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The Party of Spiders: No-reload SCS2 run

I have started a new no-reload run of BG2 with SCS2 installed. I want to see if it's possible to play a melee-oriented party that does not have any fighters in it. So, I will be playing with only spellcasting characters, but I will be trying to use as few spells as possible, and focus instead on melee and ranged combat.

So, no Keldorn, Mazzy, Valygar, Minsc, Jaheira, or Korgan. No Sarevok, either, if I make it to TOB.

The Bhaalspawn in question is Sil, a Human Cleric of Lathander:
17 STR
8 DEX
16 CON
18 INT
18 WIS
10 CHA
She duals at level 11 for the extra casting of Boon of Lathander, which grants +1 to APR, THAC0, damage, and saving throws, stackable (I'll have two castings in total, for 3 base APR). She'll need about 1.5 million XP to get her levels back. That's 3 times as much XP as a Kensai(9)/Mage, so she'll be in pretty bad shape after she hits level 11.

I completed a handful of quests so far. I delayed posting this for fear that I would get killed in Chateau Irenicus.

I have tried a no-reload run of SCS2 once before. Lavok killed me with a Fallen Planetar and Dragon's Breath. Let's hope things go better this time.
elminsterCrevsDaakBlackravenVasculiololienJuliusBorisov
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Comments

  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    edited January 2015
    To which class will you Dual-class to? I've dual-classed a Priestess of Lathander L11->Mage and it was a cake walk (specially with Improved Haste, Boon of Lathander and FoA+3). BG:EE was a bit harder but also easy (the Stupifier+1 is the boss).

    Edit: oh, 1,5M to level 12, then you're dual-classing to Mage, my bad I had missed that, lol.
    BlackravenlolienJuliusBorisov
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    edited January 2015
    Ahh..640x480 original bg2..now that brings back memories!

    With scs Nalia's keep is a formidable challenge. Keep cloudkill spells ready for the final boss, throw 2 at least from a safe distance to slay trolls and disrupt those deceivingly powerful yuanti magi. And against Torgal, well...none in your party can stand toe to toe with him so, good luck!
    BlackravenlolienJuliusBorisovCrevsDaak
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I forgot to mention Torgal... I think I kept Torgal at bay with some Skeletons, while I cleared up his buddies with Holy Smite and Fireball. As always, Jan was using Firetooth. I recall fighting Yuan-ti in this battle before, but they did not show up; only trolls. That may be why this battle was relatively simple.

    I did use Cloudkill on the Umber Hulks. I never liked fighting them.
    lunarlolienJuliusBorisovCrevsDaak
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Wow, congratulations so far. A single death spell insta kills all trolls and spectral-spirit trolls in the vicinity, making the keep and druid grove super easy. You need a lvl 12 mage for that, though. Also you could have buffed Cernd with improved invisibility before the battle, in my version at least, buffs don't get dispelled.
    lolienJuliusBorisovCrevsDaak
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Those vampires are scary! They have perma killed Jaheira in a previous no reload of mine, partly because of my own error. I foolishly casted an emotion spell (vampires are immune, duh!) and Jaheira was charmed the instant before the spell hit, and got affected. She lay down and all the ravenous vampires were on top of her, vaporising her body in a blink. It scarred me so much I couldn't continue the no reload game much longer

    Why did the Belm dissappear, I don't understand.
    BlackravenlolienJuliusBorisovCrevsDaak
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Belm disappeared because I left it on the ground. Items left on the ground vanish after enough hours or days have passed, and I rested too many times before retrieving it. Only quest items will remain indefinitely.
    lolienJuliusBorisov
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460

    Belm disappeared because I left it on the ground. Items left on the ground vanish after enough hours or days have passed, and I rested too many times before retrieving it. Only quest items will remain indefinitely.

    Ooh yes, ofcourse. Shame about that, really. Oh well, easy come, easy go.

    lolienJuliusBorisovCrevsDaak
  • lolienlolien Member, Moderator, Translator (NDA) Posts: 3,108
    Very edfying and exciting run, and you made a good progress in short time. I like that you explain your tactics in a detailed, and still entertaining way. Thanks for sharing, keep up the good work!


    And i leave a mark for @bengoshi‌, to make him easy to find this, when he come back from hiatus. I think, that he will enjoy this too.
    kcwiseFinneousPJJuliusBorisov
  • WowoWowo Member Posts: 2,064
    Reading this is almost better than playing the game, great write up!
    lolienkcwiseJuliusBorisovjtth
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    edited January 2015
    Done with the Planar Sphere.

    I was worried about the Tanar'ri. I wanted to make sure I didn't fight it at the same time as the surrounding mephits (though his opening dialogue spawns a few of his own), so I had to clear out the mephits nearby. This ran the risk of accidentally putting myself in his view, which would trigger the fight. I assumed he saw through invisibility, so instead of trying to sneak past him, I just used Farsight to make sure I knew where he was.
    image

    He's got some pretty spooky coloration on him.

    I'm a big fan of Farsight, though its uses are a tad situational. For some reason, though, I've never liked Wizard Eye, which has much the same purpose.

    Since Jan has Mislead and I had never had him backstab anything, I decided to try it out on the demon. Jan could do a lot of damage that way in spider form. With 4 APR and Celestial Fury, he would do 200 damage per round at 7 THAC0 (being invisible grants a THAC0 bonus). He didn't have Improved Haste, though, hence the 4 base APR instead of 8: the demon's Death Gaze paralyzes on a failed save vs. death, and since Jan has no cleric levels, his save vs. death is worse than Aerie's, Sil's, or Cernd's. So, I used Free Action only on Jan and Nalia, so the others could be hasted.

    However, Jan's poor movement meant he took his time getting behind the demon. Plus, the demon saw through Jan's invisibility and turned around whenever Jan tried to attack, preventing him from backstabbing.
    image

    Apparently the demon knew Jan was trying to backstab him, so he turned around to prevent the backstab. By the time the demon was looking away and Jan was in position to backstab, the demon was already nearly dead. Jan didn't get a chance to backstab the Tanar'ri.

    So, I had Jan backstab a Quasit on the way out.
    image

    Casters have really excellent physical damage potential.

    Tolgerias was a nice, light battle, with no crazy antics or big risks. Sil broke through Tolgerias' Improved Mantle with the Sling of Everard, Jan dispelled Tolgerias' illusion magic, and Cernd chased Tolgerias' friend over to the east. As with the male mage in Watcher's Keep and Lavok, Tolgerias had a Chain Contingency with Horrid Wilting that fired on the first round, but Cernd resisted it. A Mordenkainen's Sword managed to kill my Flesh Golem in two hits, so I lost my best flasher target, but Jan was still able to stun Tolgerias by targeting the Mordenkainen's Sword, and Sil finished Tolgerias off with the Sling of Everard.
    image

    I broke through some of Tolgerias' spell protections, as well as those of his friend, but it didn't really matter. By stunning him, the battle lasted long enough for his weapon immunities to run out, so his spell protections, or the lack thereof, were irrelevant.

    I had to deal with an Efreeti in the fire room and was not happy. The Efreeti turned to mist form three times and healed himself while invincible, dragging out the battle and forcing me to wait. It was a relief when he finally went down. I'm not sure what you have to do to keep him from turning to mist and regenerating, other than just dealing lots of damage very quickly.
    image

    On the plus side, the Efreeti gave us enough XP to bump up Cernd to level 14, giving us an extra 4th, 5th, and 7th level druid spell. I memorized Call Woodland Beings, Mass Cure, and Earthquake. The Earthquake, I feel, is a better choice over Nature's Beauty due to its wide area effect. Both can be resisted, but Earthquake cannot be escaped just by walking away from the caster. It would work especially well against casters, since it can bypass normal SCS2 spell protections and has a spell level of 7, enough to bypass lich spell level immunities as well as SCS2's ubiquitous (Minor) Globes of Invulnerability. And if Jan dispels enemy casters' Mirror Image spells, it should do a fair amount of damage as well, since the damage bypasses magic resistance (though the unconsciousness effect does not). Plus, Earthquake is party safe.

    Finally I went to Gaelan Bayle to grab the key to Aran's Lair.
    image

    For all his indignation, he's not that big of a threat. But then, his job is a talker rather than a brawler.
    Post edited by semiticgoddess on
    lolienkcwiseJuliusBorisovMeyahi
  • CahirCahir Member, Moderator, Translator (NDA) Posts: 2,819
    I rarely have a time to read SCS no reload runs, but this one is magnificent. I read it wit such pleasure that I'm deeply surprised by the fact :smile: One thing though, is it possible @semiticgod to put the pictures in spoiler tags? I often read this thread on phone, but the sheer amount of pictures causing my browser to crash :smiley: Besides downloading all pictures taking awfully long. Much obliged:)
    FinneousPJlolienkcwiseJuliusBorisov
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Testing a spoiler. Should show a crate.

    image
    FinneousPJlolienkcwiseJuliusBorisov
  • CahirCahir Member, Moderator, Translator (NDA) Posts: 2,819
    It's working for me and way better to read:) And maybe my phone will handle the thread now. But to make that happen you should put all previous images in spoiler tags. Doubt if you would like to do it, though, to much work I guess:p
    lolienkcwiseJuliusBorisov
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