Today was the first time I saw the moment in the animation of an enemy dying when their armour falls off. It turns out you literally knock their legs from under them and their feet stick up in the air as they hit the ground and lose their armour.
Yesterday was the first time one of my parties defeated Tahazzar in a single go without having to (ab)use the portals. I was honestly a bit surprised, since Ka'rashur's party required a few exits to heal and rest. I think a big part of it was Jaheira managed to summon some werebears to distract attention, but Isra and Sirene managed to fillet Tahazzar pretty quickly. Sirene has Carsomyr and Isra has Purifier, so they were definitely properly equipped. Prebuffing pretty much just consisted of Remove Fear and a few potions.
Once there was a bit of a break, Imoen and my PC started summoning elementals to help with the cleanup. The only hitch was that those stupid quasits took forever to finally kill. They kept popping in and out so fast nothing could land a hit half the time.
The Wraith Demon, on the other hand... Jeez I hate that room. Thank the gods that Jaheira had Harper's Call and Heal memorized.
In two recent runs, I managed two odd twists on an encounter in opposite directions.
- In one, I didn't kill Slythe.
- In the other (just now), I killed Slythe twice.
OK, what's going on? Well, what you need from Slythe are the papers he's carrying. He'll come for a chat and go hostile if he sees a PC, but a familiar can just walk up and pick his pockets. A sufficiently buffed familiar, anyway.
In the second case, the script that spawns Slythe checks for him neither existing nor being dead. He died the first time in the sewers, which apparently didn't register properly. So when I came back for Krystin, there was another Slythe. Two +3 short swords, anyone?
Some other recent firsts for me:
- Telling Neera "no" on the first encounter in Beregost. She's gone forever along with her gem bag if you do that.
- Beating Sarevok with a ferret.
- Beating Sarevok without reaching level 5.
- Beating Sarevok without ever resting.
Today, for the first time, I gave that revenant his dagger back.
Also, I completed all of Landrin's tasks ... except for killing any of the spiders.
That's right, this one's a pacifist run. Complete as many quests as possible, but kill only those enemies that are absolutely required by the plot. Which, for the BG1 main campaign, is Mulahey, Davaeorn, and Sarevok. The palace doppelgangers have to die too, but my plan for that fight is to disable only and leave the actual killing to the dukes and guards.
It's remarkable how often "charm enemy, pickpocket plot token" is viable. Including that one spider in Landrin's home.
Pickpocketing bandit scalps ... not in current BGEE. They have the "can't steal" flag set, systematically. I wouldn't be surprised if that flag didn't exist in the original.
Neb's head is in the body armor slot, which can't be stolen from.
I've just finished my next session of that run. 20K experience and 20 reputation, without ever harming a single enemy. No attack rolls, no damaging spells.
Some particularly neat bits:
- Want to save Prism without hurting anyone? Just charm Greywolf and talk to him. He leaves, and that's that.
- Want to get Neera's gem bag? You can't pickpocket it, so you have to deal with her initial encounter - and the best way to do it is to bring Edwin along. Once Ekandor gets banished, Edwin pulls rank and tells the remaining Thayans to leave. Then you have to choose whether Edwin or Neera will stay with the party; if you pick Neera, Edwin leaves forever.
- It's possible to loot all of the treasure in the Ulcaster Ruins without so much as breaking invisibility. All of those bodies and piles can be walked over and looted from the inventory screen.
Oh, and a first. I actually gave Unshey her belt back. Sure, it's a very nice belt to use - but experience is at a premium when you're not killing anything, and it's not like very many enemies have even gotten in attack rolls.
Today, for the first time ... I sided with Bodhi in SoA chapter 3. After all, four of my party members (Anomen, Dorn, Hexxat, Korgan) approved and the other two were silent (Edwin, Viconia).
(Part of my current run "Dorn It", in which Dorn is the protagonist. I'll be posting it starting tomorrow (March 15). Well, posting the BG1 part. I'm still playing the BG2 part, of course.
This is a minimally modded run; I'm only using my personal tweaks.
Today was the first time that I noticed that Jopi (the guy who approaches you the first time you enter the Friendly Arm Inn) says that his grumpy uncle Ragefast used to cast Barkskin on him when he was a kid. Ragefast is a mage and Barkskin is a priest spell so how did he manage to do it?
Today was the first time I noticed that when you speak to Andout, the messenger you meet on the Coast Way south of the Friendly Arm Inn, he tells you he must dash to Beregost and then promptly heads off in the wrong direction.
I think we must have run into a Diseased Gibberling because no one in Beregost ever seems aware that there is a threat from Amn and those promised troops never turn up. It's funny that the messenger is on first name terms with the governor. I wouldn't have thought someone as super important as Kelddath Ormlyr would encourage such familiarity.
Comments
Once there was a bit of a break, Imoen and my PC started summoning elementals to help with the cleanup. The only hitch was that those stupid quasits took forever to finally kill. They kept popping in and out so fast nothing could land a hit half the time.
The Wraith Demon, on the other hand... Jeez I hate that room. Thank the gods that Jaheira had Harper's Call and Heal memorized.
- In one, I didn't kill Slythe.
- In the other (just now), I killed Slythe twice.
OK, what's going on? Well, what you need from Slythe are the papers he's carrying. He'll come for a chat and go hostile if he sees a PC, but a familiar can just walk up and pick his pockets. A sufficiently buffed familiar, anyway.
In the second case, the script that spawns Slythe checks for him neither existing nor being dead. He died the first time in the sewers, which apparently didn't register properly. So when I came back for Krystin, there was another Slythe. Two +3 short swords, anyone?
Some other recent firsts for me:
- Telling Neera "no" on the first encounter in Beregost. She's gone forever along with her gem bag if you do that.
- Beating Sarevok with a ferret.
- Beating Sarevok without reaching level 5.
- Beating Sarevok without ever resting.
All on the same run.
Also, I completed all of Landrin's tasks ... except for killing any of the spiders.
That's right, this one's a pacifist run. Complete as many quests as possible, but kill only those enemies that are absolutely required by the plot. Which, for the BG1 main campaign, is Mulahey, Davaeorn, and Sarevok. The palace doppelgangers have to die too, but my plan for that fight is to disable only and leave the actual killing to the dukes and guards.
It's remarkable how often "charm enemy, pickpocket plot token" is viable. Including that one spider in Landrin's home.
Does that mean you can get the spider's body by pickpocketing it? That's a pretty cool trick.
Landrin's dialogue when you turn it in talks about the other spiders leaving now that the big one is dead. If only she knew ...
Makes me wonder if you can pickpocket Neb's head. Now that would be the epitome of pickpocket skills!
I've got an idea that in original BG1 you could pickpocket bandits' scalps (but that might be another thing I am misremembering).
Neb's head is in the body armor slot, which can't be stolen from.
Some particularly neat bits:
- Want to save Prism without hurting anyone? Just charm Greywolf and talk to him. He leaves, and that's that.
- Want to get Neera's gem bag? You can't pickpocket it, so you have to deal with her initial encounter - and the best way to do it is to bring Edwin along. Once Ekandor gets banished, Edwin pulls rank and tells the remaining Thayans to leave. Then you have to choose whether Edwin or Neera will stay with the party; if you pick Neera, Edwin leaves forever.
- It's possible to loot all of the treasure in the Ulcaster Ruins without so much as breaking invisibility. All of those bodies and piles can be walked over and looted from the inventory screen.
Oh, and a first. I actually gave Unshey her belt back. Sure, it's a very nice belt to use - but experience is at a premium when you're not killing anything, and it's not like very many enemies have even gotten in attack rolls.
(Part of my current run "Dorn It", in which Dorn is the protagonist. I'll be posting it starting tomorrow (March 15). Well, posting the BG1 part. I'm still playing the BG2 part, of course.
This is a minimally modded run; I'm only using my personal tweaks.
I think we must have run into a Diseased Gibberling because no one in Beregost ever seems aware that there is a threat from Amn and those promised troops never turn up. It's funny that the messenger is on first name terms with the governor. I wouldn't have thought someone as super important as Kelddath Ormlyr would encourage such familiarity.
Very true. Maybe Governor Kelddath is really Uncle Kelddath?