Maniya Wolfbrook, Beast Master
Rigel
Member Posts: 256
I have been toying with the idea of playing a Beasmaster. First, because of the RP potential. I can imagine that my character was always attracted to beasts, and at Candlekeep, she was always helping in the stables, or in the kennels. And I love the idea of a ranger very close to nature, a bit like a druid in fact, but still a ranger, with a fondness for human beings (the good part of the alignment).
So of course, it is severely gimped, but I want to try and see if the interactions with the natural world can create interesting possibilities.
So I have some questions for all those who have been brave enough using Beasmaster !
1- Has someone already done a full playthrough until TOB with a Beastmaster ? Even soloed ?
2- If I use the Tweaks Anthology I can have a IWD ranger spell table. Does this mean that from level 6 I will be able to use the Summon Animal spell ?
3- Are there any good mod that I may use (for a whole playthrough BG SoD SoA ToB) ?
4- From a RP point of view (questions a bit similar for druids) :
4-1. Is it OK to use animals as "cannon fodder" ?
4-2. Which quests would you avoid (spiders ? they are evil after all. Basiliks ?).
Thanks a lot !
As I have stated below, I take inspiration from the fantastic playthrough of Serene Winterbloom by @Blackraven .
So of course, it is severely gimped, but I want to try and see if the interactions with the natural world can create interesting possibilities.
So I have some questions for all those who have been brave enough using Beasmaster !
1- Has someone already done a full playthrough until TOB with a Beastmaster ? Even soloed ?
2- If I use the Tweaks Anthology I can have a IWD ranger spell table. Does this mean that from level 6 I will be able to use the Summon Animal spell ?
3- Are there any good mod that I may use (for a whole playthrough BG SoD SoA ToB) ?
4- From a RP point of view (questions a bit similar for druids) :
4-1. Is it OK to use animals as "cannon fodder" ?
4-2. Which quests would you avoid (spiders ? they are evil after all. Basiliks ?).
Thanks a lot !
As I have stated below, I take inspiration from the fantastic playthrough of Serene Winterbloom by @Blackraven .
Post edited by Rigel on
4
Comments
The way I see it, being an animal lover doesn't mean you won't ever hurt them. It's a widespread misconception that the relationship we have with pets can be replicated with wild animals.
You care about your pets individually but you should care about wild animals as species. If you save a mouse strolling in your garden from being eaten by an owl, you're just screwing with nature. By saving the mouse, you may be condemning the owl by starving it to death. There's no way around the fact that it will eventually come down to a selection and it might as well be natural if it's not a pet. Life in the wild is a permanent massacre, it's bloody and violent. This is what we forget with domestic animals.
So a ranger or a druid should protect an endangered species because its extinction compromises the balance, not because he or she likes that species or one animal in particular. Ecologists do that everyday in the real world with invasive species that need to be repelled. Do they hate these animals? Nope.
Therefore, it's ok to go hunting/killing animals as long as you don't break things in the grand scheme of things. The same goes with the Beastmaster and his minions.
So using animals as a cannon fodder is fine, especially if you use them to defend the laws of nature.
None? Just fight so there's balance between cities and nature, between men and animals and between animals.
Was lucky to get at the third roll the following attributes (just corrected one time +2 -2).
F16 C 17(+2) D 18 I 15 W 14 C 12(-2)
Long bow ++
Quarterstaff ++
RE Spider (hesitated with Ogres but thought that she met those kind of spiders in the Candlekeep catacombs so that would be logical)
SCS Tactical + some tweaks. Am trying a no-reload (at least until Chapter 5)
After Gorion's killing, Maniya met her old friend Imoen. They wept together over Gorion's body, then decided not to go immediately to the FAI. They turned to the south, because Maniya wanted to walk a bit in the forest. After a while, Maniya saw a wolf and charmed it so that it would accompany them in the wilderness. Then, they suddenly were attacked by another wolf, and their wild friend helped them kill it. A chicken then spoke to them and they agreed to bring it to High Hedge. There he was successful transformed back to his human form. Maniya and Imoen then arrived to Beregost. They calmed down a grieving father, helped their old friend Firebead purchasing a book. Then Imoen, after a chat with Firebead, decided to try to learn the arcane arts, something she had been dreaming over a long time. Maniya went to clean over a house from a spider infection. After a rest at a nice inn, they went south and Maniya killed two ogrillons and some hobgoblins. Then, she found a pendant. During the trip back to Beregost, they were attacked by a group of a dozen bandit armed with bows (tough meeting in a no-reload game ...). They managed to flee, but at the last moment, an arrow brought down Imoen, and Maniya had to carry her friend's body until the Lathander temple. Then, with the few gold that was in her pruse, she managed to have Imoen brought back to life.
After a well-derseved rest, they decided to go to the FAI. On their way, Maniya met a wolf whih helped them to kill a dangerous ogre who attacked them. When they arrived at the FAI, a necromancer ambushed them... here we were very lucky. Maniya managed to wound the wizard but the latter managed to launch an Image mirror spell. Then, Imoen tried to cast a blindness spell but the mage managed to resist to its effect ... and then, he casted a sleep spell but at the same moment, Maniya managed to fire an arrow. Maniya and Imoen fell asleep but the arrow had managed to find its way up to the wizard throat and killed him instantly.
So my no-reload game almost was finished with Tarnesh .... but I was lucky. A the moment, Maniya level 2 and Imoen T2M1...
They headed north, and helped a young girl get back a plate that fishermen stole ftom them. It was a bit of a mess of a story, because first the fshermen hired them to get rid of a powerful priestess, and suddenly they realized that this was just an orphaned child.
More northward, they helped a farmer with a zombie infection.
Coming back to FAI, they encountered a young - and pretty attractive according to Maniya - paladin (I play with the Ajantis romance mod). Imoen was not very impressed, she does not like " big muscled dumb men" as she told her friend, but Maniya found him quite attractive, even if indeed a bit dumb, and they decided to join their force together.
When they came back to Beregost with their new friend, a visit to the Jovial Juggler Inn and to the Lathander temple convinced them to postpone their trip to Nashkel and go south of High Hedge. Ajantis really wanted to help killing the crazy Cyric priest and help the paladin Bjornin. For him, it was a question of honor, to prove himself to a renowned paladin who needed help. You see, said Imoen to Maniya, I told you he was a goodie stupid fighter. But they decided to go for it, and managed to bring an end to the murderous tyranny of Bassilus. Then, after killing three Hobgoblin bandits with the help of a wolf, they avenged Bjornin (with the help of a nice Grease spell - I have always neglected this spell, which can be pretty useful ...)
WHen they arrived to Gullykin, they met a young and joyful halfling who proposed to join their team. Maniya was convinced by her good nature, and a demonstration she made of her talents to open doors. Even Ajantis was won upon by Alora's cheerfulness, and the four of them headed to Nashkel.
After going back to Nashkel, the team freed a Northen cleric of Tempus who proposed to join them. Branwen was her name (was ... indeed ,,, see later), and she was full of rage and of energy.
First, the team went south of Nashkel, confronted aggressive hunters and two morons, with one of them claiming being the fastest dart-thrower from Faerun. Maniya took care of him with a blow of her quarterstaff. After helping poor "Albert", they headed to the west, where they help a dryad who was attacked by two brutal loggers, and a young girl who was looking for her cat.
Then, they arrived to what seemed like a fortress populated with gnolls. The attack was not very diffcult, and they freed an arrogant mage called Dynaheir. They brought her back to Nashkel, where she found her bodyguard. They proposed to join the team, but Maniya declined because she did not feel at ease with the wizard's haughty behavior.
The Nashkel mines were easily cleaned. It was easier from what I expected, particularly the damned kobold shaman and chieftain who can be deadly (lightning + poison ... sometimes it hurts...). Mulahey was a piece of cake. Then, they met an elf enchanter, a bit whining, but pretty powerful, who joined them.
After coming back to Nashkel and then to Beregost, the team confronted Tranzig. The fight was quick (can be sometimes tricky too ... the sleep spell is still problematic at those levels). Then, after a quick visit to High Hedge, the team headed to the west. and this was a MISTAKE.
Bloody Shoal. AJantis fell to her kiss (Maniya was a bit jealous that he would accept). Then Droth appeared, and he slains both AJantis (who just had one HP) and Branwen - bad luck, her helmet was made of iron and crumbled, so she received a critical hit which killed her. Now, we had two bodies to carry. I have a rule that if my party is far away from a temple, I need to check if the members are strong enough to carry a body. And two bodies was not possible for my party. So they chose to bury Branwen and carry Ajantis with them. Then, they took a wrong direction and fell upon a group of ogres which they quickly dispatched (Web + sleep + two bow women ...). And suddenly, after meeting two wolves that Maniya charmed they fell upon legendary sirines (OK it was a bit ambitious and dangerous but I tried,,,). The wolves helped a lot (as well as the sleep's spells of Xan), and two sirines fell quickly but the last one managed to charm Maniya (...) who turned her bow towards Imoen and killed her with a critical hit ... OK, I though this was it but the Charm effect quickly dissipated and in the meantime little Alora managed to kill the sirine. OK, but now we had another body to carry, and for Maniya, even if she was starting to be in love with Ajantis, there was no hesitation. Her old and good friend Imoen, and moreover she was the one who killed her ... she would do anything to bring her back to life. So they came back and .... hopefully ... there was no further encounter (we are in the dangerous time when obe can meet the bounty hunter's group ... ). After a brief visit to the Morning Temple where Imoen was brought bak to life, they had a good rest in Beregost. We would need to beef up the team, thought Maniya. Hopefully they met a grumpy dwarf who proposed to join them. Ans sometime later, they saved a beautiful drow who was unjustly attacked by a Flaming Fist mercenary.
So a new team, a bit of bad luck and as well some luck (after the sirine's charm ...).
At the moment, Maniya is level 4.
- Maniya Wolfbrook CG Beast Master level 4
- Kagain Level 5
- Viconia Level 5
- Alora Level 5
- Xan Level 4
- Imoen T2/M4
OK, a pity that I lost Ajantis, because I was trying for the first time the romance with him. And Branwen, I like her. But Viconia and Kagain, seemed to me the two evil chartacters who can fit in a good party.
Kagain particularly, seems to me more LN (or LN with a tendency to evil). And Viconia is not blood thirsty crazy (like SHar-Teel, whom I love btw) or cold-killer-style (like Edwin).
The good news is that Kagain, a DWARF is on the team. Because a party without a dwarf (and without a halfling) cannot be serious ....
Interesting to hear your setbacks, that really is one of the joys of limiting reloads, the adventure takes on an immersive quality.
Hope you can push it to BG2. The unlocked benefits seem like they would permit alot of flexibility in your party composition. That kit could support a heavily ranged party, for example.
I am looking forwrd to getting to level 6. I use the tweak to get IWD ranger spell, so I should get my first spell atthis level, and I hope I will get as well ANimal Summoning I (I hope I will not have to wait for level 8 ...).
So - in your current party, I'd give Kagain and Alora priority for the boots of speed. Kagain uses them to get out in front and draw attention so he can tank better, Alora uses them for backstabs. Your protagonist might occasionally borrow the boots while scouting, but that's it.
But I do think trying one's own patience can be a factor in these no-reload runs. And I really felt that using the boots on my stalker as a forward scout helped speed up the gameplay in a satisfying way. FWIW, I also play in a style where I'm not constantly switching gear alot. I didn't even backstab all that much in BG1.
There's also something to be said for having the boots of speed on your protagonist, the ability to get them out of trouble without having to worry about gear swapping. My first successful no-reload run almost ended in the finale. My whole party was dead as were Sarevok's goons. But, I was able to kite him with throwing daggers because of the boots and potions of speed.
It all really depends on what tactics you have grown comfortable doing. If you're being hyper diligent about always stealth-scouting ahead, then I'd give your beastmaster the boots. If you're only scouting ahead some of the time, then I'd probably give them to your melee tank. One of the great things about no-reload runs is thinking deeply about the tradeoffs of decisions and how that fits into your play style.
To answer your second question, I did keep the Stalker around for SoD and BG2 but I didn't succeed in a no reload. I still have yet to beat BG2 or SoD on no-reload. I always give myself the chance to transition into a limited reload run if I die, where I only reload from an inn, or rare other safe area. So I finished that way. The goal of the build was to transition to a Stalker-Cleric, an attempt at an OP build I had never tried. TBH, I ended up wishing I had stuck with the pure Stalker class. It's the class that has probably grown the most power due to EE changes -- dual-wielding no longer blocks two-handed wielding.
Doubly fun for ToB, because of the early movement speed armor you get, which meant the entire party had boosted movement speed pretty much from the start. Though this would be true of any party composition with Valygar.
- Protector of the second (not the best armor but I love this armor from a RP point of view for rangers)
- Gift of peace
- Worn whispers
- Elve's bane
- Relair's mistake (seems to fit well for a beastmaster)
- Quarterstaff +1
- Long bow
In the meantime, the party travelled a lot. Thanks to the harsh experience they had with sirines, they were able to confront some more near a cave, even if Maniya tried to convince the Sirine queen of their peaceful intentions. This time, it was surprisingly Kagain who got charmed, but Alora and Maniya managed to kill the sirines before further damage be done. In the cave, Kagain gulped a potion which helped him fight the unnatural abominations which lurked inside, three flesh golems. In the cave, they found a treasure, an interesting book that Maniya read, which taught her some very interesting body training techniques. She has been feeling more resistant since this reading. As well, she found a cape that Xan identified as the legendary Relair's mistake. Maniya remembered having read about it at Candlekeep, and since nobody else wanted to wear it (the cape is made of wolf's fur, and wears a distinctive and strong animal odor, something which is not at all problematic for her- on the contrary, said Imoen with a smile, it seems it was done for you ...). At a lighthouse, they killed a pack of worgs. Maniya tried to charm them, but they were in a frenzy state, and were trying to kill a young boy who was hidden in the ruins. His mother thanked her a lot. Maniya has the strange feeling that when they do good actions, Kagain and Viconia are not happy at all. She tried to speak with them about it, but the dwarf would not listen, but stated that as long as a dwarven strong hand was needed, he would keep on working with her. Maniya understood as well that he was more interested in the nice loot of their adventures. He would usually get the lion share of it, because none of the other companions were really interested in collecting vast amount of gold. Viconia told her that she was naive, but since she helped her, she would stay, even if her behavior was sometimes pretty strange and weak for a she-warrior...
Kagain frowned, laughed but accepted. You are nuts, he said, but this is a good deal, and you have my word that I will keep it. This crazyness of sharing everything together, this reminds me of a dwarf who came to Beregost a couple of years ago. Man was crazy. He was called Vol'odyia Ulyaanoff. Wanted that everybody should unite together, put all our money in common, and build a new village managed by a council. He came to see me and tried to convince me. He played the "brother dwarf" tune to me. Told him to go to Hell. Finally, he was thrown out of the city, and he owed his miserable life to the stupidity of this Lathander priest who sapred him whilst everybody wanted to have him hanged. Crazy dwarf, made me feel ashamed...don't know where he is now. Heard he decided to move to the North East. Surely was smashed by Frost giants if he tried to preach to them...
As well, Viconia stated to Maniya that she would stay with them, but that she should take care of not being too soft. Believe me or not, this will not help you. Those beasts you fancy, they are tough. Maniya answered her that no beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. Viconia started to answer with an aggressive tone "But I know ..." and suddenly stopped and left the room, apparently disturbed.
So the troup arrived in Gullykin, discussed with the mayor Gandolar Luckyfoot. He explained to them how to sneak into the tunnels through a secret entrance in the temple. After some preparations, the party entered the tunnel. Gandolar could not provide them with some fighters, because they were needed in order to pretect the hamlet's surroundings. Moreover, he said whilst lowering the voice, people are scared. We sent ten of our best fighters one week ago, and just one came back, and he was babbling incoherent things, and was burnet over almost all his body. He died a couple of days later. Since, we have put a glyph of protection in the secret entrance, You will be able to enter through it, but there is no coming back. I wish you luck, and to you, Alora Nimblefingers, I give to you this special rabbit foot which will help you and your friends in your endeavors. Alora was very moved, and her aunt as well. She was no longer since as a turbulent brainless child, but as the last protection of the village.
They entered through the secret entrance. Alvanhendar the priest gave them some potions as well as a small cask of ale for Kagain. Special one, I brewed it myself a couple of years ago for a dear dwarf friend of mine. We were members of a band of adventurers. Hurgan Stoneblade was his name. We had several good years until we tried to enter Durlag's tower, not far away from here. Hurgan wanted to look for some object, and to be hionest, we were interested as well to see if the legends concerning the famed treasures of Durlag were true. I did not want to rob the tower, but when we entered, we discovered that pure crazyness was reigning there. And... the monsters ... it was a nightmare. One by one, all our companions fell, and we managed to flee the tower, Hurgan and myself, with the help of Yondalla. Hurgan had managed to find a bag of very rare gems that we shared between us. I built this temple to Yondalla to thank her for her help. I do not know where Hurgan is nowadays, I think in the north. Anyway, enough chatting. Take this cask, you will appreciate it. Kagain, usually grumpy, was thankful and even grumbled a thank you in his beard.
The tunnels were cold, damp and dark. The party had torches that were given to them by Gandolar. Maniya and Alora scouted the tunnels, and found some places full of kobolds and some traps that Alora disarmed. Then, they stumbled into some ghosts that were looking for an armor. A brief fight with a skeleton and the armor was given back to the group of ghosts who seemed relieved. Then, a long way in the tunnels, with fights almost every corner against kobolds armed with fire arrows began. Kagain made miracles with his hammer, Alora and Maniya with their bow. At the end of a long corridor, Maniya scouted and saw a party of one mage, one ogre-mage, two ogrillons and some kobolds who were drinking loudly together and celebrating something. They had not heard the fights in the tunnels. Xan and Imoen casted some protective spells, and the fight began. Maniya single-handly defeated the two ogrillons, whilst Kagain and Alora attacked the mage. But this one was a tough nut to crack. He seemed to love extreme temperature, because after a devastating fireball, he pointed an icelance at Xan, who fell. Imoen managed to diffuse the illusion spell he was using, and a couple of hammer blows finished him. Before falling, Xan had time to cast a Horror spell, which sent the Ogre mage running around like a mad man. Arrows killed him on the spot.
The exit of the tunnels was in the house of a very aggressive halfling, whom Alora recognized as Jenkal. He had the bad reputation of being a smuggler, someone who could find you everything you needed. And very greedy as well. He fled quickly, and left after him evidences that Alora brought to Gandolar. The village was very glad and thankful. They organized a small feast (small in halfling description : almost 20 different dishes were served) and some special casks were opened. Maniya saw for the first time Kagain smiling and laughing. This was a nice day. Xan was still a bit shaky after Alvanhendar resurrect him with the help of a special potion that he kept in a small casket, but even he cheered up finally.
Will keep on updating soon ! At the moment, we are in the Cloakwood mines ...