Revisiting the Black Pits
GreenWarlock
Member Posts: 1,354
Just took a new party through the black pits, and thought I would share a few observations.
First, I am playing a party of mostly single-class characters, and focusing on the kits that add bonus THAC0/damage as they level, so one each for a Kensai, a swashbuckler, and an archer. For backup, we need at least a cleric (Lathander) and Sorcerer (RDD), and I rounded out with a gnome cleric/illusionist for a bit more spellcasting depth. Frontliners are mostly half-orcs for the cheesy 19 STR. Plan is to go all the way through without replaying fights, so cash management will also become an issue.
That leads to the first lesson. I was disappointed that taking Friends for my 18-CHA dragon disciple had no effect on shop prices. I made a point of using him as the sole shopper, and it made no difference. Only after I spent my final big bonus entering tier 3 did I realize he had to be in the party leader slot for his CHA to make a difference - it would have been significant, looking at my final party, and some of the struggles we had to get there.
Saving money for the next tier is mostly an exercise in vanity, as you get a cash boost off the last battle of each tier which will more than match your previous total earnings. For the longest time, I tried to manage tier 1 without buying weapons, but non-magic weapons are so cheap, it is a false economy - buy essentials early, but do try to avoid duplicating where you will want to replace with big magic later.
One thing I had no realized is that unlike the Swashbuckler, the Kensai will never improve his AC - which is a pretty stiff penalty for a class that cannot wear armor. However, by the end of the game, I still had him down to AC -10 with a ioun stone, a +2 ring, bearskin, and party defense spells.
The cleric kit is nice, especially with the purity of theme for single-classing combat characters. A fighter/cleric would have been much more effective though, benefiting from multiple attacks/round, fighter CON bonus, and weapon specialization. The character is still pretty deadly, and after hitting low AC early, was moved up to the frontline as the party leader (originally kensai).
For the first black pits, you can pre-buff before the fights. Given extensive buffing for clerics, this became quite useful, and should not be neglected.
Running even a single mage can be expensive, as you need to pay for all spells. I need to check whether I should come back and fill my spell-book before porting over to BP2.
For a competent party not replaying levels (and so least-leveled/equipped for each fight), most fights seem to be fairly simple. The hardest fights for this party were in Tier 2, and I actually lost the final battle against another party the first time, as I struggled too long taking down the mages first time, so was cut down by the rest of the party. Another battle in this tier took me down to last character with his last hit, hoping to hit the telling final blow on the last monster before they hit me (got lucky, biggest relief!)
Biggest blunder - prepping for a fight with invisibility 10' radius, and then wondering why I could not find Baeloth to start the encounter. Yup, it will invis blue-circle neutral in range too - hope you have dispel magic memorized to bring them back!
Biggest disappointment - after putting all my points into pick-pockets after getting traps and locks to 80%, there were no pockets to be picked. Hopefully will fare better in BP2.
By end-game, a thief will hit max level, but most of this party has a level or two left to get (could be handled with replays). Dual and multis will take even more xp to cap, so do not expect to cap this game without a bunch of grinding - which will at least pay for itself with the nice items available in tier 3.
Most obvious leveling issue was that with a Sorcerer and a multi as my two arcane spell casters, it took a long time to hit level 3 spells, arriving at pretty much the exact mission they became necessary.
And while the best and most interesting items are not for sale until you hit tier 3, the best value probably comes buying +1 items early in tier 2, and maybe the hill-giant strength belt (tier 2) depending on the party. My cleric illusionist grabbed that belt and now buffs to be a front-liner, rather than a rear-guard caster.
First, I am playing a party of mostly single-class characters, and focusing on the kits that add bonus THAC0/damage as they level, so one each for a Kensai, a swashbuckler, and an archer. For backup, we need at least a cleric (Lathander) and Sorcerer (RDD), and I rounded out with a gnome cleric/illusionist for a bit more spellcasting depth. Frontliners are mostly half-orcs for the cheesy 19 STR. Plan is to go all the way through without replaying fights, so cash management will also become an issue.
That leads to the first lesson. I was disappointed that taking Friends for my 18-CHA dragon disciple had no effect on shop prices. I made a point of using him as the sole shopper, and it made no difference. Only after I spent my final big bonus entering tier 3 did I realize he had to be in the party leader slot for his CHA to make a difference - it would have been significant, looking at my final party, and some of the struggles we had to get there.
Saving money for the next tier is mostly an exercise in vanity, as you get a cash boost off the last battle of each tier which will more than match your previous total earnings. For the longest time, I tried to manage tier 1 without buying weapons, but non-magic weapons are so cheap, it is a false economy - buy essentials early, but do try to avoid duplicating where you will want to replace with big magic later.
One thing I had no realized is that unlike the Swashbuckler, the Kensai will never improve his AC - which is a pretty stiff penalty for a class that cannot wear armor. However, by the end of the game, I still had him down to AC -10 with a ioun stone, a +2 ring, bearskin, and party defense spells.
The cleric kit is nice, especially with the purity of theme for single-classing combat characters. A fighter/cleric would have been much more effective though, benefiting from multiple attacks/round, fighter CON bonus, and weapon specialization. The character is still pretty deadly, and after hitting low AC early, was moved up to the frontline as the party leader (originally kensai).
For the first black pits, you can pre-buff before the fights. Given extensive buffing for clerics, this became quite useful, and should not be neglected.
Running even a single mage can be expensive, as you need to pay for all spells. I need to check whether I should come back and fill my spell-book before porting over to BP2.
For a competent party not replaying levels (and so least-leveled/equipped for each fight), most fights seem to be fairly simple. The hardest fights for this party were in Tier 2, and I actually lost the final battle against another party the first time, as I struggled too long taking down the mages first time, so was cut down by the rest of the party. Another battle in this tier took me down to last character with his last hit, hoping to hit the telling final blow on the last monster before they hit me (got lucky, biggest relief!)
Biggest blunder - prepping for a fight with invisibility 10' radius, and then wondering why I could not find Baeloth to start the encounter. Yup, it will invis blue-circle neutral in range too - hope you have dispel magic memorized to bring them back!
Biggest disappointment - after putting all my points into pick-pockets after getting traps and locks to 80%, there were no pockets to be picked. Hopefully will fare better in BP2.
By end-game, a thief will hit max level, but most of this party has a level or two left to get (could be handled with replays). Dual and multis will take even more xp to cap, so do not expect to cap this game without a bunch of grinding - which will at least pay for itself with the nice items available in tier 3.
Most obvious leveling issue was that with a Sorcerer and a multi as my two arcane spell casters, it took a long time to hit level 3 spells, arriving at pretty much the exact mission they became necessary.
And while the best and most interesting items are not for sale until you hit tier 3, the best value probably comes buying +1 items early in tier 2, and maybe the hill-giant strength belt (tier 2) depending on the party. My cleric illusionist grabbed that belt and now buffs to be a front-liner, rather than a rear-guard caster.
5
Comments
I'd also like to know if it is ever possible to set traps.
But what about setting traps?