Yeah, the 6% are wrong as i was using 40% MR but - as @semiticgod stated - its only 24% MR at Level 12. Which slightly increases the chances of success.
You cannot afford two castings of Harm cause on one hand you need at least one Fire Elemental to beat the elevator demons and on the other hand you most likely wont get the time to cast and execute the second as some demons will start to attack you depleting Iron Skin quickly.
BG2 will need some focus especially thanks to all the changes caused by 2.5 and SCS v32 but once we manage to start the Gauth XP loop SoA should be smooth sailing for a long time. Hopefully. ToB will be another story...
But first more tests on Big B before rolling the dices...
P.S. One thing the Avenger can pull of is to use Spider Form running past Big B right after the battle starts without eating his Dispel Magic and position him/herself near the cages far away from the incoming demons. This can give time to safely call in summons before starting the MR + Harm combo as otherwise the Hamatulas and Co are able to target Hold Person even with Improved Invsibility still being active.
@Harpagornis: Good thinking, but wouldn't you have enough level 4 spell slots to afford a Free Action spell? I've seen Belhifet cast Hold Person as well.
Free Action isnt available for Druids - at least not in my installation @semiticgod.
However: Getting out the buffs in the elevator should be easy as the timer after beating the third wave is exactly 30 seconds before reaching the roof and Big B giving us the chance to cast five spells. Timing True Sight will be no big deal then. As long as its active Big B wont use Improved Invisibility at all - thats good.
We also noticed that all demons - except for the flying Imp and the two Hellcats - can be webbed quite regulary so if we manage to get out a bigger Fire Elemental and combine it with the Spider Form the danger of losing Iron Skin should be minimized even though using Beetles might be even more helpful against the third wave.
After my poverty Sorcerer got blocked by the Palace Ambush , I've been continuing Priest of Lathander to be mage playthrough, well started over because reinstall wiped off the last run.
Nothing really interesting happened, using the same tactics as usual. Except drank the Violet Potion for the WIS and STR tomes, and consequently some more fun with Bel. Five Blood Raged and Recitated Skelis made short work of Slythe and Krystin both.
Tested the Palace Ambush for poverty in mind, and 5 Blood Raged skelis and all Recitated + Prayed can actually beat it, after Shaman is Silenced. Tazok, Diarmid, Angelo and Semaj were burned afar with 46 strikes from OGL. Hit Sarevok with rest of the OGL's leaving 10 for Korlasz. Then hit Sarevok with 4 Dispel Magic's and managed to take his Haste off, which is the first for me. Then it was easy enough to kite with Wand of Heavens and Ring of Energy. Ring of Energy kills Sarevok faster as it hits twice.
With just 4 OGL's and Invisibility potions I got Korlasz to 137 hp, and she surrendered immediatelly when I revealed myself. Leveled up and got 5th level spells.
Chapter 8 the usual, Teleria and her Golem casually hacked without retaliation. Didn't bother with the Vampire. Blood Raged, Recitated and Prayed Skelis easily helped the Dwarves and wasted the Lich. Ziatar burned and Akanna charmed. Bridge mage was interrupted with Ring of Energy and the mob was absolutely stomped by Blood Raged, Recitated, Prayed Skelis. Helping the Druids for the Root of the Problem got to max level 10. Which also ment that with Locket of Embracing I could cast the second best Skelis.
Next up the Bane of Clerics, the Crusader Attacks.
With IWD spells, Skelis can be turned to nice killing machines. If you're evil alignment they also get 1 apr more from Righteous Wrath of the Faithful.
11HD Skeli, hp 140, AC -8, Thac0 3, dmg 13, apr 2.5
PfE'10 (11 turns), hp 140, AC -10, Thac0 3, dmg 13, apr 2.5
Blood Rage (2 turns), hp 150, AC -10, Thac0 -1, dmg 22, apr 2.5
Prayer (11 rounds), hp 150, AC -11, Thac0 -2, dmg 23, apr 2.5
Recitation (11 rounds), hp 150, AC -13, Thac0 -4, dmg 23, apr 2.5
RWofF (11 rounds), hp 158, AC -13, Thac0 -5, dmg 23, apr 2.5
RWofF (if evil), hp 158, AC -13, Thac0 -6, dmg 25, apr 3.5
Prayer+Recation (hit enemy), hp 158, AC -16, Thac0 -9, dmg 25, apr 3.5
Yeah, the buffed up Skels are a real terror and should hopefully get you through the Crusader Attacks. Locket of Embracing might be a real gamechanger here. However: Good luck @histamiini.
@Vynn tested the fight against Big B in more detail as i am lacking time and i think we have discovered a real gamechanger which increases the chance to beat him significantly - here we go:
Using the safe position near the cages (thanks to the hasted Spider Form this can be pulled of easily) makes most (all) demons going for Caelar. Its then crucial to let her dodge the incoming attacks as far as possible to keep her alive long enough before the Beetles join in for even more distraction and going in for MR. The trick now is not to follow up with Harm directly but to get out Web first! This not only paralyzes most demons but even Big B is vulnerable to it and he regularly gets immobilized too. With Caelar still alive, two or three Beetles around, several demons webbed @Vynn said that pulling out Harm is no big deal then IF Web catches Big B AND its placed perfectly so it wont be able to effect Loreth once she gets in for Harm.
At the moment we are trying to get the perfect timing and positioning before doing the whole stuff for real with Loreth. But so far its clear that the MR + Web + Harm combo has much better chances even though bad rolls might still stop this run quickly.
Lets hope we get time for this epic battle at the weekend...
Belhifet's save vs. spell is 5, or 0 in LoB mode, or 2 when factoring in the -2 save penalty from Web. That's just a 5% chance of webbing him per round per Web spell, and Harm only gets a 10-second window before it wears off.
Still, the odds are far superior to trying to land a critical hit. Factoring in Belhifet's MR after Magic Resistance, that's a 3.8% chance to web him per round per Web spell. True Seeing will only last 10 rounds, but if you can find the time to cast just 5 Web spells before it wears off and Belhifet gains immunity to Web spells from Improved Invisibility's -4 save bonuses, the odds of failing to web him are only (1-.038)^5=82.39% per round.
By the way: if a druid makes it to BG2, bear in mind that shapeshifting tokens can be dual-wielded, and whichever token you equip last overrides the other token's effects, if they're mutually exclusive. With the spider token in the main hand and the earth elemental token in the off hand (equipped second), you'd have 4 APR as well as 25 STR and 2 base THAC0 as well as the 50% damage resistances, though your main hand base damage would be 1d6 instead of 2d10.
The saves are broken even with the fix installed @semiticgod. Reinstalling the whole game did not change that problem so when i use CTRL+Q on Big B it shows Save vs Spell 10. However: Our ingame observation shows that the chances to web him are somewhere around 30-35% which would mean his Save vs spell is most likely 5+2 in our installation. We have no other mods installed and @Vynn gets the same numbers - whats wrong here?
However: Its not our fault that Beamdog messed up the saves and some enemies like Big B are not getting the fix bonus (most enemies are fixed on the other hand) so we will have to work with the actual settings. Lets hope 2.6 will fix this bug.
Stacking Webs is what we are testing at the moment and things are looking good even though there most likely wont be time to get all five Webs off - will have to test this in more detail tomorrow. The biggest danger so far is to get targeted by Hold Person when casting MR on Big B. Once we are near the cages really all Demons are targeting Caelar but as many of them are only slowly moving in she can use this time to dance around Hephernaan avoiding Big B long enough before the Beetles join in. More on that later...
Priest of Lathander vs. Crusaders. Troll wave, buffed up skelis attacked the Ogre Mages, and Anubis dropped a Silence which they evaded. No matter, they got killed pretty quickly. Collective buffs with the Dwarves were impressive, and the wave got eventually grinded out although it took about 50 rounds or so. Only had to spend one Durlag's Goblet, Ankhegs and Stone Ally. Also noticed that Dosia doesn't really refresh all spells, just about half or so.
Mage wave, 4 buffed up Skelis, True Seeing dispelled their illusions and started feeding Silences. It was a massacre, none of my Skelis got killed, or hardly even injured. Although at one point I was too close and got dispelled. No matter, another buff round was coming up anyway.
Paladin wave and I mistakinly took the rogues. 5 buffed up Skelis, True Seeing, Silence and everyone ganged on Rhayla because she can dispel. And she was killed quickly. Started tanking with -33 AC vs. crushing and after Skelis got killed, 5 Ankhegs did nice damage from distance. Warpriest and clerics were priority, then the rest but again it wasn't really close one.
Last wave, buffed Skelis, True Seeing, and dropped couple Silences from out of sight. Skelis were impressive, but so were the rest of the allies, Archers especially giving barrages from afar and the named ones dropped like flies. In the whole crusader attacks I used the Goblet only twice, so it went a lot better than I expected. Besides ultra buffed skelis, True Seeing and Silence are golden in every wave.
This time I waited inside the Dragonspear Castle, and one hour wait netted about 20 Power Potions. Ashatiel didn't stand a chance, althought the fight took a long time both of us just missing all the time.
Then disaster, Mizhena was nowhere to be found. And looking it back, she actually takes part on the attacks, and gets killed. And now I don't get the Blazing Glory +3, and because I left Kneecapper in Baldur's Gate, only weapon I've that hits Bel is Root of the Problem. So it's either not waiting potions, or not getting Blazing Glory +3. And I actually could've beaten the Crusader Attacks without any Power Potions, and have all 14 for Bel. I'm so disappointed about this, that I'm not even going to bother with Bel.
The saves are broken even with the fix installed @semiticgod. Reinstalling the whole game did not change that problem so when i use CTRL+Q on Big B it shows Save vs Spell 10. However: Our ingame observation shows that the chances to web him are somewhere around 30-35% which would mean his Save vs spell is most likely 5+2 in our installation. We have no other mods installed and @Vynn gets the same numbers - whats wrong here?
Have you installed the fix at the end of the other mods - I guess if you did it first the effect might be overwritten?
Presumably you're using the spell on a hostile Belhifet rather than bringing him into the party for testing purposes (if you did do the latter he would no longer get the +5 adjustment to die rolls and hence would fail saves much more easily).
In my installation (consoling him into Candlekeep to test) he saves as expected, i.e. just the occasional failure.
@Harpagornis: I've been playing with the hotfix ever since I started up my Archer run. I didn't want my run to seem outdated when the bug got patched, so I installed the hotfix to replicate the future patch.
Attached is the hotfix by subtledoctor, in case you want to try it out. It'll give +5 to saving throws for every critter that's not a party member. Note that this applies even outside of LoB mode, so if you're also playing the game on other difficulties, it'll have the same effect on those runs.
By the way, I've noticed in my non-LoB runs that one of the trolls in the Coalition Camp invasion runs past you straight to the barrels, triggering all of the waves at once. This happened twice in two consecutive runs, and it seems like a bug. If it happened in an LoB run, it would pretty much be game over, since my Shapeshifter and Fighter/Druid were only able to survive by using Potions of Firebreath and kiting under a Protection from Magic scroll, with Durlag's Goblet to handle missile damage. It's a pretty high-pressure environment, and it might be impossible for certain classes to keep the Crusaders at bay. It gets awfully crowded very fast, and Potions of Firebreath were only barely able to clear the field before each wave on Insane. In LoB mode, Potions of Firebreath wouldn't be fast enough.
We installed the hotfix after SCS so this shouldnt be the problem @Grond0 and @semiticgod. Maybe you are right and he loses the save bonus when using CTRL+Q but at least in our test fights got webbed far more than 5% so he most likely does not get the Save vs Spell = 0. But maybe we just got lucky so far...
Stacking Web should still slightly increase chances for success even if it might not catch Big B once Harm is active. However: If we equip the Spider Token in off-hand after casting Harm we not only move faster but will also be immune to the Webs. This makes the whole process a lot easier!
In case it makes things a bit clearer, I thought I would spell out the factors affecting Belhifet's spell save in LoB:
1) In base game starts at 5, with no adjustments to die roll.
2) Bug in v2.5 means it increases by 5 to 10 when playing LoB, but LoB also introduces a +5 adjustment to the die roll - meaning B's chance of saving is the same as in a non-LoB game.
3) Installing LoB save fix reduces the base save back down to 5 (as @semiticgod referred to though that hot fix affects everything so makes saves harder than intended if you are not actually playing LoB), while the die roll adjustment makes that an effective save of 0.
If you ctrl-Q B into your party in a LoB game with the save fix installed you should see his spell save shown as 5(-5), i.e. the v2.5 bug is pushing it up to 10, but the hot fix is reducing it back down to 5. However, as he's now in your party he will not get the LoB adjustment to the die roll (which is not applied to party members) and therefore will save much more often than in a real fight situation.
Protection from Evil 1x
Remove Fear 3x
Bless 3x
Armor of Faith 1x
Barkskin 1x
Web 6x
Protection from Fire 1x
Spike Growth 5x
Giant Insect 3x
Improved Invisbility 1x
Magic Resistance 1x
True Seeing 1x
Fire Elemental 1x
Harm 1x
Rested one time after casting Iron Skin and replacing it with True Seeing
First Wave: 2 Lemure & 1 Imp
This wave went down pretty fast as the Greater Fire Elemental could punch the Lemures for free as they tried to hunt Loreth without success while the Imp could not hit the Elemental.
Second Wave: 1 Black Abishai & 2 Hellcats
This wave can be quite annoying as the Hellcats go invisbile every two rounds while the Abishai not only throws out fear but also several Commands. With the Fire Elemental and three Boring Beetles plus Loreth combining Sword Spider Token and Fire Salamandre Token the Abishai did not last long while Remove Fear made sure no one would run away in panic. The Hellcats then managed to take out one Beetle while also putting the Fire Elemental down to injured before going down. The good thing however: Loreth did not get hit a single time so Iron Skin was still fully up.
Third Wave: 1 Green Abishai & 1 Red Abishai & 1 Bonefiend
With another use of Giant Insect Loreth called in one Boring Beetle and – finally – one Bombardier Beetle which also got protected by Remove Fear. Once the demons teleported in the Red Abishai immediately got stunned and was taken out quickly. Then the Bone Fiend was targeted and destroyed five rounds later even though they managed to take out one Boring Beetle and the Bombardier Beetle who could not land another stun. With two Boring Beetles and the Fire Elemental left the Red Abishai put up a good fight while Loreth blessed up her troops again and curing the Fire Elemental from poison. At the end two Boring Beetles (132 & 42 HP) and the Greater Fire Elemental (50 HP) survived the last wave with Loreth still being untouched.
The 30 second timer before reaching Big B gives us now time to cast Protection from Evil, Barkskin, Protection from Fire, Improved Invisbility and True Seeing while Remove Fear and Iron Skin are already active. As the elevator (and Big are much easier with three casts of Giant Insect we had to decide if we should pick Improved Invisbility or Protection from Lighning to get immune against the Lightning Bolt from the Cornugon. At the end we decided that evading the Lighting is more likely than losing the protection granted by Improved Invisbility – lets hope this was the right decision.
Loreth vs Big B
We had planned to do this fight in the next days but after we accidently started casting True Seeing saving was no longer possible and the cutscene with Big B triggered. It was now or never...
Round One: Moved Caelar right behind Hepernaan while using Sword Form to move towards the cage
Round two: While only Caelar got hit by Dispel Magic Loreth reached the cages starting to cast Giant Insect
Round three: Caelar danced around Hephernaan so Big B tried to reach her around the left and right without success. Then two Boring Beetles and one Bombardier Beetle appeared who managed to stun one Abishai.
Round four: Big B started to attack a Boring Beetle while all Beetles managed to resist fear – for now. Caelar then moved in to Big B after dodging the Lightning Bolt of the Cornugon while also damaging Hephernaan in between. Loreth switched back to Spider Form running near Big B.
Round five: Loreth started casting Magic Resistance on Big B and the last demons joined even though half of them tried to kill the Beetles instead of Caelar who kept being near max health using one Greater Healing potion after another. Big B also used his time to summon in another demon (but only one!).
Round six: With Magic Resistance finished and no Hold Person targeting Loreth she quickly moved back with Spider Form to cast the first Web in the middle of the pack webbing around half of the demons instantly – including Big B. Caelar on the other hand managed to save while the Beetles started dying.
Round seven: Another Web followed with Caelar still saving. Then something bad happened as Big B also saved and started to move towards Loreth – what? We quickly moved Caelar to block his way and – luck was on our side again – he immediately started to attack her while also still being in the area of both webs. Now or never Loreth started to cast Harm and Caelar tried her best to tank Big B and three demons dropping below 90 HP.
Round eight: With Harm nearly finished Big B again failed his save while most demons still being webbed and the rest tried to go for Caelar. She dropped below 50 HP before another Healing Potion was used and Loreth transformed back into Spider Form to touch Big B with the power of destruction.
Round nine: Reaching Big B the moment of truth was coming as Loreth touched him with Harm and – YES – bypassed his 24% MR to reduce HP down to 1. Caelar still being near used this moment to swing her sword hitting the big one for 15 damage to finish him off once and for all. Loreth then got lucky as both got targeted by a final Hold Person rolling a 9 so she could support Caelar against the last challenge.
But to make it short: With the demons now teleporting away and – we couldnt believe it – one Beetle still being alive only Hephernaan was left. As he still suffered from web hacking him down was no big deal even though he managed to escape once before getting slaugthered after Web caught him again.
Big B is defeated again after suffering more than 50 losses in a row (including @Vynn´s runs)... finally!! But to make one thing clear: We did lots of test fights before and nearly none of them went so smooth like this one.
1. Caelar danced perfeclty around Hephernaan while avoiding nearly all damage in the first rounds
2. The Beetles resisting fear was another big one so they soaked up a lot of potential damage away from Caelar
3. Loreth not being targeted by Hold Person when casting MR was maybe a 50/50 gamble even though with Save vs Spell 7 she should have had decent chances to avoid it
4. The double Web caught most demons while Caelar (who is not immune to Web) continuously managed to make her Save – this could have backfired badly
5. Big B failing his save against double Web once Harm was active also happened not all the time. Sometimes he was just teleporting away so most of the time Harm just could not hit him
6. Big B also did not use his Fire Storm – something he normally was doing most of the time. This would have killed the Beetles really quickly putting more pressure on Caelar who has died more than one time in our test fights. Instead he called in another demon - bad choice
7. Fighting Hephernaan without Beetles and Caelar should have been no big deal as long as Webs could be refreshed to hack him down with the combined Fire Salamandre/Sword Spider Token
After so many losses and restarts its time again for SoA which feels even more like unknown territory after the last patches. What do you think @histaminii and @semiticgod will be the key moments with regard to 2.5 and SCS v32?
But first its time for a little break and another cup of tea which most likely will taste good like never before...
Well done, @Harpagornis and @Vynn! That fight seems even uglier than I thought; there are lots of extra factors influencing success. It's so easy for those allies to break down.
SCS v32 is going to throw some curve balls. Enemy spell picks are randomized, so the only way to know what spells are coming up in the next fight is to look the enemies up in Near Infinity. Summoned critters will get you through Chateau Irenicus and Pixie Dust will get you around Athkatla without getting ambushed, so the next step is reaching the Unseeing Eye's lair safely. You can handle most of the fights with summons just fine, but there is going to be a potential bottleneck right before the Pit of the Faithless: you've got ghasts and mummies bunched up in groups in a small area, and it's easy for them to block the bridges and prevent you from moving forward.
Worse yet, that area isn't safe to rest--there's only one or two places where you could even attempt to rest, and a rest ambush is entirely possible. You may well have to use multiple Pixie Dust spells and multiple summoning spells just to lure the undead out of the way, if you don't think you can fight through three groups of ghasts and mummies with one rest's worth of summoned critters and Webs. Don't forget that Sunscorch can blind undead--that might just make the difference between getting stuck and escaping to the beholder area.
Pixie Dust and Fire Elementals with Death Ward and maybe Protection from Lightning should enable the Gauth XP loop, though it'll take a hell of a long time to get anywhere. I'd recommend getting at least two HLAs before you end the XP loop; SoA is going to be extremely tough. Don't forget that Entropy Shield blocks Remove Magic and Breach, and Impervious Sanctity of Mind will ward off a single magic attack just like Spell Shield would, not to mention its 8-hour immunity to fear.
Dual-wielding the spider token and earth elemental token in the midst of Web spells will take care of a lot of early game critters like the Shadow Thieves and the critters in the Spellhold labyrinth, though the Spellhold lich could be problematic. You may have to just wait out a lot of his spells and bait him with a steady stream of Devas and other summoned critters, maybe with Farsight to guide them.
Irenicus in Spellhold is a wild card. I've seen him buff with PFMW in v32, I think, where previously I thought he always used Improved Mantle, so Energy Blades might not be enough to shut him down. The other mages will help debuff him, but their spell picks are probably also random, so it's not clear what buffs he might have out. If he's got Fire Shield and PFMW, you're pretty much forced to tank it out, since the beetles won't be able to stun him (he's immune to all disablers, and he can cure the blindness from Nature's Beauty if he casts True Seeing). If you have extra castings of Impervious Sanctity of Mind and/or Entropy Shield, you can maintain your buffs and wait until Irenicus is vulnerable to Energy Blades.
The drow will be ugly. There's no reason to do the Ust Natha questline, frankly; the mind flayer ambush is unsafe and you shouldn't need the XP. Turn Adalon hostile and you should be able to flee the Underdark once you fight your way past the Kuo-toa (remember that they see through invisibility and cast True Seeing as well; Pixie Dust won't help you) and the drow at the exit.
Then comes Bodhi. Honestly, you might just have to flee the scene and rest multiple times in order to thin the vampire herd; Drizzt won't hold his own and the vampires are overwhelming. Keep Negative Plane Protection active EVERY ROUND, because the only way you'll get a Restoration spell in a poverty run is to defeat Neb in the illithium quest (there's an automatic Restoration spell to cure the level drain from the Child Spirits in that fight). Bodhi is probably going to just trample your summons even if you use the Elven Holy Water on the blood pool to impose Slow on her (you're not using it from the inventory screen, so arguably that's legal in a poverty run), so you'll want to just memorize a whole bunch of summoning spells and throw them at her until they grind her down. Note that she might have a Death Spell ability like she did in Tactics, but celestials and maybe the summons from (Greater) Elemental Summoning should be immune to it.
Then Suldannessellar. The golems shouldn't require any artwork, and you can probably wait out Raamilat's defenses, but the rakshasas will give you lots of grief; they cast lots of spells and they're immune to ALL of yours. Only your summons and Energy Blades can hurt them. Nizidramanii'yt can be bribed into leaving you alone, and if you hurry past the rakshasas to the Temple of Rillifane with all the right items, Rillifane will kill Suneer and his goons. If you try to sneak past the rakshasas rather than fight them, you may need Energy Blades to improve your movement rate so you can get inside the temple without losing invisibility. Irenicus at the Tree of Life will have to be waited out unless he just happens to buff with Improved Mantle and opens himself up to Energy Blades right off the bat.
You will HAVE to run away from the Slayer in Hell. You can't stop him from casting Time Stop unless maybe you get some Bombardier Beetles right next to him, but the beetles might get distracted and use their acid attack on the other demons, and even if you disrupt the first Time Stop, he'll still have another one. Run away during Time Stop, let the Slayer chop up your summons instead of you, and then you can run around the map spamming HLA summons until you get rid of the Slayer's demons. Alternatively, run away from the Slayer and periodically bait him with lesser summons until he's out of PFMW spells, then pile on a bunch of HLA summons to kill him, leaving the rest of the demons elsewhere on the map.
Illasera will require Entropy Shield, which should block all of her arrows. She has no special defenses and you can disrupt her mage friend's Time Stop with a Bombardier Beetle, so chase her away from her friends to keep you out of range the mage's anti-magic spells.
It's probably a good idea to pick the evil route so you fight Ellesime, Aran Linvail, and Duke Eltan in the Pocket Plane instead of Bodhi, Sarevok, and Irenicus. I don't know what triggers that, however--that might actually require you to turn evil in Hell.
You can run in and out of Gromnir's place, and he and Ramazith are the only enemies capable of seeing through invisibility. Stay near the exit so you can escape if you get in trouble, summon a critter to lure the enemies to the southwest, and go invisible. Then, maybe after resting, you can lure Gromnir to the northeast stairway using an invisible summons, at which point you can stomp him with HLAs. Or, you might kite Gromnir under invisibility while your summons gradually pin down his goons, allowing you to fight Gromnir individually.
The fire giant temple can be skipped with invisibility, though Brimstone the dragon will hassle you regardless and you'll want Energy Blades to run away from the Fire Liches before they can give you grief. Cast your summoning spells before Nyalee performs her ritual to make sure she's under maximum pressure when the fight begins. As for Yaga-Shura, he has no immunity to charm and his base save vs. spell is 6, or 1 in LoB mode, which means a Nymph's Mental Domination spell has a 10% chance of working. That might not get you very far due to the short duration, but @histamiini has gotten the giant killed with the near-permanent charm effects of the Staff of Command, and maybe turning his goons against him will keep them attacking him after it wears off. Or, you might just try to land a Harm spell, since he has no MR. I'm pretty sure you can just leave this fight and come back if things go wrong.
Abazigal will be rough. He's just a flat-out heavy hitter and there's no getting around it. Unless you're dual-classing to fighter somewhere along the way (which would require somehow reaching fighter level 15+ without items or spells, and the earth elemental token won't work until you get your druid levels back), the odds of landing a Harm spell are 10% with Single Weapon style, and your Magic Resistance spell will still leave him with 40% MR. You can't escape this fight and Abazigal is immune to disablers, so summons might be your only hope unless you're going to gamble on 7 castings of Harm. If you do use Harm, bear in mind that Abazigal has spell protections that will block both Harm and Magic Resistance, and you'll need to burn through them with Energy Blades (their electricity damage strikes as a level 9 spell!) before Harm will become an option.
Sendai might be impossible. You'll never get more than 10 Ironskins, you have no weapon immunities or Divine Protection spells, and the drow fighters will have a 95% hit rate on you no matter what you do. Pixie Dust can be removed with divination spells for which you have no counter, the enemy mages might debuff you with magic attacks (!), and even HLA summons will probably crumple pretty quickly. You can burn down a crowd with Fire Storm spells, but those are valuable spell slots. Nature's Beauty could help, too, but that has a 50% or greater chance of failure due to drow MR, on top of being a level 7 spell. I guess precise timing with Fire Storm could disrupt divination spells and let you re-cast Ironskins in between casting summoning spells while blocking off the drow on a stairway to a platform, but the sheer magnitude of the fight looks impossible to surmount. Maybe there's a chance that well-timed Fire Storm spells could disrupt divination spells and let you safely cast Pocket Plane from behind Pixie Dust?
Balthazar can be won over. I don't know how to defeat him, anyway. You may need high reputation, though, and good stats, if you're evil from the Hell bonuses.
The Ravager can only be hurt by Harm, certain elementals, and Energy Blades. The good news is that @histamiini's summoning block trick can prevent the forcefield from closing behind you, which may actually let you escape the battle and rest either inside the Pocket Plane out of the Ravager's field of vision, or outside the Pocket Plane when you escape. If you could rest multiple times, you could just wait to get a shot at landing Harm.
Then comes Melissan, and all bets are off. You'd need Entropy Shield to block the Fallen Solars' and Illasera's arrows of dispelling, but the Fallen Solars have Heal spells every 5 rounds and they are very hard to disrupt. Some method of dividing and conquering the enemy using @histamiini's movement patterns, with Energy Blades for the haste effect, may be necessary. You might have to give up on killing the Fallen Solars and just try to fight the other enemies in spite of the Fallen Solars.
Melissan is vulnerable to stun, so Bombardier Beetles have a 20% chance of stunning her for 5 rounds if they reach her before using their acid attack on another enemy. Burn through her Spell Trap with Energy Blades and you can try to kill her with Magic Resistance and Harm.
Long story short... it looks doable in theory. But I think this may take a LOT of research before we even have a shot at taking down Melissan no-reload, so I'd recommend putting the Avenger save game on the shelf before you tackle anything beyond the Gauth XP loop. Let's not get killed in SoA or ToB and be forced to start over from Candlekeep and brute-force Belhifet all over again; getting past Belhifet is hideously time-consuming.
Limited spell slots are going to impose some tough constraints on our options, and we might be out of luck if we can't escape to the Pocket Plane during the Sendai fight to get back our bigger spells. This is the most spell slots we can get unless we bump up our Wisdom in Hell:
We might have to get creative with the Hell bonuses. Stacking save bonuses might help us in some cases, but since we'll be operating with priest buffs at all times, I think the AC bonus might be our best bet. A -10 AC bonus from all five Tears of Bhaal might be the only thing keeping us from losing our Ironskins and getting crushed when we can't cast our spells.
Fire elemental form grants -5 base THAC0 and 25 DEX. If we had -10 AC from Hell and Entropy Shield active, that hits the -20 AC cap. Our DEX bonuses, Improved Invisibility, and Single Weapon Style will bring us down to -31 effective AC. Some critters will get right through that, but a few will genuinely struggle to hit a druid with that kind of AC. Burning a level 7 spell slot on Aura of Flaming Death could give us a +4 AC bonus, and while that would still leave us against the -20 AC cap, it would spare a couple Tears of Bhaal we could use for something else.
I forgot to mention the Lizard Man Shamans in Abazigal's lair, and the Death Tyrants. You can take out the Death Tyrants with summons and Farsight (or at least lure them away), but the Lizard Man Shamans will probably warrant Pixie Dust and Energy Blades so you could slip past them before they get their divination spells off the ground. As I've mentioned elsewhere, those Lizard Man Shamans are absolutely brutal in v32, and they WILL stomp all over any character that doesn't have mage spells or Defensive Stance. Those shamans will pre-buff with PFMW and easily box you in with dozens of summoned critters, and it's only going to be worse in LoB mode.
Thanks for the detailed info @semiticgod - it more or less looks like our old battle plan even though there are some relevant changes we will have to keep in mind.
The Avenger really worked much better than we thought and with the IWD spells available he had options for all battles. Oh, we wont need Energy Blades for faster movement as the Spider Form already form already got Haste. I think this point alone - and the ability to reach the cages quickly - were one of the key factors against Big B while also making it much easier to dodge potential dangers earlier on.
Not to forget: The Avenger not only has Pixie Dust but also Improved Invisbility which gets out much faster even though it will cost us Beetle slots. But for potential emergency situations it might save us the run (like the Ogre Mage ambush at Candlekeep).
To add @semiticgod detailed information. Poverty cleric can kill Drows in Sendai battle casually casting Globe of Blades + Blade Barrier without braking Sanctuary, and possibly haste effect from Energy Blades. Don't know if this works with Pixie Dust, and druids don't get Blade Barrier, but that's something to try at least.
Globe of Blades alone should be enough, with Haste it hits twice in a round for a turn, and does 55 average damage per hit, (save -2 negates).
@Harpagornis: Energy Blades in human form will be faster than spider form. Both are hasted, but spider form has a lower base movement rate. If you really need to get around, Energy Blades will be slightly faster.
We started SoA as the first dungeon is no big deal thanks to the Fire Elementals who hacked everything to pieces while Loreth sometimes joined in with Web + Double Sword Spider Token + DoHM for some nice damage output. Combining Shapeshifting Tokens (nearly) always crashes the game for unnkown reasons - except when using two Tokens of the same form...
After letting the Elementals farm the Imps a bit Loreth left the prison with 620k XP ready for whatever is waiting next - hopefully!
P.S. Combining Earth and Fire Elemental Form still works but there seems to be a bug cause even though the description gives 50% DR for the Earth Elemental Form it displays 100% in the character sheet.
Combining Earth Elemental and Fire Elemental Token looks so broken...
I teleported my test char right to Firkraag and he could tank him all day long as thanks to 100% DR against slashing, crushing, piercing and missiles combined with the 127% resistance against fire the poor dragon could do nothing. If we combine this with buffs the Druid will be almost unstoppable. What Tears would fit in perfectly then if AC is not needed... hmmmm...
I thought the Earth Elemental token correctly giving 50% DR - not 100% - was fixed in SCS v32 - no @DavidW?
@Harpagornis: The newest version of SCS v32 should have Earth Elemental form granting 50% instead of 100%. The 100% was a bug from v31. I used to manually fix the bug myself, but last I checked, the bug has been fixed.
Somehow the whole SCS v32 intallation is bugged. Not only is the Earth Elemental Token getting 100% DR but i also cannot use any of the other HLA´s. No Globe of Blades, no Elemental Summoning... nothing. Looks like i have to reset SCS once more...
EDIT: Looks like there were some old entries of SCS v31 so after reinstalling v32 everything works like intended.
@Harpagornis Btw good luck with SoA, it must be nice to get some freedom again after banging on the same obstacles so long. I'm playing currently F/M/C, but plan to try Priest of Helm poverty. In theory it could probably beat BG1 and SoD. For Bel it would've two Slay Livings and with True Seeing, Chant, Prayer, Resitation and Single Weapon style would have about 1/25 chance of killing Bel. Actually my Priest of Lathander is still waiting before Bel, and might have a crack at that tactic. Two Slay Livings and enough Thac0 from Champion's Strength for about 1/3 chance.
@Aasim Hmm, that seems to change a whole lot of the game dynamic. Might be interested at some point, but not yet.
Doesnt Slay Living uses Base Thac0 like Harm @histamiini and Champions Strength deactivates spells? Looks problematic no? But yeah, in theory a Cleric should be able to deal with things like Palace Ambush, Sarevok, Crusader Attacks and Big B even though i think chances are even lower than for the Druid. Its a matter of tries...
@Aasin: Never tested that mod even though it looks interesting at first glance. Maybe someday...
Comments
You cannot afford two castings of Harm cause on one hand you need at least one Fire Elemental to beat the elevator demons and on the other hand you most likely wont get the time to cast and execute the second as some demons will start to attack you depleting Iron Skin quickly.
BG2 will need some focus especially thanks to all the changes caused by 2.5 and SCS v32 but once we manage to start the Gauth XP loop SoA should be smooth sailing for a long time. Hopefully. ToB will be another story...
But first more tests on Big B before rolling the dices...
P.S. One thing the Avenger can pull of is to use Spider Form running past Big B right after the battle starts without eating his Dispel Magic and position him/herself near the cages far away from the incoming demons. This can give time to safely call in summons before starting the MR + Harm combo as otherwise the Hamatulas and Co are able to target Hold Person even with Improved Invsibility still being active.
However: Getting out the buffs in the elevator should be easy as the timer after beating the third wave is exactly 30 seconds before reaching the roof and Big B giving us the chance to cast five spells. Timing True Sight will be no big deal then. As long as its active Big B wont use Improved Invisibility at all - thats good.
We also noticed that all demons - except for the flying Imp and the two Hellcats - can be webbed quite regulary so if we manage to get out a bigger Fire Elemental and combine it with the Spider Form the danger of losing Iron Skin should be minimized even though using Beetles might be even more helpful against the third wave.
Most likely still not enough... hhmmmmm...
Nothing really interesting happened, using the same tactics as usual. Except drank the Violet Potion for the WIS and STR tomes, and consequently some more fun with Bel.
Tested the Palace Ambush for poverty in mind, and 5 Blood Raged skelis and all Recitated + Prayed can actually beat it, after Shaman is Silenced. Tazok, Diarmid, Angelo and Semaj were burned afar with 46 strikes from OGL. Hit Sarevok with rest of the OGL's leaving 10 for Korlasz. Then hit Sarevok with 4 Dispel Magic's and managed to take his Haste off, which is the first for me. Then it was easy enough to kite with Wand of Heavens and Ring of Energy. Ring of Energy kills Sarevok faster as it hits twice.
With just 4 OGL's and Invisibility potions I got Korlasz to 137 hp, and she surrendered immediatelly when I revealed myself. Leveled up and got 5th level spells.
Chapter 8 the usual, Teleria and her Golem casually hacked without retaliation. Didn't bother with the Vampire. Blood Raged, Recitated and Prayed Skelis easily helped the Dwarves and wasted the Lich. Ziatar burned and Akanna charmed. Bridge mage was interrupted with Ring of Energy and the mob was absolutely stomped by Blood Raged, Recitated, Prayed Skelis. Helping the Druids for the Root of the Problem got to max level 10. Which also ment that with Locket of Embracing I could cast the second best Skelis.
Next up the Bane of Clerics, the Crusader Attacks.
With IWD spells, Skelis can be turned to nice killing machines. If you're evil alignment they also get 1 apr more from Righteous Wrath of the Faithful.
11HD Skeli, hp 140, AC -8, Thac0 3, dmg 13, apr 2.5
PfE'10 (11 turns), hp 140, AC -10, Thac0 3, dmg 13, apr 2.5
Blood Rage (2 turns), hp 150, AC -10, Thac0 -1, dmg 22, apr 2.5
Prayer (11 rounds), hp 150, AC -11, Thac0 -2, dmg 23, apr 2.5
Recitation (11 rounds), hp 150, AC -13, Thac0 -4, dmg 23, apr 2.5
RWofF (11 rounds), hp 158, AC -13, Thac0 -5, dmg 23, apr 2.5
RWofF (if evil), hp 158, AC -13, Thac0 -6, dmg 25, apr 3.5
Prayer+Recation (hit enemy), hp 158, AC -16, Thac0 -9, dmg 25, apr 3.5
@Vynn tested the fight against Big B in more detail as i am lacking time and i think we have discovered a real gamechanger which increases the chance to beat him significantly - here we go:
Using the safe position near the cages (thanks to the hasted Spider Form this can be pulled of easily) makes most (all) demons going for Caelar. Its then crucial to let her dodge the incoming attacks as far as possible to keep her alive long enough before the Beetles join in for even more distraction and going in for MR. The trick now is not to follow up with Harm directly but to get out Web first! This not only paralyzes most demons but even Big B is vulnerable to it and he regularly gets immobilized too. With Caelar still alive, two or three Beetles around, several demons webbed @Vynn said that pulling out Harm is no big deal then IF Web catches Big B AND its placed perfectly so it wont be able to effect Loreth once she gets in for Harm.
At the moment we are trying to get the perfect timing and positioning before doing the whole stuff for real with Loreth. But so far its clear that the MR + Web + Harm combo has much better chances even though bad rolls might still stop this run quickly.
Lets hope we get time for this epic battle at the weekend...
Still, the odds are far superior to trying to land a critical hit. Factoring in Belhifet's MR after Magic Resistance, that's a 3.8% chance to web him per round per Web spell. True Seeing will only last 10 rounds, but if you can find the time to cast just 5 Web spells before it wears off and Belhifet gains immunity to Web spells from Improved Invisibility's -4 save bonuses, the odds of failing to web him are only (1-.038)^5=82.39% per round.
By the way: if a druid makes it to BG2, bear in mind that shapeshifting tokens can be dual-wielded, and whichever token you equip last overrides the other token's effects, if they're mutually exclusive. With the spider token in the main hand and the earth elemental token in the off hand (equipped second), you'd have 4 APR as well as 25 STR and 2 base THAC0 as well as the 50% damage resistances, though your main hand base damage would be 1d6 instead of 2d10.
However: Its not our fault that Beamdog messed up the saves and some enemies like Big B are not getting the fix bonus (most enemies are fixed on the other hand) so we will have to work with the actual settings. Lets hope 2.6 will fix this bug.
Stacking Webs is what we are testing at the moment and things are looking good even though there most likely wont be time to get all five Webs off - will have to test this in more detail tomorrow. The biggest danger so far is to get targeted by Hold Person when casting MR on Big B. Once we are near the cages really all Demons are targeting Caelar but as many of them are only slowly moving in she can use this time to dance around Hephernaan avoiding Big B long enough before the Beetles join in. More on that later...
Mage wave, 4 buffed up Skelis, True Seeing dispelled their illusions and started feeding Silences. It was a massacre, none of my Skelis got killed, or hardly even injured. Although at one point I was too close and got dispelled. No matter, another buff round was coming up anyway.
Paladin wave and I mistakinly took the rogues. 5 buffed up Skelis, True Seeing, Silence and everyone ganged on Rhayla because she can dispel. And she was killed quickly. Started tanking with -33 AC vs. crushing and after Skelis got killed, 5 Ankhegs did nice damage from distance. Warpriest and clerics were priority, then the rest but again it wasn't really close one.
Last wave, buffed Skelis, True Seeing, and dropped couple Silences from out of sight. Skelis were impressive, but so were the rest of the allies, Archers especially giving barrages from afar and the named ones dropped like flies. In the whole crusader attacks I used the Goblet only twice, so it went a lot better than I expected. Besides ultra buffed skelis, True Seeing and Silence are golden in every wave.
This time I waited inside the Dragonspear Castle, and one hour wait netted about 20 Power Potions. Ashatiel didn't stand a chance, althought the fight took a long time both of us just missing all the time.
Then disaster, Mizhena was nowhere to be found. And looking it back, she actually takes part on the attacks, and gets killed. And now I don't get the Blazing Glory +3, and because I left Kneecapper in Baldur's Gate, only weapon I've that hits Bel is Root of the Problem.
Have you installed the fix at the end of the other mods - I guess if you did it first the effect might be overwritten?
Presumably you're using the spell on a hostile Belhifet rather than bringing him into the party for testing purposes (if you did do the latter he would no longer get the +5 adjustment to die rolls and hence would fail saves much more easily).
In my installation (consoling him into Candlekeep to test) he saves as expected, i.e. just the occasional failure.
Attached is the hotfix by subtledoctor, in case you want to try it out. It'll give +5 to saving throws for every critter that's not a party member. Note that this applies even outside of LoB mode, so if you're also playing the game on other difficulties, it'll have the same effect on those runs.
By the way, I've noticed in my non-LoB runs that one of the trolls in the Coalition Camp invasion runs past you straight to the barrels, triggering all of the waves at once. This happened twice in two consecutive runs, and it seems like a bug. If it happened in an LoB run, it would pretty much be game over, since my Shapeshifter and Fighter/Druid were only able to survive by using Potions of Firebreath and kiting under a Protection from Magic scroll, with Durlag's Goblet to handle missile damage. It's a pretty high-pressure environment, and it might be impossible for certain classes to keep the Crusaders at bay. It gets awfully crowded very fast, and Potions of Firebreath were only barely able to clear the field before each wave on Insane. In LoB mode, Potions of Firebreath wouldn't be fast enough.
Stacking Web should still slightly increase chances for success even if it might not catch Big B once Harm is active. However: If we equip the Spider Token in off-hand after casting Harm we not only move faster but will also be immune to the Webs. This makes the whole process a lot easier!
1) In base game starts at 5, with no adjustments to die roll.
2) Bug in v2.5 means it increases by 5 to 10 when playing LoB, but LoB also introduces a +5 adjustment to the die roll - meaning B's chance of saving is the same as in a non-LoB game.
3) Installing LoB save fix reduces the base save back down to 5 (as @semiticgod referred to though that hot fix affects everything so makes saves harder than intended if you are not actually playing LoB), while the die roll adjustment makes that an effective save of 0.
If you ctrl-Q B into your party in a LoB game with the save fix installed you should see his spell save shown as 5(-5), i.e. the v2.5 bug is pushing it up to 10, but the hot fix is reducing it back down to 5. However, as he's now in your party he will not get the LoB adjustment to the die roll (which is not applied to party members) and therefore will save much more often than in a real fight situation.
Avernus Elevator:
Protection from Evil 1x
Remove Fear 3x
Bless 3x
Armor of Faith 1x
Barkskin 1x
Web 6x
Protection from Fire 1x
Spike Growth 5x
Giant Insect 3x
Improved Invisbility 1x
Magic Resistance 1x
True Seeing 1x
Fire Elemental 1x
Harm 1x
Rested one time after casting Iron Skin and replacing it with True Seeing
First Wave: 2 Lemure & 1 Imp
This wave went down pretty fast as the Greater Fire Elemental could punch the Lemures for free as they tried to hunt Loreth without success while the Imp could not hit the Elemental.
Second Wave: 1 Black Abishai & 2 Hellcats
This wave can be quite annoying as the Hellcats go invisbile every two rounds while the Abishai not only throws out fear but also several Commands. With the Fire Elemental and three Boring Beetles plus Loreth combining Sword Spider Token and Fire Salamandre Token the Abishai did not last long while Remove Fear made sure no one would run away in panic. The Hellcats then managed to take out one Beetle while also putting the Fire Elemental down to injured before going down. The good thing however: Loreth did not get hit a single time so Iron Skin was still fully up.
Third Wave: 1 Green Abishai & 1 Red Abishai & 1 Bonefiend
With another use of Giant Insect Loreth called in one Boring Beetle and – finally – one Bombardier Beetle which also got protected by Remove Fear. Once the demons teleported in the Red Abishai immediately got stunned and was taken out quickly. Then the Bone Fiend was targeted and destroyed five rounds later even though they managed to take out one Boring Beetle and the Bombardier Beetle who could not land another stun. With two Boring Beetles and the Fire Elemental left the Red Abishai put up a good fight while Loreth blessed up her troops again and curing the Fire Elemental from poison. At the end two Boring Beetles (132 & 42 HP) and the Greater Fire Elemental (50 HP) survived the last wave with Loreth still being untouched.
The 30 second timer before reaching Big B gives us now time to cast Protection from Evil, Barkskin, Protection from Fire, Improved Invisbility and True Seeing while Remove Fear and Iron Skin are already active. As the elevator (and Big
Loreth vs Big B
We had planned to do this fight in the next days but after we accidently started casting True Seeing saving was no longer possible and the cutscene with Big B triggered. It was now or never...
Round One: Moved Caelar right behind Hepernaan while using Sword Form to move towards the cage
Round two: While only Caelar got hit by Dispel Magic Loreth reached the cages starting to cast Giant Insect
Round three: Caelar danced around Hephernaan so Big B tried to reach her around the left and right without success. Then two Boring Beetles and one Bombardier Beetle appeared who managed to stun one Abishai.
Round four: Big B started to attack a Boring Beetle while all Beetles managed to resist fear – for now. Caelar then moved in to Big B after dodging the Lightning Bolt of the Cornugon while also damaging Hephernaan in between. Loreth switched back to Spider Form running near Big B.
Round five: Loreth started casting Magic Resistance on Big B and the last demons joined even though half of them tried to kill the Beetles instead of Caelar who kept being near max health using one Greater Healing potion after another. Big B also used his time to summon in another demon (but only one!).
Round six: With Magic Resistance finished and no Hold Person targeting Loreth she quickly moved back with Spider Form to cast the first Web in the middle of the pack webbing around half of the demons instantly – including Big B. Caelar on the other hand managed to save while the Beetles started dying.
Round seven: Another Web followed with Caelar still saving. Then something bad happened as Big B also saved and started to move towards Loreth – what? We quickly moved Caelar to block his way and – luck was on our side again – he immediately started to attack her while also still being in the area of both webs. Now or never Loreth started to cast Harm and Caelar tried her best to tank Big B and three demons dropping below 90 HP.
Round eight: With Harm nearly finished Big B again failed his save while most demons still being webbed and the rest tried to go for Caelar. She dropped below 50 HP before another Healing Potion was used and Loreth transformed back into Spider Form to touch Big B with the power of destruction.
Round nine: Reaching Big B the moment of truth was coming as Loreth touched him with Harm and – YES – bypassed his 24% MR to reduce HP down to 1. Caelar still being near used this moment to swing her sword hitting the big one for 15 damage to finish him off once and for all. Loreth then got lucky as both got targeted by a final Hold Person rolling a 9 so she could support Caelar against the last challenge.
But to make it short: With the demons now teleporting away and – we couldnt believe it – one Beetle still being alive only Hephernaan was left. As he still suffered from web hacking him down was no big deal even though he managed to escape once before getting slaugthered after Web caught him again.
Big B is defeated again after suffering more than 50 losses in a row (including @Vynn´s runs)... finally!! But to make one thing clear: We did lots of test fights before and nearly none of them went so smooth like this one.
1. Caelar danced perfeclty around Hephernaan while avoiding nearly all damage in the first rounds
2. The Beetles resisting fear was another big one so they soaked up a lot of potential damage away from Caelar
3. Loreth not being targeted by Hold Person when casting MR was maybe a 50/50 gamble even though with Save vs Spell 7 she should have had decent chances to avoid it
4. The double Web caught most demons while Caelar (who is not immune to Web) continuously managed to make her Save – this could have backfired badly
5. Big B failing his save against double Web once Harm was active also happened not all the time. Sometimes he was just teleporting away so most of the time Harm just could not hit him
6. Big B also did not use his Fire Storm – something he normally was doing most of the time. This would have killed the Beetles really quickly putting more pressure on Caelar who has died more than one time in our test fights. Instead he called in another demon - bad choice
7. Fighting Hephernaan without Beetles and Caelar should have been no big deal as long as Webs could be refreshed to hack him down with the combined Fire Salamandre/Sword Spider Token
After so many losses and restarts its time again for SoA which feels even more like unknown territory after the last patches. What do you think @histaminii and @semiticgod will be the key moments with regard to 2.5 and SCS v32?
But first its time for a little break and another cup of tea which most likely will taste good like never before...
SCS v32 is going to throw some curve balls. Enemy spell picks are randomized, so the only way to know what spells are coming up in the next fight is to look the enemies up in Near Infinity. Summoned critters will get you through Chateau Irenicus and Pixie Dust will get you around Athkatla without getting ambushed, so the next step is reaching the Unseeing Eye's lair safely. You can handle most of the fights with summons just fine, but there is going to be a potential bottleneck right before the Pit of the Faithless: you've got ghasts and mummies bunched up in groups in a small area, and it's easy for them to block the bridges and prevent you from moving forward.
Worse yet, that area isn't safe to rest--there's only one or two places where you could even attempt to rest, and a rest ambush is entirely possible. You may well have to use multiple Pixie Dust spells and multiple summoning spells just to lure the undead out of the way, if you don't think you can fight through three groups of ghasts and mummies with one rest's worth of summoned critters and Webs. Don't forget that Sunscorch can blind undead--that might just make the difference between getting stuck and escaping to the beholder area.
Pixie Dust and Fire Elementals with Death Ward and maybe Protection from Lightning should enable the Gauth XP loop, though it'll take a hell of a long time to get anywhere. I'd recommend getting at least two HLAs before you end the XP loop; SoA is going to be extremely tough. Don't forget that Entropy Shield blocks Remove Magic and Breach, and Impervious Sanctity of Mind will ward off a single magic attack just like Spell Shield would, not to mention its 8-hour immunity to fear.
Dual-wielding the spider token and earth elemental token in the midst of Web spells will take care of a lot of early game critters like the Shadow Thieves and the critters in the Spellhold labyrinth, though the Spellhold lich could be problematic. You may have to just wait out a lot of his spells and bait him with a steady stream of Devas and other summoned critters, maybe with Farsight to guide them.
Irenicus in Spellhold is a wild card. I've seen him buff with PFMW in v32, I think, where previously I thought he always used Improved Mantle, so Energy Blades might not be enough to shut him down. The other mages will help debuff him, but their spell picks are probably also random, so it's not clear what buffs he might have out. If he's got Fire Shield and PFMW, you're pretty much forced to tank it out, since the beetles won't be able to stun him (he's immune to all disablers, and he can cure the blindness from Nature's Beauty if he casts True Seeing). If you have extra castings of Impervious Sanctity of Mind and/or Entropy Shield, you can maintain your buffs and wait until Irenicus is vulnerable to Energy Blades.
The drow will be ugly. There's no reason to do the Ust Natha questline, frankly; the mind flayer ambush is unsafe and you shouldn't need the XP. Turn Adalon hostile and you should be able to flee the Underdark once you fight your way past the Kuo-toa (remember that they see through invisibility and cast True Seeing as well; Pixie Dust won't help you) and the drow at the exit.
Then comes Bodhi. Honestly, you might just have to flee the scene and rest multiple times in order to thin the vampire herd; Drizzt won't hold his own and the vampires are overwhelming. Keep Negative Plane Protection active EVERY ROUND, because the only way you'll get a Restoration spell in a poverty run is to defeat Neb in the illithium quest (there's an automatic Restoration spell to cure the level drain from the Child Spirits in that fight). Bodhi is probably going to just trample your summons even if you use the Elven Holy Water on the blood pool to impose Slow on her (you're not using it from the inventory screen, so arguably that's legal in a poverty run), so you'll want to just memorize a whole bunch of summoning spells and throw them at her until they grind her down. Note that she might have a Death Spell ability like she did in Tactics, but celestials and maybe the summons from (Greater) Elemental Summoning should be immune to it.
Then Suldannessellar. The golems shouldn't require any artwork, and you can probably wait out Raamilat's defenses, but the rakshasas will give you lots of grief; they cast lots of spells and they're immune to ALL of yours. Only your summons and Energy Blades can hurt them. Nizidramanii'yt can be bribed into leaving you alone, and if you hurry past the rakshasas to the Temple of Rillifane with all the right items, Rillifane will kill Suneer and his goons. If you try to sneak past the rakshasas rather than fight them, you may need Energy Blades to improve your movement rate so you can get inside the temple without losing invisibility. Irenicus at the Tree of Life will have to be waited out unless he just happens to buff with Improved Mantle and opens himself up to Energy Blades right off the bat.
You will HAVE to run away from the Slayer in Hell. You can't stop him from casting Time Stop unless maybe you get some Bombardier Beetles right next to him, but the beetles might get distracted and use their acid attack on the other demons, and even if you disrupt the first Time Stop, he'll still have another one. Run away during Time Stop, let the Slayer chop up your summons instead of you, and then you can run around the map spamming HLA summons until you get rid of the Slayer's demons. Alternatively, run away from the Slayer and periodically bait him with lesser summons until he's out of PFMW spells, then pile on a bunch of HLA summons to kill him, leaving the rest of the demons elsewhere on the map.
Illasera will require Entropy Shield, which should block all of her arrows. She has no special defenses and you can disrupt her mage friend's Time Stop with a Bombardier Beetle, so chase her away from her friends to keep you out of range the mage's anti-magic spells.
It's probably a good idea to pick the evil route so you fight Ellesime, Aran Linvail, and Duke Eltan in the Pocket Plane instead of Bodhi, Sarevok, and Irenicus. I don't know what triggers that, however--that might actually require you to turn evil in Hell.
You can run in and out of Gromnir's place, and he and Ramazith are the only enemies capable of seeing through invisibility. Stay near the exit so you can escape if you get in trouble, summon a critter to lure the enemies to the southwest, and go invisible. Then, maybe after resting, you can lure Gromnir to the northeast stairway using an invisible summons, at which point you can stomp him with HLAs. Or, you might kite Gromnir under invisibility while your summons gradually pin down his goons, allowing you to fight Gromnir individually.
The fire giant temple can be skipped with invisibility, though Brimstone the dragon will hassle you regardless and you'll want Energy Blades to run away from the Fire Liches before they can give you grief. Cast your summoning spells before Nyalee performs her ritual to make sure she's under maximum pressure when the fight begins. As for Yaga-Shura, he has no immunity to charm and his base save vs. spell is 6, or 1 in LoB mode, which means a Nymph's Mental Domination spell has a 10% chance of working. That might not get you very far due to the short duration, but @histamiini has gotten the giant killed with the near-permanent charm effects of the Staff of Command, and maybe turning his goons against him will keep them attacking him after it wears off. Or, you might just try to land a Harm spell, since he has no MR. I'm pretty sure you can just leave this fight and come back if things go wrong.
Abazigal will be rough. He's just a flat-out heavy hitter and there's no getting around it. Unless you're dual-classing to fighter somewhere along the way (which would require somehow reaching fighter level 15+ without items or spells, and the earth elemental token won't work until you get your druid levels back), the odds of landing a Harm spell are 10% with Single Weapon style, and your Magic Resistance spell will still leave him with 40% MR. You can't escape this fight and Abazigal is immune to disablers, so summons might be your only hope unless you're going to gamble on 7 castings of Harm. If you do use Harm, bear in mind that Abazigal has spell protections that will block both Harm and Magic Resistance, and you'll need to burn through them with Energy Blades (their electricity damage strikes as a level 9 spell!) before Harm will become an option.
Sendai might be impossible. You'll never get more than 10 Ironskins, you have no weapon immunities or Divine Protection spells, and the drow fighters will have a 95% hit rate on you no matter what you do. Pixie Dust can be removed with divination spells for which you have no counter, the enemy mages might debuff you with magic attacks (!), and even HLA summons will probably crumple pretty quickly. You can burn down a crowd with Fire Storm spells, but those are valuable spell slots. Nature's Beauty could help, too, but that has a 50% or greater chance of failure due to drow MR, on top of being a level 7 spell. I guess precise timing with Fire Storm could disrupt divination spells and let you re-cast Ironskins in between casting summoning spells while blocking off the drow on a stairway to a platform, but the sheer magnitude of the fight looks impossible to surmount. Maybe there's a chance that well-timed Fire Storm spells could disrupt divination spells and let you safely cast Pocket Plane from behind Pixie Dust?
Balthazar can be won over. I don't know how to defeat him, anyway. You may need high reputation, though, and good stats, if you're evil from the Hell bonuses.
The Ravager can only be hurt by Harm, certain elementals, and Energy Blades. The good news is that @histamiini's summoning block trick can prevent the forcefield from closing behind you, which may actually let you escape the battle and rest either inside the Pocket Plane out of the Ravager's field of vision, or outside the Pocket Plane when you escape. If you could rest multiple times, you could just wait to get a shot at landing Harm.
Then comes Melissan, and all bets are off. You'd need Entropy Shield to block the Fallen Solars' and Illasera's arrows of dispelling, but the Fallen Solars have Heal spells every 5 rounds and they are very hard to disrupt. Some method of dividing and conquering the enemy using @histamiini's movement patterns, with Energy Blades for the haste effect, may be necessary. You might have to give up on killing the Fallen Solars and just try to fight the other enemies in spite of the Fallen Solars.
Melissan is vulnerable to stun, so Bombardier Beetles have a 20% chance of stunning her for 5 rounds if they reach her before using their acid attack on another enemy. Burn through her Spell Trap with Energy Blades and you can try to kill her with Magic Resistance and Harm.
Limited spell slots are going to impose some tough constraints on our options, and we might be out of luck if we can't escape to the Pocket Plane during the Sendai fight to get back our bigger spells. This is the most spell slots we can get unless we bump up our Wisdom in Hell:
Level 1: 11
Level 2: 11
Level 3: 10
Level 4: 10
Level 5: 9
Level 6: 7
Level 7: 7
We might have to get creative with the Hell bonuses. Stacking save bonuses might help us in some cases, but since we'll be operating with priest buffs at all times, I think the AC bonus might be our best bet. A -10 AC bonus from all five Tears of Bhaal might be the only thing keeping us from losing our Ironskins and getting crushed when we can't cast our spells.
Fire elemental form grants -5 base THAC0 and 25 DEX. If we had -10 AC from Hell and Entropy Shield active, that hits the -20 AC cap. Our DEX bonuses, Improved Invisibility, and Single Weapon Style will bring us down to -31 effective AC. Some critters will get right through that, but a few will genuinely struggle to hit a druid with that kind of AC. Burning a level 7 spell slot on Aura of Flaming Death could give us a +4 AC bonus, and while that would still leave us against the -20 AC cap, it would spare a couple Tears of Bhaal we could use for something else.
I forgot to mention the Lizard Man Shamans in Abazigal's lair, and the Death Tyrants. You can take out the Death Tyrants with summons and Farsight (or at least lure them away), but the Lizard Man Shamans will probably warrant Pixie Dust and Energy Blades so you could slip past them before they get their divination spells off the ground. As I've mentioned elsewhere, those Lizard Man Shamans are absolutely brutal in v32, and they WILL stomp all over any character that doesn't have mage spells or Defensive Stance. Those shamans will pre-buff with PFMW and easily box you in with dozens of summoned critters, and it's only going to be worse in LoB mode.
The Avenger really worked much better than we thought and with the IWD spells available he had options for all battles. Oh, we wont need Energy Blades for faster movement as the Spider Form already form already got Haste. I think this point alone - and the ability to reach the cages quickly - were one of the key factors against Big B while also making it much easier to dodge potential dangers earlier on.
Not to forget: The Avenger not only has Pixie Dust but also Improved Invisbility which gets out much faster even though it will cost us Beetle slots. But for potential emergency situations it might save us the run (like the Ogre Mage ambush at Candlekeep).
Globe of Blades alone should be enough, with Haste it hits twice in a round for a turn, and does 55 average damage per hit, (save -2 negates).
In 2.4 we beat Bodhi with Harm once her allies got killed one after another - should still work too no?
We started SoA as the first dungeon is no big deal thanks to the Fire Elementals who hacked everything to pieces while Loreth sometimes joined in with Web + Double Sword Spider Token + DoHM for some nice damage output. Combining Shapeshifting Tokens (nearly) always crashes the game for unnkown reasons - except when using two Tokens of the same form...
After letting the Elementals farm the Imps a bit Loreth left the prison with 620k XP ready for whatever is waiting next - hopefully!
P.S. Combining Earth and Fire Elemental Form still works but there seems to be a bug cause even though the description gives 50% DR for the Earth Elemental Form it displays 100% in the character sheet.
I teleported my test char right to Firkraag and he could tank him all day long as thanks to 100% DR against slashing, crushing, piercing and missiles combined with the 127% resistance against fire the poor dragon could do nothing. If we combine this with buffs the Druid will be almost unstoppable. What Tears would fit in perfectly then if AC is not needed... hmmmm...
I thought the Earth Elemental token correctly giving 50% DR - not 100% - was fixed in SCS v32 - no @DavidW?
EDIT: Looks like there were some old entries of SCS v31 so after reinstalling v32 everything works like intended.
Have u guys ever considered this mod here for your no-reloads?
@Aasim Hmm, that seems to change a whole lot of the game dynamic. Might be interested at some point, but not yet.
@Aasin: Never tested that mod even though it looks interesting at first glance. Maybe someday...