"Mandatory for SCS are the basic improved AI settings, better calls for help, prebuffing, improved creatures & chapter-end-fights - including Ascension for ToB. Everything else is optional." -
1) Is Improved creature including "Improved Dragons", "Fiends", etc?
2) Where Arrow of Dispelling delete? - AoD is the mega-killing machine, totally imbalanced.
3) Where spells improvements? Lol - "Harm" = Dragon with 1 Hp... this is ridiculous.
As i already stated earlier: I wanted to give only some sort of framing rules - the details are your own choice! Personally i am using all enemy improvements (at the maximum level) but not the item removing like Vhailors Helm. Arrows of Dispelling are not essential - my Barbarian never used them outside of some SoD encounters or the Palace Ambush in BG1. Improved Bosses? Sure! If even all the SCS + LoB settings are too easy for you: Install full Tactics Mode or whatever you like. Or play no-reload like @Grond0.
Thanks to getting in a lot of quests, farming all Basilisks and clearing the coast from a big number of Sirens good old Krell has finally reached Druid level 8 and regained his Berserker Powers. It was quite funny that the Sirens had really big problems with the worgs and war dogs Krell summoned before he rushed in as a big bad bear. Good to know: The improved bear speed also works with the Shapeshifting Forms so once transformed he is running faster than with Boots of Speed. The rest - especially the Basiliks - were business as usual. Now its time to follow the main quest line again. The Bandit Camp is waiting for Krell - this should be fun!
P.S. I have to say it again: It is NOT right that SCS does NOT affect SoD. Things like Improved Bears or Improved Call for help are working - to some extent!
EDIT: With Charm Person and his summons Krell brought some chaos into the Bandit Camp slaying Venkt, Taugorz, Raemon and Hakt. After picking the loot and with the whole camp on his back he moved out to the Cloakwood Mines. With another Charm Person on one of the Mages, some Missiles and more summons he put an end to Drasus and moved - invisvible and with lightning speed - right to Davaeorn. Some more missiles and daggers were thrown while the summons soaked most of Davaeorn spells. Once he ran out of dangerous spells Krell hacked the Mage into pieces with his Icing Death Scimitar. Level 9 reached - Baldurs Gate is waiting!
I'm finally back to the grind as well, starting of with the siryns and watching Drizzt being helpless before the gnolls for the very first time. The only thing I'm gonna do before the main quest is probably gonna be Bassilus for that warhammer and then I'm gonna be max level at some point during the early stages of Nashkel Mines (cleric is already maxed). In the bandit camp I'm probably gonna swallow my pride and just walk in there with sanctuary not killing anyone, just because sanctuary is so good for that very thing compared to invisibility.
The Sirens should suffer horribly against Undead so that should be fun farming @Victor_Creed_SFV!
Krell in the meanwhile speed-rushed through BG and aquired Baldurans Helm & Cloak. Candlekeep will be next - Strength Manual i am coming! Before getting Boots of Speed Krell shifted alot from bear to Human - be it for better positioning, rushing enemies or just escaping nasty enemies. Now its just business as usual with the exception that - thanks to Iron Skin - he can tank most enemies quite good in close combat. Scimitar Grand Mastery is really powerful at this stage of the game!
After setting up everything for the Palace Ambush Krell will take a ride to Durlags Tower first - will be interesting to see how he can deal with the Four Wardens.
The Sirens should suffer horribly against Undead so that should be fun farming @Victor_Creed_SFV!
Krell in the meanwhile speed-rushed through BG and aquired Baldurans Helm & Cloak. Candlekeep will be next - Strength Manual i am coming! Before getting Boots of Speed Krell shifted alot from bear to Human - be it for better positioning, rushing enemies or just escaping nasty enemies. Now its just business as usual with the exception that - thanks to Iron Skin - he can tank most enemies quite good in close combat. Scimitar Grand Mastery is really powerful at this stage of the game!
After setting up everything for the Palace Ambush Krell will take a ride to Durlags Tower first - will be interesting to see how he can deal with the Four Wardens.
Sadly the level 1 skeleton warriors are pretty shit and I was super surprised, that the sirens just stun them. But I knew from my earlier runs that I can just facetank them, since they don't use poison arrows up close and attack with their fists only. (I did rq my first attempt on them tho, due to having 0 concentration left after having a long session)
On Drizzt I even managed to laand the killing blow and get 12k xp, the reputation loss was quickly bought back.
Yeah, Krell did the same with Drizzt after some tries - worth!
The Sirens also stunned the wolves but they still worked as fine distractions while Krell went in close combat protected from Greenstone Amulet if needed.
After rushing through Candlekeep Krell will prepare for Durlags Tower and get the last Tomes before facing Sarevok. Maybe i should also visit the Werwolf Island once more...
EDIT: After getting all three Wisdom Tomes Krell opened up the second level 5 spell - that should be quite useful later on. Durlags Tower is waiting!
Okay, Krell managed to beat the Palace Ambush! I was too curious about that one so Durlags Tower had to wait a bit more. At the end its quite easy for a Druid - even without the ususal potion overbuffing:
Krell put his summons in between the Nobles and immediately casts Insect Swarm at the Mage. This will cut down his powers nearly completly. Use Dispel Magic to get rid of Haste and Throw in another Insect Swarm - this will not only hurt alot but also nullifies the Priest if he wasnt affected by the first one. With Stoneskin and some Holy Might (and Haste) Krell now moved in to hack everyone down who attacks the Dukes (3 APR with 20-27 damage). Once they were relatively safe he hunted down the Mage who was still suffering from the Insects. After the house was cleaned up some more summons played with Sarevok until he disappeared.
After all the trouble on the last runs this one was a gentle breeze!
Yeah, Insect Swarm is incredibly strong in BG 1, probably also in SoD. In 2 it suffers from enemies with spell deflection, even good old Maevar has that with ScS.
Yeah, Insect Swarm is incredibly strong in BG 1, probably also in SoD. In 2 it suffers from enemies with spell deflection, even good old Maevar has that with ScS.
Spell deflection / turning don't do enemies much good if you cast the swarm at your own summons as they head into the middle of the enemies .
Yeah, Insect Swarm is incredibly strong in BG 1, probably also in SoD. In 2 it suffers from enemies with spell deflection, even good old Maevar has that with ScS.
Spell deflection / turning don't do enemies much good if you cast the swarm at your own summons as they head into the middle of the enemies .
I honestly didn't have the slightest clue this works.
The spread of the insects bypasses the spell defenses. That works whether the spell is cast on a non-mage enemy or a friend, but normally a friend is better - less chance of them moving unexpectedly far enough away from the real target to avoid the spread. Insect plague is an incredibly strong spell, though there is a component in SCS that significantly nerfs that.
Agreed - Insect Swarm is pretty good! I like to cast it on myself - especially when Thieves are about to get in.
Krell faced the Wardens who gave him a good fight. As there was no backstab cheese he faced Fear in a direct 1vs1 close combat duel while protected from his stuns and buffed up with Strength Potion, Oil of Speed and Potion of Heroism. Fear weared down the Iron Skin but went down shortly after to the constant hits of Krell. Love was even easier after he switched to hit & run - the poor ghost had no chance of retaliation. Pride on the other hand was by far the toughest as Krell had to use Slings (Throwing Daggers cannot harm them - damn). The bad THAC0 of 4 made it difficult for him to hit Pride so it took over 150 bullets to bring this beast down - hard work. Avarice ignored the summoned wolves and always tried to attack Krell - but missed his backstabs most of the time thanks to the usual anti-piercing-setup. After the self-casting Insect Swarm hit him Avarice went down pretty quickly.
Mulahey, Nimbul and Tranzig are dead. The Skeleton Warriors were pretty insane against Nimbul and Tranzig, no blind or hold Person had to hit them, they just died to the melee attacks of the skeletons. Also only potion of freedom as self buff vs Nimbul was necessary, due to them only casting spells at me, but not even trying to attack me, since they were aggroed by the skeletons.
Krell fought his way through the third level of Durlags Tower - but ran into a dumb bug....
After beating the Ice -> Air -> Fire -> Earth Challenge - the order given by several guides - he is NOT teleported to the chess game. Even killing ALL adds does not help and also changing the order did not work. What am i doing wrong? On my last runs there was never any problem here. Do you remember your advance @Arctodus? This is really sad....
Did you try opening the console with ^? For me whenever ° doesn't work ^ does, also goes for BG. Ofc console first needs to be activated in the ini file.
I first cleared the Durlag's Shack 4th floor. The Grael fight was funny. Long, but funny. While I ran away to split the group he was with, he stopped on the damaging goo. I waited. He died.
I then tried to loot chest in the store room, with the flaming sword in it. I couldn't, because I needed 25 strength to do it.
Since I haven't went to Candlekeep yet, I decided to go, to get the Strength Tome and Draw Upon Holy Might. I did. To do so, I talked to Scar an Eltan, went to Iron Throne Building, gulped a invisibility potion, took the documents in the back room, without fighting anybody. Ran back downstairs, talked to the Duke, arrived in Candlekeep. Didn't fight Rieltar, went upstairs, then to jail, then Underground. There, I got the Strength Tome, the Wisdom Tome and the ring of Fire Resistance with potions and DUHM. Gulped another invisibility potion, went out.
Since I was gathering items, I went back to the Big City. I first killed Ramazith for the ring of Protection +2. I then went in the sewers to get the Baldy's Cloak. I forgot that I was at the moment when I had to fight Slythe and Krystin, so I did. I split the pair in the adjacent sewer, only to kite Slythe with arrows. Meleeing him wasn't really possible after he drank a potion of Cloud Giant Strength. After a few arrows, he died.
I went back into the brothel, found Quanesh, killed her before Krystin could do some of her shenanigans, took the cloak and got out.
With all these things, I went back into Durlag's lil' Sweet Home. I opened the 4th floor store room chest with potion and DUHM. It was worth it. Look how cool Caligula is with a flaming sword...
Only the Durlag's Big Bad, Really Not Nice Guy (aka the Demon Knight) was left. I went in. He was LAUGHABLY easy. I boosted myself with a simple potion of heroism (just to make sure he fired his dispel) and then took his different Power Word's. Death was saved against, Stun was resisted with MR (I gulped a MR potion after the dispel to get to 75%). He managed to Blind me, but I just ran around until the effect wore off. With them boots of speed, he couldn't do anything. After that, he didn't even threw one of his fireballs, maybe because I was wearing 2 rings of Fire Protection. I just kited him with +2 arrows and he eventually died.
I gained a level with the fight, but went into EEKeeper to lower my xp to 250 000 to stay at level 9, like I said I would.
Soooo, since my wife took the kids at her mom's for the week (I can't go with them because I'm working and her mom lives very far away), I guess this playthrough is gonna get a big boost in time spent on. Nice. Tomorrow's plan : Aec'Letec, Ice Island, Teddy Bear Dream Land (Werewolves Island).
Very good stuff @Arctodus - it would have make me wonder if Caligula ran into any big trouble. Not to forget: In my older runs i did the same with the Grael - very funny indeed! So only Aec-Letec left - should be interesting if you can melee him too or if kiting will rule him. BtW: Have you went for Sling Grand Mastery like we discussed before?
As is cant get the Console running - your keys also do not work for me @Victor_Creed_SFV - Krell has canceled Durlags Tower and visited instead the good old puppies on Baldurans Island. But to make it short: The Berserker/Druid stomped Karoug and the Loup Garou into the ground - it wasnt even a challenge.
>
With Anti-Slashing-Setup both Greater Werewolves only had a 20% Hit Chance. Buffed up with Iron Skin + Potion of Storm Giant Strength + Holy Might + Rage + Oil of Speed both of them went down in under 10 rounds! There was no need for the usual hit & run - just plain tanking and dealing constant damage with the Silver Dagger (3 APR, 22-25 piercing damage+ 2 Wolfsbane Charm damage +3 bonus piercing damage). It seems that its finally time to go for Sarevok and Siege of Dragonspear - new adventures are waiting!
Finally Sarevok went down and Krell opened the door to SoD!
Here is the Stat-Screen before the final:
Like the last time everyone - except for Angelo - followed Sarevok who was parked as usual in the SE-Corner. As his allies stayed with Sarevok even when Krell moved into vision he used this to his advantage: After several Fireball Missiles and many heavy Slingstones - sneaky Tazok tried to backstab but got killed nearly instantly as he was already badly hurt - they went down one after another with only Angelo hiding somewhere. Once he showed himself up Krell retreated and casted several Dispel Magic to get rid of his protections and especially the haste. With his main defenses down and protected by Shield and Greenstone Amulet Krell rushed into Melee Range. It took not long and Angelo was hacked apart - even his Stoneskin recasts could not save him.
Time for Sarevok! Krell switched to his +2 Bullets but - as you can see in the Screenshot - never made use of them. The reason was simple: With all Buffs up he played the good old hit & run game over and over again. Whenever his HP dropped low he used Durlags Goblet - and continued his guerilla mission. At the end four skeleton warrior joined the hunt for Krell but failed to protect their master who went down to a final 27 damage slash - GG!
Krell started into SoD and the undead infested catacombs - but this time i chose the way of a pacifist.
Krell ignored he first Followers of Sarevok and ran straight to Porios who was waiting behind the first door. After convincing him to lay down his weapons all Followers resigned too - but Krell still recieved xp for each of them.
He tried to trick the Undead on the level below with summons decoys but after they were dead they began to search for him and - thanks to the Bonebats - found him wherever he walked. Too bad. Time to fall back on the old method: Protection from Undead!
After sneaking unseen through some more groups of Shadows and Followers Krell finally was standing right before Korlasz and her Elite Guards. Here he tricked everyone: He moved unseen to Korlasz and charmed her on the first try with his Nymph Cloak. After that she moved her away from the guards right to the bottleneck in the south - there she got surrounded by summons. It looked like this:
Krell started the lunch party with a slashing attack so Korlasz went hostile. An immediate Insect Swarm was casted while the Wolves were biting her Stoneskin down. The Guards rushed in and she even tried to retreat after the first wolves went down - but too late. The biting Insects along with two Bullet Stones put her down to "injured" - and she resigned:
After all Followers of Sarevok have been pacified its time to loot - and move on to the city of Baldurs Gate once more!
P.S. Level 11 already reached - only one more to go!
P.P.S. Its quite interesting that a Dual Classed Character gets up to 161k XP in his second class right at the start of SoD!
After the Demon Knight, Caligula went back to Ulgoth's Beard. I first dispatched the enemies outside. Regular kiting with a bow was more than enough to take them out. I just had to take a sip of the Durlag's goblet after a backstab, but other than that, it was as usual.
To take out Aec', I decided to split their force : I was going up and down the stairs to make the mage follow me. She didn't, but Aec' did !! That was weird : he got stuck in front of the stairs on the first level and couldn't go down anymore. I then went downstairs, dispelled the mage's protection, pelted her with arrows and she died. Then, I was alone with these cultist... They were waiting for their death while doing nothing.
I felt like I was executing these guys; it felt weird but hey, I'm evil, so it's not like I care. I went back up all buffed up and started meleeing Aec', with average success. Everytime he tried to cast Dispel, I went back down, then attacking up, then back down, etc. He managed to hit me with a Dispel, so I switched to arrows +2. After a while, he finally vanished.
I feel the fight was kinda cheapen by this occurrence, but I went with it anyway.
I went to Ice Island right after that. It was easier than expected : I even managed to no-reload it ! I gulped a Magic Blocking and meleed the first three guys. On of them died fast, and I couldn't find the other two, so I pressed on. I arrived in front on Tellan and started to fight him. However, Andris appeared to help him. Andris summoned an Ettercap and a Ogre Berserker, but, strangely, Tellan attacked them ! He was actually helping me ! At one point, the three winter wolves right next to Tellan decided to join the fray. It was quite hectic with all these people (I really should have taken a picture there). With a mixture of arrows of Dispelling, self-centered fireballs from the necklace (while protected by the two ring of Fire Protection) and some meleeing, I finally emerged victorious. I didn't have to reload, but I needed pure luck a few times, like making my save against Charm when the Greenstone Amulet wore off...
Only Dezkiel was remaining. I started to fight him, but, at one point, the Mind Shield wore off again and Dezkiel managed to hit me with Emotion : Hopelessness. I told myself : "yep, I'll have to reload..." but, strangely, he didn't attacked while I was down ! He just waited...
I just got up, killed him, went back to Shandalar and was golden...
Next was Teddy Bear Dream Land (yeah, I know they're wolves, but, c'mon, they look like teddy bears !!). Nothing of note before I got to Karoug. I buffed up to the max, used Flame Tongue Sword in my main hand, the dagger in my offhand then went to town. After one charge of the Durlag's Goblet, Karoug went down !! Much, much easier than what I was expecting. Here's a picture of a buffed up Caligula before the fight and one in front of Karoug's corpse.
I then got out of the Island, but I couldn't convince Kaishas not to fight : even though I did the smalls sidequests (Delainy, Farthing and Maralee), I didn't have the option not to fight her. Well, I went in and, even if I was surrounded by many werewolves while fighting her (another picture I should have taken), I managed to take her down, got the map and returned to the main land.
Only Mendas was left. Without even going to sleep, I went directly to him. I started to go in and out of the house to waste his spells, but he followed me outside alone. I dispelled him and meleed him. He transformed, I buffed up, used Balduran's Sword in my offhand and went to town again. Like with Karoug, I didn't need to use hit-and-run strategy. I smacked his face until he died. Icing on the cake : he died exploding !!
So, there it is, Caligula mastered the Tales of the Sword Coast. I'll probably make a beeline to the finish tonight and start SoD, hopefully.
Have you went for Sling Grand Mastery like we discussed before?
Proficiencies is something I'm still not sure how to spend. For now, I have :
- 2 pips in Longswords - 2 pips in Short Bows - 2 pips in Two Weapon Fighting - 1 pip in Mace
All these will be necessary in SoA and ToB. However, for big damage, I'll probably go with GM in Slings : when you add 25 strength bonuses to GM and Whirlwind, ouch... Since I'm going to be less durable than Su'kka (no passive DR), it might be a better choice : the range is better than other options (like throwing axes) and there is a even +5 option in the game (Everard Sling). Still, not sure, though, we'll see in SoA...
I went in the Ducal Palace and fought the Dopplegangers. That's the hardest fight I had to go through in BG1. I needed several reloads to do it. On the winning run, the Fist Guards were ALL confused by the mage (that was ridiculous...), as was Belt, which was actually lucky : he started to wander around away from the gangers. I then could do my thing and killed most of them.
Liia ? Was killed in no time. Does anybody knows why a high level mage (by BG1 standards) like her doesn't do anything when she gets attacked ? Some kind of old bug that got carried over different versions of the game ?
Anyway, when the confusion wore off, the Fist Guards went aggro on me and Belt, who was already at Badly Injured. Why ? I don't know... I had to kill a few of them, which plummeted my rep : 17 to 4, something like that...
Well, I managed to get rid of all of them, then hunted down Sarevok. It went way more smoothly. Passed through the labyrinth invisible 'til I got to the Temple. First, Sarevok was dispelled. After, Angelo was attacked. Dispelling arrows + melee weapons while buffed with Magic Blocking Potion = dead Angie. Then, I got into an archer contest with Diarmid, which he lost. I couldn't kill him before he went out of arrows, so I had to kite him a little. Semaj however, refused to show himself. I decided to use a Scroll of Protection from Magic, danced around all the remaining guys, while I peppered them with fireballs. Semaj showed himself. After a while, I switched to arrows (Dispelling and Acid) to take him down.
Tazok refused to show himself. I kept on kiting them with fireballs, while trying to stay close to the group to trigger an attack by Tazok, so I could see him. I had to be careful, because I was followed by a small army : Big Brother S, three meany skellies and shy Tazok. Took a LONG time before he finally showed himself : I went out of charges with my fireball necklaces, but he eventually did. A few arrows later, he was dead.
Then, it was just about kiting Big Bro 'til he got tired of living. I used a Potion of Power (for the boost in thac0) in conjunction with a Scroll of Protection from Undead (so the skellies would leave me alone) to speed up the process. After a while, he died.
All in all, I had a blast. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Also, if you put yourself in a no-reload mindset (which is how I usually play), I think it's very possible to go through BGEE with SCS and LoB without dying with an unkitted fighter. Me? I died a lot, but that was the mindset of that run : I often did scouting run to see the difference with the regular game and adjust my strat accordingly. I also practically never play solo, so I was unfamiliar with many subtle micromanagement combinations that I usually don't bother with in a team. The timing of my kiting is just so much better than it was before... I really felt I learned a lot in this run.
Each challenging parts did not require a lot of resets though, two or three were usually more than enough. Except for Ducal Palace, that is. This is THE biggest hurdle for a no-reload success with SCS and LoB. I must admit that I got through it with luck. There were no real strat adjustment on my end. Peppering the Dopplegangers with arrows of dispelling is good, but it does not guaranty success... The more I think about it, the less I can devise a rock-solid plan to stack the odds in my favor with an unkitted fighter... Maybe I'm missing something, I don't know. That's definitively the fight that left a bad taste in my mouth...
So, so, so, so, so, onto SoD !! It will be my first time doing it (I'm so nervous!! ); what better way than doing it solo with LoB ??
Also, if you put yourself in a no-reload mindset (which is how I usually play), I think it's very possible to go through BGEE with SCS and LoB without dying with an unkitted fighter.
I'm sure it is, though it's the difference between what is possible and what's achieved that tends to give me a problem .
Each challenging parts did not require a lot of resets though, two of three were usually more than enough. Except for Ducal Palace, that is. This is THE biggest hurdle for a no-reload success with SCS and LoB. I must admit that I got through it with luck. There were no real strat adjustment on my end. Peppering the Dopplegangers with arrows of dispelling is good, but it does not guaranty success... The more I think about it, the less I can devise a rock-solid plan to stack the odds in my favor with an unkitted fighter... Maybe I'm missing something, I don't know. That's definitively the fight that left a bad taste in my mouth...
It doesn't matter what class you're playing, that's the only fight in the game I would say that you can lose without making any mistakes ...
Frey continues to plug away - and continues to find ways to die. In the latest he had used his own skull traps and magic missiles to bring a battle horror to the point of death. His wand of fire could have finished it off, but looking in his scroll case he decided to use up a lightning bolt scroll. I rarely use lightning bolt - and there are good reasons for that! In this case the extra delay resulting from the use of the scroll allowed the battle horror to get close to Frey before the spell triggered. Unlike most spells the projectile for lightning bolt is not just a small point, but a bar - meaning that if the target is too close to you the projectile will be generated with its head at the target and the tail on you. It was little comfort that the lightning bolt did indeed kill the battle horror ...
Good job @Arctodus - and agreed on the Palace Ambush. I tried it with several classes now but for Warriors its quite tricky - regardless how much you plan or buff up there are too many things that can go wrong. I had the best success with Dispelling -> protect the Dukes -> press the Mage hard so you will soak most of his spells. But even this wont work all the time. For Casters like Druids - especially when beefed up with Fighter - this fight gets much easier.
Your first time SoD @Arctodus? Okay - this is going to be interesting. Are you going in it completly blind or read some of the strategies before? Without any prepration - at least for myself - SoD was a really tough nut to crack - especially the final part!!! Anyway: Good luck!
Keep on trying @Grond0 and you will - hopefully soon - join the SoD fun trip! Krell prepared himself for the March to Dragonspear and did some questing as well as getting potions and scrolls from Sorcerous Sundries - nothing special. As there was no need for Arrows of Detonation or Dispelling he moved out with nearly 50k gold in his pocket - not a bad start!
P.S. Yeah, i also faced this Liia bug but on my last succesful try the Dopplegangers completly ignored her - and she survived!
P.P.S. I have to agree that the LoB + SCS is easier than i expected at the very beginning of this challenge. And with every new run it gets even easier. New mods or restrictions will be required in the future - for a new challenge. And no - it wont be a no-reload one!
Comments
1) Is Improved creature including "Improved Dragons", "Fiends", etc?
2) Where Arrow of Dispelling delete? - AoD is the mega-killing machine, totally imbalanced.
3) Where spells improvements? Lol - "Harm" = Dragon with 1 Hp... this is ridiculous.
4) Where imba-item removing? ,
5) Where improved Bosses?
6) Where other tactical challenges?
This is a low difficulty SCS mode
At the end its up to you!
P.S. I have to say it again: It is NOT right that SCS does NOT affect SoD. Things like Improved Bears or Improved Call for help are working - to some extent!
EDIT: With Charm Person and his summons Krell brought some chaos into the Bandit Camp slaying Venkt, Taugorz, Raemon and Hakt. After picking the loot and with the whole camp on his back he moved out to the Cloakwood Mines. With another Charm Person on one of the Mages, some Missiles and more summons he put an end to Drasus and moved - invisvible and with lightning speed - right to Davaeorn. Some more missiles and daggers were thrown while the summons soaked most of Davaeorn spells. Once he ran out of dangerous spells Krell hacked the Mage into pieces with his Icing Death Scimitar. Level 9 reached - Baldurs Gate is waiting!
The only thing I'm gonna do before the main quest is probably gonna be Bassilus for that warhammer and then I'm gonna be max level at some point during the early stages of Nashkel Mines (cleric is already maxed).
In the bandit camp I'm probably gonna swallow my pride and just walk in there with sanctuary not killing anyone, just because sanctuary is so good for that very thing compared to invisibility.
Krell in the meanwhile speed-rushed through BG and aquired Baldurans Helm & Cloak. Candlekeep will be next - Strength Manual i am coming! Before getting Boots of Speed Krell shifted alot from bear to Human - be it for better positioning, rushing enemies or just escaping nasty enemies. Now its just business as usual with the exception that - thanks to Iron Skin - he can tank most enemies quite good in close combat. Scimitar Grand Mastery is really powerful at this stage of the game!
After setting up everything for the Palace Ambush Krell will take a ride to Durlags Tower first - will be interesting to see how he can deal with the Four Wardens.
But I knew from my earlier runs that I can just facetank them, since they don't use poison arrows up close and attack with their fists only.
(I did rq my first attempt on them tho, due to having 0 concentration left after having a long session)
On Drizzt I even managed to laand the killing blow and get 12k xp, the reputation loss was quickly bought back.
The Sirens also stunned the wolves but they still worked as fine distractions while Krell went in close combat protected from Greenstone Amulet if needed.
After rushing through Candlekeep Krell will prepare for Durlags Tower and get the last Tomes before facing Sarevok. Maybe i should also visit the Werwolf Island once more...
EDIT: After getting all three Wisdom Tomes Krell opened up the second level 5 spell - that should be quite useful later on. Durlags Tower is waiting!
Krell put his summons in between the Nobles and immediately casts Insect Swarm at the Mage. This will cut down his powers nearly completly. Use Dispel Magic to get rid of Haste and Throw in another Insect Swarm - this will not only hurt alot but also nullifies the Priest if he wasnt affected by the first one. With Stoneskin and some Holy Might (and Haste) Krell now moved in to hack everyone down who attacks the Dukes (3 APR with 20-27 damage). Once they were relatively safe he hunted down the Mage who was still suffering from the Insects. After the house was cleaned up some more summons played with Sarevok until he disappeared.
After all the trouble on the last runs this one was a gentle breeze!
In 2 it suffers from enemies with spell deflection, even good old Maevar has that with ScS.
Krell faced the Wardens who gave him a good fight. As there was no backstab cheese he faced Fear in a direct 1vs1 close combat duel while protected from his stuns and buffed up with Strength Potion, Oil of Speed and Potion of Heroism. Fear weared down the Iron Skin but went down shortly after to the constant hits of Krell. Love was even easier after he switched to hit & run - the poor ghost had no chance of retaliation. Pride on the other hand was by far the toughest as Krell had to use Slings (Throwing Daggers cannot harm them - damn). The bad THAC0 of 4 made it difficult for him to hit Pride so it took over 150 bullets to bring this beast down - hard work. Avarice ignored the summoned wolves and always tried to attack Krell - but missed his backstabs most of the time thanks to the usual anti-piercing-setup. After the self-casting Insect Swarm hit him Avarice went down pretty quickly.
The way to Durlags Goblet is free once more!
The Skeleton Warriors were pretty insane against Nimbul and Tranzig, no blind or hold Person had to hit them, they just died to the melee attacks of the skeletons.
Also only potion of freedom as self buff vs Nimbul was necessary, due to them only casting spells at me, but not even trying to attack me, since they were aggroed by the skeletons.
After beating the Ice -> Air -> Fire -> Earth Challenge - the order given by several guides - he is NOT teleported to the chess game. Even killing ALL adds does not help and also changing the order did not work. What am i doing wrong? On my last runs there was never any problem here. Do you remember your advance @Arctodus? This is really sad....
But... i cannot get the console running... Krell is stuck - damn it!!!
So Werewolf Island or Sarevok - okay. Will have to take some rest first.
Seems that only bugs can stop Krell so far...
For me whenever ° doesn't work ^ does, also goes for BG.
Ofc console first needs to be activated in the ini file.
I first cleared the Durlag's Shack 4th floor. The Grael fight was funny. Long, but funny. While I ran away to split the group he was with, he stopped on the damaging goo. I waited. He died.
I then tried to loot chest in the store room, with the flaming sword in it. I couldn't, because I needed 25 strength to do it.
Since I haven't went to Candlekeep yet, I decided to go, to get the Strength Tome and Draw Upon Holy Might. I did. To do so, I talked to Scar an Eltan, went to Iron Throne Building, gulped a invisibility potion, took the documents in the back room, without fighting anybody. Ran back downstairs, talked to the Duke, arrived in Candlekeep. Didn't fight Rieltar, went upstairs, then to jail, then Underground. There, I got the Strength Tome, the Wisdom Tome and the ring of Fire Resistance with potions and DUHM. Gulped another invisibility potion, went out.
Since I was gathering items, I went back to the Big City. I first killed Ramazith for the ring of Protection +2. I then went in the sewers to get the Baldy's Cloak. I forgot that I was at the moment when I had to fight Slythe and Krystin, so I did. I split the pair in the adjacent sewer, only to kite Slythe with arrows. Meleeing him wasn't really possible after he drank a potion of Cloud Giant Strength. After a few arrows, he died.
I went back into the brothel, found Quanesh, killed her before Krystin could do some of her shenanigans, took the cloak and got out.
With all these things, I went back into Durlag's lil' Sweet Home. I opened the 4th floor store room chest with potion and DUHM. It was worth it. Look how cool Caligula is with a flaming sword...
Only the Durlag's Big Bad, Really Not Nice Guy (aka the Demon Knight) was left. I went in. He was LAUGHABLY easy. I boosted myself with a simple potion of heroism (just to make sure he fired his dispel) and then took his different Power Word's. Death was saved against, Stun was resisted with MR (I gulped a MR potion after the dispel to get to 75%). He managed to Blind me, but I just ran around until the effect wore off. With them boots of speed, he couldn't do anything. After that, he didn't even threw one of his fireballs, maybe because I was wearing 2 rings of Fire Protection. I just kited him with +2 arrows and he eventually died.
I gained a level with the fight, but went into EEKeeper to lower my xp to 250 000 to stay at level 9, like I said I would.
Soooo, since my wife took the kids at her mom's for the week (I can't go with them because I'm working and her mom lives very far away), I guess this playthrough is gonna get a big boost in time spent on. Nice. Tomorrow's plan : Aec'Letec, Ice Island, Teddy Bear Dream Land (Werewolves Island).
See ya !!
As is cant get the Console running - your keys also do not work for me @Victor_Creed_SFV - Krell has canceled Durlags Tower and visited instead the good old puppies on Baldurans Island. But to make it short: The Berserker/Druid stomped Karoug and the Loup Garou into the ground - it wasnt even a challenge.
>
With Anti-Slashing-Setup both Greater Werewolves only had a 20% Hit Chance. Buffed up with Iron Skin + Potion of Storm Giant Strength + Holy Might + Rage + Oil of Speed both of them went down in under 10 rounds! There was no need for the usual hit & run - just plain tanking and dealing constant damage with the Silver Dagger (3 APR, 22-25 piercing damage+ 2 Wolfsbane Charm damage +3 bonus piercing damage). It seems that its finally time to go for Sarevok and Siege of Dragonspear - new adventures are waiting!
Here is the Stat-Screen before the final:
Like the last time everyone - except for Angelo - followed Sarevok who was parked as usual in the SE-Corner. As his allies stayed with Sarevok even when Krell moved into vision he used this to his advantage: After several Fireball Missiles and many heavy Slingstones - sneaky Tazok tried to backstab but got killed nearly instantly as he was already badly hurt - they went down one after another with only Angelo hiding somewhere. Once he showed himself up Krell retreated and casted several Dispel Magic to get rid of his protections and especially the haste. With his main defenses down and protected by Shield and Greenstone Amulet Krell rushed into Melee Range. It took not long and Angelo was hacked apart - even his Stoneskin recasts could not save him.
Time for Sarevok! Krell switched to his +2 Bullets but - as you can see in the Screenshot - never made use of them. The reason was simple: With all Buffs up he played the good old hit & run game over and over again. Whenever his HP dropped low he used Durlags Goblet - and continued his guerilla mission. At the end four skeleton warrior joined the hunt for Krell but failed to protect their master who went down to a final 27 damage slash - GG!
Time for some small rest before moving on to SoD!
Krell ignored he first Followers of Sarevok and ran straight to Porios who was waiting behind the first door. After convincing him to lay down his weapons all Followers resigned too - but Krell still recieved xp for each of them.
He tried to trick the Undead on the level below with summons decoys but after they were dead they began to search for him and - thanks to the Bonebats - found him wherever he walked. Too bad. Time to fall back on the old method: Protection from Undead!
After sneaking unseen through some more groups of Shadows and Followers Krell finally was standing right before Korlasz and her Elite Guards. Here he tricked everyone: He moved unseen to Korlasz and charmed her on the first try with his Nymph Cloak. After that she moved her away from the guards right to the bottleneck in the south - there she got surrounded by summons. It looked like this:
Krell started the lunch party with a slashing attack so Korlasz went hostile. An immediate Insect Swarm was casted while the Wolves were biting her Stoneskin down. The Guards rushed in and she even tried to retreat after the first wolves went down - but too late. The biting Insects along with two Bullet Stones put her down to "injured" - and she resigned:
After all Followers of Sarevok have been pacified its time to loot - and move on to the city of Baldurs Gate once more!
P.S. Level 11 already reached - only one more to go!
P.P.S. Its quite interesting that a Dual Classed Character gets up to 161k XP in his second class right at the start of SoD!
To take out Aec', I decided to split their force : I was going up and down the stairs to make the mage follow me. She didn't, but Aec' did !! That was weird : he got stuck in front of the stairs on the first level and couldn't go down anymore. I then went downstairs, dispelled the mage's protection, pelted her with arrows and she died. Then, I was alone with these cultist... They were waiting for their death while doing nothing.
I felt like I was executing these guys; it felt weird but hey, I'm evil, so it's not like I care. I went back up all buffed up and started meleeing Aec', with average success. Everytime he tried to cast Dispel, I went back down, then attacking up, then back down, etc. He managed to hit me with a Dispel, so I switched to arrows +2. After a while, he finally vanished.
I feel the fight was kinda cheapen by this occurrence, but I went with it anyway.
I went to Ice Island right after that. It was easier than expected : I even managed to no-reload it ! I gulped a Magic Blocking and meleed the first three guys. On of them died fast, and I couldn't find the other two, so I pressed on. I arrived in front on Tellan and started to fight him. However, Andris appeared to help him. Andris summoned an Ettercap and a Ogre Berserker, but, strangely, Tellan attacked them ! He was actually helping me ! At one point, the three winter wolves right next to Tellan decided to join the fray. It was quite hectic with all these people (I really should have taken a picture there). With a mixture of arrows of Dispelling, self-centered fireballs from the necklace (while protected by the two ring of Fire Protection) and some meleeing, I finally emerged victorious. I didn't have to reload, but I needed pure luck a few times, like making my save against Charm when the Greenstone Amulet wore off...
Only Dezkiel was remaining. I started to fight him, but, at one point, the Mind Shield wore off again and Dezkiel managed to hit me with Emotion : Hopelessness. I told myself : "yep, I'll have to reload..." but, strangely, he didn't attacked while I was down ! He just waited...
I just got up, killed him, went back to Shandalar and was golden...
Next was Teddy Bear Dream Land (yeah, I know they're wolves, but, c'mon, they look like teddy bears !!).
Nothing of note before I got to Karoug. I buffed up to the max, used Flame Tongue Sword in my main hand, the dagger in my offhand then went to town. After one charge of the Durlag's Goblet, Karoug went down !! Much, much easier than what I was expecting. Here's a picture of a buffed up Caligula before the fight and one in front of Karoug's corpse.
I then got out of the Island, but I couldn't convince Kaishas not to fight : even though I did the smalls sidequests (Delainy, Farthing and Maralee), I didn't have the option not to fight her. Well, I went in and, even if I was surrounded by many werewolves while fighting her (another picture I should have taken), I managed to take her down, got the map and returned to the main land.
Only Mendas was left. Without even going to sleep, I went directly to him. I started to go in and out of the house to waste his spells, but he followed me outside alone. I dispelled him and meleed him. He transformed, I buffed up, used Balduran's Sword in my offhand and went to town again. Like with Karoug, I didn't need to use hit-and-run strategy. I smacked his face until he died. Icing on the cake : he died exploding !!
So, there it is, Caligula mastered the Tales of the Sword Coast. I'll probably make a beeline to the finish tonight and start SoD, hopefully. Proficiencies is something I'm still not sure how to spend. For now, I have :
- 2 pips in Longswords
- 2 pips in Short Bows
- 2 pips in Two Weapon Fighting
- 1 pip in Mace
All these will be necessary in SoA and ToB. However, for big damage, I'll probably go with GM in Slings : when you add 25 strength bonuses to GM and Whirlwind, ouch... Since I'm going to be less durable than Su'kka (no passive DR), it might be a better choice : the range is better than other options (like throwing axes) and there is a even +5 option in the game (Everard Sling). Still, not sure, though, we'll see in SoA...
I went in the Ducal Palace and fought the Dopplegangers. That's the hardest fight I had to go through in BG1. I needed several reloads to do it. On the winning run, the Fist Guards were ALL confused by the mage (that was ridiculous...), as was Belt, which was actually lucky : he started to wander around away from the gangers. I then could do my thing and killed most of them.
Liia ? Was killed in no time. Does anybody knows why a high level mage (by BG1 standards) like her doesn't do anything when she gets attacked ? Some kind of old bug that got carried over different versions of the game ?
Anyway, when the confusion wore off, the Fist Guards went aggro on me and Belt, who was already at Badly Injured. Why ? I don't know... I had to kill a few of them, which plummeted my rep : 17 to 4, something like that...
Well, I managed to get rid of all of them, then hunted down Sarevok. It went way more smoothly. Passed through the labyrinth invisible 'til I got to the Temple. First, Sarevok was dispelled. After, Angelo was attacked. Dispelling arrows + melee weapons while buffed with Magic Blocking Potion = dead Angie. Then, I got into an archer contest with Diarmid, which he lost. I couldn't kill him before he went out of arrows, so I had to kite him a little. Semaj however, refused to show himself. I decided to use a Scroll of Protection from Magic, danced around all the remaining guys, while I peppered them with fireballs. Semaj showed himself. After a while, I switched to arrows (Dispelling and Acid) to take him down.
Tazok refused to show himself. I kept on kiting them with fireballs, while trying to stay close to the group to trigger an attack by Tazok, so I could see him. I had to be careful, because I was followed by a small army : Big Brother S, three meany skellies and shy Tazok. Took a LONG time before he finally showed himself : I went out of charges with my fireball necklaces, but he eventually did. A few arrows later, he was dead.
Then, it was just about kiting Big Bro 'til he got tired of living. I used a Potion of Power (for the boost in thac0) in conjunction with a Scroll of Protection from Undead (so the skellies would leave me alone) to speed up the process. After a while, he died.
All in all, I had a blast. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Also, if you put yourself in a no-reload mindset (which is how I usually play), I think it's very possible to go through BGEE with SCS and LoB without dying with an unkitted fighter. Me? I died a lot, but that was the mindset of that run : I often did scouting run to see the difference with the regular game and adjust my strat accordingly. I also practically never play solo, so I was unfamiliar with many subtle micromanagement combinations that I usually don't bother with in a team. The timing of my kiting is just so much better than it was before... I really felt I learned a lot in this run.
Each challenging parts did not require a lot of resets though, two or three were usually more than enough. Except for Ducal Palace, that is. This is THE biggest hurdle for a no-reload success with SCS and LoB. I must admit that I got through it with luck. There were no real strat adjustment on my end. Peppering the Dopplegangers with arrows of dispelling is good, but it does not guaranty success... The more I think about it, the less I can devise a rock-solid plan to stack the odds in my favor with an unkitted fighter... Maybe I'm missing something, I don't know. That's definitively the fight that left a bad taste in my mouth...
So, so, so, so, so, onto SoD !! It will be my first time doing it (I'm so nervous!!
See ya !!
Your first time SoD @Arctodus? Okay - this is going to be interesting. Are you going in it completly blind or read some of the strategies before? Without any prepration - at least for myself - SoD was a really tough nut to crack - especially the final part!!! Anyway: Good luck!
Keep on trying @Grond0 and you will - hopefully soon - join the SoD fun trip! Krell prepared himself for the March to Dragonspear and did some questing as well as getting potions and scrolls from Sorcerous Sundries - nothing special. As there was no need for Arrows of Detonation or Dispelling he moved out with nearly 50k gold in his pocket - not a bad start!
P.S. Yeah, i also faced this Liia bug but on my last succesful try the Dopplegangers completly ignored her - and she survived!
P.P.S. I have to agree that the LoB + SCS is easier than i expected at the very beginning of this challenge. And with every new run it gets even easier. New mods or restrictions will be required in the future - for a new challenge. And no - it wont be a no-reload one!