Wow - going with a pure Fighter sounds crazy @Arctodus! Did you remember the strategy for soloing SCS + Ascenscion Amelyssan? I play Su´kka just for fun from time to time but so far the insane LoB buffs seem to take victory out of reach. *GRML*
Best Alignement? Everthing should work! Being Evil worked pretty fine until meeting Balthazar. I am still not sure if the "NO VALID ANSWER" bug would make him join or is just another "commit suicide plz" option. With strict rules Su´kka would not have been able to recruit him so one will have to face Balty in the final battle again. With LoB boni Balthy is nearly untouchable and will have more than enough time to heal again and again. Su´kka managed to kill him once in the Monastery but the whole fight was close to ragequitting. If you play with strict rules - no EE Keeper to bypass the "NO VALID ANSWER" line - then forget about taking evil unless you know how to handle Balthy in the final battle.
Or is there a way to take the Helm of Opposite Alignement into BG2???
Weapons: What worked very well for Su´kka was - BG1 + SoD -> Longsword + Longbow. In BG2 and ToB she used mainly Flail of Ages + Defender of Easthaven. Later on Blackrazor and Axe of Unyielding will be very powerful. Throwing Axes for kiting. Azuredge or Mace of Disruption (+Daystar) for Undead. Everything else seems optional.
But to make it clear: Even with Wisdom 19, Charisma 23, Reputation 20 & picking the right answers my evil Su´kka was NOT able to recruit Balthy. The "NO VALID ANSWER" line was an excuse to play her on but as i mentioned earlier - strictly spoken she failed.
1. Sneak in and charm Korlasz with the Nymph Cloak! 2. Move Korlasz away from her troops to the field of traps 3. Fire one Arrow of Dispelling to remove Stoneskin 4. Watch how the traps bring her down to "injured" 5. Accept her resignation and smile upon fate
Braxx is getting supplies and will be soon ready to leave Baldurs Gate!
This is the first run where i am able to open the many locked chests and doors that my Warriors could not break. Aaah, sometimes its good to be a Thief! With over 50k gold in his pocket - thanks to the usual NPC slaying - Braxx will be able to buy everything he needs before marching on to Dragonspear. Oh, not to forget: Level 8/9 reached! One more to go for both - this will be fun! ;o)
On his buying list are: 25x Arrows of Detonation 10x Arrows of Dispelling 5x Potion of Invisibility 3x Oil of Speed 2x Potion of Absorbtion 1x Potion of Fire Giant Strength 2x Fire Resistance Potion 1x Potion of Magic Resistance 5x Potion of Perception 2x Regeneration Potion 3x Potion of Invulnerability 5x Protection from Poison Scroll 80x Darts of Stunning *cough*
Here is the loot list after pickpocketing all named chars in BG:
5x Potion of Healing 12x Potion of Extra Healing 1x Potion of Frost Giant Strength 1x Potion of Invisibility 4x Potion of Invulnerability 1x Potion of Heroism 2x Potion of Defense 1x Potion of Stone Giant Strength 1x Oil of Speed 1x Potion of Freedom 2x Potion of Magic Protection 1x Potion of Magic Shielding 1x Potion of Power 2x Potion of Fire Giant Strength 1x Potion of Cloud Giant Strength Buckler +1
Why have i bought so much?
Braxx is now ready to start the March to Dragonspear - wish him luck!
P.S. Missed only some Nobles that vanished after completing specific quests!
I started a run with an unkitted fighter. Let's see if I managed to do something with this bad boy... This is not a no-reload run ; the point will be to see if I can finish the game with some planning. For a no-reload I wouldn't have chose an unkitted fighter anyway...
I didn't roll the stats ; EEKeeper was used to give my PC a total of 99, because you need high mental stats to be able to recruit Balthazar. A legitimate roll of 94 should be enough to meet fighter's and Balty's needs. I'm just too lazy to actually roll it though.
I went with a human, because I fear the dwarves' penalty to charisma might be too much to recruit Balty. And, what better to incarnate a generic unkitted fighter ? A generic human ! I chose Lawful Evil because I want to use Blackrazor. Might as well be evil from the get go... Why Lawful ? Because, because... I also decided to give myself some help by having max hp on level up.
There's Caligula.
He's sitting pretty at level 4 and getting used to those really tough monster along the Sword Coast. Already died twice to Tarnesh, but that's because my PC's AI was on "Advanced AI". So, instead of going inside Gellana Mirrorshade's temple like I was asking him to do, he stopped for a second and tried to attack Tarnesh. He then got hit by sleep and died to Magic Missile. Yeah, "Advanced AI"... I turned that off and then proceed to kill the mage without much trouble.
I also killed Greywolf for Varscona. Had to use a potion of speed to kite him, but he had so many HP that the effect wore off before he died. Since he was at near death, I didn't use another one, kiting at regular speed. The rest of his XP was gained by the small quests around Beregost and Friendly Arm Inn.
Did you remember the strategy for soloing SCS + Ascenscion Amelyssan?
From what I remember (it was a long time ago...), the strategy was pretty similar to yours : get the Five at near death so that, when Mel arrives, you could take them out fast, then take care of her. I don't think there's another good strategy for fighter classes.
Braxx has dealt with the undead infested Dwarven Mines and Coldhearth Lich in the usual manner: Protection from Undead to rule them all. Normally i would skip this one but getting the help of the Dwarves later on is just too good to pass on!
Braxx also solved: - Prin and the mystery of the standing stones - Teleria and the five petrified refugees -> Golem Figurine - Takos and his lost Heirlooms -> Identify Mirror - Assisted Ikros & Isabella in defeating Tsolak the Vampire
After all of this level 8/10 is reached. Next stop will be Troll Claw Forest - finally some interesting fights!
Not to forget: Invisibility Potions collected so far -> 59!
Braxx faced the Green Dragon and his party - very cool fight!
As trapping did not work - the dragon will awake - Braxx sneaked up and smashed his Longsword +2 in its flank. Too bad that backstabbing is also not working. Anyway: Fully buffed with Oil of Speed, Potion of Power, Regeneration Potion & Kiels Helmet & Potion of Invulnerability Braxx dispelled Stoneskin plus Haste and started kiting firing Acid Arrows over and over again. Even with 138 HP he had to be very careful as the breaths are hitting for up to 40-50 damage. A full triple breath from all Green Ones could have lead to swift death here. With some careful running Braxx managed to keep his health mostly in the green regions while using Durlags Goblet whenever HP dropped low. At the end he fired 36 Acid Arrows before the beast went down - grabbing the scales and moving out.
P.S. Hit & Run using stealth does not work as anyone can see through it. What a pity!
Lol - this Feeblemind cheese looks really funny @chimaera! Can you attack them without retalation?
Braxx in the meanwhile cleared the Temple of Bhaal:
Ziatar: Backstabbed to death - some healing potions in between. Neothelid: Hit & Run like described before - wont get better. Akanna: Lured the Air Servants away - smashed her down 1vs1.
Shadow Aspect: I dont want to waste my time on this one anymore. Even when Misled is dispelled he just recasts it - how cheesy is that? Maybe i will try it later again - dont have the nerves at the moment!
So the Battle for Bridgefort will be next - this should be fun again!
Caligula is slowly progressing. He's at level 7 after doing some quests : Sirenes, Flesh Golems, Basilisks (thanks Korax!!), Shoal, Bassilus... Arkushule was for some reason directly hostile toward me ; I couldn't even talk to her. Whatev's...
I also met a strange bug... Drizzt refused to fight the gnolls around him.
I just waited for them to take him out and looted his stuff. I had no use of anything he owned so I sold the lot. Easy money. Did it happened to you guys ? Does anybody know if he would have gone aggro if I would have attacked him (to try to have the xp) ?
So far, so good : all fights are much longer than usual, but not really harder. It's all kite, kite, kite !! Bassilus was hard though : he hits like a truck and has very good AC. He failed a save against stunning darts, so I killed him after that. I'm now at a level where meleeing starts to be efficient again.
I think I will attack some of the chapter ending fights tonight : Mulahey and Bandit camp.
The Drizzt bug is caused by LoB as it increases the APR by 1. As it seems this puts Drizzt over the cap of 5 APR - freezing him to death instead of transforming him into a deadly Whirlwind. He still casts his spells so its really only the normal attacks that are affected.
P.S. You will meet this APR-Freeze later on again. The most famous one is Slayer Irenicus in Hell - its just a joke. Plz fix this!
Braxx has brought havoc upon the Crusade around Bridgefort. Split and Hit worked fine as usual so victory was just a matter of time. Thanks to all the hacking he also reached max level - 9/11.
After some resupplying at Coalition Camp Braxx will move on to the Underground River and Dragonspear Castle. I can almost smell the evilness of Big B hiding in there. This should be a lot of fun!
85 Invisibility Potions so far in the pocket - thanks to some pickpocketing! Oh - and no more hiding behind Large Shields after buying the stylish Steadfast Shield - 136 HP with it. I love Dwarves!
Braxx has beaten the Crusader Attacks on Coalition Camp!
Some random notes: - Braxx nearly managed to kill all three waves in one go only with Dwarves of Dumathoin - The Troll Wave is still buggy so they directly run to the explosive barrels and kill Andrus - The Mage Killers tend to miss after recruiting them against the Mage Wave - very funny - Braxx burnt 76 of his Detonation Arrows as there is no more need for them - Dwarves surviving first Wave: 1 - Second Wave Mage Killers: 1 - Third Wave Mages: 4 - Maximum damage roll: 166 Backstab Damage killing the last Clerics of the Third Wave - Garrus & Auziel are still immortal when fighting the last wave making this one trivial - The potion drops seem to be quite random - result this time: 11x Invisibility + 9x Power - Potions or Scrolls used: Oil of Speed only all the way!
Dragonspear Castle is next. Big B - Braxx is coming for you!
Caligula is moving forward. He killed Mulahey with brute force (and some potion buffs), but that costed him some of those Extra Healing Potions. Maybe not the best move, because those are rare early game. Maybe I could have lured his goons out of the cave, splitting the fight in two. Anyway...
He then went on a few small quests to gain money : Gnarl & Hairtooth, Bjornin' ogre, demon north of Nashkel... With the money, he bought the Sandthief Ring. He retrieved the documents inside the Bandit Camp with it, fighting nobody. Maybe I'll come back later if I want the challenge or need the money...
So, there he is :
I'm now thinking about a strategy for Davaeorn. The ol' PFM scroll plus potion buffs could actually do it, I don't now. I could also try to stun him with Stunning Darts, but, in LOB mode, enemies' saving throws are really good, so that would be unreliable...
Also, I was thinking about proficiencies for the dude. I was wondering if slings were a good option for him. Now that strength bonus apply to slings, they could be a really nice way to deal good damage from a long distance. Maybe go Grandmastery in the thing, so it could become my go-to kiting weapon. The strategy : at higher levels, debuffs with small bow (Tuigan or Gesen and Arrows of Dispelling) then whirlwind with a 25 Strength slinging fighter... That could be devastating... Also, it shouldn't be, but does the strength bonus applies to Sling of Everard in the new patch ? If so, that'd be crazy.
Bastard swords could be a game changer too, Foebane in particular... Maybe larloch-minor-draining foes with whirlwind at the throne could be what is needed to survive Mel's onslaught.
Brute Force vs Daeveorn will be hard thanks to the huge number of guards. Kiting or Necklace will do the job. GM Sling sounds cool and using GWW will be a lot of fun. Strangely enough Su´kka kited not much later on - mostly early parts of SoA and later parts of ToB. Close Combat was far superior in most cases. But as the Fighter is a bit more fragile the Sling sounds like a decent option. Throwing Axes are the other one especially as you can also use Melee Axes like the Axe of Unyielding. With regard to Bastard Swords: Yes - Foebane is very nice - but it was never essential. If you can spare some points -why not?
Braxx is near to the final after stomping poor Ashatiel. Three backstabs and some hacking moved her quite fast from 100 to 0. Only the final Demon Waves are standing between Braxx and Big B. Hope i will find some time for this one. Finally a challenging fight!
P.S. Braxx has still not used any of his Stunning Darts - there is just no need for them. Damn it!
To stand a chance vs the ever growing Demon Army Braxx has to take some care - especially as his HP are lower and his THAC0 is a bit worse than Su´kka, the Barbarian.
Buffs: Protection from Magic, Fear Protection, Regeneration Potion, Potion of Storm Giant Strength, Potion of Power, Oil of Speed
AC vs Slashing: -17, AC vs Missiles: - 18, THAC0: -2 -> 50% chance to hit Belhifet
Summons: Myconid Bloom Sac, Amulet of Ankheg Summoning, Golem Figurine
Not to forget: 119x Invisibility Potion, 1x Sandthief Ring - we are really sneaky arent we?
Dwarfen Bonus: Special Stamina Training to keep on running and running and running!
Battle Plan - Phase 1: Use Caelar Argent and the Summons to buy time and damage Belhifet while fully buffed Braxx is shooting Void Tipped Arrwows from the backrow. This will take away a good portion of Big B´s HP.
Battle Plan - Phase 2: Start the Hit & Run using Acid Tongue - each hit will hurt Big B for 20+ damage. Do not get surrounded - move in and out fast. Do not get greedy as Big B will take you down in no time. Heal whenever needed. Do not rush things. Once the Demon Horde grows start using invisibilty potions as only Big B will be able to see AND attack you. Spare Durlags Goblet for emergency. Dont loose concentration. Be patient.
Ok lets go for it - Fight!
Round 1: Worked great up to "badly injured" but then Braxx hesitated one moment too long and got surrounded by several Demons. Going invisible did not help as Big B was already hacking at him - three hits later everything was over.
Round 2: Bad luck on this one as Big B summoned four Erinyes. After escaping another attempt of surrounding Braxx was already down to 57 HP while the next Healing Potion was on cooldown. One second before salvation the Erinyes managed to roll three hits - BAMM-BAMM-BAMM - game over!
Round 3: Everything worked perfectly fine as Big B was soaking hit after hit. After finally getting him to "nearly dead" the concentration slipped away so one Cornugon used the time sneaking to Braxx and - sure - stunned him on first try. GG!
Round 4: HAHAHA - now Braxx got him! After shooting Big B down with 51 Arrows Braxx started the endless Hit & Run again but this time luck was on his side. Thanks to some good crits in between while avoiding any teleporting surrounds Big B was smashed to the ground with a mighty 39 damage blow. Hard work! "Only" 84 Invisibility Potions this time.
Braxx - a prisoner in some dark, futuristic looking dungeon. That cannot be! Even worse: He had been tortured badly by a mad mage called Irenicus. Ouch!
A quiet moment later Imoen released him from the cell. After some thinking his next steps were clear: Grab some equipment and get out of here. Luckily Braxx found his Longsword +2 again after sneaking around some Duergar guards. Reunited with his good old friend Braxx started to hunt down the Duergar that swarmed around every corridor. Invisible like a phantom he used the shadows and corners to backstab them down one after another. Other creatures - including two Golems an Otyugh and a Demon Knight – also met the sharp end of his blade.
At the end Braxx had cleared the whole first level including Illych and his personal guards while also getting Sarevoks Chaos Blade from a prisoned Genie.With an unusual stone he then ported to another level of the dungeon where he met Yohsimo. At the four portals Braxx farmed a bit the spawning Mephits using traps and backstabs. After having enough of these pests he destroyed the portals quaffing two healing portions in between.
Braxx proceeded through a corridor where he had to fight more Mephits as well as hostile thieves, until he reached a wide room, that contained a number of traps. In the smaller room to the left he witnessed a fight between a vampire and three thieves. He waited a moment before going into stealth and backstabbed the vampire down. However - the surviving thieves weren't exactly grateful and attacked. Their last fault.
Braxx took somerest before he wandered into forge room with several Duergar securing the Girdle of Bluntness. They all went down as well as the Shapeshifter in the corridor nearby. Before getting out of this labyrinth Braxx stumbled into some thieves that went down thanks to some well placed traps plus a good crit into their face. The way was finally free – time to get into the next tavern for a cool drink. Cheers!
Conclusion: The whole dungeon was a lot easier playing a Fighter/Thief thanks to stealth. Not to forget: With backstabbing and trapping enemies went down from 100 to 0 in no time. The reward for clearing the whole dungeon: 642654 XP!
On his way through the promenade a guard warned Braxx of disappearances of in a circus tent. He took a long look at the tent and thought that he should check it out. Inside he seemed to have stepped into another world though - much bigger - and inhabited by werewolf-like creatures, Shadows, and an Elf that looked like an Ogre. Very strange indeed. Braxx helped the Elf to dispel the illusion magic and finally confronted an Ogre Mage that urned out to be a Gnome - after he had slain him. The battle itself was only manageable with Oil of Speed and careful hit & run cause the Shadows drained his strength with every hit - i really mised the bonus movement speed of the Barb here!
During one of his first travels Braxx got ambushed by Suna Seni and her party. This one proved to be a much harder challenge for the Fighter/Thief as he not only lacked the big HP pool but also the kiting power of a Barb - again the movement speed bonus. Only with Oil of Speed Braxx was able to outrun the enemies after he chamed Eldarin - the poor guy got obliterated by his friends. Splitting Suna Seni from the rest failed partly so Braxx also had to deal with an Assassin and a Mage. The constant backstabs and spells forced him to drink one Extra Healing after another while also burning through all of his Invisibility Potions to buy some time. Several backstabs and many arrows later Suna Seni finally went down - Braxx grabbed Arbanes Sword as well as the Plate Mail +1 and barely escaped from the rest. Close one!
Not to forget: Braxx has already pushed his reputation to 15 and also buyed the Glasses of Identifiation. The Ring of Human Influence from the Circus Tent will be very handy soon!
Nah, i am not fast @Arctodus - but with Su´kka doing all of this not long ago its much easier to get prepared for the different challenges. As this is not a speed challenge we should not get into any rush - enjoy the journey - slowly but surely!
After doing some easy starting business for Mae´Var Braxx faced a Cowled Wizard and his guards. The mage had Mephits - some are able to stun their targets – who were taken out thanks to trapstacking and some backstabbing. Yes Braxx could have get the Kiitthix Spider Summon first but doing it alone was more fun. The two Stone Golems (8k XP each one) went down in similar fashion using the stairs as a quick retreat option. Rayic Gethras was taken out with constant hit & retreat until the powerful mage ran out of spells. Braxx lured him into some traps and backstabbed the hell out this fellow.
The next missions for Edwin and Mae'Var were little more than simple fetch quests that Braxx solved with ease. Once he got evidence against Mae´Var the final confrontation took place in the cellar. Using the Ring of Human Influence Braxx charmed one Assassin after another until only Maevar himself was left. After some hit & retreat Mae´Var ran out of spells so it was time to face him in a fair 1vs1 as every retreat would allow the Thief to go into stealth again. At the end Braxx proved to be far superior in close combat and will hopefully be a worthy new Guildleader.
BtW: Level 10/12 reached after returning to Renal Bloodscalp!
Just a quick update : Caligula went back to the Bandit camp because, for whatever reason, the end of the chapter didn't trigger the first time he went. While there, he decided to attack the bandits in the tent. The result :
It was a nice fight ! I mainly had to avoid Britik, because he hits like a truck... Otherwise, fireballs from the One Gift Lost and kiting with bow and arrows did the trick. The only problem I have now is that the Sandthief's ring, the Greenstone Amulet and the fireball necklace are all pretty much empty. I'll need a TON a cash to refill them. I think I will grind down ankhegs for a while...
Comments
Best Alignement? Everthing should work! Being Evil worked pretty fine until meeting Balthazar. I am still not sure if the "NO VALID ANSWER" bug would make him join or is just another "commit suicide plz" option. With strict rules Su´kka would not have been able to recruit him so one will have to face Balty in the final battle again. With LoB boni Balthy is nearly untouchable and will have more than enough time to heal again and again. Su´kka managed to kill him once in the Monastery but the whole fight was close to ragequitting. If you play with strict rules - no EE Keeper to bypass the "NO VALID ANSWER" line - then forget about taking evil unless you know how to handle Balthy in the final battle.
Or is there a way to take the Helm of Opposite Alignement into BG2???
Weapons: What worked very well for Su´kka was - BG1 + SoD -> Longsword + Longbow. In BG2 and ToB she used mainly Flail of Ages + Defender of Easthaven. Later on Blackrazor and Axe of Unyielding will be very powerful. Throwing Axes for kiting. Azuredge or Mace of Disruption (+Daystar) for Undead. Everything else seems optional.
Stats: Dwarf would have been my second choice for Su´kka. With regards to stats for Balthy: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/653262/#Comment_653262
But to make it clear: Even with Wisdom 19, Charisma 23, Reputation 20 & picking the right answers my evil Su´kka was NOT able to recruit Balthy. The "NO VALID ANSWER" line was an excuse to play her on but as i mentioned earlier - strictly spoken she failed.
EDIT: Seems the Helm of Oppsite Alignement is not available in BG2: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/33226/helm-of-opposite-alignment-goodness
1. Sneak in and charm Korlasz with the Nymph Cloak!
2. Move Korlasz away from her troops to the field of traps
3. Fire one Arrow of Dispelling to remove Stoneskin
4. Watch how the traps bring her down to "injured"
5. Accept her resignation and smile upon fate
Time to loot and move on to Baldurs Gate!
This is the first run where i am able to open the many locked chests and doors that my Warriors could not break. Aaah, sometimes its good to be a Thief! With over 50k gold in his pocket - thanks to the usual NPC slaying - Braxx will be able to buy everything he needs before marching on to Dragonspear. Oh, not to forget: Level 8/9 reached! One more to go for both - this will be fun! ;o)
On his buying list are:
25x Arrows of Detonation
10x Arrows of Dispelling
5x Potion of Invisibility
3x Oil of Speed
2x Potion of Absorbtion
1x Potion of Fire Giant Strength
2x Fire Resistance Potion
1x Potion of Magic Resistance
5x Potion of Perception
2x Regeneration Potion
3x Potion of Invulnerability
5x Protection from Poison Scroll
80x Darts of Stunning *cough*
Well - that should be enough - no?
5x Potion of Healing
12x Potion of Extra Healing
1x Potion of Frost Giant Strength
1x Potion of Invisibility
4x Potion of Invulnerability
1x Potion of Heroism
2x Potion of Defense
1x Potion of Stone Giant Strength
1x Oil of Speed
1x Potion of Freedom
2x Potion of Magic Protection
1x Potion of Magic Shielding
1x Potion of Power
2x Potion of Fire Giant Strength
1x Potion of Cloud Giant Strength
Buckler +1
Why have i bought so much?
Braxx is now ready to start the March to Dragonspear - wish him luck!
P.S. Missed only some Nobles that vanished after completing specific quests!
The Party NPC´s can be killed - yes - and give a looot of gold!
EDIT: Braxx charmed a Flaming Fist Enforcer who is now hacking at Entar. He keeps being neutral but will he go down? I think no!
EDIT 2: As expected Entar stays at "nearly dead" - everything else would have been a suprise no?
I started a run with an unkitted fighter. Let's see if I managed to do something with this bad boy... This is not a no-reload run ; the point will be to see if I can finish the game with some planning. For a no-reload I wouldn't have chose an unkitted fighter anyway...
I didn't roll the stats ; EEKeeper was used to give my PC a total of 99, because you need high mental stats to be able to recruit Balthazar. A legitimate roll of 94 should be enough to meet fighter's and Balty's needs. I'm just too lazy to actually roll it though.
I went with a human, because I fear the dwarves' penalty to charisma might be too much to recruit Balty. And, what better to incarnate a generic unkitted fighter ? A generic human ! I chose Lawful Evil because I want to use Blackrazor. Might as well be evil from the get go... Why Lawful ? Because, because... I also decided to give myself some help by having max hp on level up.
There's Caligula.
He's sitting pretty at level 4 and getting used to those really tough monster along the Sword Coast. Already died twice to Tarnesh, but that's because my PC's AI was on "Advanced AI". So, instead of going inside Gellana Mirrorshade's temple like I was asking him to do, he stopped for a second and tried to attack Tarnesh. He then got hit by sleep and died to Magic Missile. Yeah, "Advanced AI"... I turned that off and then proceed to kill the mage without much trouble.
I also killed Greywolf for Varscona. Had to use a potion of speed to kite him, but he had so many HP that the effect wore off before he died. Since he was at near death, I didn't use another one, kiting at regular speed. The rest of his XP was gained by the small quests around Beregost and Friendly Arm Inn.
Wish me luck...
P.S. : I almost forgot ! From what I remember (it was a long time ago...), the strategy was pretty similar to yours : get the Five at near death so that, when Mel arrives, you could take them out fast, then take care of her. I don't think there's another good strategy for fighter classes.
I tested the Balthazar speech again for some more options and came to the following conclusion:
YES evil characters can also recruit Balthy!!!
But it seems there is only ONE line working.
Charisma 19 + Reputation 20 was enough!
Here is the route that worked for Su´kka - for some reason i always missed it. Dont ask me why!
2-2-3-2-1-1-1-3-3-1-1-2-1
No fight, no suicide - Balthy joins the party!
May the Force of Evil be with you!
Braxx also solved:
- Prin and the mystery of the standing stones
- Teleria and the five petrified refugees -> Golem Figurine
- Takos and his lost Heirlooms -> Identify Mirror
- Assisted Ikros & Isabella in defeating Tsolak the Vampire
After all of this level 8/10 is reached. Next stop will be Troll Claw Forest - finally some interesting fights!
Not to forget: Invisibility Potions collected so far -> 59!
As trapping did not work - the dragon will awake - Braxx sneaked up and smashed his Longsword +2 in its flank. Too bad that backstabbing is also not working. Anyway: Fully buffed with Oil of Speed, Potion of Power, Regeneration Potion & Kiels Helmet & Potion of Invulnerability Braxx dispelled Stoneskin plus Haste and started kiting firing Acid Arrows over and over again. Even with 138 HP he had to be very careful as the breaths are hitting for up to 40-50 damage. A full triple breath from all Green Ones could have lead to swift death here. With some careful running Braxx managed to keep his health mostly in the green regions while using Durlags Goblet whenever HP dropped low. At the end he fired 36 Acid Arrows before the beast went down - grabbing the scales and moving out.
P.S. Hit & Run using stealth does not work as anyone can see through it. What a pity!
Braxx in the meanwhile cleared the Temple of Bhaal:
Ziatar: Backstabbed to death - some healing potions in between.
Neothelid: Hit & Run like described before - wont get better.
Akanna: Lured the Air Servants away - smashed her down 1vs1.
Shadow Aspect: I dont want to waste my time on this one anymore.
Even when Misled is dispelled he just recasts it - how cheesy is that?
Maybe i will try it later again - dont have the nerves at the moment!
So the Battle for Bridgefort will be next - this should be fun again!
I also met a strange bug... Drizzt refused to fight the gnolls around him.
I just waited for them to take him out and looted his stuff. I had no use of anything he owned so I sold the lot. Easy money. Did it happened to you guys ? Does anybody know if he would have gone aggro if I would have attacked him (to try to have the xp) ?
So far, so good : all fights are much longer than usual, but not really harder. It's all kite, kite, kite !! Bassilus was hard though : he hits like a truck and has very good AC. He failed a save against stunning darts, so I killed him after that. I'm now at a level where meleeing starts to be efficient again.
I think I will attack some of the chapter ending fights tonight : Mulahey and Bandit camp.
See ya !
The Drizzt bug is caused by LoB as it increases the APR by 1. As it seems this puts Drizzt over the cap of 5 APR - freezing him to death instead of transforming him into a deadly Whirlwind. He still casts his spells so its really only the normal attacks that are affected.
P.S. You will meet this APR-Freeze later on again. The most famous one is Slayer Irenicus in Hell - its just a joke. Plz fix this!
After some resupplying at Coalition Camp Braxx will move on to the Underground River and Dragonspear Castle. I can almost smell the evilness of Big B hiding in there. This should be a lot of fun!
85 Invisibility Potions so far in the pocket - thanks to some pickpocketing! Oh - and no more hiding behind Large Shields after buying the stylish Steadfast Shield - 136 HP with it. I love Dwarves!
Some random notes:
- Braxx nearly managed to kill all three waves in one go only with Dwarves of Dumathoin
- The Troll Wave is still buggy so they directly run to the explosive barrels and kill Andrus
- The Mage Killers tend to miss after recruiting them against the Mage Wave - very funny
- Braxx burnt 76 of his Detonation Arrows as there is no more need for them
- Dwarves surviving first Wave: 1 - Second Wave Mage Killers: 1 - Third Wave Mages: 4
- Maximum damage roll: 166 Backstab Damage killing the last Clerics of the Third Wave
- Garrus & Auziel are still immortal when fighting the last wave making this one trivial
- The potion drops seem to be quite random - result this time: 11x Invisibility + 9x Power
- Potions or Scrolls used: Oil of Speed only all the way!
Dragonspear Castle is next. Big B - Braxx is coming for you!
He then went on a few small quests to gain money : Gnarl & Hairtooth, Bjornin' ogre, demon north of Nashkel... With the money, he bought the Sandthief Ring. He retrieved the documents inside the Bandit Camp with it, fighting nobody. Maybe I'll come back later if I want the challenge or need the money...
So, there he is :
I'm now thinking about a strategy for Davaeorn. The ol' PFM scroll plus potion buffs could actually do it, I don't now. I could also try to stun him with Stunning Darts, but, in LOB mode, enemies' saving throws are really good, so that would be unreliable...
Also, I was thinking about proficiencies for the dude. I was wondering if slings were a good option for him. Now that strength bonus apply to slings, they could be a really nice way to deal good damage from a long distance. Maybe go Grandmastery in the thing, so it could become my go-to kiting weapon. The strategy : at higher levels, debuffs with small bow (Tuigan or Gesen and Arrows of Dispelling) then whirlwind with a 25 Strength slinging fighter... That could be devastating... Also, it shouldn't be, but does the strength bonus applies to Sling of Everard in the new patch ? If so, that'd be crazy.
Bastard swords could be a game changer too, Foebane in particular... Maybe larloch-minor-draining foes with whirlwind at the throne could be what is needed to survive Mel's onslaught.
Brute Force vs Daeveorn will be hard thanks to the huge number of guards. Kiting or Necklace will do the job. GM Sling sounds cool and using GWW will be a lot of fun. Strangely enough Su´kka kited not much later on - mostly early parts of SoA and later parts of ToB. Close Combat was far superior in most cases. But as the Fighter is a bit more fragile the Sling sounds like a decent option. Throwing Axes are the other one especially as you can also use Melee Axes like the Axe of Unyielding. With regard to Bastard Swords: Yes - Foebane is very nice - but it was never essential. If you can spare some points -why not?
Braxx is near to the final after stomping poor Ashatiel. Three backstabs and some hacking moved her quite fast from 100 to 0. Only the final Demon Waves are standing between Braxx and Big B. Hope i will find some time for this one. Finally a challenging fight!
P.S. Braxx has still not used any of his Stunning Darts - there is just no need for them. Damn it!
Braxx vs Belhifet
To stand a chance vs the ever growing Demon Army Braxx has to take some care - especially as his HP are lower and his THAC0 is a bit worse than Su´kka, the Barbarian.Buffs: Protection from Magic, Fear Protection, Regeneration Potion, Potion of Storm Giant Strength, Potion of Power, Oil of Speed
AC vs Slashing: -17, AC vs Missiles: - 18, THAC0: -2 -> 50% chance to hit Belhifet
Summons: Myconid Bloom Sac, Amulet of Ankheg Summoning, Golem Figurine
Weapons: Acid Tongue +3 Longsword, Corwins Longbow +3 -> 80x Void Tipped Arrows +3
Not to forget: 119x Invisibility Potion, 1x Sandthief Ring - we are really sneaky arent we?
Dwarfen Bonus: Special Stamina Training to keep on running and running and running!
Battle Plan - Phase 1: Use Caelar Argent and the Summons to buy time and damage Belhifet while fully buffed Braxx is shooting Void Tipped Arrwows from the backrow. This will take away a good portion of Big B´s HP.
Battle Plan - Phase 2: Start the Hit & Run using Acid Tongue - each hit will hurt Big B for 20+ damage. Do not get surrounded - move in and out fast. Do not get greedy as Big B will take you down in no time. Heal whenever needed. Do not rush things. Once the Demon Horde grows start using invisibilty potions as only Big B will be able to see AND attack you. Spare Durlags Goblet for emergency. Dont loose concentration. Be patient.
Ok lets go for it - Fight!
Round 1: Worked great up to "badly injured" but then Braxx hesitated one moment too long and got surrounded by several Demons. Going invisible did not help as Big B was already hacking at him - three hits later everything was over.
Round 2: Bad luck on this one as Big B summoned four Erinyes. After escaping another attempt of surrounding Braxx was already down to 57 HP while the next Healing Potion was on cooldown. One second before salvation the Erinyes managed to roll three hits - BAMM-BAMM-BAMM - game over!
Round 3: Everything worked perfectly fine as Big B was soaking hit after hit. After finally getting him to "nearly dead" the concentration slipped away so one Cornugon used the time sneaking to Braxx and - sure - stunned him on first try. GG!
Round 4: HAHAHA - now Braxx got him! After shooting Big B down with 51 Arrows Braxx started the endless Hit & Run again but this time luck was on his side. Thanks to some good crits in between while avoiding any teleporting surrounds Big B was smashed to the ground with a mighty 39 damage blow. Hard work! "Only" 84 Invisibility Potions this time.
Time for some rest before moving on to SoA!
Imprisoned by Irenicus
Braxx - a prisoner in some dark, futuristic looking dungeon. That cannot be!Even worse: He had been tortured badly by a mad mage called Irenicus. Ouch!
A quiet moment later Imoen released him from the cell. After some thinking his next steps were clear: Grab some equipment and get out of here. Luckily Braxx found his Longsword +2 again after sneaking around some Duergar guards. Reunited with his good old friend Braxx started to hunt down the Duergar that swarmed around every corridor. Invisible like a phantom he used the shadows and corners to backstab them down one after another. Other creatures - including two Golems an Otyugh and a Demon Knight – also met the sharp end of his blade.
At the end Braxx had cleared the whole first level including Illych and his personal guards while also getting Sarevoks Chaos Blade from a prisoned Genie.With an unusual stone he then ported to another level of the dungeon where he met Yohsimo. At the four portals Braxx farmed a bit the spawning Mephits using traps and backstabs. After having enough of these pests he destroyed the portals quaffing two healing portions in between.
Braxx proceeded through a corridor where he had to fight more Mephits as well as hostile thieves, until he reached a wide room, that contained a number of traps. In the smaller room to the left he witnessed a fight between a vampire and three thieves. He waited a moment before going into stealth and backstabbed the vampire down. However - the surviving thieves weren't exactly grateful and attacked. Their last fault.
Braxx took somerest before he wandered into forge room with several Duergar securing the Girdle of Bluntness. They all went down as well as the Shapeshifter in the corridor nearby. Before getting out of this labyrinth Braxx stumbled into some thieves that went down thanks to some well placed traps plus a good crit into their face. The way was finally free – time to get into the next tavern for a cool drink. Cheers!
Conclusion: The whole dungeon was a lot easier playing a Fighter/Thief thanks to stealth. Not to forget: With backstabbing and trapping enemies went down from 100 to 0 in no time. The reward for clearing the whole dungeon: 642654 XP!
Braxx and his first steps in Athkatla
On his way through the promenade a guard warned Braxx of disappearances of in a circus tent. He took a long look at the tent and thought that he should check it out. Inside he seemed to have stepped into another world though - much bigger - and inhabited by werewolf-like creatures, Shadows, and an Elf that looked like an Ogre. Very strange indeed. Braxx helped the Elf to dispel the illusion magic and finally confronted an Ogre Mage that urned out to be a Gnome - after he had slain him. The battle itself was only manageable with Oil of Speed and careful hit & run cause the Shadows drained his strength with every hit - i really mised the bonus movement speed of the Barb here!During one of his first travels Braxx got ambushed by Suna Seni and her party. This one proved to be a much harder challenge for the Fighter/Thief as he not only lacked the big HP pool but also the kiting power of a Barb - again the movement speed bonus. Only with Oil of Speed Braxx was able to outrun the enemies after he chamed Eldarin - the poor guy got obliterated by his friends. Splitting Suna Seni from the rest failed partly so Braxx also had to deal with an Assassin and a Mage. The constant backstabs and spells forced him to drink one Extra Healing after another while also burning through all of his Invisibility Potions to buy some time. Several backstabs and many arrows later Suna Seni finally went down - Braxx grabbed Arbanes Sword as well as the Plate Mail +1 and barely escaped from the rest. Close one!
Not to forget: Braxx has already pushed his reputation to 15 and also buyed the Glasses of Identifiation. The Ring of Human Influence from the Circus Tent will be very handy soon!
Time to unmask the treacherous Maevar!
Infiltrating Mae´Vars Guild
After doing some easy starting business for Mae´Var Braxx faced a Cowled Wizard and his guards. The mage had Mephits - some are able to stun their targets – who were taken out thanks to trapstacking and some backstabbing. Yes Braxx could have get the Kiitthix Spider Summon first but doing it alone was more fun. The two Stone Golems (8k XP each one) went down in similar fashion using the stairs as a quick retreat option. Rayic Gethras was taken out with constant hit & retreat until the powerful mage ran out of spells. Braxx lured him into some traps and backstabbed the hell out this fellow.The next missions for Edwin and Mae'Var were little more than simple fetch quests that Braxx solved with ease. Once he got evidence against Mae´Var the final confrontation took place in the cellar. Using the Ring of Human Influence Braxx charmed one Assassin after another until only Maevar himself was left. After some hit & retreat Mae´Var ran out of spells so it was time to face him in a fair 1vs1 as every retreat would allow the Thief to go into stealth again. At the end Braxx proved to be far superior in close combat and will hopefully be a worthy new Guildleader.
BtW: Level 10/12 reached after returning to Renal Bloodscalp!
It was a nice fight ! I mainly had to avoid Britik, because he hits like a truck... Otherwise, fireballs from the One Gift Lost and kiting with bow and arrows did the trick. The only problem I have now is that the Sandthief's ring, the Greenstone Amulet and the fireball necklace are all pretty much empty. I'll need a TON a cash to refill them. I think I will grind down ankhegs for a while...