Where can one get Invisibility Potions in BG1? They seems to be extremely rare! I only know of Jaheira's and that one upstairs in the manor house in Nashkel. Any other relatively easy finds?
Before Chapter 5, there aren't many. I know you can get one in the Revenant tomb. I think one of the parties have one (Molkar, Amazons or Kirian's group) but not sure which one. Once Chapter 5 opens up, there are potion merchants that have some and also Sorcerous Sundries has 3 of them.
If you're playing with SCS (and allow some potions to be dropped) then invisibility potions will be quite commonly found if you quickly kill thieves and mages.
Just wanted to comment on some of the most forgiving class recommendations. I didn't post any of the runs, as I was doing a lot of testing, so they weren't strictly no-reload. Writing up the runs also takes a surprising amount of time, so mad props to everyone that takes the time to write and post them.
Dwarf Berserker
These were both non-modded runs.
My first run ended stupidly between flesh golems at High Hedge. I lost line of sight of the first one I activated, and being impatient I went ahead and activated the other one. It's probably well known, but Thalantyr takes up enough room that when you pass him, it forces the flesh golems to run back around the ring. I had just passed Thalantyr from the top when the original golem entered, placing me in a classic pickle. I was fairly low level and hadn't picked up an invisibility potion yet, and it only took two hits as I was trying to get by to kill me.
The second run was uneventful, and I dominated my way through pretty much everything. I did mess up getting winded with the sirines at the light house and not having the greenstone amulet, but the shorty saving throws came through. My first death was in the Thieve's Maze, where I decided not to use a potion of absorption and just eat the lightning bolt. Unfortunately, the monsters were a little tougher than I expected, and I crossed back over the trap, which was enough to kill me. I reloaded there and went into the Undercity. I charmed Rahvin's backline there and put them into the Temple of Bhaal. Then I went back to fight Rahvin and died to arrogance. I reloaded again, and using Rahvin's backline, fought Sarevok. I misplayed there as well and died again.
I chose daggers and two weapon style for proficiencies. I really enjoy the throwing daggers with the exceptional strength bonus, even though there are no enchanted ones, and just used non-proficient bows when enchanted arrows were called for. I didn't love the melee dagger range and would probably not use them again.
It's an easy class to min/max stats for. I picked up the wand of sleep early and used it liberally. Without an innate stealth/invisibility, I did tend to kill everything I came across, which is both a pro and con. It takes longer, but if you're caught in a bad position, you have somewhere safe to retreat to, plus more experience. I was flush with gold pretty much the whole time, so it wouldn't have been a burden to recharge the Sandthief's Ring. The biggest negative was that it makes most encounters so easy that when you do reach a hard one, it can catch you by surprise.
I started using SCS and the Tweaks Anthology at this point.
Elf F/M/T
With access to PfP, I did the basilisk loop until max level under the xp cap. I purchased all the scrolls from High Hedge and used the Red Potion to memorize them. Funnily, I forgot that it sets strength to 3 and wasn't in an area I could rest. Afterwards, I was in the ankheg area and got in a fight while not wearing armor. Thinking that as a max level FMT I could just basic attack it down, I died, not casting a single spell.
My death here was mostly a misunderstanding on how to play this class. I'm not used to arcane spells, and I should have been playing as a fighter with access to mage and thief skills. I also underestimated the importance of AC. As an elf, I wanted to use long swords with two weapon style and bows, but I probably should have gone with bows, quarterstaffs, two handed swords, and two handed weapon style. It's not a terrible class to roll stats for, as you can use Friends to compensate for a lower charisma.
Human Berserker(7) -> Cleric
No one recommend this combo, but it was straightforward. Play the early bit as a berserker, leave some easy stuff for the cleric. I did Marl, Firebead, and a few easy quests to hit level two, then the flesh golems at High Hedge, the sirines at the Temple, and the sirines and flesh golems at the light house. I brought rep up to 20 then did the mines. I hit level 7 somewhere around this point and dualed to cleric. Went back and killed Shoal then used sanctuary to charm a basilisk and used the PfP scroll on it. I didn't do the basilisk loop, just used that basilisk to clear most of the map, then picked up Korax and used both of them for Mutamin and Kirian. Went to Durlag's Tower, used a mirrored eyes potion for the minor basilisk, then summoned skeletons at the top and let them kill the remaining basilisks. Hit level 7 at this point and used the upgraded skeletons to kill the battle horrors.
A combination of sanctuary, skeletons, Algernon's Cloak, and wand of the heavens was enough for the rest of this run. A quick charm and sanctuary bought enough time to get some skeletons out for the assassination attempts. I did the ogre mages outside of Candlekeep with sanctuary, skeletons, and wand of the heavens as well. Most of the encounters were handled this way, and I really didn't skip any of them. I used sanctuary to charm Rahvin and his party in the Undercity for the fight against Sarevok.
This was my first SCS Sarevok fight, and I fumbled my way through it. I didn't strand them in a corner, and most of Rahvin's party and my skeletons died only killing one of Sarevok's party. I used a combination of sanctuary, the one gift lost, and WotH to kill the rest of Sarevok's party, and the WotH to kill him. Sarevok was hasted the entire time. Sanctuary and turn undead made the beginning of SoD a breeze. There must be some leveled creatures there as well, as they were significantly easier than what my level 10 shadowdancer faced. I silenced Korlasz, surrounded her with skeletons, and defeated her in a few seconds. I quit playing this run after leaving Baldur's Gate, but I don't remember dying during it.
I rolled a 97 or 98 for this character, which allowed for max charisma with the manual, and I think the exceptional strength was 18/4x. My main debate was to get to level 7 or 8 as berserker and finish as a level 7 or 6 cleric respectively. I would have saved up enough experience to start SoD fully dual classed either way, but in the end, I decided to get the enhanced skeletons instead of the extra warrior hd and THAC0. I don't think I would have too many issues going 8->6 if I did this combo again in the future.
Dwarf F/C
This was better than the Berserker -> Cleric from above the entire time. There's really not a lot to say here. I sold Evermemory and got the greenstone amulet and wand of the heavens from Ulgoth's Beard early. Algernon's Cloak, Ashideena, and ankheg armor rounded out the rest of the early gear. I had been watching the LoB archer run from @semiticgod and reading the posts from @Grond0, and this was when I really started using Algernon's Cloak to its fullest. I did the flesh golems, sirines, and basilisks for the early experience then used sanctuary to run through everything to open Baldur's Gate.
I grabbed the Nymph's Cloak, and this was the run I realized you could charm the person that initiates dialog from pretty much any encounter and then use the nymph's cloak to charm their party. This make most encounters of that nature trivial. It worked on Raemon in the Bandit Camp (as reported by @semiticgod, do Taurgosz first), Zhalimar Cloudwulfe on top of the Iron Throne, Prat in the caves, and Rahvin in the Undercity. I assume it would work for Drasus at the Cloakwood Mines as well, but I had charmed them individually to get his boots. Just make sure to kill the one that initiates dialogue last, as they'll turn their whole party hostile.
This time I parked Sarevok in a corner by sacrificing Rahvin. Angelo was out of position, so I used Rahvin's archer to kill him. Then I repeatedly used the one gift lost, which killed Semaj and brought Tazok out. Rahvin's party finished him off. The one gift lost then killed Diarmid. I turned Rahvin's party against itself, getting the last hit on each one. Then I dispelled Sarevok's haste from offscreen (remembering to bring it this time) and used skeletons and sling bullets to kill him.
I did a fair amount of SoD without any prior knowledge, handling the dwarf lich, the Neothelid, and the mind flayer without any major issues. For the mind flayer, I distracted them with skeletons then ran in and used the nymph's cloak to charm the other party members. I accidentally activated the dragon without skeletons out, so I just ran from it. I died at some point and, getting impatient, ctrl-y'd myself through the rest of SoD to experience the story.
The F/C was very powerful and easy to play. I did get a bit bored of buffing and summoning skeletons, but sanctuary was fantastic. Protection from lightning, negative plane protection, and lesser restoration were a big help. I think this class would do better than the F->C in SoA and ToB as well, as you'd get access to fighter HLA's.
I actually prefer B(9)/C. Not for solo, but in a small party this dual is crazy. While dwarf has a lot of things going for him (insane damage reduction late game, +5 saves, Whirlwind attack HLA) when capped he gets cleric level of 25. SCS Pit Fiend will use Dispel with caster level 24, so if you don't have another divine caster your buffs will very likely be removed in any of the battles where this stuff counts. And in SoA, B-C dual is imo much more convinient to use.
B-C's biggest problem late game is lack of Hardiness (altough Wish spell/AoF/Easthaven can help) and the fact cleric HLAs are generally sh*t compared to any other class.
There's an alternate method of charming the Ducal Palace nobles that is much more time-consuming but also much safer than the typical method: you charm all of the nobles with Algernon's Cloak from range over the course of several rest periods, lure them to the southern room, and then use the Nymph Cloak to charm all of them except for one, staggering the charms so they are many rounds apart.
This way, only a single doppelganger transforms at the start of combat, and you have many rounds of safety until the next doppelganger transforms, which it will also do completely alone. This allows you to fight all the doppelgangers one at a time, and you can control how long it takes for each one to transform by timing the charms.
You could probably expedite the process and get even more control over it by using Dispel Magic spells to remove the charm early. The dispels wouldn't be guaranteed unless you were an unmodded Inquisitor or something (I'm not sure if Arrows of Dispelling would be safe), but that could speed things up so you wouldn't have to wait out the full 12 in-game hour duration of the Nymph Cloak.
Or, of course, you could use CTRL-T to advance time by an in-game hour, or 5 minutes of real time.
@semiticgod: Probably the safest way to handle the Ducal Palace. I'm not sure how many rounds you need in LoB for one doppleganger, but I haven't needed more than a turn in Core. If you don't need more than four in-game hours, you could stagger the charms then rest, saving an 8 in-game hour wait. Or crank the FPS way up for the initial charm and wait cycle, then bring it back down to whatever is comfortable for the fights. I'm not opposed to using CTRL-T here, but it does take away the decision between a faster, risky run and a tedious, safe run.
For anyone trying this, make sure the noble about to lose charm is away from the other nobles. If it transforms next to a charmed noble, the doppleganger may kill the charmed noble, ruining the run. The safest way is to park them individually on the stairs and in the three front rooms. For Core runs, just parking them in these areas and resting until charm wears off is usually enough to make this fight fairly safe.
There is a distinct risk of having a transformed doppelganger killing a pre-transformation noble. In LoB mode, there was little risk of this due to the huge HP pools, but in other difficulty settings, the nobles are only going to have 5 HP according to Near Infinity and a single hit from a doppelganger has a more than 50% chance of killing them. The nobles will run away from the fight and the doppelgangers will prefer to target you instead of the nobles, but even a couple seconds of attacking can result in a dead noble. So, the next noble to transform should always be closer to you than to the other nobles. It's a good idea to keep track of which one is next up to transform.
You could also combine the two methods: charm three of the nobles (probably the shaman, assassin, and mage, since they're wild cards) and park them in the other rooms while leaving the other doppelgangers uncharmed. This way, you could divide them up without having to worry about a doppelganger attacking a noble, since you could space them farther apart if there were fewer pre-transformation nobles on the map. The mage and shaman are especially good for this, since they'll cast spells before they make attack rolls.
How do you handle armor when playing something like the Ranger, Fighter/Thief, or really anything that has access to heavy armor and thief skills? Do you tend to carry two sets and swap them out as needed? Do you usually switch to plate before doing world map transitions? Is Drizzt's armor "good enough"? I would be interested in thoughts on multi-class mage armor as well, but it's not directly applicable to my current run (cleric/ranger).
I generally carry two sets of armor for such characters, but if the character in question is not meant to use stealth in combat, I will generally just use the heavy armor in combat, and go without armor when they're scouting (and possibly equip heavy armor right before a backstab and combat starts).
I don't have armor for multi-classed mages except for early in the game when armor spells are few in number and weak. A level 1 character will wear armor until the character has enough levels to both cast an armor spell and also another spell in combat. Low-level bards and cleric/mages might wear armor, but only for a brief period at the start of the game.
Does anybody know if ability drain can act through AoE weapons? E.g., can an Archer apply Strength drain through Arrows of Detonation? @semiticgod, you're likely the most expert on this.
@Stromael: All "on-hit effects" will apply to every target in a given projectile. This includes the on-hit effects of the launcher (like the extra fire damage from the Firetooth crossbow or the entangle effect from Corwin's bow) and the on-hit effects of certain innate abilities. This includes:
Poison Weapon
Called Shot
Power Attack
Smite
Deathblow
Greater Deathblow
Wizard Slayer spell failure
All of these will apply to everyone who gets hit by an Arrow of Detonation.
@Bubb: Cool! I didn't know the console allowed for loops.
For those who haven't heard yet, there aren't many ways to get Arrows of Detonation in BG2:
1. There are a few very rare random drops here and there, which might get as many 2 Arrows of Detonation in a single game. In v2.3, you could create more with the item duplication glitch, but that got removed in v2.5.
2. Install Item Revisions, which introduces a small number of Arrows of Detonation to BG2 stores. I'm not certain, but I think this might allow mass backstabs if you also install the component that lets you backstab with ranged weapons (though the actual damage wouldn't be much anyway).
3. Install EET and smuggle BG1/SoD Arrows of Detonation into Shadows of Amn by stashing them in the Dragonspear Castle basement on your way out of Avernus, before you climb the stairs to rest after the final fight. If you have EET installed, you can return to Dragonspear Castle once you get out of Chateau Irenicus and grab everything you stashed there (if you really push this to the limit, you can really break the difficulty of early BG2).
4. Use the console to spawn them!
I have started the DSoSC mod having linked up with Jet'Laya.
I am now looking for her sister, but the area that I should be going to hasn't appeared on the map.
Could somebody tell me the area code that I should be going to so that I can key it in?
I will try and sort out what is wrong with the installation later, but would first like to sort out the quest.
Do potions and items activate at the same speed, or is one group faster than the other? Say the Greenstone Amulet compared to a Potion of Clarity, or the Sandthief's Ring compared to a Potion of Invisibility.
@jessejmc: Potions activate instantly if your aura is clear; items take 1-2 seconds to activate. In many cases, drinking a potion is the only option that's fast enough to respond to an incoming spell. The Greenstone Amulet should protect you from a Chaos spell if your aura is clear and you start using it soon after the mage begins casting it, but if the spell is almost complete or the projectile is already racing towards you, a Potion of Clarity might be the only way to make sure the disabler doesn't hit.
For certain projectiles, slower-moving ones, you might be able to get an item like the Greenstone Amulet to work in time, but it will depend on the speed of the projectile and how far away the original caster is. A Hold Person spell is so slow that a fast-moving character could simply outrun the spell and activate the Greenstone Amulet even if their aura was fogged when the spell came out. For a Blindness spell or a Lightning Bolt spell, though, an item besides a potion would never activate fast enough if the spell was already on the way.
@semiticgod It's a rather weird delay, as it only occurs on their first use.
If you have two characters, one repeatedly using a wand, the other repeatedly drinking potions:
The first round the wand use will be slightly delayed behind the potion.
All subsequent rounds they will trigger at the same time.
Taking other actions in between will eventually reset the delay for non-potions, just like delaying attacks for too long will reset the attack timer.
I have found the spell book of Karlini and believe that I have to find a madman to understand it. Would that be Xzar or perhaps Tiax do you think? Anybody know for certain?
Is this from a mod or just EE or Dragonspear? Yahoo couldn't help.
I have found the spell book of Karlini and believe that I have to find a madman to understand it. Would that be Xzar or perhaps Tiax do you think? Anybody know for certain?
Is this from a mod or just EE or Dragonspear? Yahoo couldn't help.
@Wise_Grimwald If it's the one from the Ulcaster Ruins it's for a gnome, Ygnatius or something (I think that's his name) in the Friendly Arm Inn. From Ascalons Questpack mod. He knows what to do, hehheh.
I have found the spell book of Karlini and believe that I have to find a madman to understand it. Would that be Xzar or perhaps Tiax do you think? Anybody know for certain?
Is this from a mod or just EE or Dragonspear? Yahoo couldn't help.
I found that I had to take it to a gnome in the FAI. I found it under Carlini in the read me, not Karlini. I believe that it is from Ascalon's Questpack and it is a something and nothing quest. (300 gp reward.) @Zaghoul Thanks for the quick answer. I actually found it myself, but the miss-spelling didn't help at all.
By doing the search, I discovered that there was a Dutch Illusionist who called himself "The Great Karlini"
It's rather terrifying to play that quest in a no-reload and to suddenly find yourself nose to nose with a demon! Was rather keen not to make it angry...
I am having a problem with completing a quest in Northern Tales of the Sword Coast.
I have spoken to the Ice Salamanders and they have told me that I must destroy the Cult of the Black Hand and kill its leader.
I have been to Ulgoth's Beard and killed those that were trying to raise Aec Letec which I believe is one of the things that they require.
I have been to the Fields of the Dead and everyone there has been freed. (Those in the cave and those inside the pallisade) However I believe that I now need to enter another cave which is locked.
@Wise_Grimwald The leader of the Black Hand the ice salamander is referrung to is on the area "Temple of the Black Hand" (AR60PB.are) which will be unlocked on your worldmap after you destroyed the cult in Ulgoth's Beard (original game content) and then talk to Reedig who will then be there and who you should have saved from a cave on the Fields of the Dead.
In the Fields of the Dead, if you are referring to the locked crypt, there you need a powerful artefact from Helm to open it. You will get this once you are sent by Duke Eltan to safe the monastery.
@Wise_Grimwald The leader of the Black Hand the ice salamander is referrung to is on the area "Temple of the Black Hand" (AR60PB.are) which will be unlocked on your worldmap after you destroyed the cult in Ulgoth's Beard (original game content) and then talk to Reedig who will then be there and who you should have saved from a cave on the Fields of the Dead.
In the Fields of the Dead, if you are referring to the locked crypt, there you need a powerful artefact from Helm to open it. You will get this once you are sent by Duke Eltan to safe the monastery.
Thanks. I think that my problem was that I didn't see Reedrig. He has told me what to do next.
I have the kit tomes mod installed. If I get the tome for making a cleric into a Priest of Helm for example, I can change Aura from an Artificer / Priestess into a Thief / Cleric of Helm.
She can still perform many of the things that only an Artificer can do, and she now has the benefits of a Priest of Helm.
The big question is:
Would her attributes as an Artificer continue to improve as her thief levels increased?
So, I've been thinking a bit on difficulty (not the gameplay-setting) for a no-reload, and would appreciate some input.
First, SoD. I always go through SoD in my no-reloads, but I've started to think that maybe this is making things easier. I've never lost a run here (in fact I got through it no-reload the first time I played it, though I did use a walkthrough). There are as I see it two advantages to going through SoD prior to SoA:
1. Imported items/spells known. The items are rather trivial, but if you play any arcane spellcaster, you get some useful scrolls during SoA that are not available in BG1 (notably Spell Immunity, a gamechanger). Admittedly you can buy most of these in early SoA if you want (and you can pick up Spell Immunity from the Graveyard), but still.
2. Experience. This is major in my opinion; starting at 500k as opposed to 161k is a serious advantage.
So, I'm wondering: Would you say it's more of a challenge to just skip SoD and go straight to SoA? I enjoy SoD, but I enjoy a good challenge more. There's also the fact that it takes a fair bit of time to go through SoD if you're a completionist.
Second, the SCS HLA component: This turns HLA spells into once-per-day abilities. So no 9th level arcane slots filled with Summon Planetar. On the other hand, you now get your highest-level spell slots to fill with regular 9th level spells, in addition to your HLA spells, and the same goes for priests. Of course, this change holds for enemy spellcasters as well.
Given that enemy spellcasters usually die within a few rounds, I would think that this change actually makes ToB quite a bit easier, but maybe I am underestimating how much more powerful several casts of the same HLA spell can be. Thoughts?
Comments
Before Chapter 5, there aren't many. I know you can get one in the Revenant tomb. I think one of the parties have one (Molkar, Amazons or Kirian's group) but not sure which one. Once Chapter 5 opens up, there are potion merchants that have some and also Sorcerous Sundries has 3 of them.
Edit: rearranged
Dwarf Berserker
These were both non-modded runs.
My first run ended stupidly between flesh golems at High Hedge. I lost line of sight of the first one I activated, and being impatient I went ahead and activated the other one. It's probably well known, but Thalantyr takes up enough room that when you pass him, it forces the flesh golems to run back around the ring. I had just passed Thalantyr from the top when the original golem entered, placing me in a classic pickle. I was fairly low level and hadn't picked up an invisibility potion yet, and it only took two hits as I was trying to get by to kill me.
The second run was uneventful, and I dominated my way through pretty much everything. I did mess up getting winded with the sirines at the light house and not having the greenstone amulet, but the shorty saving throws came through. My first death was in the Thieve's Maze, where I decided not to use a potion of absorption and just eat the lightning bolt. Unfortunately, the monsters were a little tougher than I expected, and I crossed back over the trap, which was enough to kill me. I reloaded there and went into the Undercity. I charmed Rahvin's backline there and put them into the Temple of Bhaal. Then I went back to fight Rahvin and died to arrogance. I reloaded again, and using Rahvin's backline, fought Sarevok. I misplayed there as well and died again.
I chose daggers and two weapon style for proficiencies. I really enjoy the throwing daggers with the exceptional strength bonus, even though there are no enchanted ones, and just used non-proficient bows when enchanted arrows were called for. I didn't love the melee dagger range and would probably not use them again.
It's an easy class to min/max stats for. I picked up the wand of sleep early and used it liberally. Without an innate stealth/invisibility, I did tend to kill everything I came across, which is both a pro and con. It takes longer, but if you're caught in a bad position, you have somewhere safe to retreat to, plus more experience. I was flush with gold pretty much the whole time, so it wouldn't have been a burden to recharge the Sandthief's Ring. The biggest negative was that it makes most encounters so easy that when you do reach a hard one, it can catch you by surprise.
I started using SCS and the Tweaks Anthology at this point.
Elf F/M/T
With access to PfP, I did the basilisk loop until max level under the xp cap. I purchased all the scrolls from High Hedge and used the Red Potion to memorize them. Funnily, I forgot that it sets strength to 3 and wasn't in an area I could rest. Afterwards, I was in the ankheg area and got in a fight while not wearing armor. Thinking that as a max level FMT I could just basic attack it down, I died, not casting a single spell.
My death here was mostly a misunderstanding on how to play this class. I'm not used to arcane spells, and I should have been playing as a fighter with access to mage and thief skills. I also underestimated the importance of AC. As an elf, I wanted to use long swords with two weapon style and bows, but I probably should have gone with bows, quarterstaffs, two handed swords, and two handed weapon style. It's not a terrible class to roll stats for, as you can use Friends to compensate for a lower charisma.
Human Berserker(7) -> Cleric
No one recommend this combo, but it was straightforward. Play the early bit as a berserker, leave some easy stuff for the cleric. I did Marl, Firebead, and a few easy quests to hit level two, then the flesh golems at High Hedge, the sirines at the Temple, and the sirines and flesh golems at the light house. I brought rep up to 20 then did the mines. I hit level 7 somewhere around this point and dualed to cleric. Went back and killed Shoal then used sanctuary to charm a basilisk and used the PfP scroll on it. I didn't do the basilisk loop, just used that basilisk to clear most of the map, then picked up Korax and used both of them for Mutamin and Kirian. Went to Durlag's Tower, used a mirrored eyes potion for the minor basilisk, then summoned skeletons at the top and let them kill the remaining basilisks. Hit level 7 at this point and used the upgraded skeletons to kill the battle horrors.
A combination of sanctuary, skeletons, Algernon's Cloak, and wand of the heavens was enough for the rest of this run. A quick charm and sanctuary bought enough time to get some skeletons out for the assassination attempts. I did the ogre mages outside of Candlekeep with sanctuary, skeletons, and wand of the heavens as well. Most of the encounters were handled this way, and I really didn't skip any of them. I used sanctuary to charm Rahvin and his party in the Undercity for the fight against Sarevok.
This was my first SCS Sarevok fight, and I fumbled my way through it. I didn't strand them in a corner, and most of Rahvin's party and my skeletons died only killing one of Sarevok's party. I used a combination of sanctuary, the one gift lost, and WotH to kill the rest of Sarevok's party, and the WotH to kill him. Sarevok was hasted the entire time. Sanctuary and turn undead made the beginning of SoD a breeze. There must be some leveled creatures there as well, as they were significantly easier than what my level 10 shadowdancer faced. I silenced Korlasz, surrounded her with skeletons, and defeated her in a few seconds. I quit playing this run after leaving Baldur's Gate, but I don't remember dying during it.
I rolled a 97 or 98 for this character, which allowed for max charisma with the manual, and I think the exceptional strength was 18/4x. My main debate was to get to level 7 or 8 as berserker and finish as a level 7 or 6 cleric respectively. I would have saved up enough experience to start SoD fully dual classed either way, but in the end, I decided to get the enhanced skeletons instead of the extra warrior hd and THAC0. I don't think I would have too many issues going 8->6 if I did this combo again in the future.
Dwarf F/C
This was better than the Berserker -> Cleric from above the entire time. There's really not a lot to say here. I sold Evermemory and got the greenstone amulet and wand of the heavens from Ulgoth's Beard early. Algernon's Cloak, Ashideena, and ankheg armor rounded out the rest of the early gear. I had been watching the LoB archer run from @semiticgod and reading the posts from @Grond0, and this was when I really started using Algernon's Cloak to its fullest. I did the flesh golems, sirines, and basilisks for the early experience then used sanctuary to run through everything to open Baldur's Gate.
I grabbed the Nymph's Cloak, and this was the run I realized you could charm the person that initiates dialog from pretty much any encounter and then use the nymph's cloak to charm their party. This make most encounters of that nature trivial. It worked on Raemon in the Bandit Camp (as reported by @semiticgod, do Taurgosz first), Zhalimar Cloudwulfe on top of the Iron Throne, Prat in the caves, and Rahvin in the Undercity. I assume it would work for Drasus at the Cloakwood Mines as well, but I had charmed them individually to get his boots. Just make sure to kill the one that initiates dialogue last, as they'll turn their whole party hostile.
This time I parked Sarevok in a corner by sacrificing Rahvin. Angelo was out of position, so I used Rahvin's archer to kill him. Then I repeatedly used the one gift lost, which killed Semaj and brought Tazok out. Rahvin's party finished him off. The one gift lost then killed Diarmid. I turned Rahvin's party against itself, getting the last hit on each one. Then I dispelled Sarevok's haste from offscreen (remembering to bring it this time) and used skeletons and sling bullets to kill him.
I did a fair amount of SoD without any prior knowledge, handling the dwarf lich, the Neothelid, and the mind flayer without any major issues. For the mind flayer, I distracted them with skeletons then ran in and used the nymph's cloak to charm the other party members. I accidentally activated the dragon without skeletons out, so I just ran from it. I died at some point and, getting impatient, ctrl-y'd myself through the rest of SoD to experience the story.
The F/C was very powerful and easy to play. I did get a bit bored of buffing and summoning skeletons, but sanctuary was fantastic. Protection from lightning, negative plane protection, and lesser restoration were a big help. I think this class would do better than the F->C in SoA and ToB as well, as you'd get access to fighter HLA's.
I actually prefer B(9)/C. Not for solo, but in a small party this dual is crazy. While dwarf has a lot of things going for him (insane damage reduction late game, +5 saves, Whirlwind attack HLA) when capped he gets cleric level of 25. SCS Pit Fiend will use Dispel with caster level 24, so if you don't have another divine caster your buffs will very likely be removed in any of the battles where this stuff counts. And in SoA, B-C dual is imo much more convinient to use.
B-C's biggest problem late game is lack of Hardiness (altough Wish spell/AoF/Easthaven can help) and the fact cleric HLAs are generally sh*t compared to any other class.
This way, only a single doppelganger transforms at the start of combat, and you have many rounds of safety until the next doppelganger transforms, which it will also do completely alone. This allows you to fight all the doppelgangers one at a time, and you can control how long it takes for each one to transform by timing the charms.
You could probably expedite the process and get even more control over it by using Dispel Magic spells to remove the charm early. The dispels wouldn't be guaranteed unless you were an unmodded Inquisitor or something (I'm not sure if Arrows of Dispelling would be safe), but that could speed things up so you wouldn't have to wait out the full 12 in-game hour duration of the Nymph Cloak.
Or, of course, you could use CTRL-T to advance time by an in-game hour, or 5 minutes of real time.
For anyone trying this, make sure the noble about to lose charm is away from the other nobles. If it transforms next to a charmed noble, the doppleganger may kill the charmed noble, ruining the run. The safest way is to park them individually on the stairs and in the three front rooms. For Core runs, just parking them in these areas and resting until charm wears off is usually enough to make this fight fairly safe.
You could also combine the two methods: charm three of the nobles (probably the shaman, assassin, and mage, since they're wild cards) and park them in the other rooms while leaving the other doppelgangers uncharmed. This way, you could divide them up without having to worry about a doppelganger attacking a noble, since you could space them farther apart if there were fewer pre-transformation nobles on the map. The mage and shaman are especially good for this, since they'll cast spells before they make attack rolls.
I don't have armor for multi-classed mages except for early in the game when armor spells are few in number and weak. A level 1 character will wear armor until the character has enough levels to both cast an armor spell and also another spell in combat. Low-level bards and cleric/mages might wear armor, but only for a brief period at the start of the game.
Poison Weapon
Called Shot
Power Attack
Smite
Deathblow
Greater Deathblow
Wizard Slayer spell failure
All of these will apply to everyone who gets hit by an Arrow of Detonation.
Forget about becoming a god; I just need to find me some of these arrows!
For those who haven't heard yet, there aren't many ways to get Arrows of Detonation in BG2:
1. There are a few very rare random drops here and there, which might get as many 2 Arrows of Detonation in a single game. In v2.3, you could create more with the item duplication glitch, but that got removed in v2.5.
2. Install Item Revisions, which introduces a small number of Arrows of Detonation to BG2 stores. I'm not certain, but I think this might allow mass backstabs if you also install the component that lets you backstab with ranged weapons (though the actual damage wouldn't be much anyway).
3. Install EET and smuggle BG1/SoD Arrows of Detonation into Shadows of Amn by stashing them in the Dragonspear Castle basement on your way out of Avernus, before you climb the stairs to rest after the final fight. If you have EET installed, you can return to Dragonspear Castle once you get out of Chateau Irenicus and grab everything you stashed there (if you really push this to the limit, you can really break the difficulty of early BG2).
4. Use the console to spawn them!
I am now looking for her sister, but the area that I should be going to hasn't appeared on the map.
Could somebody tell me the area code that I should be going to so that I can key it in?
I will try and sort out what is wrong with the installation later, but would first like to sort out the quest.
For certain projectiles, slower-moving ones, you might be able to get an item like the Greenstone Amulet to work in time, but it will depend on the speed of the projectile and how far away the original caster is. A Hold Person spell is so slow that a fast-moving character could simply outrun the spell and activate the Greenstone Amulet even if their aura was fogged when the spell came out. For a Blindness spell or a Lightning Bolt spell, though, an item besides a potion would never activate fast enough if the spell was already on the way.
If you have two characters, one repeatedly using a wand, the other repeatedly drinking potions:
The first round the wand use will be slightly delayed behind the potion.
All subsequent rounds they will trigger at the same time.
Taking other actions in between will eventually reset the delay for non-potions, just like delaying attacks for too long will reset the attack timer.
Is this from a mod or just EE or Dragonspear? Yahoo couldn't help.
@Wise_Grimwald If it's the one from the Ulcaster Ruins it's for a gnome, Ygnatius or something (I think that's his name) in the Friendly Arm Inn. From Ascalons Questpack mod. He knows what to do, hehheh.
I found that I had to take it to a gnome in the FAI. I found it under Carlini in the read me, not Karlini. I believe that it is from Ascalon's Questpack and it is a something and nothing quest. (300 gp reward.) @Zaghoul Thanks for the quick answer. I actually found it myself, but the miss-spelling didn't help at all.
By doing the search, I discovered that there was a Dutch Illusionist who called himself "The Great Karlini"
I have spoken to the Ice Salamanders and they have told me that I must destroy the Cult of the Black Hand and kill its leader.
I have been to Ulgoth's Beard and killed those that were trying to raise Aec Letec which I believe is one of the things that they require.
I have been to the Fields of the Dead and everyone there has been freed. (Those in the cave and those inside the pallisade) However I believe that I now need to enter another cave which is locked.
How do I enter?
As I recall, the leader of the cult has a holy symbol of helm which you need for the entrance.
The cult fight is a small one compaired to the Aec Letec - its on an island??
I think perhaps @jastey can fill in the blanks...
In the Fields of the Dead, if you are referring to the locked crypt, there you need a powerful artefact from Helm to open it. You will get this once you are sent by Duke Eltan to safe the monastery.
Thanks. I think that my problem was that I didn't see Reedrig. He has told me what to do next.
She can still perform many of the things that only an Artificer can do, and she now has the benefits of a Priest of Helm.
The big question is:
Would her attributes as an Artificer continue to improve as her thief levels increased?
EDIT
This question has been answered on the mod page.
First, SoD. I always go through SoD in my no-reloads, but I've started to think that maybe this is making things easier. I've never lost a run here (in fact I got through it no-reload the first time I played it, though I did use a walkthrough). There are as I see it two advantages to going through SoD prior to SoA:
1. Imported items/spells known. The items are rather trivial, but if you play any arcane spellcaster, you get some useful scrolls during SoA that are not available in BG1 (notably Spell Immunity, a gamechanger). Admittedly you can buy most of these in early SoA if you want (and you can pick up Spell Immunity from the Graveyard), but still.
2. Experience. This is major in my opinion; starting at 500k as opposed to 161k is a serious advantage.
So, I'm wondering: Would you say it's more of a challenge to just skip SoD and go straight to SoA? I enjoy SoD, but I enjoy a good challenge more. There's also the fact that it takes a fair bit of time to go through SoD if you're a completionist.
Second, the SCS HLA component: This turns HLA spells into once-per-day abilities. So no 9th level arcane slots filled with Summon Planetar. On the other hand, you now get your highest-level spell slots to fill with regular 9th level spells, in addition to your HLA spells, and the same goes for priests. Of course, this change holds for enemy spellcasters as well.
Given that enemy spellcasters usually die within a few rounds, I would think that this change actually makes ToB quite a bit easier, but maybe I am underestimating how much more powerful several casts of the same HLA spell can be. Thoughts?