@Grond0 Thanks, yeah I suspected as much but didn't figure out that you can shave 8 hours by resting before hand. The rest of the five had no chance without the mage.
Edit: aand I apparently didn't rest, possibly only pushed the done button in the rest menu. Well luckily football starts soon.
Xahrk had some big fun with the Wardens some minutes ago...
While grabbing the quest items was business as usual (buffing, running and hiding) the fight went into unexpected territory. First Xahrk buffed himself up: Strength Potion, Invulnerabilty Potion, Potion of Heroism, Oil of Speed, Regeneration Potion & Greenstone Amulet. Lets go!
The first seconds went great as Love quickly dropped two health bars cause of heavy crits - 52 damage in his face thanks to Spiders Bane!! But then not only Fear (who always guards Love) but also Pride joined in even though he had not gained any vision on Xahrk (maybe another call for help). Okay - time for the summons. Big fat Ogres joined the fun and everything tried to take out Love. Xahrk rolled several 1´s while the summons got obliterated by the Wardens. Another charge was used. And another. And another. It was pure luck that no one was targeting Xahrk himself who was finally hitting again. Love vanished right in the moment Avarice and his cloud appeared. Hah - too late little Assassin! Xahrk quickly grabbed the Wardstone and went invsible. *phew*
Downstairs he quickly activated the dummies and waited until so the path to Durlags Goblet was free.
Time to use the gold for resupplying. THIS time Sarevok shall fall...
After watching Barca maul Deportivo, the Doppelganger mage finally agroed. He put up much better battle than the rest of the five, but eventually got grinded down. Next up the mother of all collection runs, before trying Sarevok.
@Harpagornis Forgot that all together, so that on top of the Durlag's Goblet are the only dangers left before Sarevok. I'm not too worried of the final battle tbh, as there's clear tactic in it, park in corner, invisibility and burn baby burn, and now I've unlimited fireballs instead of 50. Famous last words.
Unlimited Fireballs @histamiini? My Fireball wand got 50 charges. No tricks, no glitches!
Sarevok should be no big deal - with some caution. And if i can trap my overconfidence and the always creeping in carelessness SoD should be a walk in the park too. Theoretically. The last runs told something different.
I am also thinking about a poverty run like @Grond0 plays. Totemic Druid will be great. Or better Sorcerer?
If you're thinking of a solo LoB run then I can't see any possibility for either a totemic druid or sorcerer to get past Sarevok. I think the only way to do that would be either a character with stealth or a shaman - but in either case the chances of success would still be almost indistinguishable from zero .
@Harpagornis Well not unlimited, but as many Wands as I can carry. Speaking of Fireballs, you can make Love wonder around hitting him with Fireball, and when he's separated WoMS him down, no problems there. Ice Island was feeding ground for my WoMS as I hid invisible, which was probably overkill as my save vs. spell is currently 1. But had to waste 30 charges. Now it's just matter of collecting some money to refresh WoMS and buy one additional WoF, or I could pawn some of my jewels. But the safe bet is to have some currency beyond gold no?
Seperating Love isnt working anymore @histamiini. One year ago: Yes, it worked. But today Love is ALWAYS following Love. Avarice and Pride also start to show up more and more in the last time. As i said before: It nearly looks like that the Wardens are learning.
Yeah, you might be right @Grond0. Totemic Druid will be great until the big boss battles. Too bad.
Hope i will get time to push Xahrk into SoD today. His is ready, he is prepared. Can anyone stop him? Maybe his controller.
Temple of Bhaal. Invisibility, went in, alerted Sarevok and drank invisibility potion. First waited Diarmid's PfM to run out, then tested Fireball, which was hitting Diarmid, Semaj and Tazok. Good.
Then it was just matter of spamming Fireballs, Semaj took 27 strikes (used PfU), Tazok 34 and Diarmid 36.
From previous experience I knew where Angelo was so I started burning him out. He found me in badly hurt state.
And I kited him down with the help of WoMS.
Then mother of all buffings, 5 Heroism potions, Power, Speed and Defense potions, Mirror/Blur sequencer, Fireshield Red and Blue and DUHM. And let the smacking begin.
Not at all @histamiini cause Xahrk also rolled through Sarevok!
The method was the same like always: Park Sarevok and friends in a corner and take on Angelo. As Xahrk always dispelled his protections the Ogres and Gnolls had an easy beating. Good!
After some waiting the Wand of Fire burned everone into the ground Semaj (14), Tazok (18) and Diarmid (21). The no-save against wands made this party really smooth.
With Sarevok alone Xahrk dispelled the Haste before combining Acid Arrows (61) and Wand of Frost (17). His poor brother just couldnt catch the fast-as-lightning Xahrk.
So far i must admit that this beefed-up Fighter class fits me quite well. Still a lot of punching and shooting but with some magic sparkles floating around. Cant get much better!
@Blackraven or @Grond0 told me that once and - indeed - enemies get no save against wands so full damage. Does EET change that?
Anyway: Xahrk already smashed Korlasz!
Sneaked to Porios and peaced him up -> PfU + Invisibility to reach Korlasz -> buffed up and trapped her with five summons (Ogre, Gnoll and three Wolves) -> dispelled protections and smacked her down to "injured" -> surrender
No backstabbers this time even though the Gnoll and Ogre went down. Even better: With 250k XP reached Xahrk jumped to level 9. Too bad thats max for SoD. One Fighter level lost cause 5k XP will be missing. But all the precious wands are far better - no?
Time to take all the loot, before moving on to BG once more!
No idea about EET, but probably going to remove that for the next install anyway, I'm sick and tired of the no-level cap for BG1. Four has the same Fighter level for SoD, but 10 levels of Mage on top of that which should be good. It's not until in SoA when Xahrk starts to get that hp advantage.
135 HP with Helm & Familiar is not that bad but its sure that Four´s power grows much more. Mage level 3 was just a fitting compromise between "i dont like Mages at all" and "lets push the Fighter in a creative way".
Pure Fighter would be a bit painful in this no-reload-run while the pure Mage still isnt my taste. So in the end its the "best" of two worlds merged in one. Lets see how far we can push him!
As time is lacking Xahrk will have to take some walks through the city before starting his March to Dragonspear.
In the meanwhile i will read how Four is rolling through SoD. Well - maybe. Lets see!
Interestingly Four has 137 hp (19 con+familiar+helm) for SoD, which is more than what Sir Vanderley had (also 135), although have to use Kjells helmet for Bel. Yeah I'm not really that into mages either, I try to melee everything I can rather than to think it all out. But nevertheless it's handy reserve to have.
Four is having his moment of reflections, in awe of thinking how well she did. Lets see if she eventually snaps out of it, and doesn't break her leg in the first trouble.
After admiring the dampness of the crypt few hours Four decided to move on. First mob grinded down at the bridge by never ending WoMS plug. PfU and invisibility got me to Korlasz. WoMS, 2x Durlag's Goblet, done. Well that was easy. Jewels netted 40k from the start, can't wait to get the Bag of Holding.
Helped Tsolak to kill the hunters, they were no match for hasted WoMS. Buffed up and was able to save the Dwarves with spamming WoMS, who got buffed from the cleric. With invisibility rounded all the undead up to the throne room, PfU, and after meleeing the Sentry down started spamming Sunfires (x3) and Fireballs. That's such a satisfying feeling.
2 PfU's were enough to clear the whole crypt, then killed the Fire Elementals. The lich, with Greenstone Amulet and WoMS I depleted its spells and defenses, but then something happened. I got feared from the Goblet, even wearing Kiels Helmet, how's that possible? Luckily the lich doesn't attack and the whole crypt is empty. Now I'm just humping the lich for how long?
Seriously, please tell me that the fear runs out eventually?
EDIT: Apparently at 00 hour the lich got his spells back and although lasting all them out, once he summoned the skeli I was toast. Wow can't believe it, what a way to go.
2 PfU's were enough to clear the whole crypt, then killed the Fire Elementals. The lich, with Greenstone Amulet and WoMS I depleted its spells and defenses, but then something happened. I got feared from the Goblet, even wearing Kiels Helmet, how's that possible?
Hard luck @histamiini. There is a bug associated with multiple sources of protections in the EE. I'm not certain exactly how it works, but I think in your case it would be the result of using both the Greenstone Amulet and Kiel's Helmet - possibly when the amulet charge ran out that also cancelled the fear protection from the helmet (at least temporarily).
@Grond0 Well, that sucks. Is it a bug or feature though? I'm continuing Four anyway because I'm too tired of the beginning of the game currently, but I'm just not sure if I should continue it as no-reload or not...
@histamiini it's a bug. I first came across it when noticing that elves and half-elves could get charmed when using protections like Greenstone Amulet (as a result of the interaction of their elven resistance with the immunity used). However, investigation by developers shows that there is a more general issue about the way different protections combine. I haven't checked yet to see if this is something that's been addressed in the 2.5 beta.
@Grond0 Yeah probably. I tested it out, if you use the Greenstone Amulet, then after it has ended if you then use the Durlag's Goblet, even with Kiel's Helmet on, you will get morale failure: berserk. Re-equipping Kiels Helmet after Greenstone Amulet has ended prevents that. If developers are aware of the bug, I don't probably need to report it to them. Seems like a major bug to me, and is hopefully fixed on 2.5.
@histamiini Just to tell you that I ran into that bug myself some time ago. I reported it in this very thread at the time. You should feel completely ok to continue your run no-reload.
Yeah, its a bug that has been mentioned in the past - like @Arctodus stated. Brakko died to another bug @histamiini and i decided that dead is dead - regardless of bug or no bug. Maybe thats a bit hardcore but i just couldnt touch him anymore - he was somehow tainted for me...
At the moment i am testing another character so Xahrk has to wait "a little bit". More infos later...
P.S. At the end its up to each player if he still wants to continue - or not!
Are you still going on @histamiini or thinking about your options? If you wanna play on with Four - why not?
And whats up with you @Blackraven? Wasnt it your plan to start with a F/M/C? Or have you canceled the run?
What about good old @Arctodus? I have seen your Bard suffered in hell - damn. Maybe its time for your Mage/Thief in SoD?
Mage/Thief is a good keyword! As Xahrk rolled quite hard through BG1 i was always thinking why not dualing the Mage into a Thief. Yeah, i am aware that this is "suboptimal" but you all know that i like Thieves a lot (say hello Korgath!) and this beefed up early "Use any item" bonus looks really attractive to me. I dont see any reason why he shouldnt beat BG1 and SoD even though Big B will need some good hit & run.
For the moment i must admit that i am having more fun restarting with all kinds of characters than really finishing this challenge. As happiness is the way i couldnt resist rolling Madirr the Human Invoker who dualed to Thief at level 3. Thanks to Algernons Cloak and PfP his new gaze-immune basilisk friend petrified everything in Mutamins Garden. There are statues everywhere now - how wonderful. Well, except for Lindin and Peter who still linger around - but thats for later. With level 6 reached he is now on his way to Dushai before gaining reputation back.
There is still a long way to go. Lets hope its filled with happiness.
Hey @Harpagornis ! I actually have been working on a pure mage run in my spare time : a gnome Illusionist. All the talk about the best strategy to kill Belhifet with a pure mage got me thinking, so here I go ! I'll post more about her later.
Gnome Illusionist @histamiini? That sounds like a plan. And a crazy one for sure. I like that!
Big B will be interesting as i am still not convinced by the posts around here. Heavy glitches or SR-Mod i do not count!
Holy cow! 109 tries to charm Dushai. I was nearly automatically hitting the "rest" button until the nice little charm sound was played. Finally! No new record but still not bad.
There are interesting times ahead... i can see it...
@Harpagornis Yeah still rocking Four, had some time still to play before starting my holidays. After defeating the lich (no fear this time) I made my escape. Went to the bridge invisible and hid behind the tent waiting the parley. After that was done, I sneaked invisible to the Wyrm cave and daggered Morentherene for nice sum of money. Ziatar and the mages I hit with Cloudkill and shut all the doors, then hit them with second time. Ziatar was immune to this but the two mages suffered. Then I opened the door and started spamming Fireballs, and eventually all were dead.
Buffed with Greenstone Amulet, with the help of WoMS and Durlag's Goblet I meleed Neothelid. This time I did the quick Kiel's helmet re-equip after Mind Shield ended, so no fear from the Goblet.
WoMS kept company to Akanna when I meleed the Air Servant's, I got the other one down but my Goblet was empty so I lured the Servant to the other room and came back to slice Akanna down. Hit max level of 9/10. No point of risking doing anything else in the Chapter 9 so I surrendered the fort first time ever and made my way to the coalition camp. Forgot that Ring of Purity gives another 10 hp, so I'm now at respectable 147 (142 if using the Goblet). Pretty good for half mage character.
@Arctodus I'm interested too about the Mage vs Bel fight, but as @Harpagornis I have my doubts.
As time lacked only a small update: My Invoker 3 -> Thief has still some fun while doing everything slower than usual. At the moment i like the soak up the atmosphere more than rushing forward. There is no need for a hurry - no?
However: Madirr pushed reputation to 20 once Greywolf was gone. But - holy cow! Seven traps and 177 arrows were needed to bring him down. Rolling one 1 after another (13 in total with only three crits) this took way too long. Maybe its time to grab the Wand of Monster Summons. This was one of the (rare) moments were a fighter would have shined more. Shortbows just lack some punch - should visit Meilum soon...
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Edit: aand I apparently didn't rest, possibly only pushed the done button in the rest menu.
While grabbing the quest items was business as usual (buffing, running and hiding) the fight went into unexpected territory. First Xahrk buffed himself up: Strength Potion, Invulnerabilty Potion, Potion of Heroism, Oil of Speed, Regeneration Potion & Greenstone Amulet. Lets go!
The first seconds went great as Love quickly dropped two health bars cause of heavy crits - 52 damage in his face thanks to Spiders Bane!! But then not only Fear (who always guards Love) but also Pride joined in even though he had not gained any vision on Xahrk (maybe another call for help). Okay - time for the summons. Big fat Ogres joined the fun and everything tried to take out Love. Xahrk rolled several 1´s while the summons got obliterated by the Wardens. Another charge was used. And another. And another. It was pure luck that no one was targeting Xahrk himself who was finally hitting again. Love vanished right in the moment Avarice and his cloud appeared. Hah - too late little Assassin! Xahrk quickly grabbed the Wardstone and went invsible. *phew*
Downstairs he quickly activated the dummies and waited until so the path to Durlags Goblet was free.
Time to use the gold for resupplying. THIS time Sarevok shall fall...
But as anticipation is the greatest joy i will park him for another night in the wildernis. May he sleep well.
Good luck @histamiini for the final challenges! Will you travel to the Iceland Island to get Stoneskin?
I am also thinking about a poverty run like @Grond0 plays. Totemic Druid will be great. Or better Sorcerer?
I fear both will suffer hard at the end of BG1 - not to speak about SoD and Big B. Or am i mistaken?
@Harpagornis Forgot that all together, so that on top of the Durlag's Goblet are the only dangers left before Sarevok. I'm not too worried of the final battle tbh, as there's clear tactic in it, park in corner, invisibility and burn baby burn, and now I've unlimited fireballs instead of 50. Famous last words.
Sarevok should be no big deal - with some caution. And if i can trap my overconfidence and the always creeping in carelessness SoD should be a walk in the park too. Theoretically. The last runs told something different.
Yeah, you might be right @Grond0. Totemic Druid will be great until the big boss battles. Too bad.
Hope i will get time to push Xahrk into SoD today. His is ready, he is prepared. Can anyone stop him? Maybe his controller.
Then it was just matter of spamming Fireballs, Semaj took 27 strikes (used PfU), Tazok 34 and Diarmid 36.
From previous experience I knew where Angelo was so I started burning him out. He found me in badly hurt state.
And I kited him down with the help of WoMS.
Then mother of all buffings, 5 Heroism potions, Power, Speed and Defense potions, Mirror/Blur sequencer, Fireshield Red and Blue and DUHM. And let the smacking begin.
And in no time Sarevok was down.
Four rolls on to SoD!
Did I beat you to the punch?
The method was the same like always: Park Sarevok and friends in a corner and take on Angelo. As Xahrk always dispelled his protections the Ogres and Gnolls had an easy beating. Good!
After some waiting the Wand of Fire burned everone into the ground Semaj (14), Tazok (18) and Diarmid (21). The no-save against wands made this party really smooth.
With Sarevok alone Xahrk dispelled the Haste before combining Acid Arrows (61) and Wand of Frost (17). His poor brother just couldnt catch the fast-as-lightning Xahrk.
So far i must admit that this beefed-up Fighter class fits me quite well. Still a lot of punching and shooting but with some magic sparkles floating around. Cant get much better!
Time to prepare for Korlasz...
Anyway: Xahrk already smashed Korlasz!
Sneaked to Porios and peaced him up -> PfU + Invisibility to reach Korlasz -> buffed up and trapped her with five summons (Ogre, Gnoll and three Wolves) -> dispelled protections and smacked her down to "injured" -> surrender
No backstabbers this time even though the Gnoll and Ogre went down. Even better: With 250k XP reached Xahrk jumped to level 9. Too bad thats max for SoD. One Fighter level lost cause 5k XP will be missing. But all the precious wands are far better - no?
Time to take all the loot, before moving on to BG once more!
Pure Fighter would be a bit painful in this no-reload-run while the pure Mage still isnt my taste. So in the end its the "best" of two worlds merged in one. Lets see how far we can push him!
As time is lacking Xahrk will have to take some walks through the city before starting his March to Dragonspear.
In the meanwhile i will read how Four is rolling through SoD. Well - maybe. Lets see!
Four is having his moment of reflections, in awe of thinking how well she did. Lets see if she eventually snaps out of it, and doesn't break her leg in the first trouble.
Helped Tsolak to kill the hunters, they were no match for hasted WoMS. Buffed up and was able to save the Dwarves with spamming WoMS, who got buffed from the cleric. With invisibility rounded all the undead up to the throne room, PfU, and after meleeing the Sentry down started spamming Sunfires (x3) and Fireballs. That's such a satisfying feeling.
2 PfU's were enough to clear the whole crypt, then killed the Fire Elementals. The lich, with Greenstone Amulet and WoMS I depleted its spells and defenses, but then something happened. I got feared from the Goblet, even wearing Kiels Helmet, how's that possible? Luckily the lich doesn't attack and the whole crypt is empty. Now I'm just humping the lich for how long?
Seriously, please tell me that the fear runs out eventually?
EDIT: Apparently at 00 hour the lich got his spells back and although lasting all them out, once he summoned the skeli I was toast. Wow can't believe it, what a way to go.
There's also the second question, is it normal behavior that npc's get spells back after certain period, or at 00 hours (not resting)?
At the moment i am testing another character so Xahrk has to wait "a little bit". More infos later...
P.S. At the end its up to each player if he still wants to continue - or not!
And whats up with you @Blackraven? Wasnt it your plan to start with a F/M/C? Or have you canceled the run?
What about good old @Arctodus? I have seen your Bard suffered in hell - damn. Maybe its time for your Mage/Thief in SoD?
Mage/Thief is a good keyword! As Xahrk rolled quite hard through BG1 i was always thinking why not dualing the Mage into a Thief. Yeah, i am aware that this is "suboptimal" but you all know that i like Thieves a lot (say hello Korgath!) and this beefed up early "Use any item" bonus looks really attractive to me. I dont see any reason why he shouldnt beat BG1 and SoD even though Big B will need some good hit & run.
For the moment i must admit that i am having more fun restarting with all kinds of characters than really finishing this challenge. As happiness is the way i couldnt resist rolling Madirr the Human Invoker who dualed to Thief at level 3. Thanks to Algernons Cloak and PfP his new gaze-immune basilisk friend petrified everything in Mutamins Garden. There are statues everywhere now - how wonderful. Well, except for Lindin and Peter who still linger around - but thats for later. With level 6 reached he is now on his way to Dushai before gaining reputation back.
There is still a long way to go. Lets hope its filled with happiness.
Big B will be interesting as i am still not convinced by the posts around here. Heavy glitches or SR-Mod i do not count!
Holy cow! 109 tries to charm Dushai. I was nearly automatically hitting the "rest" button until the nice little charm sound was played. Finally! No new record but still not bad.
There are interesting times ahead... i can see it...
Buffed with Greenstone Amulet, with the help of WoMS and Durlag's Goblet I meleed Neothelid. This time I did the quick Kiel's helmet re-equip after Mind Shield ended, so no fear from the Goblet.
WoMS kept company to Akanna when I meleed the Air Servant's, I got the other one down but my Goblet was empty so I lured the Servant to the other room and came back to slice Akanna down. Hit max level of 9/10. No point of risking doing anything else in the Chapter 9 so I surrendered the fort first time ever and made my way to the coalition camp. Forgot that Ring of Purity gives another 10 hp, so I'm now at respectable 147 (142 if using the Goblet). Pretty good for half mage character.
@Arctodus I'm interested too about the Mage vs Bel fight, but as @Harpagornis I have my doubts.
However: Madirr pushed reputation to 20 once Greywolf was gone. But - holy cow! Seven traps and 177 arrows were needed to bring him down. Rolling one 1 after another (13 in total with only three crits) this took way too long. Maybe its time to grab the Wand of Monster Summons. This was one of the (rare) moments were a fighter would have shined more. Shortbows just lack some punch - should visit Meilum soon...