immune to Ravager +6, FoA +5 effects, Petrification
He dispels every hit and does 47 average crushing damage with 5 apr, and casts Earthquake that has Sleep -6 vs. Spell two rounds, which I can't protect against. But his absolute best party trick, if not in the whole game is, unlimited, undispellable, instant casting 12 stoneskins. So you can't damage him other than through stoneskins, because he has them always on.
Lord could have undispellable -28 AC and 70 DR vs. crushing + Hardiness. And with couple hits from Soul Reaver he can only hit 20's. But if he gets Sleep through, he can do 140 average damage during that, so I need to keep my hp above that. And only weapon I could damage him through Stoneskins, was Crom Fayer, 3 damage per hit, 2.5 apr, so about 3 average damage per round, and I needed to do 1500 hp damage.
Anyway Charmed him with the Control Circlet, and then he wasted the other Elementals. Summoned death squad and attacked. When my clone got unsummoned Ogremog was in injured state. When Deva got unsummoned he still had 839 hp left. Started summoning Earth Elementals, because if I ever got Slept he would first go through the elementals. Efreeti was able to hit couple damage with Magic Missiles, nobody else did any damage. Got one big scare at the end, as I tried hitting with Soul Reaver which lowered my DR to 50, I got Slept from an Earthquake. 65 hp when I woke up, and used my insta Hardiness to 100 DR which saved the fight. Eventually Ogremoch fell, but the battle took 6 in game hours, one of the longest I've ever done.
And all of this could've avoided with Blackrazor +3 as it drains levels through stoneskins. On average with clone it would've taken just 5 whirlwinded rounds.
Knew Sendai was trouble, wasn't expecting it this point though.
@histamiini: It should also be possible to level drain Ogremoch using the upgraded Short Sword of Mask. It's a 15% chance of draining 1 level with no save, bypassing MR, and you can dual-wield it with Belm. That's better than Gram the Sword of Grief, which has a 10% chance of draining 1 level: the level drain has a 100% chance of triggering, but the save vs. at -5 gives Ogremoch a 90% chance of saving against it. With its low speed factor, you might even be able to kite Ogremoch with the Short Sword of Mask.
Very clever to use the Deva under Sanctuary to escape when the drow encircled you. If you get boxed in again and can't escape to the Pocket Plane, you might have to use Smite to break free instead.
Good luck with Sendai! I've noticed the drow using True Seeing in that fight, at least in v32, which means it might take a lot more Potions of Invisibility and some careful timing if you plan on using the Pocket Plane to escape. If two drow have True Seeing active at the same time, maintaining invisibility might not be possible at all, and you'd have to spend up to 10 rounds tanking the drow, maybe on one of the stairways by the platforms.
@semiticgod True, but I took ** in Long Swords just so I could drain levels with Blackrazor if needed, and then I forgot the damn sword. Yeah Smite would've worked too, although it gives up the invisibility.
My plan is to waste the cleric statue, then retreat on the stairs, so I can defend a corner. I've 84 Invisibility potions, so that will not be a problem. I've seen True Seeings, but first castings I think almost always are Dispel, Time Stop, Greater Malison or some other Invisibility Dispel other than True Seeing. Defending the stair corner, only the mage drows should see me, not the mage statues.
After the battle royale with Ogremog Lord returned to form. Tried 8 apr Firetooth on Diyatha, but she got Physical Mirror on, so I lured her out without anyone else seeing and killed her in a round with critical strike 10 apr FoA +5. Egeissag too was killed during the first round. Last Mind Flayer base, and last time Int to 100. And with two castings of Improved Haste, they didn't stand a chance. Mages at the end were smited, and killed. Before starting the end battle, I went in and charged all my stuff with the merchant in the North Forest.
Lord Vanderley vs. Sendai. I had amassed 84 Invisibility potions for the battle, should be plenty. The drow are exteremely potent, as they can whirlwind and have -33 Thac0, so AC doesn't matter here, only DR saves you. Went in and immediately killed the cleric statue with 10 apr critical strikes which eliminates a Fallen Deva. Drank invisibility potion, healed and backed off. Was able to kill two drows before being dispelled. Timed my invisibility just after the dispel, escaped to Pocket Plane and rested. Next attack I was able to kill 6 drows, one at a time with 10 apr critical strike FoA +5, always drinking Invibility Potion after every drow. Besides DR, Regeneration power was good here too. Next attack I was able to kill the rest of the drows except the mage ones. Trying to keep aura clear, and when ever I heard Time Stop being cast, used invisiblity potion. Lured the ranged statue with Reflection Shield, before dispel was coming, invibility again after that. Mage statue smited and killed, then smited the mage drow away from other mage statue with Firetooth +3 so that it didn't see me, and killed the drow in close combat. Now there was only one mage statue left.
I also saw the bug in real time, near death mage, someone cast Time Stop, and the mage went in front of me from one health bar to five, because he lost sight of me. Some have their health and triggers reset whenever they lose sight on you, like the couple drow mages in this Sendai battle, and the couple mage statues in Watchers Keep. Is this a SCS bug? @DavidW
Switched on BMU for the end, because AC was again useful. Baited the mage statue with Efreeti and Skelis until its Absolute Immunity got used. Couple Carsomyr whirlwinds and it was done, but not before it got a dispel on me. Sendai arrived and I drank insibility and went to stairs, Sanctuary and Deva. Sendai stopped Time and cast True Sight, but I got Deva through. Then summoned clone on the field and one Skeli who started hunting Sendai down. My clone actually got Sendai to badly injured. And at this point she was easy pray for Lord. Interestingly she never got Planetar out. It went faster than expected, critical strike 10 apr FoA +5 ate drows easily in a round and Carsomyr whirlwind dispelled nicely.
For Balty I drank Potion of Insight to get 18 wisdom and put Nymph Cloak on for 20 charisma. He joined my cause although I'm evil. Third Pocket Plane challenge casual smacking with BMU. Summon door trick for Ravager and lured the Bone Blades out. Then it was casual ranging with K'logarath +4 and Reflection Shield with clone helping, although it took 15 minutes or so. Got 25 damage resitance bonus.
Next up Throne of Bhaal and I hope Ravager +6 is ready to slice up some celestials.
Hello! I think that I have found a bug importing my char to Bg2ee. He is at level 11, with a maximum hp of 61 + 22 of the pseudodragon. That´s 83 hp.
But when I start in the dungeon of Irenicus he starts with the 83 hp without the familiar. And when i summon the pseudodragon my hp raises to 117. Anyone knows the reason or it`s just a bug?
@Arno It's a bug, before importing you should take the Familiar out from the pocket. This way you should be able to cast the Familiar again with correct hp in BG2. LoB bonus for Pseudo Dragon in SoA is 34 hp, 58 hp in ToB. So the correct hp should be 95 when you cast Familiar in start of SoA.
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Looted Maevars guild hall so I could buy the Nymph cloak, couple Invisibility potions and Oil of Speed. Rested before transition and got ready for a waylay, but it didn't happen. Graveyard guests, then looted temple area. Then Suna Seni waylay happened, and I had Sanctuary on so it was an easy escape. Leveled during De'Arnise although I left Glaicus be, so that I could get Dispel Magic first. I could now cast Silence '15 so time to visit in Seven Vales. Silenced Mencar which took some tries. Then charmed Pooky who cast invisibility on me, and I blocked the door. Then he charmed Orcslicer who wasted Brennan before getting himself killed, then Pooky got killed. Lured Amon outside, and Mencar downstairs. Sanctuary and Mencar got casually killed by the neutral guard. This took a long time as Mencar has a lot of health, 545 hp to be exact. Went outside and another neutral Guard was casually attacking Amon, and after a while he too got killed. That was very interesting fight, it's almost like it's always different. Got the things I was after at, Sandthief ring and Full Plate.
Went in Trademeet and then to Druid Grove and with two Sanctuaries and Sandthief ring picked up Belm +2, which is going to be the goto sword some time. Level skipped Prebek and Sanasha spells before putting hurt on all. Sanasha was freaking annoying drinking invisibility potions, so I had to wait those out before killing her. Did the rest of Harper Hold, 25k gold. Got level 12 doing the temple quest.
Neb can be Silenced from the corner and casually hacked for some nice potions. As can Bregg and Cohrvale, Borinall, and Mad Cleric. Started chapter 3 with 15k, and got Ring +2 and Amulet of Power which Cavalier can use. Jaylos can be Silenced and casually hacked too, Caehan agroed from Silence. With invisibility picked up Mace of Distruption and improved it. Bought PfU and instakilled the first two minor Liches. The Shade lich managed to get his triggers out though. And it took some time to kill it, but in the end it was powerless. With PfU killed Tanova and Lassal, then waited Bodhi to leave. Level 13, which meant a Skeleton Warrior, and I could now Dispel Glaicus out of sight and build FoA +3.
Mephits were divided and hacked by Lord and Skeli. Failed to Silence Rayic, but Skeli depleted a lot of his spells, before I joined the hacking, and he was soon killed. This time I remembered using the pre charm tactic against Maevar. Silenced the Cleric , then Maevar attacked assassins while I killed the Cleric. Then took the xp and gave the killing blow for Maevar. I was able to take on the three remaining assassins, although had to spend 10 Extra Healing potions. Level 14 and 35k money. Bought Vhailors Helm and Shield of Balduran with 33k and went to try the Gauth xp-loop. And it was on with the clone and 3.5 apr Belm +2. But it was still slow business. It took about 30 minutes to get to level 15, and I got bored and left.
Mekrath was Silenced and my clone then attacked it. Mekrath managed to Vocalize and eventually kill my clone. Then I Silenced him again and sent in a Skeleton Warrior. This time he didn't Vocalize and we killed him easily. Recitation seems to be a nice level 4 spell. Just like Teleria, Beastmaster doesn't agro if you get hit from invisibility. Captain Haegan and the band was lured to the Cloudkill trap to choke out. Didn't bother with the wizard mob. 30k gold.
Prayer and Recitation combo really is amazing, -3 Thac0/Saves for allies, +3 for enemies. Easily wasted the Windspear Hill Paladins with clone, and without healing nor speed. The same combo easily wasted Tazok and his mob. Got the sewer key, looted the place and left. 55k gold. Saving Throws vs spell to -4, and easily fetched the WoW with Speed and Sanctuary. Bought 19 Stone to Flesh and went back to see Firkraag. After my clone got Conster on a Slowed state, I joined the fight and he was quickly killed. Got 5 loops from the wand and got to level 17.
Vampiric Wraiths are tough, had to burn 4 RoR's to kill them. Then the Trolls were tanked on the doorway. Before activating any of the statues I wanted Deva so I went and spent another WoW on Firkraag, getting to level 19. Two Skelis, Deva and clone was enough for the first four statues. The six non casting statues were easily separated and killed. Mages are a lot tougher so caution is adviced. They were separated, then baited out of Planetar and Time Stop and then attacked with Summons. When the mage starts casting Time Stop it's important to be out of reach and invisible, that way Planetar will never find you. Got to level 20. Elemental level was solid smacking and resting for every room. Level 21 with Smite, 0 Base Thac0 and got the final 4th level spell slot. It took 8 hits from WoW to stone Chromatic Demon, as summons were keeping it busy. Wont bother with Maze level before turning evil. Got double level up spending another WoW on Firkraag, at level 23 my Skeleton Warriors are now top of the line models. Deva made Kalah pretty non event.
Kangaxx was easily transformed with FoA +3 whirlwind, and demi Kangaxx easily killed with MoD +2 whirlwind. Planar Sphere easily done with Recitated 3 Skelis, Deva and clone, resting for each enemy mob. Lavok two Skelis and Deva attacked under Farsight which wasted a lot of his spells including Time Stop and Planetar. Sent in another Skeli and Lavok was casting Magic Missiles, so I summoned clone to finish him off. Tanar'ri Farsighted and killed with summons.
For Tolgeriars tried Silence but they both Vocalized, sent in Skeli who was able to make them summon amazing amount of help, including a Cornugon who attacked all. Waited summons out before sending another Skeli. It was able to pull out Planetar before getting killed. Then waited it out. Third Skeli still pulled Earth Elemental, Nishiruu and a Stalker. Lastly Deva and clone went in before Lord joined to claim the victory. Got 100k gold so it was time to do some shopping. And after buying all but Temple district out of useful stuff I was broke again.
Temple Ruins blasted with clone and Deva, used one PfU to pass the liches killing the other one, and then killed Shadow Lord and Shadow Altar, which actually can be Smited away. Thaxll casually petrified. After making the Shadow Dragon Armor, 28k gold, 10k after buying rest of the Athkatla out. Got 13 xp-loops from couple WoW's, and got to level 28 which means max casting level for Cavalier, Prayer+Reciation now lasts full 2 turns. Also said bye for Firkraag the last time, killed him and got Carsomyr +5 for some Dispel fun. Samia's gang Silenced before ultrabuffed death squad wiped them off. Some small things before heading to Brynnlaw.
Cavalier spells and summons really help a lot in start of SoA. Sanctuary and Silence '15 were the first goto spells, then Animate Dead, Prayer Recitation combo and Farsight all help a lot. 3 Skeletons, Deva and clone pretty much can wipe any mob, without Lord even needing to show up.
@histamiini: You might consider drinking a couple of Potions of Fire Resistance or using Protection from Fire or Resist Fire/Cold before Rayic Gethras next time so you can repeatedly trigger the Fireball trap. It's a very fast and reliable way to burn down Ray-Ray.
What's your strategy for waiting out lich PFMW spells? Do you just run away and wait, or do you try to tank spells?
I've read you doing that plenty of times, but I've always forgot to use that. Oh well the next time then, I did remember the Maevar pre charm this time.
Character wise always backing of when target casts PfMW, and preferably invisible, but summons I always leave there to waste spells. Against liches I never use summons though, so they can't target me indirectly.
I'm not sure if I can use Silence on Mutamin without losing several minutes. I need 3000 XP to get cleric level 3, and the only efficient way to do that is to have Korax kill basilisks. Right after that, I have to dual-class to mage, and while I can hit level 3/4 before Mutamin, I'd have to rest in order to memorize Silence 15' Radius (and my other memorized spells get erased by dual-classing, oddly enough). If I rest, Korax goes hostile. But, I've heard that staying out of Korax's line of sight will prevent him from going hostile, so maybe that is possible.
Currently my only strategy for Diarmid is to combine some anti-missile AC options with the Wand of Monster Summoning and a Protection from Magic scroll to smoosh Diarmid with summons and kite the other enemies. Once Diarmid is out of the equation, no one can hit me from range, and I can finish off the survivors with wands.
He then did not bothered with Dragonspear Castle but moved right into the Underground River sneaking up to Hephernaan and getting out without any problems. He then had to avoid two True Seeings and one Oracle before sneaking through all enemy lines unseen while not forgetting to place the explosive barrel.
With the Crusader Attacks right in front of him we should now take some time to investigate all options. If Glyphs of Warding could be placed all around the place Ziad could instakill all waves with ease but as there are lots of allies moving around the whole place this does not look like an option.
At least one thing we have discovered so far:
Its possible to safely place Glyphs of Warding around the Troll spawning point if you constantly dominate exactly those Soldiers who would trigger them. So before doing anything we had to monitor the troop movement for quite some time. Too bad the spawning of those wandering soldiers is endless while the good thing was that only three of them (two Waterdhavian Soldier & one Daggerford Militia) could potentially trigger the Glyphs and they only appear once every 1-2 minutes (the Daggerford Milita looks more random sometimes not showing up for five minutes). As they also do not spawn at the same time its absolutely possible to dominate them one after another while placing new Glyphs and resting in between. As their Save vs Spell is only 13 (15 against Domination) and they are also waiting for several seconds before starting to move Ziad has at least two tries to dominate them.
With other words: With lots of patience - and most likely - several resetts it should be possible to get LOTS of Glyphs at the Troll spawning point or on one of the others. Controlling more than one spawning point and protecting all Glyphs at least for now looks impossible. Which opens up the question which Wave would be the best to get instakilled by the Glyphs. Trolls? Clerics and Paladins? Using stacked Glyphs against the last wave looks not manageable as there are too many soldiers wandering around.
The observations so far can lead to the following conclusion:
1. Troll Wave -> Instakilled by Glyphs
2. Mage Wave -> Wizard Slayers + Raged Skels
3. Clerics & Paladins -> Greater Command, Silence, ?????
4. Named Ones -> Pray
We need more ideas and tricks...
Greater Command might actually be an important game-changer, even if the odds of success are below 50% per enemy. Unlike paralysis, sleep effects can't be cured with cleric spells without Spell Revisions installed... unless SoD clerics are able to use Exaltation in SCS v32.
On an unrelated note, I'm learning how to edit videos. Once I know how to speed up video segments and once I know the ideal uploading settings for Youtube, I'll be able to dramatically reduce footage time for my Archer run. Even then, though, it may be difficult to record commentary for the whole thing. Even if I cut the duration in half, that's still 19 hours of videos! I might have to speed up all sorts of things (inventory management, travel times, etc.) in order to get a reasonable total video length.
I really don't like that I keep dying in BG1. SoD is safe besides Belhifet, SoA is easy, and ToB is easy albeit tense, but BG1 is finicky for me.
The speedrun is too hard on my hands; my fingers are twitchy and imprecise and it hurts if I play for very long. It's really not worth the trouble.
It looks like it's possible to beat BG1 in less than 4 hours while still collecting all the necessary resources for SoD. SoD might be 2 hours or maybe even less, but I'm less certain about BG2 and ToB, which could vary wildly depending on class.
I might not return to this challenge for a while. Anything harder than the Archer would be oppressive and anything easier would feel like a downgrade. Zero-exploit runs seem slow and dicey, poverty runs seem slow and far more dicey, and restless runs don't look good for BG2 for several reasons (limited Hardiness spells, limited PFMW scrolls, expensive healing options, and limited gold sources before ToB, among other things). It seems like the extra restrictions would just mean spending more time outside the game planning and considering our options.
Summoned clone and Deva from Sanctuary for Perth the Adept, and he was stunned by Power Attack and killed before he realized anything. Got Spell Turning from the Book of Infinite spells, so I probably wont bother with the Spell Turning shield in Neera's guest, although two would be nice. Cavalier doesn't lose Duhm like other fighters in Asylum because he can cast it from spells. Asylum 1st and 2nd levels were basic smacking for summons, used one PfU for the Undead. Third level again basic smacking. Finally got Boots of bloody Speed. Irenicus Farsighted and smacked by summons and when he was at 1 hp I made the transtition and he surrendered almost immediatelly. 94k gold for selling my stuff for the Shaguain, then summons smacked through of them. Level 31.
Summons grinded Underdark clean, Balor was Smited and exploded by the death squad. The machine mage was pretty tough killing my squad, but waiting his buffs out he didn't have a second wind. Used one PfU to instakill the lich with MoD. Before going to Ust Natha I wanted to get Kuo-toa blood, so I went there and with three rests wasted the whole lot. Buffed up and only killed the Demon Knight with the loot before making a hasty escape.
Buffed for the Mind Flayer ambush, 50 Int, Absorption, Drow Full Plate etc. And it took probably 6 rounds to whirlwind them all with the clone. Deva and one Skeli even survived. Did the small guests before betraying the Drow. Adalon started pawning everbody and I backed off invisible, so that she actually would kill all, rather than left some alive. And I also still needed to visit the Mind Flayer base.
The first Arena fights were basic smacking without using much resources, only one Oil of Speed. Used the one Mind Flayer to open the door. For the first mob, I buffed Int to 100, saves -4 vs spell and the two Mind Flayer mob was quickly done.
The next big mob, Absorption, AoF and Hardiness. 4x Mind Flayers, 2x Ulitharids and 1x Umber Hulks, used my 50 seconds of Improved Haste to get 9 apr with FoA +3. Topped my Invulnerability so it had taken 50 rounds, but didn't need anything else, not even healing. Next mob was the biggest, 6x Mind Flayers, 2x Ultiharids, 1x Umber Hulks. Used 4 times RoR and took another Invulnerability so it was past 100 rounds, but wasn't close. Even though Master Brain dispelled us, Lord, Clone and Deva easily killed him in few rounds. Picked up Fire Control Ring and Staff of Command before escaping, also got the four Control Circlets. Used drop & pick method to smuggle the Drow Full Plate +5 out of the Underdark, which can be used until ToB.
Also made max level 34 and these are my picks for HLA and Weapon Proficiencies.
4 Greater Whirlwind
1 Power Attack
7 Critical Strike
1 Smite
2 Hardiness
1 Deva
** Long Sword
** Dagger
** Halberd
** Scimitar
** Flails
** Two-Handed Sword
*** Two-Weapon Style
I don't plan using much Long Swords nor Daggers, but Halberd was taken solely for the Fallen Solars. Haven't really had any scares or trouble to this point.
Used Farsight on Wraith Sarevok so that I had time to charm him before dialogue with the Control Circlet. Then made him do the transition, and killed him. Transitioned back hitting pause, and after getting the tear quickly did the transition back before losing my Cavalier abilities. Carsomyr on quick slot, used the tear three times on the wall to get 25 strength and turn evil. I could now use both Carsomyr and Soul Reaver. Then Selfishness, after dialogue backed up, cast Silence on the Peasant, then Death Ward. Opened the doors, and directed Lord to the exit, Selfishness spoke to me on the way out and gave the tear, but I was already at the exit and quickly made the transition before falling. Beautiful. Summoned skelis, and used the tear two times on the wall getting -4 AC, which means I could hit -20 AC gap with BMU, Ring of Gaxx, Ring of Earth Control, Cloak +2 and Helm of Balduran. The fight started and I backed up quickly. Balor's then casually hacked the Glabresuz, and I was waiting them to kill Irenicus, but the other Balor chose to attack and kill the other one. This meant that the last Balor couldn't do fast enough damage to kill the Slayer. I tried luring the Balor out, but he wasn't interested. So I summoned a Deva which made Slayer summon Planetar, which I had to wait out. Then I summoned clone and we buffed and huffed, and the Slayer was dead after 4 rounds or so.
With Reflection Shield on, 5 whirlwinds with FoA +3 and Illasera was dead. First Pocket Plane challenge, used summon door trick and the commoners and Knights of the Order were easily smacked. Then Linvail and Eltan were lured away and easily smacked dead. 9 APR FoA +4 then easily killed Ellesime. Saradush landing easily handled by Lord and Deva. Kaiser Silenced and casually hacked, mage Smited. Prison passed with the help of clone and Deva with three MoD's. Second level thiefs were Charmed with SoC to get 13 Invisibility potions, which are important for the battle against Sendai.
Meeting with Gromnir, charmed Elkan and Lasharra, who almost killed Drin. Lasharra got killed and Elkan turned red cricle, but continued attacking her allies and killed Eler and the fighter. Elkan and Drin were both near death, and easy pickings for Lord. Then Ramazith and Gromnir lured away from the mages, and 9 apr FoA +4 easily smacked them dead.
Time to do the Watchers Keep. Casually passed the Dead Magic Balor room to Tahazzar, and now I could make a deal with him. Charmed Yochol with SoC, then summoned the death squad, and critical strikes from 9 apr double FoA +4 killed Tahazzar in a little over round. Now came the lot trickier part. 2x Mind Focus, 9x Heroism to 400 hp, Invul, Speed, AoF, Hardiness, Spell Turning, Mirror Image, Invisibility. Quickly passed the Quasit and Succuby to Ka'rashur. Managed to pause and back up before Karashur got his dialogue out which was great. Used clone to Smite Ka'rashur, which actually stopped him from getting his dialogue out. In the end nobody even agroed. Quasit, Tiefling, Demon Knight, Demon Wraith, and I arrived to Aesgareth's room.
Charmed the four Tieflings with SoC and moved them far away from Aesgareth, then stoned his pets with WoW. Then summoned the death squad, and after double Smiting Aesgareth, the poor sucker never got an attack out. Apparently Tieflings had some internal disputes, and started fighting amon themselves. Waited until Planetar got unsummoned and then escaped the level. Something Cavalier can't do is to use Deck of Many things, unless you want to risk getting -1 penalty on saving throws.
Fourth level, first cleared the entrance area, then used Sanctuary to casually loot the Githyanki area, stoning Saladrex on the way. Didn't bother with the hardest Lich, because I've learned my lesson and I'm not insane. For the hardest Mind Flayer base, Int to 100, Absorption, Speed, Invul, Roranach's Horn, Improved Haste, clone etc. It took probably 10 rounds to waste the first mob. Half way the second mob clone left, but I easily wiped them off. Rested 8 hours so I could cast Improved Haste again, didn't need to buff Int because I used 12 hours Mind Focus potions. It took exactly 18 rounds to hack the biggest Mindflayer mob in the game, and no healing required. Looted the oil and left.
Final Seal level, Test of Stamina can be waited invisible, Dragon stoned. Spirit Warrior test, North, East, Search, North, East, North, Scroll, West, Archway. I've now passed that like 6 times in a row, so I don't know if that tactic ever fails. Now I had both the Spirit and Heart keys I needed. Azamantes easily destroyed with PfU and 8 apr MoD, got the Ravager component. For the Heart Seal I summoned death squad, clone Smited Y'Tossi and I used Control Circlet to charm the Hive Mother. Had to wait Y'Tossis PfMW out before doing some damage, but I just couldn't do it fast enough, before my summons were dead, although the Hive Mother was still tanking. Y'tossi is a Marilith and they can cast infinite PfMW's, what am I doing? Remembered the trusty old weapon against Mariliths, and first hit from WoW and it was dead, and I could escape with the loot.
Getting the apr gloves and buffs from the Machine of Lum, Lord Vanderley got his final form.
To make it short: As the Trolls and Ogres do not spawn at the exact same time not even half of them were killed by the Glyphs so the Ogre Mages just hasted up the rest killing the Skels and Archers in no time. Greater Command did not work against anyone but the Barbarian and when Ziad tried to help with a bare fisted backstab he got hacked to pieces by Yarok.
No, that was no fun and with the Glyph stacking not working i cant see a reliable way to even beat the first wave. At the moment it looks like Totemic Druids are the only ones that have decent chances getting through those attacks. Maybe later...
Like @semiticgod i might take a little pause as poverty runs are so damn exhausting and things can get out of control really easy. So good luck to @histamiini who seems to crush everything with ease.
Finally I've arrived vs Belhiphet. I relied all my hopes in my best friend: the Wand of Polymorphing. But after a lot of tries it seems not to work. After 1 Lower Resistance + Oracle + another Lower Resistance, sometimes i can break his resist magic ability and Big B dices vs wands. But for three times the game doesn`t announce neither the resist magic nor the dice vs wands and that should be a success... but Big B doesn`t polymorph.
So, like semiticgod said when I started this challenge, this seems to be the final of my journey.
Thank you for all the wisdow you have shared with this pure mage, now I think I`m going to start another game.
See you in Faerun, friends!
If you're willing to manipulate aura cleanse by quicksaving and reloading Archer/Cleric seems to be the most ridicolous op class in SoA by far:
Cast Energy Blades, then called shot, quicksave, quickload, rinse and repeat till all your called shots are gone.
I tested witch Archer 21/Cleric 26 and had 5 called shots = 5 str drain per hit, with energy blades 10 apr this means any enemy dies in half a round.
while i traveled around and had a little fun with this I also found out that using the elemental summoning hla (which summons princes quite regularly) doesn't break sanctuary, so you can stand in plain sight of enemies and summon as long as you have sanctuary on.
@Arno not displaying a save doesn't necessarily mean that a saving throw was not required and made. One of the oddities of the game engine is that it doesn't display a save if the original die roll would not have been sufficient to save, even where an adjustment to the save means that the saving throw is actually made. I think Belhifet has a saving throw of 9 against wands in LoB, assuming that you haven't installed the saving throw fix. If he rolls, say, a 10 you will see the text reporting that he saved with a roll of 10 + 5 (the standard LoB bonus to saving throws) = 15. However, if he rolls a 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 you won't see a text message even though the adjustment means he has actually saved. Only if he rolls a 1, 2 or 3 will he actually fail the save (though you could improve the chances if you can affect him with something like malison.
I mean as a cleric one could prolly just kill those with the good old "friendly" Magic Resistance + Harm "wombo combo"?
Also since one also reduces saving throws with called shots stuff like wand of polymorph could be quite good?
edit: technically also slay living since it ignores Magic resistance, but casting actual spells can be quite tricky on some enemies with scs while the wand doesnÄ't seem to have that problem.
(this might also be true for slay living tho since technically it is a touch atatck)
With Nyalee, clone started hacking with Critical Strike 10 apr FoA as I talked to her, and after continuous hacking through the cutscene, Nyalee died almost immediatelly. Yaga-Shura was charmed with SoC, and Fallen Planetar then vorpalled the poor soul. Oasis passed without fighting, don't need money, although I charmed Jamis for the Answerer +4. Did the small guests in Amkethran and bought K'logarath +4, the only ranged weapon Cavalier can hit the Ravager with Reflection Shield on.
Draconis was Silenced and casually hacked to 1 hp, so when the Silence ended he turned immediatelly to the Dragon. Managed to back up without him following, so I could casually wait his Haste out. With Shadow Dragon scale and Cavalier bonus I had 70 Acid Resistance, and kiting without his Haste was easy. After a while I summoned Deva to distract him a while, and then summoned couple Skelis and then refreshed Deva with RoR. Then summoned clone, and with double whirlwinds from Soul Reaver +4 Draconis became powerless, although he died during the third whirlwind, so the amazing Thac0 penalty didn't really play any part.
The Greater Werewyvern is the only one seeing through invisibility, so I lured hit to the doorway, and hit it with two Soul Reaver whirlwinds, after which it was easy pickings with clone. Trying to evade Anadramatis dialogue failed, so I went into @semiticgod spot, and waited the PfMW out, before Soul Reavering her. After this it was basic smacking. Got both scales and the amulet. Lord and clone had some fun with the Kuo-Toa area with 10 apr FoA +4's, and then fetched the rope. It took 28 hits from WoW to petrify the first two Dragons in Quadruble Dragon ambush, but it's pretty casual kiting with Shadow Dragon Armor, and Cavalier Acid Resistance bonus. The Green Dragon was stoned after he spawned, which then spawned Carnifex. Kited his Haste out, before continuing using WoW, and after 35 hits all four Dragons were stoned. Picked up the Bronze pants without fighting anybody and built the BMU.
Tried to petrify the dragon before Abazigal, but my summons got wasted, so I decided to Soul Reaver her Thac0, and then called clone to finish it. Got the 12h Improved Invisibility ring. For the quadruble wyverns, 100 FR/CR/ER/AR, 2x Mind Focus, Improved Invisibility, PfE '15, and got my AC vs Piercing to -38. Improved Haste and pressed on. And it was a massacre I've not seen in this point yet. Dispelling their stoneskins with Carsomyr (they've six of them), and smacking with 10 apr Critical Strike FoA +4, the fight was probably done in 10 rounds or so. The Frost Salamanders were wiped just in time when Improved Haste ended.
Lord vs. Abazigal. Rested, and summoned a death squad who managed to turn Abazigal to a dragon in less than 2 rounds. I went hiding and watched Abazigal to Imprison the Deva and waste the skelis. Drank two Magic Protections the get 100 MR to stop most of the bad spells happening and equipped Reflection Cloak. Tamah was the first one to find me in @semiticgod inspired hiding place which was not big enough for the dragons. I sniped her with 5 apr Firetooth +3 with Critical Strikes and she was soon dead. Then tried luring Abazigal there, but he wasn't moving. Don't know why, but it suited Lord just fine. Anyway started with Soul Reaver whirlwind, and then dispelled his Stoneskins with Carsomyr. But then Aba went invisible, and wasn't showing himself. I had exactly one item to counter this, and it was Peridan which dispelled it. Aba wasn't doing much but mostly just trying to use breath weapon, but my Reflection Cloak stopped all that. And after a while he was dead.
Tomorrow Sendai, which probably is the toughest part for Cavalier, at least after Melissan.
Mmm, ok Grond0. I will make other tries expecting that miraculous 1 ^_^
By the way... what is the saving throw fix?
Note that the mod will have the same effect outside of LoB mode, so you'd have to uninstall it before trying a non-LoB mode run, or else your non-LoB enemies will have the same saving throw bonuses as they would in a fixed LoB mode run.
Ok, thx semiticgod.
I was a little desilusionated because Big B didn´t transform itself in a squirrel, but his points of life were at minimum and that was the important.
Now I can start bgee2. Thx Grond0 for the explanation! I had lost my hopes to obtain victory vs Big B with this char
Time for Sendai. The Woodcutter was casually petrified and killed. Thelynn was killed with 10 apr FoA +5 and one Critical Strike, before I drank Invisibility potion. But then I was surrounded by the drow and couldn't move. Had to escape to Pocket Plane, rest and get Sanctuary, then summoned Deva without breaking the Sanctuary, and the drow then released me by attacking it. Another victory for the Sanctuary, Deva combo. Lured the two Glabrezus and Yochol away, and smacked them dead with Carsomyr whirlwinds. With single PfU and MoD the lich was easily destroyed.
Then I remembered something awful, I forgot to get the Blackrazor +3 in the Hell. This was bad as it's the only weapon I think, fighter can easily kill Ogremoch. Lets meet Ogremoch:
1520 hp
-22 AC
-12 Thac0
-2/0/-1/-1/1
Immunity +2 Weapons
24-69 dmg
5 apr
Earthquake, sleep -6 vs. Spell, 2 rounds
Immune to Ravager +6, FoA +5 effects, Petrification
He dispels every hit and does 47 average crushing damage with 5 apr, and casts Earthquake that has Sleep -6 vs. Spell two rounds, which I can't protect against. But his absolute best party trick, if not in the whole game is, unlimited, undispellable, instant casting 12 stoneskins. So you can't damage him other than through stoneskins, because he has them always on.
Lord could have undispellable -28 AC and 70 DR vs. crushing + Hardiness. And with couple hits from Soul Reaver he can only hit 20's. But if he gets Sleep through, he can do 140 average damage during that, so I need to keep my hp above that. And only weapon I could damage him through Stoneskins, was Crom Fayer, 3 damage per hit, 2.5 apr, so about 3 average damage per round, and I needed to do 1500 hp damage.
Anyway Charmed him with the Control Circlet, and then he wasted the other Elementals. Summoned death squad and attacked. When my clone got unsummoned Ogremog was in injured state. When Deva got unsummoned he still had 839 hp left. Started summoning Earth Elementals, because if I ever got Slept he would first go through the elementals. Efreeti was able to hit couple damage with Magic Missiles, nobody else did any damage. Got one big scare at the end, as I tried hitting with Soul Reaver which lowered my DR to 50, I got Slept from an Earthquake. 65 hp when I woke up, and used my insta Hardiness to 100 DR which saved the fight. Eventually Ogremoch fell, but the battle took 6 in game hours, one of the longest I've ever done.
And all of this could've avoided with Blackrazor +3 as it drains levels through stoneskins. On average with clone it would've taken just 5 whirlwinded rounds.
Knew Sendai was trouble, wasn't expecting it this point though.
Very clever to use the Deva under Sanctuary to escape when the drow encircled you. If you get boxed in again and can't escape to the Pocket Plane, you might have to use Smite to break free instead.
Good luck with Sendai! I've noticed the drow using True Seeing in that fight, at least in v32, which means it might take a lot more Potions of Invisibility and some careful timing if you plan on using the Pocket Plane to escape. If two drow have True Seeing active at the same time, maintaining invisibility might not be possible at all, and you'd have to spend up to 10 rounds tanking the drow, maybe on one of the stairways by the platforms.
My plan is to waste the cleric statue, then retreat on the stairs, so I can defend a corner. I've 84 Invisibility potions, so that will not be a problem. I've seen True Seeings, but first castings I think almost always are Dispel, Time Stop, Greater Malison or some other Invisibility Dispel other than True Seeing. Defending the stair corner, only the mage drows should see me, not the mage statues.
Lord Vanderley vs. Sendai. I had amassed 84 Invisibility potions for the battle, should be plenty. The drow are exteremely potent, as they can whirlwind and have -33 Thac0, so AC doesn't matter here, only DR saves you. Went in and immediately killed the cleric statue with 10 apr critical strikes which eliminates a Fallen Deva. Drank invisibility potion, healed and backed off. Was able to kill two drows before being dispelled. Timed my invisibility just after the dispel, escaped to Pocket Plane and rested. Next attack I was able to kill 6 drows, one at a time with 10 apr critical strike FoA +5, always drinking Invibility Potion after every drow. Besides DR, Regeneration power was good here too. Next attack I was able to kill the rest of the drows except the mage ones. Trying to keep aura clear, and when ever I heard Time Stop being cast, used invisiblity potion. Lured the ranged statue with Reflection Shield, before dispel was coming, invibility again after that. Mage statue smited and killed, then smited the mage drow away from other mage statue with Firetooth +3 so that it didn't see me, and killed the drow in close combat. Now there was only one mage statue left.
I also saw the bug in real time, near death mage, someone cast Time Stop, and the mage went in front of me from one health bar to five, because he lost sight of me. Some have their health and triggers reset whenever they lose sight on you, like the couple drow mages in this Sendai battle, and the couple mage statues in Watchers Keep. Is this a SCS bug? @DavidW
Switched on BMU for the end, because AC was again useful. Baited the mage statue with Efreeti and Skelis until its Absolute Immunity got used. Couple Carsomyr whirlwinds and it was done, but not before it got a dispel on me. Sendai arrived and I drank insibility and went to stairs, Sanctuary and Deva. Sendai stopped Time and cast True Sight, but I got Deva through. Then summoned clone on the field and one Skeli who started hunting Sendai down. My clone actually got Sendai to badly injured. And at this point she was easy pray for Lord. Interestingly she never got Planetar out. It went faster than expected, critical strike 10 apr FoA +5 ate drows easily in a round and Carsomyr whirlwind dispelled nicely.
For Balty I drank Potion of Insight to get 18 wisdom and put Nymph Cloak on for 20 charisma. He joined my cause although I'm evil. Third Pocket Plane challenge casual smacking with BMU. Summon door trick for Ravager and lured the Bone Blades out. Then it was casual ranging with K'logarath +4 and Reflection Shield with clone helping, although it took 15 minutes or so. Got 25 damage resitance bonus.
Next up Throne of Bhaal and I hope Ravager +6 is ready to slice up some celestials.
But when I start in the dungeon of Irenicus he starts with the 83 hp without the familiar. And when i summon the pseudodragon my hp raises to 117. Anyone knows the reason or it`s just a bug?