Yet another no-reload thread
monico
Member Posts: 571
Hi everyone,
Inspired by my betters, I have decided to join the fun of "no-reloads challenges". My actual first try on no-reloads was solo-poverty-legacy of bhaal-no reload, but that became boring fast (although quite challenging).
So I've decided to loose the poverty and LoB part of that, and add randomization.
My rules are:
- no reload, obviously
- I play solo most of the times, 'cause that is the way I enjoy it, although I don't mind recruiting a NPC from time to time (for example, a thief to help loot a dungeon or one ally or two before a brutal fight). Hence solo is not a rule but just a gameplay I enjoy
- random character creation: sex, race, class, alignment are totally random, stats mostly random too (except for the "main" stat for which I'll roll 15 or higher), weapon selection too (1 roll for melee weapon, 1 for ranged)
- the runs will span the entire series, BG1, SoD, BG2 & ToB
I installed a dice roller on my phone, and started rolling my first character yesterday.
Ended up with a Wizard Slayer, which is probably the last class I would have ever chosen for solo no-reloads. Which actually makes it fun (report on that run follows).
EDIT : I will edit this first post to keep track of my progress:
#1: half-elf Wizard Slayer: died in BG1 (stunned and chunked by a ghast in Durlag's Tower)
#2: half-orc Shaman: died in BG1 (straight out of Candlekeep against a wolf)
#3: human Enchanter: died in BG1 (killed by the Revenant in the Valley of the Tombs)
#4: dwarven Cleric of Helm: finished BG1, died in SoD (failed a save against web in the Spider Lair - chapter 9)
#5: gnome Cleric/Thief: finished BG1, died in SoD (charmed by a vampire in Bloodbark Grove - chapter 10)
#6: elven Archer: finished BG1 and SoD. Died in the Underdark in BG2 (brain eaten by an illithid)
#7 : Dwarven Defender: finished BG1 and SoD. Charmed by a vampire in Bodhi’s lair.
#8: half elven Blade: finished BG1, exploded Boareskyr Bridge in SoD, along with herself.
#9: human Invoker: nuked her way through BG1, died against Belhifet in SoD
#10: human Dark Moon Monk: barely survived Sarevok in BG1, died in SoD (Aerial Servants in Temple - chapter9)
#11: elven FMT: cleared BG1 and SoD, got charmed by Illithids in the Underdark.
#12: dwarven Bounty Hunter: failed to save the dukes in BG1.
#13: human Blackguard: finished BG1 and SoD, fell in Hell against Irenicus (final BG2 battle)
#14: elven Sorcerer: died somewhere in SoD, can't remember
#15: half elven FMT: fell against spiders in Beregost
#16: elven swashbuckler: finished BG1 and SoD, fell early in BG2 (slaver's quest)
#17: human Priest of Tempus (8) dualed to Fighter: finished BG1, fell in SoD shortly before gaining back his cleric levels
#18: half-orc F/T: killed by Davaeorn
#19: half elf shaman: killed by Tarnesh (still a progress compared to attempt #2)
#20: gnomish cleric/illu: took too long a hiatus, so I decided he died of old age
Inspired by my betters, I have decided to join the fun of "no-reloads challenges". My actual first try on no-reloads was solo-poverty-legacy of bhaal-no reload, but that became boring fast (although quite challenging).
So I've decided to loose the poverty and LoB part of that, and add randomization.
My rules are:
- no reload, obviously
- I play solo most of the times, 'cause that is the way I enjoy it, although I don't mind recruiting a NPC from time to time (for example, a thief to help loot a dungeon or one ally or two before a brutal fight). Hence solo is not a rule but just a gameplay I enjoy
- random character creation: sex, race, class, alignment are totally random, stats mostly random too (except for the "main" stat for which I'll roll 15 or higher), weapon selection too (1 roll for melee weapon, 1 for ranged)
- the runs will span the entire series, BG1, SoD, BG2 & ToB
I installed a dice roller on my phone, and started rolling my first character yesterday.
Ended up with a Wizard Slayer, which is probably the last class I would have ever chosen for solo no-reloads. Which actually makes it fun (report on that run follows).
EDIT : I will edit this first post to keep track of my progress:
#1: half-elf Wizard Slayer: died in BG1 (stunned and chunked by a ghast in Durlag's Tower)
#2: half-orc Shaman: died in BG1 (straight out of Candlekeep against a wolf)
#3: human Enchanter: died in BG1 (killed by the Revenant in the Valley of the Tombs)
#4: dwarven Cleric of Helm: finished BG1, died in SoD (failed a save against web in the Spider Lair - chapter 9)
#5: gnome Cleric/Thief: finished BG1, died in SoD (charmed by a vampire in Bloodbark Grove - chapter 10)
#6: elven Archer: finished BG1 and SoD. Died in the Underdark in BG2 (brain eaten by an illithid)
#7 : Dwarven Defender: finished BG1 and SoD. Charmed by a vampire in Bodhi’s lair.
#8: half elven Blade: finished BG1, exploded Boareskyr Bridge in SoD, along with herself.
#9: human Invoker: nuked her way through BG1, died against Belhifet in SoD
#10: human Dark Moon Monk: barely survived Sarevok in BG1, died in SoD (Aerial Servants in Temple - chapter9)
#11: elven FMT: cleared BG1 and SoD, got charmed by Illithids in the Underdark.
#12: dwarven Bounty Hunter: failed to save the dukes in BG1.
#13: human Blackguard: finished BG1 and SoD, fell in Hell against Irenicus (final BG2 battle)
#14: elven Sorcerer: died somewhere in SoD, can't remember
#15: half elven FMT: fell against spiders in Beregost
#16: elven swashbuckler: finished BG1 and SoD, fell early in BG2 (slaver's quest)
#17: human Priest of Tempus (8) dualed to Fighter: finished BG1, fell in SoD shortly before gaining back his cleric levels
#18: half-orc F/T: killed by Davaeorn
#19: half elf shaman: killed by Tarnesh (still a progress compared to attempt #2)
#20: gnomish cleric/illu: took too long a hiatus, so I decided he died of old age
Post edited by monico on
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Comments
Female half elf Wizard Slayer ; quite nice rolls (and that was before I added the "main stat" bonus rule) : 17 STR / 16 DEX / 15 CON / 17 INT / 9 WIS / 7 CHA
Weapons : Axe and Darts (disappointed at first, but proved to be compatible with the WS playstyle).
I was worried that without potions/enchanted gear and no way to go invisible, it would be very difficult.
As it turns out, not so much. Normal enemies are easily taken care of as a fighter. Wizards can't cast spells when you throw 3 darts at them in the first round (the miscast magic ability bypasses stoneskins or mirror images).
The real threat was the clerics, they don't get the penalty to casting (you are a WIZARD slayer after all), and with no gear/potions to reduce my saving throws, their debilitating spells would mean the end of me.
Almost died that way against the amazons outside Nashkell Mines. Luckily, the Hold spell hit me while I was running away and they did not follow me (they tend to aggro around their spellcasters instead).
I did manage to kite them, although I had to resort to cheese at one point : I didn’t pull my aggro well, and a hold spell was flying my way while the 2 archers/dart throwers were following me. Well, I expected something like this in the first place so I was careful to stay close to the map border, and I left the map when I saw the spell flying my way.
Came back later to finish them.
With all the gold I gathered from selling the stuff I can’t use (which is almost everything), I bought 2 stacks of Darts of Stunning, which made my life much easier (at lvl6 with 3* in darts, I could launch 3,5 darts per round with a good enough thac0 too).
That is how I cleared the tent in the Bandit Camp, as well as Drasus’ party.
I managed to reach Davaeorn without too much problems (chose to lower my rep to have Horror as 3rd & 4th bhaalspawn ability, I need that crowd control).
The big difficulty was now to get past the 2 battle horrors to kill Davaeorn:
- I first tried to lure them away one at a time and kite them. Turns out they are immune to missile damage (forgot that) and cannot (or at least did not) get stunned by the Dart of Stunning (bummer). They are also way better fighters than me, so direct clash one-on-one didn’t work either
- I then tried to lure them both upstairs, hoping to shrug them off somewhere in the upper mines with the help of my boots of speed. Turns out they don’t follow you, but it allowed me to calm down, heal and restrategise
- Went back downstairs, the battle horrors had moved back a bit near Daveorn, so I decided to wait for Davaeorn’s protection (mainly Prot. From normal missiles) to wear out (that’s eleven real time minutes…)
- Buffed myself with 2 green scrolls (Prot. Against Fire & Prot. Against Electricity), one of the rare magical stuff usable even by wizard slayers
- Ran top speed towards a room next to Davaeorn, hoping to be faster than the Battle Horrors aggro. Wasn’t though.
- Opened Spotify, typed Benny Hill show theme
- Launched darts at Davaeorn while running away from the battle horrors. The mage was no threat with the miscast magic piling on him (25% per hit, cumulative, and I had 4 APR now at lvl7)
- Killed Davaeorn (it did take a while though chasing him around with his scripted teleportation), looted his corpse, and ran the hell out of the room, still pursued by two angry yet a bit out-of-breath (although they don’t have lungs) Battle Horrors
Quite intense fight. Too intense in fact, I should have stopped there for the day, instead I decided to clear the upper floors of Durlag’s Tower before coming back with a NPC to grab the WIS tome.
But I forgot that Ghasts attacks can stun you… Which they obviously did. And then I died. Painfully.
Still, quite a satisfying run.
#2 : half-orc ... Shaman ! dammit.
Rolls were weird: 19 STR (whoohoo perfect roll) / 8 DEX (those DEX gauntlets will come in handy) / 13 CON / 11 INT / 16 WIS / 4 CHA ("like ugly on an orc")
Proficiencies were Club & Short bow.
4 CHA is so low, even Phlydia did not reward me a gem from retrieving her book.
Ah well. Starting spells were Doom & Bless.
With my awesome STR and those two spells, I headed out of Candlekeep, grabbed Gorion's remains, and was attacked by a wolf.
And then I died.
... Well that was fast.
Awesome roll: 15 STR / 17 DEX / 14 CON / 17 INT / 9 WIS / 16 CHA (minimum for an Enchanter, seems legit too).
I picked Find Familiar & Sleep as my starting spells. Sleep is awesome early on (enemies save at -3), even more so as an enchanter (they save at -5, as long as they are not lvl5 or higher or immune to the effect).
With the help of the sleep spell & my Pseudo Dragon, i easily beat the few wolves & gibberlings in the first few maps, even the belt-loving Ogre fell asleep (although he saved against the first cast, surprisingly).
Cleared the basilisks map with Korax & the pseudo dragon. Now I am too high leveled and too poor to fill my spellbook.
I sensed myself become overconfident puting everyone to sleep, so I decided to stop for the night after killing the basilisks.
I have a good feeling about this enchanter :
- sleep can take care of most of BG1 ;
- thanks to the -2 Saving throw malus from the Enchanter class, Ray of Enfeeblement (lvl2) can be a great disabler against hard-hitting foes (with 5STR, they will also become encumbered, rooting them on the spot)
- at lvl3 : Dire Charm, although low duration spell, can turn also the tide of a battle, and Hold Person (enemies now save at -3) becomes even awesomer than it already was
- lvl4: between Greater Malison and the innate Enchanter saving throw malus, Emotion: Hopelessness is a higher-version of the Sleep spell. I'm not very fond of Confusion (since enemies can still decide to attack), but with Greater Malison cast beforehand, enemies save at -8 !
- lvl5: a better charm (Domination) and a better confusion (Chaos), but most especially : Feeblemind, a save-or-die spell : enemy normally saves at -2, make it -8 with malison & enchanter bonus, duration: permanent. Affected target can not perform any action. The main difficulty will be actually getting the scroll (I read Shandalar has one, but I don't see my lawful-good enchanter killing him. The other one seems to be in Durlag's tower, but I have no idea where).
No evocation spells is a bummer though (not so much for the damaging spells, but also for the lack of sequencers/contingencies). Also means no Minute Melf's Meteors (if I ever face a Lich) and no Mordenkainen's Sword.
Oh and also, there is no enchantment spell past lvl5. Which is why, when I saw my high DEX roll, I rolled a d2 dice to see if I will dual to thief later (I already rolled a "dual class" dice when choosing the class). The dice insisted once again that I stay as a single-class enchanter. Ah well.
Although I was protected (shield + prot. against evil + mirror image), the revenant managed to strike me once at the start of the battle even though he was Enfeebled.
I decided to exit the cave, luring him away will kiting with spells (2xFlame Arrow first, then Burning Hands). Managed to get him to near death with my first Burning Hands, but forgot that the spell "roots" you on your spot for a few seconds, hence allowing the Revenant to land a second strike (through my mirror images and despite his debuffs).
I was heavily wounded, but I knew that just another Burning Hands would finish him (casting time 1, and with his vulnerability agzinst fire, more than enough to kill him).
He managed to hit me THROUGH my images AGAIN, in less time than I could cast Burning Hands !! Unbelievable !
My dear Enchantress lays dead in the valley of tombs... At least her spirit won’t feel lonely.
I’m really sad, I had high expectations for this character once it reached BG City (getting there was the problem though).
I rolled attempt #4 this morning, Quatrina (pun intended), a female dwarven Priest of Helm, for which I had great expectations... But forgot her completely and rolled attempt #5 when I came home this evening....
And well, attempt #5 got me excited when I saw a gnomish cleric/thief show up ! I love that class ! Plus, stats rolls were very high too, and with stealth and cleric buffs&summons, I got too hyped and started right away.
And so, meet Fünfte, my NE female gnomish cleric/thief:
Proficiencies in : Quarterstaff, Sling, Two-handed Weapon.
- I first cleared many non violent quests & unlocked/looted all chests in Beregost, FAI & Nashkell
- made a trip to mutamin’s garden, killed most Basilisks (and Mutamin himself) with Korax, leaving only the north-eastern lesser basilisk and Mutamin’s greater basilisk (still neutral) alive.
- with the gold gathered from these treasures and rewards, bought 19 Stone to Flesh scrolls from Kelddath Ormlyr, 4 Potions of Master Thievery from Erdane, the merchant outside Durlag’s Tower, and a few Potions of Mirrored Eyes from Thalantyr.
- Went back to Beregost, gulped 2 thief potions, stole Algernon’s cape, went back to the basilisk area, gulped a mirrored eyes potion, approached the surviving lesser basilisk, charmed him with Algernon’s cape, had him petrify the Greater basilisk repeatedly while I unpetrified him, allowing me to hit XP cap easily.
- With very good stealth, sufficient locks & disarm traps, it was time to start killing rich ennemies (Bassilus and the hobgoblins nearby, looting the Sirine’s cave, and more) to buy the Shadow Armor in Beregost, the +3 Staff and Greenstone Amulet in Ulgoth’s Beard, and The One Gift Lost at the Carnival. Also stole Dushaï’s Ring of Free action (hence the remaining 2 thief potions) and retroeved Zhurlong’s Boots of Stealth (kept them for myself though) and easily cleared the main quest up til Davaeorn.
- Davaeorn’s fight with Uno (the Wizard slayer) was so intense, I was quite apprehensive. But then I remembered that the Battle Horrors spawn from a trap, so I just disarmed it and sent my 4 skeletons against Davaeorn, while my character sent debuffs from afar. Easy peasy, goodbye Davy.
- Made my way to BG City, grabbed the tomes on the way, did a few quests in the city but generally did not spend much time there.
- I now stand before Duke Eltan, ready to be sent back to Candlekeep. But now is time for bed.
It has been a long time since I cleared the lower levels, I generally just go down to the second level to grab Durlag’s goblet.
I decided to prepare as much as possible by re-reading walkthroughs, studying each level’s maps and the mandatory kills (not that many in fact).
First level : disarmed all traps, avoided the enemies and solved the riddles, put a few traps around the SE warden who drops the stone for the next level (I think it’s Love).
Summoned a few skeletons also, just in case, buffed them and triggered the battle. Love died almost immediately, I grabbed the key and let my skellies aggro the other wardens while I fled (outside first to rest and prepare other spells).
Second level : solved the riddles while in stealth, disarmed most traps too, but it was a bit difficult since many ennemies kept following me even though I was invisible. I managed to grab the Wardstone for the next level and immediately used my Ring of Invisibility.
I then gulped a potion of Prot. from Fire + Batalista’s Passport, and lured everyone to the Level 3 and the Fireball room. They won’t follow me now.
Level 3: stealthed my way through the Wyvern’s room, and killed the 4 guardians with hit&run tactics (mostly: Wand of Heavens or One Gift Lost, run away, hide in shadow, rince and repeat). The bear was the most annoying, it kept running around the whole level and I had to waste a few precious Invisibility potions and charges of my Ring of Invisibility when it stood near other enemies.
I was especially wary of the Phoenix Guards (immune to fire), but with a few buffs, I could reliably backstab them to death.
After killing the 4 guardians, I was teleported to the Chess room, I cast Protection against Electricity and ran around the chessboard while hidden in shadows, enjoying looking at all the Thunderbolts destroying all the chess pieces.
To be honest, I did nit expect this strategy to work, it was fun !
Level 4: grabbed the Staff of Striking and the Sling +3, then asked Irlanne to teleport me far away from this hellish place !
This trip through Durlag’s Tower was really dangerous, especially with the wardens/greater doppelgangers from level 2 who kept following me, plus the Bear from level 3 who has a lot of HPs, strikes hard and moves fast.
But it was very rewarding, and it was time to wrap things up in BG City and kill Sarevok.
Back in BG city:
- Backstabbed the doppelganger "healing" the Duke
- Backstabbed the witch at the top of the Iron Throne
- summoned a few skeletons and backstabbed Slythe. He survived the hit so I immediately hid in the shadows before he could react (and before he turned hostile), waited a few seconds and finished him off (Kristin honey did not even show up). A bit cheesy, I admit.
- Prepared for the coronation: summoned 3 skeletons & 2 Worgs, buffed them up, and triggered the fight. I tried debuffing the Doppelgangers, but to no avail. Duke Liia Jannath died rapidly, but thankfully my summons managed to aggro the attention of a few doppelgangers and we managed to finish them off before Belt was even heavily injured. Phew.
- Followed Sarevok up to his last Temple, went in to disarm/trigger the traps, lay down my own traps (1 succeeded, one failed), went out to rest.
- Summoned a few skellies, laid down two other traps (both succeeded !), buffed myself and the summons up. and triggered the fight.
- Sarevok followed me, and while my skellies distracted Semaj’s attention, I took care of Sarevok (backstab / invis. potion, rinse and repeat).
Tadaa :
Fünfte did not spend long in BG city, a quick trip to the elfsong tavern to grab the spectacles and to Sunderous Sundries to sell stuff, and we went on our way against the crusade.
I avoided most fights/quests, but decided to make a detour through the Repository of Death to gather help for the crusade attack on the allied camp later. With the help of Protection from Undead scrolls, I cleared the caves (lured the Bronze Sentry in an emptied room, neither my cleric/thief nor my skellies were strong enough to face him).
I then decided to ally with Coldhearth. Went back to the dwarves, gulped 4 Potions of Master Thievery and stole their Necklaces. I never allied with the undead before, I hope they’ll prove useful in the allied camp.
Stealthily and prudently made my way through the Wyrm caves (not waking up the dragon) and the Temple of Cyric, avoiding most enemies.
Backstabbed Ziatar with the Staff of Striking (even buffed up, it took 2 strikes to kill her, so I gulped a potion of invisibility in between). Summoned a 3 skellies and 2 wolves, buffed them up and sent them to distract the Neothelid while I ran towards the High Priestess chambers.
Before entering, I summoned another Skeleton, and buffed myself up. My previous summons were already destroyed by the Neothelid and I was surprised to see him teleport to my location and attacking me (ignoring stealth). Luckily, my summons did a great job and managed to wound him to Heavily Injured, and since I couldn’t evade him and I was already buffed, I had no choice but to face it. I gulped an Oil of Speed and my skeleton and I managed to finish him in a few rounds, before he could kill me (although I took quite a beating).
Unexpected victory ! I really thought it would be the end of me when the Neothelid ambushed me. But the nice XP was a good surprise.
I then decided to sleep inside the Temple since my spellbook was depleted (I don’t like resting in dungeons, especially in such a dungeon where I might be attacked during the rest).
No enemies showed up, and so I summoned a few helpers to take aggro from the air elementals (the summons fell quite rapidly though), while my buffed cleric/thief backstabbed the High Priestess to death. I then looted her corpse for the wardstone, gulped another potion of Invisibility and made my way out of the Temple, not caring about the threat coming from the depths of the temple.
Boareskyr Bridge was resolved peacefully, Khalid decided to join me to negociate the surrender. I kept him around to kill the mage and mercenaries on the bridge (his arrows were a great help, while my trusty skellies helped in melee).
We managed to prevent the mage from summoning the fire elementals, and to thank Khalid for his great help, I ditched him immediately.
I have now reached the coalition camp, which is way further than I expected !
Made my way to the Bloodbark Grove, notably to get the Sundermaul. But then I forgot that vampires can charm you...
So meet Quatrina, the female dwarven Cleric of Helm:
Despite the somewhat low dexterity, easily covered by gauntlets, the Seeking Sword special ability of a priest of Helm makes her very good in melee (+4 thac0, 3 APR, no damage bonus but STR enhancements still apply).
The high CON was a unexpected benefit, while the low INT prevents me from using wands & scrolls (although potions raising INT can somewhat alleviate that problem).
With the experience from the C/T (similar gameplay spell-wise), first part of BG was easy. I cheesed it by going almost directly for the basilisks area, using the XP loop from petrifying/unpetrifying the neutral greater basilisk to hit max level ASAP.
Gathered some gear (gauntlets of dexterity, bassilus’ hammer, ankheg plate in Nashkell) and started clearing the main quest up til the bandit camp (using Sanctuary as a replacement for stealth).
After the bandit camp, and doing a few quests to raise my rep to 20, I finally had enough money to go to Ulgoth Beard to buy the Ring of Invisibility, the Cloak of Displacement and the Greenstone Amulet.
I ran through the Cloakwood mines avoiding fights with Sanctuary and Free Action, silenced Drasus’s group and easily dispatched them with 4 buffed up skeletons and myself.
Made a quick trip back to FAI to sell some loot and rest before coming back to kill Davaeorn (once again avoiding the whole dungeon through Sanctuary).
I tried (under Sanctuary) to avoid the Battle Horrors so my 4 buffed skellies could focus on Davaeorn only, but it didn’t work.
While Davaeorn launched (ineffective) spells at my skeletons, I stayed out of range to send buffs/debuffs. The skeletons (helped by Davaeorn’s AoE damaging spells) killed the first battle horror and brought the second one to Near Death, so I decided to finish the fight in melee : Holy Power + DuHM + Seeking Sword allowed me to dispatch the second Battle Horror, and I noticed that Davaeorn was out of spells, so a quick True Sight (the other special ability of the priest of helm) dispelled his mirror images and my cleric killed him in less than 2 rounds.
Again, a difficult fight, at first I thought I would have to retreat when the battle horrors joined the fray, but I was surprised to see my skeletons kill one. I think the rolls were not in favour of the skellies, but 4 against 2 and a bit of luck on my side allowed me to finish the fight more easily than expected.
I think now is the time to make a trip to Durlag’s tower, to grab the WIS tome and Durlag’s Goblet
It finished the Battle Horror and took care of Davaeorn afterwards
Easily killed Cythiandra (dispelling her illusions and interrupting her spells) and joined the skellies to kill the two Ogres
Killed Sarevok’s trusted companions one by one as they came:
Sarevok himself could not evade righteous retribution from my holy sword:
My character sheet for the final battle (fully buffed), pretty impressive DPS for this stage of the game:
My dwarven cleric made good progress in SoD, clearing the Repository of Death, destroying the Bronze Sentry (with the help of skellies off course) with its sturdy Seeking Sword, only to die against a lone surviving Gargantuan Spider on the way to the Wyrm caves: my summons managed to kill most of them, and I thought I could tackle the remaining few, and with my awesome saving throws, I laughed at the Webs launched my way.
Well, he who laughs last....
Sad, sad. This character was surprisingly powerful, and I was really looking forward to see how it would fare against Big B.
Alas, still haven’t cleared SoD in a no-reload run.
Maybe attempt #6 ?
and upon creation, my starting stat roll was 90 with a perfect 18/00 in STR !! Such luck should not be passed upon, so, for once, I decided not to randomize my physical stats and minmax the roll I got, only randomizing the other 3 characteristics with the remaining points.
The ranged weapon of choice was randomized, and I ended up with Longbow (I hoped for shortbow or even Darts for some weird but fun build focusing on called shot’s debuffs + flurry of darts of stunning/wounding). At least I got my racial +1 thac0 ( it could have been worse, I could have ended up getting slings).
And so, here goes Sixte, the OP archer and his 14 thac0 straight out of Candlekeep:
Since archer is already very powerful from the get-go, and to get a change of pace, I decided to take my time in chapter 1 and to avoid Mutamin’s garden altogether (only visited the area before the final chapter to grab the slashing belt).
The best longbow in BG1 is the Composite Longbow+1 (+2thac0/+3damage) that can be bought at Feldepost’ Inn in Beregost (the other good longbow is +3thac0 but only +2 damage, and thac0 is definitively not a problem on my elven archer).
After buying the bow withe the gold from the Wizard Ring found outside FAI, I found it fitting as a ranger to first clear all the "forest" maps around FAI, kiting bears and spiders and such. Which already allowed me to get to lvl 4 in no time.
Afterwards, I did many quests, visited almost every map south of the FAI and gathered a lot of money and experience.
Hit&run tactics allowed me to reach the Cloakwood Mines without much difficulties, and the addition of the boots of speed further enhanced those tactics.
Davaeorn fell without any retaliation between interrupting shots and hiding in shadows before he finished casting spells. I stayed out of view of the Battle Horrors, especially since they are immune to missile damage.
I also went to grab Durlag’s goblet, heavily relying on potions/green scrolls to absorb damage from the traps, and kiting Love while avoiding the other 3 Wardens.
I was apprehensive of the coronation at the Ducal Palace, since I had no way of summoning or aggroing the enemies. Turns out 4 of them decided that an Archer was a juicy meal and directly went for me. This is a first! So I just had to tank a bit (had to drink once from Durlag’s Goblet) while the Flaming Fist and I killed the doppelgangers. The two dukes obviously survived, Duke Jannath did not even get hit once.
At last, time came to face Sarevok.
I opened the battle with a Arrow of Detonation sent on a bat near the stairs, aggroing Sarevok and triggering the scripts.
I immediatly gulped a potion of Invisibility and repositioned near the entrance.
Semaj soon teleported in the vicinity, but a Arrow of Dispelling followed by two volleys (I had 4 APR) of Acid Arrows took him down.
Neither Angelo nor Tazok seemed to join the fray, so I decided to take down Sarevok.
Same strategy, I first hit him with a Dispelling Arrow (took away his haste), and then just ran around kiting him without being hit even once.
Character sheet right after killing Sarevok:
I say "somewhat" because I first did a speed run with the archer in story mode mostly, just changing the difficulty for some fights/encounters to test the waters and develop strategies (except for the last chapter, I wanted some element of surprise ). Plus help from an online walkthrough (mainly to see where to find the needed gear).
Anyway, even though I did a "test run", I still had unexpected stuff happen. Thanks to the ton of invisibility potions available, there was almost always a way to run away and try again.
Main points were:
- the Bronze Sentry in the Depositery of Death (I used 2 anti-undead scrolls to clear the map, so no difficulty there): it is heavily resistant to missile damage, so after a few shots, I decided to melee it. I pretty soon observed that this fight would not end well for me, so I steeled myself to use hit&run tactics, even if I had to spend 200 arrows to kill it. It turns out that even though he resist most of the missile damage, Acid Arrows still make quite a dent in his armor from the elemental damage !
- I once again surprised myself killing the Neothelid. I definitely think there is no way to avoid that fight, this monster follows you anywhere you go. But it falls easily against a machine-gun. hit&run tactics are not effective against him, since he just burrows underground if you move, but I still moved around the map a bit to avoid aggroing too many of his sword summons at a time.
- I killed the green dragon by throwing a dagger into its heart. Those nice scales make for a very good armor for the archer.
- heavy use of stealth and invisibility potions allowed me to evade most of the fights, since I hit max level during the Depositery of Death anyway.
- the coalition camp siege was surprisingly easy : a few Arrows of Detonations ended the first two fights in 2 rounds max, Ankhegs & Myconids served as decoys for the remaining 2 fights.
- The attack on Dragonspear castle didn’t last long either: I gulped an invisibility potion and made a beeline for Ashatiel, ending the battle before it even started.
- Avernus’ demons generally fell in one shot (with damage boosts from Acid Arrows + crusader’s ring + racial enemy), 2 shots max.
- I over-prepared for the fight against Big B, gulping every potion I had in stock (notably more than 25 Potions of Heroism... overkill, but at least I knew I would not have to care about getting hit, especially with Durlag’s Goblet in tow). I had 20 Arrows +3 and the 80 Void-tipped arrows. I only ended up needing 25 or so to kill Belhifet. There are not many summoned demons helping him on core difficulty (I’m used to try this fight on LoB difficulty, hence the uber-preparations). Caelar even survived without me giving her any orders.
I feel that I should have upped the difficulty for the final fight, it lacked the epicness I was expecting.
But man, did it feel good to finish the game without any savegame !
I have noticed that I know BG1 so well (I even know what each trap does) that I can reliably finish it in no-reloads with access to stealth.
But SoD is still new to me.
Although I feel that my achievement is somewhat alleviated by the fact that I did a pre-run the day before. Next time I will do it legitimately
BG2 will be harder, with more diverse and dangerous foes, less DPS with a longbow than if I had obtained shortbow, and I also have less metaknowledge of the game (especially disabling traps) than for BG1
I haven’t really challenged BG2 in some time, did the enemies AI get improved at some point ?
I don’t know the reason, but it is for certain that enemies did not behave like in my memories.
For instance: luring enemies away from their group is no longer an easy feat.
Most surprising feat: enemy thieves using their Detect Ullusion ability, got me quite fright in the Planar Prison.
Here’s my progress so far: Irenicus Dungeon was ok, despite a slightly improved enemy behaviour, nothing really threatening for a lvl9 archer. Though the lack of disarm traps/stoneskins/antidotes was also a hassle to grab some of the stuff.
Once outside, I decided that starting by hunting Mencar Pebblecrusher at the top of th Den of the Seven Vales inn was maybe a bit too dangerous.
So I started with the circus, getting some XP and treasures, selling stuff at the Adventurer’s mart to buy the Ring of Air Control (for the invisibility) and a few potions of Invisibility, just in case something goes wrong. Also bought a few enchanted arrows.
Then I went to kite Mencar’s group, gulping a Speed Oil first, and starting with the thief (thanks to a crit, I managed to kill him before he could flee). Then it was just me runing around hasted and kiting enemies, hiding in shadows, luring and kiting again. A bit more tedious than normal, but still manageable.
I now had another invisibility ring, and the very important Cloak of Non Detection (only works with stealth, not invisibility spells or potions, but a must have for my playstyle).
Afterwards, I thought that the Slavers quest was an easy way to get XP, rep and money. At first, everything went perfectly well, but then after entering the Slaver’s compound via the sewers, I noticed that I couldn’t leave back by the stairs ! (a notification appeared "the door is barred from the other side").
I don’t know if it was a bug, or if I needed to kill Captain Haegan and get his key first.
Whatever the reason, it meant that I had to clear the compound without any way of cheesing area transitions, or even just leaving to heal up.
I decided that attacking the group near Captain Haegan was above my level, and so I used my stealth to go further in.
Then it was a very long hour or two (real time) spent waiting at the edge of an enemy’s field of vision, launching an arrow and immediately retreating to stealth (there’s a very small timeframe before they follow the direction of the shot, calling their comrades with them).
I also made good use of the repeating Prismatic Spray trap just after the cells, luring enemies in the range of the trap, triggering it while avoiding the spray myself.
once the enemie’s ranks were thinned, everything went better, I even managed to lure the trolls one at a time, they rapidly fell against my rate of fire.
I decided early that the Boots of Speed were my number one priority if I want to have a chance at bigger & harder groups of enemies.
But then, my problem was to get past the stunning abilities/spells of the Thrall Master and the Warden.
I tried all the temples, no Chaotic Commands scroll was to be found.
In the end, I decided to rely on:
- the cloak of the sewers, Mustard Jelly form and its magic immunities against the Thrall Master, hoping also that my Ring of Air Control would allow me to charm one of his Air Elemental minions (they save at +2 though)
- for the Warden’s spells, I bought from Roger the Fence a Potion of Magic Shielding (50% magic damage reduction, but most importantly, all saving throws are automatically successful).
And so, with those preparations (and after killing Tarnor’s group and Mekrath), I freed Haer Dalis and went to the Planar Prison.
I entered while hidden in shadows, obviously, one of the Yuan-ti Mage cast his True Sight, but it couldn’t bypass my Cloak.
I then positioned myself north, at the edge of the vision of the group leader, shot an arrow his way to trigger the conversation and the ensuing fight.
I immediately retreated, and hid in shadows, but to my surprise, the thief started patrolling the area using his Detect Illusions ability ! Not expecting it, I immediately fled east, thankfully he did not succeed at dispelling my stealth right away (he did manage though later, but I was already out of harm’s way).
I then first killed all the thralls in the eastern corridor, up till the Wyvern (but not yet the Thrall Master), and with more room to maneuver, came back for the first group of Bounty Hunters, who got separated in two groups during the chase. After a long succession of shoot-retreat-hide-retreat even further, the coast was cleared and I finally put my hands on the Paws of the Cheetah.
Now was the time to face the Thrall Master: i switched my Cloak of Non-Detection for the Cloak of the Sewers, transformed in Mustard Jelly + cast DuHM, and went for it.
When the 2 air elementals appeared, I used the Ring of Air Control to successfully charm one (lucky me!) to attract the attention of the demon, while my archer-jelly attacked him from mid-range. Fun fact, the archer kit bonus apply to jelly form. The thrall master lasted only 2 maybe 3 rounds, his summons did not last much longer (first elemental’was killed by me and my charmed elemental, before I sent the other one at the cambion since the charm duration is quite short).
I "freed" the Thralls (more like sent them to their deaths), kited the Warden’s summons until only he was left standing.
Armed with my best arrows, I gulped my last Oil of Speed and the Potion of Magic Shielding, cast my second DuHM and Called Shot and just launched volley after volley at the Warden and his illusions while absorbing all the spells he launched at me. A few rounds later, the Warden fell, while I was still above 100 HP (I was careful to stay above 90 HP in case he sent a Power Word:Stun my way).
That was AWESOME (the fights, strategies and preparations needed I mean). This is how I love playing BG, when you have to carefully plan your resources to tackle the next challenge, and also why I play solo: a group just goes forward destroying all threats, relying on teammates to cover the areas others are lacking.
A solo (especially no-reload), thinks and plans beforehand, or dies.
On the way to the Gate District though, I got ambushed by Suna Senni and the slavers. Luckily, I was still double hasted (boots + oil of speed from the battle against the Warden of the Planar Prison), and had no problem kiting them.
After a quick rest at the Crooked Crane, went to the Watcher’s Keep, avoided all enemies, and just looted the stuff needed (while in Mustard Jelly form since all those containers are trapped and I did not remember what they do. Good thinking since one looked like a Finger of Death spell. Spooky).
On the way back to Athkathla, I got ambushed again, this time by Renfeld’s assaillants. No threat there either.
And now off to bed
I decided to do the ranger class quest.
First cleared all undead with a protection from undead (so easy).
Then decided to try and take on the Dragon. To resist its spells, I transformed in Mistard Jelly.
Well, 3 discoveries:
- Jelly form doesn’t prevent getting blinded by its wing buffet
- his wing buffet also drains 4 levels (didn’t know that) but... Jelly his immune to that effect (didn’t know that either)
- the dragon basic attack does piercing damage... To which Mustard Jelly is immune
So it was just a matter of me tanking him until his stoneskins & PfMW wore off. He fell pretty fast after that (although despite my -2 thac0, I only hit him on 12 or so rolls)
EDIT : I just checked the wiki, soloing the shadow dragon with the Jelly form is documented there. I didn't check beforehand, which makes it even funnier
Then I proceeded with the main quest, nothing too difficult up til Spellhold.
I made my way through the maze, again nothing too difficult when you know what you face (I kept Arbane’s sword for hold/paralysis protection, Adjatha’s sword for charm/domination, and Aeger’s Hide for Confusion spells).
Cleared the City of Cavern too, to grab the Cloak of Protection +2 to have a reliable source of Improved Haste in ToB.
Once in underdark, I directly made my way to the Kuo-Toan’s lair, cleared it and killed the Drow party at the entrance to the surface to get the Archer’s Eyes for improved criticals... only to notice that my items from SoD did not’import into BG2 for some reason. What a bummer.
Nothing gamechanging, but it is sad.
By now, I am lvl19 and my first two HLA’s were Whirlwind Attack (x1) and Power Attack (x1) for stun ability.
Proficiencies are:
- Longbow *****
- Longsword *
- Mace *
- Sling ** (for those requiring +3 or higher to hit)
- Two Weapon fighting ***
I helped the svirfneblun’s killing the Demon (gulped a Potion of Invvulnerability to lower my saving throws into negative to shrug at his stunning gaze, and fought him in melee using the Power Attack to stun him and kill him fast).
Once again fell because of my lack of concentration in the first minutes of my playing session.
I went in the Beholder’s dungeon to grab the greenstone amulet, needed to face illithids later on. with Balduran’s shield, I felt safe enough to clear the place as well, but I went too far too fast and aggroed the illithids in the south-western part of the map.
I immediately fled, but they noticed me and obviously I failed my save against their psionic attack, and one of the mindflayers trotted my way casually to eat my brain.
Aaargh, I’m such an idiot.
Anyway, time to start a new character...
Proficiencies went into Axes (mainly for ranged) and Flails (wanna try something with Kiel’s Morningstar), I only randomized between blunt weapons for my main weapon, and between throwing daggers and throwing axes for ranged (I don’t see a DD using an elven longbow somehow)
A Dwarven Defender is a safe character for a solo no-reload:
- as a warrior, it takes care rapidly of minor critters
- the 55% physical damage reduction (under Defensive Stance) by BG1 cap allows to tank even heavy hitters like flesh golems or ogres
- it is easy to get really low AC fast, especially against missiles, enhancing survivability by another margin
- 20 CON and long travel times between maps makes healing a breeze
- I recruited Dorn shortly just to kill the woman necromancer who caries an Amulet of Spell Warding (+2 save vs spell). With shorty save bonus, and alternating with Claw of Kazgaroth and other gear, plus the Defensive Stance boost, the DD can achieve negative save vs spell or save vs. Death. Even both if using a Potion of Invulnerability
In other words, the only real threat is purely damaging spells.
I grabed Durlag’s goblet, Kiel’s helmet, Bala’s axe (wonderful asset for tough magical fights), and Pellan’s Shield, but could not bash the chest containing Kiel’s Morningstar even with 25 STR. It was a double edged weapon anyway.
Now on its way to the coronation to save some Dukes and then kill his big brother. I am not confident for the former unless I aggro several doppelgangers, but the latter should be easy with such a tanky character.
EDIT:
Yup, Coronation was hard (Duchess Liia Jannath died, Belt was just barely wounded though), but Sarevok and his henchmen fell without a hitch.
On the way, he recruited help from Coldhearth and his undead minions, and gathered some gear, notably Kendra’s Chain and the Stalwart Scales, providing together 15% slashing resistance.
Added to the DD’s abilities, and the Cloak of the Gargoyle (+5%) and the Guardian Devil helm (+15%), Sven can go up to 95% slashing damage resistance at XP cap for the final fight (Big B and his demons do mostly slashing damage, only the Erinyes at higher difficulties do missile damage, for which I would have also 95% DR with the Rhino Beetle Shield), for 30 rounds in total, undispelable.
I want to try the fight in Insane Difficulty, without prior buffs with potions (which means no Durlag’s Goblet too), might switch the Rhino Beetle Shield for the Bloodied Guardian for 25% fire resistance (with Batalista’s ring and Ringof Tiny friends for 75% fire res).
I’ll need to make some calculations though because thac0/damage output might be lacking with this setup and without prior buffs.
EDIT: one of the reasons I want to avoid prebuff is that I plan on rejecting Caelar’s help too, which means that I won’t avoid Belhifet’s dispel at the start of the battle.
My observations are that, while I can probably tank for a long while with this build, thac0 and damage output will be severly lacking against Big B.
So, I will need buffs. Not sure what I sould do though: relying on DR to buff midfight (since Bel's dispel has 95% chances of stripping me from my buffs), or just accept Caelar in my party to absorb the dispel.
Another easy option off course is to use a Protection from Magic scroll, but I don't want to
My non-buffed DD focusing on damage reduction only has 3 thac0. Against Big B’s -12 AC (effectively -16 once he uses his Improved Invisibility) meant that I would never kill him unbuffed.
Gear was:
- Stalwart scales (+10% slashing res)
- Legacy of the Masters (+1 thac0/+2 damage)
- The Guardian Devil (+1 AC ; +15% slashing and missile resistance among others)
- Medal of Valor (+2 thac0), instead of Kendra’s Chain and its 5% slashing res.
- Blazing Glory (the only +3 weapon that I am proficient with)
- Rhino Beetle Shield (+3AC, +2 bonus against missiles, +15% missile resistance)
- Batalista’s ring (+40% Fire Resistance)
- Ring of the Crusade (+3 AC & saving throws against demons)
- Cloak of the Gargoyle (+5% damage resistance)
- Lucky Boots (+3 saving throws)
- Golden Girdle of Urnst (+3 AC vs slashing), forgot to switch to Cloverleaf (+1 luck, basically +1 thac0)
So, I buffed with:
- Protection from Magic
- Violet potion (25 STR)
- Potion of Fortitude (18 CON)
- Potion of Agility + 2 Mind-focusing Potions (24 DEX)
- Oil of Speed (3 APR)
- Potion of Protection from Fire (brings my Fire Res to 90%)
- Potion of Invulnerability (base AC set to 0 ; +5 saving throws)
- Potion of Heroism (+10% thac0 & HP)
- Potion of Absorption (100% electricity resistance, because why not)
It took a while, but Caelar and Belhifet fell while my DD lost about 50% of his HP (enemies only took 2 HP per hit), without any healing potion/durlag’s goblet.
Screenshots:
Protection from Magic scroll
At the end of the assault on Dragonspear Castle, go north-west (past the spot where you can do Tempus’ test before the siege), there are a few prisoners attacked by 2 dogs and a mercenary. Save them, one of them is Mizhena’s father.
Once he’s saved, report back, and Mizhena gifts you a +3 morningstar with 5 or 10% chances per hit to cast Chant centered on the caster (also does +1 fire damage IIRC but that’s useless at that point in the game).
I have started BG2, but encountered a problem: I can’t find the Helmet of Dumathoin on Tarnor.
Same thing happened with my Archer, no Archer’s Eyes imported from SoD.
The stuff from BG1 (Claw of Kazgaroth & Bala’s axe) imported like it was supposed to, but for some reason not the SoD items. What am I doing wrong ? (I imported from character screen, maybe I should have exported the whole savegame?)
I am especially disappointed because this helmet is custom-made for my DD, and had I known, I wouldn’t have imported the Claw instead of Balduran’s helmet.
EDIT: after a quick try, exporting from SoD via a save, the Helmet was on Tarnor. Exporting from character file does not transfer SoD items for some reason.
Too bad, I’ll keep going with the first export, I’ll just have to find a good replacement for the Helm of Balduran.