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Essery the Fighter vs A Horrifically Modded Baldur's Gate 1

OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,079
edited September 2017 in Challenges and Playthroughs
This playthrough pits my protagonist Essery, an elf fighter, against a Baldur's Gate 1 that has been dramatically transformed by a megamod made by me called High Power Baldur's Gate. The mod gives everybody - both the party and the enemies they fight - absolutely ridiculous innate abilities and passive effects. Some characters might have permanent Aura Cleansing; others might be able to do over 50 damage in a single hit. Everyone is given powers they have no right to have. Even a kobold might be able to cast Bigby's Crushing Hand. The good news is that the good guys have awesome powers as well. You can learn more about the mod here.

NOTE: The events in this first post took place in an old version of the mod, before it was even released. Some elements of the mod mentioned below have been changed in the newest version.

Here's my character:



(I made it so that fighters can start with up to three proficiency points in a weapon)


So, to start off, Essery went in the inn to buy stuff from Winthrop. Winthrop now sells a Gem Bag, a Potion Case, a Scroll Case, and an Ammo Belt. Essery bought all those and then he didn't have enough money left to buy armor. He bought himself a helmet, a shield, two battleaxes and some throwing axes. In addition, he has a magical staff which player characters now start with instead of the normal quarterstaff:




But that's not what makes Essery really interesting. What makes him interesting is his selection of innate abilities. Just about everyone now has innate abilities. Characters created by the player get different abilities depending on their class and their kit. Being an unkitted fighter, Essery gets the following abilities:

- Smite 1x/day
- Critical Strike 2x/day
- Power Attack at will

Smite and Critical Strike are the same abilities that warriors get at high levels in Throne of Bhaal. To summarize, Critical Strike makes it so that every attack you make in the next round is a critical hit. Smite also makes it so that every attack you make in the next round is a critical hit, but also makes it so that all your attacks in the next two rounds knock the target back.

However, Power Attack is not the same ability as in Throne of Bhaal; that ability is called Stunning Attack here. In this mod, Power Attack is based on the 3rd edition Power Attack, where your attacks do more damage but are less accurate. Essery can choose to gain up to +5 damage with up to a -5 THAC0 penalty. This works with both melee and ranged weapons.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Any attack that is a critical hit automatically hits, even if the attack was not a natural 20 and the roll normally wouldn't have been good enough to hit.


Essery went upstairs. He found that someone had left their black clothes lying on the ground.



Since he was accustomed to doing chores and dealing with the laundry, he was going to put those clothes back where they belonged. However, when he approached the clothes, he found that they were not clothes at all, but an evil undead creature; a shadow!

Once Essery locked eyes with the shadow, he suddenly became much weaker, for the shadow had used its Enfeebling Gaze on him.



The gaze set his Strength to 5, making him too weak to move. The shadow then advanced, ready to attack him and try to reduce his Strength to 0.

Essery knew that shadows could only be hurt by magical weapons, so he had to resort to his Training Staff. He set Power Attack to 5, used Smite, and whacked the shadow hard, knocking it back. However, the shadow came back. He used Critical Strike and whacked it again, but then the shadow killed him.

Let's try that again. After reloading and provoking the shadow again, he was once again enfeebled. However, this time, instead of fighting, he dropped everything he had except the light magical staff and ran away. The shadow followed him down the stairs and blocked his path. Essery used Smite and whacked the shadow out of the way. He then left the building in an attempt to seek help from the guards, who are a lot more powerful than they were in the original game.

However, while Essery was running frantically around Candlekeep, the doppelgangers masquerading as cows saw that their assassination target was being pursued by someone else, so they reverted to their true forms and tried to help kill him.



Luckily, Essery was able to get the help of the Watchers, who destroyed the shadow and killed the doppelgangers. However, the doppelgangers put up a fight, and they managed to kill one of the Watchers. Essery picked up the +3 Watcher Staff that the guy dropped, as well as the plate armor.

I can see why Gorion wanted Essery to leave Candlekeep. He's almost dead and he hasn't even fought Shank or Carbos yet!

After having picked up the stuff he dropped on the second floor of the inn, and having healed, he went in the bunkhouse and encountered Carbos. This assassin had some stoneskins on, but worse, he started summoning some Lesser Death Shades! These enemies have 1 HP, and 20 AC, but they have extremely good THAC0. Each hit they deal causes the target to take damage equal to half their maximum HP, rounded down. Essery had an odd max HP and was at full health, so they would have to hit him three times to kill him. By the time he got past Carbos' stoneskins and killed him and his Lesser Death Shades, he had been hit by the shades twice. He was at 1 HP. From that battle, he got a total of 570 experience.

At this point, he left Candlekeep with Gorion. Who knows what horrible things the other assassins lurking in Candlekeep could've done to him?
Post edited by OlvynChuru on

Comments

  • lolienlolien Member, Moderator, Translator (NDA) Posts: 3,108
    Staff of legends.
  • ZaghoulZaghoul Member, Moderator Posts: 3,938
    Not sure if I would take a mod like that BUT I really liked that touch with the shadow, nice n devious >:) that was. :). Definitely would have to keep "Run away, run away' (maybe you need a nice 'harmless' little bunny rabbit at a cave entrance somewhere to) as an acceptable option in that game, hehheh.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    This mod sounds really cool.

    I'd like to see it released.
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,457
    Looks like your wish will be granted in the reasonably near future :).
    https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/896812/#Comment_896812
  • Papa_LouPapa_Lou Member Posts: 263
    There's something called a randomizer for Pokemon roms, which makes the game a complete, beautiful mess. You could potentially run into a Mewtwo straight out of the first area. This Mewtwo could also be a completely different type, and only be able to use the move splash.

    This mod feels like Baldur's Gate's answer to the Pokemon randomizer, and I love it.
  • ArtonaArtona Member Posts: 1,077
    This looks neat. Really interesting approach to power and special abilities. Look forward to playing it. :)
  • OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,079
    edited September 2017
    It's time to get back to this playthrough!

    However, I am not going to continue where I left off. I had originally started this playthrough at a time when the mod was unfinished. By this point, the mod has changed a lot. I think it would be better just to start a new game.

    In the new game, I am still playing as an elven axe-wielding fighter named Essery. However, instead of being Lawful Good, he is Chaotic Evil. He's going to assemble an evil party.

    At character creation, I gave him four proficiency points in axes (one of the components of the mod allows that). He has approximately the same stats as the original Essery.

    Previously an unkitted fighter PC was able to use Critical Strike twice per day, Smite twice per day, and Power Attack at will. Now they can use Critical Strike six times per day but they can't use Smite. Smite is instead given to barbarian and monk PCs.

    At the start of the game, Essery went into the inn and bought two battle axes, fifteen throwing axes, a suit of studded leather armor, a large shield and a helmet. Winthrop was also offering the Firetooth crossbow (which fires an endless number of exploding bolts), but Essery couldn't possibly afford it.

    (Note: The shadow I had previously put upstairs in the inn is no longer there. It had been put there for testing purposes only.)

    Essery fetched an Identify scroll for Firebead Elvenhair. In return, Firebead cast a special Protection from Evil spell on him which provides +6 AC against evil creatures and lasts for several days. Essery headed to the priest's quarters and heard someone's voice, even though he couldn't see anyone.


    Note: This mod doesn't change much dialogue in the game. This is one of the only times it does.


    Shank burst out of invisibility and attacked Essery, who then killed him. Essery then went to Gorion. Together they left Candlekeep.

    They got ambushed by the Armored Figure, and Gorion fought a battle that I made even more epic. Gorion threw around Meteor Swarms, 60-foot radius fireballs, and hundreds of Magic Missiles. However, the Armored Figure overcame him and killed him.

    The next morning, Imoen came along and joined Essery, who took her valuable stuff and kicked her out (that's what evil characters do). Instead, he met Xzar and Montaron.

    Xzar has permanent Aura Cleansing and 99% Cold Resistance. He can cast Energy Drain and Control Undead at will. He also has an innate ability called Skeleton Horde, which lets him summon one skeleton per level, and these skeletons ignore the summoning limit. However, he only has 3 Constitution, so he's starting off with 2 HP. He can also cast Skeleton Horde as a level 5 spell, and he has a special level 3 spell called Wild Horror.

    Ability descriptions:
    Wild Horror
    (Necromancy)

    Level: 3
    Range: 40 ft.
    Duration: 1 turn
    Casting Time: 3
    Area of Effect: 30-ft. radius
    Saving Throw: Neg.

    This is the necromantic version of the second-level spell Horror. All creatures in the area of effect, friend or foe, must save vs wands at -4 or run away in fear for 1 turn. Although this spell affects allies, this does not bother the necromancer, for his allies are undead.


    NOTE: The normal level 2 spell Horror is now an enchantment spell.


    Montaron is a fighter/assassin. He has a large boost to Hide in Shadows and Move Silently, and his backstab multiplier is increased by 1. In addition, he can use the innate abilities Vanish, Improved Haste (self only), Back Poison, Assassination, and Phase. Each of Montaron's special abilities can be used instantly even when the game is paused (similar to Contingency). Montaron also has four proficiency points in daggers and shortswords.

    Some NPC party members start with proficiencies higher than their class can normally get; however, they cannot further improve proficiencies if their class doesn't allow it. Montaron, for example, cannot gain a fifth proficiency point in daggers or shortswords. He also doesn't have any proficiency in any other weapons, so his only ranged attacks are throwing daggers.

    Ability descriptions:
    Vanish

    Casting Time: Instant

    Montaron "vanishes," becoming invisible. He can attack and remain mostly invisible. Attacks against him suffer a -4 penalty to attack rolls, and his Saving Throws are made with a +4 bonus. The invisibility lasts for four rounds at level 1, and it lasts another round for each additional level Montaron has.

    This ability has no casting time, can be used immediately after another ability, and can be used while the game is paused.


    Improved Haste

    Casting Time: Instant

    Montaron moves and attacks at twice his normal rate. Free Action does not prevent the effects of this ability. It lasts 2 rounds per level.

    This ability has no casting time, can be used immediately after another ability, and can be used while the game is paused.


    Back Poison

    Casting Time: Instant

    Montaron coats his weapon with a poison which, for the next 4 rounds, will be given to any creature whom he backstabs. The poison deals the same damage as the normal Poison Weapon ability (based on Montaron's level) and can stack with the damage from that ability.

    This ability has no casting time, can be used immediately after another ability, and can be used while the game is paused.


    Assassination

    Casting Time: Instant

    Every strike in the next round acts as a backstab, using Montaron's current backstab modifier to determine damage.

    This ability has no casting time, can be used immediately after another ability, and can be used while the game is paused.


    Phase

    Casting Time: Instant

    Montaron teleports to a random enemy he can see. If there are no enemies in sight, this ability does nothing. Montaron can use this ability while invisible without revealing his presence. He can use the ability at will.

    This ability has no casting time, can be used immediately after another ability, and can be used while the game is paused.


    Aside from Phase, each of his abilities can only be used once per day. Montaron is a lot of fun to use, as is Xzar.

    That's where I'll stop for now.
    Post edited by OlvynChuru on
  • OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,079
    When the party arrived at Nashkel, the first thing they noticed was that the Amnian Soldiers were moving really fast. Each Amnian Soldier moves at 200%, 300% or 400% their normal speed (chosen at random when Nashkel is first visited). Bardolan rushed at the party and commanded them to identify themselves. Essery introduced the party and assured him that they will be of no trouble.

    Xzar was very fatigued (due to his 3 Constitution). He said that it was almost as if he had used his energy drain on himself! The party went to the inn to turn in. However, when they entered the inn, the assassin Neira burst out of invisibility and start casting her spells. She started by casting Hold Person, but she was not the only threat. One of the commoners sitting in the bar revealed its true form as a doppelganger! The doppelganger cast Spellstrike on Essery, who was paralyzed by the Hold Person. In this mod, Spellstrike gives the target 100% vulnerability to fire, cold, electricity, acid and magic damage, in addition to removing spell protections. Meanwhile, Eldoth had begun to cast Bigby's Crushing Hand on the doppelganger, Tiax was summoning his ghast, and Xzar was about to start level draining Neira. The doppelganger was about to cast an evocation spell on Essery but then it got paralyzed by the Crushing Hand. Neira cast Holy Power but got paralyzed by the ghast soon after. Xzar and the ghast killed Neira, and Eldoth finished off the doppelganger with the help of the Crushing Hand. That was a battle! It definitely feels funny for these low level characters to be casting level 9 spells on each other. From Neira's corpse, the party got a magical suit of studded leather armor, a tome, and a helmet.

    After getting 8 hours of sleep, the party went to the store. They payed the storekeep some gold to identify a few of the magic items. The armor from Neira happened to be Studded Leather Armor of Missile Attraction +4. The ring from Ergiellit was something far more interesting.



    Essery told Eldoth to put on the ring. He did it reluctantly. Now I'm using a party where one character (Xzar) has 2 maximum hit points and another character (Eldoth) has 3 maximum hit points. Right now Eldoth is level 3 (higher level than the rest of the party), so 3 hit points is the lowest hit point maximum he could possibly have.



    They sold most of the magical loot including the armor of missile attraction, gaining a decent amount of gold.

    Before going to the Nashkel Mines, the party decided to stop at the carnival. They went in one of the tents and mocked the great acid mage Zordral. Zordral pre-casted Mirror Image, Protection from Acid and Protection from Normal Weapons, and he cast Greater Malison on them. He was about to cast another enchantment spell, but the party left the tent before he could cast it. Zordral followed them outside and cast his signiture spell Zordral's Corrosive Breath (like an acid Cone of Cold). None of the party members got hit by the cone because they ran away from it until they got out of its range. One of the children in the festival, however, did get hit. He died a horrible death (though surely there must be even more horrible deaths to be had in this messed up modded world). Zordral followed the party until he ran into the Great Gazib, another mage. Gazib cast "Poof, Gone!" on Zordral, and he... disappeared. Gazib used this unlikely scenario as an excuse to advertise his show.

    The Amazing Oopah got sick of being exploded and attacked the party. Like other ogres, Oopah uses a random Throne of Bhaal warrior HLA once every few rounds. Essery hit Oopah with a throwing axe, causing the ogre to explode. However, Oopah reappeared a few moments later, used another ability, and attacked again. When he reappeared, he always did so right next to a party member. Once, he appeared next to Montaron and used Greater Whirlwind Attack. Montaron had to use his Vanish ability to avoid death. After sufficient exploding, the Amazing Oopah lay dead.

    The Nashkel Mines are next.
  • OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,079
    edited November 2017
    When the party came to the Nashkel Mines area, they went around and found Prism. They agreed to protect Prism, then Greywolf showed up. Greywolf is a level 7 kensai. He has -100% resistance to all physical damage, but he hits for a lot of damage. In addition, whenever he takes damage, he gains Improved Haste and a huge increase in movement speed for 1 round. Some parties can just jump on him and kill him before he has a chance to do anything, but this party was not quite up to it. Instead, Eldoth cast Great Shout on him. In this mod, Great Shout knocks back creatures it hits very far in the direction of the shout. He cast it in the direction of the mines, and Greywolf got knocked back all the way to the entrance of the mine. But that was not all, for in that part of the area there is a cat. In this mod, cats cast Ratify on enemies, which makes them Save vs. Polymorph or be turned into a rat. The cat managed to turn Greywolf into a rat, and the party came over and finished him off. Despite being polymorphed, Greywolf still dropped his sword. He also had a magical shirt, but no one in the party could identify it. Essery went back to Prism and killed him.

    After getting permission to enter the mines, the party went in. The miners seemed convinced that there were demons in the mines. But how could that be? Essery declined to return Kylee's dagger.

    In the next area, a miner came running, screaming that the demons were coming.

    "Demons?!"

    It turned out that there WERE demons in the mine.




    The mane began invisible but came out to attack Beldin. Now it was Tiax's turn. He cast Bolt of Glory on the mane. Bolt of Glory, which is very effective against fiends, killed the mane instantly. When the mane died, it exploded in a 2d6 damage fireball, but no one got killed.

    There were also kobolds in the mine. There are a lot of different kinds of kobolds in this mod. On a pathway crossing a body of water, the party found a Cloaked Kobold, a Charming Kobold, and a Kobold Breacher. The Cloaked Kobold cast Mantle on itself, but Essery killed it with Imoen's Wand of Missiles. The Charming Kobold cast Dire Charm on Essery, but his elven nature prevented the effects. The Kobold Breacher did manage to accomplish something, though. It cast Breach on Essery. In the mod, Breach gives the target a -20 Armor Class penalty. Those two kobolds started attacking Essery, and they had no trouble hitting him, but the party was able to kill them before they did too much harm.

    Further on, they had another fight with kobolds, specifically Lesser Kobolds, which are kobolds that don't have any special abilities. They were led by an Extremely Strong Kobold. It was at this point that I realized that this party has no tanks. Two of my party members (Eldoth and Xzar) have barely any HP, and no one in the party has a good Armor Class (Essery does normally, but he was under the effect of Breach). There was no one who I could throw at the kobolds without risking getting killed (except for Tiax's ghast, but I didn't think of that at the time). Instead, the party killed the kobolds with magic and ranged weapons. It took several hits to get past the Extremely Strong Kobold's mirror images.

    After that battle, the party rested. Essery acquired the first Evil Bhaalspawn power: Cause Serious Wounds! This mod greatly powers up Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells. Cause Serious Wounds in particular deals a flat 30 magic damage. It offers no save and doesn't require an attack roll; you simply cast it on someone and they take 30 damage. The party was fully healed and the Breach effect wore off.

    The next battle involved two Kobold Tainters. These stealthy kobolds used Poison Weapon and backstabbed Essery. Otherwise, they weren't any tougher than other kobolds. These were the kobolds carrying the Vial of Mysterious Liquid.

    Further down the tunnel was another Extremely Strong Kobold and some Lesser Kobold Archers. Once again, the party kited them.

    In the next area, the first thing the party encountered was another mane. It came out of invisibility to attack Montaron. Montaron fled from it. The mane pursued him, but not for long, because Tiax killed it with another Bolt of Glory. No one got hit by the explosion.

    Montaron scouted ahead. Down one tunnel there was a Kobold Fogthrower; down another there was a Kobold Magic Hurler. Montaron snuck up to the Fogthrower, used Back Poison, and backstabbed it for 16 damage. The kobold survived the damage, and it instantly cast Minor Spell Turning on itself. Montaron finished it off before it could cast anything else, though. He then snuck up to the Magic Hurler and killed it with another backstab. When the kobold got hit, it automatically fired a Magic Missile at Montaron. He was almost dead, and the next group of kobolds had seen him! One of them, a Hold Kobold, cast Hold Person on him as he ran away; he made the save. None of the kobolds followed him.

    The party went in the Fogthrower's tunnel and soon encountered an Insidious Lightning Kobold. It was under the effect of Minor Globe of Invulnerability, and it started casting an evocation spell, but Essery killed it with Cause Serious Wounds before it could finish casting the spell.

    Montaron scouted ahead at the bridge over the chasm. He disabled two traps while in stealth. He also saw a Kobold Commando and a few lesser kobolds. Now that Essery was reasonably tanky again, he decided to go up against the kobolds alone. When the Kobold Commando saw Essery, it used Greater Whirlwind Attack, but he ran away out of its sight until it wore off. Then he came back and killed that group of kobolds. He was missing the kobolds a lot, so he stopped using Power Attack.

    The next encounter involved a Scorching Kobold and a Kobold Life Drainer. Those two kobolds both cast Mirror Image. Tiax dispelled the mirror images with Detect Illusion, and the party killed the Scorching Kobold before it could do anything else. While they were doing this, they ran into another Insidious Lightning Kobold. It cast Lightning Bolt on Tiax, but he was mostly unharmed due to his 99% electricity resistance. The Kobold Life Drainer was still alive, and it cast Vampiric Touch on Essery, but that didn't do much damage. The party killed the rest of the nearby kobolds.

    Continuing on, they encountered two Huge Spiders. Spiders in this mod summon additional spiders every time they hit someone. Xzar summoned two skeletons with his Skeleton Horde ability (not much of a horde yet) and Tiax summoned his ghast. Ghasts in this mod have a base THAC0 of -20 and a lot more HP than normal. The undead minions killed the huge spiders before they could summon too many allies. Note that the spiders summoned by Huge Spiders do not summon spiders themselves.

    Since the undead minions were still intact, they were led to the next encounter. In front of the lava river, there were a bunch of lesser kobolds and a Kobold Shade Summoner. This kobold cast Time Stop and quickly (with Aura Cleansing) cast Summon Death Shade three times. Death Shades have 1 HP and 20 AC, but they have a base THAC0 of -100 and anyone who they hit with a melee attack dies instantly with no saving throw. A Death Ward will prevent them from killing a character instantly (they'll deal 1 damage per hit in that in case), and undead can't be killed that way either. The undead and the Death Shades fought it out for about 1 second, but then a kobold from the other side of the lava river, a Kobold Frost Detonater, fired a Blue Arrow of Detonation at one of the skeletons. The arrow exploded in a coldball, dealing 5d6 cold damage to creatures within a 30 foot radius. That explosion killed the Death Shades and some of the kobolds, but the party's undead minions survived. The skeletons advanced further and encountered a Kobold Fire Detonater, which fired an Arrow of Detonation, killing the skeletons and most of the rest of the kobolds. The party finished off the Fire Detonater.

    The party kept moving, with the ghast in front. They encountered two demons: a mane and a quasit! The quasit put on Mirror Image and cast Blood Rage on the ghast, causing the ghast to go uncontrollably berserk. The ghast attacked the nearest creature, which was the mane. The ghast was able to slay the mane, but the quasit then cast Intoxicate on the ghast. The spell Intoxicate causes a creature to gain a level of intoxication that is greater the lower the creature's Constitution is. In addition, the creature's Wisdom gets lowered by an amount depending on their Constitution, potentially killing them. In the case of the ghast, one Intoxication spell was enough to kill it. Tiax was able to kill the quasit with a Bolt of Glory.

    The next area was in sight, but that is where I stopped.
    Post edited by OlvynChuru on
  • ArctodusArctodus Member Posts: 992
    Well, I would compare this mod to a cooking method of a friend of mine : if you put too much of everything, it should balance itself out in the end.
  • OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,079
    Arctodus said:

    Well, I would compare this mod to a cooking method of a friend of mine : if you put too much of everything, it should balance itself out in the end.

    That is exactly the idea of this mod. Any one part of this mod (the item modifications, the empowered creatures, or the empowered NPCs) would be totally unbalanced on its own. They are only balanced when they are all together and they cancel each other out.
  • chimericchimeric Member Posts: 1,163
    edited November 2017
    Well, it's crazy enough to be inspiring. IF only this was not a mod but some kind of original RPG to begin with, with all those things in it... Even like this, I'm sure it could be a blast to play. It's refreshing that you have a very different idea of balance.
    Post edited by chimeric on
  • OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,079
    edited December 2017
    We continue!

    So, INSTEAD of attacking Noober, the party started to leave Nashkel, only to be ambushed by Nimbul. He came out of invisibility with Mirror Image, Protection from Missiles (50% missile resistance), and Protection from Normal Weapons. He then cast Horror, terrifying Essery who had charged at Nimbul, but Tiax then cast Remove Fear and ended the fear. Eldoth put on Eldoth's Offensive Spin and Montaron put on all his buffs. The two of them attacked Nimbul and killed him before he could do much else.

    Nimbul had several magical items: boots, a ring, a short sword, a crossbow, and some bolts. The party went to the store to identify those items. The bolts were Bolts of Biting. The crossbow was a Light Crossbow +2, which increased all poison damage dealt by the wielder by 50%. It's a good thing that Nimbul didn't get a chance to use his crossbow. Essery put on the Boots of Avoidance, and now his AC vs. missiles is -14. He also put on the ring, which grants immunity to blindness.

    In addition, the party identified the magic shirt they had gotten from Greywolf. Here's what it does:



    Although the shirt can normally only be used by warriors, Eldoth can use any item, so he put on the shirt.

    At this point Eldoth is pretty silly. If he uses Eldoth's Offensive Spin and fights at night with Varscona, he will be able to attack 3 times per round, dealing a flat 38 damage with each hit, with 0 THAC0. Yet meanwhile he currently has 19 AC and only 6 hit points.

    The party went back to Beregost. There, they sold some of the magical loot they had obtained. Essery bought himself a Battle Axe +1 and a lot of Beruel's Retort +1 throwing axes. The Battle Axe +1 deals an additional 10 damage on a critical hit. Beruel's Retort axes cause disintegration on a critical hit (Save vs. Polymorph negates), but only when thrown.

    Now it was time to start exploring the wilderness. First the party went to the Beregost temple area. Four wolves came out of camouflage and used Critical Strike (by this point, the idea of regular wolves using a Throne of Bhaal HLA is not unimaginable). Eldoth hit two of the wolves with Great Shout. Essery used his own Critical Strike ability and disintegrated the remaining two wolves with throwing axes.

    After that fight, the party became a little more cautious. Tiax summoned his ghast and Xzar animated three skeletons. They proceeded with one skeleton at the front of the party, one on either side, and the ghast in the back. The party was ambushed by the hobgoblin Cattack.

    "We'll never surrender to you cut-rate marauders!"

    Chill Hobgoblins appeared from all directions and started casting spells. Cattack cast Spirit Armor, and the other hobgoblins cast Melf's Acid Arrow. Cattack cast Flame Arrow. Most of the hobgoblins cast their spells on the skeletons, but one of them hit Eldoth with an acid arrow spell. He died, so I reloaded.

    (Reminder: hobgoblins count as 20 levels higher for purposes of determining the power of their spells)

    After reloading, I put Montaron and the ghast in front of the party. Montaron tricked several of the hobgoblins into casting their spells on him, then he used Vanish before they finished casting, causing the spells to fail. Xzar interrupted a hobgoblin's spell with his own spells, and Essery interrupted another one with the last use of his wand of missiles. Since these hobgoblins had helmets and were immune to critical hits, they could not be disintegrated by Beruel's Retort.

    The ghast managed to paralyze Cattack before he could do anything bad. However, the last hobgoblin, a Chill Elite, came out of invisibility and cast Cone of Cold on the ghast. It took over 80 cold damage but survived (ghasts have a lot of HP in this mod). Essery cast Emotion Hopelessness on the Chill Elite, incapacitating it as well as the nearby enemies. With the help of the ghast, Bolts of Glory, and Eldoth, the party finished off the rest of the hobgoblins, who were out of spells. Several party members leveled up. Now Eldoth has 9 HP rather than 6. They got one magic item: a Two-Handed Sword +2, which gives +20% Magic Resistance. The only character in the party who could feasibly wield it was Eldoth, and I made him stick with Varscona for now.

    After resting, the party went north to Larswood. The party kept going north along the edge of Larswood, with Montaron scouting ahead in stealth. Montaron helped the party stay clear of Blacktalon Elites. However, he didn't notice the three worgs waiting in camouflage. Rather than use Critical Strike, each worg summoned a second worg, for a total of six worgs. The worgs were tougher than the previous wolves, but with the help of Emotion: Hopelessness and Eldoth's supremely damaging attacks, the worgs were defeated.

    Next, they went to Peldvale, where they encountered no bandits but found gibberlings. Gibberlings are actually quite dangerous in this mod. They die in one hit to most things, but they move very fast, attack 6 times per round, and are very accurate. The gibberlings almost killed Essery.

    Finally, the exhausted party arrived at the Friendly Arm Inn. Outside the inn, they found a magical ring hidden near some rocks. Xzar put on the ring. Here's what it does:



    The party went to the inn courtyard, only to be stopped by Tarnesh. By this point, Essery was very suspicious of anyone who asked for his name, so he rudely rebuffed Tarnesh, who then attacked.

    Tarnesh immediately put on Armor, Mirror Image and Protection from Normal Weapons. He cast Glitterdust, blinded several of the party members who were clustered around him.

    It was at this point that Tarnesh's allies revealed themselves. Two doppelgangers masquerading as guards revealed their true form and attacked. There was a cat nearby that helped out the party by casting Ratify on one of the doppelgangers, transforming it into a rat. Essery used Critical Strike and disintegrated the other doppelganger with a single axe. By this point, Tarnesh had cast Phantom Blade, and he started attacking Montaron with it. A few seconds later, Tarnesh was dead, and one of the real guards killed the doppelganger-rat.

    (Side note: I always thought the doppelganger death scream sounded like "awwwwwww-rat")

    Tarnesh had a few scrolls, notably Magic Missile, which Xzar learned. More importantly, he also had a magic ring which Eldoth identified as a Ring of Wizardry (like, an actual one). Xzar equipped this one too.

    The party went to the temple and paid Gellana to remove the other ring from Xzar.

    Then they went in the inn and slept for a great night in royal beds. The next day, they spoke to Bentley and saw what he had for sale. He had one unique magic item: an Amulet of Shapeshifter Detection.



    The party bought the amulet, which Eldoth equipped.

    Essery went up to Dorn, who was also very rude. He threatened to crush Essery's neck with his bare hands. Essery was kind of suspicious of this, and he told Eldoth to use the Amulet of Shapeshifter Detection and see who glowed purple.

    It turned out that Dorn was not, in fact, a shapeshifter in disguise.

    ...

    However, other people in the inn were.



    We'll get to that next time.
  • OlvynChuruOlvynChuru Member Posts: 3,079
    We're back!

    First, Essery attacked the doppelganger pretending to be a commoner. Essery attacked the commoner and she revealed herself to be a doppelganger. He then used Critical Strike and was going to attack again with his Battle Axe +1, but the doppelganger killed him before he could get another hit in.

    Doppelgangers hurt (they have 25 Strength and attack 5 times per round). Yet they only have 31 hit points. Essery could've killed the doppelganger in a single critical hit if he had done another attack.

    After reloading, Essery attacked the commoner-doppelganger again, but this time, when the doppelganger revealed its true form, Essery switched to his Throwing Axes of Disintegration. He used Critical Strike and disintegrated the doppelganger at range.

    Essery then confronted the other doppelganger, who was masquerading as a cook.

    Cook: Hey, you stays out of my kitchen! You'll mess up my art! Someday I'z gonna cook for da duke himself!

    Essery: Hmm, I don't think it would be a good idea to let you cook for the duke...


    Essery disintegrated the cook doppelganger as well.

    After that, the party resumed their travels. They eventually came across a group of bandits led by Senjack and Dorotea. Dorn came along and started hacking bandits apart, and so the battle started. Montaron phased to the last two generic bandits and started attacking them; however, one of those bandits then used Psionic Blast on Montaron and started to attack him with Intelligence-draining arrows. Eldoth used his signiture Offensive Spin and killed those bandits before they could kill Montaron. Meanwhile, Essery was fighting Senjack. Senjack also used Critical Strike, but Essery was more than a match for him (this battle was meant to be beatable even if you met Dorn earlier in the game). Dorn cast Cause Serious Wounds on Dorotea, dealing 30 damage. Dorotea was a priestess of Talos, and she cast Lightning Bolt on Dorn. Dorn would've been killed, but he has a min HP item for this battle. The party killed Dorotea, and Dorn joined.

    Dorn starts with 5 points in two-handed swords and 4 points in crossbows. He can cast Cause Serious Wounds nine times per day, War Cry (as in Throne of Bhaal) three times per day, and Death Gaze (like Aec'Letec's death gaze except the target is killed after one round) three times per day. Whenever he kills a creature, he automatically casts Cure Critical Wounds on himself. In addition, whenever he kills a creature while wielding his signature sword Rancor, he gains a cumulative +1 to hit and damage for 24 hours. If he kills enough creatures with that sword in one day, he can become super powerful. However, he has a downside, which is that he has a -50 penalty to Save vs. Spell.

    The party went back to Beregost to seek out Tranzig. They found him in Feldepost's Inn, so they rested at the inn until it was nighttime, so that Varscona would be more powerful. Before fighting Tranzig, Tiax called his ghast, which he positioned behind Tranzig. Xzar animated 4 skeletons with Skeleton Horde, which stood guard in the hallway. The party then confronted Tranzig. Dorn cast Cause Serious Wounds on him while Eldoth attacked him. Tranzig died in a matter of seconds.

    However, that was not the end of the fight. From two other rooms came two doppelgangers. One of them tried to charm one of the skeletons with Algernon's Cloak, but the skeleton couldn't be charmed. The other doppelganger had Mirror Image and Fireshield Red up and started casting enchantment spells on the skeletons. Eldoth put on Eldoth's Offensive Spin and killed the doppelgangers with arrows (despite the huge missile THAC0 penalty given by his Dexterity score of 1, he gets a large THAC0 bonus from his Offensive Spin, and the doppelgangers don't have very good AC). Essery retrieved the cloak from the doppelganger and put it on.

    Before leaving the inn, Essery became paranoid, wondering how many other doppelganger could be lurking in the inn. He had Eldoth use the Amulet of Shapeshifter Detection. This is what he found:



    ANOTHER cook-doppelganger? Are all the cooks in this world doppelgangers?

    Yes


    Essery attacked the cook, who reverted to doppelganger form. The doppelganger started to cast a spell, but Essery killed it before it could get the spell off. Sorry for killing your cook, Feldepost.

    After that, the party hurried towards Peldvale to find the bandits. In Peldvale they encountered a pack of flinds. Each flind started casting Agannazar's Scorcher, but Xzar got them all with a Web Spell first. Tiax then killed them all with Bolts of Glory. One of the bolts hit one of Raiken's bandits, so he came on over. Essery decided to join the bandits for now.

    The party met Tazok. Essery got Tazok angry, so the party fought him. All half-ogres have AC -20. Tazok in particular has the ability to breathe hands.



    Essery got hit by the hands and was paralyzed; the other party members got out of the way. They rushed back in and fended off Tazok. Dorn hurt him with Cause Serious Wounds, and once Essery recovered from the paralysis he damaged Tazok some more with throwing axe critical hits. Tazok finally admitted the party's skill and allowed them into the camp.

    What will they discover in the bandit camp?

    We'll find out later.
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