Solo, HoF, EL1 Ironman Runs - Sorcerer

iwdee_fmc_solo

While the F/M/C may be the king of Icewind Dale solo runs, it is only because the Sorcerer is too busy ruling over the Baldur's Gate trilogy to care. Solo, HoF, EL1, Ironman runs are an unforgiving place for an arcane caster, but the Sorcerer is an exception. Sorcerer's do not care all that much about the paucity of scrolls in the game. They do not have to fret over the idea of doing Trials of the Luremaster for Spell Immunity, nor do they need to hoard their Potions of Genius, and plot when is the best time to use them so that they do not accidentally fail to scribe Invisibility.

No, the arcane might of a Sorcerer is something that thrums through their blood. As such, they are one of the privileged "summoning class" when it comes to solo, HoF, EL1, Ironman runs. Full-clearing Easthaven will give them 42,040 XP, EL6, and the ability to cast Monster Summoning I if they choose (they really should). With a large reserve of Magic Missiles, Chromatic Orbs, and the Snowdrift Inn, they have a reliable and practical means of doing so.



As part of an ambitious project to create a comprehensive guide for solo, Heart of Fury, EL1, Ironman challenge runs I will be doing them with every single class. The basic thread is here:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/88835/solo-heart-of-fury-el1-ironman-runs-every-single-class-and-comprehensive-guide#latest

A few notes:
(1) Rolls are done with the console + subtraction. I cannot find an autoroller for Linux that I can make work. Disdain me if you must, but these will only increase the consistency, not the reliability, and practicality of a run. Yes, it is not as great an expression of skill. Yes, I'm okay with that.

(2) Double quest XP is on. It's a part of the game mode, and classes need to hit certain benchmarks at specific times for a reliable and practical run. This helps with that.

Aerich

I haven’t done a solo sorc run yet, but run lots of small party and duo sorc characters. I think a spell list discussion might help here.

To me, a no-reload run spell list has to include Mislead, Improved Haste, and Shapechange. And Invisibility of course. The invisible misled decoy gives you free shots unless somehow your decoy gets discovered and killed, which is rare. Running out the spell duration is more dangerous, as far as risks go.

Wisterias

Aerich wrote: »

I haven’t done a solo sorc run yet, but run lots of small party and duo sorc characters. I think a spell list discussion might help here.

To me, a no-reload run spell list has to include Mislead, Improved Haste, and Shapechange. And Invisibility of course. The invisible misled decoy gives you free shots unless somehow your decoy gets discovered and killed, which is rare. Running out the spell duration is more dangerous, as far as risks go.

Spell Inmunity: Abjuration is a must.

Aerich

Agreed that protection from dispels is critical to this type of run. It falls in the category of spells that you don’t need often, but badly need once in a while.

I like to think broadly, and try to decide about groups of spells with the same or related effects. So the Sorc doesn’t need Invis, Invis 10’ Radius, improved Invis, Shadow Door, and Mass Invis, but it definitely needs at least one of them, and probably 2. The latter 3 all have Improved Invis effects (+4 to saves, can’t be targeted by direct damage/effect spells), so at least 1 is well worth having, in addition to regular Invis.

Aerich

Ok, I’ve decided to try this, because rolling up new characters for new runs before completing the existing ones is what I do.

Most character creation and spell selection decisions come down to tradeoffs and concessions. It’s a solo HoF where safety is critical and you need some utility spells, but you can’t rob the character of its biggest strengths and offensive power.

I managed to roll an 88 in under 10 rolls. That’s good enough for me! I went with 18/19/14/16/3/18. The first concession was to pick a dragon disciple. I mildly prefer a pure Sorceror in a party, but the DD gets +2 Con, -4 AC,+20 hp, fire resistance, and the breath weapon for loss of one spell of each level. It has to be done on a survivalist run; I’ll be resting a lot for spell recovery anyway. I went elf for 19 Dex (+1 to hit at range vs any other choice).

Btw, I’m going to do my best not to have to reload, but if I have to, I will. But gameplay, spell choices and so on will reflect the no-reload spirit.

Aerich

I picked sling for my first weapon proficiency. For solo casters I often pick staff, but not here. Sorc can’t learn weapon styles to crit on a 19, so there’s less upside. It’s just generally better, and safer, to lean into the missiles. Besides, Sorc takes a while to learn new weapon skills, so sling can’t wait, imo.

In my first two spell picks, I made a major concession. Find Familiar should be cast from a scroll or taken as a starting spell by a mage, but that’s not possible on this kind of a run. So I picked FF to cast once, to assist with survivability (target with regen, hp for caster). Character alignment determines the familiar, so it’s a critical decision. LE came into consideration for the imp’s polymorph self into a weapon-immune jelly, but I decided otherwise. I’ll risk the traps (so no NN for rabbit-disarmer), and pickpocket is too much of a risk for not enough reward (so no LN for ferret thief). CG was a consideration for the fairy dragon (full resistance to electrical and fire), but its AC is significantly worse that the NG pseudo dragon I picked.

Second pick for my character Deathwish was the ubiquitous Magic Missile. I consider CO and MM to be almost obligatory early picks (with Web), and I think FF makes the early game much easier.

Aerich

I have now finished with Easthaven, and I paid back the orcs for their butchery. No reloads were used. Spells cast (as opposed to being learned for later) were Find Familiar, Magic Missile, Chromatic Orb, Web, Fireball, and Vitriolic Sphere.

I waited to fight the beetles until I had some levels. Instead, I opted to go after goblins in ones and twos. A pseudo dragon can comfortably tank 1-2 goblins for a while, but might need to play decoy for the slinger while regenerating if they get lucky with crits. Once you get Web, you can cast it, hit 7 times with your sling, then cast Web again and repeat. Auto-hit is your friend, otherwise you hit maybe 1/10 rounds. Chromatic Orb at level 5-6 allows for two hits between castings.

At the early levels, you maximize damage output by using disablers and auto-hit. At higher levels, the disablers hold enemies in place for your damaging spells. I had to take two runs at the archer group, but managed the ogre group in one go, at the choke point outside their cavern. I was worried about the ogres getting through (no Grease, no Stinking Cloud), but I hit them with Chromatic Orb and continued with fireballs, dragon breath and spheres. Note: the last couple ogres went down to the DD in melee. An 18 Str DD or Sorc can dual-wield daggers and cause (3-6) x2 damage per round with auto-hit - better than the 4-7 that the same character does with the sling.

Aerich

And a further update now, with KP cleared along with the lesser tombs. I dealt with the first group and the archers in the top left, then went Invis through to Kuldahar, to return later. I went into the Vale to clear the outside and earn some xp, and came back to the Pass considerably stronger.

IMO, contrary to the OP, Monster Summoning I is a bit of a waste, and doesn't help all that much with an easy run. All the Monster Summoning spells have poor duration, which means that if you are relying on them to tank at low levels, it is fraught with risk. They also can't kill anything. That's why I went with Fireball for my first level 3 pick; when you gain another level beyond that so you have 3 fireballs available is when you start taking out orcs easily and can rely less on Web + sling. I suppose darts are possibly even better as a ranged weapon with autohits.

My second 3rd level pick was Protection from Fire. Overkill? No. You cast it on your familiar and use it as a decoy (carefully; small groups only). Later on, when a decoy becomes unnecessary, you cast it on yourself for max (over 100%) fire protection - and it's necessary until you get a natural 100% immunity.

First level 5 pick was Conjure Fire Elemental, second was Protection from Normal Weapons. PNW allows you to enter areas safely, disable, summon, and bomb. The familiar goes into the backpack now. Outside, I cast in order Stoneskin, PFF, and PNW, then go in and it's all over soon.

I filled out my level 1 picks with Shield and Protection from Evil, but my level 11 dragon disciple hasn't cast them yet. Level 2 is Knock (a waste of a second pick, sort of - 18 Str gets you through Apsel's door, but doesn't open Snowdrift Inn drawers; however, I didn't cast anything other than Web and Knock in the Easthaven/orc cave part of the Prologue), Invisibility, Mirror Image, and Melf's Acid Arrow. Level 3 I've add Melf's Minute Meteors and Slow (neither cast yet). I have one more pick which I haven't decided upon yet - Dispel Magic, Remove Magic, Flame Arrow, and Haste are all options. Level 4 I have Stoneskin and Greater Malison in addition to VS. I will add Improved Invisibility to this, but I'm open to suggestions for the last spot. I expect to cast the Emotion buffs from scrolls (if they are in the item slots when using Project Image, the image can cast them and you don't lose the scroll). I will skip Minor Sequencer. I'm sort of trying to decide between Mordenkainen's Force Missiles and Minor Globe of Invulnerability.

At level 5, I think i have to skip two of my favourite crowd control spells, Feeblemind and Chaos, and two of my favourite damagers Shroud of Flame (too weak) and Cloudkill (lack of co-ordination with my other spell picks). I think I need Spell Immunity and Lower Resistance, and i have CFE and PNW already. I'm going to pick Sunfire as my last pick, because if you don't use that spell in a solo sorceror run, when will you ever use it?

Yigor

@Aerich Level 4 spells: Don't forget Enchanted Weapon if U wanna use Shapechange: Mindflayer vs Belhifet! 👈

Aerich

One has to pick spells carefully as a sorceror. I was planning to cast Enchanted Weapon from a scroll. There’s probably no other enemy that needs it (I could be wrong - anybody checked if mind flayer works on glabrezu, cornugons, dragons?). Hmm, good thing I don’t have to choose yet.

Yigor

Aerich wrote: »

One has to pick spells carefully as a sorceror. I was planning to cast Enchanted Weapon from a scroll. There’s probably no other enemy that needs it (I could be wrong - anybody checked if mind flayer works on glabrezu, cornugons, dragons?). Hmm, good thing I don’t have to choose yet.

Hmm... a bit risky vs major bosses imho. 🤔

Aerich

Yeah, good point. Because the solo Sorc has such limited choice, it seems the key is to plan to optimize 2-3 strategies instead of spreading oneself too thin. I’m going heavy into fire as option 1, with Lower Resistance/Malison/Disintegrate as option 2, with Mislead/IH/Shapechange as #3. It does make sense to optimize boss-killing power.

Yigor

Aerich wrote: »

Yeah, good point. Because the solo Sorc has such limited choice, it seems the key is to plan to optimize 2-3 strategies instead of spreading oneself too thin. I’m going heavy into fire as option 1, with Lower Resistance/Malison/Disintegrate as option 2, with Mislead/IH/Shapechange as #3. It does make sense to optimize boss-killing power.

My Undead Hunter has almost no options vs HoF Belhifet. I should probably accumulate all possible arrows/bolts/bullets/darts+3 and tons of healing and speed potions. 😜

Aerich

Indeed. A warrior can hit him, but has defensive problems. An arcane caster with Spell immunity can at least keep up their initial buffs, but may have trouble both hitting and defending once/if those buffs are gone.

Frankly, this battle has always been a chaotic nightmare against an unfairly superior opponent. The EE spells at least give an arcane caster a few limited tools, of which the mindflayer attack would seem to be the jewel.

Yigor

Aerich wrote: »

Indeed. A warrior can hit him, but has defensive problems. An arcane caster with Spell immunity can at least keep up their initial buffs, but may have trouble both hitting and defending once/if those buffs are gone.

Frankly, this battle has always been a chaotic nightmare against an unfairly superior opponent. The EE spells at least give an arcane caster a few limited tools, of which the mindflayer attack would seem to be the jewel.

Hmm... my new (pure steel vs Belhifet) thought is about dual-classed Shadowdancer/Fighter of maximal level 29/30 with hit-and-run tactics. What do you think? 🤔

Wisterias

Aerich wrote: »

One has to pick spells carefully as a sorceror. I was planning to cast Enchanted Weapon from a scroll. There’s probably no other enemy that needs it (I could be wrong - anybody checked if mind flayer works on glabrezu, cornugons, dragons?). Hmm, good thing I don’t have to choose yet.

You can kill the Raksashas in ToTL with this tactic too, so it's always worth it imo.