I kill him in all my games. It may be you're seeing the result of the level 0 component of SCS that allows you to level NPCs up and choose their skills when you first recruit them. One result of that is that it normally takes at least one attack to turn the NPCs hostile (that one won't hurt them). Shortly after that though you should be able to attack, damage and kill them.
i dont have that option in SCS i only turned on the option less likely to die irreversebly or whatever it said ^^ when i saw that i couldnt kill him i went back in SCS and removed that option went back ingame at the point of entry to the map where they are and tried again to kill them they go down to 1 bar (nearly death) and stays there they dont die even with command CTRL+Y they dont die
now i am gonna reinstall the whole game and skipp that die option in the hope that i can kill them
but i always used this option on to save the guy at nashkel ( its been so long that i dont remember the name it was but it was a big guy that pops up after u get ambushed at the nashkel area) cause he always dies there without that option ?
Did they change Bassilus ?? i seem to be unable to Charm him with the cloak like i used to do.... if so what other changes are made in the time i was away of this challenge ?
Edit: also is there some sort of list that u actualy need to do/have in order to finish off the game and go SoD ?
i know about the necklaces the fireball ones everything else i kinda forgot lol
did anyone here do a run with assassin till end of SoD ???
I think someone tried Bounty Hunter a long time ago (probably @histamiini ?), I think a solo thief will have a very very hard time against Big B, if it is at all possible.
did anyone here do a run with assassin till end of SoD ???
I think someone tried Bounty Hunter a long time ago (probably @histamiini ?), I think a solo thief will have a very very hard time
against Big B, if it is at all possible.
I haven't personally done a run with an assassin through SoD, but I am currently playing with a single class Shadowdancer, and just about to head for the Underdark. Belhifet took multiple days to kill. It is possible, and I had to reload some saves to get items I forgot, but it is indeed possible. Would I recommend it, no, would I do it again, absolutely. Without traps makes it fun because I rely on just attacking and immediately re-stealthing for pretty well every fight, and the main strategy in Bg1 was using the cloak of Algernon and just charming everything and everyone. For the fight itself on Belhifet, I was mainly just running around kiting the mobs around the arena and getting an attack in every round when I was able.
I might have a video of me doing it somewhere, but it would have to be like 50x speed, because I did it over multiple days, with a few hours each day kinda deal. It wasn't fun, and I think it took me maybe three tries before getting it right.
Regarding Thief-Runs: An Elven Swashbuckler would get the best hit stats when fighting Big B and will also be a powerhouse later on in SoA and ToB. Here some math:
Elven Swashbuckler - Level 12
15 Base
12 Potion of Power (40 rounds)
10 Swashbuckler Bonus
3 Violet Potion
2 Specialized
1 Legacy of the Masters
0 Chant
-1 Luck
-2 Bless
-3 Elven Racial Bonus
-6 Longsword +3
-10 Invisiblity
Just grab every Invisibility Potion you can get (we reached 200+ once), use Algernons Cloak to break most of BG 1 and burn down the Crusader Attacks with Detonation Arrows. The rest should be no big deal with proper planing even though - yeah - something could still go wrong easily.
Shadowdancers should also work nicely but the biggest problem - at least in a no-reaload-run - will be the random summoning of Erinyes Archers by Big B. If you get really unlucky five or more of them will constantly shoot at you and as they can see through stealth/invisibilty this could get really messy. Using the Pillars for cover and having an eye on your aura for instant healing is essential.
There is a lot of detailled information in this thread and i dont want to uncover all gems hidden within. Search and be surprised by the wonders of @histamiini, @Grond0, @semiticgod and many others.
A failed solo run showed me a new threat today: Glitterdust at the Coalition Camp invasion. If you use the Coldhearth Lich's allies during any of the waves (for me, I usually used it against the first wave, as I did in this run), the mage will eventually cast Glitterdust. Any enemy that fails its save and is not currently right next to a player-controlled critter will wander randomly until it finds a valid target. If it doesn't find a valid target, it can easily walk right past the player and go straight to the barrels, triggering all of the following waves and effectively dooming the run.
This means that the Dwarves of Dumathoin may be a safer option overall for the first wave, at least for certain classes. They are not as sturdy as the lich's skeletons, but if any enemy that fails a save against Glitterdust suddenly loses sight of the player or the player's allies at any point during that 4-round blindness, only an Arrow of Dispelling or a quick engagement with the enemy (running over to the blinded critter before it goes too far) can save the run.
It's a shame, because it's such a lame way to lose a run.
Long time lurker here who has completed BG:EE several times on LoB mode, but has only just gotten SCS and other mods working. Am thinking of joining the challenge and seeing if the strategies that I used without SCS will be applicable with mods. I've definitely been impressed by the ingenuity and dedication that some of the serial posters here have shown, but although I haven't exhaustively gone through all of the posts, I think I may still have one or two tricks that I haven't seen posted before (although they may be obsolete with the mods' inclusion)... we'll see!
Also, on a slightly different note, looking at the classes that have completed the challenge, I'm surprised that no triple classes are on the list. Have people decided that these classes would not be enough of a challenge or is it just coincidence? There seems to be a fair spread of classes that have been successful, so I take it that the choice should largely be down to personal play style preference.
@AvidGamerFan best of luck with your attempts - I'll look forward to seeing your tricks .
I suspect that the inability of triple classes to use 9th level spells is one potential problem. However, SCS does allow you the option of treating HLAs as innate abilities rather than top level spells. Using that would boost the chance of success for a triple class a bit.
HLA spells as innate abilities can effectively get you more top-level slots, but it won't help with a complete absence. You can't take priest spell HLAs until you can cast seventh-level divine spells, and you can't take mage spell HLAs until you can cast 9th level arcane spells. (By default, since the XP cap cuts off triple classes short of that, the mage spell HLAs are removed from their list entirely)
I suspect that the inability of triple classes to use 9th level spells is one potential problem. However, SCS does allow you the option of treating HLAs as innate abilities rather than top level spells. Using that would boost the chance of success for a triple class a bit.
I had thought of this as being a possibility. Setting the XP cap as just enough to prevent F/M/C and F/M/T from obtaining 9th level spells was, in my opinion, an excellent design decision and keeps the 'best character' debate more open. Still, I have wondered to what extent the Thief HLA Time Stop Trap can replace the spell Time Stop (not got much practical knowledge of LoB, tbh). If they do a decent job and the SCS component of using HLAs as innate abilities is used, then I'm not so sure of the outcome anymore...
Anyway, has anyone tried a F/M/T in this challenge before? I've seen @Victor_Creed_SFV (at least) started to run a F/M/C, but I don't see their name on the Hall of Fame, which is ominous...
Previous playthroughs be damned, Angelo the F/M/T is joining the fray. Is he based on the arrow of detonation-firing lackey of Sarevok? Absolutely. Wasn't that guy a F/M? Absolutely. Am I bothered? Absolutely not.
Putting my cards on the table: this is not a No Reloads game. I've never played SCS before; never played SoD before (although I've heard much about its horrors); and my knowledge of SoA/ToB is over a decade old. Some people like to have a 'test' character to try out strategies for their 'ironman' character... I'm simply cutting out the middle man. But as much as possible, I won't be save-scumming: there's a difference between finding deliberate ways to tilt the odds in your favour and tilting them repeatedly until they do.
Preaching to the choir, but Angelo will start in no fit state to kill anything. To my knowledge, 8,550 XP should be accessible with neither combat nor stealth (although you may have to dash past enemies, this should be not be too risky):
Candlekeep (Fuller/Hull/Dreppin/Phlydria) - 100 XP [I like to keep Firebead's Identify scroll in Candlekeep]
Marl - 900 XP
Noober - 400 XP
Firebead's Book - 300 XP
Brage - 1,000 XP
Hobgoblin in Fisherman's Lake - 200 XP
Albert & Rufie - 1,000 XP
Drienne - 200 XP
Mr Colquetle's Amulet - 250 XP
Samuel - 500 XP
Arcand - 300 XP
Tenya - 2,500 XP
Revenant - 900 XP
A further 6,800 XP should be accessible using stealth to bypass the dangerous bits (no hard separation between this and the last list, but the danger of running past, say, a battle horror far exceeds running past a kobold with a dagger):
Unpetrifying Tamah - 300 XP
Kirinhale - 4,000 XP
Kylee's Dagger - 200 XP
Joseph's Ring - 800 XP
Brun's farm - 1,500 XP (500 XP for body & 1,000 XP for donating 100 gp)
This means that 15,350 XP is available without having to kill anything. For a triple class character like Angelo, this means just over 5,000 XP per class... enough to get to level 3 Mage and invisibility! Throw in some miscellaneous XP for thievery skills and straightforward, high priority kills (e.g. Meilum) and we're well on the way!
At least, that's the plan...
P.S. Charming a basilisk in Mutamin's Garden using Protection from Petrification and Algernon's cloak and then petrifying-reviving-repetrifying greater basilisks using Stone to Flesh scrolls is also a possibility. Personally, I try not to use this sort of thing, but if it comes down to the wire, there ain't no tactic that's too cheap for Angelo!
Executive Summary: Angelo is a F/M/T playing in a reload game with aims to do the easy quests first!
Previous adventurers be damned, Angelo the F/M/T is joining the fray. Is he based on Sarevok's lackey? Absolutely. Wasn't that guy a F/M? Absolutely. Am I bothered? Absolutely not.
The Rules of My Game
Putting my cards on the table: this is not a No Reloads run. I've never played SCS before; I've never played SoD before; I've never really played ToB before; and my knowledge of SoA is over a decade old. Some people like to use a 'test' character to try out strategies for their 'ironman' characters... I'm only cutting out the middle man. However, as far as possible, I'm not going to save scum: there's a difference between finding deliberate strategies to tilt the odds in your favour and tilting repeatedly until they happen to do so. I'm also going to try to use different strategies to those I've seen in this thread, although I don't claim to have read it all and I would be flattering myself to pretend that my contributions would be as valuable as, say, those of @Harpagornis or @semiticgod .
'Neither Stealth Nor Combat' Quests - 8,550 XP
Preaching to the choir, but Angelo starts out unable to kill anything. By my calculations, there is at least 8,550 XP available which require neither combat nor stealth (although you may have to run past a few monsters, this shouldn't be too risky):
Candlekeep - 100 XP [I prefer to keep Firebead's scroll, but there's another potential 25 XP... go wild!]
Phlydia - 25 XP
Fuller - 25 XP
Dreppin - 25 XP
Hull - 25 XP
Marl - 900 XP
Firebead's Book - 300 XP
Arcand - 300 XP
Colquetle Family Amulet - 250 XP
Threaten Hobgoblin in Fisherman's Lake - 200 XP
Drienne - 200 XP
Brage - 1,000 XP
Noober - 400 XP
Albert and Rufie - 1,000 XP
Revenant - 900 XP
Samuel - 500 XP
Tenya and the Fishermen - 2,500 XP
'Stealth But No Combat' Quests - 8,600 XP
As far as I know, there is also at least 8,600 XP available for quests involving stealth, but no combat (no hard and fast rules separating these from the other list, but obviously running past, say, a Battle Horror is riskier than running past a dagger-wielding kobold):
Brun's Farm - 1,500 XP [500 XP for Brun's body + 1,000 XP for donating 100 gp]
This makes a total of 17,150 XP available, so for Angelo, that's just over 5,000 XP per class... enough to get to Level 3 mage and invisibility! Throw in some extra XP for miscellaneous thief skill usage and killing some straightforward, high priority targets (e.g. Meilum) and we're well on the way.
It's also interesting that all 4 of the warders' quests in Durlag's Tower can be completed without combat... and at 2,000 XP a pop (with an extra 2,000 XP for completing them all), that's another potential pacifist 10,000 XP! Of course, you either have to tank the unavoidable traps or disarm them... and with Angelo being a F/M/T, that's exactly what he's going to do!
At least, that's the plan...
P.S. An alternative is charming basilisks in Mutamin's Garden with Algernon's cloak, then using the petrify-revive-repetrify loop on greater basilisks using Stone to Flesh scrolls (I originally heard about this from the BG Wiki, but it seems that it was invented here on this thread... it's nice to feel like I'm taking part in a piece of BG history). Although I try to avoid this sort of thing, if it comes down to the wire, nothing is too low for Angelo!
There has been a triple-class solo LoB success, @histamiini's Fighter/Mage/Cleric. It just isn't posted on the first page of this thread. His sorcerer is also missing from the Hall. I can update the list myself, if @Harpagornis is okay with me editing the discussion.
We don't have a Fighter/Mage/Thief yet. That's very much new territory, and the challenge will be very different from an FMC. Siege of Dragonspear will be tough, especially the final boss. Make sure you have all the items you need; solo LoB gameplay at certain parts of SoD is very item-dependent. The coalition camp invasion will need Web and Skull trap scrolls as well as Arrows of Detonation, and the final boss will need Potions of Heroism and Potions of Invisibility. Those are good long-term investments, and will decrease the need for reloads.
For BG2, note that the DEX-draining Chaos Blade from Haer'dalis can still be used with Use Any Item, unlike other NPC weapons in EE. No previous run has made use of the Chaos Blade (none of them have been able to wield it), and with Improved Haste and Belm, a Fighter/Mage/Thief could drain 14 DEX per round if every hit makes contact.
Part 1: Angelo Finds His Feet (Edited for Accuracy)
Executive Summary: Aside from one or two minor complications, Angelo's 'neither combat nor stealth' quests are completed without incident.
Starting outside the Candlekeep Inn, Angelo summons his imp familiar and is delighted to see his HP shoot up. "This will be very useful for Legacy of Bhaal mode," he murmurs, breaking the fourth wall.
I would normally advocate using the ferret familiar, but a F/M/T has access to Pick Pockets anyway and the imp's Polymorph Self has some interesting applications (although I may regret this when I'm unable to pickpocket myself). In any case, I've never used an imp before... vive le difference!
Outlining the Plan of Action
Inside, Angelo buys the best armour/shield/helmet he can afford (he refuses to make it easy for any waylaying ambushers), but saves money by not buying any weapons or other items (he'll find better ones by the time he's ready for killing). He obtains 300 gp using the 'Talk to Firebead 30 Times' trick and loots all the chests he can, stealthing his way past the warders where required. He kinda wishes that he'd put all his thief points into Pick Lock so as to access the star sapphire, but he knows that Find Traps will come in useful soon enough.
As far as I can remember, only halflings with 19 Dex and all points into Open Locks could get the star sapphire in vanilla BG. Did BG:EE change this a bit or am I remembering it wrong?
After running the usual Candlekeep quests, Angelo leaves with Gorion and watches him get cut down in the night. Running first from Sarevok and then from Imoen, Angelo has no qualms looting his foster father's body, pocketing the belt since immunity to cold looks useful for later. Taking stock of his situation, Angelo then systematically proceeds to go through the aforementioned quests to earn his 'neither combat nor stealth' 8,550 XP, opportunistically plundering the numerous hidden caches dotted around the realms as he does so.
Looting Treasure Troves
I'm sure most readers will be familiar with these troves, but here's a list just in case...
Diamond - Lion's Way
Ring of Protection + 1 - Coast Way
Ring of Wizardry - Friendly Arm Inn
300 gp talking on Firebead 30 times - Beregost
Water Opal - Lonely Peaks
Ankheg armour + Pearl - Nashkel
Wand of Frost - Nashkel Mines
Chromatic Orb + Cloudkill - Red Leaf Forest
Ring of Fire Resistance + Star Sapphire + Iol Gem - Gibberling Mountains
A Few Assorted Reflections
Frankly, this is pretty unexciting stuff, so some comments will suffice...
Algernon is left alive with his cloak unlooted. While this item is perhaps the best item in BG:EE, others have chronicled its many abuses and acquiring it at this stage would require killing Algernon. If required, I will 'acquire' it later.
Although early users speak of Drizzt standing helpless in the face of LoB integer overflow (as his normal 4.5 attacks/round gets upgraded to 5.5 attacks/round and since the normal maximum attacks/round is 5, it gets nerfed to 0), this bug has now been fixed and Drizzt defends himself handily. There is another way to handle him, but now is not the time to enact this.
I've always felt that the North Nashkel Road was a filler map present only to flesh out the trek to Nashkel in no meaningful way. BG:EE has added the Coquetle family amulet, so kudos to Beamdog for giving some reason to visit this area. That said, once I've retrieved it, I intend on never visiting again.
On my way to the North Nashkel Road, I met Lord Foreshadow. Once merely a teaser for Neverwinter Nights, he now gives me a Ring of Human Influence. This is an addition from the NPC Project... obviously modders want to emulate BG2 and give players a free pass to dump Charisma when rolling their stats.
Likely common knowledge, but players can click on Noober to hasten him running out of things to say. Saves a couple of minutes on waiting for him to talk to you each time.
Talk to Hafiz in the Gibberling Mountains to obtain the Scroll of Protection from Magic. Doing this means that I won't have to visit this area again either.
When delivering Samuel to the Friendly Arm Inn, buy all 4 Potions of Genius and Mind Focussing. Drinking two of these potions would mean that Angelo will scribe scrolls en masse with at least 24 Intelligence, ensuring automatic success.
In BG:EE, Tenya can be dealt with a simple Blind or Command spell, but here casting Blind on her means that she doesn't surrender unless you're right next to her (where she can see you despite being blinded), so I ended up killing her several times. On the other hand, if you let her run riot, she'll cast Hold Person or Cause Disease to disable you (this must be another SCS addition... vanilla BG:EE simply had her cast Command without following up). Luckily, she's basically unarmoured and Angelo only needs to hit her a few times before she surrenders, so he drained her offensive spells by running inside the house whenever she started casting and popped back out once she'd fired her spell into thin air. As I said, no tactic is too cheap...
None of this will be particularly groundbreaking for veterans of this thread, but it's just the sort of solid start that Angelo needs. By my estimation, characters of any class or race could complete these quests and gain these items, so this forms my usual 'LoB Start' no matter what I'm playing. However, the next step varies depending on the availability of stealth: a Fighter, Paladin, Druid, Fighter/Mage or Fighter/Druid has no immediate stealth option open to them at this level and will have rely on alternatives. Luckily, a F/M/T has no such limitations and will be looking to sneak some further XP in the next update.
I've incorporated feedback from other users into this post (along with any future post with 'Edited for Accuracy' in the title) so that any facts you read in my posts are accurate. I don't mean to revise history here - if I'm wrong, I'll happily admit it and my mistakes will be catalogued in future forum posts - but I'm striving to be reasonably comprehensive and I'd rather people got the correct information here than having to dig through several responses to get it.
For BG2, note that the DEX-draining Chaos Blade from Haer'dalis can still be used with Use Any Item, unlike other NPC weapons in EE. No previous run has made use of the Chaos Blade (none of them have been able to wield it), and with Improved Haste and Belm, a Fighter/Mage/Thief could drain 14 DEX per round if every hit makes contact.
Are there any 'hidden' requirements (e.g. requisite stats) for this? I quickly fired up BG2:EE to test this and my F/M/T was unable to wield it (the item wasn't 'greyed out' as most prohibited items are, but I was nevertheless unable to equip it). Shame... if I could get away with dual-wielding short swords (Kundane and Chaos Blade), then that frees up more proficiencies (e.g. Two Handed Swords for Carsomyr 100% MR abuse).
On my way to the North Nashkel Road, I met Lord Foreshadow. Once merely a teaser for Neverwinter Nights, he now gives me a Ring of Human Influence. This must be a new SCS addition...
NPC project, actually. Prefix codes can be used to identify the source for mod-added resources - in this case, X#. SCS uses DW#. He also won't give it to you if you have a natural 18 Cha.
For non-solo runs, the ring isn't a big deal; there are plenty of high-Cha NPCs to serve as party "face", although none have an 18. When you want maximum shopping discounts, there are plenty of mages and bards who can reach 20 with a casting of Friends.
Starting outside the Candlekeep Inn, Angelo summons his imp familiar and is delighted to see his HP shoot up. "This will be very useful for Legacy of Bhaal mode," he murmurs, breaking the fourth wall.
As far as I can remember, only halflings with 19 Dex and all points into Open Locks could get the star sapphire in vanilla BG. Did BG:EE change this a bit or am I remembering it wrong?
[*] Although other users speak of Drizzt standing helpless in the face of LoB integer overflow (as his normal 4.5 attacks/round gets upgraded to 5.5 attacks/round and since the normal maximum attacks/round is 5, it gets nerfed to 0), my version of Drizzt defends himself handily. There is another way to handle him, but now is not the time to enact this.
[*] On my way to the North Nashkel Road, I met Lord Foreshadow. Once merely a teaser for Neverwinter Nights, he now gives me a Ring of Human Influence. This must be a new SCS addition... obviously modders want to emulate BG2 and give players a free pass to dump Charisma when rolling their stats.
[*] When delivering Samuel to the Friendly Arm Inn, buy all 4 Potions of Genius and Mind Focussing. This means that Angelo will scribe scrolls en masse with 25 Intelligence, ensuring automatic success.
[*] In BG:EE, Tenya can be dealt with a simple Blind or Command spell, but here casting Blind on her seems to disable her script and she doesn't surrender, so I ended up killing her several times.
@AvidGamerFan good to see you underway. I thought it might be helpful to give a few points of clarification on the above:
I agree the imp can be useful, but it has the downside of lower HP than all the other familiars, making both it and you a bit more vulnerable.
I don't remember what was required in vanilla BG, but certainly using a halfling was never required with the BG2 engine. Apart from thieves, barbarians can also kick open that chest.
The issue of Drizzt standing still in LoB was with an earlier version of BGEE - that's now been fixed.
24 intelligence is sufficient to give 100% success.
Blind means that Tenya won't be able to surrender unless right next to you. If she's in the mood for surrendering and you attack her without realizing that, she will then fight to the death. Attempting to surrender will also not interrupt some other actions (such as spell casting), so you have to be careful about attacking her multiple times.
NPC project, actually. Prefix codes can be used to identify the source for mod-added resources - in this case, X#. SCS uses DW#. He also won't give it to you if you have a natural 18 Cha.
Thanks for the clarification, @jmerry. As you may have gathered, I installed a couple of mods at once and am currently untangling which bit does what.
I agree the imp can be useful, but it has the downside of lower HP than all the other familiars, making both it and you a bit more vulnerable.
This did occur to me, but as far as I (i.e. BG: Wiki) know(s), all familiars end up with the same HP in ToB, so it's simply a case of making it through until then (look at me, so blazé!). I've already used it several times to do things I couldn't with any other familiar (details to come), so it's proven its worth. For my money, the ferret is still the best familiar, but I'm enjoying using the imp for now.
I was also thinking of using Twinkle after donning the Helm of Opposite Alignment, which I wouldn't be able to do with any Neutral familiar (the only other familiar I'd consider, the pseudodragon, isn't very useful solo)... but I've just realised that I won't be able to use the Helm of Kiel/Balduran/Defence at the same time. Sometimes, I wonder if I should just quit while I'm ahead...
I don't remember what was required in vanilla BG, but certainly using a halfling was never required with the BG2 engine. Apart from thieves, barbarians can also kick open that chest.
Of course... I never thought of that since barbs weren't available to play in vanilla BG.
24 intelligence is sufficient to give 100% success.
Is there any difference for specialists scribing spells outside their speciality (i.e. with -15% penalty) for 24 Int or 25 Int? I doubt it, but I figure I should ask now and not forever hold my piece.
Blind means that Tenya won't be able to surrender unless right next to you. If she's in the mood for surrendering and you attack her without realizing that, she will then fight to the death. Attempting to surrender will also not interrupt some other actions (such as spell casting), so you have to be careful about attacking her multiple times.
Weirdly, I did try wandering up to her several times while she was blinded, but I'd probably let the 'fight to the death' script kick in by then. Whenever I'd tried it without SCS, she'd surrender almost as soon as Blind/Command hit her. Should still be doable by any level 1 character, but perhaps the ducking inside/outside trick to waste her spells followed by ranged weapon kiting would become essential. Risky for a NR game in any case...
Is there any difference for specialists scribing spells outside their speciality (i.e. with -15% penalty) for 24 Int or 25 Int? I doubt it, but I figure I should ask now and not forever hold my piece.
You might reasonably think there should be - but there's not . The 15% penalty kicks in for any base score of under 100% (i.e. 23 or less intelligence), but as soon as the base score reaches 100% that applies without adjustment.
By the way, I think familiar HPs only change between games when a new familiar is summoned. In order to get the ToB HPs for your familiar you either need to not summon one at all during SoA or to kill an existing one (with the hit on constitution that causes - as well as a real chance of death from the instant penalty, so be careful if you're doing this ).
There has been a triple-class solo LoB success, @histamiini's Fighter/Mage/Cleric. It just isn't posted on the first page of this thread. His sorcerer is also missing from the Hall. I can update the list myself, if @Harpagornis is okay with me editing the discussion.
We don't have a Fighter/Mage/Thief yet. That's very much new territory, and the challenge will be very different from an FMC. Siege of Dragonspear will be tough, especially the final boss. Make sure you have all the items you need; solo LoB gameplay at certain parts of SoD is very item-dependent. The coalition camp invasion will need Web and Skull trap scrolls as well as Arrows of Detonation, and the final boss will need Potions of Heroism and Potions of Invisibility. Those are good long-term investments, and will decrease the need for reloads.
For BG2, note that the DEX-draining Chaos Blade from Haer'dalis can still be used with Use Any Item, unlike other NPC weapons in EE. No previous run has made use of the Chaos Blade (none of them have been able to wield it), and with Improved Haste and Belm, a Fighter/Mage/Thief could drain 14 DEX per round if every hit makes contact.
i am currently doing a FMT elf almost heading into SOD tho with the triple class exp is a bit harsh but managing so far!
btw does anyone know if u can do the chess part of durlags tower Legit kill all of em for the xp ? i dont see a way to beat them as a group ( i always charm the king and go invis ,,, and let the enemy deal with the king)
Hi guys. Did anyone menaged to kill Belhifet(LOB) with "No difficulty damage increase " option turned off(to take double dmg). Im close to fighting him with my Barbarian. So im wondering what to expect ?
@AvidGamerFan: Did your test FMT have Use Any Item when he tried to equip the Chaos Blade? It's only equippable by tiefling or half-orc Blades normally, but since it doesn't have an EE-specific opcode attached to it, Use Any Item still permits its use even in EE.
@Atsok: Belhifet in LoB mode has a THAC0 of -12 and I think the best a Barbarian can reach in SoD is -18, so if you're tanking him directly, on some rounds Belhifet will be landing all 4 hits and dealing 196 damage per round to a Barbarian. That's survivable, but it's a lot of extra pressure to tank him. I think hoarding Potions of Invisibility and going for hit-and-fade tactics would be the answer to handling Belhifet with double damage enabled, at least for any class without priest levels to cast Champion's Strength or immunity to damage via the 1 HP level 1 mage trick.
Part 2: Angelo Gets Sneaky and His First Kill (Edited for Accuracy)
Executive Summary: Angelo completes what he can of the Durlag's Tower 'stealth, but no combat' quest, realises a flaw in his plan and kills "the Sword Coast's most famous swordsman" (self-proclaimed).
After gaining ~8,000 XP last time, Angelo is a level 2/2/3 F/M/T. His quality of life will improve significantly once he reaches levels 3/3/4, since he gains level 2 spells and can cast Invisibility. Currently, he is restricted to 'Stealth bursting', which involves waiting in an empty area until his Stealth check succeeds, then dashing past any monsters into the next empty area before the next Stealth check is rolled (as his Stealth is so low that the probability of two successful Stealth checks in a row is negligible). Among other options, Invisibility allows resting and travelling while invisible to avoid random encounters.
Durlag's Tower
The classic area for Steath bursting is Durlag's Tower, where Angelo can sneak past the battle horrors (and perhaps the intermittent doppleganger cameo) guarding the entrance. From there, the route to Kirinhale is free and Angelo considers Riggilo's soul a fair price to pay for 4,000 XP. Alas, the Dire Charm trap guarding the Wisdom tome is unremovable, and Angelo does not trust his saving throws or half-elven sleep/charm resistance to do the job. Better to return later with Greenstone Amulet support.
Instead, Angelo descends to the first labyrinth level, disarms some traps and loots some unlocked containers. In addition to the ammunition and scroll miscellanea, he pockets a Wand of Monster Summoning and several potions enhancing his Thief skills. These are kept for when Angelo needs to pick pocket important items (Open Locks can be replaced by a Knock spell, Stealth by Invisibility and Find/Remove Traps is already at 100%).
Unfortunately, although Angelo had hoped that all the aforementioned 'stealth but no combat' quests could be tackled by Stealth bursting, this was not the case for several reasons:
Some required opening containers (dispels Stealth) in enemy-filled areas.
Some featured long stretches with enough enemies that Angelo couldn't guarantee getting from one empty space to another within a successful Stealth check.
Some had regions with both monsters (requiring Stealth to navigate) and nasty traps (can't be detected or removed while maintaining Stealth). These can often be tackled using 'Stealth-lag', the small period between performing an action that would break Stealth and actually becoming visible, but it's easier to return later if possible.
There was nothing for it. Angelo was going to have to kill something. And he knew just the target...
Even a Blind Fighter is a Tough Opponent...
Meilum is a tried-and-tested candidate for an early kill. Most importantly for us (for reasons that will become apparent), he has the yummy Gauntlets of Weapon Specialisation, but there are a couple of other factors:
As a melee fighter, he can't damage you from afar.
As a fighter, his saving throw versus spells is relatively poor.
He only wears studded leather, so you'd expect him to be easy to hit.
He's worth quite a bit of XP.
He's in an accessible location (the kobolds preceding him can be evaded using Stealth burst).
When playing BG:EE, I'd usually go after Meilum and Greywolf, but SCS makes Greywolf chug an Oil of Speed before engaging. How rude. For that, he is off my early kill list... I bet he's mad about that!
That said, the factors in the above list are not all strictly true. There was a good chance for Meilum to succumb to one of the Blindness spells that Angelo hurled at him while kiting him around (the fight is next to a map transition, so just rinse and repeat if not). However, Meilum's AC was still good enough that Angelo only seemed to be hitting him with arrows on a critical. Worse, Meilum's saves were better than Angelo would have liked and there was no guarantee that he could afflict Meilium twice. And Meilum's hit points are so high that Angelo was wondering if the Blindness duration of 4 hours would be enough to kill Meilum... and if he'd brought enough arrows for the job even if it was! If he left and came back or rested, Meilum would be back to full health and all his good work would be undone...
...So Bring Backup!
Suddenly, Angelo's familiar, Felicity the imp, piped up. "I'm not just an item which gives you HP, you know. I can help too!"
"Of course," Angelo murmured as he let Felicity out of his pack and willed her to cast Polymorph Self. In an instant, Felicity morphed into a mustard jelly, lobbing globules of her own slimy body at a visionless Meilum. The combat turned immediately. Whereas Angelo required natural 20s to harm the blind swordsman, Felicity seemed to be hitting almost at will, leaving only venom and torpor in her wake. Within seconds, Meilum fell to a nasty case of slime-through-rectum as Felicity exacted bloody destruction on behalf of her master.
"Thanks," a breathless Angelo gasped at his familiar.
"You're welcome," Felicity replied, beaming, as she polymorphed back to her natural form.
"Now get back in the pack!"
Felicity complied wordlessly, though Angelo's ingratitude surely tasted sour to her impish lips.
Upon reflection, there is another way to win this fight without using items, etc. Veterans may well be screaming at their screens already, but if not, stay tuned...
Of course, despite dropping the Gauntlets of Weapon Specialisation, killing Meilum still only gives 1,200 XP and so Aneglo is still floating around c14,000 total XP... which is roughly 1,000 XP short of what he needs to get to level 3/3/4. However, although perhaps not absolutely necessary, the gauntlets will act as insurance for Angelo's next scheme, a risk-free way to claw his way to the next level.
i am currently doing a FMT elf almost heading into SOD tho with the triple class exp is a bit harsh but managing so far!
Glad to see another F/M/T on the march. I thought about going an elf, but after using the BG tomes, 20 Dex and 18 Con seemed weaker than 19 Dex and 19 Con. The extra attack bonuses and charm/sleep resistance would be nice, though... I agree about the XP split being a drag, but I suppose we do get 3 classes' worth of abilities for it.
@AvidGamerFan: Did your test FMT have Use Any Item when he tried to equip the Chaos Blade? It's only equippable by tiefling or half-orc Blades normally, but since it doesn't have an EE-specific opcode attached to it, Use Any Item still permits its use even in EE.
I cheated to give a newly created F/M/T character max XP and chose UAI as an HLA. I ran the test twice, once with a half-elf and once as an elf. During those tests, I used the item code NPSW06.itm to summon the blade, but I've just run the test again with a max XP half-elf F/M/T where I teleported to Haer'Dalis in game and recruited him... still couldn't equip the blades, despite it not being greyed out. :-(
Can half-orcs be Blades? I thought (without mods) only humans or half-elves can play bards.
Hi guys. Did anyone menaged to kill Belhifet(LOB) with "No difficulty damage increase " option turned off(to take double dmg). Im close to fighting him with my Barbarian. So im wondering what to expect ?
I believe that @Harpagornis first ran this challenge as Sukka the barbarian and managed, with some difficulty, to reach the Ascension battle at the end of ToB. It should be possible, although not something that I'd look forward to doing myself.
Some had regions with both monsters (requiring Stealth to navigate) and nasty traps (can't be detected or removed while maintaining Stealth).
That's not quite true . You can take advantage of the fact stealth persists for a while after you stop hiding to do exactly what you describe. For instance my routine approach for the unavoidable traps in the Nashkel Mine with a thief character is to:
- stealth into range of the traps
- change to detect traps
- once detected, retreat out of sight of enemies and re-stealth
- disarm the traps
- retreat, re-stealth and proceed.
Some had regions with both monsters (requiring Stealth to navigate) and nasty traps (can't be detected or removed while maintaining Stealth).
That's not quite true . You can take advantage of the fact stealth persists for a while after you stop hiding to do exactly what you describe. For instance my routine approach for the unavoidable traps in the Nashkel Mine with a thief character is to:
- stealth into range of the traps
- change to detect traps
- once detected, retreat out of sight of enemies and re-stealth
- disarm the traps
- retreat, re-stealth and proceed.
Good spot. I've always used Stealth lag to backstab creatures I was going to anyway when the Stealth check failed just as I was getting in position, but I concede that it could be used for this purpose too . You'd need to have somewhere safe to fall back to, though... where do you go for the traps before the Nashkel Mines level 4 entrance? Is the Stealth lag long enough for you to retreat through both halls full of kobolds?
Some had regions with both monsters (requiring Stealth to navigate) and nasty traps (can't be detected or removed while maintaining Stealth).
That's not quite true . You can take advantage of the fact stealth persists for a while after you stop hiding to do exactly what you describe. For instance my routine approach for the unavoidable traps in the Nashkel Mine with a thief character is to:
- stealth into range of the traps
- change to detect traps
- once detected, retreat out of sight of enemies and re-stealth
- disarm the traps
- retreat, re-stealth and proceed.
Good spot. I've always used Stealth lag to backstab creatures I was going to anyway when the Stealth check failed just as I was getting in position, but I concede that it could be used for this purpose too . You'd need to have somewhere safe to fall back to, though... where do you go for the traps before the Nashkel Mines level 4 entrance? Is the Stealth lag long enough for you to retreat through both halls full of kobolds?
In unmodded there's space to disarm them anyway. In this challenge I would normally just bypass them these days - you can get past them if you hug the wall to the right. Actually, thinking about it I used to regularly trigger them individually while stealthed and then go back to rest and heal - as part of securing a route to retreat from the next area if necessary. Dealing with the kobold shaman and captain takes a while, but it can be done eventually by drawing all the kobolds back to the entrance to that level.
Comments
i dont have that option in SCS i only turned on the option less likely to die irreversebly or whatever it said ^^ when i saw that i couldnt kill him i went back in SCS and removed that option went back ingame at the point of entry to the map where they are and tried again to kill them they go down to 1 bar (nearly death) and stays there they dont die even with command CTRL+Y they dont die
now i am gonna reinstall the whole game and skipp that die option in the hope that i can kill them
but i always used this option on to save the guy at nashkel ( its been so long that i dont remember the name it was but it was a big guy that pops up after u get ambushed at the nashkel area) cause he always dies there without that option ?
hm thats a good question actualy i think i might have turned that on yea i will look into that
thnx @Victor_Creed_SFV @Grond0
Edit: also is there some sort of list that u actualy need to do/have in order to finish off the game and go SoD ?
i know about the necklaces the fireball ones everything else i kinda forgot lol
I think someone tried Bounty Hunter a long time ago (probably @histamiini ?), I think a solo thief will have a very very hard time against Big B, if it is at all possible.
Both Harpagornis and Histamiini have had many epic runs. But I think Harpagornis may have more insight on the stealth char names
I haven't personally done a run with an assassin through SoD, but I am currently playing with a single class Shadowdancer, and just about to head for the Underdark. Belhifet took multiple days to kill. It is possible, and I had to reload some saves to get items I forgot, but it is indeed possible. Would I recommend it, no, would I do it again, absolutely. Without traps makes it fun because I rely on just attacking and immediately re-stealthing for pretty well every fight, and the main strategy in Bg1 was using the cloak of Algernon and just charming everything and everyone. For the fight itself on Belhifet, I was mainly just running around kiting the mobs around the arena and getting an attack in every round when I was able.
I might have a video of me doing it somewhere, but it would have to be like 50x speed, because I did it over multiple days, with a few hours each day kinda deal. It wasn't fun, and I think it took me maybe three tries before getting it right.
15 Base
12 Potion of Power (40 rounds)
10 Swashbuckler Bonus
3 Violet Potion
2 Specialized
1 Legacy of the Masters
0 Chant
-1 Luck
-2 Bless
-3 Elven Racial Bonus
-6 Longsword +3
-10 Invisiblity
Just grab every Invisibility Potion you can get (we reached 200+ once), use Algernons Cloak to break most of BG 1 and burn down the Crusader Attacks with Detonation Arrows. The rest should be no big deal with proper planing even though - yeah - something could still go wrong easily.
Shadowdancers should also work nicely but the biggest problem - at least in a no-reaload-run - will be the random summoning of Erinyes Archers by Big B. If you get really unlucky five or more of them will constantly shoot at you and as they can see through stealth/invisibilty this could get really messy. Using the Pillars for cover and having an eye on your aura for instant healing is essential.
There is a lot of detailled information in this thread and i dont want to uncover all gems hidden within. Search and be surprised by the wonders of @histamiini, @Grond0, @semiticgod and many others.
This means that the Dwarves of Dumathoin may be a safer option overall for the first wave, at least for certain classes. They are not as sturdy as the lich's skeletons, but if any enemy that fails a save against Glitterdust suddenly loses sight of the player or the player's allies at any point during that 4-round blindness, only an Arrow of Dispelling or a quick engagement with the enemy (running over to the blinded critter before it goes too far) can save the run.
It's a shame, because it's such a lame way to lose a run.
Long time lurker here who has completed BG:EE several times on LoB mode, but has only just gotten SCS and other mods working. Am thinking of joining the challenge and seeing if the strategies that I used without SCS will be applicable with mods. I've definitely been impressed by the ingenuity and dedication that some of the serial posters here have shown, but although I haven't exhaustively gone through all of the posts, I think I may still have one or two tricks that I haven't seen posted before (although they may be obsolete with the mods' inclusion)... we'll see!
Also, on a slightly different note, looking at the classes that have completed the challenge, I'm surprised that no triple classes are on the list. Have people decided that these classes would not be enough of a challenge or is it just coincidence? There seems to be a fair spread of classes that have been successful, so I take it that the choice should largely be down to personal play style preference.
Avid
I suspect that the inability of triple classes to use 9th level spells is one potential problem. However, SCS does allow you the option of treating HLAs as innate abilities rather than top level spells. Using that would boost the chance of success for a triple class a bit.
I had thought of this as being a possibility. Setting the XP cap as just enough to prevent F/M/C and F/M/T from obtaining 9th level spells was, in my opinion, an excellent design decision and keeps the 'best character' debate more open. Still, I have wondered to what extent the Thief HLA Time Stop Trap can replace the spell Time Stop (not got much practical knowledge of LoB, tbh). If they do a decent job and the SCS component of using HLAs as innate abilities is used, then I'm not so sure of the outcome anymore...
Anyway, has anyone tried a F/M/T in this challenge before? I've seen @Victor_Creed_SFV (at least) started to run a F/M/C, but I don't see their name on the Hall of Fame, which is ominous...
Putting my cards on the table: this is not a No Reloads game. I've never played SCS before; never played SoD before (although I've heard much about its horrors); and my knowledge of SoA/ToB is over a decade old. Some people like to have a 'test' character to try out strategies for their 'ironman' character... I'm simply cutting out the middle man. But as much as possible, I won't be save-scumming: there's a difference between finding deliberate ways to tilt the odds in your favour and tilting them repeatedly until they do.
Preaching to the choir, but Angelo will start in no fit state to kill anything. To my knowledge, 8,550 XP should be accessible with neither combat nor stealth (although you may have to dash past enemies, this should be not be too risky):
At least, that's the plan...
P.S. Charming a basilisk in Mutamin's Garden using Protection from Petrification and Algernon's cloak and then petrifying-reviving-repetrifying greater basilisks using Stone to Flesh scrolls is also a possibility. Personally, I try not to use this sort of thing, but if it comes down to the wire, there ain't no tactic that's too cheap for Angelo!
Executive Summary: Angelo is a F/M/T playing in a reload game with aims to do the easy quests first!
Previous adventurers be damned, Angelo the F/M/T is joining the fray. Is he based on Sarevok's lackey? Absolutely. Wasn't that guy a F/M? Absolutely. Am I bothered? Absolutely not.
This makes a total of 17,150 XP available, so for Angelo, that's just over 5,000 XP per class... enough to get to Level 3 mage and invisibility! Throw in some extra XP for miscellaneous thief skill usage and killing some straightforward, high priority targets (e.g. Meilum) and we're well on the way.
It's also interesting that all 4 of the warders' quests in Durlag's Tower can be completed without combat... and at 2,000 XP a pop (with an extra 2,000 XP for completing them all), that's another potential pacifist 10,000 XP! Of course, you either have to tank the unavoidable traps or disarm them... and with Angelo being a F/M/T, that's exactly what he's going to do!
At least, that's the plan...
P.S. An alternative is charming basilisks in Mutamin's Garden with Algernon's cloak, then using the petrify-revive-repetrify loop on greater basilisks using Stone to Flesh scrolls (I originally heard about this from the BG Wiki, but it seems that it was invented here on this thread... it's nice to feel like I'm taking part in a piece of BG history). Although I try to avoid this sort of thing, if it comes down to the wire, nothing is too low for Angelo!
There has been a triple-class solo LoB success, @histamiini's Fighter/Mage/Cleric. It just isn't posted on the first page of this thread. His sorcerer is also missing from the Hall. I can update the list myself, if @Harpagornis is okay with me editing the discussion.
We don't have a Fighter/Mage/Thief yet. That's very much new territory, and the challenge will be very different from an FMC. Siege of Dragonspear will be tough, especially the final boss. Make sure you have all the items you need; solo LoB gameplay at certain parts of SoD is very item-dependent. The coalition camp invasion will need Web and Skull trap scrolls as well as Arrows of Detonation, and the final boss will need Potions of Heroism and Potions of Invisibility. Those are good long-term investments, and will decrease the need for reloads.
For BG2, note that the DEX-draining Chaos Blade from Haer'dalis can still be used with Use Any Item, unlike other NPC weapons in EE. No previous run has made use of the Chaos Blade (none of them have been able to wield it), and with Improved Haste and Belm, a Fighter/Mage/Thief could drain 14 DEX per round if every hit makes contact.
Executive Summary: Aside from one or two minor complications, Angelo's 'neither combat nor stealth' quests are completed without incident.
Starting outside the Candlekeep Inn, Angelo summons his imp familiar and is delighted to see his HP shoot up. "This will be very useful for Legacy of Bhaal mode," he murmurs, breaking the fourth wall.
I would normally advocate using the ferret familiar, but a F/M/T has access to Pick Pockets anyway and the imp's Polymorph Self has some interesting applications (although I may regret this when I'm unable to pickpocket myself). In any case, I've never used an imp before... vive le difference!
Inside, Angelo buys the best armour/shield/helmet he can afford (he refuses to make it easy for any waylaying ambushers), but saves money by not buying any weapons or other items (he'll find better ones by the time he's ready for killing). He obtains 300 gp using the 'Talk to Firebead 30 Times' trick and loots all the chests he can, stealthing his way past the warders where required. He kinda wishes that he'd put all his thief points into Pick Lock so as to access the star sapphire, but he knows that Find Traps will come in useful soon enough.
As far as I can remember, only halflings with 19 Dex and all points into Open Locks could get the star sapphire in vanilla BG. Did BG:EE change this a bit or am I remembering it wrong?
After running the usual Candlekeep quests, Angelo leaves with Gorion and watches him get cut down in the night. Running first from Sarevok and then from Imoen, Angelo has no qualms looting his foster father's body, pocketing the belt since immunity to cold looks useful for later. Taking stock of his situation, Angelo then systematically proceeds to go through the aforementioned quests to earn his 'neither combat nor stealth' 8,550 XP, opportunistically plundering the numerous hidden caches dotted around the realms as he does so.
I'm sure most readers will be familiar with these troves, but here's a list just in case...
Frankly, this is pretty unexciting stuff, so some comments will suffice...
None of this will be particularly groundbreaking for veterans of this thread, but it's just the sort of solid start that Angelo needs. By my estimation, characters of any class or race could complete these quests and gain these items, so this forms my usual 'LoB Start' no matter what I'm playing. However, the next step varies depending on the availability of stealth: a Fighter, Paladin, Druid, Fighter/Mage or Fighter/Druid has no immediate stealth option open to them at this level and will have rely on alternatives. Luckily, a F/M/T has no such limitations and will be looking to sneak some further XP in the next update.
I've incorporated feedback from other users into this post (along with any future post with 'Edited for Accuracy' in the title) so that any facts you read in my posts are accurate. I don't mean to revise history here - if I'm wrong, I'll happily admit it and my mistakes will be catalogued in future forum posts - but I'm striving to be reasonably comprehensive and I'd rather people got the correct information here than having to dig through several responses to get it.
Are there any 'hidden' requirements (e.g. requisite stats) for this? I quickly fired up BG2:EE to test this and my F/M/T was unable to wield it (the item wasn't 'greyed out' as most prohibited items are, but I was nevertheless unable to equip it). Shame... if I could get away with dual-wielding short swords (Kundane and Chaos Blade), then that frees up more proficiencies (e.g. Two Handed Swords for Carsomyr 100% MR abuse).
For non-solo runs, the ring isn't a big deal; there are plenty of high-Cha NPCs to serve as party "face", although none have an 18. When you want maximum shopping discounts, there are plenty of mages and bards who can reach 20 with a casting of Friends.
@AvidGamerFan good to see you underway. I thought it might be helpful to give a few points of clarification on the above:
I agree the imp can be useful, but it has the downside of lower HP than all the other familiars, making both it and you a bit more vulnerable.
I don't remember what was required in vanilla BG, but certainly using a halfling was never required with the BG2 engine. Apart from thieves, barbarians can also kick open that chest.
The issue of Drizzt standing still in LoB was with an earlier version of BGEE - that's now been fixed.
@jmerry already answered about Lord Foreshadow.
24 intelligence is sufficient to give 100% success.
Blind means that Tenya won't be able to surrender unless right next to you. If she's in the mood for surrendering and you attack her without realizing that, she will then fight to the death. Attempting to surrender will also not interrupt some other actions (such as spell casting), so you have to be careful about attacking her multiple times.
Thanks for the clarification, @jmerry. As you may have gathered, I installed a couple of mods at once and am currently untangling which bit does what.
This did occur to me, but as far as I (i.e. BG: Wiki) know(s), all familiars end up with the same HP in ToB, so it's simply a case of making it through until then (look at me, so blazé!). I've already used it several times to do things I couldn't with any other familiar (details to come), so it's proven its worth. For my money, the ferret is still the best familiar, but I'm enjoying using the imp for now.
I was also thinking of using Twinkle after donning the Helm of Opposite Alignment, which I wouldn't be able to do with any Neutral familiar (the only other familiar I'd consider, the pseudodragon, isn't very useful solo)... but I've just realised that I won't be able to use the Helm of Kiel/Balduran/Defence at the same time. Sometimes, I wonder if I should just quit while I'm ahead...
Of course... I never thought of that since barbs weren't available to play in vanilla BG.
I had assumed this. Nice to have it confirmed, though!
Is there any difference for specialists scribing spells outside their speciality (i.e. with -15% penalty) for 24 Int or 25 Int? I doubt it, but I figure I should ask now and not forever hold my piece.
Weirdly, I did try wandering up to her several times while she was blinded, but I'd probably let the 'fight to the death' script kick in by then. Whenever I'd tried it without SCS, she'd surrender almost as soon as Blind/Command hit her. Should still be doable by any level 1 character, but perhaps the ducking inside/outside trick to waste her spells followed by ranged weapon kiting would become essential. Risky for a NR game in any case...
You might reasonably think there should be - but there's not
By the way, I think familiar HPs only change between games when a new familiar is summoned. In order to get the ToB HPs for your familiar you either need to not summon one at all during SoA or to kill an existing one (with the hit on constitution that causes - as well as a real chance of death from the instant penalty, so be careful if you're doing this
i am currently doing a FMT elf almost heading into SOD tho with the triple class exp is a bit harsh but managing so far!
btw does anyone know if u can do the chess part of durlags tower Legit kill all of em for the xp ? i dont see a way to beat them as a group ( i always charm the king and go invis ,,, and let the enemy deal with the king)
@Atsok: Belhifet in LoB mode has a THAC0 of -12 and I think the best a Barbarian can reach in SoD is -18, so if you're tanking him directly, on some rounds Belhifet will be landing all 4 hits and dealing 196 damage per round to a Barbarian. That's survivable, but it's a lot of extra pressure to tank him. I think hoarding Potions of Invisibility and going for hit-and-fade tactics would be the answer to handling Belhifet with double damage enabled, at least for any class without priest levels to cast Champion's Strength or immunity to damage via the 1 HP level 1 mage trick.
Executive Summary: Angelo completes what he can of the Durlag's Tower 'stealth, but no combat' quest, realises a flaw in his plan and kills "the Sword Coast's most famous swordsman" (self-proclaimed).
After gaining ~8,000 XP last time, Angelo is a level 2/2/3 F/M/T. His quality of life will improve significantly once he reaches levels 3/3/4, since he gains level 2 spells and can cast Invisibility. Currently, he is restricted to 'Stealth bursting', which involves waiting in an empty area until his Stealth check succeeds, then dashing past any monsters into the next empty area before the next Stealth check is rolled (as his Stealth is so low that the probability of two successful Stealth checks in a row is negligible). Among other options, Invisibility allows resting and travelling while invisible to avoid random encounters.
Instead, Angelo descends to the first labyrinth level, disarms some traps and loots some unlocked containers. In addition to the ammunition and scroll miscellanea, he pockets a Wand of Monster Summoning and several potions enhancing his Thief skills. These are kept for when Angelo needs to pick pocket important items (Open Locks can be replaced by a Knock spell, Stealth by Invisibility and Find/Remove Traps is already at 100%).
Unfortunately, although Angelo had hoped that all the aforementioned 'stealth but no combat' quests could be tackled by Stealth bursting, this was not the case for several reasons:
When playing BG:EE, I'd usually go after Meilum and Greywolf, but SCS makes Greywolf chug an Oil of Speed before engaging. How rude. For that, he is off my early kill list... I bet he's mad about that!
That said, the factors in the above list are not all strictly true. There was a good chance for Meilum to succumb to one of the Blindness spells that Angelo hurled at him while kiting him around (the fight is next to a map transition, so just rinse and repeat if not). However, Meilum's AC was still good enough that Angelo only seemed to be hitting him with arrows on a critical. Worse, Meilum's saves were better than Angelo would have liked and there was no guarantee that he could afflict Meilium twice. And Meilum's hit points are so high that Angelo was wondering if the Blindness duration of 4 hours would be enough to kill Meilum... and if he'd brought enough arrows for the job even if it was! If he left and came back or rested, Meilum would be back to full health and all his good work would be undone...
"Of course," Angelo murmured as he let Felicity out of his pack and willed her to cast Polymorph Self. In an instant, Felicity morphed into a mustard jelly, lobbing globules of her own slimy body at a visionless Meilum. The combat turned immediately. Whereas Angelo required natural 20s to harm the blind swordsman, Felicity seemed to be hitting almost at will, leaving only venom and torpor in her wake. Within seconds, Meilum fell to a nasty case of slime-through-rectum as Felicity exacted bloody destruction on behalf of her master.
"Thanks," a breathless Angelo gasped at his familiar.
"You're welcome," Felicity replied, beaming, as she polymorphed back to her natural form.
"Now get back in the pack!"
Felicity complied wordlessly, though Angelo's ingratitude surely tasted sour to her impish lips.
Upon reflection, there is another way to win this fight without using items, etc. Veterans may well be screaming at their screens already, but if not, stay tuned...
Of course, despite dropping the Gauntlets of Weapon Specialisation, killing Meilum still only gives 1,200 XP and so Aneglo is still floating around c14,000 total XP... which is roughly 1,000 XP short of what he needs to get to level 3/3/4. However, although perhaps not absolutely necessary, the gauntlets will act as insurance for Angelo's next scheme, a risk-free way to claw his way to the next level.
Glad to see another F/M/T on the march. I thought about going an elf, but after using the BG tomes, 20 Dex and 18 Con seemed weaker than 19 Dex and 19 Con. The extra attack bonuses and charm/sleep resistance would be nice, though... I agree about the XP split being a drag, but I suppose we do get 3 classes' worth of abilities for it.
I cheated to give a newly created F/M/T character max XP and chose UAI as an HLA. I ran the test twice, once with a half-elf and once as an elf. During those tests, I used the item code NPSW06.itm to summon the blade, but I've just run the test again with a max XP half-elf F/M/T where I teleported to Haer'Dalis in game and recruited him... still couldn't equip the blades, despite it not being greyed out. :-(
Can half-orcs be Blades? I thought (without mods) only humans or half-elves can play bards.
I believe that @Harpagornis first ran this challenge as Sukka the barbarian and managed, with some difficulty, to reach the Ascension battle at the end of ToB. It should be possible, although not something that I'd look forward to doing myself.
That's not quite true
- stealth into range of the traps
- change to detect traps
- once detected, retreat out of sight of enemies and re-stealth
- disarm the traps
- retreat, re-stealth and proceed.
Good spot. I've always used Stealth lag to backstab creatures I was going to anyway when the Stealth check failed just as I was getting in position, but I concede that it could be used for this purpose too . You'd need to have somewhere safe to fall back to, though... where do you go for the traps before the Nashkel Mines level 4 entrance? Is the Stealth lag long enough for you to retreat through both halls full of kobolds?
In unmodded there's space to disarm them anyway. In this challenge I would normally just bypass them these days - you can get past them if you hug the wall to the right. Actually, thinking about it I used to regularly trigger them individually while stealthed and then go back to rest and heal - as part of securing a route to retreat from the next area if necessary. Dealing with the kobold shaman and captain takes a while, but it can be done eventually by drawing all the kobolds back to the entrance to that level.