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"We're All Doomed". Blackraven's No-Reload SCS runs, latest CHARNAME: Streg, Half-Orc Cleric/Thief

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  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    edited October 2014
    @bengoshi, that's an interesting point you make, about using all weaponry that could be useful without worrying too much about proficiencies. I have two pips in Darts, Hammers, and Axes. Maybe I'll pick up the Dagger of Venom. I can also see myself not going for grandmastery in any weapon or at least not any time soon, and rather spread proficiencies around a bit, in spite of the APR benefits of grandmastery.

    BTW Your focus on your Totemic Druid is admirable and inspiring. I will need it for my Wizard Slayer.

    ***
    Meanwhile a brief update on Hardeth's progress. I finished yesterday's installment by stating that Hardeth was likely to explore the Southern regions and the Coastal Regions a bit more, and that's exactly what she did. South of the Nashkel Mines she gratefully accepted a green scroll of Protection from Magic from Hafiz. She did some sightseeing (and some butchering) in the Cloudpeaks areas: Sendai and her lackeys, Albert & Rufie, Dryad of the Cloudpeaks. Vax and Zal were shunned because she feared that one of them worked with Darts of Stunning, just like her. Bringing Pixie the Cat to its owner wasn't rewarded with items or XP, due to Hardeth's low CHA. She was however compensated for her good deeds; twice she ran into a Winter Wolf inbetween areas. Another interarea confrontation gave her a good scare. A pre-buffed Ogre Mage who cast a Charm Person on her before she could leave the area. Thankfully the hardy Dwarf saved vs spell.


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    Nevertheless this was a moment where there was nothing she could have done. It shows how vulnerable the Wizard Slayer really is, and it makes me shiver at the thought of guiding her through the Cloakwood without haste, inivisibility or free action at her disposal.

    In the Gnoll Stronghold area Half-Ogres were slain and the Tome of Leadership was secured (not that it makes any difference, 6 or 7 CHA), on the South Coast Hardeth helped Charleston Nib, and in the Lighthouse Area she killed a variety of Worgs which allowed her to reach level 7, i.e. 2 APR with her trusty Ashideena, and 4 APR with her darts.

    The time had arrived to investigate the Nashkel Mines, obviously the easiest of the plot quests that were waiting for her, but still one that could easily end her run... On the first two levels, she had little difficulty dealing with small groups of Kobolds without incurring any serious injuries. She makes sure to travel with an ample supply of potions, so that even if she had been hurt by the critters, she would have been able to heal herself with no problem.


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    On the third level she proceeded carefully over the bridge, making sure she would never be overcome by the Kobolds, and on the path that led to the final level she did the same, pulling the Kobolds toward her in small groups. SCS' better calls for help made the Kobold Chieftain and the Shaman come after her anyway. She had already slain most Kobolds (including the Chieftain after stunning him first with a dart), when the Shaman cast Horror on her. As with the Ogre Mage, she saved vs spell. (A failed save wouldn't have been as grave here because Horror doesn't end the game, because Hardeth has lots of HP, and because there weren't many enemies left.)


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    After having cleared the surroundings, Hardeth entered Mulahey's lair. She was immediately attacked by about six Kobolds, but Mulahey himself didn't show up yet. The Kobolds fell soon enough, and Hardeth undertook a first attempt at stunning the Half-Orc.
    Unfortunately she failed, so she decided to rush past Kobolds and Skeletons that had appeared out of nowhere to aid the priest, leaving the lair before she would fell victim to a Hold Person. When she peeked inside again, she saw the summons opposite her, attacking with ranged weapons. She didn't dare rush the Kobolds and Skeletons, fearing that that would certainly be noticed by Mulahey. Instead she took the critters down with her mundane darts (a bit tedious with the Skellies with their high piercing resistance).


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    When the coast was clear, she attacked Mulahey a second time. This time with success. Her dart stunned him, after which he was easily dealt with in melee.


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    Content with her accomplishment, she traveled to Nashkel where she was thanked by Berrun Ghastkill and where she sold some loot at the local store. An assassin that was waiting for her in fornt of the Inn was carefully avoided for the time being (even though she really wants his boots in order to be more difficult to hit at the bandit camp).
    At Feldepost's Inn in Beregost she made Tranzig waste some of his spells as she descended and ascended the stairs before killing him off (after Tarnesh only her second mage, not counting Mutamin who had been held first by Korax).


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    Hardeth still has two green scrolls of Protection from Magic (and will probably buy more scrolls, such as PfPoison, PfLightning, to deal with spiders, lighting traps etc). She could use one on Nimbul, though ideally the Assassin is dealt with help of the Amnish soldiers. There's also the CON tome in the treasure cave, for which the Sirines have to be dealt with, but I'm hesitant to use a PfMagic scroll on a not plot-relevant mission. Maybe I should use on in the Bandit Tent, just in case I fail to deal with Venkt fast enough, and save the other for the Cloakwood Mines.
    Anyhow, food for thought. I might have Hardeth farm some more XP in the meantime to get her (closer) to level 8 if only for the extra HP and the Thac0 bonus. WIth no Girdle of Piercing and possibly no Boots of Avoidance, the Bandit Tent could mean trouble.
    Post edited by Blackraven on
    Ravenslightlolienrufus_hobartJuliusBorisov
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    edited October 2014
    Hardeth has made some decent progress, so I'm giving you another update.

    Having decided that she wasn't prepared to forgo the Boots of Avoidance, Hardeth returned to Nashkel to confront Nimbul who was still loitering in front of the inn. She waited till the Amnish Guards had arrived and then approached the assassin. Her strategy was to try to stun her opponent with her darts, and to use the 'door trick' (entering and leaving a place, in this case the store, to escape a spell from connecting).
    This didn't work out. First of all, she failed to stun her foe, and secondly, the door trick didn't work on Nimbul. When she entered the Nashkel store, the assassin followed her inside. He started casting Confusion there and somehow finished casting outside, when Hardeth had fled there. Luckily (and imo deservedly) she saved vs. spell. This is something to remember though: do not rely on the door trick in SCS BGEE.


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    He then hurt her with a Magic Missile, but soon she had hit him enough with her darts and hammer to penalize his spellcasting. The two engaged in melee combat, and it quickly turned out that Hardeth, aided by the Amnsih soldiers, was the stronger fighter. When he fled from her in fear, she finished him off with a dart.


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    As it would be rather tedious to farm almost 50k XP to make it to level 8 before taking on the bandits, Hardeth traveled straight to the Wood of Sharp Teeth. She cleared the Larswood of its bandit presence, but she left the feuding Druids alone. She was waylaid by Molkar & Co but managed to leave the area just in time before Drakar's Hold Person could reach her.
    In the Peldvale area she killed a few more bandits and then infiltrated the bandit organization via Raiken. At the Bandit camp Hardeth avoided a fight with Tazok, filled her coffers, and cast Protection from Electricity on herself (a green scroll she had picked up at Thalantyr's). Then she entered Tazok's tent. Her first target was Venkt. She attacked him with Darts of Wounding, of which she had only five, rather than with her many Darts of Stunning. The reason for this is that DoW require a save vs death and DoS a save vs. spell to prevent the wounding/stunning effect, and Mages' saves vs death aren't as good as their saves vs spell. Of her three darts at least one inflicted poison, and two or three must have hit the Mage, for he failed to cast another spell and resorted to attacking Hardeth with Darts. She finished him off with her Hammer, just to be sure he wouldn't trick her later.


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    Her next step was to speak with Ender Sai, making him leave, and quickly put on her Boots of Grounding. She had the bandits come close to her and then, 100% electricity resistant, she opened Tazok's chest. The lightning bolt trap (severely) injured a number of the bandits, making the remainder of the fight relatively easy after she put on her Boots of Avoidance again. Britik the Gnoll was the most dangerous of her foes, not very tough but hard-hitting, so he was her first victim. The others fell soon after.


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    She fully healed herself with potions, and then left the tent. Taugosz Khosann wasn't happy to see her, nor was the rest of the camp. She landed a couple of hits on the Black Talon leader, but soon noticed herself overwhelmed by the bandits.


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    She ran off toward the northwest corner of the map, allowing herself a quick escape if necessary, and managed to seduce Taugosz into a continuation of their duel there. (Most of the other bandits were archers until their ammo ran out, so they didn't walk in her way initially.) A tiring battle and various potions of extra healing later, Taugosz lie dead upon the ground. Hardeth swiftly looted his corpse and left for the FAI.


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    She's now tentatively exploring the Cloakwood, clad in Taugosz' full plate mail and well-equipped for a Wizard Slayer, with a nice stock of antidotes and healing potions (though only one potion of extra healing remains, two scrolls of Protection from Magic and one of Protection from Poison. The Ankheg armor and some miscellaneous loot from the Bandit Camp she sold at the FAI.

    Here are her character record and inventory screen:


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    Surviving the Cloakwood with its SCS improved spiders is a terribly challenging mission. The most important decision for Hardeth to make is whether or not to go after the Spiders' Bane. Its Free Action effect could be a live saver in ambushes, but obtaining it is likely to be very difficult.
    Post edited by Blackraven on
    rufus_hobartJuliusBorisovlolienRavenslight
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    edited October 2014
    Dear @bengoshi, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights with me. That's just great of you :D
    I'm now even more curious about your next installment. Yahiko seems to fare pretty well!

    As to using the Helm to have the simulacrum use consumable items without actually exhausting them, there are people who consider this unacceptable cheese. See for instance the comments by @Tisamon, @SionIV, @blackmamuth, and @fighter_mage_thief: here (first post, just below the Weidu log), here, here, and here respectively. I must admit though that these are just a few opinions. I'm not sure if there's any sort of consensus amongst no-reloaders here on here on the forums. Maybe I'll make a new topic/poll about it.
    I've seen the issue mentioned on other forums as well btw.

    Personally I'm not sure whether to consider it cheese, as I once commented here.

    Having said all this, I wonder if it will work with the green scroll of Protection from Magic anyway. In my current game it seems to be impossible to cast PfMagic on someone else. Hardeth directly casts the protection on herself. If this is also the case in my BG2EE install then I won't be able to have the simulacrum cast on Hardeth anyway.

    If Hardeth makes it into Amn and she can use the scroll on herself with the helmet's simulacrum, I might accept if for a few situations where no other way of protecting exists.
    I'm not sure if I'm forgetting anything, but the following effects are all more or less synonymous to death: Charm, Sleep, Hold, Feeblemind, Stun, Confusion, Panic, Maze and Imprisonment. I think a Wizard Slayer and a Totemic Druid such as your Yahiko can obtain protection against many of these effects through items, though not all. (I think btw Yahiko also gets Chaotic Commands, I seem to remember my Shapshifter got that spell.) Where no protection is obtained only PfMagic scrolls or perhaps Slayer change would work.

    For a Wizard Slayer the Shield of Harmony seems to be indispensable. A glance at it in NearInfinity seems to tell me that the shield protects against Charm, Hold, and Confusion effects, and possibly against Stun as well.
    @elminster, you're quite adept at working with NearInifinity, could you confirm to me whether the following value Type: Immunity to effect (101), Target: Self (1), Power: 0, Unused, Effect: Paralyze (109) means that the Shield protects against Stun as well?


    Type: Immunity to effect (101)
    Target: Self (1)
    Power: 0
    Unused: 0
    Effect: Paralyze (109)
    Timing mode: Instant/While equipped (2)
    Dispel/Resistance: No dispel/bypass resistance (0)
    Duration: 0
    Probability 1: 100
    Probability 2: 0
    Unused: 00 45 78 70 69 72 61 74 h
    # dice thrown/maximum level: 0
    Dice size/minimum level: 0
    Save type: ( No save )
    Save bonus: 0
    Special: 0


    Ah, and @elminster, while you're at it could you see if I missed any other effects the Shield protects against? The item description mentions only immunity to "charm, confusion, domination, and hold", but that might not be a complete list. I would be very thankful, and your findings could call for a correction of the item description, and thus help others as well.
    JuliusBorisovlolienRavenslight
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    edited October 2014
    Yea I'm not really sure what protection from paralyze does. On a practical level I mean.
    lolien
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    elminster said:

    Yea I'm not really sure what protection from paralyze does. On a practical level I mean.

    Hmm, interesting, something I'll have to test then, I think. Thanks.
    lolien
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    I've checked - it works. You can choose a target you want to cast the Protection from Magic at. Also, according to this post, http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/218622/#Comment_218622 if you can't cast it on another character than the caster, it is a bug.

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    Blackravenlolien
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    Hey @bengoshi, thanks so much for this! It's good to know, yet a bit worrying, that until ToB there will be no Free Action / protection against Stun for Hardeth. It makes the use of the PfMagic scroll through Vhailor's Helm all the more tempting...
    JuliusBorisovGoturallolien
  • EA1EA1 Member Posts: 31
    im eagerly awaiting your next adventure Blackraven!
    lolienJuliusBorisovBlackravenRavenslight
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    edited October 2014
    EA1 said:

    im eagerly awaiting your next adventure Blackraven!

    More will definitely be coming. I've had a few setbacks, but no matter, they will only prove a slight delay ;)
    I'll have more this weekend I think. Glad you're interested in this playthrough, and thanks for letting me know!
    JuliusBorisovlolienArdulRavenslight
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    The wizard slayer is dead. Long live the wizard slayer!

    BG2 mages are very dangerous. This was probably one of the very first mages in the second game for Hardeth and she already didn't survive. Just shows that this run is one of the most difficult. The starting dungeon in BG2 with SCS is very tricky. Without all the gear a character is usually much weaker than when he faced Sarevok. Too few healing potions, no lovely darts, no good armour and weapons... RIP Hardeth!
    BlackravenlolienGotural
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    @Nimran, true those Duergar aren't too well-informed :)
    @bengoshi, what you say is true. It's superdifficult without mind and movement protections. Nevertheless going after that mage to get the Girdle of Bluntness she wasn't even going to use, was a bit stupid. Thankfully Kilbin is a bit more careful... I'm already worried that in Athkatla, two or three area transitions will already trigger the ambushes, before he has any protective gear.
    JuliusBorisovlolienGoturalNimran
  • EA1EA1 Member Posts: 31
    Hey Blackraven. Thanks for posting so soon, I reload this page every other day now :).
    Was sad to hear about Hardeth. Very happy about Kilbin and hope he'll be careful enough to survive the shadows of Amn... Please don't play tired or angry, he's got to be a true survivor! This really is the ultimate challenge for a veteran BG player. Btw it wouldnt be crazy to recruit the odd npc once and a while before letting them go again, right? It would make the run more fun and more bearable for the lone dwarf (not to mention for you), even if he is not much of a people person. Think about the fun times Kilbin and Korgan could have before their evilness would get Korgan killed or thrown out, haha. Or how about having the lovely Mazzy, or the daring Yoshimo with you even just for a while? :)
    Looking forward!
    Erik
    JuliusBorisovlolienBlackravenRavenslight
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited October 2014
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
    BlackravenlolienRavenslight
  • EA1EA1 Member Posts: 31
    Great read, great progress! I'm happy you've got lilarcor now against charm and confusion. Don't forget to equip it when nescessary. I wonder how you got past the flesh to stone trap in the sewers?
    I've played a lot of SCS BG2, so here's some tips/warnings if you want them:

    -Planar prison has boots of haste but is incredibly hard with SCS without cheese. I needed a whole party and barely made it out alive (with only 2 party members alive) without resting - for roleplay purposes: resting 8 hours there is just silly. Reason is the cambion demon who is actually a HLA using fighter/mage beast in SCS.
    -Be afraid of Torgal SCS, he's OP. Best is to avoid him and just forge FOA, say 'sorry Nalia' and go.
    -Same for Faldorn, OP as well. Don't risk Kilbin in that fight, risk Cernd/Jaheira and make them cast insect swarm.
    -Same for the shade lord... But I'm sure there's an easy tactic to beat him somewhere, look it up before you attempt to take him on.
    -Be afraid of post-underdark Bodhi fight, SCS Bodhi is hard.

    If you consider the temporary recruit NPC's plan:
    >Korgan for his quest and any evil quests
    >Yoshimo for any thief related quests
    >Keldorn/Anomen for Unseeing Eye/ Windspear hills
    >Nalia for her quest
    >Aerie for Haer Dalis quest
    >Valygar for his quest
    >Mazzy for shade lord quest
    >Edwin for any mage-related quest
    >Viconia for the underdark
    >Cernd and Jaheira for the druid quest
    >Imoen for the maze and Bodhi quest
    >Minsc for any fight against vampires for his preferred enemy: vampires and specialization in the disruptor mace
    >BGEE new npc's for their quests: they are fun and relatively easy

    And I'd probably go for a small party of four for the endgame but that depends on your goal of actually doing a full solo.

    Last point... I know you want a solo WS run, but in my personal opinion, SCS no reload SOLO is just absolutely bonkers. Ultimate challenge indeed. You could consider dualling to thief to make things a bit less frustrating and more fun (UAI is just so much fun and interesting). Just a suggestion.

    Good luck! I'll keep watching you with great interest, you crazy, lovely man!
    BlackravenCrevsDaakJuliusBorisovRavenslight
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