Max stats-Playing a Half God Joinable NPC's have max HP's and max HP's on level up (Half Gods are always Lucky) All races can be all classes/kits and can multi and dual class No XP cap Original Grandmastery Items stack to 999 Gift myself a Bag of holding Always play Solo (except for NPC romance/quests) SCS and at least Insanity difficulty Spells never fail for memorization plus no limit on number of spells per spell level I also make a point to minimize my resting, usually will only rest to trigger events such as Jaheira's romance/quest or for plot dreams such as in BG1. All cheese is allowed since SCS nerfs most of the cheese so that it isn't a complete face-roll of an encounter. I also like using Mod's for items and especially stuff that can be upgraded, so i'll usually throw in at least 1 of those.
The first five years I played this game I never used potions. I was too focused on character building and RTS strategy. If I didn't need it, I would sell it and move forward with weapon purchases that I had in mind. It wasn't until I started playing the game on harder modes that I started to look at potions and see where I could use them to my advantage. I think it adds another layer of strategy and something else to the gameplay via collecting.
I have SCS set to break all potions that enemies have when they die. This way you can only gain potions from adventuring or spending your gold. This keeps you from becoming a walking chemistry set and feels great to me.
One problem I noticed on LOB is that you actually need an 18 strength to hit. I was experimenting with rolls earlier today and my character with a 16 strength and a specialization in scimitars was unable to hit "Shank" with a to hit roll of 19+1 for weapon specialization. I could only hit him with a natural 20.
As a result I have adapted @Zaghoul's approach to rolling stats this time. I'm having just as hard of a time rolling a good 75 point roll as I do getting a 95+ roll. I rolled for 20 minutes and got a 94 point roll but none of the 75 point rolls would work without re adjusting them. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
I've already changed one of my unbreakable rules. I don't use any potions but I have decided to allow antidotes because watching yet another character succumbing to poisoning is just too miserable for words.
@Permidion_Stark even if you can't rest and are too far from the edge of the map to run away, there's always the fallback option of a green scroll ...
I hadn't thought of that and maybe it is a better option. Will a Scroll of Protection Against Poison actually stop the effects if you have already been poisoned?
On my latest run I haven't used any antidotes so far but I am carrying them. I was hoping my Bhaalspawn power of Slow Poison might see me through but it didn't have much effect when I got stung by a baby wyvern last time out.
PfP will cure existing poison as well as stop new poison. Slow poison is just a bit too slow to cast - for dangerous poisons I find it's pretty rare for slow poison to work. It's also odd that poison damage during casting of slow poison seems to automatically make the spell fail - for divine spells you would expect there to be a chance of success.
I normally manage reputation so that I get horror instead. That doesn't add much in a party, but is really useful for a solo character (though that's less true now as the fear effect is not working well in v2.5).
@Aerakar not very well in BG2EE v2.5. The old problem of scripts overcoming fear is back, so you can't rely on horror to prevent enemies with potentially fatal spells or attacks from using them. In addition the fear effect itself seems to be thrown off entirely within a few rounds rather than the expected turn.
Well, I finally started my new adventure. I'm going to go ahead with the spell learning failure. I'm going to need to boost my intelligence and be well rested when I learn spells now. As for the 75 Point roll, I finally settled for this. 18(90) 16 13 12 6 10 I turned off the game music and turned up some jams while I rolled for about an hour. Not a bad roll really. I'm a fighter / mage multi so the intelligence score will limit my casting ability a little bit at the end of SOA but then the golden Ion stone should fix me right up in early TOB.
Couple of things I have noticed since the patch. On LOB mode the rats still have high resistances but they no longer hit you all the time so you don't have to worry about being knocked out constantly. Another thing I noticed is that the Familiar no longer has LOB boosted HP so it's not nearly as beneficial to your HP as it once was. With lower Dex and CON than I am used to, my HP and armor is worse off and makes fighting Shank and Corbos nearly impossible. I ended up using the familiar to engage them directly with it's damage resistance and I made dash and slash attacks with my character so they wouldn't focus their attacks on my character directly. I swear it feels like I am having a harder time hitting them this time but maybe it's just my memory of my last play though being a little off. My cat has way better APR and hits much more often than I can. It made me consider for the first time, running away and leading them out so the watchers would kill them for me.
I went ahead and installed Ascension. This run is going to be such a pain, I don't know why I do this to myself. I'm not as crazy as you solo no reload guys though.
All npcs are chosen based on who my charname would trust and get along with. Stats and optimization are not considered.
I do the same but I don't judge a book by it's cover. I usually give people a chance to prove that they don't work with my party before letting them go. Of course, if I already have a solid party of six I will usually pass them up no matter who they are. Last time I used the cannon NPC's which I have done before. There is an art to party optimization no matter who you have with you though. I think Edwin is the only one where the initial conversation leads to me refusing to help him regardless of my alignment. Mainly because he refuses to tell you why he wants you to murder someone and he refuses to tell you what your payment will be. No sane person would work with that regardless of how evil or good they are. Maybe chaotic evil characters would take him up on it on a whim or possibly a true neutral character would agree to help him and then turn on him when it came time for the kill.
I swear it feels like I am having a harder time hitting them this time but maybe it's just my memory of my last play though being a little off. My cat has way better APR and hits much more often than I can. It made me consider for the first time, running away and leading them out so the watchers would kill them for me.
LoB now gives an AC adjustment of -11, so you will definitely be finding it harder to hit things . Blindness is still your friend as a mage though.
For the most part I choose the character and play style differently every time. I never take an evil path, tried it long ago and it just wasn’t for me. Likewise I never kill anyone who is not actively trying to kill me, gated in a demon once to eat bystanders when I was tired of the Wizards ambushing me so I would not get a reputation loss if I accidentally killed someone while I was trying to kill the mages, worked but I felt so guilty that I just deleted the whole run.
Play with the first roll over 84 or under 100 rolls, whichever comes first. Core rules. Almost always solo. Rarely use any potions except for invisibility, those I use a lot to scout. I always get all of the speed potions but never use them until the end unless using one will keep me from dying. Because... No reload. Don’t know which mage thought that spell up, probably Elminster, but it’s more power than I want to play around with. Only meta game to the degree at which I can scout.
There are times that I break all of those rules except the killing one, if I am just trying to find something out and I don’t plan on a full run. I just want to get to where I want to be as fast as possible so I can quit.
I play to have fun. I don’t like using some weapons, I almost never use FoA, CF or the staff of cheese. I almost always pick a type of weapon or weapons that I will play with and stick to those exclusively. Like a Barbarian I am playing that only uses axes, short swords, mace of disruption and short bows, or a cleric/thief that only uses clubs and belm after UAI.(beat Mel with her, no slings either)
Oh yeah, if I get to Mel I will reload forever. “I’m not leaving here without the stones.”
Also, HLA traps are ridiculous so only 5 ever. 1 spike, 2 time and 2 exploding is all I get and never meta lay them. I did play a conjurer > thief once dualed at level 9 I think, kept putting down a trap in every room after it was cleared then did a ton of running to lure stuff into them.
I do like some of the rules y’all play with and will probably try a few.
Comments
Joinable NPC's have max HP's and max HP's on level up (Half Gods are always Lucky)
All races can be all classes/kits and can multi and dual class
No XP cap
Original Grandmastery
Items stack to 999
Gift myself a Bag of holding
Always play Solo (except for NPC romance/quests)
SCS and at least Insanity difficulty
Spells never fail for memorization plus no limit on number of spells per spell level
I also make a point to minimize my resting, usually will only rest to trigger events such as Jaheira's romance/quest or for plot dreams such as in BG1.
All cheese is allowed since SCS nerfs most of the cheese so that it isn't a complete face-roll of an encounter.
I also like using Mod's for items and especially stuff that can be upgraded, so i'll usually throw in at least 1 of those.
I have SCS set to break all potions that enemies have when they die. This way you can only gain potions from adventuring or spending your gold. This keeps you from becoming a walking chemistry set and feels great to me.
As a result I have adapted @Zaghoul's approach to rolling stats this time. I'm having just as hard of a time rolling a good 75 point roll as I do getting a 95+ roll. I rolled for 20 minutes and got a 94 point roll but none of the 75 point rolls would work without re adjusting them. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
All npcs are chosen based on who my charname would trust and get along with. Stats and optimization are not considered.
18(90)
16
13
12
6
10
I turned off the game music and turned up some jams while I rolled for about an hour. Not a bad roll really. I'm a fighter / mage multi so the intelligence score will limit my casting ability a little bit at the end of SOA but then the golden Ion stone should fix me right up in early TOB.
Couple of things I have noticed since the patch. On LOB mode the rats still have high resistances but they no longer hit you all the time so you don't have to worry about being knocked out constantly. Another thing I noticed is that the Familiar no longer has LOB boosted HP so it's not nearly as beneficial to your HP as it once was. With lower Dex and CON than I am used to, my HP and armor is worse off and makes fighting Shank and Corbos nearly impossible. I ended up using the familiar to engage them directly with it's damage resistance and I made dash and slash attacks with my character so they wouldn't focus their attacks on my character directly. I swear it feels like I am having a harder time hitting them this time but maybe it's just my memory of my last play though being a little off. My cat has way better APR and hits much more often than I can.
I went ahead and installed Ascension. This run is going to be such a pain, I don't know why I do this to myself.
Play with the first roll over 84 or under 100 rolls, whichever comes first.
Core rules.
Almost always solo.
Rarely use any potions except for invisibility, those I use a lot to scout. I always get all of the speed potions but never use them until the end unless using one will keep me from dying. Because...
No reload. Don’t know which mage thought that spell up, probably Elminster, but it’s more power than I want to play around with.
Only meta game to the degree at which I can scout.
There are times that I break all of those rules except the killing one, if I am just trying to find something out and I don’t plan on a full run. I just want to get to where I want to be as fast as possible so I can quit.
I play to have fun. I don’t like using some weapons, I almost never use FoA, CF or the staff of cheese. I almost always pick a type of weapon or weapons that I will play with and stick to those exclusively. Like a Barbarian I am playing that only uses axes, short swords, mace of disruption and short bows, or a cleric/thief that only uses clubs and belm after UAI.(beat Mel with her, no slings either)
Oh yeah, if I get to Mel I will reload forever. “I’m not leaving here without the stones.”
Also, HLA traps are ridiculous so only 5 ever. 1 spike, 2 time and 2 exploding is all I get and never meta lay them. I did play a conjurer > thief once dualed at level 9 I think, kept putting down a trap in every room after it was cleared then did a ton of running to lure stuff into them.
I do like some of the rules y’all play with and will probably try a few.