I currently have Saffron Specialized (and improving!) in mace, so she can swap in the Mace of Disruption as needed. And actually, I've had her using it on occasion even before she was proficient in it for exactly those sort of things you mention.
Still finishing up loose ends, all the incomplete quests around Amn. We just finished the Windspear Hills and have finished everything above or below the City of Athkatla except for some Liches and Bodhi. That will be my last pass of the city. Up next will be Call of the Lost Goddess, that's the big new expansion mod I'm trying on this run. I'll be back with my thoughts on that in a few days.
Lord Firkraag is nothing but a wyrm.... Keldorn and Saffron prepare to do battle. Funny battle this time; after doing much buffing and prep for it, we rushed in, and Keldorn scored a critical with the Silver Sword on his first swing. The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! Fitting.
I like that. Not sure why Firekraag needs all the candles, but he does look like he's sticking out his neck just begging for it to be lopped off. Sounds a lot like my Sarevok battle. Sometimes you make a complicated plan and prep out the wazzo... and the enemy just completely fails to meet the challenge.
I've found that the AI treats things like "Elf", "Half-Elf", "Halfling", or "Half-orc" almost like a whole-picture toggle. If you toss in just one character with pointy ears then *everybody* gets pointy ears. That's actually the reason Imoen ended up with a purple hood in many of my BG1 pics. If I couldn't get a pic with her and, for example, Kivan without her getting pointy ears, then I simply covered them up!
Ways to deal with it include:
1) Don't explicitly label *anybody* as an elf, etc. Just add "pointy ears" or "very short" to their individual descriptions.
2) Describe all your humans before you describe your pointy ear-ed folks. Descriptors tend to influence everybody who is introduced after them in the prompt.
3) Lots and lots of headgear and/or poofy hair
4) The AI toggle is a bit gendered - so if you have a female pointy-ear with male humans its easier to get it to work.
None of these are foolproof, they just tilt the odds a bit so that you occasionally get something useful. I'm having this exact problem right now trying to get Keira and Kord meeting the Solamnic knights in the sphere. Since *both* of them are pointy-eared its even harder to make it work. So the Knights may just end up with full helmets...
Yeah I've done that with the headgear, or just long hair for females helps some. And yes, I've also observed its *really bad* about favoring elven women.
Generally, it will pick up themes. If you mention something like a color, that color will likely show up all over the image. An wow did I have some fun with Owls! Its for my next BG run (so we're talking maybe six weeks out yet?), but I wanted an owl motif on a character's armor. Holy smokes it puts owls everywhere! Even sometimes, one or more of the characters in the image may be half-owl or something.
And I'm sure you've seen some of the three armed figures, weapons (even swords) that make no sense at all, odd colors or shapes that don't belong anywhere...
It is funny how much beautiful stuff the AI can do. And then how utterly stupid it can be. I will look forward to updates.
Black Pits 2 are tough for little twins, even on normal difficulty, hard enemies, no enough money to buy the best gear. 😼
They've just completed the first Tier. Beryl has level 14/13, HP = 108, AC = -3, THAC0 = 5/7 (war hammer+2 and club+2) and Saffron has level 20, HP = 159, AC = -6 and negative THAC0 = -6/-4 (2 short swords+1).
I’ll start with the obvious. This is a beautiful, professional quality quest mod for BG2. Very well written and very well produced.
Players may know that the Goddess Waukeen is still missing from the time of troubles. This adventure starts with clergy of Waukeen asking you to help find their missing matron. As soon as you have a brief conversation at the small temple (chapel?) of Waukeen in the Government District of Athkatla the BIG temple of Waukeen just north of town is added to your map. So there’s no reason way you can’t go there almost right away in the game. It does claim to add 8-10 hours of gameplay. I wasn’t actually keeping time, but that seems about right. That makes it a fairly big sub-adventure.
But its quickly obvious this adventure is heading to the Abyss. It might be an interesting challenge to head there right away, but it might be smartest to do a few other adventures first. For this first playthrough with it, I choose to do it last as I approach endgame (I will do Watcher’s Keep now before I face Irenicus, but otherwise its the last thing in this run). I specifically didn’t want to worry too much about combat so I could focus on the story, characters and puzzles. And that is how it worked out, none of the fights were hugely challenging, even against the named “big bads” towards the end. It is sort of amusing to go after a boastful demon who wants to feast on your innards or something and destroy them (my mighty Halflings!) with nary a scratch. My personal challenge was I did NOT want to sleep while I was there!
Make no mistake, some of the climactic fights could be quite challenging to a lower level party. I would think it could be tough until your mid-teens on levels.
The story is very well written. It is based (or “inspired”) by a PnP 3E module, that I’m not familiar with so I can’t testify how closely. So many characters are colorful and entertaining. I do have to admit this is a longer romp through the Abyss than I really care for. Seriously, its a disgusting and depressing place. I did follow the story, played the part of a shady mercenary with a bit of bloodlust. Towards the end, I was pleased when pretenses were dropped and I could just carve up the disgusting demons. On this first play through I feel like I left a few things hanging, things I’ll want to pursue a little differently next time.
And that may be the main take-away. I DO see myself playing this again. Maybe even leaving it on as a regularly part of all future builds. I waffled on that a little as I was playing; because, well again, the Abyss is a disgusting place. But the denouement is actually pretty satisfying, and that makes up for a lot of disgusting.
Tore through to the the end of SoA pretty quickly, including Watcher's Keep in near record time. A very fun, very dangerous team at this point. As always, its extra fun having a pair of Halflings leading the way through.
It always strike me as interesting how the big showdown with Irenicus in Suldanesslar seems far more challenging than the last battle in Hell. I've often had that first last until Breach and Dispel are almost exhausted, while the second encounter rarely lasts more than about three rounds; one to kill all the Demons and at most two more to pile on Jon.
Of course a huge party with the Elves ensued, and the whole team was good and worn out, having just been dead and all...
Beryl and Saffron had to stand up on a bench to get this portrait!
Another saga comes to an end. Initially, Beryl and Saffron settled into the old D'Arnise Keep as the new Ladies of the land. And an odd thing it was, Beryl taking an Amnish title of nobility while Saffron worked mostly as her key troubleshooter. In time, things changed a little. Beryl married, had children and leaned more than ever into her role as a Priestess of Yondalla. Meanwhile, Saffron became the Steward and functional commander of the new realm. She married much later in life and it was to a Human, but that's a story for another day...
*****
A couple thoughts with this run now over. Saffron remained, by a wide margin, the team's top damage dealer to the end. Showing over 40% of party experience at the end of the game. Impressive since she was a single class fighter without even a strength bonus at the start. Although her dexterity and constitution were maximized. And no doubt I favored her with first dibs on every strength device. Also in the end, she had Grand Mastery in both Short Sword and Mace, and mastery in dual wielding.
Beryl was somewhat hindered by multi-classing, she couldn't go above specialization. And a "Hornguard of Yondalla" must always use a shield, so no dual wielding for her. But wielding the Crom Faeyr gave her fearsome hitting power.
Late game, of course Keldorn had a strength device too. That meant my fighting front, when they all used Greater Whirlwind, became a wrecking machine. In the last battle against Melissan she went down in a single round. That was fun.
I really like the Deities of Faerun mod I have now. It adds a new dimension to the game for priestly characters. To me, it makes it much more like PnP games I've played and run over the years.
But apart from some new abilities, it really mixes up things with your cleric spells. So I had three clerics of non-human deities in my party at the end. All could cast any healing spell, Holy Smiting, Remove Fear a few other common and useful things. But NONE of them could cast Negative Plane Protection! That required attention. Beryl got the Amulet from the Shadow Thieves, so she was protected for most of the game. And Saffron got the +2 version of the Mace of Disruption before we left for Spellhold. But she wasn't even proficient in it yet when she got it. So that was for level draining beasties only for a while. But Keldorn was basically never protected. As the 2-handed sword guy he has a reach advantage and can fight over the heads of the Halflings. This really does mean they draw all the fire. I did use restoration a few more times than normal, maybe a dozen times total in the game. I'll say that worked out pretty well.
I should also mention, nobody had Chaotic Commands! That surprised me. But you know what, by the mid-point of the game, most of the team could be counted on to make their saves. AND, I'd say Illithids are pretty soft targets. Ultimately, this didn't seem to be a very big deal.
Comments
Still finishing up loose ends, all the incomplete quests around Amn. We just finished the Windspear Hills and have finished everything above or below the City of Athkatla except for some Liches and Bodhi. That will be my last pass of the city. Up next will be Call of the Lost Goddess, that's the big new expansion mod I'm trying on this run. I'll be back with my thoughts on that in a few days.
Lord Firkraag is nothing but a wyrm.... Keldorn and Saffron prepare to do battle. Funny battle this time; after doing much buffing and prep for it, we rushed in, and Keldorn scored a critical with the Silver Sword on his first swing. The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! Fitting.
Ways to deal with it include:
1) Don't explicitly label *anybody* as an elf, etc. Just add "pointy ears" or "very short" to their individual descriptions.
2) Describe all your humans before you describe your pointy ear-ed folks. Descriptors tend to influence everybody who is introduced after them in the prompt.
3) Lots and lots of headgear and/or poofy hair
4) The AI toggle is a bit gendered - so if you have a female pointy-ear with male humans its easier to get it to work.
None of these are foolproof, they just tilt the odds a bit so that you occasionally get something useful. I'm having this exact problem right now trying to get Keira and Kord meeting the Solamnic knights in the sphere. Since *both* of them are pointy-eared its even harder to make it work. So the Knights may just end up with full helmets...
Generally, it will pick up themes. If you mention something like a color, that color will likely show up all over the image. An wow did I have some fun with Owls! Its for my next BG run (so we're talking maybe six weeks out yet?), but I wanted an owl motif on a character's armor. Holy smokes it puts owls everywhere! Even sometimes, one or more of the characters in the image may be half-owl or something.
And I'm sure you've seen some of the three armed figures, weapons (even swords) that make no sense at all, odd colors or shapes that don't belong anywhere...
It is funny how much beautiful stuff the AI can do. And then how utterly stupid it can be. I will look forward to updates.
They've just completed the first Tier. Beryl has level 14/13, HP = 108, AC = -3, THAC0 = 5/7 (war hammer+2 and club+2) and Saffron has level 20, HP = 159, AC = -6 and negative THAC0 = -6/-4 (2 short swords+1).
Now they can use HLA. 😎
Well that was fun…
More?
I’ll start with the obvious. This is a beautiful, professional quality quest mod for BG2. Very well written and very well produced.
Players may know that the Goddess Waukeen is still missing from the time of troubles. This adventure starts with clergy of Waukeen asking you to help find their missing matron. As soon as you have a brief conversation at the small temple (chapel?) of Waukeen in the Government District of Athkatla the BIG temple of Waukeen just north of town is added to your map. So there’s no reason way you can’t go there almost right away in the game. It does claim to add 8-10 hours of gameplay. I wasn’t actually keeping time, but that seems about right. That makes it a fairly big sub-adventure.
But its quickly obvious this adventure is heading to the Abyss. It might be an interesting challenge to head there right away, but it might be smartest to do a few other adventures first. For this first playthrough with it, I choose to do it last as I approach endgame (I will do Watcher’s Keep now before I face Irenicus, but otherwise its the last thing in this run). I specifically didn’t want to worry too much about combat so I could focus on the story, characters and puzzles. And that is how it worked out, none of the fights were hugely challenging, even against the named “big bads” towards the end. It is sort of amusing to go after a boastful demon who wants to feast on your innards or something and destroy them (my mighty Halflings!) with nary a scratch. My personal challenge was I did NOT want to sleep while I was there!
Make no mistake, some of the climactic fights could be quite challenging to a lower level party. I would think it could be tough until your mid-teens on levels.
The story is very well written. It is based (or “inspired”) by a PnP 3E module, that I’m not familiar with so I can’t testify how closely. So many characters are colorful and entertaining. I do have to admit this is a longer romp through the Abyss than I really care for. Seriously, its a disgusting and depressing place. I did follow the story, played the part of a shady mercenary with a bit of bloodlust. Towards the end, I was pleased when pretenses were dropped and I could just carve up the disgusting demons. On this first play through I feel like I left a few things hanging, things I’ll want to pursue a little differently next time.
And that may be the main take-away. I DO see myself playing this again. Maybe even leaving it on as a regularly part of all future builds. I waffled on that a little as I was playing; because, well again, the Abyss is a disgusting place. But the denouement is actually pretty satisfying, and that makes up for a lot of disgusting.
The Abyss is not for weak stomachs.
Tore through to the the end of SoA pretty quickly, including Watcher's Keep in near record time. A very fun, very dangerous team at this point. As always, its extra fun having a pair of Halflings leading the way through.
It always strike me as interesting how the big showdown with Irenicus in Suldanesslar seems far more challenging than the last battle in Hell. I've often had that first last until Breach and Dispel are almost exhausted, while the second encounter rarely lasts more than about three rounds; one to kill all the Demons and at most two more to pile on Jon.
Of course a huge party with the Elves ensued, and the whole team was good and worn out, having just been dead and all...
Beryl and Saffron had to stand up on a bench to get this portrait!
Now its off to deal with The Five!
Another saga comes to an end. Initially, Beryl and Saffron settled into the old D'Arnise Keep as the new Ladies of the land. And an odd thing it was, Beryl taking an Amnish title of nobility while Saffron worked mostly as her key troubleshooter. In time, things changed a little. Beryl married, had children and leaned more than ever into her role as a Priestess of Yondalla. Meanwhile, Saffron became the Steward and functional commander of the new realm. She married much later in life and it was to a Human, but that's a story for another day...
*****
A couple thoughts with this run now over. Saffron remained, by a wide margin, the team's top damage dealer to the end. Showing over 40% of party experience at the end of the game. Impressive since she was a single class fighter without even a strength bonus at the start. Although her dexterity and constitution were maximized. And no doubt I favored her with first dibs on every strength device. Also in the end, she had Grand Mastery in both Short Sword and Mace, and mastery in dual wielding.
Beryl was somewhat hindered by multi-classing, she couldn't go above specialization. And a "Hornguard of Yondalla" must always use a shield, so no dual wielding for her. But wielding the Crom Faeyr gave her fearsome hitting power.
Late game, of course Keldorn had a strength device too. That meant my fighting front, when they all used Greater Whirlwind, became a wrecking machine. In the last battle against Melissan she went down in a single round. That was fun.
I really like the Deities of Faerun mod I have now. It adds a new dimension to the game for priestly characters. To me, it makes it much more like PnP games I've played and run over the years.
But apart from some new abilities, it really mixes up things with your cleric spells. So I had three clerics of non-human deities in my party at the end. All could cast any healing spell, Holy Smiting, Remove Fear a few other common and useful things. But NONE of them could cast Negative Plane Protection! That required attention. Beryl got the Amulet from the Shadow Thieves, so she was protected for most of the game. And Saffron got the +2 version of the Mace of Disruption before we left for Spellhold. But she wasn't even proficient in it yet when she got it. So that was for level draining beasties only for a while. But Keldorn was basically never protected. As the 2-handed sword guy he has a reach advantage and can fight over the heads of the Halflings. This really does mean they draw all the fire. I did use restoration a few more times than normal, maybe a dozen times total in the game. I'll say that worked out pretty well.
I should also mention, nobody had Chaotic Commands! That surprised me. But you know what, by the mid-point of the game, most of the team could be counted on to make their saves. AND, I'd say Illithids are pretty soft targets. Ultimately, this didn't seem to be a very big deal.
Another very fun run has come to an end.
However, Beryl should become more powerful starting from level 14/13 with smart use of combined cleric and ranger HLA! 😎