Drogo's wanderings now took him out to Firewine Bridge. Here he met a young bard, whose career he sponsored (in the selfish hope that he might someday immortalise Drogo's own deeds in heroic couplets)
Drogo then crossed paths, and soon after crossed swords, with a braggart by the name of Meilum. Meilum was an uncouth, boastful, badly dressed fellow who was begging to be taught a lesson.
As ever, the fight didn't go quite as Drogo had hoped. He meant to engage in a honourable duel but again he was sliced to ribbons and on two occasions had to run away and rest up before returning to Firewine and stabbing Meilum from the shadows and then wearing him down with throwing daggers before moving in to finish the job with Varscona.
I am not sure why this fight proved to be such a trial for Drogo. I had checked Meilum's stats before sending Drogo into battle and it seemed to me that Drogo had better Thaco, armour, hit points and damage output than his opponent and so should have been able to win fair and square: https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Meilum
On looting Meilum's corpse, Drogo discovered his opponent had been wearing as set of magical bracers. These Drogo has now strapped to his own wrists and they have significantly improved his prowess as a swordsman.
Drogo now decided it was time to take a look into the trouble at Nashkel mine. Emerson, the master of the mine, told him in no uncertain terms that he only had a day to explore the mine. Drogo had no intention of spending anywhere near that long in the godforsaken place. He hurried through, slaughtered Mulahey and his minions, and within an hour was back breathing fresh air again.
There now followed one of my favourite exchanges in the game. After you have defeated Mulahey and returned to Beregost, a small girl named Chloe hurries up to you and says in a voiced line of dialogue "Oooh, you smell!" For some reason it always makes me laugh. Drogo, however, was extremely insulted and was about to make the witty retort: "Well you smell too short-arse," but before he could get the words out the child began to sing his praises and he was so busy basking in the adulation that he completely forgot to be offended by her opening gambit.
By rights Drogo really should now have headed towards Larswood or Pelvdale to search for a bandit lair. There was a time, not so long ago, when he tramped round those woods hoping to find the delectable and deadly Dorotea, but he had come to the conclusion that was a fool's errand and instead he wandered back to the Valley of Tombs where, after battling a ghast or three, he was able to reach ninth level. This time he invested ten points in Find Traps to take him to 95 (there is no point in going to 100 because if he gets hold of the Manual of Quickness of Action and raises his Dexterity to 19 he will get the extra five points for free). He put the remaining 15 points into Detect Illusion (something I instantly regretted doing because if he is going to get past Sarevok at some point then Set Traps would be a far more useful skill to have:
Drogo, always eager to increase his haul of gems and jewelry, now traveled west in search of Black Alaric's cave where the famous pirate's treasure hoard was said to lie waiting to be discovered. Unfortunately, before he could get to the trove he ran into some trouble in the shape of some sirines. Drogo of course has his Greenstone amulet to protect him ad so should have been safe but to his surprise (and mine) they succeeded in Feebleminding him.
Fortunately, having only 3 intelligence doesn't stop you from killing stuff and Drogo proceeded to slaughter the sirines without much trouble.
To be honest, I am not sure what was going on here. I always thought being feebleminded ended the game when you are soloing because your character is basically completely incapacitated for a year in game time. Then again the Greenstone Amulet is supposed to make you immune to Feeblemind in the first place so I guess it's a wash. Anyway, it turned out that Drogo didn't even need to get the effect dispelled. It just disappeared when he rested. https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Feeblemindhttps://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Greenstone_Amulet
Drogo then crept into the cave where he carefully disarmed all the traps and then snuck up on the Flesh Golem guardians and hacked them down before they could take a swing at him. Black Alaric's hoard was not disappointing. The choice item was a Manual of Bodily Health. On reading it Drogo found his constitution raised to 20. Sadly this gives him no more hit points but it does mean he can regenerate, which is pretty cool.
The Feeblemind spell has a duration that's basically forever. The sirine attack inflicts the Feeblemind condition (as well as confusion) with a mere 25 round duration.
What you experienced there ... definitely buggy, but at least it didn't harm you too badly.
On Meilum ... the stats in the wiki entry you linked don't take into account his equipment, stat and grandmastery bonuses. Add those in, and he's attacking twice per round at THAC0 7 for 1d8+12 damage. On defense, he's at AC 2 with studded leather modifiers.
The Feeblemind spell has a duration that's basically forever. The sirine attack inflicts the Feeblemind condition (as well as confusion) with a mere 25 round duration.
What you experienced there ... definitely buggy, but at least it didn't harm you too badly.
On Meilum ... the stats in the wiki entry you linked don't take into account his equipment, stat and grandmastery bonuses. Add those in, and he's attacking twice per round at THAC0 7 for 1d8+12 damage. On defense, he's at AC 2 with studded leather modifiers.
That explains why Drogo ended up in such a mess against Meilum. I think I will have to give up trying to get him to fight fair. It never really works out for him. Still, now he is wearing Meilum's bracers he should do a bit better.
Drogo's acquisition of a new sword and bracers filled him with confidence, which was just as well because he now found himself ambushed by rabble of all descriptions.
First there were some uppity Amazons:
Then were some arsey assassins
A bunch of bandits
And some self-important spell slingers
All of them were cut down by Drogo's trusty sword and venomous dagger (not to mention his Necklace of Missiles).
However, the encounter that really raised Drogo's ire was with an elf named Fahrington who tried to persuade him to read a cursed scroll. Drogo decided to teach the pointy-eared trickster a lesson he wouldn't forget so he sheathed his weapons and beat him unconscious:
This last encounter was pure metagaming on my part since there was no way Drogo could have known the scroll was cursed. However, it is an encounter that has always annoyed me. Fahrington tries to trick you and yet there is no way to call him on it or give him his comeuppance. So basically I got Drogo to beat him up for me. I found it strangely satisfying.
Drogo now felt bold enough to pay his first visit to Durlag's Tower. The weather was foul when Drogo arrived and the ominous fortress sat squat and menacing before him:
Still he pressed on but he found his path to the fortress blocked by two Battle Horrors. Drogo recoiled in dread from the animated suits of armour fearing their flaming swords would sear his flesh. But then he remembered a magical ring he had plucked from the nerveless finger of a dead wizard of Thay. It proved remarkably effective in taking down the Horrors.
The fight gave Drogo enough experience to reach level ten. Again I put his thieving points into dispel illusion, thinking it would come in handy when fighting mages, and forgetting that at somewhere along the line Sarevok awaits him and skill in setting traps might be rather more useful.
Drogo then started to explore the upper levels of the tower where he found a tome hidden in a trapped altar. The book proved remarkably dull but Drogo read it nevertheless and when he finally turned the last page he felt he had gained some new insights into the ways of the world.
Drogo's Wisdom is now 8, so he is now almost as wise as he is charismatic
Drogo has alas bitten the dust. He fell fighting Zhalimar Cloudwulfe and Gardush in the Iron Throne headquarters in Baldur's Gate (he had already succeeded in killing Aasim, Alai, Diyab, Naaman, and the doppelganger of Emissary Tar). He was down to 37 hit points (from 84) and I thought he could hang in for one more round of combat before using his Sandthief's Ring to disappear and run away to heal up but Cloudwulfe scored a crit and that was the end of Drogo.
He managed to reach level 12 before he died:
Drogo was one of my favourite characters I have played in Baldur's Gate but I did find being a swashbuckler was very frustrating. The combat bonuses you get don't come close to making you a viable melee fighter so more and more as the run went on I was having to use on cheesy tactics to get through fights. Drogo might have survived longer is I had relied more on missile weapons but to me it seems a bit pointless being a swashbuckler and then not fighting with sword and dagger.
Just want to say this was really fun to read. Sorry to hear Drogo didn't make it, but at least he died heroically! It's what he would have wanted, I'm sure.
Just want to say this was really fun to read. Sorry to hear Drogo didn't make it, but at least he died heroically! It's what he would have wanted, I'm sure.
Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was fun writing up Drogo's adventures. I was really hoping to get him as far as SoD at least. It's been years since I got a character through BG1 and I was really hoping Drogo would go all the way. Oh well, maybe the next character will do better.
i remember the first solo i ever did was with a swashbuckler
using drizzts scimitars are very helpful for swashbucklers
and the necklaces of missiles for BG1 is key to winning so many tough fights for bg1
I was trying not do anything too cheesy in this run so I didn't feel I could go for Drizzt's scimitars. If you could still pick pocket them I would have done that but I don't really like getting the gnolls to kill him for me. I did use the necklace of missiles and the Ring of the Victor a lot and it got me through some tough fights. I also found the Dagger of Venom was great, especially in mage fights. Whenever I was confronting a spellcaster I switched the dagger from my offhand to my main hand so I was more likely to hit with it and it was great for messing up their spellcasting.
However, it was fighters not spellcasters that proved to be my downfall. There is just no way a swashbuckler can melee with them (even when you are swashbuckler with 19 STR getting +3 to hit a +7 damage) and for me this rather took away the point of being a swashbuckler in the first place. I don't expect to be able to go toe-to-toe with a fighter of the same level but I hoped that since I had good equipment and frankly pretty amazing stats I would be able to compete with fighters of a lower level. But the combination of 1d6 hit dice, a limited constitution bonus and vulnerability to crits meant that I always felt like I was one unlucky die roll away from serious trouble.
To be honest it is not a character class I would be tempted to try again. It might be okay if you are playing with a party and don't mind being a bit part player in your own story but if like me you want to be a big damn hero it doesn't really offer much. You really are just a nerfed thief.
what about the shield amulet? i dont recall having any troubles against fighter types ( although i did use necklace of missiles A LOT, holy crap is that a "most valuable item" of solo games for bg1 ) or potions of defense? you can get x4 of them in beregost
I think I did eventually get to -5 once I had the Cloak of Balduran (I can't check right now because for some reason I can't get the game to launch). I was playing a 'no potions' run so Potions of Defence weren't an option. When I am playing I generally like to rely on my character's abilities rather consumables because otherwise it feels to me like the potions are winning rather than the character. I did use and abuse the necklace of missiles but that actually spoiled the run for me. I wanted to feel like a swashbuckler and I just don't feel heroic if I am nuking my opponents from space.
Thanks @Gurkengelee and @kansasbarbarian I am glad you liked it. It was one of the most enjoyable runs I have done possibly because I was RPing more than normal. I haven't felt like playing since Drogo met his demise. It's been a long mourning period!
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Drogo then crossed paths, and soon after crossed swords, with a braggart by the name of Meilum. Meilum was an uncouth, boastful, badly dressed fellow who was begging to be taught a lesson.
On looting Meilum's corpse, Drogo discovered his opponent had been wearing as set of magical bracers. These Drogo has now strapped to his own wrists and they have significantly improved his prowess as a swordsman.
Drogo now decided it was time to take a look into the trouble at Nashkel mine. Emerson, the master of the mine, told him in no uncertain terms that he only had a day to explore the mine. Drogo had no intention of spending anywhere near that long in the godforsaken place. He hurried through, slaughtered Mulahey and his minions, and within an hour was back breathing fresh air again.
To be honest, I am not sure what was going on here. I always thought being feebleminded ended the game when you are soloing because your character is basically completely incapacitated for a year in game time. Then again the Greenstone Amulet is supposed to make you immune to Feeblemind in the first place so I guess it's a wash. Anyway, it turned out that Drogo didn't even need to get the effect dispelled. It just disappeared when he rested. https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Feeblemind https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Greenstone_Amulet
Drogo then crept into the cave where he carefully disarmed all the traps and then snuck up on the Flesh Golem guardians and hacked them down before they could take a swing at him. Black Alaric's hoard was not disappointing. The choice item was a Manual of Bodily Health. On reading it Drogo found his constitution raised to 20. Sadly this gives him no more hit points but it does mean he can regenerate, which is pretty cool.
What you experienced there ... definitely buggy, but at least it didn't harm you too badly.
On Meilum ... the stats in the wiki entry you linked don't take into account his equipment, stat and grandmastery bonuses. Add those in, and he's attacking twice per round at THAC0 7 for 1d8+12 damage. On defense, he's at AC 2 with studded leather modifiers.
That explains why Drogo ended up in such a mess against Meilum. I think I will have to give up trying to get him to fight fair. It never really works out for him. Still, now he is wearing Meilum's bracers he should do a bit better.
First there were some uppity Amazons:
Then were some arsey assassins
A bunch of bandits
And some self-important spell slingers
All of them were cut down by Drogo's trusty sword and venomous dagger (not to mention his Necklace of Missiles).
However, the encounter that really raised Drogo's ire was with an elf named Fahrington who tried to persuade him to read a cursed scroll. Drogo decided to teach the pointy-eared trickster a lesson he wouldn't forget so he sheathed his weapons and beat him unconscious:
This last encounter was pure metagaming on my part since there was no way Drogo could have known the scroll was cursed. However, it is an encounter that has always annoyed me. Fahrington tries to trick you and yet there is no way to call him on it or give him his comeuppance. So basically I got Drogo to beat him up for me. I found it strangely satisfying.
Still he pressed on but he found his path to the fortress blocked by two Battle Horrors. Drogo recoiled in dread from the animated suits of armour fearing their flaming swords would sear his flesh. But then he remembered a magical ring he had plucked from the nerveless finger of a dead wizard of Thay. It proved remarkably effective in taking down the Horrors.
The fight gave Drogo enough experience to reach level ten. Again I put his thieving points into dispel illusion, thinking it would come in handy when fighting mages, and forgetting that at somewhere along the line Sarevok awaits him and skill in setting traps might be rather more useful.
Drogo then started to explore the upper levels of the tower where he found a tome hidden in a trapped altar. The book proved remarkably dull but Drogo read it nevertheless and when he finally turned the last page he felt he had gained some new insights into the ways of the world.
Drogo's Wisdom is now 8, so he is now almost as wise as he is charismatic
He managed to reach level 12 before he died:
Drogo was one of my favourite characters I have played in Baldur's Gate but I did find being a swashbuckler was very frustrating. The combat bonuses you get don't come close to making you a viable melee fighter so more and more as the run went on I was having to use on cheesy tactics to get through fights. Drogo might have survived longer is I had relied more on missile weapons but to me it seems a bit pointless being a swashbuckler and then not fighting with sword and dagger.
Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was fun writing up Drogo's adventures. I was really hoping to get him as far as SoD at least. It's been years since I got a character through BG1 and I was really hoping Drogo would go all the way. Oh well, maybe the next character will do better.
using drizzts scimitars are very helpful for swashbucklers
and the necklaces of missiles for BG1 is key to winning so many tough fights for bg1
I was trying not do anything too cheesy in this run so I didn't feel I could go for Drizzt's scimitars. If you could still pick pocket them I would have done that but I don't really like getting the gnolls to kill him for me. I did use the necklace of missiles and the Ring of the Victor a lot and it got me through some tough fights. I also found the Dagger of Venom was great, especially in mage fights. Whenever I was confronting a spellcaster I switched the dagger from my offhand to my main hand so I was more likely to hit with it and it was great for messing up their spellcasting.
However, it was fighters not spellcasters that proved to be my downfall. There is just no way a swashbuckler can melee with them (even when you are swashbuckler with 19 STR getting +3 to hit a +7 damage) and for me this rather took away the point of being a swashbuckler in the first place. I don't expect to be able to go toe-to-toe with a fighter of the same level but I hoped that since I had good equipment and frankly pretty amazing stats I would be able to compete with fighters of a lower level. But the combination of 1d6 hit dice, a limited constitution bonus and vulnerability to crits meant that I always felt like I was one unlucky die roll away from serious trouble.
To be honest it is not a character class I would be tempted to try again. It might be okay if you are playing with a party and don't mind being a bit part player in your own story but if like me you want to be a big damn hero it doesn't really offer much. You really are just a nerfed thief.
what was your AC at level 10? -5?
I think I did eventually get to -5 once I had the Cloak of Balduran (I can't check right now because for some reason I can't get the game to launch). I was playing a 'no potions' run so Potions of Defence weren't an option. When I am playing I generally like to rely on my character's abilities rather consumables because otherwise it feels to me like the potions are winning rather than the character. I did use and abuse the necklace of missiles but that actually spoiled the run for me. I wanted to feel like a swashbuckler and I just don't feel heroic if I am nuking my opponents from space.