Haha, same here. Or at least I get some key party members killed at a point where it becomes difficult to replace them and then I give up and start again.
in the iron throne there is a guy who holds a bandit scalp on level 2 in chapter 7 i believe
in the elf song tavern, the ruffians hold a bandit scalp each
at the end of the catacombs in chapter 6 the last dude you talk to ( before exiting just outside beside the candlekeep walls ) there is a guy looking for Prat and he holds a scalp as well
I'm on another run and this time I have remembered to call on Officer Vai:
My last run came to a sorry end. I really thought I was going to go the whole way. Everything was going so well. I was in Chapter 7. I had survived Werewolf Island; I had defeated the Demon Knight in Durlag's Tower and so I headed for Ulgoth's Beard where . . .
I promptly got backstabbed by a hidden cult assassin.
Not gonna participate. In one run I had every inventory slot of every character PACKED with those things. I legit just needed the gold for a magic item, so I was sleeping in Larswood and it would constantly wake me by monsters. Again, 6 characters, full stacks of scalps, maxxed them out before VERRRRRRRRY slowly hauling my butt back to Beragost.
Maybe the bandits have distinctive hair styles or tattoos on their heads. Maybe Officer Vai is terrified of this lunatic who keeps bringing her bits of dead people and just pays you in the hope that you'll go away.
Actually, in BG:EE, bandit scalps are in a unique item category: Tattoos. No other item outside of Planescape Torment is in this category. Officer Vai's shop only buys items in the Tattoo category.
i think my record for scalp collection is this one;
Damn. Even with the few scalps I can pick up in Baldur's Gate I'm still not going to catch you. Early on in my run I got surrounded by 10 bandits in an ambush and ran for the edge of the map. Regretting it now. I should have fought them and at least I would be getting close.
On my latest run I have just cleared the bandit camp but I have only got 77 scalps so far. Mind you most of these seem to have come from Black Talon Elites, because I have got more +1 Arrows and Arrows of Ice than I am ever likely to shoot (the only archer in my current party is Minsc and he only uses his bow when enemies are running away in panic and then only because he can't be bothered to chase them).
ah, it looks like we have a tie, i wasn't sure what the record was so this was what i got last run as well
and i only hit that amount because i went back to the iron throne building in chapter 7 and there was a dude on the second floor who had a scalp on him, so if it wasn't for that i would have hit only 129 which looks like it was the exact same as i got previously
I just hit 128. And that's on my current unmodded run; my usual collection of mods adds scalps to a bunch of enemies that act as bandits but don't drop them normally.
That does include a ten-bandit ambush in chapter 7, as I was traveling around getting the best prices on selling things after Durlag's Tower.
I have just entered Baldur's Gate and so far I have got 113 scalps. Not bad but with just the bandits in the big city to go I don't think I am going to be threatening the record on this run.
Wow! That is an impressive amount of scalping! Where did you find all those bandits?
now adays i play what i call "gold piece" runs as in, i try and hit as much gold as possible by the time i hit the end of the game with a "reasonable" i would call rule set so its not just mindless grind, and usually i hit in the 1.4 million gold pieces the time i get to the end
on this particular run, i was just lucky i guess you could say, the north eastern areas is where you can really rake them up, especially if you are higher level ( like level 6 or so ) because then you will fight higher groups of bandits ( especially when you get waken up by 10 of them )
also, getting waylaid by the 10 bandit group helps as well, i think normally i hit just under 200, the previous run to this i think i hit 201, and right now im in chapter 4 and im around 150ish, so at this point realistically unless i get way laid by the 10 group more, hitting over 200 at this point is going to be difficult
. . . i try and hit as much gold as possible by the time i hit the end of the game with a "reasonable" i would call rule set so its not just mindless grind, and usually i hit in the 1.4 million gold pieces the time i get to the end
. . . i think normally i hit just under 200 [bandit scalps], the previous run to this i think i hit 201,
Dang. In my own last run, I was powergaming as hard as I could, trying to see what was possible by cheesing the hell out of the Dead Man's Party & Item Duplication via Familiar exploits (which I discovered, so I felt the need to test them before adding them to the wiki), and I thought I did pretty darn well: Finished BG1 (no SoD, & hardly any mod components) with 1.68 million EXP, over 846k gold, and 163 scalps sold. But I see now that was hardly a record-breaker by any means.
. . . i try and hit as much gold as possible by the time i hit the end of the game with a "reasonable" i would call rule set so its not just mindless grind, and usually i hit in the 1.4 million gold pieces the time i get to the end
. . . i think normally i hit just under 200 [bandit scalps], the previous run to this i think i hit 201,
Dang. In my own last run, I was powergaming as hard as I could, trying to see what was possible by cheesing the hell out of the Dead Man's Party & Item Duplication via Familiar exploits (which I discovered, so I felt the need to test them before adding them to the wiki), and I thought I did pretty darn well: Finished BG1 (no SoD, & hardly any mod components) with 1.68 million EXP, over 846k gold, and 163 scalps sold. But I see now that was hardly a record-breaker by any means.
i have my own mods for the EEs that i have made personally for myself and for my own tastes, a lot of them are either adding more flavor to the game ( which is basically 90%+ ) or balancing things ( usually weaker for characters or stronger for enemies ) but i also modded my bg1ee game so i can hit 500 000 xp per character ( which requires grind to attain that mark )
without mods, hitting 1.68 million XP is really good, i think the best i have done so far without intentional grinding is 1.46 million XP ( but i have only done a run like that once )
getting 846K gold is also really good, the best i've done without grinding is.... around 740K ish...? so 100K is really REALLY good
although for scalps i have no idea what my average was before gold piece runs although averaging 140-150 per run wouldn't be abnormal if i recalled correctly
on this particular run, i was just lucky i guess you could say, the north eastern areas is where you can really rake them up, especially if you are higher level ( like level 6 or so ) because then you will fight higher groups of bandits ( especially when you get waken up by 10 of them )
also, getting waylaid by the 10 bandit group helps as well, i think normally i hit just under 200, the previous run to this i think i hit 201, and right now im in chapter 4 and im around 150ish, so at this point realistically unless i get way laid by the 10 group more, hitting over 200 at this point is going to be difficult
These days I tend to play most of the game with just a two-person party (my Charname and Imoen) so I'm not running into enough bandits to challenge for the title. Maybe I will do a full party run to see if I can get back into contention?
I like officer Vai. Has anyone done a mod where she can become a companion? Or failing that, a mod where all the big bosses you meet can be scalped and you can keep delivering hanks of hair to her? I like the idea of scalping Sarevok - though I guess his being bald would make it a bit harder to do.
Comments
in the elf song tavern, the ruffians hold a bandit scalp each
at the end of the catacombs in chapter 6 the last dude you talk to ( before exiting just outside beside the candlekeep walls ) there is a guy looking for Prat and he holds a scalp as well
My last run came to a sorry end. I really thought I was going to go the whole way. Everything was going so well. I was in Chapter 7. I had survived Werewolf Island; I had defeated the Demon Knight in Durlag's Tower and so I headed for Ulgoth's Beard where . . .
Actually, in BG:EE, bandit scalps are in a unique item category: Tattoos. No other item outside of Planescape Torment is in this category. Officer Vai's shop only buys items in the Tattoo category.
Damn. Even with the few scalps I can pick up in Baldur's Gate I'm still not going to catch you. Early on in my run I got surrounded by 10 bandits in an ambush and ran for the edge of the map. Regretting it now. I should have fought them and at least I would be getting close.
and i only hit that amount because i went back to the iron throne building in chapter 7 and there was a dude on the second floor who had a scalp on him, so if it wasn't for that i would have hit only 129 which looks like it was the exact same as i got previously
That does include a ten-bandit ambush in chapter 7, as I was traveling around getting the best prices on selling things after Durlag's Tower.
now adays i play what i call "gold piece" runs as in, i try and hit as much gold as possible by the time i hit the end of the game with a "reasonable" i would call rule set so its not just mindless grind, and usually i hit in the 1.4 million gold pieces the time i get to the end
on this particular run, i was just lucky i guess you could say, the north eastern areas is where you can really rake them up, especially if you are higher level ( like level 6 or so ) because then you will fight higher groups of bandits ( especially when you get waken up by 10 of them )
also, getting waylaid by the 10 bandit group helps as well, i think normally i hit just under 200, the previous run to this i think i hit 201, and right now im in chapter 4 and im around 150ish, so at this point realistically unless i get way laid by the 10 group more, hitting over 200 at this point is going to be difficult
officer vai will be proud
i have my own mods for the EEs that i have made personally for myself and for my own tastes, a lot of them are either adding more flavor to the game ( which is basically 90%+ ) or balancing things ( usually weaker for characters or stronger for enemies ) but i also modded my bg1ee game so i can hit 500 000 xp per character ( which requires grind to attain that mark )
without mods, hitting 1.68 million XP is really good, i think the best i have done so far without intentional grinding is 1.46 million XP ( but i have only done a run like that once )
getting 846K gold is also really good, the best i've done without grinding is.... around 740K ish...? so 100K is really REALLY good
although for scalps i have no idea what my average was before gold piece runs although averaging 140-150 per run wouldn't be abnormal if i recalled correctly
These days I tend to play most of the game with just a two-person party (my Charname and Imoen) so I'm not running into enough bandits to challenge for the title. Maybe I will do a full party run to see if I can get back into contention?
I like officer Vai. Has anyone done a mod where she can become a companion? Or failing that, a mod where all the big bosses you meet can be scalped and you can keep delivering hanks of hair to her? I like the idea of scalping Sarevok - though I guess his being bald would make it a bit harder to do.