Can a solo Darkmoon Monk beat SoA+ToB (Core Rules)?
I just got done playing Icewind Dale and its expansion and it made me feel like finally doing a 2nd playthrough of BG2 (I only did 1 playthrough of BG2 4-5 years ago with my main being a Sorcerer imported after clearing BG1 and a full party with the in-game characters you can find).
When Siege of Dragonspear came out, I did a BG1 into SoD playthrough with a Darkmoon Monk having in mind to try to solo the entire series with him (I picked up a party when it was needed for BG1 since Monks start out super weak and I didn't want to take forever, I can't remember for SoD if I soloed it or had party members, I think I had a party but maybe not until the end).
My reasoning was mostly because I normally have parties built around a Sorcerer (which is my favorite class overall as it can do a lot of things and there's always some new spells to look forward to even when leveling late game) but I still like fighters. I sometimes got annoyed at how much time I had to spend buffing my entire parties before large fights. The monk seemed to start out super weak (mostly weak through the entire BG1) but the bonuses and scaling for high level into BG2 looked very impressive in theory.
Now, I can't remember all of BG2 and I don't remember too many fights being overly difficult with a full party on Core Rules except for the final ToB boss. I know that I beat it but I think that it did give me a hard time still.
Aside from this boss, I'm also wondering if there are monsters that a Solo Monk will not be able to damage with his fists because they wouldn't be considered high enough in + magic dmg weapon (I don't feel like having to use weird gimmicks unless it's very rarely needed).
I'm wondering if I start back a full playthrough from BG1 into SoD into BG2 or if I continue with this monk I had that just cleared BG1+SoD. I just don't want to realize that he's not going to make it once I'm halfway into BG2. I read some people saying that he can't use the amulet to protect from level drain so vampires are a big issue?
When Siege of Dragonspear came out, I did a BG1 into SoD playthrough with a Darkmoon Monk having in mind to try to solo the entire series with him (I picked up a party when it was needed for BG1 since Monks start out super weak and I didn't want to take forever, I can't remember for SoD if I soloed it or had party members, I think I had a party but maybe not until the end).
My reasoning was mostly because I normally have parties built around a Sorcerer (which is my favorite class overall as it can do a lot of things and there's always some new spells to look forward to even when leveling late game) but I still like fighters. I sometimes got annoyed at how much time I had to spend buffing my entire parties before large fights. The monk seemed to start out super weak (mostly weak through the entire BG1) but the bonuses and scaling for high level into BG2 looked very impressive in theory.
Now, I can't remember all of BG2 and I don't remember too many fights being overly difficult with a full party on Core Rules except for the final ToB boss. I know that I beat it but I think that it did give me a hard time still.
Aside from this boss, I'm also wondering if there are monsters that a Solo Monk will not be able to damage with his fists because they wouldn't be considered high enough in + magic dmg weapon (I don't feel like having to use weird gimmicks unless it's very rarely needed).
I'm wondering if I start back a full playthrough from BG1 into SoD into BG2 or if I continue with this monk I had that just cleared BG1+SoD. I just don't want to realize that he's not going to make it once I'm halfway into BG2. I read some people saying that he can't use the amulet to protect from level drain so vampires are a big issue?
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Comments
The scimitar spectral brand was very important. It is a late game weapon, but can protect you against level drain - there are some fights at the throne where negative plane protection that can’t be dispelled makes sense.
Until you have the scimitar, there are PFU scrolls in many of the temples.
There are many weapons that can give some immunities. Equip them off hand even though your aren’t adept in them (there are long swords that can give you protection against fear and domination - and remember that you don’t need to fight the dragons until ToB).
Otherwise your magic resistance must pave the way against the disabling spells and such. Run away and stealth when injured
Melisan fell to my many GWW. With the spectral brand added cold damage I managed to get through her protections.
Actually I played the battle with no expectations of winning - and was rather surprised when I won.
I don’t know if the EE’s have closed for some exploits (I had a familiar...). But I’d reckon it’s doable.
As for the thief weapons, yea I sure can use some (I used a dagger of venom when I beat BG1 as it was quite useful vs casters to interrupt their spell casting and my fists weren't that deadly yet at low levels), my concern was more that I can only put 1 point into its proficiency so I don't know how bad the THAC0 would be (the gameplay experiences changes heavily between BG1, mid levels like 15-20 from IWD and higher lvl around 30 with BG2) and if I had to resort to this most of the end game, I'd just be better off with a different melee character since fists is a big part of the Monk class design.
Melisan falling to GWW, you mean Greater Werewolf? Do you mean that you were in regular druid form to use the scepter or did the bonuses apply to your GWW attacks? I'm asking because I had one in my IWD party and although I loved the concept and class itself, THAC0 was a huge issue (it was hardly landing any hits on enemies despite being lvl 19 or 20 and I don't think that the weapons equipped affected any of it when I was looking at the stats while shapeshifted and swapping weapons around for resistances or THAC0 bonuses). For comparison, I think my Berserker's THAC0 was around -8 and the GWW was around 7-8.