@Harpagornis, @Arctodus, I never install RR's thief kit and HLA modifications, though I may do so to play a RR assassin some time. It looks a bit more interesting than the vanilla assassin, that has been nerfed too much imo. (If they had just prevented poison stacking that would have been enough; the save at -2 that negates all poisoning is just too crippling for the assassin to be fun to me.)
Unless Ascension changes it she is subject to spell disruption
That makes sense. Thanks for clearing it up. The last time I played the SCS/Ascension final battle is about five years ago But according to NI it's indeed immunity to the spell failure effect. @Arctodus, this makes the FoA a bit better than I made it sound.
@Victor_Creed_SFV, amazing video! What level are the Woodland Beings? That lightning strikes hard!! I really love this thread. People have made some really good discoveries, and some tricks and strategies make the game kind of easy even on the hardest difficulty settings...
I have an update on Verity, and it comes with a question.
Verity picked up the stat boosting tomes: CHA (had to be raised by one for dual-classing purposes), CON (maximise HPs), and WIS (future Wish casting). Then visited Mutamin's garden. Had no difficulty with the eight Basilisks that weren't near the Gnome, thanks to HiPS backstabs, but she got lucky against Mutamin himself. She had left Korax alone for the time being, hoping to use him later on against Kirian & co. As had happened in earlier battles, Verity became visible at one point before she could re-enter stealth. The Gnome came after her and cast a Charm Person at her. Since this didn't occur near the area border, she needed quick protection. A potion of magic shielding would have been ideal, a potion of magic blocking less so because it would remove PfPetrification. All Verity had was the Surgeon's potion of magic protection, which merely gives 50% magic resistance. Thankfully it did its job. With Mutamin and his two closest Basilisks divided, she could finish all three with ease, Mutamin with a devastating critical:
She left Kirian for later, maybe after dualling.
I normally have my characters move on to Durlag's more Basilisk slaying, but reckoned that the two Battle Horrors and the four Basilisks would be perfect sources of XP for when Verity was to be a wand-carrying mage. I've pretty much decided that I'll dual-class at level 9, for added survivability in SoD.
So Verity was "only" level 7 when she went to the Nashkel Mines. Fearing the multitude of minions, she relied mostly on ranged sneak attacks to bring Mulahey down. She used the arrows of biting from the Sirines she had slain, but she only managed to poison the Half-Orc twice (out of 43 or 44 arrows, many of which missed their target). When she found the space, she finished him off with some backstabs.
Nimbul was left to the guards (as usual in my playthroughs), but Verity took care of Neira and Tranzig herself. The latter was a bit of pain because of his invisibility potions. The only way to make him take action was by revealing herself, next to the stairs, so that she could flee in case he'd manage to cast spells at her.
Verity also dealt with Silke, whom she lured into the Five Flagons where the thespian would waste most of her spells on charmed Karlat. When Verity appeared, the Bard had a Confusion in store for her. It found its way to Verity even after she had gone invisible and retreated. However Verity was protected by her Greenstone Amulet, so no harm done.
She killed the Dwarf, but she had no answer to Verity's HiPS backstabs.
Finally killing Landin's spiders and handing the Gnome her belongings saw Verity reach level 8.
Rant on thieving:
I had to wait and think for a while on what to do with her skill points. Having some Spell Immunity ignoring free Illusion Detection was appealing, considering enemy mages' habit of going invisible a lot. But I decided that 50 DI wouldn't be that good; Verity will have to rely on detection spells. More skill points into stealth would of course improve her HiPS potential. But I've done a bit of testing, even in lit places like Thalantyr's High Hedge, and Verity was quite successful at hiding with her 120/135 stealth scores including boots and armor bonuses. Since the boots of stealth will remain available for the entire trilogy (I might even allow Cromwell to merge them with the boots of speed as per the Item Upgrade mod), and other dex/stealth improving gear like the mercyiller ring will become available later on, I decided that I'd leave Verity's stealth at 205 unbuffed. In outside areas, she'll have to operate at night, and if my testing was any good, she should still be able to hide in inside areas very often. She'll have magic and potions to help her out when she fails. Eventually the level 8 skill points went to Find Traps. The skill is now at 30, and I intend to raise it to 50 at level 9. With the dex tome in Baldur's Gate, the DUHM Bhaalpower, potions of perception and BG2's ring of danger sense, Verity should become a competent trap remover for the rest of the game. I think I'll feel safer than when having to rely on spells all the time, and besides it will allow Verity to use her spells for better purposes than neutralizing traps. Btw Verity's lockpicking skill is 25 without having received any boosts. This means that with the ring of lockpicks, DUHM and potions of master thievery and perception even locks won't be a problem, and Verity won't have to rely on the Knock spell much, I expect.
Verity's level 8 weapon proficiency was single weapon style, for the AC bonus and for the increased crit chance. I still regret having placed the level 4 pip in TWF. Maybe it will be worthwhile to develop TWF later on (for example for shapehifting or Tensering purposes).
Verity was ambushed by Lamalha's party, but at 3:00 AM, the Shadowdancer had little difficulty picking her foes apart one at a time. She didn't suffer a single hit.
She cleaned up Tazok's tent in much the same way, starting out with Venkt, and then moving on to the others. Apart from Britik they were all archers, and none of them wore helmets (even though the Hobgoblin sprites seem to wear them). What struck me, and now I'm finally getting to the question I was alluding to at the beginning of this update, was that some of Verity's (critical) backstabs were extremely damaging. The following stabs were the winners:
Is this even supposed to be possible?
According to her character record Verity can deal 8-15 damage. The combat stats say: - 1d8+3 from Icingdeath, - +2 from Legacy of the Masters, - +2 from strength (which isn't supposed to be included in the backstab multiplication) and - +2 from "Bonus" (unspecified, innate it seems, because it's still there even when all other items are unequipped, any idea what the source could be?) If you add these up, the damage range would have to be 8-17 actually, not 8-15. The 72 damage backstab. And even if strength was to be included in the backstab damage multiplication, would then 68 damage not be the maximum? 17 x2 critical damage x2 backstab double damage = 68 total damage. Or do extra damage bonuses apply to attacking unarmed enemies or enemies with ranged weapons? (I thought only Thac0 bonuses applied to such enemies.)
I used CTRL+Q on Sendai and Abazigal. Surprisingly there is no "Heal" for Sendai memorized and no "Time Stop" for Abazigal - they are also not an innate abilty. Some items (the rings mainly) are not showing any info but thats maybe due to the bugs in my game. What i have observed so far is: Sendai seems to have endless charges of "Heal" that she will use on any ally that gets down to "badly injured" or "nearly dead". She ports up to her damaged friend and nearly instantly heal them up to full health again. So taking her out first could be vital. But she also can use Absolute Immunity and will insta summon a Fallen Deva at the start of the fight - or she just ports away from you so another GWW charge is wasted.
Next problem: If you start hunting down slippery Sendai good old Abazigal might start his Time Stop cast. If you get lucky he will not use it to hack you into pieces (he uses Gram +5) cause if he starts attacking you during Time Stop you are dead in seconds (41-50 damage, 8 APR, 6x GWW, 2x Critical Strike etc.). I have run through this horror hundreds of time - without the stunning axe - and i absolutely hate this fight. At least for Warriors!
However: If you get really luck - and this happens to me several times - you might take down Sendai fast enough with 2-3 GWW´s while Abazigal wastes his Time Stop for nothing so the kiting phase might starts and Mel joins the party for even more fun!
@Blackraven The nymphs are only level 5, so Droolit would even do almost twice as much damage (up to 120ish if failed save), but the reason I let the nymphs cast first was because Drasus party remains neutral until charname is revealed.
As to the bs damage it is as high because you rolled crits on top of it and at least the base damage gets multiplied by both crit and bs multiplier there might be additional damage sources that get multiplied not sure.
edit: just looked it up crits multiply your whole damage including strength bonus and additional weapon damage, backstab multiplies all but the str and additional weapon damage.
Here is an "accurate" calculation in case what I wrote was unclear. (base + boni excluding strength and additional weapon damage) x2 = bs dmg (bs dmg + str and additional bonus) x2 = critical bs dmg
(8+4) x2 = 24 (24+5) x2 = 58
Now you could go the other way and just multiply all your sources and we would end up at 68. Ofc there is that unclear 72...
I used CTRL+Q on Sendai and Abazigal. Surprisingly there is no "Heal" for Sendai memorized and no "Time Stop" for Abazigal - they are also not an innate abilty. Some items (the rings mainly) are not showing any info but thats maybe due to the bugs in my game. What i have observed so far is: Sendai seems to have endless charges of "Heal" that she will use on any ally that gets down to "badly injured" or "nearly dead". She ports up to her damaged friend and nearly instantly heal them up to full health again. So taking her out first could be vital. But she also can use Absolute Immunity and will insta summon a Fallen Deva at the start of the fight - or she just ports away from you so another GWW charge is wasted.
Next problem: If you start hunting down slippery Sendai good old Abazigal might start his Time Stop cast. If you get lucky he will not use it to hack you into pieces (he uses Gram +5) cause if he starts attacking you during Time Stop you are dead in seconds (41-50 damage, 8 APR, 6x GWW, 2x Critical Strike etc.). I have run through this horror hundreds of time - without the stunning axe - and i absolutely hate this fight. At least for Warriors!
However: If you get really luck - and this happens to me several times - you might take down Sendai fast enough with 2-3 GWW´s while Abazigal wastes his Time Stop for nothing so the kiting phase might starts and Mel joins the party for even more fun!
Haaa... That's real depressing stuff right here... I'll be another fly against a glass window and bang my head on the thing anyway !! Everything in this challenge seems feasible for any class... up until the Throne last fight. Being the only class without Harm or Time Stop, pure fighters seem to be doomed for failure.
Verity's level 8 weapon proficiency was single weapon style, for the AC bonus and for the increased crit chance. I still regret having placed the level 4 pip in TWF. Maybe it will be worthwhile to develop TWF later on (for example for shapehifting or Tensering purposes).
@Blackraven, I remember that you use RR's component allowing 3 pips in TWF for thieves in your game builds. Is the TWF reluctance due to the lack of future proficiencies once you dual to mage, or lower mage THACO so not worth it? Or do you now consider SWS more helpful?
Unless Ascension changes it she is subject to spell disruption
That makes sense. Thanks for clearing it up. The last time I played the SCS/Ascension final battle is about five years ago But according to NI it's indeed immunity to the spell failure effect. @Arctodus, this makes the FoA a bit better than I made it sound.
The FoA is indeed a good weapon as slowing Mel is helpful to reduce both spell and weapon damage. However, it's not the only answer as it's not easy to get through her stoneskins and most of the time the FoA will therefore be doing no damage. Mixing the FoA up with other weapons is therefore a good idea, e.g. the 2-handed sword that nerfs her THAC0 and the Big Metal Gun to try and prevent her spells.
According to her character record Verity can deal 8-15 damage. The combat stats say: - 1d8+3 from Icingdeath, - +2 from Legacy of the Masters, - +2 from strength (which isn't supposed to be included in the backstab multiplication) and - +2 from "Bonus" (unspecified, innate it seems, because it's still there even when all other items are unequipped, any idea what the source could be?) If you add these up, the damage range would have to be 8-17 actually, not 8-15. The 72 damage backstab. And even if strength was to be included in the backstab damage multiplication, would then 68 damage not be the maximum? 17 x2 critical damage x2 backstab double damage = 68 total damage. Or do extra damage bonuses apply to attacking unarmed enemies or enemies with ranged weapons? (I thought only Thac0 bonuses applied to such enemies.)
From memory the unspecified bonus is just a confusing repetition (I think of the +2 from the bracers). That's why the total damage is 8-15 rather than 10-17. As to the total damage, attacking enemies without a melee weapon equipped does give a bonus to both THAC0 and damage (and that bonus gets multiplied in a backstab).
From memory the unspecified bonus is just a confusing repetition (I think of the +2 from the bracers). That's why the total damage is 8-15 rather than 10-17. As to the total damage, attacking enemies without a melee weapon equipped does give a bonus to both THAC0 and damage (and that bonus gets multiplied in a backstab).
@Grond0, you're right. It's just a repetition. The "Bonus +2" disappears when I unequip Legacy of the Masters. So the 8-15 damage range displayed under the combat stats is correct: Icingdeath (4-11) + Legacy of the Masters (2) + Strength (2) = 8-15.
Edit I just saw your edition of your message. I can confirm what you say about attacking ranged and unarmed enemies with a melee weapon.
I've included the line SetPrivateProfileString('Game Options','Extra Combat Info','1') in my LUA file. It gives more detailed information on to hit and damage calculations. The findings are interesting:
- The +3 extra weapon damage from Icingdeath is included in the bs damage calculation. - Extra elemental damage, like Varscona's +1 cold damage, is not. - Attacking a ranged or unarmed enemy with a melee weapon gives a +4 bonus to both Thac0 and damage. The game calls this an "Attack of Opportunity". - The extra +4 damage from an Attack of Opportunity gets multiplied by the backstab multiplier and then doubled by the critical hit.
The 72 damage on the Black Talon was indeed the maximum damage that Verity could have dealt:
Bs: (1d8+3 from Icingdeath + 2 from Legacy of the Masters + 4 from the opportunity attack)*2 = max 34 Critical bs (34 + 2 from Strength) *2 = 72.
Here's some screenshots, for those who are interested.
You can see the damage roll here being 10, that's 7+3 from Icingdeath, proving that the enchantment bonus to damage is included in the backstab damage calculation.This is a critical, not that damaging because the damage roll was only 4. If you change that 4 for 11 (1d8+3), then you get a critical backstab for 72 damage.
Wow, I never knew there wa a damage bonus besides Thac0 on unarmed characters, that's huge for bsers, since many enemies take some time before they switch to melee.
Interesting stuff regarding backstabbing @Blackraven - another good reason to play a Thief!
But what the hell on earth is the Big Metal Gun @Grond0 ? A special weapon from a Mod i dont know? Or just the BMU? How can it disrupt instant abilities? I hacked on Mel for quite some time now - not a single spell failure!
EDIT: The Slow from FoA works on Mel (dropping her down from 5 APR to 4 APR) but Absolute Immunity negates everything. Looks like that without +6 weapons or the ability to dispel her buffs (how?) a Warrior is doomed...
But what the hell on earth is the Big Metal Gun @Grond0 ? A special weapon from a Mod i dont know? Or just the BMU? How can it disrupt instant abilities? I hacked on Mel for quite some time now - not a single spell failure!
EDIT: The Slow from FoA works on Mel (dropping her down from 5 APR to 4 APR) but Absolute Immunity negates everything. Looks like that without +6 weapons or the ability to dispel her buffs (how?) a Warrior is doomed...
It's technically known as the Big Metal Rod I think, but a gun better describes it. You can use either exploding ammunition, scorchers, or pulse ammunition. The earlier ones can be fun against other targets, but only the pulse ammunition can hit Mel. The BMR has a base APR of 5 (so 10 with improved haste) and, while pulse ammunition doesn't do much damage, it will hit through stoneskins and hence give a chance to interrupt spells. I've never played Ascension, so don't know how that changes Mel, but the BMR is handy in the basic game for preventing her completing Timestops and I'm pretty sure those are not instant even with Ascension. Of course even 'instant' abilities are not actually instant. I'm sure we've all cursed when attacks have disrupted attempts to activate a GWW for instance .
The BMR is a lot of fun with poison weapon, I once made a fun char with EE who was basically invincible and played around with the best weapons in ToB. BMR + Poison Weapon is by far the best dps ingame, but it doesn't hit above 3 I think.
Droolit kinda ravaged BG city for loot but I'm saying kinda because the doors to Degrodel, Ramazith and Ragefast can't be opened with 18 ST.
Gladly I killed Ramazith outside and as expected 4x lightning onehit him. I decided to skip Degrodel and just got the Helm manually and killed the sewer girl after charming her and leading her away from prying eyes.
I now have -11 against slash without haveing grabbed the golden Girdle yet, which should be easy enough with lightning.
With potions I can now get to -22 against crush. (misiile and pierce is similar to slash but I have the girdle, only does Angheg plate confer 0 and not -2 for those.)
Since I need strenght after grabbing all the standard loot and the wisdom tome as less standard loot ( did the Marek quest and killed the priestesses) I then sent Droolit to the Iron Throne.
This time I didn't want to cheese as I did with my F/M/C and wands, which for a druid would be done with necklace (I have 2 atm but am gonna grab all), so I found a different way of cheese which definitely required more micro.
I started out by charming annoyng foes, but after having to rest once and only 3 enemies dead I lured them to the stairs, casting necklace out of sight 2-3 times, before they finally aggroed. Down the stairs waited dogees and nymphes and the enemies died one by one until only the doppelganger was left who I ignored.
Ah, now i got it - thanks for the explanation @Grond0!
I tested the BMR with all three ammunition types: No one works! They just cannot hit Mel even when Absolute Immunity is down. As @Blackraven said earlier: It looks like that she is immune to spell failure anyway and so far my observations are confirming it as i havent seen it once. Even worse: She tends to use her Time Stops only when Absolute Immunity is up so even if spell failure would work you will need +6 weapons and get to her in time.
After getting more and more confident with the Totemic Druid @Victor_Creed_SFV - what do you think about his chances when going for no-reload?
I tested the BMR with all three ammunition types: No one works!
You said earlier that the FoA worked - are you talking then about the upgraded version? I'm pretty sure that the pulse ammunition hits at +3, so if the basic FoA can hit her, that should as well.
What happened? After a real life interference Eklun moved a bit too far and was seen by Drasus and his friends. Even a fast retreat was not enough to save him from a Spook from Rezdan and - you know it - he failed his save running directly into the enemy. A Feeblemind followed while Drasus and Genthore took down the helpless F/D easily. What are we learning from this one? Never ever play a no-reload-run with your talking wife nearby - lol.
EDIT: FoA only hits when Absolute Immunity is down @Grond0. Even without Mel needs +4 or higher!
Oh no @Harpagornis, what a shame! RL distractions... I've been there quite often actually.
I hope Verity can avenge Eklun. She's just slain Aldeth for the Seniyad, and backstabbed Molkar and his buddies. She's currently chillin' at the Cloakwood Druid grove, so the Mines aren't too far away.
Oh man @Harpagornis that's too bad and happens to me too often as well, especially in PvP games like Smite, Dark Souls and Street Fighter.
As to my thoughts on no reload and Totemic. I don't ever play no reload. I started a couple of runs in Pillars of Eternity and I definitely could get around to liking it, but so far my experience is just not big. But you might know my attitude towards games (and some other things in real life :P) if I think a character is op then I think it's the best in any discipline and as to the totemic I definitely think as far as LoB goes there is no better class than druid in general and I think Totemic is the premier druid. You have to be careful till level 5 but most good classes start out that way and you can get level 5 with almost no combat. If I did a second run with totemic and made it no reload chances are I would get to level 5 and maybe even further. If I kept playing till I got thru BG1 it might not take too many tries but as you know my SoD experience doesn't go further than the 2nd map after BG city.
o.O I'm gone for a little while and everything jumps forward 6 pages. Hope all is going well with everyone's runs. Will hopefully be getting back into the grind soon.
Okay, Korgath is finally back in the house after rolling some nice stats today. Say „Hello again“ to the fomerly Lord of Murder:
Here is his path of destruction so far:
Finished all Candlekeep Quests ----- killed a Ghast who ambushed Korgath during travel ----- kited Shoal down shooting 40 arrows Worth to remember: even with a level 1 Dwarven F/T rolling a 6 was enough to hit her with a Composite Longbow ----- jumped to level 2/3 immediately while fully pushing Move Silently ----- calmed down Marl after some talking ----- not in thievish mood Korgath decided to kill Algernon and grab his cloak as the reputation loss can easily be leveled ----- brought a book to Firebead Elvenhair ----- watched how Drizzt was killed by Gnolls and grabbed his precious equipment ------ found the hidden Ankheg Armor in Nashkel ----- nooberized Noober ----- found mad Brage in the wilderness and took him back to the church in Nashkel ---- kited down the thievish Ogre with 34 Arrows and took his belt ---- charmed a guard in FAI and let him tank Tarnesh while sniping him down once he was out of spells ----- backstabbed evil Dorn and sold his stuff ----- helped Tenya to get back the bowl of her mother while avoiding her Command + Smash combo ----- charmed Dushai on 15th try and donated him a personal burial outside of the village to get his Ring of Free Action ----- reached level 3/4 before ending the first session
So far things went pretty smoothly and i am more than willed to take revenge for Braxx and Eklun – we will see!
P.S. PfM worked wonders against Abazigal @Arctodus thanks to his Imprisonment while Sendai can be tricked with Guerilla tactics abusing Pocket Plane retreats. The final fight without PFM is an instant loss thanks to Remove Magics from everywhere.
Sorry i was in a rush and misread your post @Arctodus! Yes, the PFM Scroll works on Sendai and Abazigal and will only allow them to trigger their protections at the start - but they will not cast any more spells. This will definetly make things easier but is it enough?
@Arctodus I wish I could install SCS manually but ever since SoD came out that isn't possible for me on Windows, Initialise doesn't seem to work without BWS.
@Victor_Creed_SFV, seems you have your install in order again, which is nice. Just in case, you can also use @subtledoctor's SCS Hotfix. Just drop the files in the respective SCS folders. I'm playing BG1/SoD wih these fixes, and without BWS. Nice work with the Nymphs btw!
@Arctodus, I've been thinking a bit about your options. I did a quick search in NI, because my memory of all the weapons in BG2 isn't too fresh. The only weapon with a special on-hit effect that (1) doesn't allow a save and that (2) Mel isn't immune to, seems to be the FoA you already mentioned. Since Mel's immune to casting failure and enjoys increased casting speed factors (as well as APR), FoA Slow will probably not stop her from being a threat. All the other weapons either impose effects that Mel's immune to (such as the Ravager Halberd's 10% decapitation chance, or the Life Stealer +4's 15% level drain chance), or allow a save that original Mel may fail but not LoB Mel. Mel's original saves are 2/3/4/4/0. In LoB mode they are -3/-2/-1/-1/-5. There is one other option, at least in my setup: a weapon from the Rogue Rebalancing mod. I never play without it because I love the changes it makes to Bards, but if you're a purist you may not like it. Anyway, the mod's Chosen of Cyric encounter (a very hard encounter thanks to very well-written enemy AI) rewards you with the Stormcharged Axe +3, which may be upgraded to a +5 version with a 15% chance of stunning a target for one round on each hit. This is would be the only weapon in my install that could seriously debilitate Mel. Without it, a warrior in my install would have no choice but to try and kill Mel with pure damage.
@Blackraven Your link only provides me with a general page about mods not a direct link o tthe hotfix and I can't seem to find it manually. HAd to uninstall BG2 again, installing BWS for BG1 destroyed my BG2 install.
I've included the line SetPrivateProfileString('Game Options','Extra Combat Info','1') in my LUA file. It gives more detailed information on to hit and damage calculations.
When did they fix/add back that feature? It took me long enough to notice o.0 TobEx restored it.
Comments
@Victor_Creed_SFV, amazing video! What level are the Woodland Beings? That lightning strikes hard!!
I really love this thread. People have made some really good discoveries, and some tricks and strategies make the game kind of easy even on the hardest difficulty settings...
I have an update on Verity, and it comes with a question.
Verity picked up the stat boosting tomes: CHA (had to be raised by one for dual-classing purposes), CON (maximise HPs), and WIS (future Wish casting). Then visited Mutamin's garden. Had no difficulty with the eight Basilisks that weren't near the Gnome, thanks to HiPS backstabs, but she got lucky against Mutamin himself. She had left Korax alone for the time being, hoping to use him later on against Kirian & co. As had happened in earlier battles, Verity became visible at one point before she could re-enter stealth. The Gnome came after her and cast a Charm Person at her. Since this didn't occur near the area border, she needed quick protection. A potion of magic shielding would have been ideal, a potion of magic blocking less so because it would remove PfPetrification. All Verity had was the Surgeon's potion of magic protection, which merely gives 50% magic resistance. Thankfully it did its job.
With Mutamin and his two closest Basilisks divided, she could finish all three with ease, Mutamin with a devastating critical:
I normally have my characters move on to Durlag's more Basilisk slaying, but reckoned that the two Battle Horrors and the four Basilisks would be perfect sources of XP for when Verity was to be a wand-carrying mage. I've pretty much decided that I'll dual-class at level 9, for added survivability in SoD.
So Verity was "only" level 7 when she went to the Nashkel Mines. Fearing the multitude of minions, she relied mostly on ranged sneak attacks to bring Mulahey down. She used the arrows of biting from the Sirines she had slain, but she only managed to poison the Half-Orc twice (out of 43 or 44 arrows, many of which missed their target). When she found the space, she finished him off with some backstabs.
Verity also dealt with Silke, whom she lured into the Five Flagons where the thespian would waste most of her spells on charmed Karlat. When Verity appeared, the Bard had a Confusion in store for her. It found its way to Verity even after she had gone invisible and retreated. However Verity was protected by her Greenstone Amulet, so no harm done.
Finally killing Landin's spiders and handing the Gnome her belongings saw Verity reach level 8.
Rant on thieving:
In outside areas, she'll have to operate at night, and if my testing was any good, she should still be able to hide in inside areas very often. She'll have magic and potions to help her out when she fails.
Eventually the level 8 skill points went to Find Traps. The skill is now at 30, and I intend to raise it to 50 at level 9. With the dex tome in Baldur's Gate, the DUHM Bhaalpower, potions of perception and BG2's ring of danger sense, Verity should become a competent trap remover for the rest of the game. I think I'll feel safer than when having to rely on spells all the time, and besides it will allow Verity to use her spells for better purposes than neutralizing traps.
Btw Verity's lockpicking skill is 25 without having received any boosts. This means that with the ring of lockpicks, DUHM and potions of master thievery and perception even locks won't be a problem, and Verity won't have to rely on the Knock spell much, I expect.
Verity's level 8 weapon proficiency was single weapon style, for the AC bonus and for the increased crit chance. I still regret having placed the level 4 pip in TWF. Maybe it will be worthwhile to develop TWF later on (for example for shapehifting or Tensering purposes).
Verity was ambushed by Lamalha's party, but at 3:00 AM, the Shadowdancer had little difficulty picking her foes apart one at a time. She didn't suffer a single hit.
She cleaned up Tazok's tent in much the same way, starting out with Venkt, and then moving on to the others. Apart from Britik they were all archers, and none of them wore helmets (even though the Hobgoblin sprites seem to wear them). What struck me, and now I'm finally getting to the question I was alluding to at the beginning of this update, was that some of Verity's (critical) backstabs were extremely damaging. The following stabs were the winners:
According to her character record Verity can deal 8-15 damage.
The combat stats say:
- 1d8+3 from Icingdeath,
- +2 from Legacy of the Masters,
- +2 from strength (which isn't supposed to be included in the backstab multiplication) and
- +2 from "Bonus" (unspecified, innate it seems, because it's still there even when all other items are unequipped, any idea what the source could be?)
If you add these up, the damage range would have to be 8-17 actually, not 8-15. The 72 damage backstab. And even if strength was to be included in the backstab damage multiplication, would then 68 damage not be the maximum? 17 x2 critical damage x2 backstab double damage = 68 total damage. Or do extra damage bonuses apply to attacking unarmed enemies or enemies with ranged weapons? (I thought only Thac0 bonuses applied to such enemies.)
Next problem: If you start hunting down slippery Sendai good old Abazigal might start his Time Stop cast. If you get lucky he will not use it to hack you into pieces (he uses Gram +5) cause if he starts attacking you during Time Stop you are dead in seconds (41-50 damage, 8 APR, 6x GWW, 2x Critical Strike etc.). I have run through this horror hundreds of time - without the stunning axe - and i absolutely hate this fight. At least for Warriors!
However: If you get really luck - and this happens to me several times - you might take down Sendai fast enough with 2-3 GWW´s while Abazigal wastes his Time Stop for nothing so the kiting phase might starts and Mel joins the party for even more fun!
The nymphs are only level 5, so Droolit would even do almost twice as much damage (up to 120ish if failed save), but the reason I let the nymphs cast first was because Drasus party remains neutral until charname is revealed.
As to the bs damage it is as high because you rolled crits on top of it and at least the base damage gets multiplied by both crit and bs multiplier there might be additional damage sources that get multiplied not sure.
edit: just looked it up crits multiply your whole damage including strength bonus and additional weapon damage, backstab multiplies all but the str and additional weapon damage.
(base + boni excluding strength and additional weapon damage) x2 = bs dmg
(bs dmg + str and additional bonus) x2 = critical bs dmg
(8+4) x2 = 24
(24+5) x2 = 58
Now you could go the other way and just multiply all your sources and we would end up at 68.
Ofc there is that unclear 72...
The +2 bonus is btw the proficiency damage.
Icingdeath (4-11) + Legacy of the Masters (2) + Strength (2) = 8-15.
Edit I just saw your edition of your message. I can confirm what you say about attacking ranged and unarmed enemies with a melee weapon.
I've included the line SetPrivateProfileString('Game Options','Extra Combat Info','1') in my LUA file. It gives more detailed information on to hit and damage calculations. The findings are interesting:
- The +3 extra weapon damage from Icingdeath is included in the bs damage calculation.
- Extra elemental damage, like Varscona's +1 cold damage, is not.
- Attacking a ranged or unarmed enemy with a melee weapon gives a +4 bonus to both Thac0 and damage. The game calls this an "Attack of Opportunity".
- The extra +4 damage from an Attack of Opportunity gets multiplied by the backstab multiplier and then doubled by the critical hit.
The 72 damage on the Black Talon was indeed the maximum damage that Verity could have dealt:
Bs: (1d8+3 from Icingdeath + 2 from Legacy of the Masters + 4 from the opportunity attack)*2 = max 34
Critical bs (34 + 2 from Strength) *2 = 72.
Here's some screenshots, for those who are interested.
But what the hell on earth is the Big Metal Gun @Grond0 ? A special weapon from a Mod i dont know? Or just the BMU? How can it disrupt instant abilities? I hacked on Mel for quite some time now - not a single spell failure!
EDIT: The Slow from FoA works on Mel (dropping her down from 5 APR to 4 APR) but Absolute Immunity negates everything. Looks like that without +6 weapons or the ability to dispel her buffs (how?) a Warrior is doomed...
BMR + Poison Weapon is by far the best dps ingame, but it doesn't hit above 3 I think.
Droolit kinda ravaged BG city for loot but I'm saying kinda because the doors to Degrodel, Ramazith and Ragefast can't be opened with 18 ST.
Gladly I killed Ramazith outside and as expected 4x lightning onehit him.
I decided to skip Degrodel and just got the Helm manually and killed the sewer girl after charming her and leading her away from prying eyes.
I now have -11 against slash without haveing grabbed the golden Girdle yet, which should be easy enough with lightning.
With potions I can now get to -22 against crush.
(misiile and pierce is similar to slash but I have the girdle, only does Angheg plate confer 0 and not -2 for those.)
Since I need strenght after grabbing all the standard loot and the wisdom tome as less standard loot ( did the Marek quest and killed the priestesses) I then sent Droolit to the Iron Throne.
This time I didn't want to cheese as I did with my F/M/C and wands, which for a druid would be done with necklace (I have 2 atm but am gonna grab all), so I found a different way of cheese which definitely required more micro.
I started out by charming annoyng foes, but after having to rest once and only 3 enemies dead I lured them to the stairs, casting necklace out of sight 2-3 times, before they finally aggroed.
Down the stairs waited dogees and nymphes and the enemies died one by one until only the doppelganger was left who I ignored.
I tested the BMR with all three ammunition types: No one works! They just cannot hit Mel even when Absolute Immunity is down. As @Blackraven said earlier: It looks like that she is immune to spell failure anyway and so far my observations are confirming it as i havent seen it once. Even worse: She tends to use her Time Stops only when Absolute Immunity is up so even if spell failure would work you will need +6 weapons and get to her in time.
After getting more and more confident with the Totemic Druid @Victor_Creed_SFV - what do you think about his chances when going for no-reload?
What happened? After a real life interference Eklun moved a bit too far and was seen by Drasus and his friends. Even a fast retreat was not enough to save him from a Spook from Rezdan and - you know it - he failed his save running directly into the enemy. A Feeblemind followed while Drasus and Genthore took down the helpless F/D easily. What are we learning from this one? Never ever play a no-reload-run with your talking wife nearby - lol.
EDIT: FoA only hits when Absolute Immunity is down @Grond0. Even without Mel needs +4 or higher!
I hope Verity can avenge Eklun. She's just slain Aldeth for the Seniyad, and backstabbed Molkar and his buddies. She's currently chillin' at the Cloakwood Druid grove, so the Mines aren't too far away.
Re the FoA, one of the effects of Ascension must be then to bump up the weapon requirement from +3 to +4.
I think i will go with F/T again soon as i missed stealth a lot with Eklun! Maybe i should give Korgath another chance!
But first i need some rest. And another cup of tea to flush down the sorrow!
As to my thoughts on no reload and Totemic.
I don't ever play no reload. I started a couple of runs in Pillars of Eternity and I definitely could get around to liking it, but so far my experience is just not big.
But you might know my attitude towards games (and some other things in real life :P) if I think a character is op then I think it's the best in any discipline and as to the totemic I definitely think as far as LoB goes there is no better class than druid in general and I think Totemic is the premier druid.
You have to be careful till level 5 but most good classes start out that way and you can get level 5 with almost no combat.
If I did a second run with totemic and made it no reload chances are I would get to level 5 and maybe even further.
If I kept playing till I got thru BG1 it might not take too many tries but as you know my SoD experience doesn't go further than the 2nd map after BG city.
... would that work ? Would it make the last Throne fight possible for a pure fighter ??
Here is his path of destruction so far:
Finished all Candlekeep Quests ----- killed a Ghast who ambushed Korgath during travel ----- kited Shoal down shooting 40 arrows Worth to remember: even with a level 1 Dwarven F/T rolling a 6 was enough to hit her with a Composite Longbow ----- jumped to level 2/3 immediately while fully pushing Move Silently ----- calmed down Marl after some talking ----- not in thievish mood Korgath decided to kill Algernon and grab his cloak as the reputation loss can easily be leveled ----- brought a book to Firebead Elvenhair ----- watched how Drizzt was killed by Gnolls and grabbed his precious equipment ------ found the hidden Ankheg Armor in Nashkel ----- nooberized Noober ----- found mad Brage in the wilderness and took him back to the church in Nashkel ---- kited down the thievish Ogre with 34 Arrows and took his belt ---- charmed a guard in FAI and let him tank Tarnesh while sniping him down once he was out of spells ----- backstabbed evil Dorn and sold his stuff ----- helped Tenya to get back the bowl of her mother while avoiding her Command + Smash combo ----- charmed Dushai on 15th try and donated him a personal burial outside of the village to get his Ring of Free Action ----- reached level 3/4 before ending the first session
So far things went pretty smoothly and i am more than willed to take revenge for Braxx and Eklun – we will see!
P.S. PfM worked wonders against Abazigal @Arctodus thanks to his Imprisonment while Sendai can be tricked with Guerilla tactics abusing Pocket Plane retreats. The final fight without PFM is an instant loss thanks to Remove Magics from everywhere..
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Your link only provides me with a general page about mods not a direct link o tthe hotfix and I can't seem to find it manually.
HAd to uninstall BG2 again, installing BWS for BG1 destroyed my BG2 install.