Deciding to have a go at something more straightforward I generated an illusionist to dual to a fighter at level 3 - which wasn't long in coming thanks to a trip to the seaside to find Shoal. First though, as with my earlier characters Freda tried her luck at all the challenges in Candlekeep - blindness and pseudo-dragon regeneration making short work of the rats there.
In my installation the familiar has 44 HPs as well as regeneration. As it doesn't get affected by the double LoB damage it's actually far better as a tank than in the core game and quickly helped Freda get a first fighter level in Beregost. A second level also came there, thanks to successfully finishing Silke off just before she was about to die of spider poison.
Moving north, Freda killed an ogre and the fishermen on the way to Ulgoth's Beard to grab Dushai's ring. Coming back, returning Joia's ring got Freda to level 4 and she recovered her mage abilities. That allowed her to watch invisibly while a couple of charmed guards hacked down Tarnesh.
Unlike Shagrat, Freda had a real interest in getting CLW as a Bhaal power, so she was looking for reputation quests on the way down to Nashkel - and Melicamp, Firebead, Bjornin and Mr Colquetle all helped out. While in the Lake area she also watched as Drizzt put up a heroic, but ultimately unsuccessful defence against some gnolls - handy as she has scimitars as her proficiency . She's just picked up the ankheg armor and should be all set to make quick progress from this point.
Good god, @Harpagornis , you're really pounding that game into submission !! Give it a chance !!
... no I'm kidding : pound that game into submission and avenge all the fallen comrades !!
Anyway, real impressive stuff from you. You're playing that no reload challenge like a vet, really. Seems like all that knowledge from these different runs is really paying off.
Caligula keeps making progress; he's plowing through vampires in Windspear Hills. I'll report later this weekend.
As previously announced a Cleric/Thief has joined the fun.
Skor ('crafty' and 'wise' according to the Races of Stone manual) started out proficient in staves and slings. He did some non-violent quests in Candlekeep, pelted down a rogue ogre, and witnessed Drizzt's demise. The elf's scimitars were of no use to Skor (other than to be sold for a pretty penny), but the mithral chainmail +4 was a most welcome addition to Skor's wardrobe. Skor proceeded to do some questing in and around Beregost and Nashkel before heading back north, to help out farmer Brun and Tenya. A bandit ambush in those parts proved harmless thanks to Drizzt's armor and the girdle of piercing. (Even a roll of 19 from one of the bandits resulted in a miss.)
Skor proceeded to carry out easy quests that would improve his reputation, until it reached 20. He pickpocketed Algernon's cloak, and with the sale of the ring of wizardry, ankheg amor and other miscellaneous loot, Skor did some shopping at the Ulgoth's Beard inn (wand of the heavens, aule's staff, cloak of displacement, greenstone amulet).
The Gnome's next stop was Mutamin's Garden. Skor was only level 3/4 when he arrived. He made liberal use of his wand to speed up the killing of his first basilisk victims (in the south), and soon Cleric level 4 (with a proficiency pip allocated to two-handed weapon fighting), and Thief level 5 (with his backstab multiplier increaed to x3) were soon reached. Skor started to use backstabs as his primary means of attacking. He managed to slay the eight basilisks that weren't close to Mutamin before his protection from petrification wore off. Skor rested and had Korax and skeleton warriors dispatch Mutamin and the remaining basilisks. To deal with Kirian, Skor first charmed Peter with Algernon's cloak. However I then misclicked when Kirian taunted Skor ("Ya ya, say what you want, we'll be going now"). She mocked the Gnome further, and walked off with her golden girdle.
At Durlag's Tower, Skor used his wand of the heavens to sear two Battle Horrors (suffering a severe blow in the process due to having his sling still equipped), and he summoned skeletons to slay more Basilisks.
The skeletons made easy pickings of several foes that would otherwise have been tedious to kite: Meilum, Greywolf, sirines (even though they Feebleminded the skellies), Vax and Zal, Krumm and Caldo, Ingot, ankhegs. The skeletons would engage the enemy, allowing Skor to cast Doom and Hold Person or to hide and backstab.
The Gnome failed to charm Bassilus with algernon's cloak, but he had a backup plan. He retreated, hid, and returned to Silence his foe. The spell affected Bassilus while he was in the middle of casting a necromantic spell (surely Animate Dead). Together with some previously summoned skeleton warriors, Skor made short work of his enemy. The wand of the heavens was used in order to be done with Bassilus before the Silence would wear off.
Cleric level 7 (with level 4 spells and upgraded skeleton warriors) loomed, so Skor undertook some smaller quests before visiting the Nashkel Mines. While still in the Red Canyons area, Skor ensured that Zargal and co would ambush no more travelers, and he saved Melicamp from a wolf. While Thalantyr failed at restoring his former apprentice, Silke and Joia did provide the XP needed for Skor's last level-up in BG1 as a Cleric.
He traveled to the Nashkel Mines and sought out Mulahey, summoned his skeleton warriors out of sight of the Half-Orc, and basically let them do all the work. As Mulahey cast two stronger Skeleton Warriors (for being level 11+), Skor needed a couple of rests to wipe out the opposition.
In Nashkel, Nimbul became the skeleton warriors' victim. In the inn, Skor charmed Neira and had her summon a (level 11+) skeleton warrior. It attacked the priestess, Skor held her, and the skeleton then slew her. Finally, Tranzig too fell before the might of Skor's undead army, without Skor ever having to worry about his own wellbeing.
So far this run has been going pretty smoothly, with a bad move against a Battle Horror and the loss of the golden girdle as the only mistakes. Between his backstabs, disabling spells, and summons, Skor definitely seems to have the instruments needed to make good progress. A long-time avid thief player, I've become so unused to playing thieves more recently that I had really had to adjust again a couple of times. E.g. I used the greenstone amulet in Black Alaric's cave to deal with the hold and charm traps there, and I did the same in Durlag's tower with the stun trap in the corridor leading to the basilisk roof. With still one Thief level and a permanent DEX boost to gain, Skor's unbuffed thieving ability scores are: OL 35, FT 75, PP 45, MS 75, HiS 75, DI 25, ST 10. These scores allow Skor to open all locks, disarm all traps, and pick most pockets with the right potions, and be pretty stealthy too, especially with the boots of stealth. For the last level-up I intend to go with traps.
Everything before the Crusader Attacks is nothing to worry about - with a bit of care. Thanks to some questing Braxx got some nice items for the final part of the game:
Ring of Purity: +2 AC vs Evil, +10 HP, Chant Myconid Bloom-Sac: For 1d5 Myconid summons Amulet of Ankheg Summoning: Two Ankhegs per charge Corints Bow +2: AC+1, Luck on crit Ring of the Crusade: +3 AC & Saves against Demons & Devils
Sneaking down to Hephernaan and getting out again was no problem thanks to stealth while Braxx bought a lot of Invisibility Potions in between. Once he was out of the caves it was time to prepare for the fearsome Crusader Attacking Waves.
Round 1 - Trolls & Ogres: In all of my runs i had most problems with this first wave as sometimes some Trolls will go on a Charge Mission and head straight to the Barrels - which will trigger the other Waves one after another so they will overrun you easily. To avoid this and kill them quickly Braxx used a dirty trick.
Before going to Deadmans Pass and triggering the Attacks he placed seven traps in the area where the Ogres & Trolls will appear. As his Trap Skill was only at 50 he needed five rests until everything was prepared.
He now triggered the talking in Deadmans Pass and headed back to the Camp under attack - with the traps still in place! Before triggering the first wave he buffed up: PfM (will last long enough for all waves and will save time and life as it cannot be removed by Dispel Magics), Potion of Storm Giant Strength, Potion of Power, Oil of Speed, Regeneration Potion.
Last but not least he used Fire Protection Scrolls on the Dwarven Battlerager (he will be the only one going in deep!) and summoned two Ankhegs for further distraction. Only now he triggered the first Wave waiting for the Messenger!
Once Braxx and the Dwarves of Dumathoin were placed and the talking ended the traps damaged all enemies around bringing them down to injured - superb! Thanks to this massive instant damage the rest was a fast cleanup firing one Arrow of Detonation after another with 4 APR and summoning another charge of Ankhegs in between. At the end all allies survived while the Trolls & Ogres went down in half a minute - great start! Wave 2 - Crusader Mages: For this one Braxx used the Wizard Slayers who got another Protection from Fire treatment. While the Slayers charged in Braxx used some Arrows of Detonation before switching to Arrows of Dispelling. Once the protections of the Mages were down the fully armoured and buffed Braxx charged in with his swords hacking the Mages apart. As they could not touch him with any magic - except for Remove Magic which forced rebuffing - and needed a 20 to hit him in close combat the battle did not last long until the last Mage went down...
Wave 3 - Priests and Cavaliers: This Wave can be very annoying without constant AoE damage thanks to the massive healing potential of this group but with the help of Coalition Mages and Arrow of Detonation spamming they dropped down quite fast. Braxx used several Myconid Charges to hold the group in place a bit longer before they could reach the Mages but at the end the whole fight wasnt even close. With all Mages only barely hurt the last Priest went down to some mighty Longsword blows!!
Wave 4 - The Generals: This wave is the easiest one as you are supported by immortal ally bosses so all Braxx had to do was to stay behind and shoot more of his Arrows of Detonation. But a moment of overconfidence let him rush forward to get another snipe at the nearly dead Piercer of Boils - and he nearly paid the price for it. Through the Shadows Swift Rabbit sneaked up to Braxx backstabbing him for 122 damage - bringing him down to 18 HP! Only a very quick pause and an instant use of Durlags Goblet made sure that Braxx survived his foolishness and got the time to drop back again shooting from safe distance. The rest was a short story as the bosses dropped one by one until even Grimgor fell to the ground!
It seems that thanks to the easiness of the waves before Braxx thought he was invincible - and he nearly paid the price for it. An error like this against Big B and its Game Over!
Once the protections of the Mages were down the fully armoured and buffed Braxx charged in with his swords hacking the Mages apart. As they could not touch him with any magic - except for Remove Magic which forced rebuffing - and needed a 20 to hit him in close combat the battle did not last long until the last Mage went down...
Should've added Stone Golems instead of two extra wizards on Hard+ difficulties...
With Dragonspear Castle conquered there was only one level to go before challening Belhifet - Avernus!
With full buffs and big armor Braxx went straight into the Demons while trying to distract them a bit with summons. Several gulps from Durlags Goblet and ticking Reg Potions made sure that his HP would not drop to zero even though the Abishai managed to land some lucky hits. After the second wave was defeated Braxx aquired the nice Longsword of Acid +3 that will prove to be very helpful against Big B!
Buffs for Big B: Protection from Magic, Potion of Storm of Giant Strength, Potion of Power, Reg Potion & Oil of Speed. Thanks to items his saving Throws was nearly all negative. For instance: His Saving Throw against the Fear Aura (Save vs Wands) was at -3!
Once the battle started Braxx retreated a bit to not get hit by the Dispel Magic and called in several summons while shooting Void Arrows +3 at Big B from long range. Once the summons (and Caelar) went down Braxx switched to his Longsword - or at least he tried.
Cause what now happened is a mystery to me - but take a look yourself:
I couldnt believe it - but yes - Braxx was affected by the Fear Aura and panicked even though his Saving Throws were even better than the one of Korgath - who never got affected by Panic!!! Was this some kind of bug or is the battle log showing a wrong text and the Fear Aura does not affect Wands? But why does Korgath never panicked with worse Saving Throws? However: Half a minute later it was over...
Fear Aura has -3 save penalty, so it was the unlucky 5% success roll I guess, Potion of Clarity should be included into standard buff setup.
But if his save was at -3 then even with a -3 save penalty there should have been no failure. I wonder though if Belhifet is coded as a specialist mage, i.e. with a further -2 penalty applying (or possibly you moved some equipment around during the fight which affected saving throws?) ...
Irrespective of the reason for that end though, that was an excellent run Harpagornis .
@Harpagornis, condolences for Braxx, but congrats anyway on an amazing first time no-reload run! As for the cause of Braxx's panic, there might be a save penalty imposed by B's aura of fear. I just tried to look up the info in Near Infinity ut couldn't find it. Next time use Kiel's Helmet or the Commander's Chain? Once more, my compliments on an admirable run.
Edit: just missed the above post by @Ardanis. @Grond0, in EEKeeper Belhifet is kitted as a Kensai, so this does look strange. @Harpagornis, maybe one of your buffs had expired (if you didn't change any items as Grond0 suggested).
@Grond0 is right! Even with a -3 penalty the Save is still at 0. And no - there has no buff expired as the save was reached via items only. The only options are: Another hidden Save penalty or the +3 Save vs Demons and Devils from Ring of the Crusade is not working as intended. I used this setup without Kiels Helmet only cause Korgath was very succesful with it. I did several battles with him and he never panicked even though his save was only -2. Will have to test it again. What are we learning from this unlucky end? Next time Kiels Helmet please!
There is something badly wrong here!!!!!!
Tested it again - the Fear Aura triggered again and again and again for Braxx.
Korgath on the other hand - with worse saves and nearly the same items - does not get panicked at all.
I think -3 penalty vs -3 save should in fact result in success on 20, much like AC 0 can be hit by THAC0 20.
The only options are: Another hidden Save penalty or the +3 Save vs Demons and Devils from Ring of the Crusade is not working as intended.
It's possible... And likely intended if true, because historically ProEvil's +2 bonus never stacked with similar effect.
PS Yes, definitely seems like this. Crusade ring provides basic +1 bonus vs everything, and then +2 vs fiends, the latter being the same effect as ProEvil.
I am quite willing to take the challenge now, but I have a lot of mods on top of what you recommended (Mostly some content mods such as Thalantyr Upgrade and kit mods such as FnP, Tomes and Blood and MnG), does it still count?
Chose the Mods you like and start running - as long as you keep the SCS + LoB setup mentioned in the OP there should be no problem! At least not for me!
EDIT: I put off all the items that were different from Braxx - still no panick!
EDIT 2: Only after putting off the +Save Items the panick finally triggered!
It sounds like you're saying you've tried them with identical equipment, but Braxx had a better displayed save vs wands. I don't think that can be the case, however - the save vs wands should be the same for a F9/T11 as a T12.
Can you list out all the items that are affecting saves? I think @Ardanis may well be on to a possible cause in relation to a duplication of the PfE effect.
Freda killed her first basilisk mainly using dual-wielded scimitars protected by her own spell. The disadvantage of that in SCS is that basilisks recognise it (unlike the green scroll) and switch to melee attacks - making the contest more difficult and she had to retreat and finish it off by sling. To try and give herself a bit more of an edge she went to Firewine to get Meilum's bracers as well as picking up the frost wand from Nashkel Mine just in case of emergencies.
Back at the basilisks she used PfP, blindness and invisibility to split the monsters apart and melee them individually - getting up to level 6 in the process. Mutamin's pets were also split up and drawn away without showing herself to the mage and her familiar was also helpful there in tanking as the basilisks didn't recognise its immunity any better than using green scrolls. Baerin was charmed to shoot down Mutamin before being finished off and similar things happened to Lindin & Peter and finally Kirian.
Next, Freda picked off all the remaining reputation tasks to push that up to 20. Most of the time she was meleeing with scimitars, but often opponents had been blinded first and there was the occasional use of Algernon's cloak, e.g. against Greywolf. After buying a few things she headed for the Nashkel Mine. Making progress there was hard work for Shagrat, but Freda breezed past most of the kobolds invisibly - just clearing the ones outside Mulahey's cave. That led to a bit of over-confidence against the 4 kobolds in the cave though. One of those was down to it's last few HPs, but Freda had been hit three times by criticals in the process and her Bhaal CLW had only got her back to 32 HPs. With 3 of them attacking at once there was a slight danger there, but I didn't react to that - intending to finish off the almost-dead kobold before going outside in order to go invisible and rest. Regrettably 2 of the kobolds hit with criticals simultaneously and both of those were for 8 base damage (which I think is their maximum), doubled to 16 for LoB ...
Just a question I had, because this time I will have to plan my LoB run more cautiously than usual. Besides the fact that your summons get *2 +20hp and enemies *3+80, how does LoB work, mostly concerning THAC0 and all that? I messed a bit with it and noticed some enemies looked to be immune to some low level spell (for example, the Girdle Ogre in BG1 was immune to Command, meaning he didn't even have to save not to be hit), and control Qing some enemies told me that their saving throws were actually one point higher (worse than normal) than what I can find using Near Infinity yet they look to have a bonus when they actually have to make a saving throw (a Xvart just made a Saving Throw at 24). So far my conclusions are: HP: As I said above Thac0: flat -5 bonus to base Thac0 Saving throws: flat +1 malus to saving throws but an unknown bonus when they actually make the throw.
Could you guys confirm this is right or correct me if it isn't, and tell me about these bonus throws?
(HP *3) + 80, 5 extra levels, a Thac0 bonus of -5, a Saves bonus of -5, and +1 APR.
The Ogre should still need to save against command, but I've seen the same thing with Hold Person and with the wand of fear in my latest run. Sometimes enemies would simply resist the effect without the combat log showing a rolled save. If I tried again, the log would display the save or failed save.
Sometimes the Saving Throws are not shown - at least in my battle log!
With regard to saving throws and items @Grond0: The only relevant difference between Braxx and Korgath was the Braxx also used Baldurans Helm!
But thats no explanation why Korgath seemed to be immune to fear (even after one hour!!) and Braxx failed regularly. Maybe a hidden Bounty Hunter bonus - lol.
I think it will be a penalty for Braxx rather than a bonus to Korgath. Based on what you've said Korgath would have a required saving throw of 1, so correctly will never be affected. Braxx looks like he should have a saving throw of 0, but is suffering a 2 point penalty. That could be for instance the result of the order in which items are equipped - perhaps determining whether the Crusade Ring's bonus is suppressed or not.
So here's my setup: rolled Nissa, a female CE (gotta be a decent lord of Murder, though I noticed once I was playing that it was a bad idea because I would need to reach Davaeorn to get my Archmage robe... May pick Baeloth for 30 secs, just to get his robe and then ditch him, or just kill him. EDIT: I killed him. He didn't the bonus HP so it was a piece of cake. It felt really, really bad to kill my favourite character though ) elven fighter/mage, got 96 total roll, so 18 everywhere and 6 in charisma. My main strategy will be using the Earthen Grasp cantrip. Cantrips are level 0 spells introduced by the Tomes and Blood mod, which you can use at will but have very minor effects. This one roots one enemy in place for a round. In combination with that I will be using mostly throwing daggers. The Thalantyr Upgrade mod also introduces the possibility of creating a returning +1 dagger off of a +1 dagger, an oil of speed and some gold, so after grabbing the "hidden items" (Evermemory, ankheg plate and batalista's passport along with a couple of gems (mostly a star sapphire)) as well as Lord Foreshadow's ring of charisma, I had enough money to buy that +1 dagger from the smithy in Beregost. I stole Imoen's Oil of Speed before ditching her, so I went to Thalantyr and picked my improved dagger. Since then fights have mostly been trial and error, kiting with that cantrip. My Quasit familiar usually takes aggro while I throw my daggers and root enemies from a distance. I mostly picked single enemies so far, because my AC is too low to tank archers and such. So far Bassilus was the hardest by far, though I choose the right options to kill all the zombies and skeletons. He has free action which mostly ruined my Earthen Grasp plan for a long time, as well as cure disease to cure one blindness (if I was lucky enough to hit my Blindness spell with his pretty decent saving throws) and his hold persons were a pain too. Ended up quaffing a potion of Freedom too to avoid getting hit by these. After that it was only about kiting and throwing daggers. As I write this I am now a 3/3 F/M with roughly 10k exp.
The only "offchart" thing I have done was using Near Infinity to edit the +1 throwing dagger, because it wouldn't apply strength bonus damage, while all other throwing daggers, vanilla or magical, apply it.
I am now heading to the Lighthouse map. Being an Elf I am nearly immune to charm, and with all my equipment I have -4 AC and a -5 modifier against missiles, and an extra temporary -3 with Blur, so I should be more or less OK against the Sirines. And who would spit on free 6* 2k exp+a pearl? Certainly not me. I will pick that CON tome as well but run away from the golems. Not sure I can fight them yet. Once that's done I will have enough money to upgrade the cursed berserker sword+3 at Thalantyr's (thank you Thalantyr Upgrade ). It takes two scrolls of remove curse (conveniently added to his store) and two scrolls of Horror, as well as 3k gold. This sword is pretty nice though not too useful as a sword for me, but it allows its wielder to enrage as per the barbarian rage once a day. Nice immunities and buff too damage, can't spit on it.
Okay, i have started a new no-reload-run with my old love - the Fighter/Druid! For now i will give Braxx and Korgath a small rest.
Say hello to Eklun, the Half-Elf:
He already has done several key objectives:
- Kited down Shoal for easy 5k XP shooting 29 bullet stones - Killed Algernon for Cloak and used gold to push reputation - Charmed Dushai (144 tries!!) and killed him outside the village - Watched how Drizzt went down to Gnolls and grabbed his items - Found the hidden Ankheg Armor in Nashkel
Some more quests were done so he is sitting at level 3/3 for now. More action coming soon!
P.S. Its damn hard to roll the Fighter/Druid as he needs so many stats. Took me nearly an hour...
- Charmed Dushai (144 tries!!) and killed him outside the village
Damn, I think you broke my record . There was one long attempt where I didn't start counting for quite a while, but I think it would only have been about 120.
Comments
In my installation the familiar has 44 HPs as well as regeneration. As it doesn't get affected by the double LoB damage it's actually far better as a tank than in the core game and quickly helped Freda get a first fighter level in Beregost. A second level also came there, thanks to successfully finishing Silke off just before she was about to die of spider poison.
Moving north, Freda killed an ogre and the fishermen on the way to Ulgoth's Beard to grab Dushai's ring. Coming back, returning Joia's ring got Freda to level 4 and she recovered her mage abilities. That allowed her to watch invisibly while a couple of charmed guards hacked down Tarnesh.
Unlike Shagrat, Freda had a real interest in getting CLW as a Bhaal power, so she was looking for reputation quests on the way down to Nashkel - and Melicamp, Firebead, Bjornin and Mr Colquetle all helped out. While in the Lake area she also watched as Drizzt put up a heroic, but ultimately unsuccessful defence against some gnolls - handy as she has scimitars as her proficiency
... no I'm kidding : pound that game into submission and avenge all the fallen comrades !!
Anyway, real impressive stuff from you. You're playing that no reload challenge like a vet, really. Seems like all that knowledge from these different runs is really paying off.
Caligula keeps making progress; he's plowing through vampires in Windspear Hills. I'll report later this weekend.
Skor, Gnome Cleric/Thief, 1st BG1 report
As previously announced a Cleric/Thief has joined the fun.
Skor proceeded to do some questing in and around Beregost and Nashkel before heading back north, to help out farmer Brun and Tenya. A bandit ambush in those parts proved harmless thanks to Drizzt's armor and the girdle of piercing. (Even a roll of 19 from one of the bandits resulted in a miss.)
Skor proceeded to carry out easy quests that would improve his reputation, until it reached 20. He pickpocketed Algernon's cloak, and with the sale of the ring of wizardry, ankheg amor and other miscellaneous loot, Skor did some shopping at the Ulgoth's Beard inn (wand of the heavens, aule's staff, cloak of displacement, greenstone amulet).
The Gnome's next stop was Mutamin's Garden. Skor was only level 3/4 when he arrived. He made liberal use of his wand to speed up the killing of his first basilisk victims (in the south), and soon Cleric level 4 (with a proficiency pip allocated to two-handed weapon fighting), and Thief level 5 (with his backstab multiplier increaed to x3) were soon reached. Skor started to use backstabs as his primary means of attacking. He managed to slay the eight basilisks that weren't close to Mutamin before his protection from petrification wore off. Skor rested and had Korax and skeleton warriors dispatch Mutamin and the remaining basilisks.
To deal with Kirian, Skor first charmed Peter with Algernon's cloak. However I then misclicked when Kirian taunted Skor ("Ya ya, say what you want, we'll be going now"). She mocked the Gnome further, and walked off with her golden girdle.
At Durlag's Tower, Skor used his wand of the heavens to sear two Battle Horrors (suffering a severe blow in the process due to having his sling still equipped), and he summoned skeletons to slay more Basilisks.
The skeletons made easy pickings of several foes that would otherwise have been tedious to kite: Meilum, Greywolf, sirines (even though they Feebleminded the skellies), Vax and Zal, Krumm and Caldo, Ingot, ankhegs. The skeletons would engage the enemy, allowing Skor to cast Doom and Hold Person or to hide and backstab.
The Gnome failed to charm Bassilus with algernon's cloak, but he had a backup plan. He retreated, hid, and returned to Silence his foe. The spell affected Bassilus while he was in the middle of casting a necromantic spell (surely Animate Dead). Together with some previously summoned skeleton warriors, Skor made short work of his enemy. The wand of the heavens was used in order to be done with Bassilus before the Silence would wear off.
Cleric level 7 (with level 4 spells and upgraded skeleton warriors) loomed, so Skor undertook some smaller quests before visiting the Nashkel Mines. While still in the Red Canyons area, Skor ensured that Zargal and co would ambush no more travelers, and he saved Melicamp from a wolf. While Thalantyr failed at restoring his former apprentice, Silke and Joia did provide the XP needed for Skor's last level-up in BG1 as a Cleric.
He traveled to the Nashkel Mines and sought out Mulahey, summoned his skeleton warriors out of sight of the Half-Orc, and basically let them do all the work. As Mulahey cast two stronger Skeleton Warriors (for being level 11+), Skor needed a couple of rests to wipe out the opposition.
In Nashkel, Nimbul became the skeleton warriors' victim. In the inn, Skor charmed Neira and had her summon a (level 11+) skeleton warrior. It attacked the priestess, Skor held her, and the skeleton then slew her. Finally, Tranzig too fell before the might of Skor's undead army, without Skor ever having to worry about his own wellbeing.
So far this run has been going pretty smoothly, with a bad move against a Battle Horror and the loss of the golden girdle as the only mistakes. Between his backstabs, disabling spells, and summons, Skor definitely seems to have the instruments needed to make good progress.
A long-time avid thief player, I've become so unused to playing thieves more recently that I had really had to adjust again a couple of times. E.g. I used the greenstone amulet in Black Alaric's cave to deal with the hold and charm traps there, and I did the same in Durlag's tower with the stun trap in the corridor leading to the basilisk roof. With still one Thief level and a permanent DEX boost to gain, Skor's unbuffed thieving ability scores are:
OL 35, FT 75, PP 45, MS 75, HiS 75, DI 25, ST 10. These scores allow Skor to open all locks, disarm all traps, and pick most pockets with the right potions, and be pretty stealthy too, especially with the boots of stealth. For the last level-up I intend to go with traps.
Everything before the Crusader Attacks is nothing to worry about - with a bit of care. Thanks to some questing Braxx got some nice items for the final part of the game:
Ring of Purity: +2 AC vs Evil, +10 HP, Chant
Myconid Bloom-Sac: For 1d5 Myconid summons
Amulet of Ankheg Summoning: Two Ankhegs per charge
Corints Bow +2: AC+1, Luck on crit
Ring of the Crusade: +3 AC & Saves against Demons & Devils
Sneaking down to Hephernaan and getting out again was no problem thanks to stealth while Braxx bought a lot of Invisibility Potions in between. Once he was out of the caves it was time to prepare for the fearsome Crusader Attacking Waves.
Round 1 - Trolls & Ogres:
In all of my runs i had most problems with this first wave as sometimes some Trolls will go on a Charge Mission and head straight to the Barrels - which will trigger the other Waves one after another so they will overrun you easily. To avoid this and kill them quickly Braxx used a dirty trick.
Before going to Deadmans Pass and triggering the Attacks he placed seven traps in the area where the Ogres & Trolls will appear. As his Trap Skill was only at 50 he needed five rests until everything was prepared.
He now triggered the talking in Deadmans Pass and headed back to the Camp under attack - with the traps still in place! Before triggering the first wave he buffed up: PfM (will last long enough for all waves and will save time and life as it cannot be removed by Dispel Magics), Potion of Storm Giant Strength, Potion of Power, Oil of Speed, Regeneration Potion.
Last but not least he used Fire Protection Scrolls on the Dwarven Battlerager (he will be the only one going in deep!) and summoned two Ankhegs for further distraction. Only now he triggered the first Wave waiting for the Messenger!
Once Braxx and the Dwarves of Dumathoin were placed and the talking ended the traps damaged all enemies around bringing them down to injured - superb! Thanks to this massive instant damage the rest was a fast cleanup firing one Arrow of Detonation after another with 4 APR and summoning another charge of Ankhegs in between. At the end all allies survived while the Trolls & Ogres went down in half a minute - great start!
Wave 2 - Crusader Mages:
For this one Braxx used the Wizard Slayers who got another Protection from Fire treatment. While the Slayers charged in Braxx used some Arrows of Detonation before switching to Arrows of Dispelling. Once the protections of the Mages were down the fully armoured and buffed Braxx charged in with his swords hacking the Mages apart. As they could not touch him with any magic - except for Remove Magic which forced rebuffing - and needed a 20 to hit him in close combat the battle did not last long until the last Mage went down...
Wave 3 - Priests and Cavaliers:
This Wave can be very annoying without constant AoE damage thanks to the massive healing potential of this group but with the help of Coalition Mages and Arrow of Detonation spamming they dropped down quite fast. Braxx used several Myconid Charges to hold the group in place a bit longer before they could reach the Mages but at the end the whole fight wasnt even close. With all Mages only barely hurt the last Priest went down to some mighty Longsword blows!!
Wave 4 - The Generals:
This wave is the easiest one as you are supported by immortal ally bosses so all Braxx had to do was to stay behind and shoot more of his Arrows of Detonation. But a moment of overconfidence let him rush forward to get another snipe at the nearly dead Piercer of Boils - and he nearly paid the price for it. Through the Shadows Swift Rabbit sneaked up to Braxx backstabbing him for 122 damage - bringing him down to 18 HP! Only a very quick pause and an instant use of Durlags Goblet made sure that Braxx survived his foolishness and got the time to drop back again shooting from safe distance. The rest was a short story as the bosses dropped one by one until even Grimgor fell to the ground!
It seems that thanks to the easiness of the waves before Braxx thought he was invincible - and he nearly paid the price for it. An error like this against Big B and its Game Over!
Not to forget: You can get another Golden Girdle in SoD later on - keep stabbing!
With Dragonspear Castle conquered there was only one level to go before challening Belhifet - Avernus!
With full buffs and big armor Braxx went straight into the Demons while trying to distract them a bit with summons. Several gulps from Durlags Goblet and ticking Reg Potions made sure that his HP would not drop to zero even though the Abishai managed to land some lucky hits. After the second wave was defeated Braxx aquired the nice Longsword of Acid +3 that will prove to be very helpful against Big B!
Buffs for Big B: Protection from Magic, Potion of Storm of Giant Strength, Potion of Power, Reg Potion & Oil of Speed. Thanks to items his saving Throws was nearly all negative. For instance: His Saving Throw against the Fear Aura (Save vs Wands) was at -3!
Once the battle started Braxx retreated a bit to not get hit by the Dispel Magic and called in several summons while shooting Void Arrows +3 at Big B from long range. Once the summons (and Caelar) went down Braxx switched to his Longsword - or at least he tried.
Cause what now happened is a mystery to me - but take a look yourself:
I couldnt believe it - but yes - Braxx was affected by the Fear Aura and panicked even though his Saving Throws were even better than the one of Korgath - who never got affected by Panic!!! Was this some kind of bug or is the battle log showing a wrong text and the Fear Aura does not affect Wands? But why does Korgath never panicked with worse Saving Throws? However: Half a minute later it was over...
I will take a rest for now - Good Night!
Irrespective of the reason for that end though, that was an excellent run Harpagornis
Once more, my compliments on an admirable run.
Edit: just missed the above post by @Ardanis. @Grond0, in EEKeeper Belhifet is kitted as a Kensai, so this does look strange.
@Harpagornis, maybe one of your buffs had expired (if you didn't change any items as Grond0 suggested).
There is something badly wrong here!!!!!!
Tested it again - the Fear Aura triggered again and again and again for Braxx.
Korgath on the other hand - with worse saves and nearly the same items - does not get panicked at all.
Even not after half an hour...
Your turn @Ardanis!
It's possible... And likely intended if true, because historically ProEvil's +2 bonus never stacked with similar effect.
PS
Yes, definitely seems like this. Crusade ring provides basic +1 bonus vs everything, and then +2 vs fiends, the latter being the same effect as ProEvil.
But why does Korgath my Bounty Hunter not get panicked at all? He does not have any fear protection and his Saves are even worse!
Any clue @Ardanis?
EDIT: I put off all the items that were different from Braxx - still no panick!
EDIT 2: Only after putting off the +Save Items the panick finally triggered!
But still no panick!
His luck must be godlike @Ardanis!!!
Chose the Mods you like and start running - as long as you keep the SCS + LoB setup mentioned in the OP there should be no problem! At least not for me!
Btw Skor managed to get himself insta-killed by Telka's backstab (80 damage), so it's bac to Candlekeep for me...
Can you list out all the items that are affecting saves? I think @Ardanis may well be on to a possible cause in relation to a duplication of the PfE effect.
Back at the basilisks she used PfP, blindness and invisibility to split the monsters apart and melee them individually - getting up to level 6 in the process. Mutamin's pets were also split up and drawn away without showing herself to the mage and her familiar was also helpful there in tanking as the basilisks didn't recognise its immunity any better than using green scrolls. Baerin was charmed to shoot down Mutamin before being finished off and similar things happened to Lindin & Peter and finally Kirian.
Next, Freda picked off all the remaining reputation tasks to push that up to 20. Most of the time she was meleeing with scimitars, but often opponents had been blinded first and there was the occasional use of Algernon's cloak, e.g. against Greywolf. After buying a few things she headed for the Nashkel Mine. Making progress there was hard work for Shagrat, but Freda breezed past most of the kobolds invisibly - just clearing the ones outside Mulahey's cave. That led to a bit of over-confidence against the 4 kobolds in the cave though. One of those was down to it's last few HPs, but Freda had been hit three times by criticals in the process and her Bhaal CLW had only got her back to 32 HPs. With 3 of them attacking at once there was a slight danger there, but I didn't react to that - intending to finish off the almost-dead kobold before going outside in order to go invisible and rest. Regrettably 2 of the kobolds hit with criticals simultaneously and both of those were for 8 base damage (which I think is their maximum), doubled to 16 for LoB ...
Besides the fact that your summons get *2 +20hp and enemies *3+80, how does LoB work, mostly concerning THAC0 and all that?
I messed a bit with it and noticed some enemies looked to be immune to some low level spell (for example, the Girdle Ogre in BG1 was immune to Command, meaning he didn't even have to save not to be hit), and control Qing some enemies told me that their saving throws were actually one point higher (worse than normal) than what I can find using Near Infinity yet they look to have a bonus when they actually have to make a saving throw (a Xvart just made a Saving Throw at 24).
So far my conclusions are:
HP: As I said above
Thac0: flat -5 bonus to base Thac0
Saving throws: flat +1 malus to saving throws but an unknown bonus when they actually make the throw.
Could you guys confirm this is right or correct me if it isn't, and tell me about these bonus throws?
(HP *3) + 80, 5 extra levels, a Thac0 bonus of -5, a Saves bonus of -5, and +1 APR.
The Ogre should still need to save against command, but I've seen the same thing with Hold Person and with the wand of fear in my latest run. Sometimes enemies would simply resist the effect without the combat log showing a rolled save. If I tried again, the log would display the save or failed save.
With regard to saving throws and items @Grond0: The only relevant difference between Braxx and Korgath was the Braxx also used Baldurans Helm!
But thats no explanation why Korgath seemed to be immune to fear (even after one hour!!) and Braxx failed regularly. Maybe a hidden Bounty Hunter bonus - lol.
Anyway: I hope that i will be able to restart soon. F/T again? Maybe!
So here's my setup: rolled Nissa, a female CE (gotta be a decent lord of Murder, though I noticed once I was playing that it was a bad idea because I would need to reach Davaeorn to get my Archmage robe... May pick Baeloth for 30 secs, just to get his robe and then ditch him, or just kill him. EDIT: I killed him. He didn't the bonus HP so it was a piece of cake. It felt really, really bad to kill my favourite character though
My main strategy will be using the Earthen Grasp cantrip. Cantrips are level 0 spells introduced by the Tomes and Blood mod, which you can use at will but have very minor effects. This one roots one enemy in place for a round. In combination with that I will be using mostly throwing daggers. The Thalantyr Upgrade mod also introduces the possibility of creating a returning +1 dagger off of a +1 dagger, an oil of speed and some gold, so after grabbing the "hidden items" (Evermemory, ankheg plate and batalista's passport along with a couple of gems (mostly a star sapphire)) as well as Lord Foreshadow's ring of charisma, I had enough money to buy that +1 dagger from the smithy in Beregost. I stole Imoen's Oil of Speed before ditching her, so I went to Thalantyr and picked my improved dagger. Since then fights have mostly been trial and error, kiting with that cantrip. My Quasit familiar usually takes aggro while I throw my daggers and root enemies from a distance. I mostly picked single enemies so far, because my AC is too low to tank archers and such. So far Bassilus was the hardest by far, though I choose the right options to kill all the zombies and skeletons. He has free action which mostly ruined my Earthen Grasp plan for a long time, as well as cure disease to cure one blindness (if I was lucky enough to hit my Blindness spell with his pretty decent saving throws) and his hold persons were a pain too. Ended up quaffing a potion of Freedom too to avoid getting hit by these. After that it was only about kiting and throwing daggers.
As I write this I am now a 3/3 F/M with roughly 10k exp.
The only "offchart" thing I have done was using Near Infinity to edit the +1 throwing dagger, because it wouldn't apply strength bonus damage, while all other throwing daggers, vanilla or magical, apply it.
I am now heading to the Lighthouse map. Being an Elf I am nearly immune to charm, and with all my equipment I have -4 AC and a -5 modifier against missiles, and an extra temporary -3 with Blur, so I should be more or less OK against the Sirines. And who would spit on free 6* 2k exp+a pearl? Certainly not me. I will pick that CON tome as well but run away from the golems. Not sure I can fight them yet.
Once that's done I will have enough money to upgrade the cursed berserker sword+3 at Thalantyr's (thank you Thalantyr Upgrade
Say hello to Eklun, the Half-Elf:
He already has done several key objectives:
- Kited down Shoal for easy 5k XP shooting 29 bullet stones
- Killed Algernon for Cloak and used gold to push reputation
- Charmed Dushai (144 tries!!) and killed him outside the village
- Watched how Drizzt went down to Gnolls and grabbed his items
- Found the hidden Ankheg Armor in Nashkel
Some more quests were done so he is sitting at level 3/3 for now. More action coming soon!
P.S. Its damn hard to roll the Fighter/Druid as he needs so many stats. Took me nearly an hour...
P.P.S. Good start @Arunsun - keep rolling!