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Most memorable victory due to dumb luck?

One great thing about Baldur's Gate is that the game provides plenty of opportunities to tackle high level encounters that seriously outmatch you. But if you know the game well, you can often plan all kinds of elaborate strategies to take down overwhelming odds and claim all that butt-kicking loot and xp early. But what about victories due to just sheer dumb luck?

In my case, I had a Cavalier, Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid, and Neera; all of 2nd level or lower and with no magic weapons. South of Beregost, I ran into a vampiric wolf (I think was a random encounter?), who requires magic weapons to injure.

With sheer luck, Neera wild surged (wasn't even using the dweomer) which resulted in holding both herself and the vampiric wolf. Jaheira than used her only Shillelagh spell memorized to make a +1 club and proceeded to beat the thing to death (since it was held, every attack hit..)

2,000 xp and feeling epic!

Anyone else have a particularly memorable victory due to dumb luck? (as an aside, my Charname for this playthrough rolled 97 total stats first try, with 18/98 STR... maybe she worships Tymora? :D )



Comments

  • SilverstarSilverstar Member Posts: 2,207
    Similarily to you, it involves Neera and a Vampiric Wolf. Outside that Lathander temple outside Beregost I ran into one of those things. Party consisted of me (Red Dragon Disciple), Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid and Neera. I think everyone but me was level 1, certainly noone had magic weapons at least. I figured I'd throw all my Magic Missiles and wand of the same at it hoping that would do the trick. A second after the first spell hit it was Neera's turn; though instead of casting Magic Missile she summoned an exploding cow falling from heaven onto the wolf. Much experience points and relief was had by the whole party.
  • Ziva75Ziva75 Member Posts: 25
    This is why neera is awesome....! Though to be fair, she might be tough to deal with on a no-reload playthrough! (which I'm too much of a wuss to do)
  • QucodiaQucodia Member Posts: 1
    My lucky day involved Neera too - surprise! But it was against a couple of enemies.

    Pretty much my whole party got feared or confused – can’t remember, so Neera was the only party member left I could control. She had very few offensive spells left, and no defensive spells. Suddenly two enemies would go after her in melee combat. And I thought I might as well fire my last spell and load for another try. Lucky for me she also fired some fire-spell-thingy and pretty much killed all the rest of the enemies. She almost died too, but she won!
  • Durlag_ThunderaxeDurlag_Thunderaxe Member Posts: 71
    97 first time? I guess u were rolling a dwarf. All dwarves should roll 95 minimum.

    Seriously though it is surprising easy to get amazing rolls with some classes like paladin. Due to how the class/race minimums are implemented.

    As for lucky... Apparently I was very lucky when I came across the party in the under city just before the final battle. I never knew two of them had arrows of detonation until I picked them up off their cold bodies. I think I webbed them or Sleep'd em', before they ever got a shot off.

    Moral of the story? Shoot first, ask questions later!
  • kamuizinkamuizin Member Posts: 3,704
    chromatic orb on Firkgaark, no lower resistance, no doom, no greater malision. Failed on save = dead. If that's not luck i don't know what is luck.

    WIth neera, on a past game, first spell cast resulted in the summon of a Nabassu that make question of ignore all my enemies to attack me. I was level 4 at that time in BG:EE, so no, thx but neera don't bring me luck.
  • MadhaxMadhax Member Posts: 1,416
    kamuizin said:

    chromatic orb on Firkgaark, no lower resistance, no doom, no greater malision. Failed on save = dead. If that's not luck i don't know what is luck.

    .

    Same here! Party scattered and dying, I randomly fired off an orb and got the insta-gib. I actually reloaded, the victory held no satisfaction for me.

    My first Aec'Letec victory came, after many reloads, from a summoned ghoul stunning him. It was hilarious. Reloaded that one, too.
  • Ziva75Ziva75 Member Posts: 25
    @Durlag_Thunderaxe

    I was rolling up a Cavalier indeed, so I suppose that might have not been so lucky after all (the 97 total points I mean).

    I would proooooobably reload the firkraag fight if I had won with a chrom. orb as well... that just feels wrong.
  • JonutsJonuts Member Posts: 9
    kamuizin said:

    chromatic orb on Firkgaark, no lower resistance, no doom, no greater malision. Failed on save = dead. If that's not luck i don't know what is luck.

    I, uh, read the story of "Elmonster" and decided to try it(solo mage run with only bag of holding cheated in). After many a reload, I started soloing dragons by lowering their resist, using greater malison, then spamming chromatic orbs via spell trigger. Ultimately, I found it cheesy, but soloing with an XP cap requires cheesy :)
  • Son_of_ImoenSon_of_Imoen Member Posts: 1,806
    I'm always having lots of trouble defeating Irenicus in hell. I've finished Shadows of Amn 3 times thus far, but only 1 time in a regular way. The second time when I tried again for the n-th time, Irenicus spawned inside the Globe of Blades of my summoned Deva, thus his spells got disrupted before he could cast any defenses and he was killed straight away by the damage - victory. Kind of anti-climatic.

    Another kind of anti-climax was the 3rd time I finished the game. After a prolonged battle, all Irenicus' summons were dead, he was stripped of all his defenses, couldn't get anymore spells off and he was surrounded by all of my party hacking away at Irenicus, who was near death. Yet he stayed near death and getting damaged for minute after minute without the cutscene triggering. I suffered this bug also on my 1st or 2nd playthrough, but this time I didn't feel like retrying the whole battle just to get the cutscene to trigger and I declared the game finished.
  • kaffekoppenkaffekoppen Member Posts: 377
    Definitely when I got a lucky wild surge and a cow dropped on an ogre mage I was fighting in BG1. I was almost dead, but the cow killed won the day for me.
  • SilverstarSilverstar Member Posts: 2,207
    I must say I find it quite puzzling that someone would reload due to regular game mechanics (killy deathy chromatic orb) killing someone when the intent was for it to remove health points in the first place. If the spell is supposed to be able to do that, why not let it? I prefer just not using certain spells in the first place if their effects potentially annoy me in some way.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    The first time doing the planar prison quest my party was wrecked after getting the Orb. I mean destroyed, out of healing all with little hps left. I go to destroy the orb and the thralls are freed on the other side of the map but are quickly wiped out by the warden. Before he wipes them all out though, one summoned a ettercap that lands a hit AND is able to poison the warden. By the time I get there he's succumbed to the poison (I might of took my time, letting the poison do it's work) and I mop up the rest of his lackeys. Got the XP, got the bards, and thought that was the easiest boss fight ever.

    Every time I do this quest, I always try to poison him, but to no avail.
  • KaltzorKaltzor Member Posts: 1,050
    edited January 2014
    Started a new game recently... Fighting the mage outside of the Friendly Arm inn with a Druid CHARNAME, Imoen, Xzar and Montaron... He gets off Horror, hits everyone BUT at the same exact moment, Xzar gets in a critical hit to finish him off so he cant start picking the party members off one by one while they run around.
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    edited January 2014
    A wold mage PC goes in a wild surge while casting sleep on the ogre in the Lion's Coastway, Summon Cow, dead ogre, PC takes 5 damage :P and stays at 1 Hit Point.
  • Ziva75Ziva75 Member Posts: 25
    Kaltzor said:

    Started a new game recently... Fighting the mage outside of the Friendly Arm inn with a Druid CHARNAME, Imoen, Xzar and Montaron... He gets off Horror, hits everyone BUT at the same exact moment, Xzar gets in a critical hit to finish him off so he cant start picking the party members off one by one while they run around.

    And that mage outside the FAI has haunted countless new players to BG. I'll always remember my very first encounter with that guy, years ago when I was like, 10. Horrors party... can't control any of my PCs 0_0. Then blasts Charname away with missiles.

    That's an amazing victory though; I always either slaughter that guy or get slaughtered; pretty neat close call!

  • BigfishBigfish Member Posts: 367
    Ziva75 said:

    Kaltzor said:

    Started a new game recently... Fighting the mage outside of the Friendly Arm inn with a Druid CHARNAME, Imoen, Xzar and Montaron... He gets off Horror, hits everyone BUT at the same exact moment, Xzar gets in a critical hit to finish him off so he cant start picking the party members off one by one while they run around.

    And that mage outside the FAI has haunted countless new players to BG. I'll always remember my very first encounter with that guy, years ago when I was like, 10. Horrors party... can't control any of my PCs 0_0. Then blasts Charname away with missiles.

    That's an amazing victory though; I always either slaughter that guy or get slaughtered; pretty neat close call!

    All the beginning casters are like that. Tarnash will generally wreck you if he gets horror off. Silke will fry you with a lightning bolt. Neira does hold person straight out of the gate.

  • ArchaosArchaos Member Posts: 1,421
    Twisted Rune, Shangalar.
    After the dialogue is done my team is just behind the arch. I immediately pause and select Valygar, I throw Azuredge at Shangalar, instant-death. I believe he didn't even have time for his contingencies to kick in.

    Throne of Bhaal with Ascension, pre-final battle at Mana Forge.
    Amelyssan summons Irenicus and Bodhi, after their taunts and dialogue are done again, I equip my Cavalier with Runehammer and charge Bodhi, first hit-instant death.
    Irenicus was destroyed shortly after with a Greater Whirlwind and my Carsomyr +6. xD

    With Bodhi I was like "I had enough of you, vampire bitch! *one-hit-kill*" Pretty satisfying.
  • Ziva75Ziva75 Member Posts: 25
    Archaos said:

    Irenicus was destroyed shortly after with a Greater Whirlwind and my Carsomyr +6. xD


    Carsomyr is seriously might be my favorite magic item in any RPG ever made. Not saying its the 'best' or 'most powerful' BG item; but I simply admire it for being true to what a Holy Avenger should be, and it does not disappoint!




  • bladefistbladefist Member Posts: 10
    Neera surged up a Nabassu which made short work of Davaeorn
  • Montresor_SPMontresor_SP Member Posts: 2,208
    I think it ran something like this:

    1) Party enters the grove in Suldanessellar.
    2) Buff up with Remove Fear, Haste, Prot. from Evil, etc. etc. etc.
    3) Approach Nizidramanii'yt and demand the cup. Nizi refuses, so...
    4) Battle begins.
    5) Minsc scores a vorpal hit with the Silver Sword in one of his first swings.

    Nizi never even got off a wing buffet or a spell. Felt kinda anti-climatic. Still, I laughed my ass off!
  • AntagonistAntagonist Member Posts: 139
    edited January 2014
    Yep, seriously Vorpal Sword can ruin an epic victory so easily :(

    I already mentioned my dumb luck victory in the other topic, my wild mage was sent alone to Cromwell's leaving the party at the dock's exit. No prot spells cast(only improved chaos shield), almost no spells available because I didn't rest, and a wild party of law enforcer Sirs appears. Nahal's Dweomer -> Horrid Wilting -> WildSurge: Spell cast twice (it's super effective!), my jaw dropped all the way to the floor. The whole battle lasted... 5 seconds?
  • WolkWolk Member Posts: 279
    Drizzt fight in BGEE:
    1-with my archer: party level 4 and lower, I quicksave and attack drizzt just fun. I was expecting to die, no buff, no cheese, he dies in 6 rounds from our hail of arrows.
    2- with my evil fighter mage, also low level, quicksave then attack drizzt, same reasons. He kills Dorn and Kagain fast, takes damage while doing so, Charname is near death with no more miror image, Edwin is uselessly slinging him with Viconia. I score a hit with an arrow +2, the drow is near death, he misses Charname. Viconia scores a critical hit (no critical dammage but still got the hit). Drizzt takes one damage and falls.
    3- with my current F-T, trapped the area, about level 5, he dies the first round because all traps rolled high damage.

    Shandalar with my F-T: garrick shot him with a wand of paralysation he fails his save, we butchered him.

    I'm lucky with the optionnal(evil) fights, i usually buff for the bigger ones and win without relying on luck.
  • PawnSlayerPawnSlayer Member Posts: 295
    Just had a fantastic one in BG: EE. Werewolf Island, the ship, big battle against Karoug and his kin. I've taken out the first three floors, so all that's left is Karoug's floor. I'm an Archer using Minsc, Imoen, Dynaheir, Ajantis, Neera. I have two weapons between the party that can hurt Karoug - Dynaher's Melf's Minute Meteors and the Silver Dagger.

    I knew I only had one realistic chance of doing anything to Karoug - Wand of Paralysation, hoping it would hit through the magic resistance and his saves against wands and then hoping it would last long enough for me to wipe out the rest of the group.

    First thing I did was go and upstairs for the conversation, then ran back down to see if I could draw some of them down. One wolfwere followed me and I killed it. I did the same again, and everyone followed me.

    So, wand of paralysation - hits first time! Archer goes for the mage to make her turn to a wolf, and then joins the rest of the party in wiping out his peers. Paralysation was still active, so I ran the party upstairs to safety and was able to save again. I retried the Sword of Balduran, now unguarded.

    Now I have three party members able to use weapons against Karoug, who was now alone and unable to move. I opted against the MMM though in favour of just using Magic Missiles along with the dagger and sword. Karoug regained movement but only in time for his morale check to fail, causing him to run around hopelessly as more magic missles slammed into him, killing him.

    I could have tried that 20 times and not got that outcome with the wand!
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