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A challenge: beating the entire game solo on insane difficulty without ever taking damage

IntoTheDarknessIntoTheDarkness Member Posts: 118


Is it possible to do this challenge in BG1:EE?

I've nearly done it in BG2/TOB with a sorcerer using many defensive spells. I eventually took damage and even died in the final fight of TOB but that was because I had Ascension mod installed, which makes the final fight drastically difficult.





I wonder if the same challenge can be done in BG1:EE; beating the game without ever taking 1hp hit save scripted damage, with 1 character on insane difficulty.

Which class and tactics should I employ? There aren't many spells that makes you immune to damage as in BG2. How should I assess the task?

Comments

  • MungriMungri Member Posts: 1,645
    Nah, its not possible to never take damage.
  • AlexMAlexM Member Posts: 110
    Mungri said:

    Nah, its not possible to never take damage.

    Unless you harness the power of Ctrl-Y!

  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    AlexM said:

    Mungri said:

    Nah, its not possible to never take damage.

    Unless you harness the power of Ctrl-Y!

    and autopause on enemy sighted
  • MERLANCEMERLANCE Member Posts: 421
    Sorceror. Invisibility, Mirror Image, Protection from Arrows, Stoneskin. Wand of Summon Monsters.
  • MungriMungri Member Posts: 1,645
    elminster said:

    AlexM said:

    Mungri said:

    Nah, its not possible to never take damage.

    Unless you harness the power of Ctrl-Y!

    and autopause on enemy sighted
    Nooe, its completely 100% impossible to block all damage in the game. And yea, Tomokos fire arrow.
  • DeathMachineMiyagiDeathMachineMiyagi Member Posts: 120
    I can vouch that, if you don't consider it to count against 'solo', the pseudo-dragon familiar for Neutral Good and Lawful Good mages/sorcerers is absolutely lethal in the early game.
  • lDanielHolmlDanielHolm Member Posts: 225

    A BG1 no-damage run:

    Play through Candlekeep.
    Leave Candlekeep.
    Tamoko automatically hits you with Fire Arrow for one damage.

    No-damage run concludes.

    Which is scripted damage. Something the OP already excluded.

    I doubt it is possible, though, simply because you start at level 1.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    Mungri said:

    elminster said:

    AlexM said:

    Mungri said:

    Nah, its not possible to never take damage.

    Unless you harness the power of Ctrl-Y!

    and autopause on enemy sighted
    Nooe, its completely 100% impossible to block all damage in the game. And yea, Tomokos fire arrow.
    "beating the game without ever taking 1hp hit save scripted damage "
  • DeathMachineMiyagiDeathMachineMiyagi Member Posts: 120
    MERLANCE said:

    Sorceror. Invisibility, Mirror Image, Protection from Arrows, Stoneskin. Wand of Summon Monsters.

    That's all well and good...except in this context charname fresh out the door is more like:

    Sorcerer. Magic missile that can slightly wound a kobold. A sling.

    A non-damage solo player would have to bridge the gap between starting out as a ridiculously vulnerable neophyte mage with one or two spells a day and the moment they get all those nifty no-damage spells.

    As I suggest above, a familiar would make the whole thing vastly easier, but in any circumstance in which this no-damage solo sorcerer has to take on ranged enemies single-handed, they're going to have a majorly difficult time avoiding getting hit even once.

  • DinsdalePiranhaDinsdalePiranha Member Posts: 419
    FMT could probably do it, and only FMT - there are loads of traps you can't work your way around, and mirror image + stoneskin is pretty much a requirement for no damage run. and so is Power Word: Quickload.
  • RiolathelRiolathel Member Posts: 330
    That sounds very boring though... whats the fun of a game if you don't die a few times?
  • bbearbbear Member Posts: 1,180
    There is no point for insane difficulty since you dont get damage anyway.
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853

    A BG1 no-damage run:

    Play through Candlekeep.
    Leave Candlekeep.
    Tamoko automatically hits you with Fire Arrow for one damage.

    No-damage run concludes.

    And with the difficulty already at Insane ... For bonus points, roll a Mage with a 3 Constitution!
  • sandmanCCLsandmanCCL Member Posts: 1,389
    I don't see how this is possible, and this is coming from a guy who's beaten the entire saga with a solo Blade without every dying or reloading.

    There are just too many AOE things that happen later on you can't go totally immune to.
  • MERLANCEMERLANCE Member Posts: 421



    That's all well and good...except in this context charname fresh out the door is more like:

    Sorcerer. Magic missile that can slightly wound a kobold. A sling.

    Make it to the Friendly Arm Inn, loot the ring of wizardry, double your three spells per day to six, or sell the ring and buy a wand of monster summoning, and a few potions of invisibility. Since you are solo, you level 6x as fast as you would with a six man party.
  • DeucetipherDeucetipher Member Posts: 521

    I don't see how this is possible, and this is coming from a guy who's beaten the entire saga with a solo Blade without every dying or reloading.

    There are just too many AOE things that happen later on you can't go totally immune to.

    Nice! Never managed that. Did all of BG1 and all of BG2, but never managed to drag one char through the whole thing.
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    edited November 2012
    To quote Vizzini from the Princess Bride: "Inconceivable!" (In this case it really is, though.)
  • PantalionPantalion Member Posts: 2,137
    Yes, it's possible.

    But only, only, absolutely only, if three conditions are covered.

    1: All spellcasters are terminated within one round, all their damaging spells are interrupted until their death, or they target your familiar.
    2: Every Trap that deals damage is found and disarmed, or bounces off magical protections.
    3: Every other opponent must miss your AC, bounce off your damage reduction, or be distracted with summon-fu.

    #1 is strategic, #2 is moderately facile, #3 depends on having god-tier dex, epic AC, and your opponents never successfully rolling above a 10 or so.
  • BaldursCatBaldursCat Member Posts: 432
    Okay, I have to ask, what strategy do you employ to avoid taking any damage? It being one of the many things I suck at avoiding.

    Good luck with your challenge!
  • KirkorKirkor Member Posts: 700
    1. Roll a char that can sneak
    2. Sneak through whole game
    3. Backstab Sarevok
    4. ???
    5. profit

    :P
  • AHFAHF Member Posts: 1,376
    Pantalion said:

    Yes, it's possible.

    But only, only, absolutely only, if three conditions are covered.

    1: All spellcasters are terminated within one round, all their damaging spells are interrupted until their death, or they target your familiar.
    2: Every Trap that deals damage is found and disarmed, or bounces off magical protections.
    3: Every other opponent must miss your AC, bounce off your damage reduction, or be distracted with summon-fu.

    #1 is strategic, #2 is moderately facile, #3 depends on having god-tier dex, epic AC, and your opponents never successfully rolling above a 10 or so.

    Sooo...roughly the same odds as an infinite number of monkeys typing this post along with the complete works of Shakespeare?

  • MungriMungri Member Posts: 1,645
    elminster said:

    Mungri said:

    elminster said:

    AlexM said:

    Mungri said:

    Nah, its not possible to never take damage.

    Unless you harness the power of Ctrl-Y!

    and autopause on enemy sighted
    Nooe, its completely 100% impossible to block all damage in the game. And yea, Tomokos fire arrow.
    "beating the game without ever taking 1hp hit save scripted damage "
    Look, it doesnt matter whether the damage is scripted or not, I KNOW this is 100% impossible after soloing the entirity of BG1 + SoA 3 times. Taking damage is entirely based on dice rolls in D&D, its not possible to avoid a single source of damage, you can still roll too low to save against it. Also how do you expect to get through traps early on in the game without taking any damage? If you have no thief levels, you will take damage. If you start as a thief and later dual class to a mage, you are incredibly weak with low AC for a significant portion at the start of the game.

    Now if you actually think its possible to solo the game without taking any damage, go and do it and upload a playthrough to youtube.
  • IntoTheDarknessIntoTheDarkness Member Posts: 118
    So it's not possible? :(

    To

    Okay, I have to ask, what strategy do you employ to avoid taking any damage? It being one of the many things I suck at avoiding.

    Good luck with your challenge!

    Thanks!

    In BG2 I mostly used mislead and image projection to avoid enemies from dealing direct damage to my caster. In BG1 I haven't managed a no damage run but you could always put up many defensive spells before going into a fight. MIrror image + blur + improved invisibility makes you very hard to hit. Stoneskin, when available, will make you virtually immune to non-magical attacks as long as you remember to cast it on time. Using potions is a key if you are playing melee characters - use protection against undead, proteciton from magic, portion of invulnerability. :P
  • IntoTheDarknessIntoTheDarkness Member Posts: 118
    Mungri said:

    elminster said:

    Mungri said:

    elminster said:

    AlexM said:

    Mungri said:

    Nah, its not possible to never take damage.

    Unless you harness the power of Ctrl-Y!

    and autopause on enemy sighted
    Nooe, its completely 100% impossible to block all damage in the game. And yea, Tomokos fire arrow.
    "beating the game without ever taking 1hp hit save scripted damage "
    Look, it doesnt matter whether the damage is scripted or not, I KNOW this is 100% impossible after soloing the entirity of BG1 + SoA 3 times. Taking damage is entirely based on dice rolls in D&D, its not possible to avoid a single source of damage, you can still roll too low to save against it. Also how do you expect to get through traps early on in the game without taking any damage? If you have no thief levels, you will take damage. If you start as a thief and later dual class to a mage, you are incredibly weak with low AC for a significant portion at the start of the game.

    Now if you actually think its possible to solo the game without taking any damage, go and do it and upload a playthrough to youtube.
    Neutral alignment familiars have thief abilities and they can detect traps. I don't know if this was fixed but in vanilla BG1 you could avoid some AOE damage with mirror image, which is clearly a bug and likely was addressed in BG:EE.


    If I can somehow manage to take no damage only using a familiar and many defensive spells until I get stoneskin at level 4, I think it's possible though difficult. Fighter-mage can drink portion of invisilbity to lower its AC until he/she gets access to stoneskin, and against mages you can use protection from magic or start a battle and flee until enemy spellcasters' defenses are down. Of course I wikll have to employ exploit in the book.

    I am willing to try this and if I succeed I will upload an AAR or some kind of a report. :p
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    The odds of achieving this given the dice rolls involved and enormous number of variables is utterly astronomical. It is, as someone said above, just about as likely as monkeys typing randomly and producing the complete works of Shakespeare.
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