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The no reload challenge (spoiler warning)

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  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    @Wanderon: tough luck for the brigands! it was an odd pair to start with anyway... when soloing no-reload I never engage any spellcaster without the Greenstone Amulet around my neck, ready to activate it if need be. I don't think Borda is any tougher than i.e. Zordral or Tranzig, but horror/confusion can decimate even a strong party very easily.

    Good luck to Mrs Brightbow.
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    I am running another solo no-reload, divine caster again. An old, grumpy and solitary Gnome.

    Meet BRIX HADILSMOK, CG Gnome Cleric.

    Str 16
    Dex 18
    Con 17
    Int 14
    Wis 17
    Cha 9

    Brix wields a hammer and likes to hide behind a large shield.

    He had a very solid start and is already lvl.5. He cleared the Nashkel Mines and got the scalps of Tarnesh, Neira, Silke, Greywolf - and a few other beasts.

    His only mistake so far was to rely on the sole Wand of Sleep to take Karlat down. Karlat is a dwarf and no one puts a dwarf to sleep if he is not in the mood. After wasting 5 charges of the wand (each valued ~100gp) and trying to sling the would-be assassin around beregost, Brix fled to Nashkel and came back a day later. Karlat was bragging around, waiting at the entrance of Feldpost's Inn; Hold Person sealed his fate.

    As a side note I am taking the time to thoroughly test each and every spell in my Gnome's book. Flame's Blade for instance, is really crap. The sword created brings no THACO bonus and is not even considered as a magic weapon; the only advantage is extra fire damage (1d2+4). A complete waste of the very valuable lvl.2 slots (so many excellent spells there - Hold Person, Silence, DUHM, Chant). The only use to this spell is if you need to hit/kill ennemies with fire damage (such as trolls), and it never is easy for a cleric to deliver fire damage.
    WanderonBelgarathMTH
  • bbearbbear Member Posts: 1,180
    why didnt you max out the strength by subtracting from intelligence?
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    bbear said:

    why didnt you max out the strength by subtracting from intelligence?

    Roleplaying. Brix Hadilsmok is a smart Gnome who grew up wanting to be an illusionist; Gorion's would hear none of it. With time, Brix learnt to obey his foster father and bend his own will, gradually shaping his very wise nature only sometimes contradicted by his chaotic temper, which no one in Candlekeep ever managed to completely tame.

    Str 16 is already too high RP wise, Brix is robust (Con 17) and certainly not weak, but not particularly strong. The thing is in BG1 soloing with low Str is a real pain inventory management wise... in fact now that I look at his abilites, I think I should have had Dex at 17 and Int at 15, RP-wise.
    Wanderon
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    Brix Hadilsmok, the Gnomish Cleric, went caster-hunting.

    In Nashkel, Zordral tasted the Wand of Heavens while a silenced Nimbul is nothing more than a sitting duck to the Amnish garrison.

    Tranzig can be annoying. He rolled a 12 and saved vs Silence, then rolled a 6 and still saved (!) vs Hold Person. Brix cursed at himself for having not memorized Doom. He threw in 3 skeleton warriors and Tranzig killed them all with his arcane magic, the last one with a lightning bolt which bounced and ended the life of the evil mage (while Brix had his hand on a potion of absorption had the bounce gone his way...).

    Bassilus on the other hand, was a good boy. Shocked to see his undead army decimated by an opening fireball, he was silenced and finally held by a victorious Brix. Who is now sitting on a pile of gold (15k)... just in time to recharge both his amulets.

    BelgarathMTH
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    Focus on lvl.1 spell Shillelagh. It is not so bad, much better than lvl.2 Flame Blade. The club it creates is a magical +1 weapon, dealing more damage (2d4) than a plain club, hammer or mace; it can be useful for all those foes who are immune vs normal weapons. Casting time is very short (2). It could be a very handy early game spell if it lasted a little longer, say a few turns and not a mere 4r +1r/lvl...
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    edited January 2013
    Brix Hadilsmok has now gone through two of those nasty ambushes with 8 archers in a large circle around him. With his -18 AC vs missiles (!!), he was whistling taking his time and looking at the nearby trees while the arrows fell all around him. When this was reported to him under his tent, Tazok fumed with anger and fed his emprisoned gnolls with the entire group of helpless archers that let the Gnomish Cleric escape...
    BelgarathMTH
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    You can be a lvl.6 Cleric and still be caught off guard by a low-level spell. Brix, flanked by a skeleton warrior, stumbled upon a bandit, Teyngan. He sent in the undead to melee but only saw at the last minute a horror spell cast from the fog of war and targetting the skeleton. Brix interrutped his spellcasting and ran away, but the spell reached him on the bounce and he failed his save (had to roll >9). Panic. Luckily, Brix ran everywhere but towards that mage Jemby. He ended up chased by Teyngan, 2 gnolls and a ghast but none managed to get through his -5 AC. Brix Hadilsmok is made of tough skin, but this was a close call.
    BelgarathMTH
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  • LMTR14LMTR14 Member Posts: 165
    Bhaaldog said:

    I decided to put a no reload run on hiatus until EE Mac version comes out. The cleric run was going very well until I hit the" NPCs will not talk with you" bug so I it meant I could no longer continue. Boo was not pleased.

    I've encountered this bug. save - reload - problem should be fixed (unless it's a different bug from what I had)

    SirK8
  • WanderonWanderon Member Posts: 1,418
    I knew it was a jinx to mention no one had died yet last night LOL!

    -The very first map this morning Kahlid was held and eaten by a ghast and Neera died shortly there-after in the Dorn encounter. We sent Neera back to the FAI after raising her just in case we decide to use her later -meanwhile she can chat with Dorn there as we did not offer to take him along.

    We then picked up Branwen who also died as we took down Greywolf so hopefully the whole "bad things come in 3s" will apply and we are done dying for a while.

    We were clearing the mine and had reached the next to last level and I discovered that Imoens stealth was not good enough yet even with the boots so I gave the boots to Brilini and had her scout while Imoen stayed close behind finding traps - this worked exceptionally well - Brilini moved slowly forward under stealth until she saw a kobold then one shotted it and returned to stealth while Imoen found and disarmed the traps as they crept along with the rest of the party waiting in the wings - we rested before entering the final level and took down Mulahey easily and added Mr Optomist to the party (Xan). Gave Xan the ring from FAI and Branwen got Mulaheys ring Xan scribed a bunch of scrolls and we rested ready to head out the back door next session.

    Brilini, Kahlid and Imoen are level 3 - Jaheira is less than 100 points away from 3 and Branwen and Xan are about 2.5.

    Brilini has mastery in Longbow with THAC0 at 9 with composite bow - damage 7-12 attack 5/2
    Kahlid has mastery in Long Sword with THAC0 13 (Greywolfs sword) damage 6-13 attack 3/2

    Brilini is anxious to gather her party and venture forth... ;-)
  • moopymoopy Member Posts: 938
    edited January 2013
    Running a no reload wild mage is the greatest thing ever.

    When you load you don't care as much about ridiculous surges.

    Like in the inn in Nashkel where that assassin lady tries to kill you. I attempted to cast magic missle at her as she approached me. It decided to surge into a fireball killing everybody in the inn and tanking my reputation to 1. Hilarious.

    Edit:

    I forgot to add that all the good aligned people in my party got mad, left the party, and tried to kill me. It made me sympathize with Neera's back story a lot more.
    Post edited by moopy on
    Eleutheroslunarmuswellbrook
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  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    Brix Hadilsmok the solitary Gnomish Cleric, travelled under the cover of Sanctuary through a xvart village and by the Gnollish stronghold. There, he found a strange book in a cave and as he was reading it once safely back at the Nashkel's inn, he noticed that he smiled to the waitress as she was handing him his 3rd pint of ale. Weird (CHA now = 10). For the first time the thought of having travelling companions crossed his mind; but who would appreciate the company of a grumpy gnome anyway?

    As he approached the Bandit Camp, his chaotic side resurfaced and he forgot all those long years of patient studies under the guidance of Gorion. He grabbed his amulet (the One Gift Loss) and used charge after charge, until the fireball flames had consumed every single being in the camp. Then only, Brix relaxed smoking his pipe by one of the hobgoblins' campfire, and was stunned to find through the consumed loot a shiny full plate armor. Nice.

    One tent was left, probably Tazok inside. Sanctuary-> no Tazok, but 4 of his entourage. Mindshield, Strength of One + DUHM buffs, then breaking sanctuary with Doom->Silence on the mage, Venkt. Who saved. Tried a Hold Person on him but was interrupted by a critical hit of the archer. This fight could not have started worse. Brix thought he could overpower them in melee, but by the time he finished off Raemon, Venkt (after wasting his horror spell) had already cast 2 Melf's Acid Arrows. HP down to 16. Time to dash out and run, followed only by Britik who did not stand a chance one a one-to-one melee vs Brix. Then, Hakt was quickly surrounded by 2 summoned skeleton warriors, and killed. Brix re-entered the tent and killed Venkt with the Wand of Heavens.

    A very unaesthetic way to handle the tent, and a little scare in there. Despite the buffs, the melee limit of 1APR is an issue. Doom->disabling spell is nice, but can fail. Using wands at this stage remains by far, the safest (although expensive) strategy.
    WanderonBelgarathMTH
  • WanderonWanderon Member Posts: 1,418
    Good job Brix - isn't that adrenaline rush when it looks like things may be going badly that makes the whole no-reload thing worthwhile? Knowing that you can't just say oh crap and reload? Knowing that if you don't pull something out of...somewhere...that it will be game over? And of course the farther you have progressed the bigger the rush...!

    Brilini and company exited out the bottom of the mine and ran smack into an entire band of bounty hunters but managed to take them down in a good fight. Kahlid and Branwen are both tanking now with Brilini sniping from the rear along with Jaheira. Xan mostly ineffectively tosses darts and the occasional charm spell until things are mostly under control then grabs his sword and gets in a few whacks.

    The party went winter wolf hunting and grabbed bracers of archery and a pile of +1 arrows as well as some nice leathers - decided to keep Brilini in plain studded leather + ROP for the bonus to save versus an extra - AC along with stealth boots and girdle of piercing - with the bracers her THAC0 is down to 5! We had a taste for wolves so we cleared the area around Beregost temple which leveled us some more.

    We grabbed the +1 club from Caldo & Krumm for Jahs and Imoen "found" the Stupifier for Branwen just before Branwen made level 4 so she could take maces. Imoen is level 4 - took Single weapon style so she gets the AC boost when she goes to melee. Brilini and Kahlid also level 4 now with Jahs & Xan still 3.

    Party rep is 18 now - we "talked" to Tranzig but will probably do a bit more exploring before heading to Bandit Camp. Maybe Bassilus, Brage, and Dyna next.
    IgnatiusBelgarathMTH
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    Wanderon said:

    Good job Brix - isn't that adrenaline rush when it looks like things may be going badly that makes the whole no-reload thing worthwhile? Knowing that you can't just say oh crap and reload? Knowing that if you don't pull something out of...somewhere...that it will be game over? And of course the farther you have progressed the bigger the rush...!

    Oh yes, it is exactly like you describe it. No-reload forces you to think hard, adapt and change strategy if need be - simply in order to survive. It increases roleplaying. It is all about risk balancing. I was at the back-end of that tent down to 16HP (with 2 melf's acid arrows that still had a counter to damage) vs Britik, Hakt and Venkt (with mirror image on), all at full health. How I got into such a lousy spot was poor tactics (due to the fact that I originally thought I could be out of range from the mage somewhere in that tent - which you cannot), but deciding what to do next was the fun part. I was tempted to stand firm and blast fireballs / continue to melee, but my survival chances would have been extremely low because I also needed to heal. I could have tried sanctuary, but thought an acid arrow counter might interrupt the spell. A last resort would have been to drink the invisibility potion, but those are so damn precious... I decided to run and drink a healing potion while I was dashing for the tent door, and fled outside (where fortunately, everything had been fire-cleansed before hand). It turned out this was probably the best choice - although another critical hit by the archer on my way out might have brought Brix's run to an end.

    Good job on Mrs Brightbow & co there, may the Lady Luck bring them fortune. Can you explain Brilini's THACO of 5 at such an early stage??!
    BelgarathMTH
  • WanderonWanderon Member Posts: 1,418
    edited January 2013
    Ignatius said:



    Good job on Mrs Brightbow & co there, may the Lady Luck bring them fortune. Can you explain Brilini's THACO of 5 at such an early stage??!

    Well I can try LOL!

    according to the character screen:

    Level 4 archer - base thac0 17 -
    composite long bow +1 = -2
    longbow = -3
    elf = -1
    missle adj (19 dex) = -3

    then bracers of archery for another -2

    Now according to my calculations that brings it down to 6 (17-11) but the Character screen says 5 ?

    Perhaps it is not including the +1 to hit and damage with missle weapons every 3 levels (archer perk) in the written calculation box (where bow, elf etc are detailed) but is showing it for the final tally?

  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    edited January 2013
    longbow -3 / that is the THACO bonus due to Bilini's proficiencies, right? how much pips did you invest?

    dex 19 gives -3 to missile? forgot about that, thought it was -2

    the additional -1, could be the archer kit increase you got upon lvl.4 / although I would have thought such bonus would decrease straight away the base THACO...

    Impressive anyway to achieve such low THACO so early in the game. Have never played an archer myself. How many APR?
  • WanderonWanderon Member Posts: 1,418
    Ignatius said:

    longbow -3 / that is the THACO bonus due to Bilini's proficiencies, right? how much pips did you invest?

    dex 19 gives -3 to missile? forgot about that, thought it was -2

    the additional -1, could be the archer kit increase you got upon lvl.4 / although I would have thought such bonus would decrease straight away the base THACO...

    Impressive anyway to achieve such low THACO so early in the game. Have never played an archer myself. How many APR?

    She is at Master now (3 pips) and 5/2 attacks - damage with normal arrows is showing 8-13 on character sheet. Have not used any magic arrows yet except a handful or so +1 arrows on the vampiric wolves near Beregost Temple.

    Yeah archer is really sort of overpowered in BG1 where ranged weapons were already very powerful!

  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    Brix Hadilsmok the (still) solitary Gnomish Cleric, saved the life of Samuel and obtained the trust from fellow Gnomish priestess Gellana Mirrorshade from the FAI. She talked about another Gnome who recently stopped by the temple on his way to the big city. Another Gnomish adventurer... that thought prompted Brix to immediately leave for the dreaded Cloakwood forest to put a definite end to banditry and hopefully re-open access to Baldur's Gate.

    Druids. Brix never liked those tree huggers... worth no better than elves! so when Aldeth Sashenstar required assistance against a local sect, Mr Hadilsmok agreed in the blink of an eye. Moments later he was on the receiving end of Seniyad's Call Lightning, which dealt 60dmg reduced by 50% thanks to those boots. The Boots of Lightning saved Brix's life, now reduced to 16HP. Seniyad's spellcasting was not interrupted in spite of being hit both by Brix's sling and a skeleton warrior. Don't know if this is scripted or just pure luck. Brix retreated behind the lodge, healed while his skellies were being torn apart, and from a distance silenced the entire group of druids (those humans do have poor saves...). Softened them with a fireball and charged wielding Asheedena above his head, killing them all. Aldeth, hidden behind a bush, was lucky to survive. One of his bodyguards hit by lightning, much less so...

    Now a lvl.7 Cleric, Brix summons much tougher skeleton warriors versions. They wield long swords +1 !! in between web traps, they did very well fending off spiders and ettercaps attacks. Sanctuary had Brix safely through, even deeper into Shadow Druid territory...
    BelgarathMTH
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    edited January 2013
    Brix Hadilsmok is now a lvl.7 Cleric with 53HP. He has -6 AC and enjoys low saving throws 6/6/9/12/7.

    wielding Asheedena: THACO=13, dmg 8-11, 1 APR
    wielding a sling+1: THACO=12, dmg 6-9, 1 APR

    His spellbook lately has been filled with mainly with:
    - Sanctuary, Doom
    - Silence, Hold Person, DUHM
    - Animate Dead, Holy Smite, Strength of One

    He makes the best use of:
    - The One Gift Loss
    - Greenstone Amulet
    - Wand of Sleep
    - Wand of the Heavens
    BelgarathMTH
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    More druids! fanatic fools the whole lot... flanked by 2 skeleton warriors, Brix:

    - Doomed->Silenced Laskal
    - Held Takiyah
    - let the skellies fiest on Izefia
    - led Amarande the archdruid outside of his tree hole; engaged by the skellies, he was Doomed, save a first Silence but not the second.

    Peter the North resisted much better. He saved all that was thrown at him: Hold, Poison, Domination. Fell in melee. The skeleton warriors in their upgraded version (lvl.7) are very strong; they dominate spiders, wolves even ettercaps, and fight toe-to-toe vs baby wyverns. They are also a cash machine since they drop long swords +1.

    Brix has now reached the entrance of the Mines, preparing for a nap under the cover of Sanctuary...
    BelgarathMTH
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    Having got plenty rest, Mr Hadilsmok went scouting the Mines' entrance under the cover of sanctuary, spotting the welcoming party. Very well, he thought.

    He summoned 3 skeleton warriors, chanted and opened the discussion with a fireball. The skeletons marched forward while Brix silenced... Drasus and Genthore, both fighters. Try again. Both mages were buffing and tried to horrify the undead, while Brix cast a succesfull Domination on Genthore. Who got immediately confused by one of the mages, but that was at least one fighter out of the fight although the hasted Drasus was wreaking havoc on the skellies. When Brix's second Silence shut down both Kysus and Rezdan, the struggle was over. 2 more skellies were summoned in the fight, Drasus was near death and within a few rounds all ennemies were cold as stone.

    Brix owned the playing field on that one. Did not sling a bullet and used only 1 item charge. And got himself a nice new pair of boots (although he won't give up easily on his Boots of Grounding, which saved his life a few days ago).
    BelgarathMTH
  • WanderonWanderon Member Posts: 1,418
    @Ignatius : Great job! I suspect many a no reloader has left the game at the entrance to cloakwood mines - now don't forget you are getting into the area where it's very easy to become over confident! LOL
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    edited January 2013
    @Wanderon: I wonder if it is not the Boots of the Cheetah that cause this. On solo, gameplay changes drastically when you wear them, your positioning, the timing of your movements during combats vs spell AoE, etc...

    I hate those mines. There are nasty traps some of which I cannot avoid, mages who can be surprising, those battle horrors and Davaeorn whose encounter can either be anti-climactic or epic. And of course, little room to manoeuvre... but Brix is a tough cookie (76k xp already). Also those upgraded skeleton warriors are slightly OP at this stage of the game I feel.

    How is Mrs Brightbow doing today?
  • WanderonWanderon Member Posts: 1,418
    @ Ignatius: I do think the boots can be a big cause of trouble in that battle which means taking him out of play ASAP is probably key.

    Brightbow brigade had a short day today - cleared Drizzt map and started Xvart Village as we work on clearing out the SW corner of the world map - Not certain yet whether I will keep Xan or take Dyna when we get there - Xan plays a bit differently but can be useful - I've never been overly enthused about Dyna but if Kahlid were to get chunked I might want Minsc available and if I blow off Dyna that won't happen - I suppose if I decide to keep Xan I can just let Dyna sit there - not sure I would get the rescue experience anyway if Minsc is not there.

    Can't play again until Sun anyway so plenty of time to think it over...
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    Is there a rescue xp for freeing Dynaheir? without Minsc, surely not. With him...? but if you let Dynaheir just sit in her pit, then Minsc's quest won't be deemed complete and there's a timer on it. Anyway, she and Xan indeed play different - she's more of a damager when is more of a buffer/AoE type of guy.

    I too will get no playtime this week-end. I intend to reach Baldur's gate tonight though. Brix is progressing through the mines, Hareishan and her group were swiflty dealt with. Am tip-toing on the 3rd level right now... ;-)
  • IgnatiusIgnatius Member Posts: 624
    Looking at him, alone, in a corner at the FAI quietly drinking his ale and smoking his long gnomish pipe, one would never suspect the extraordinary adventures Mr Brix Hadilsmok has gone through over the past 60 days.

    He descended in the dwarven mines of Cloakwood, determined but cautious. Full spellbook, rested and protected via buffs from electrcity (100%) and fire (90%). The first 2-levels were a push-over, sleep taking care of all guards and skeleton warriors of Hareishan.

    Natasha was tougher on the 3rd level when she saved vs silence twice and threw in a bouncing lightning bolt that downed 2 skellies but did not hurt Brix. That's about all she could do before dying, and it is still better than the nearby ogre mage who was silenced straight away.

    Brix sanctuarized upon entering the 4th level and took limited damage from traps. Spotted a battle horror, buffed with Holy Power + DUHM and drew it to the entrance where it face 3 skeleton warriors + a boosted Brix (-6 AC, HP 60, thac0=8, dmg.14-17 wielding Asheedena). The battle horror focused on the gnome and only hit on critical, had one lucky shot but stood no chance really. The second horror was spotted later and appeared out of nowhere (don't know how this is crripted); same tactic was repeated except without the buffs, so Brix used Wand of the Heavens for most of the damage.

    When he spotted the first skellie, Davaeorn destroyed it with a lightning blot. He threw a fireball at the second skellie who resisted. Brix used the opportunity to leave sanctuary and cast Doom->Silence. Fight over. This was a very satisfactory run of the mines, without resting (ie only one spellbook was used - I think I emptied almost all of it and each spell had its use).

    Brix Hadilsmok, the lonely lvl.7 Cleric (105K xp), has successfully achieved a solo no-reload run up to the city of Baldur's Gate. Upon the reccomandations of his new friends, Mr & Mrs Mirrorshade from the FAI, he is now on the trail of 2 Gnomish adventurers who have recently been spotted in the big city...

    BelgarathMTH
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    Ignatius said:

    Is there a rescue xp for freeing Dynaheir?

    Yes, there is. You get 800 xp. I came without Minsk, hadn't taken his quest nor even talked with him, found Dynaheir, talked to her and said to join my party.
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