Need advice - Solo poverty, vanilla, trilogy, sorcerer

bloff01

I need your ideas on everyting.

Sex: obviously male for extra/free stuff

Alignment: either evil for bypassing challenges or chaotic evil for cat familiar (mainly for stealth, otherwise to carry heavy stuff by pickpocket?)

Race: elven seems obvious, but maybe half-elf with 18 starting CON would be better as that gains 20 natural CON with all the bonuses for regeneration? Yes, I intend to consume the tomes.

Stats: primaly if I need STR at all to be able to carry quest-items, like 200 pounds of illithium. Or just skip those quests?

Spells: if I want to use the tomes, do I need Identify? To carry stuff do I need Strength? Shall I have Knock to unlock stuff? Etc.

Maybe some tactical ideas? Like how to beat the Bandit Camp Boss Tent? Or Sharevok? Etc.

Blackraven

What extra/free stuff do male protagonists get that females don't? I can only think of Oublek (reputation point), but that has changed in EE.

As for alignment and familiars, the cat familiar is for chaotic neutral (not evil) wizards. Lawful evil could be a good option because the imp familiar can cast Polymorph Self and turn into a mustard jelly, a very good spell and missile/piercing damage sponge. True neutral (for a trap disarming rabbit) or lawful neutral (for a pickpocketing ferret) deserve mentioning as well.

I would go for a 19 DEX elf for slightly better ranged attacks (Melf's Minute Meteors) and not bother with the 20+ CON since you can only get that at a rather late stage in the game, where you won't be taking much damage (if any).
High STR for quest items makes sense, but since you're playing solo and poverty, losing out on a bit of XP wouldn't hurt you I reckon. Am not aware of any heavy plot-critical quest items.
15 WIS, allowing you to reach 18 in BG1, means the Wish spell will always offer a favorable option from the Genie it summons.

The manuals require 50 lore, the tomes 60 to be identified. At level 9, your sorcerer will have 9 lore (unlike mages they only get 1 point per level instead of 3). Even at 18 INT (+10 lore) and 18 WIS (+10 lore), you won't be able to identify any of the tomes without relying on the spell or a shopkeeper.
You won't need Knock for any plot-critical chests or doors, but the locked casket holding the STR manual can only be bashed with 23 STR, i.e. more than the 21 STR a level 9 mage with 18 STR can obtain through DUHM). So if you want that extra STR point, you'll want Knock. The WIS tome below Candlekeep should be easier to obtain, though I don't know the minimum STR score to bash the lock.

As for strategies, check out @monico's thread: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/77162/solo-poverty-no-reload-legacy-of-bhaal-challenge#latest. Monico's playing on legacy of bhaal difficulty though, so some of their strategies may not be necessary in your run.

@semiticgod has a poverty run with a party of sorcerers that you can read more about in the no-reload thread.

semiticgoddess

A sorcerer doesn't really need the tomes. You could go without the tomes for "purism" reasons. It'll save you the trouble of fussing with locked containers; you don't need Knock or high Strength for anything else in the game until you get Slayer form and therefore 25 STR to open a door in the fire giant's lair in ToB.

You'll want to have Invisibility for many different reasons. That will be sufficient to deal with the bandit camp tent, though there's some considerable danger if you're trying to do it no-reload (just grab the documents from the chest, go invisible, and run).

Skull Trap is probably going to be necessary for Sarevok. You'll want that anyway for later in the game.

If you're not going through SoD, that will make things much simpler. Invisibility and Skull Trap can get you through almost all of BG1. Let Korax do some hunting for you and then you can use Invisibility to safely collect the remaining XP to get Skull Trap.

For BG2, your defenses should be solid as long as you have Spell Immunity, Stoneskin, Protection from Magical Weapons, and Resist Fear (there are some fear spells that Spell Immunity can't block). You'll also want Spell Shield to handle Death Tyrants from vanilla Melissan, or to preserve your defenses from SCS enemies, depending on your install. With those defenses in place, you can just rely on damage spells, and in late BG2, you can spam Wish (you'll want 18 Wisdom for that) to get free Wish-rests and stay at peak strength indefinitely.

Do you play with any mods?

bloff01

I see no point for a pickpocket-familiar aside carrying heavy stuff. Especialy in a poverty-run.
I neither need a tank. Offense is the best defense.
See no point in disarming traps. I never needed that with any build.
Btw, I find it strange none noticed (despite everyone calling it the best familiar) cat-familiars can not attack (what is weird 'cause normal animals hunt rats - might be cinematics though, not attack roll based), neither pickpocket (or corpses might not be stealable). Might be fixed in EE of course.

Natural regeneration at any point is a convenience to not need to sleep an infinite time for healing. Still, a good point on DEX, so 16 CON might be perfect, in case I want to choose that +2 CON Tear. Not sure if this char needs immunity to 0-1 weapons.

I checked the C/T solo poverty BG1, but found they changed certain things, like in the Bandit Camp Boss Tent there's only 1 enemy instead of 4,so its use is limited.

No mods here, as the title says.

I'm considering using quest rewards (only rewards, not quest items) during this playthrough if I'll stuck without hope. But I'd avoid that if I can.

STR would be good high for extra thac0 too. Too bad you can't just "drag" heavy stuff like in Fallout.

Knock is the easiest piece of the planning, as there aren't many useful lvl1 spells.
Btw, the first time you definitely need insane STR to bash open a story-demanded lock is in the sewers in Saradush.
The fire-giant door only needs fire-giant STR, potions layed around in the complex, and that's 22 STR. Thx for the disinformation, Mr. Jew.

semiticgoddess

You can actually "drag" stuff indirectly in EE using the quick-loot feature to retrieve stuff from short distances.

Knock isn't a level 1 spell; it's level 2. The Potions of Fire Giant Strength available in the fire giant lair wouldn't generally be part of a poverty run, and also cannot be used by sorcerers; only characters with fighter levels and Use Any Item can drink them (unless you use the pre-EE potion swap glitch, of course). Regardless, the Slayer form and Wish can both temporarily grant 25 STR.

Incidentally, I am not actually Jewish. My username is a reference to a 20th-century Buddhist named Dharmapala.

bloff01

1) who said the giant potion would be part of a poverty run? I said it signs how much STR that door needs.
2) Wish is highly unreliable, and is there only as a save&reload exploit. Avoid if you can.
3) concerning your nick: fantastic. So you are not filo-semitic, but anti-semitic? Sooo much better. The irony.
4) well, lvl 2 spells are not much good either. Easy to decide. Without the problem of the supporting spells of course.

My lvl1 spell choices currently:
1) magic missile (prime dmg of this tier)
2) find familiar (any fam. is invaluable to not let things spawn behind you in BG1)
3) protection from evil (avoiding dmeons)
4) protection from petrification (avoiding basilisks and feral halflings)
5) identify (to use tomes)

lvl 2:
1) melf's acidic arrow (prime dmg of this tier)
2) resist fear (againstdragons and such)
3) blur (defense)
4) knock (to be on the safe side)
5) mirror image (defense)
Blur of Mirror Image can be considered to swap for Strength to carry stuff.

lvl 3+ spells are more trouble, and I might overlook 1-2 too

JuliusBorisov

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