I am really getting tired of this challenge. Damn it!!!
What already! Youngsters these days have no stamina for death, dagnabbit .
Seriously though, that's another impressive attempt. Of course, if you really want to succeed no-reload (I seem to remember you've already beaten the challenge in its required form ) then perhaps you should be trying the forbidden arcane class ...
Yeah, you are right @semiticgod! The low APR (only 2) was a main factor cause most of the time Mi needed to swing two times before she made a roll - which was time enough for Big B to land his heavy blows. The Archer just missed half APR (from two points in Weapons) so the Oil of Speed would push it to 3 and in most cases the attack roll would be instant. I should have tested it with another characater before but i must admit that i a got a bit lazy. My fault!
No luck with my runs: Bavaborass got killed by Morentherne cause - for whatever reason - he stayed half a second too long looting the nearby treasure and got kicked at the wall. The Green Dragon smiled about this unexpected meal...
I then started another attempt with Braxx the Swashbuckler but he was taken down by another infamous Archer Ambush. So what? Maybe its time for a really tough guy! Or with other words: I am rolling a Darven Defender right now. Enough of casters and stealthers for the moment - time to jump right into their face!
Nah @Grond0! Mages are still banned. At least until tomorrow!
I really got lucky rolling the DD. After ten minutes - with only one 90 so far - a big number appeared again: 96 - hah!
And so Xagul was born - ready to smash the faces of any evil in the near future. Hopefully. After kiting Shoal with 45 Arrows he jumped to level 3 and will now prepare for the Basilisk XP loop. Yeah, i am really boring. No flashy high-risk-maneuvers like @Grond0. Shame on me!
Xagul went with Long Sword and Long Bow as these one will prove useful for a long time. Lets see how many asses he can kick!
Varscona +2 and Acid Tongue +3 will do the job for BG1 and SoD. Thanks to Hell Trials Blackrazor is still in reach. But: Ring of Purity is only available for good chars in SoD. Drizzts Scimitars on the other hand are nice but not essential. Should work - will work!!
Not to forget: You can retrieve Varscona +2 right at the beginning of SoA - which makes the Irenicus Dungeon much easier!
Drizzts Equipment -> Sold! Ankheg Armor -> How Fitting Algernons Cloak -> Killed and grabbed Level 8 -> reached via Basilisk loop using 21 Stone to Flesh Scrolls Ring of Free Action -> Charmed Dushai on 61th try and buried him outside Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise -> Kited Meilum with Composite Longbow +1 Varscona +2 -> Poor Greywolf did not land a single blow Eyes of Truth Helm -> Make Neira waste spells and tanked her with DS
After pushing reputation to 20 spending some gold and doing the relevant quests Xagul also bought: Displacer Cloak, Greenstone Amulet, Sandthief Ring, Shield Amulet, Necklace of Missiles, Large Shield +1
With one Sandthief Ring charge he sneaked through to Mulahey, charmed the Cleric and feeded him to the nearby Kobolds. After grabbing his loot Xagul ran out of the Mines - untouched by any attack.
Tranzig was tricked with charmed Marl who proved to be a good tank soaking up most spells.
In the Bandit Camp Xagul charmed Taurgosz and positioned him in front of the tent. Buffed up another Santhief Ring charge made sure that he could loot the chest and talk to the prisoner before the enemies got aware of him. In @Grondo style Xagul decided to NOT use invisibilty but to just walk out of the tent (no Oil of Speed!) as he knew that Venkt would not cast Chromatic Orb first but try to CC him with Horror. Thanks to Greenstone Amulet he was in no danger and before the Mage could get out another spell Xagul was already walking out - without taking any hit!! Hakt and Britik followed but Taurgosz immediately soaked up their attention killing Hakt before Britik could take him down. Xagul smiled cause he not only got a fine Full Plate Armor but also Hakt´s precious Dead Shot +2 Bow. After grabbing the loot Xagul ignored Britik and moved on to the FAI - time for some rest!
EDIT: Luck is still on Xaguls side. With Drasus charmed and taken down by the Guards he sneaked through the Mines until arriving before Davaeorn. Xagul buffed a Potion of Magic Blocking, went invisible and tried - just for fun - to charm Davaeorn before the talking triggers. And really: The evil Mage got instantly charmed so Xagul dropped back again to let the Battle Horrors do their dirty work. It did not take a minute before Davaeorn dropped to the ground and with him the Horrors. No Necklace of Missiles burning, no kiting - just a swift and easy takedown! Xagul looted some chests and moved out of the Mines. The city of Baldurs Gate is waiting!
EDIT2: Xagul likes to go through the middle of the pack. Only with Boots of Speed and one charge of Greenstone Amulet he ran through all Sirens and Golems to grab the Constitution Tome and get out again as fast as he can. The result: Spells uneffective, all Arrows missed. Hrhr!
Got a bit dissappointed. In the candlekeep catacombs, I couldn't unlock the wisdom tome or strength tome chests ~ even with DUHM. I'm a bit bummed out, the strength would really help me. Although the character is "working" fine, I'm a bit disappointed. Not sure if I want to continue with the cleric, I miss stealth, and backstabs too much, and its going to be a while before I can use them again (although I'm sure lvl 15 is the sweet spot for this build). But, the hold person + Boon of lathander + dual wielding is a pretty cool combo, I'm finding it harder and harder to land hold spells as I progress.
Small break for me! I might try a shaman because I haven't played with that class yet, and it seems like fun!
Get the Violet Potion from Nashkel Carnival and you are fine @billy_pilgrim! As you can use Martyr´s Morningstar against Big B (even if its not that easy as we thought) you wont need it there! Hope motivation comes back soon!
Deciding to start a new character I realised I hadn't given an archer a go yet, so here's Will ...
I had to remember early on not to reduce reputation too much. That was made harder as Will simply couldn't bear any competition from other rangers and shot Drizzt after the last attacking gnoll had rendered him unconscious with its fists. He's continuing to acquire XP in the wilderness prior to tackling the main quest and has just got to level 6.
Xagul did some running through BG doing quests and getting his endgame items. Tanking the Dopplegangers in the Seven Suns was really easy with DS that i could drink another cup of tea while watching. He did not fight the Iron Throne Guards - even though i was tempted - but sneaked in and ran out before anyone could harm him. Candlekeep will be next and then Durlags Tower once more. Tanking the Wardens should work - except for Pride. But first: Candlekeep!
EDIT: Candlekeep is finished already. One Invisibilty Potion countered the Ogre Mages while in the Catacombs Xagul buffed up against Fire, Lightning and Magic Missiles running through the Phase Spiders and grabbing all Tomes. Only after the last coffin was looted he went invisble again to sneak out of this unholy place. Well - nearly. He stopped and tried - just for fun - to charm Prat. And again luck was on his side so poor Prat was taken down in no time by his own gang. With the Throwing Axe +2 Xagul sneaked out unseen - ready for Durlags Tower!
EDIT2: The Wardens in Durlags Tower were taken down with ease - at least two of them. Fully buffed Xagul lured Fear away (he is the one who always runs back to Love) and faced him in an unfair 1vs1. Without any scratch he now lured Love away from Pride (Avarice was never seen) and hacked him down in just one minute. Defensive Stance proved once again very powerful here and against the Dopplegangers on the second level. After some tanking and kiting the way was finally clear to grab Kiels Helmet and Durlags Goblet! Now lets see if we can tank Slythe too!
EDIT3: Dwarven Defenders are too strong for this challenge. Well - at least up to now!
Slythe: With Dispelling Arrow + Buffs + Defensive Stance + 3x Durlags Goblet he went down in less than 10 rounds
Cythandria: The backstabbers missed ALL of their backstabs - owned in 10 rounds. Once the Golems were lured downstairs Cythandria had no counter to Xaguls MR. Her protections got removed with Dispelling Arrows so the DD could hack her down easily
EDIT4: That was the easiest Palace Ambush of (nearly) all times - holy cow! Fully buffed Xagul first dispelled all Dopplegangers (only the Mage parked in the next room) and rushed into close combat right after soaking the attention and keeping any harm from the Dukes. With Durlags Goblet and Defensive Stance the Doppleganger proved to be no challenge so one after another went down. At the end Belt was still unijured while Liia was only barely hurt. Lol. After some waiting the Mage transformed but he was already surrounded by Guards and Xagul so he never got the chance to cast his spells thanks to dispelling and disrupting. After ~10 seconds he was history too. Even though Sarevok managed to bring down Liia to injured Xagul rushed in to protect the Duke - with success. His evil brother escaped shortly after - for now!!
In order to get evil Bhaal powers, Will had not done many of the reputation quests - and therefore not gone shopping. His search for XP was also hampered by his poor intelligence, so he decided to go to the Nashkel Mine even before getting to level 7. That was soon dealt with - stealthing through to Mulahey and charming him at the first attempt.
At the Bandit Camp, Will charmed Taurgosz to get his equipment. He then sneaked in to Tazok's tent - and survived the lightning trap before taking a potion of invisibility to escape.
After resting to get Bhaal horror, Will set out to complete some reputation quests left earlier. He also used stealth to charm the sirines at the Lighthouse without risk before switching his crossbow for a long bow to shoot the golems (to take advantage of the free magic arrows found in his travels). He got up to level 7 there.
After skipping through the Cloakwood Drasus' companions were charmed. For a change, Drasus himself was injured while fighting a guard before being finished off with stealth shots. In the mine Will stealthed down to the bottom level before pulling the battle horrors back to the level exit. He then spent quite a long time stealthing up and down attacking them with a non-proficient scimitar. Eventually that was done and the coast was clear for him to charm a guard and send it to kill Davaeorn.
Arriving in the City, Will did a couple of reputation tasks to push that up to 20 before having another lengthy cat and mouse combat with Drelik and his master. With the Helm of Glory pushing charisma up to 17, Will finally did some shopping. The light crossbow of speed was one of his purchases - that will significantly reduce the time required to kite enemies.
Back in the City there was more use of stealth attacks and area transitions to kill Shandalar's daughters (Necklace of Missiles), Ragefast (nymph cloak) and Sunin (greed). A number of further encounters followed until, with all desired equipment acquired, I decided to take the cautious approach at the Iron Throne and just sneak in.
The items gained had included the tome of intelligence, so Will could now use green scrolls easily. However, with his final level now achieved he didn't bother going basilisk hunting but just took a trip to Candlekeep - using a potion of magic blocking on arrival to disappoint the waiting ogre magi (I find the auto-save for chapter start interrupts intended actions there, so that taking a potion of invisibility ahead of being targeted with spells is not easy).
Will didn't use any resources to protect against traps in the catacombs, but a potion of fire giant strength was consumed to be able to loot the tomes. After stealthing past the dopplegangers Will then couldn't resist trying to charm Prat's party one by one and feed them to the hungry spiders. That worked fine with Bor, but Will had to use a potion of invisibility while working on Sakul as the phase spiders teleported to him at one point as soon as stealth broke - even though he was out of sight of anything at the time. When he did eventually charm Sakul he tried to select him to move him to the spiders, but found he wasn't selectable. Instead, the cursor was treating the selection command as a desire to talk to him - which resulted in Will going into sight of Prat and turning everyone hostile. In retreating from them he also got surrounded by phase spiders and had to use more potion resources to fight his way out of that. He added a green scroll of PfP to shoot up the basilisks, before deciding that enough was enough and running away.
Regrettably the coward's decision there proved a poor one. Without thinking about it, I used the map screen to send Will back to the edge of the map near the Candlekeep gate and took the opportunity to quickly update the above notes while he was moving. I obviously took too long about that though as when I returned to the game either Will's stealth had broken or the ogre magi had detected him - once visible his death would have been only a matter of moments ...
I didn't fancy restarting Will again immediately, so dug Fizzle the wild mage out of her last grave for another attempt.
Things didn't look too promising on her first visit to High Hedge when she failed to learn invisibility from the 3 scrolls available. However, she soon got an XP boost from her pseudo-dragon eating a bunch of basilisks. In the same area Korax helped out with Mutamin before Kirian's companions were all charmed. Fizzle had managed to learn stinking cloud and a couple of attempts using that successfully charmed Kirian as well.
Plenty of work in the wilderness included a number of sirines (the familiar sighting them for Fizzle to try charms) to push Fizzle up to level 7. The golems were left for a while though until magic bullets are cheaper. With so much work being done using kiting though, there was always a danger of losing concentration and that nearly led to the end of the run in the Lake area. While kiting round the half-ogres a ghoul joined in the chase and the different speed that moves at introduces an additional complication. At one point I left the familiar at what I thought was a safe distance from the ghoul while doing a bit of running round with the half-ogres. However, when I checked back on the familiar's location I was just in time to see it being held by the ghoul . With time now of the essence Fizzle took a potion of speed and rushed back to distract the ghoul. There was then some tricky micro-management required to pull the ghoul away without letting the half-ogres attack the familiar - but on this occasion that was all done successfully.
The odd spell cast - such as friends and LMD to finish off wounded enemies - have not caused any surges yet. Fizzle has used very few resources to date - one charge of a magic missile wand in addition to the potion of speed. She will probably be looking to get some monsters going next though.
Deciding to start a new character I realised I hadn't given an archer a go yet, so here's Will ...
Nice ehh... crossbow Grond0! Sorry Will didn't make it into SoD. I still believe Archers have good potential. @Harpagornis's Archer Mi goed to show that. Sorry Harpo (can I call you that?), that she didn't make it with Martyr's Morningstar. Hopefully your Dwarven Defender will avenge her
Xagul proved once again that DD are not from this world. He tanked Angelo - while protected from Magic - and burned Semaj, Tazok and Diarmid down. Just as usual. He then dispelled Sarevok and kited him down to "badly wounded" with Acid Arrows and switched then to tanking. With Defensive Stance and Durlags Goblet Sarevok (and two Skeleton Warriors) were unable to take him out - unlike his evil brother who got obliterated with a final 24 damage hit.
SoD is waiting once more. With skipping and tricking there shouldnt be any huge problems getting to Big B again. And this time he will pay for his arrogance!!!
EDIT: Korlasz has fallen! Xagul did not charm anyone this time but went for a straight 1 vs all. Buffed up he combined Dispelling and Acid Arrows with Invisibility Potions until Korlasz was down to "injured". As the enemies could spot him for less than a moment he got only damaged as some mid-air arrows hit him after the surrender talking was over. With still 110 HP left that was nothing more than a small scratch. Pah! Time to loot and move on to Baldurs Gate again!
@Harpagornis I haven't played the monk in weeks the videos on my channel are from when I started it, I played all the way thru to level 18, since those gauntlets are so op. I also installed and tested out the HLA kit @Blackraven recommended to me and it is really awesome since you get undispellable improved invis which you can combine with turning your magres into phys res. With 78 phys res, no mag res but halfling saves (all -6 to -10) and undispellable improved invis the Monk can tank anything in ToB. But since Droolit's save file crashed I haven't been really motivated to play BG at all, hopefully it will come back soon.
Wouldn't it be better to use short swords than longswords against Belhifet? The Fractal Blade +3 should be able to remove his Improved Invisibility, which otherwise would give him +4 AC.
Removing invisibility would be good if he doesn't recast it. I think Harpagornis posted before that he can recast at will, so removing it could potentially just result in him getting more opportunities to attack you while fully invisible.
Yeah, Fractal Blade +3 is another decent choice even though the Dispelling is tricky. Sometimes Big B goes invisible again immediately sometimes he waits for one, two or even three rounds - especially when he gates in new demons instead. This would give you a small time window for easier hits. But as you have to wait and circle to lure the other demons away he will most likely go invisble before you get another attacking chance. The damage on the other hand cannot compete with the Acid Tongue +3. Your choice!
At the Valley of the Tombs Fizzle kited some ghasts to acquire a wand of monster summoning. She put that to use to get Meilum's bracers - 4 charges forging a path through the kobold hordes before 6 charges from the wand of frost wore down Meilum. That rate of resource exchange wouldn't make sense in the Nashkel Mine, so Fizzle used a potion of invisibility to get through to Mulahey - he was then charmed. To conserve his potions Fizzle buffed up with Armor and Blur and just ran past the kobolds and oozes on the way out - that was a bit of a risk, but he was only hit once.
Without invisibility available Fizzle just stayed out of the way and let the guards kill Nimbul. In Beregost Marl and Dunkin were recruited to help against Tranzig, but during the fight Fizzle was a touch slow to react to a chromatic orb at one point and had to save against the instant death effect .
Before going to the Bandit Camp Fizzle used another charge of monsters to clear a path in the ankheg nest to a treasure trove. Talking to Farmer Brun then got her both to level 8 and up to reputation 20, allowing her to benefit from best shop prices.
A bit of shopping was followed by a return trip to the Lighthouse area to shoot down the golems. Fizzle then went to Durlag's Tower in search of the tome there. She used wand of frost blasts to kill a couple of battle horrors and a mixture of kiting and fire wand on the ghasts (hoping for a random drop of an invisibility scroll, but without joy). She also used a potion of mirrored eyes to provide protection while the familiar ate some more basilisks - that boosted XP enough to get her 9th and final BG1 level.
Moving swiftly on, Fizzle only charmed Taurgosz at the Bandit Camp - using a charge from the invisibility ring and an invisibility potion to loot Tazok's tent. She ran through the Cloakwood, wearing her ring of free action and charmed Drasus & co - the use of the familiar to sight Drasus allowing Fizzle to attempt charming without reaction despite the lack of invisibility. Drasus somehow managed to shake off the charm before some wolves finished wearing him down, so Fizzle summoned some monsters to complete the job.
Inside the mine Fizzle used a charge of the invisibility ring and one of the shield amulet against magic missile traps. Damage from other traps was repaired by a potion of regeneration on the way down to Davaeorn. The guard there resisted being charmed, but couldn't resist some summons. A couple of fireballs from a distance brought the battle horrors out and more wand use cut them down before Fizzle tried more fireballs out on Davaeorn. They didn't have too much effect though before the mage reacted and Fizzle had to use a potion of magic shielding to ensure survival against Davaeorn's sequencer. She failed with a paralysation attempt on Davaeorn and some summoned monsters were outclassed by the arriving guards, so Fizzle ran away.
After scraping together the funds to recharge her fireball capability, Fizzle returned to the mine and once more used her invisibility ring to go and find Davaeorn. Once all of the guards had arrived there and surrounded Davaeorn she fireballed the group repeatedly before using monster summons and a potion of magic blocking to finish off Davaeorn. Fizzle failed to learn Knock to loot the area, but still went ahead and flooded the mine. She's just arrived in Baldur's Gate.
In the City I decided Fizzle had worked hard enough to be given a treat and she glugged potions of genius in order to ensure she learnt invisibility (and lots of other spells).
Jalantha was charmed and beaten up by her own minions while Lothander and Marek lost out to hasted summons. Ramazith also went down to monsters before Fizzle climbed his tower invisibly. She had her first wild surge when trying to go invisible again to come down, but it was a harmless effect.
Her equipment available was soon augmented by the Balduran and Nymph Cloaks and more summons helped her add 2 more Necklaces to her collection. Fizzle then investigated the Iron Throne invisibly before reporting for duty in Candlekeep.
A potion of magic blocking allowed her to get safely past the ogre magi into Candlekeep, but then Drat, Drat, Double-Drat and a large helping of Drat on the side ...
I've noticed on a number of occasions that ogre magi occasionally follow characters into the Candlekeep compound, so I was on the lookout for that possibility. However, there was no sign of that happening this time, so Fizzle moved on into the library. Unfortunately, I assumed that was safe territory and didn't pause the game before updating my notes. On going back to the game it appeared that either one or more ogre magi had been very slow following Fizzle into Candlekeep, or they had done so invisibly and left their visible colleagues outside.
However they'd done it though it was a sad end to what had been, up to that point, a hard-working but pretty good run.
Holy cow!!! Xagul has nearly died to one of the Household Guards in the Elfsong Tavern...
As Durlags Goblet was out of charges - and i did not want to retreat - he had to drink several Extra Healing Potions. Without Defensive Stance they would have obliterated him...
Why are they so deadly? As they drink immediately Potion of Fire Giant Strenght they do 36-48 damage and have 4,5 APR. With other words: They can compete with Big B damagewise.
Okay - a bit more care next time. Xagul will soon be ready to start the March to Dragonspear. Hopefully!
EDIT: Tanking the spider groups at Coastway Crossing was easier than one of the Guards. Fast and easy XP!
EDIT2: Coastway Crossing is done! The petrifying Mage can be tricked: Just attack her and the Golem Guard without talking so they will remain neutral. Sided with the Vampire and hacked the Hunters apart (with Golem ally). Brought back all Heirlooms for reward: Mirror of Identification. Visited all Menhirs and helped Crommus. With PfU Xagul sided with the Coldhearth Lich - fast and easy XP! All in all no real challenge - the Temple of Bhaal will be more exciting!
Thats why i always use a Invisibility Potion for the Ogre Mage ambush @Grond0.
I used to do that in BGT, but I've struggled with the mechanics of the transition in the EE which are complicated by the autosave triggering on arrival - as a result I've often not been able to pause before the ogre magi are active (and invisibility is not a good choice if spells are already being cast at you). I guess I just need to get into the habit of always pausing the game whenever I'm not watching the action ...
Nah, the timing isnt that hard @Grond0 - if you keep an eye on the action. With Inv. Potion the Ogre Mages should not hit you - at least on my runs i never had any problems here. But if they follow into Candlekeep after Potion of Magic Blocking: Why not gulping a Inv. Potion before entering to break engagement? Would Auto-Pause help here? Hope you are on the run soon again!
Nah, the timing isnt that hard @Grond0 - if you keep an eye on the action. With Inv. Potion the Ogre Mages should not hit you - at least on my runs i never had any problems here. But if they follow into Candlekeep after Potion of Magic Blocking: Why not gulping a Inv. Potion before entering to break engagement? Would Auto-Pause help here? Hope you are on the run soon again!
I'm not worried about melee attacks, but if a chromatic orb spell is already on its way then invisibility is not a great choice . The ogre magi can also cast both detect invisibility and glitterdust, so you need to be able to break contact quickly before reappearing. I'm pretty sure by the way that you have had problems with this encounter at least once and that you had to resort to something other than an invisibility potion - I remember reading a post and thinking to myself that I was glad I wasn't the only one.
...
I just did a bit of testing on the transition. Part of my concern was that after the transition there's a small time gap (which looks a bit like a cut-scene) before the auto-save triggers. I remember trying to cast an invisibility spell during that period and the command being broken by the auto-save and I was worried that other actions actually completed during that period might be undone as well. You can't pause during the auto-save and there's then very little time after that before the ogre magi appear from invisibility and cast - hence my problem that I've tended to only manage to pause and be free to take an action once spells are already on the way (as I play at 60 fps it's likely that I will have more problems with timing in this situation than someone playing at 30 fps).
However, I have now checked that taking a potion in the period before the auto-save triggers is effective, so I'll probably plump for taking an invisibility potion then in future games .
You are right i had trouble once but that was cause i was too slow and used Sandthief Ring (which is slower) so the Magic Missiles and Horrors went out before. Detect Invisibilty or Glitterdust are no problem - just make sure to equip Whispers of Silence Cloak.
just make sure to equip Whispers of Silence Cloak.
Interesting you mention that. I tend to find that gets crowded out of my inventory, what with all the wands, boots, belts, other cloaks etc. Do you prioritise this cloak or are you using a bag of holding to avoid inventory constraints?
Comments
Seriously though, that's another impressive attempt. Of course, if you really want to succeed no-reload (I seem to remember you've already beaten the challenge in its required form
I then started another attempt with Braxx the Swashbuckler but he was taken down by another infamous Archer Ambush. So what? Maybe its time for a really tough guy! Or with other words: I am rolling a Darven Defender right now. Enough of casters and stealthers for the moment - time to jump right into their face!
Nah @Grond0! Mages are still banned. At least until tomorrow!
And so Xagul was born - ready to smash the faces of any evil in the near future. Hopefully. After kiting Shoal with 45 Arrows he jumped to level 3 and will now prepare for the Basilisk XP loop. Yeah, i am really boring. No flashy high-risk-maneuvers like @Grond0. Shame on me!
Xagul went with Long Sword and Long Bow as these one will prove useful for a long time. Lets see how many asses he can kick!
Not to forget: You can retrieve Varscona +2 right at the beginning of SoA - which makes the Irenicus Dungeon much easier!
Drizzts Equipment -> Sold!
Ankheg Armor -> How Fitting
Algernons Cloak -> Killed and grabbed
Level 8 -> reached via Basilisk loop using 21 Stone to Flesh Scrolls
Ring of Free Action -> Charmed Dushai on 61th try and buried him outside
Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise -> Kited Meilum with Composite Longbow +1
Varscona +2 -> Poor Greywolf did not land a single blow
Eyes of Truth Helm -> Make Neira waste spells and tanked her with DS
After pushing reputation to 20 spending some gold and doing the relevant quests Xagul also bought: Displacer Cloak, Greenstone Amulet, Sandthief Ring, Shield Amulet, Necklace of Missiles, Large Shield +1
With one Sandthief Ring charge he sneaked through to Mulahey, charmed the Cleric and feeded him to the nearby Kobolds. After grabbing his loot Xagul ran out of the Mines - untouched by any attack.
Tranzig was tricked with charmed Marl who proved to be a good tank soaking up most spells.
In the Bandit Camp Xagul charmed Taurgosz and positioned him in front of the tent. Buffed up another Santhief Ring charge made sure that he could loot the chest and talk to the prisoner before the enemies got aware of him. In @Grondo style Xagul decided to NOT use invisibilty but to just walk out of the tent (no Oil of Speed!) as he knew that Venkt would not cast Chromatic Orb first but try to CC him with Horror. Thanks to Greenstone Amulet he was in no danger and before the Mage could get out another spell Xagul was already walking out - without taking any hit!! Hakt and Britik followed but Taurgosz immediately soaked up their attention killing Hakt before Britik could take him down. Xagul smiled cause he not only got a fine Full Plate Armor but also Hakt´s precious Dead Shot +2 Bow. After grabbing the loot Xagul ignored Britik and moved on to the FAI - time for some rest!
EDIT: Luck is still on Xaguls side. With Drasus charmed and taken down by the Guards he sneaked through the Mines until arriving before Davaeorn. Xagul buffed a Potion of Magic Blocking, went invisible and tried - just for fun - to charm Davaeorn before the talking triggers. And really: The evil Mage got instantly charmed so Xagul dropped back again to let the Battle Horrors do their dirty work. It did not take a minute before Davaeorn dropped to the ground and with him the Horrors. No Necklace of Missiles burning, no kiting - just a swift and easy takedown! Xagul looted some chests and moved out of the Mines. The city of Baldurs Gate is waiting!
EDIT2: Xagul likes to go through the middle of the pack. Only with Boots of Speed and one charge of Greenstone Amulet he ran through all Sirens and Golems to grab the Constitution Tome and get out again as fast as he can. The result: Spells uneffective, all Arrows missed. Hrhr!
Small break for me! I might try a shaman because I haven't played with that class yet, and it seems like fun!
I had to remember early on not to reduce reputation too much. That was made harder as Will simply couldn't bear any competition from other rangers and shot Drizzt after the last attacking gnoll had rendered him unconscious with its fists. He's continuing to acquire XP in the wilderness prior to tackling the main quest and has just got to level 6.
Xagul did some running through BG doing quests and getting his endgame items. Tanking the Dopplegangers in the Seven Suns was really easy with DS that i could drink another cup of tea while watching. He did not fight the Iron Throne Guards - even though i was tempted - but sneaked in and ran out before anyone could harm him. Candlekeep will be next and then Durlags Tower once more. Tanking the Wardens should work - except for Pride. But first: Candlekeep!
EDIT: Candlekeep is finished already. One Invisibilty Potion countered the Ogre Mages while in the Catacombs Xagul buffed up against Fire, Lightning and Magic Missiles running through the Phase Spiders and grabbing all Tomes. Only after the last coffin was looted he went invisble again to sneak out of this unholy place. Well - nearly. He stopped and tried - just for fun - to charm Prat. And again luck was on his side so poor Prat was taken down in no time by his own gang. With the Throwing Axe +2 Xagul sneaked out unseen - ready for Durlags Tower!
EDIT2: The Wardens in Durlags Tower were taken down with ease - at least two of them. Fully buffed Xagul lured Fear away (he is the one who always runs back to Love) and faced him in an unfair 1vs1. Without any scratch he now lured Love away from Pride (Avarice was never seen) and hacked him down in just one minute. Defensive Stance proved once again very powerful here and against the Dopplegangers on the second level. After some tanking and kiting the way was finally clear to grab Kiels Helmet and Durlags Goblet! Now lets see if we can tank Slythe too!
EDIT3: Dwarven Defenders are too strong for this challenge. Well - at least up to now!
Slythe: With Dispelling Arrow + Buffs + Defensive Stance + 3x Durlags Goblet he went down in less than 10 rounds
Cythandria: The backstabbers missed ALL of their backstabs - owned in 10 rounds. Once the Golems were lured downstairs Cythandria had no counter to Xaguls MR. Her protections got removed with Dispelling Arrows so the DD could hack her down easily
EDIT4: That was the easiest Palace Ambush of (nearly) all times - holy cow! Fully buffed Xagul first dispelled all Dopplegangers (only the Mage parked in the next room) and rushed into close combat right after soaking the attention and keeping any harm from the Dukes. With Durlags Goblet and Defensive Stance the Doppleganger proved to be no challenge so one after another went down. At the end Belt was still unijured while Liia was only barely hurt. Lol. After some waiting the Mage transformed but he was already surrounded by Guards and Xagul so he never got the chance to cast his spells thanks to dispelling and disrupting. After ~10 seconds he was history too. Even though Sarevok managed to bring down Liia to injured Xagul rushed in to protect the Duke - with success. His evil brother escaped shortly after - for now!!
At the Bandit Camp, Will charmed Taurgosz to get his equipment. He then sneaked in to Tazok's tent - and survived the lightning trap
After resting to get Bhaal horror, Will set out to complete some reputation quests left earlier. He also used stealth to charm the sirines at the Lighthouse without risk before switching his crossbow for a long bow to shoot the golems (to take advantage of the free magic arrows found in his travels). He got up to level 7 there.
After skipping through the Cloakwood Drasus' companions were charmed. For a change, Drasus himself was injured while fighting a guard before being finished off with stealth shots. In the mine Will stealthed down to the bottom level before pulling the battle horrors back to the level exit. He then spent quite a long time stealthing up and down attacking them with a non-proficient scimitar. Eventually that was done and the coast was clear for him to charm a guard and send it to kill Davaeorn.
Arriving in the City, Will did a couple of reputation tasks to push that up to 20 before having another lengthy cat and mouse combat with Drelik and his master. With the Helm of Glory pushing charisma up to 17, Will finally did some shopping. The light crossbow of speed was one of his purchases - that will significantly reduce the time required to kite enemies.
The items gained had included the tome of intelligence, so Will could now use green scrolls easily. However, with his final level now achieved he didn't bother going basilisk hunting but just took a trip to Candlekeep - using a potion of magic blocking on arrival to disappoint the waiting ogre magi (I find the auto-save for chapter start interrupts intended actions there, so that taking a potion of invisibility ahead of being targeted with spells is not easy).
Will didn't use any resources to protect against traps in the catacombs, but a potion of fire giant strength was consumed to be able to loot the tomes. After stealthing past the dopplegangers Will then couldn't resist trying to charm Prat's party one by one and feed them to the hungry spiders. That worked fine with Bor, but Will had to use a potion of invisibility while working on Sakul as the phase spiders teleported to him at one point as soon as stealth broke - even though he was out of sight of anything at the time. When he did eventually charm Sakul he tried to select him to move him to the spiders, but found he wasn't selectable. Instead, the cursor was treating the selection command as a desire to talk to him - which resulted in Will going into sight of Prat and turning everyone hostile. In retreating from them he also got surrounded by phase spiders and had to use more potion resources to fight his way out of that. He added a green scroll of PfP to shoot up the basilisks, before deciding that enough was enough and running away.
Regrettably the coward's decision there proved a poor one. Without thinking about it, I used the map screen to send Will back to the edge of the map near the Candlekeep gate and took the opportunity to quickly update the above notes while he was moving. I obviously took too long about that though as when I returned to the game either Will's stealth had broken or the ogre magi had detected him - once visible his death would have been only a matter of moments ...
Things didn't look too promising on her first visit to High Hedge when she failed to learn invisibility from the 3 scrolls available. However, she soon got an XP boost from her pseudo-dragon eating a bunch of basilisks. In the same area Korax helped out with Mutamin before Kirian's companions were all charmed. Fizzle had managed to learn stinking cloud and a couple of attempts using that successfully charmed Kirian as well.
Plenty of work in the wilderness included a number of sirines (the familiar sighting them for Fizzle to try charms) to push Fizzle up to level 7. The golems were left for a while though until magic bullets are cheaper. With so much work being done using kiting though, there was always a danger of losing concentration and that nearly led to the end of the run in the Lake area. While kiting round the half-ogres a ghoul joined in the chase and the different speed that moves at introduces an additional complication. At one point I left the familiar at what I thought was a safe distance from the ghoul while doing a bit of running round with the half-ogres. However, when I checked back on the familiar's location I was just in time to see it being held by the ghoul
The odd spell cast - such as friends and LMD to finish off wounded enemies - have not caused any surges yet. Fizzle has used very few resources to date - one charge of a magic missile wand in addition to the potion of speed. She will probably be looking to get some monsters going next though.
Yeah Archers are great and i am sure that with Longsword (Demon Arch Enemy!) Mi would have killed Big B. My fault!
Good luck @Grond0 with Fizzle! Some updated regarding your SoA Monk @Victor_Creed_SFV?
Xagul proved once again that DD are not from this world. He tanked Angelo - while protected from Magic - and burned Semaj, Tazok and Diarmid down. Just as usual. He then dispelled Sarevok and kited him down to "badly wounded" with Acid Arrows and switched then to tanking. With Defensive Stance and Durlags Goblet Sarevok (and two Skeleton Warriors) were unable to take him out - unlike his evil brother who got obliterated with a final 24 damage hit.
SoD is waiting once more. With skipping and tricking there shouldnt be any huge problems getting to Big B again. And this time he will pay for his arrogance!!!
EDIT: Korlasz has fallen! Xagul did not charm anyone this time but went for a straight 1 vs all. Buffed up he combined Dispelling and Acid Arrows with Invisibility Potions until Korlasz was down to "injured". As the enemies could spot him for less than a moment he got only damaged as some mid-air arrows hit him after the surrender talking was over. With still 110 HP left that was nothing more than a small scratch. Pah! Time to loot and move on to Baldurs Gate again!
I haven't played the monk in weeks the videos on my channel are from when I started it, I played all the way thru to level 18, since those gauntlets are so op.
I also installed and tested out the HLA kit @Blackraven recommended to me and it is really awesome since you get undispellable improved invis which you can combine with turning your magres into phys res.
With 78 phys res, no mag res but halfling saves (all -6 to -10) and undispellable improved invis the Monk can tank anything in ToB.
But since Droolit's save file crashed I haven't been really motivated to play BG at all, hopefully it will come back soon.
Without invisibility available Fizzle just stayed out of the way and let the guards kill Nimbul. In Beregost Marl and Dunkin were recruited to help against Tranzig, but during the fight Fizzle was a touch slow to react to a chromatic orb at one point and had to save against the instant death effect
Before going to the Bandit Camp Fizzle used another charge of monsters to clear a path in the ankheg nest to a treasure trove. Talking to Farmer Brun then got her both to level 8 and up to reputation 20, allowing her to benefit from best shop prices.
A bit of shopping was followed by a return trip to the Lighthouse area to shoot down the golems. Fizzle then went to Durlag's Tower in search of the tome there. She used wand of frost blasts to kill a couple of battle horrors and a mixture of kiting and fire wand on the ghasts (hoping for a random drop of an invisibility scroll, but without joy). She also used a potion of mirrored eyes to provide protection while the familiar ate some more basilisks - that boosted XP enough to get her 9th and final BG1 level.
Moving swiftly on, Fizzle only charmed Taurgosz at the Bandit Camp - using a charge from the invisibility ring and an invisibility potion to loot Tazok's tent. She ran through the Cloakwood, wearing her ring of free action and charmed Drasus & co - the use of the familiar to sight Drasus allowing Fizzle to attempt charming without reaction despite the lack of invisibility. Drasus somehow managed to shake off the charm before some wolves finished wearing him down, so Fizzle summoned some monsters to complete the job.
Inside the mine Fizzle used a charge of the invisibility ring and one of the shield amulet against magic missile traps. Damage from other traps was repaired by a potion of regeneration on the way down to Davaeorn. The guard there resisted being charmed, but couldn't resist some summons. A couple of fireballs from a distance brought the battle horrors out and more wand use cut them down before Fizzle tried more fireballs out on Davaeorn. They didn't have too much effect though before the mage reacted and Fizzle had to use a potion of magic shielding to ensure survival against Davaeorn's sequencer. She failed with a paralysation attempt on Davaeorn and some summoned monsters were outclassed by the arriving guards, so Fizzle ran away.
After scraping together the funds to recharge her fireball capability, Fizzle returned to the mine and once more used her invisibility ring to go and find Davaeorn. Once all of the guards had arrived there and surrounded Davaeorn she fireballed the group repeatedly before using monster summons and a potion of magic blocking to finish off Davaeorn. Fizzle failed to learn Knock to loot the area, but still went ahead and flooded the mine. She's just arrived in Baldur's Gate.
Jalantha was charmed and beaten up by her own minions while Lothander and Marek lost out to hasted summons. Ramazith also went down to monsters before Fizzle climbed his tower invisibly. She had her first wild surge when trying to go invisible again to come down, but it was a harmless effect.
Her equipment available was soon augmented by the Balduran and Nymph Cloaks and more summons helped her add 2 more Necklaces to her collection. Fizzle then investigated the Iron Throne invisibly before reporting for duty in Candlekeep.
A potion of magic blocking allowed her to get safely past the ogre magi into Candlekeep, but then Drat, Drat, Double-Drat and a large helping of Drat on the side ...
I've noticed on a number of occasions that ogre magi occasionally follow characters into the Candlekeep compound, so I was on the lookout for that possibility. However, there was no sign of that happening this time, so Fizzle moved on into the library. Unfortunately, I assumed that was safe territory and didn't pause the game before updating my notes. On going back to the game it appeared that either one or more ogre magi had been very slow following Fizzle into Candlekeep, or they had done so invisibly and left their visible colleagues outside.
However they'd done it though it was a sad end to what had been, up to that point, a hard-working but pretty good run.
No incoming spells, no following. And much cheaper than Potion of Magic Blocking!
Too bad - looked like a pretty decent run up to this point. Maybe next time!!!
As Durlags Goblet was out of charges - and i did not want to retreat - he had to drink several Extra Healing Potions. Without Defensive Stance they would have obliterated him...
Why are they so deadly? As they drink immediately Potion of Fire Giant Strenght they do 36-48 damage and have 4,5 APR. With other words: They can compete with Big B damagewise.
Okay - a bit more care next time. Xagul will soon be ready to start the March to Dragonspear. Hopefully!
EDIT: Tanking the spider groups at Coastway Crossing was easier than one of the Guards. Fast and easy XP!
EDIT2: Coastway Crossing is done! The petrifying Mage can be tricked: Just attack her and the Golem Guard without talking so they will remain neutral. Sided with the Vampire and hacked the Hunters apart (with Golem ally). Brought back all Heirlooms for reward: Mirror of Identification. Visited all Menhirs and helped Crommus. With PfU Xagul sided with the Coldhearth Lich - fast and easy XP! All in all no real challenge - the Temple of Bhaal will be more exciting!
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I just did a bit of testing on the transition. Part of my concern was that after the transition there's a small time gap (which looks a bit like a cut-scene) before the auto-save triggers. I remember trying to cast an invisibility spell during that period and the command being broken by the auto-save and I was worried that other actions actually completed during that period might be undone as well. You can't pause during the auto-save and there's then very little time after that before the ogre magi appear from invisibility and cast - hence my problem that I've tended to only manage to pause and be free to take an action once spells are already on the way (as I play at 60 fps it's likely that I will have more problems with timing in this situation than someone playing at 30 fps).
However, I have now checked that taking a potion in the period before the auto-save triggers is effective, so I'll probably plump for taking an invisibility potion then in future games
You are right i had trouble once but that was cause i was too slow and used Sandthief Ring (which is slower) so the Magic Missiles and Horrors went out before. Detect Invisibilty or Glitterdust are no problem - just make sure to equip Whispers of Silence Cloak.