Or you could use Mustard Jelly form from Polymorph Self, if you got it permanently (that is, if you're not casting it via scroll and then getting pushed back to 2 HP when Polymorph Self runs out). That grants immunity to fear and hold, so all you'd need to worry about is keeping Oil of Speed active.
Plus, it's a ranged attack that should get double criticals from the Archer's Eyes, and since the jelly attack strikes as +3 by default and deals 5d4 base damage, and luck and chant effects apply to each d4 separately, you could kill Belhifet in 40 rounds in jelly form, or 34 with Cloverleaf, or 31 with both Cloverleaf and the Chant ring.
In fact, if you have Cloverleaf, the Chant Ring, and the Archer's Eyes, you should be able to take down Belhifet in a war of attrition with zero buffs besides the 25 STR potion. You just need to make sure, before you get in the elevator, that you have re-set your CON to 1 after shapeshifting by re-equipping the Claw of Kazgoroth after removing it properly with a Remove Curse scroll. If you have 1 base CON without the claw, you'll just need to remember to remove the claw before the 25 STR potion runs out, or the 3 CON from the potion will wear off and the claw will just kill you when your base CON drops back down to 1.
@semiticgod One method of avoiding Vorpal hits would be getting the Cloak of the Lich from Neera guest line in ToB. It's very easy to do, even without the 1 hp damage protection.
Prada started again and killed two Familiars to 6-2=4 con. After doing the same things over, after having three Invisibility scrolls and one potion went to the mines. Managed to charm the Kobbo who had one Mysterious Liquid, and it got killed. Went to Beregost Inn, drank the Mysterious Liquid and rested before the poison killed me. Then High Hedge and picked up the Claw of Kazgaroth for 1 hp. This time Kobbos managed to kill Mulahey. Charmed Minsc hacked Nimbul and charmed Marl ko'd Tranzig. Picked Hentolds Dagger and killed the Revenant with it, then Dushai. Then bought rep to 13 and did the economy run. Bought Dagger of Venom, then picked WoMS and recharged it, and I was broke. Hairtooth and Gnarl were easy pray for WoMS, and picked up the cha tome. After few fetchings I could afford Sandthief ring and Greenstone Amulet, and Raiken then escorted me to the Bandit Camp, where I fed Taurgosz for a Black Bear, then managed to charm Ramiros wasting only one Sandthief charge. He was then killed by Skeli. Still charmed and killed Venkt and Hakt for their loot.
Wasted 2 Sandthief charges to charm Drasus, then fed him to the guards. Drasus has the first Potion of Magic Shielding, not that it's needed now. Went in High Hedge and sold my loot recharging Sandthief ring. Charmed Kysus, WoMS attacked Rezdan as I tanked Genthorn. Genthorn killed Kysus and WoMS killed him. Used 2 Sandthief charges to reach Davaeorns guard and did the usual, charmed the guard, lured Battle Horrors, Invisibility, and then the guard killed Davaeorn. Got first Knock. Resar was killed for the Fireshield Blue scroll. After getting second green Protection from Petrification I did the Basilisk xp-loop, so I get enough xp, when I level up in SoA.
Did the Marek and Lothander guest, Lothander was pre-charmed and then WoMS hacked him for the loot. Marek was WoMS'd too. I couldn't do Ramazith guest at this point because 18 strength doesn't open the door, and I didn't want to spend Knock on it. So I casually killed the dobbelgangers then went to Iron Throne building. Charmed Naaman who lured Shennara and Kaalos backstage. After they killed Naaman, I casually hacked them with WoMS. Got PfU and didn't need anything else so I left for Candlekeep.
With 18/50 strength from Strength spell I could pick up the Clarity potion from the inn. Library first floor has 4th Knock scroll. Iron Throne leaders were charmed and they killed themselves, which took some time when I had to rest outside. Rieltar has another Clarity and Kestor three Invisibility potions. Catacombs Spiders WoMS'd then used Knock to open str tome crypt. 20 strength is enough for the second crypt, but second Knock is needed for the third. With Invisibility also picked up Stone Form from the Ghast room. Managed to charm Prat and fed him to the Basilisks. Charmed Sakul too and he was killed by multiple Spiders, who I didn't bother to kill but just left.
Me and Hasted WoMS killed Slythe as Larze attacked Krystin. Larze was dispelled, but WoMS then handled Krystin, and lastly we killed Larze, but not before Larze killed Quenash. Abela ko'd Ragefast, Ramazit was charmed and wasted, and finally got the Nymph cloak.
Talked Dorn a little, trying to get somewhere with the guest, but he gets killed in the first waylay like in two seconds lmao. Well made 2k gold if nothing. Then went in to the Ice Island to see the loot in there. The first three mages were burned out of sight until Andris Dimension Doored on me, hit WoMS. It took 4 WoMS for Andris to die, and as he didn't get dialogue out, I burned the two other mages out of sight. Tellan summoned some Yuan-ti, first in BG1 for me. And after repelling 6 WoMS's I put Greenstone Amulet on and checked what on earth was going on. Tellan was just that, magnificent protection mage, and took no less than 9 WoMS before getting killed. After getting back and burning half of WoF and WoMS I can conclude, never go to Ice Island again, there's only Stoneskin scroll in there, which you don't need anyway, because you get it like few moments later in SoD.
Palace ambush, money run and the end battle still left.
@histamiini: Is it really necessary to buy the Dagger of Venom and do the basilisk XP loop? You should easily hit level 10 by SoA and therefore get Animate Dead without the loop, and the Dagger of Venom is very expensive considering you won't be doing much melee and there are wands to recharge.
I found two Knock scrolls, but I only remember that one of them is at Davaeorn's place. Where is the other one?
Is it cost-effective to use Sandthief Ring charges to charm people? The odds of success are very dicey, and every use of the ring costs over 1,000 gold to recharge.
I didn't bother charming Larze to use against Slythe. Larze's sky-high HP is unnecessary when you're immune to damage, and Larze is better off used as a damage dealer during the Ducal Palace fight.
I lost them before I could try it out myself, but you could also charm some Phase Spiders from the sewers and use them against the doppelgangers. They deal 150 poison damage over 30 seconds on a failed save vs. death, so they have some pretty spectacular damage output if you prep with Greater Malison.
Then again, staggering the charms against the doppelgangers makes it easy to pick them off one by one anyway, and the only thing you really need to worry about is having Liia Jannath's buffs wear off. The final battle is even easier. All you have to do is burn Greenstone Amulet and Wand of Paralyzation charges until Angelo is dead (this works against basically any mage), and once you've bombed Semaj to death, you're immune to everything else.
@semiticgod Dagger of Venom with 20/20 economy was like 7k, but you're correct and now I know it's completely wasted money. About xp-loop, yeah possibly although it's so easy to do with couple green PfP scrolls, it only takes like few minutes. Candlekeep Library 1st floor has one Knock. Sandthief charges aren't cost effective to charm some people, that's why I usually skip most of the Iron Throne when I don't have access to free Invisibility.
I've been doing my usual method, of staying away from the spell casters, but I did start to use the Greenstone Amulet in the Ice Island, which allows to tank spellcasters too. So Larze isn't necessary on that regard. I think it's just a good habit to have with spell casters in general. The charm tactic is good against Palace Ambush too, it's pretty quick when you rest at the bridge. WoMS should then handle the rest.
@histamiini interesting to see you've been to Ice Island. As a neutral mage I decided I wanted to get Shandalar's robe. That was successfully done in the end, though it was a long fight - racked up a -12 penalty from fatigue during the fight. Shandalar regenerated his minor sequencer and MMMs lots of times, but fortunately didn't appear to recharge his other spells. It's a long time since I killed him though and I didn't realize that would cost reputation - still, there's plenty of time to restore that.
Also I died another time to a basilisk when a 50-round Protection from Petrification scroll wore off. Shouldn't have bothered fighting the basilisks anyway.
I'm getting really frustrated with these short-lasting BG1 runs. I died again to another stupid spider web loop because trying to go invisible with the Sandthief Ring conflicted with the Ring of Free Action.
It bothers me because it takes so much time just to repeat all the same stupid steps. I already learned 90% of the 1 HP metagame within the first few hours, and everything since then has just been trying not to get stuck on a snag in BG1 so I can get to the real fun in BG2. My BG1 gameplay is usually very sloppy as a result.
Also, I'm pretty convinced the Wand of Fire is not worth recharging at all before Sarevok. It's good for some narrow circumstances like clearing up kobolds, but the Wand of Monster Summoning is much more cost-effective considering how many charges you get out of it.
And I'm back to Baldur's Gate, though I had to crank it all the way up to 90 FPS (120 FPS drops back down to 30). It seems that the Wand of Monster Summoning is just plain better than any of the others. At 30 FPS, the Wand of Fire and Wand of Paralyzation might make things faster, but the WoMS is so much more efficient and easy to use.
At Palace Prada charmed the mage, shaman, assassin and one greater dobbelganger. The two other's were killed before they could injure anyone else other than WoMS. Assassin was next, then the last greater one and nobody was still injured. The shaman finally got Belt barely injured. The mage was easy too as Liia dispelled it.
Decided skip the 6th PfU, and used my last two Knocks on the best loot chest in the game gold wise, which is in the Palace basement. It nets about 17k. Recharged Greenstone Amulet. Charmed Bentan and Poe who casually hacked Kahrk. Then Mellum killed the two before WoMS killed Mellum. This episode netted about 5k plus PfM. Hunted Lendarn down for the Cloudkill scroll, one Power and Stone Form potions, which took about 9 WoF and 5 WoMS, so again quite pricey. Power potion gives -4 Thac0 bonus at level 1, and doesn't boost hp so it's safe to use, not that it's really useful. Gullykin basement had another Stone Form and after selling my loot it was worth 2k. Sunin took another 5 WoMS and couple Greenstone Amulets for the second 9k ring. Tanked Delorna and the other mages with Greenstone Amulet. After they've lost their buffs, single WoMS wiped them. Got the fourth OGL and about 3k loot. Had 30k money and used it to buy all the scrolls I could need, including 20 Polymorph Self. Moar money so Durlags Tower I went. Upstairs and basement netted 1 Invisibility and Stone Form, 2 Speed potions, Ring +1 and about 6k loot. Warder level Speed, Cloudkill and about 20k loot. I still had almost full Sandthief ring, so I went to Underdark and managed to charm Rahvin second strike with Algernon cloak, then charmed the rest with Nymph Cloak. They crushed Tamoko, then fought themselves to death. This netted about 18k and wasted 5 Sandthief charges, which I don't really need in SoD as I had 14 Invisibility potions. After recharging WoMS and WoF I still had 27k left so I recharged the four OGL's too. This left all my gems, and 17k gold which I could spend with the priest in the Korlasz crypt.
Casually bombed Angelo, Semaj, Tazok and Diarmind out of sight with WoF. Then lured the four skelis away, Invisibility. And attacked Sarevok with WoMS and Ring of Energy. WoMS was pretty useless, so I just used 49 hits from Ring of Energy which got Sarevok to 92 hp. Drank Oil of Speed to 3 apr daggers, and killed him.
Wasted my money on the priest buying 5 Clarity potions among other stuff. Invisibility to Porios, PfU to Korlasz, and then used WoF Invisibility combo 6 times. Korlasz surrendered when talked to. Got 56k selling my loot, and bought everything interesting from SS with 50k. Also picked up the Bless amulet, Glasses and killed Viconia in the middle of everybody for the -1 save circlet.
Btw warning before anyone tries Belhifet, as he can disease with -2 vs. death, that will penalize constitution and immediatelly kill you. For example Purification Stone gives immunity against poison and disease. But perhaps the better method is to drink two Stone Forms per hour, which should enough with optimal gear. That way you will stop the Cornugon 0 vs Death Stun too.
Okay, it doesn't grant immunity to the disease opcode now that I look at it, but apparently Belhifet's weapon has a Protection from Spell opcode that prevents the weapon's on-hit effects from affecting anyone with poison resistance of 100%, and jelly form does grant 100% poison resistance.
I'm really unhappy about this. I just died again, this time to DUHM. I got hit by a single point of damage by a trap when DUHM bumped my HP up to 2, and then died when the CON bonus wear off. I thought it would just drop back down to 1 instead of hitting zero. It's especially infuriating because I spent so much time doing the Polymorph Self trick.
At this point it's just not fun anymore. I might just bow out of this entirely. The sheer repetitiveness is incredibly grating. It's impossible to think, much less react to situations, when I'm playing at 90 FPS and using CTRL-J to get everywhere.
For all people trying the hp 1 no reload, take a Potion of Fortitude before the 1st confrontation with Argent at the bridge. The tremor script deal 1 hidden damage and Duhm dont cover it.
Tough luck @semiticgod 1 hp run definitely has its own troubles, like using Duhm you've to be really careful. I don't actually think my run has been any easier, than the previous Sorcerer nR which ended in stalemate at Dragonspear Castle. Well I didn't need to kite Sarevok, so that's something.
@Niwla You mean at the end of Chapter 8? I just did that but didn't die.
Hmm that's interesting, and good to know for future. I always press ESC to skip the cutscenes, I wonder if that saved me?
EDIT: Tested it, and it really kills you if you watch the first cutscene of the bridge blowing up. Skipping it with ESC is another method to prevent dying.
I've only just arrived at the Cloakwood. Progress has been slow partly because I've been using very few resources. However, I did just resort to using up all the fireballs from a wand of fire. That occurred following an ambush by Molkar and his crew. They were duly hacked down, but by the time that was finished a number of other groups had turned up in the ambush area - including the amazons. With the crowd growing (and my bedtime looming) I decided it was time to speed things up ...
I went back and tried a more minimalist route, but now I have a conundrum. The Protection from Magic scroll ran out while fighting Drasus, and as a result Kysus hit me with Sleep. Sleep lasts 1-2 hours in LoB mode, but Kysus wouldn't cast any spells while I was down. I used CTRL-T twice to speed up the process and then used the Greenstone Amulet. However, the purpose of using CTRL-T was to replicate the effects of waiting it out normally, and the odds that I would have used the Greenstone Amulet right away are very small. However, Kysus only had a single spell that could actually be game-ending: Charm Person, which he cast before Greater Malison. That's less than a 50% chance of death.
Should I go back and re-fight things, roll a dice, or just give up on this run?
@semiticgod I think it really depends your feel if you would've cast the Greenstone Amulet. I've used the CTRL-T multiple times too, like waiting Diarmid and Korlasz pre-scrolls out. It's not that far away either if you feel you can't continue, but it's up to you really.
Interestingly Throwing Dagger +1 might be the best weapon for level 1 Sorcerer against Bel, as strength bonus and Archers Eyes critical bonus both apply to it.
Melee quarterstaff, 2 apr, strength bonus, hit on average every 60 seconds
Melee daggers, 3 apr, strength bonus, hit on average every 40 seconds
Ranged sling, 2 apr, strength bonus, hit on average every 30 seconds
Ranged daggers, 3 apr, strength bonus, hit on average every 20 seconds
Ranged darts, 4 apr, no bonus, hit on average every 15 seconds
The distinction is that the use of CTRL-T might have influenced the outcome, rather than just shortening a waiting period. I've used CTRl-T multiple times in response to Sleep spells, but only after the mage was dead or when I knew it was out of charm or Chromatic Orb spells.
I think I'll redo the fight, but not do anything different, to replicate the effect of doing the fight without CTRL-T. That way I don't lose the run to a non-death, but don't benefit from extra metagame knowledge.
And what about using Relair's Mistake for the wolf form against Belhifet? With Acid-Etched Dagger off hand and oil of speed is 4 apr with strength bonus. But an Enchanted weapon scroll is needed.
I was thinking about using this strategy with also Medal of Valor, Purification Stone, Cloverleaf and all the potions buff needed (oil of speed, potion of power, invisibility, clarity, stone form, violet potion)
The distinction is that the use of CTRL-T might have influenced the outcome, rather than just shortening a waiting period. I've used CTRl-T multiple times in response to Sleep spells, but only after the mage was dead or when I knew it was out of charm or Chromatic Orb spells.
I think I'll redo the fight, but not do anything different, to replicate the effect of doing the fight without CTRL-T. That way I don't lose the run to a non-death, but don't benefit from extra metagame knowledge.
@semiticgod I take the view that use of the console (things like Ctrl-T and Ctrl-J) to shorten the game always affects the outcome. I think your recent posts illustrate why pretty well - a large part of the difficulty associated with a no-reload is not technical, but due to the length of time runs take .
In the case of battles with mages there is a more technical effect as well as mages potentially have multiple opportunities to regain spells, due to the length of time the battle takes (if you're not consuming resources).
However, I don't want to inflict my pain on you . I've lost count of the number of times I've died while the game has been minimized, so doing that certainly increases risk ...
I just had a nasty moment against Drasus & co. I successfully charmed Rezdan and expected Kysus to attack him - but he cast a polymorph other spell on me instead. That reset my HPs to 5, but fortunately I was able to run away after only being hit once.
A potion of magic blocking restored me before returning to the combat. This time after Rezdan was charmed he put summons up out of sight and then threw in a chaos to confuse Kysus. I could then move into sight and guide in a successful blind that made the remaining contest much easier.
Talking about dying while the game is minimized - here's another instance.
With the mages out of the way I expected dealing with the others to be just a matter of time. However, at some point while I was eating my breakfast, my wild mage apparently gained an extra HP. I'd rested a number of times after recovering from the polymorph, so wouldn't have thought that was the cause - but it's hard to see any other reason why a character in the middle of a fight would suddenly gain an extra HP ...
While it's interesting as an experiment, my feeling is that using the 1 HP protection makes the game more rather than less difficult. Under my rules anyway, the vulnerability to magic is a big liability which I think more than counteracts the benefits of immunity to direct damage - even before you factor in the problems associated with the various ways in which you can gain unwanted extra HPs. I won't bother trying again with this.
Chapter 8. Prada did the Menhir guest and casually killed Teleria and the Stone Golem for the Stony Ally. Listened Dwarves getting killed and then brought the five amulets for the Lich. Hid behind the tent for the parlay, ESCaping the death by tremors.
Chapter 9. Used two invisibility potions to pick up the first Enchanted Weapon from the Troll cave. Morentherene daggered, Ziatar burned, Akanna charmed first try. Shallan took to charm tries before he got killed for the Archers Eyes. Fort surrendered and the bridge mage interrupted with Ring of Energy as Stone Golem put hurt on her.
Chapter 10. Did few quests including the one for Ring of Crusade which gives -3 saves vs. Demons and Devils. Ferrusk was charmed for the Ankheg Amulet. Stone Ally and Water Elemental pretty easily killed the Albino Wyrm for the Acid Etched Dagger.
Crusader Attacks. Well this was nice as I didn't need to buff that much. Troll wave, 19 pre Skull Traps and Oil of Speed. With the Undead and 19 OGL's the wave was defeated. Mage wave, 7 pre Webs and 2 Cloudkills. The mages still put good fight and I used all my Myconid armies. For the Paladin wave my 4 pre Webs and 5 Cloudkills didn't do much and my Archers were quickly killed. As everybody attacked me, used Fireshield Red and started spamming OGL. After 5 Fireshields the wave was dead. Final wave, 5 hasted Skelis, Fireshield and started tanking with OGL. Skelis were quickly killed so I summoned Ankhegs and Detected Illusions. After Piercer of Boils as last named one was killed, the enemy ran away. Recharged my stuff with Horst before the Dragonspear castle. Ashatiel was killed with Ring of Energy and some summons.
For Bel I had 25 Stoneforms and 37 Clarity potions, so I did overhoard a little. Two Enchanted Weapons for 100 rounds, and seven Fireshield Blues for 91 rounds, eight Lance of Distruptions and 14 Snillocs Snowball Swarms. But first there was the lift to handle. Removed Claw of Kazgaroth with Remove Curse, Violet Potion and 10 Mind Focuses, to stop death from Stone Form dexterity penalty, 2x PfF, Speed, Clarity and started the lift. Single WoMS handled the first wave pretty quickly. Second wave took a lot longer with annoying disappearing Hell Cats. After defeating the wave I was in it already almost 2 hours. Took 2 Stone Forms for the third wave and it took about an hour and all my Myconids and Stone Allies, and I was about 3 hours in.
Speed, Clarity, two Stone Forms, Enchanted Weapon. Escaped Bel's dispel, Fireshield Blue and started tanking with 3 apr Throwing Daggers +1 and Archers Eyes. After 20 rounds Bel got injured state. Before third Fireshield was over I refreshed Speed, Clarity and 2x Stone Forms. Bel got badly injured before my first Enchanted Weapon ran out. Hephernaan got himself killed on the Fireshield. Bel had 49 hp left after my Fireshields ran out, but I didn't gain any hits before my Enchanted Weapon too ran out. Tried Lance of Distruption but it didn't hit from so close, although it did hit Aun Argent. Started slinging with +3 bullets, and Bel was multiple times close to death but regenerated just enough to escape death. Finally after 40 +3 Bullets or so he was dead. Phew, finally Sorcerer beat Bel. And it only required a damage immunity.
Before importing my game to SoA I used the con tome for 4 con, so I'll be only 30 hp behind the normal run.
Excellent work, @histamiini. Good luck in BG2! I'm not sure how much you plan on abusing the Wand of Lightning trick, but I would recommend "a lot." It's just plain faster.
I finally got back into SoD after another death while attempting the Polymorph Self trick, though I still failed to get that Fire Shield Blue scroll from Resar. Anyway, I found a reliable setup for the Polymorph Self trick that won't require a timer or take too much time when quick-loading:
1. Cast a spell on self to set your aura (might not be necessary)
2. Use the Polymorph Self scroll
3. Spend 15 rounds using items (15 Potions of Healing are pretty cheap)
4. Drink a poisoned Antidote (the purple potion). This imposes a 20-round slow effect with no save, making your castings of shapeshifting spells take twice as long at the cost of reducing your actions per round by half. Note that you can't do this at the start, or else it will run out before Polymorph Self.
5. Start spamming your intended shapeshift spell (in my case, jelly form) by using the Quick Save trick to refresh your aura after every casting. You should continue this after the other shapeshifting spells vanish.
6. Use Relair's Mistake to give yourself a casting of Shapeshift Natural Form.
7. Use Shapeshift Natural Form to return to normal.
Every other time you shapeshift, you'll need to use Relair's Mistake to switch back, or else your only method of returning to normal form (which is absolutely critical if you're using the jelly form with its huge circle!) is to use a Polymorph Self scroll, which will erase the shapeshift that used to be permanent (you can repeat the trick to regain it).
For some reason, jelly form doesn't seem to reset my CON anymore, but if it does happen to you, you can force your character to re-equip the Claw of Kazgaroth by quick saving and quick loading.
Just don't quick save and quick load if the Claw of Kazgaroth isn't on and your max HP is above 1 but your current HP is not at the maximum, or else you'll die instantly upon loading the save due to the CON penalty dropping your HP below 1. For the same reasons, you'll get an instant death when DUHM runs out if you go from 1 HP to 2 and then take 1 point of damage--heal that 1 point of damage before the CON bonus disappears, or else you'll die.
I'm pretty confident the jelly form is the absolute safest way to play a 1 HP mage. It grants unbreakable immunity to almost everything that could kill a 1 HP mage:
1. Cloudkill spells and the Wand of Cloudkill
2. Charm effects (the big one)
3. Level drain
4. Stun-locking from sources besides the new SCS spiders with their on-hit web effects (those are nonmagical and bypass MR!)
5. Petrification
6. The slay opcode, in case anyone in BG1 or SoD uses Finger of Death or Slay Living against you.
The 125% magic resistance also blocks Maze, though the Coldhearth Lich could theoretically break that with Lower Resistance->Maze. Jelly form is even immune to fatigue, which might be relevant for Belhifet.
I'm up to the Coalition Camp and we have confirmation that the Archer's Eyes' bonus critical hit chance applies to jelly form, but we had two incredibly scary moments. The first was in the myconid cave area when my Diviner got confused and/or feebleminded despite being in jelly form--myconid spores apparently bypass magic resistance, and jelly form doesn't grant immunity to the confusion and feeblemind opcodes. I was afraid that we were going to get locked down indefinitely because we were surrounded. The spores offer a save vs. death at no penalty, and while the duration is long, there's a chance you can resist it, if you don't have to fight off too many of them at once. Fortunately, I had already used the Wand of Monster Summoning to help carve my way out, and the summons took a few of the spores for me. I repeatedly selected my character and when I managed to get back control of my Diviner, I drank a Potion of Clarity and snuck out with the help of a Teleport Field scroll.
The second scary moment was at the Neothelid. I had 2 HP when I entered for reasons I don't understand--apparently sometimes shapeshifting to jelly form will reset your CON, even if it usually doesn't happen. I got hit by a poison attack and reduced to 1 out of 2 HP, and I couldn't escape the area because I was in jelly form and my circle was too big for the door! And since I had intended to rely on jelly immunities, I had no Greenstone Amulet active.
That meant I had three different death scenarios facing me at the same time:
1. The Magical Swords could kill me in one hit.
2. The Neothelid could charm me if I left jelly form.
3. The Neothelid could poison me if I left jelly form.
First, I drank a Potion of Invisibility to escape the Magical Swords and ran away from the Neothelid so it couldn't attempt an attack roll. Second, I returned to human form, hoping that it would reset my CON to 1--but it did not, and I was left when 1 HP out of 2, one hit from death. Since Neothelid poison strikes twice, dealing damage and then dealing lingering damage on a failed save, drinking a healing potion would not save me, nor would a Potion of Magic Shielding save me by guaranteeing a successful saving throw. I instead used a Protection from Poison scroll barely a second before the Neothelid hit me with its breath attack. With my circle back down to human size so I could fit through the door, I ran like hell.
I quick saved and quick loaded to re-equip the Claw of Kazgaroth without using a Remove Curse scroll, then returned to the fight with the Greenstone Amulet active, hoping to land a kill with the Wand of Polymorphing. The Neothelid kept making its saves, and since I was running out of Greenstone Amulet charges, I resorted to a longer-lasting, 40-round Potion of Magic Shielding to block disablers.
But since I'm running on 90 FPS instead of 60 or 30, my timing was off, and the Neothelid stunned me and then hit me with a fear effect. I kept re-selecting my Diviner until I regained control, then drank another Potion of Magic Shielding. As the Neothelid kept resisting the Wand of Polymorphing, I switched to Potions of Stone Form to keep my saves negative, since I only had so many Potions of Magic Shielding.
Eventually I realized that the Wand of Polymorphing, unlike the Wand of Paralyzation, has no save penalty, which means the Neothelid has a 100% chance of making its saving throw on top of its 45% MR. I nailed it with a couple of Greater Malison scrolls and then turned it into a squirrel before immediately slaying it with a critical hit.
So that happened. Lesson learned: don't assume MR will block all disablers, and don't use jelly form during a fight; only before.
Otherwise, the jelly form is just as invincible as I had hoped. I tanked the entire Bridgefort fight, with the Ring of Energy to disrupt the bridge mage. Thanks to the Nazramu infinite gold trick, we now have everything recharged and all expendables purchased.
One question. The amulets from the dwarves of Dumathoin, despite being used as quest items, are not flagged as such, which means they can be shattered if the owner is level drained to death by one of the local wights (a very common occurrence in LoB mode and even in normal mode). In the past, I've consoled them in to counteract the shattering, which I deemed a bug. Would you guys deem it a bug?
Also, @histamiini, do we really need the dwarves or the skeletons to fight the troll wave at the Coalition Camp invasion, or could we just tank the trolls ourselves?
In a couple of past runs, I've seen a lone troll completely ignore the party and make a beeline for the barrels, triggering all the waves at once (only Potions of Firebreath saved me in those non-LoB runs). Has anyone ever seen that happen?
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Plus, it's a ranged attack that should get double criticals from the Archer's Eyes, and since the jelly attack strikes as +3 by default and deals 5d4 base damage, and luck and chant effects apply to each d4 separately, you could kill Belhifet in 40 rounds in jelly form, or 34 with Cloverleaf, or 31 with both Cloverleaf and the Chant ring.
In fact, if you have Cloverleaf, the Chant Ring, and the Archer's Eyes, you should be able to take down Belhifet in a war of attrition with zero buffs besides the 25 STR potion. You just need to make sure, before you get in the elevator, that you have re-set your CON to 1 after shapeshifting by re-equipping the Claw of Kazgoroth after removing it properly with a Remove Curse scroll. If you have 1 base CON without the claw, you'll just need to remember to remove the claw before the 25 STR potion runs out, or the 3 CON from the potion will wear off and the claw will just kill you when your base CON drops back down to 1.
Wasted 2 Sandthief charges to charm Drasus, then fed him to the guards. Drasus has the first Potion of Magic Shielding, not that it's needed now. Went in High Hedge and sold my loot recharging Sandthief ring. Charmed Kysus, WoMS attacked Rezdan as I tanked Genthorn. Genthorn killed Kysus and WoMS killed him. Used 2 Sandthief charges to reach Davaeorns guard and did the usual, charmed the guard, lured Battle Horrors, Invisibility, and then the guard killed Davaeorn. Got first Knock. Resar was killed for the Fireshield Blue scroll. After getting second green Protection from Petrification I did the Basilisk xp-loop, so I get enough xp, when I level up in SoA.
Did the Marek and Lothander guest, Lothander was pre-charmed and then WoMS hacked him for the loot. Marek was WoMS'd too. I couldn't do Ramazith guest at this point because 18 strength doesn't open the door, and I didn't want to spend Knock on it. So I casually killed the dobbelgangers then went to Iron Throne building. Charmed Naaman who lured Shennara and Kaalos backstage. After they killed Naaman, I casually hacked them with WoMS. Got PfU and didn't need anything else so I left for Candlekeep.
With 18/50 strength from Strength spell I could pick up the Clarity potion from the inn. Library first floor has 4th Knock scroll. Iron Throne leaders were charmed and they killed themselves, which took some time when I had to rest outside. Rieltar has another Clarity and Kestor three Invisibility potions. Catacombs Spiders WoMS'd then used Knock to open str tome crypt. 20 strength is enough for the second crypt, but second Knock is needed for the third. With Invisibility also picked up Stone Form from the Ghast room. Managed to charm Prat and fed him to the Basilisks. Charmed Sakul too and he was killed by multiple Spiders, who I didn't bother to kill but just left.
Me and Hasted WoMS killed Slythe as Larze attacked Krystin. Larze was dispelled, but WoMS then handled Krystin, and lastly we killed Larze, but not before Larze killed Quenash. Abela ko'd Ragefast, Ramazit was charmed and wasted, and finally got the Nymph cloak.
Talked Dorn a little, trying to get somewhere with the guest, but he gets killed in the first waylay like in two seconds lmao. Well made 2k gold if nothing. Then went in to the Ice Island to see the loot in there. The first three mages were burned out of sight until Andris Dimension Doored on me, hit WoMS. It took 4 WoMS for Andris to die, and as he didn't get dialogue out, I burned the two other mages out of sight. Tellan summoned some Yuan-ti, first in BG1 for me. And after repelling 6 WoMS's I put Greenstone Amulet on and checked what on earth was going on. Tellan was just that, magnificent protection mage, and took no less than 9 WoMS before getting killed. After getting back and burning half of WoF and WoMS I can conclude, never go to Ice Island again, there's only Stoneskin scroll in there, which you don't need anyway, because you get it like few moments later in SoD.
Palace ambush, money run and the end battle still left.
I found two Knock scrolls, but I only remember that one of them is at Davaeorn's place. Where is the other one?
Is it cost-effective to use Sandthief Ring charges to charm people? The odds of success are very dicey, and every use of the ring costs over 1,000 gold to recharge.
I didn't bother charming Larze to use against Slythe. Larze's sky-high HP is unnecessary when you're immune to damage, and Larze is better off used as a damage dealer during the Ducal Palace fight.
I lost them before I could try it out myself, but you could also charm some Phase Spiders from the sewers and use them against the doppelgangers. They deal 150 poison damage over 30 seconds on a failed save vs. death, so they have some pretty spectacular damage output if you prep with Greater Malison.
Then again, staggering the charms against the doppelgangers makes it easy to pick them off one by one anyway, and the only thing you really need to worry about is having Liia Jannath's buffs wear off. The final battle is even easier. All you have to do is burn Greenstone Amulet and Wand of Paralyzation charges until Angelo is dead (this works against basically any mage), and once you've bombed Semaj to death, you're immune to everything else.
I've been doing my usual method, of staying away from the spell casters, but I did start to use the Greenstone Amulet in the Ice Island, which allows to tank spellcasters too. So Larze isn't necessary on that regard. I think it's just a good habit to have with spell casters in general. The charm tactic is good against Palace Ambush too, it's pretty quick when you rest at the bridge. WoMS should then handle the rest.
It bothers me because it takes so much time just to repeat all the same stupid steps. I already learned 90% of the 1 HP metagame within the first few hours, and everything since then has just been trying not to get stuck on a snag in BG1 so I can get to the real fun in BG2. My BG1 gameplay is usually very sloppy as a result.
Also, I'm pretty convinced the Wand of Fire is not worth recharging at all before Sarevok. It's good for some narrow circumstances like clearing up kobolds, but the Wand of Monster Summoning is much more cost-effective considering how many charges you get out of it.
Decided skip the 6th PfU, and used my last two Knocks on the best loot chest in the game gold wise, which is in the Palace basement. It nets about 17k. Recharged Greenstone Amulet. Charmed Bentan and Poe who casually hacked Kahrk. Then Mellum killed the two before WoMS killed Mellum. This episode netted about 5k plus PfM. Hunted Lendarn down for the Cloudkill scroll, one Power and Stone Form potions, which took about 9 WoF and 5 WoMS, so again quite pricey. Power potion gives -4 Thac0 bonus at level 1, and doesn't boost hp so it's safe to use, not that it's really useful. Gullykin basement had another Stone Form and after selling my loot it was worth 2k. Sunin took another 5 WoMS and couple Greenstone Amulets for the second 9k ring. Tanked Delorna and the other mages with Greenstone Amulet. After they've lost their buffs, single WoMS wiped them. Got the fourth OGL and about 3k loot. Had 30k money and used it to buy all the scrolls I could need, including 20 Polymorph Self. Moar money so Durlags Tower I went. Upstairs and basement netted 1 Invisibility and Stone Form, 2 Speed potions, Ring +1 and about 6k loot. Warder level Speed, Cloudkill and about 20k loot. I still had almost full Sandthief ring, so I went to Underdark and managed to charm Rahvin second strike with Algernon cloak, then charmed the rest with Nymph Cloak. They crushed Tamoko, then fought themselves to death. This netted about 18k and wasted 5 Sandthief charges, which I don't really need in SoD as I had 14 Invisibility potions. After recharging WoMS and WoF I still had 27k left so I recharged the four OGL's too. This left all my gems, and 17k gold which I could spend with the priest in the Korlasz crypt.
Casually bombed Angelo, Semaj, Tazok and Diarmind out of sight with WoF. Then lured the four skelis away, Invisibility. And attacked Sarevok with WoMS and Ring of Energy. WoMS was pretty useless, so I just used 49 hits from Ring of Energy which got Sarevok to 92 hp. Drank Oil of Speed to 3 apr daggers, and killed him.
Wasted my money on the priest buying 5 Clarity potions among other stuff. Invisibility to Porios, PfU to Korlasz, and then used WoF Invisibility combo 6 times. Korlasz surrendered when talked to. Got 56k selling my loot, and bought everything interesting from SS with 50k. Also picked up the Bless amulet, Glasses and killed Viconia in the middle of everybody for the -1 save circlet.
Should be easy road to Crusader Attacks.
At this point it's just not fun anymore. I might just bow out of this entirely. The sheer repetitiveness is incredibly grating. It's impossible to think, much less react to situations, when I'm playing at 90 FPS and using CTRL-J to get everywhere.
@Niwla You mean at the end of Chapter 8? I just did that but didn't die.
EDIT: Tested it, and it really kills you if you watch the first cutscene of the bridge blowing up. Skipping it with ESC is another method to prevent dying.
Should I go back and re-fight things, roll a dice, or just give up on this run?
Interestingly Throwing Dagger +1 might be the best weapon for level 1 Sorcerer against Bel, as strength bonus and Archers Eyes critical bonus both apply to it.
Melee quarterstaff, 2 apr, strength bonus, hit on average every 60 seconds
Melee daggers, 3 apr, strength bonus, hit on average every 40 seconds
Ranged sling, 2 apr, strength bonus, hit on average every 30 seconds
Ranged daggers, 3 apr, strength bonus, hit on average every 20 seconds
Ranged darts, 4 apr, no bonus, hit on average every 15 seconds
I think I'll redo the fight, but not do anything different, to replicate the effect of doing the fight without CTRL-T. That way I don't lose the run to a non-death, but don't benefit from extra metagame knowledge.
I was thinking about using this strategy with also Medal of Valor, Purification Stone, Cloverleaf and all the potions buff needed (oil of speed, potion of power, invisibility, clarity, stone form, violet potion)
@semiticgod I take the view that use of the console (things like Ctrl-T and Ctrl-J) to shorten the game always affects the outcome. I think your recent posts illustrate why pretty well - a large part of the difficulty associated with a no-reload is not technical, but due to the length of time runs take
In the case of battles with mages there is a more technical effect as well as mages potentially have multiple opportunities to regain spells, due to the length of time the battle takes (if you're not consuming resources).
However, I don't want to inflict my pain on you
A potion of magic blocking restored me before returning to the combat. This time after Rezdan was charmed he put summons up out of sight and then threw in a chaos to confuse Kysus. I could then move into sight and guide in a successful blind that made the remaining contest much easier.
With the mages out of the way I expected dealing with the others to be just a matter of time. However, at some point while I was eating my breakfast, my wild mage apparently gained an extra HP. I'd rested a number of times after recovering from the polymorph, so wouldn't have thought that was the cause - but it's hard to see any other reason why a character in the middle of a fight would suddenly gain an extra HP ...
While it's interesting as an experiment, my feeling is that using the 1 HP protection makes the game more rather than less difficult. Under my rules anyway, the vulnerability to magic is a big liability which I think more than counteracts the benefits of immunity to direct damage - even before you factor in the problems associated with the various ways in which you can gain unwanted extra HPs. I won't bother trying again with this.
Chapter 9. Used two invisibility potions to pick up the first Enchanted Weapon from the Troll cave. Morentherene daggered, Ziatar burned, Akanna charmed first try. Shallan took to charm tries before he got killed for the Archers Eyes. Fort surrendered and the bridge mage interrupted with Ring of Energy as Stone Golem put hurt on her.
Chapter 10. Did few quests including the one for Ring of Crusade which gives -3 saves vs. Demons and Devils. Ferrusk was charmed for the Ankheg Amulet. Stone Ally and Water Elemental pretty easily killed the Albino Wyrm for the Acid Etched Dagger.
Crusader Attacks. Well this was nice as I didn't need to buff that much. Troll wave, 19 pre Skull Traps and Oil of Speed. With the Undead and 19 OGL's the wave was defeated. Mage wave, 7 pre Webs and 2 Cloudkills. The mages still put good fight and I used all my Myconid armies. For the Paladin wave my 4 pre Webs and 5 Cloudkills didn't do much and my Archers were quickly killed. As everybody attacked me, used Fireshield Red and started spamming OGL. After 5 Fireshields the wave was dead. Final wave, 5 hasted Skelis, Fireshield and started tanking with OGL. Skelis were quickly killed so I summoned Ankhegs and Detected Illusions. After Piercer of Boils as last named one was killed, the enemy ran away. Recharged my stuff with Horst before the Dragonspear castle. Ashatiel was killed with Ring of Energy and some summons.
For Bel I had 25 Stoneforms and 37 Clarity potions, so I did overhoard a little. Two Enchanted Weapons for 100 rounds, and seven Fireshield Blues for 91 rounds, eight Lance of Distruptions and 14 Snillocs Snowball Swarms. But first there was the lift to handle. Removed Claw of Kazgaroth with Remove Curse, Violet Potion and 10 Mind Focuses, to stop death from Stone Form dexterity penalty, 2x PfF, Speed, Clarity and started the lift. Single WoMS handled the first wave pretty quickly. Second wave took a lot longer with annoying disappearing Hell Cats. After defeating the wave I was in it already almost 2 hours. Took 2 Stone Forms for the third wave and it took about an hour and all my Myconids and Stone Allies, and I was about 3 hours in.
Speed, Clarity, two Stone Forms, Enchanted Weapon. Escaped Bel's dispel, Fireshield Blue and started tanking with 3 apr Throwing Daggers +1 and Archers Eyes. After 20 rounds Bel got injured state. Before third Fireshield was over I refreshed Speed, Clarity and 2x Stone Forms. Bel got badly injured before my first Enchanted Weapon ran out. Hephernaan got himself killed on the Fireshield. Bel had 49 hp left after my Fireshields ran out, but I didn't gain any hits before my Enchanted Weapon too ran out. Tried Lance of Distruption but it didn't hit from so close, although it did hit Aun Argent. Started slinging with +3 bullets, and Bel was multiple times close to death but regenerated just enough to escape death. Finally after 40 +3 Bullets or so he was dead. Phew, finally Sorcerer beat Bel. And it only required a damage immunity.
Before importing my game to SoA I used the con tome for 4 con, so I'll be only 30 hp behind the normal run.
I finally got back into SoD after another death while attempting the Polymorph Self trick, though I still failed to get that Fire Shield Blue scroll from Resar. Anyway, I found a reliable setup for the Polymorph Self trick that won't require a timer or take too much time when quick-loading:
1. Cast a spell on self to set your aura (might not be necessary)
2. Use the Polymorph Self scroll
3. Spend 15 rounds using items (15 Potions of Healing are pretty cheap)
4. Drink a poisoned Antidote (the purple potion). This imposes a 20-round slow effect with no save, making your castings of shapeshifting spells take twice as long at the cost of reducing your actions per round by half. Note that you can't do this at the start, or else it will run out before Polymorph Self.
5. Start spamming your intended shapeshift spell (in my case, jelly form) by using the Quick Save trick to refresh your aura after every casting. You should continue this after the other shapeshifting spells vanish.
6. Use Relair's Mistake to give yourself a casting of Shapeshift Natural Form.
7. Use Shapeshift Natural Form to return to normal.
Every other time you shapeshift, you'll need to use Relair's Mistake to switch back, or else your only method of returning to normal form (which is absolutely critical if you're using the jelly form with its huge circle!) is to use a Polymorph Self scroll, which will erase the shapeshift that used to be permanent (you can repeat the trick to regain it).
For some reason, jelly form doesn't seem to reset my CON anymore, but if it does happen to you, you can force your character to re-equip the Claw of Kazgaroth by quick saving and quick loading.
Just don't quick save and quick load if the Claw of Kazgaroth isn't on and your max HP is above 1 but your current HP is not at the maximum, or else you'll die instantly upon loading the save due to the CON penalty dropping your HP below 1. For the same reasons, you'll get an instant death when DUHM runs out if you go from 1 HP to 2 and then take 1 point of damage--heal that 1 point of damage before the CON bonus disappears, or else you'll die.
I'm pretty confident the jelly form is the absolute safest way to play a 1 HP mage. It grants unbreakable immunity to almost everything that could kill a 1 HP mage:
1. Cloudkill spells and the Wand of Cloudkill
2. Charm effects (the big one)
3. Level drain
4. Stun-locking from sources besides the new SCS spiders with their on-hit web effects (those are nonmagical and bypass MR!)
5. Petrification
6. The slay opcode, in case anyone in BG1 or SoD uses Finger of Death or Slay Living against you.
The 125% magic resistance also blocks Maze, though the Coldhearth Lich could theoretically break that with Lower Resistance->Maze. Jelly form is even immune to fatigue, which might be relevant for Belhifet.
The second scary moment was at the Neothelid. I had 2 HP when I entered for reasons I don't understand--apparently sometimes shapeshifting to jelly form will reset your CON, even if it usually doesn't happen. I got hit by a poison attack and reduced to 1 out of 2 HP, and I couldn't escape the area because I was in jelly form and my circle was too big for the door! And since I had intended to rely on jelly immunities, I had no Greenstone Amulet active.
That meant I had three different death scenarios facing me at the same time:
1. The Magical Swords could kill me in one hit.
2. The Neothelid could charm me if I left jelly form.
3. The Neothelid could poison me if I left jelly form.
First, I drank a Potion of Invisibility to escape the Magical Swords and ran away from the Neothelid so it couldn't attempt an attack roll. Second, I returned to human form, hoping that it would reset my CON to 1--but it did not, and I was left when 1 HP out of 2, one hit from death. Since Neothelid poison strikes twice, dealing damage and then dealing lingering damage on a failed save, drinking a healing potion would not save me, nor would a Potion of Magic Shielding save me by guaranteeing a successful saving throw. I instead used a Protection from Poison scroll barely a second before the Neothelid hit me with its breath attack. With my circle back down to human size so I could fit through the door, I ran like hell.
I quick saved and quick loaded to re-equip the Claw of Kazgaroth without using a Remove Curse scroll, then returned to the fight with the Greenstone Amulet active, hoping to land a kill with the Wand of Polymorphing. The Neothelid kept making its saves, and since I was running out of Greenstone Amulet charges, I resorted to a longer-lasting, 40-round Potion of Magic Shielding to block disablers.
But since I'm running on 90 FPS instead of 60 or 30, my timing was off, and the Neothelid stunned me and then hit me with a fear effect. I kept re-selecting my Diviner until I regained control, then drank another Potion of Magic Shielding. As the Neothelid kept resisting the Wand of Polymorphing, I switched to Potions of Stone Form to keep my saves negative, since I only had so many Potions of Magic Shielding.
Eventually I realized that the Wand of Polymorphing, unlike the Wand of Paralyzation, has no save penalty, which means the Neothelid has a 100% chance of making its saving throw on top of its 45% MR. I nailed it with a couple of Greater Malison scrolls and then turned it into a squirrel before immediately slaying it with a critical hit.
So that happened. Lesson learned: don't assume MR will block all disablers, and don't use jelly form during a fight; only before.
Otherwise, the jelly form is just as invincible as I had hoped. I tanked the entire Bridgefort fight, with the Ring of Energy to disrupt the bridge mage. Thanks to the Nazramu infinite gold trick, we now have everything recharged and all expendables purchased.
One question. The amulets from the dwarves of Dumathoin, despite being used as quest items, are not flagged as such, which means they can be shattered if the owner is level drained to death by one of the local wights (a very common occurrence in LoB mode and even in normal mode). In the past, I've consoled them in to counteract the shattering, which I deemed a bug. Would you guys deem it a bug?
Also, @histamiini, do we really need the dwarves or the skeletons to fight the troll wave at the Coalition Camp invasion, or could we just tank the trolls ourselves?
In a couple of past runs, I've seen a lone troll completely ignore the party and make a beeline for the barrels, triggering all the waves at once (only Potions of Firebreath saved me in those non-LoB runs). Has anyone ever seen that happen?