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I'm Not a Murderer: A minimal-kill solo playthrough

joluvjoluv Member Posts: 2,137
edited December 2014 in Challenges and Playthroughs
Hi all,

"Pacifist" runs have been discussed a few other places, but I haven't seen this concept pushed to its limit through the whole saga, so I'm in the middle of a playthrough where I try to have my solo PC, Esperanza, kill the absolute minimum possible number of creatures. That can be a fuzzy concept, so here are the rules I've been using:

Kills count if they are done by:
- Esperanza (obviously)
- Her summons
- Creatures she charmed/confused/etc.
- Traps she set

...but not if they're done by creatures she doesn't control, as long as:
- She didn't directly summon them (no Gate, for example)
- She doesn't participate in the battle

Also, I didn't count it as a kill if she got one of her own summons killed by sending it into a fight. I might have done this differently if it had occurred to me earlier.

For the record, I didn't worry one whit about metagaming or reloading. Real talk, there were a lot of reloads.

I just started ToB, but I'll start posting brief summaries of how it's gone so far. I'd be happy to give more details and really interested to hear if anyone has ideas on how to get fewer kills.

Esperanza is a Gnome Illusionist Thief, initial stats 18,18,16,18,4,14. Core rules.
Post edited by joluv on
JLeemeaglothBlackravenkcwiseJuliusBorisovlolienMivsan

Comments

  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    This is pretty cool. Wouldn't mind a few screenshots but that's hardly a complaint. Well done.
    joluvkcwiseJuliusBorisovlolien
  • joluvjoluv Member Posts: 2,137
    Good suggestion, meagloth! Here's the character information screen (which I had forgotten existed) from right after killing Wraith Sarevok. If I'm counting right, this implies that "several kobolds" meant six. (I don't think it counts Irenicus on the Tree of Life as a kill, since Bodhi is listed as "most powerful vanquished.")

    I can't tell if this is going to work...
    kcwiseJuliusBorisovlolien
  • kcwisekcwise Member Posts: 2,287
    It's always nice to read about unconventional playthroughs. Thanks!
    JuliusBorisovjoluvlolien
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    Always have wanted to try something similar. Thumbs up! This is very insightful! Maybe this is really the first time I've seen somebody finished not only BG1 but also SoA with as little violence as possible.

    Good luck in ToB!
    kcwiseJLeejoluvlolien
  • joluvjoluv Member Posts: 2,137
    Look, it's Raelis Shai and her acting troupe in Diaytha's room. Huh?!

    image
    kcwiseJuliusBorisovlolienMivsan
  • MivsanMivsan Member Posts: 139
    I really enjoyed reading about this playthrough. Well done.

    There's still Amelyssan, though, and I see you've been slacking with that... :+P

    I don't think defeating her should be too hard, especially if you're not against resorting to some ultimate cheddar tactics and possible a reload or two. You can have unlimited Spike Traps through casting Wish from a scroll on your Simulacrum (using Vhailor's helm). She won't even know what hit her. The reload part is for Wish to actually have the "rest" dialogue option.

    The only slight problem would be phase 1, but it shouldn't require more than summoning a Mordenkainen's Sword to offtank her summons while you, together with your Simulacrum, gang up on Amelyssan using the Big Metal Unit with Imp. Haste. Or using whatever other resources you have.

    As for:
    joluv said:

    (I don't think it counts Irenicus on the Tree of Life as a kill, since Bodhi is listed as "most powerful vanquished.")

    The game only counts kills that directly give experience. Therefore enemies like Irenicus or Demogorgon don't actually count (and won't show up in anyone's "most powerful vanquished" category, by the way, as that is determined based on exp per kill - Bodhi is #1 in the whole game with 91k).
    joluvkcwiseJuliusBorisov
  • joluvjoluv Member Posts: 2,137
    Thanks! Yeah, I've been slacking with that. Since the entire point of the run was not killing stuff, I just can't get that excited about finishing it off by cheesily killing a bunch of stuff. I'll get around to it eventually.

    I'm going to take this opportunity to plug my similar playthough of IWD, in case you missed it:

    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/40042/pacifist-on-ice-a-solo-min-kill-playthrough-of-iwd
    kcwiseJuliusBorisov
  • MivsanMivsan Member Posts: 139
    Yeah, I understand. The final fight is going to be pretty much the same as any other playthrough. And all of the interesting (strategy-wise) challenges of a pacifist run have already been accomplished. So yeah, this run is essentially finished, even without that last kill.

    As for your IWD run - I've seen it and enjoyed reading through it as much as this one. Your opening post of that thread was actually how I found out about this one and pretty much chain-read through both of them.

    Nice job with not conforming to all the combat expectations everyone has in those games! :+)
    joluvkcwiseJuliusBorisov
  • woowoovoodoowoowoovoodoo Member Posts: 150
    edited March 2015
    My worry is that thy lineage is harder to escape than most. Thou hast bad blood in thee, though Gorion did what he could to teach thee well and true. Thou hast hungry blood within thee as well, and it will not let thee go without a fight.
    (So sayeth the wise Elminster).
    kcwiseJuliusBorisovjoluv
  • monicomonico Member Posts: 571
    edited October 2019
    joluv wrote: »
    Hi all,

    "Pacifist" runs have been discussed a few other places, but I haven't seen this concept pushed to its limit through the whole saga, so I'm in the middle of a playthrough where I try to have my solo PC, Esperanza, kill the absolute minimum possible number of creatures. That can be a fuzzy concept, so here are the rules I've been using:

    Kills count if they are done by:
    - Esperanza (obviously)
    - Her summons
    - Creatures she charmed/confused/etc.
    - Traps she set

    ...but not if they're done by creatures she doesn't control, as long as:
    - She didn't directly summon them (no Gate, for example)
    - She doesn't participate in the battle

    Also, I didn't count it as a kill if she got one of her own summons killed by sending it into a fight. I might have done this differently if it had occurred to me earlier.

    For the record, I didn't worry one whit about metagaming or reloading. Real talk, there were a lot of reloads.

    I just started ToB, but I'll start posting brief summaries of how it's gone so far. I'd be happy to give more details and really interested to hear if anyone has ideas on how to get fewer kills.

    Esperanza is a Gnome Illusionist Thief, initial stats 18,18,16,18,4,14. Core rules.

    I know this is an old thread, but I just stumbled upon it while writing my own tale of a pacifist run (https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/76969/minimal-rest-and-kills-run-an-almost-pacifist-tale-solo/p1?new=1)

    Funny enough, I did not even realise that my character, a gnomish illusionist/thief named Jolluv (a name I used since BG1 first came out for my shorty thieves, even before the bonus merchant appeared in BG2) was an unintentional tribute to your run ! ^^
    JuliusBorisovjoluvArvia
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