I am wondering if there is any consensus as to what Hobgoblins look like in Baldur's Gate. The cut scene upon entering the bandit camp makes them very similar to half-orcs unlike many other images on the web. Is this correct for a hobgoblin or is it supposed to be Tazok who was a half-orc?
I tried to find an answer @Wise_Grimwald but apparently specific descriptions aren't really clear. They (hobgoblins) are based on goblins, and goblins are traditionally green. Some sources cite baldur's gate itself as a reference Goblins in Everquest are also green normally (many creatures in EQ similar to their D&D cousins).
"'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Seems that he anticipated your question and argued that hobgoblins come in all shapes and forms...
Emerson was also obviously a Child of Bhaal.
Combined with the previous realization that William Faulkner was Bhaalspawn ("Murder your darlings!"), it is clear that there is a literary conspiracy that span centuries!
(An Adventurer's Mart discount to those who find the next link in the conspiracy.)
An Adventurer's Mart discount to those who find the next link in the conspiracy.
Well if we want quotes about goblins why look past Terry Pratchett ... “Looking out the window, Moist saw a small swarm of goblins leave the train and at first he thought, ha! Trust the buggers to run away, and then he mentally corrected himself: that was storybook thinking and with clearer eyesight and a bit of understanding he realized that the goblins were scrambling up to the delvers on the rocks and beating the shit out of them by diving into the multiple layers of dwarf clothing. The delvers discovered all too rapidly that trying to fight while a busy goblin was in your underwear was very bad for the concentration.”
An Adventurer's Mart discount to those who find the next link in the conspiracy.
Well if we want quotes about goblins why look past Terry Pratchett ... “Looking out the window, Moist saw a small swarm of goblins leave the train and at first he thought, ha! Trust the buggers to run away, and then he mentally corrected himself: that was storybook thinking and with clearer eyesight and a bit of understanding he realized that the goblins were scrambling up to the delvers on the rocks and beating the shit out of them by diving into the multiple layers of dwarf clothing. The delvers discovered all too rapidly that trying to fight while a busy goblin was in your underwear was very bad for the concentration.”
This is brilliant, as Pratchett usually is.
Well, I love Pratchett. But I think for it to be a concealed conspiracy the writing has to be at least away from the fantasy genre itself. So, no Tolkien, Pratchett, Martin etc.. (One can argue that the genre acquired all this after the conspiracy....)
(If we admit Pratchett to be a Bhaalchild.... *gasp*... ooh, it's like charname being a Jester.)
Well, I love Pratchett. But I think for it to be a concealed conspiracy the writing has to be at least away from the fantasy genre itself. So, no Tolkien, Pratchett, Martin etc.. (One can argue that the genre acquired all this after the conspiracy....)
Well, if you want something a bit older what about the bible - there's plenty about Baal in there? From a no-reload, never give up perspective what about Elijah triumphing against the odds in 1 Kings 18:22 ... "Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets."
I tried to find an answer @Wise_Grimwald but apparently specific descriptions aren't really clear. They (hobgoblins) are based on goblins, and goblins are traditionally green. Some sources cite baldur's gate itself as a reference Goblins in Everquest are also green normally (many creatures in EQ similar to their D&D cousins).
But goblins in BG and Icewind Dale are yellow, whilst hobgoblins are green. Half-orcs are also green. I am confused.
I suppose that means that I can use any image, and if I say it is a hobgoblin, it is. If I say that same image is a goblin it is that. I was however looking for some clarity, and there ain't none.
This is a quick report on my first successful noreload run through BG1 EE. I randomly generated several characters (e.g. a magus sorcerer, a LG Priest of Tyr) who met various demises but the first character to get out of the low levels made it all the way. He is Whitworth, a LE Scout (Might & Guile) who was accompanied by Kivan (Archer), Kagain (Dwarven Defender), Finch (Cleric), Valerie (Sorcerer), and Shar-Teel (Fighter). The kits certainly made the run rather easier, and I also found that the absence of SCS meant that I was often surprised by the ease with which opponents can be picked off, which made traps the main danger (I'll probably install some parts of it in future). I didn't do most of Durlag's or the Werewolf Isle as I was suitably terrified of all the potential hazards with the game very close to an end. The run was heavily roleplayed as my character did a number of suboptimal things (e.g. charming Greyhand and not doing quests without apparent rewards) and even followed some unknown mod content which seemed interesting- my installation had many mods such as the revisions mods, quest mods, randomiser etc. In this spirit I did reload a mistaken keypress or two while romancing Shar-Teel and doing other companion chats, which I might be stricter on in future if I run a low wisdom character for fun. Some amusing incidents occured such as mistakenly talking to Xan with Quayle (who would have been replaced), thereby losing Xan and giving Quayle a short time longer in the party! I was still fuming over this when I bumped into Nimbul, whose horror had Quayle running for cover. This is how Valerie (who is in Nashkel) made it into the party The most terrifying moments were the lightning traps and successive criticals from a Skeleton Warrior. Whitworth will now head on to BG2 in the near future, although I may not use the EE as I am terrified of its extra content and any boss battle changes! I do not expect to get through all the instant death effects of BG2 unscathed in any case, it seems to me to me a far harder proposition than BG1. Siege I could try (I played through once with very few reloads), but I don't quite think of it as part of the trilogy yet and the available npcs don't really seem appropriate.
Thank you to the no-reloaders whose advice and exploits helped to inspire my run. I doubt I'll be able to go back after all the tension of this time out Now to work on my latest custom installation....
This fighting pair continued to make rapid progress once they reached the City. Juto's desire to cut down at the knees anything bigger than him nearly proved costly against Larze, but he just survived.
All other combats were easy enough on the way to picking up the tomes and Helm of Balduran.
Getting the tomes jogged our memories that there were a couple more available out there in the wider world. The one at Durlag's Tower was soon bagged before going sirine hunting. Juto found that his rage (unlike the berserker version) doesn't protect against feeblemind,
but a night's rest saw him back on form and ready to chop down some more big targets.
Back in Baldur's Gate the Iron Throne party proved helpless as the duo firing a couple of Arrows of Detonation each saw all 4 casters wiped out.
There was no mucking about in Candlekeep, with a PfM scroll being used to loot the tombs and then provide protection for an assault on Prat.
After Slythe's chances to resist a joint attack were reduced to near-zero by a dispelling arrow the duo moved on to the dreaded conflict at the palace. Some potions there further enhanced their already pretty vicious attacks, but with the dukes being so fragile in BGEE success was not guaranteed. However, while Belt was taken to near death by 3 of the dopplegangers, he just hung on and Liia also survived the one attacking her - it was lucky though that Calis and Juto were attacked by a doppleganger each or the story would have had an unhappy ending.
The maze was soon redecorated with chunks of various enemies found on the way through before the Undercity party fell under the assault of more exploding arrows.
In the Temple Calis missed with several (non-proficient) shots with dispelling arrows while running Sarevok round. Meanwhile Juto was sorting out Semaj and once that was done he got a dispelling arrow to stick. Rather than spend time both shooting Sarevok as we typically do a few potions were gulped before a melee assault from Calis brought a quick conclusion.
There was still time to load up the game into BG2EE and clear out the dungeon. Calis got badly hurt by a trap there - getting caught out when he expected Juto to perform his normal duties of opening a poisoned trap, but only being faced with the sight of some dwarven legs twinkling into the distance. However, he survived and, with both fighters able to heal overnight from constitution regeneration, loss of HPs didn't slow things down much. There was a nice finish when Ulvaryl's chances of getting away were ended by a critical from Juto.
Calis, fighter 9, 113 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 54 kills (+177 in BG1) Juto, barbarian 9, 131 HPs, 36 kills (+196 in BG1), 1 death Juto continued to get some quality HP rolls and with additional bonuses when enraged is going to take a lot of stopping in BG2 .
I tried to find an answer @Wise_Grimwald but apparently specific descriptions aren't really clear. They (hobgoblins) are based on goblins, and goblins are traditionally green. Some sources cite baldur's gate itself as a reference Goblins in Everquest are also green normally (many creatures in EQ similar to their D&D cousins).
But goblins in BG and Icewind Dale are yellow, whilst hobgoblins are green. Half-orcs are also green. I am confused.
I suppose that means that I can use any image, and if I say it is a hobgoblin, it is. If I say that same image is a goblin it is that. I was however looking for some clarity, and there ain't none.
@Wise_Grimwald In my research I discovered the main difference between hobgoblins and goblins is not appearance but BEHAVIOR. Hobgoblins are more short-tempered, war-like than the run of the mill goblins.
Literature aside, I'm in for another round of hopeless struggle.
Introducing Gwennar. She's a half-elf diviner.
Same rig. SCS with super-unpredictable assassin parties, item randomizer, BG1 NPC, etc.
So far she's managed to live up to level 6, mostly because she's agile and had the forethought to buy many, many darts. She's teamed up with Jaheira, Khalid and Imoen. The future is unknown, and uncertain.
I was keen to see how Glod was disporting himself, but the image inside the spoiler currently appears to have been blocked by censors worried about the possibility of gnomish deviance . Best of luck to the Crew by the way!
Adamant, Half-Elf Fighter/Mage, BG1EE Update 2 Previous update found here Next update found here
Adamant begins the arduous task of triggering the assassin ambushes. After a week spent traveling through the Nashkel wilderness, seeking mighty assassins but finding naught but not-so-mighty Xvarts, he deduces that perhaps the ambushes will only trigger once a multiclass character is L3 in all his classes. True or not, we might as well do something productive while we wait.
So, we progress the plot a tiny bit more. Tranzig is dealt with: He rather foolishly despoils his aura by leading with a Remove Magic, giving ample time for our fighter-heavy party to cut through his meager defenses, consisting of Mirror Image and Ghost Armor.
Not much of note to report immediately afterwards. We cleared out the bandits in Larswood and Peldvale (netting another Plate Mail from Viconia's would-be executioner), but left the Larswood druids alone, as that's an easy 3300 or so XP once Imoen has dual-classed. While at it, Adamant actually gained a level, prompting a scroll shopping spree augmented by casting Friends. I'd kept the Red Potion handy for my first scribing bout. One neat little trick if you're as stuck-up as I am about not using un-identified items, while at the same time being too cheap to pay for it: Invest in a Potion of Insight and quaff it alongside the red potion. Adamant shot up to 59 lore, allowing him to finally finish identifying our massive back-log of items.
Now then, with L3 in both Mage and Fighter, can we lure our enemies out of hiding? Travelling to and fro Nashkel via the Xvart Village, we soon luck out!
This is the stronger of the two assassin parties when it comes to HP, saves and melee damage potential. The Amazons are nasty at range, thanks to their rogues with magic arrows, but tend to die very quickly once focused. Anyway, not wanting to risk anything, we lead with 3 Fireballs: 1 from Adamant's Wand of Fire, 1 from Imoen's Necklace of Missiles, and 1 from a Potion of Explosions courtesy of Ajantis. I thought I went overboard, but apparently not: Only Drakar, the party's Cleric, actually drops. The others all survive at varying degrees of well-done, and move to engage! Halacan, as always, leads with Sleep from his scroll, while Morvin quaffs an Oil of Speed and Malakar a Potion of Heroism. We are fortunate in that said Sleep was targetted at Branwen for some reason. She retreats alone and so is the only one affected by it. Nice try, Halacan!
Halacan doesn't have the defenses to survive long enough to be a threat. Khalid with Arrows of Fire +2, backed up by Imoen with Masterwork arrows, drop him within a round, wounded as he was by our trio of Fireballs. Meanwhile, Adamant and Ajantis are chopping down Malakar rather rapidly, despite the latter quaffing a healing potion. Morvin likewise heals a little, but since he went with Oil of Speed instead of something nasty like Stone Giant Strength, he's not that dangerous, and Jaheira can occupy him. Malakar soon falls to concentrated fire, and Morvin is the last to bite the dust.
We gather the loot (which is quite inconsequential, unfortunately) and head back to Nashkel. A round of resting and repeated traveling later, we get the Amazon Attack. However, these ladies are decidedly more fragile: Two Fireballs wipe them out completely. Adamant never even got to swing his sword (and he's mighty good with that sword, too!).
Despite being arguably weaker than Malakar and co, they have far finer treasure, as we all know: Interesting potions and magical arrows, another Platemail, magical leather armors, and the longsword Harrower +1. Which means that Adamant can take his first steps towards becoming a dual-wielding legend! Hooray!
Having accomplished enough magnificent feats for one night, the party heads back to Nashkel. Most likely, their next course of action will be descending into the Ulcaster ruins, making good use of Imoen's Disarm Traps while we still have it available. That is for later, however.
Adamant is now a L3/L3 Fighter/Mage, sporting a rather impressive spell-book, even though having only a single L2 spellslot does limit him somewhat.
I started by rescuing Samuel, got a nice reward for doing so, and headed to the coast to clean the Lighthouse and the archeological site.
After the archeological site, we went to the Lighthouse. Quayle had died from the Kobold Commandos in the previous area and I didn't raise him, so he already was dead when we got in the area. Things didn't start well, I got struck by lightning (and got scared the fuck out of this world irl), killed the Worgs, the wizard and a bunch of Tasloi without any problems, but while I was fighting the sorceress, I used Kivan's aTweaks modified Charm Animal, which charms all the animals in the current area.
In the last image I moved Garrick away (and the party away from him) so he was the only one affected by Horror.
All means all, so a random Squirrel walked into the Sirines and brought them upon me. I wasn't planning to fight them unprepared, without protection, my Cleric and while Garrick was Feared.
We killed two Sirines, but that cost us most of our HP and all of our potions (except one...).
Hobgoblins killed both Kivan and Xan, and dropped me to 6hp after the Sirine hit me (if I didn't save there I would have died). I took an Invis potion and went to pick up the loot invisible (I got it all except armours, ammo and helmets, Ajantis was invis. as well and looted what was worth and Eilwa hadn't collected yet), but I miss-clicked on the trackpad (should have been using the mouse all the time, mb) and ended up revealing myself. I panicked so hard I didn't take a screenshot, but I instantly used the last healing potion we had and the Sirine missed. I ran away and forgot about moving Ajantis, I ran in circles and the Sirine got lost. She found Garrick (who wasn't with the group because he had gotten charmed before) and started harassing him. I moved Garrick and Eilwa together, so that Garrick wouldn't die to the Sirine. I had to run in circles with both Garrick and my PC to give Ajantis time to join us and escape the area.
We escaped to Candlekeep because it's close enough to have almost guaranteed no ambushes, but we couldn't rest because of the stupid ass Watchers also bitching about you sleeping outside of the Keep. Oh well. I went to the area next to Candlekeep (the one where Gorion dies) and got sleep-interrupted by Gibberlings. I ran away to the FAI, didn't get ambushed, raised everyone, bought new stuff for everyone (Ajantis got Plate and Kivan inherited his good ol' Splint) and rested until fully healed.
I decided to take on the group of wolves in the Temple of Lathander area before Tranzig and the Bandit Camp, so we bought Ajantis an Axe+1 and killed them with some trouble, although it wasn't that bad.
As I said, it wasn't that bad, it was an interesting battle, I had to use all of my Arrows of Piercing to kill one of the Vampiric Wolves as it had Held Ajantis and Kivan (who had Adisheena+2) was busy killing other, lesser, wolves. In the end, we just got a little hurt, nothing else. We rested and the night fell upon us, accompanied by four assassins.
This encounter is fucking brutal. Both of our mages got backstabbed, and Quayle got chunked the hell outta this world. PC dropped to 3hp twice and I had to use all of the Extra-Healing potions the Fighter/Clerics that made the rest of the party had. All of this because I have this particular SCS component installed the old way: they don't ambush you when travelling but ambush you in any open area at any time. It's way harder and for some reason I thought this was a good idea almost 2 years ago when I built this install. Since Quayle was dead and we needed a Cleric, we recruited Viconia. I just realise she's such a much better NPC (19 dex, decent wis, actually a Cleric not an Illusionist/Cleric), if I hadn't put my group together that way because I wanted those NPCs I would have gotten her because my inner powergamer demanded so.
After this, we went to murder Tranzig after having rested in the Inn (I always do this... Makes it look more RP-friendly, like sneaking out of your own room at night to murder him).
The battle was very easy because he summoned some monsters after his initial (and devastating) Slow, which failed to save against Sleep, and failed to Viconia's Hold Person.
I robbed Algernon his cloak with Garrick's wonderous 60 Pick Pockets. I thought it was going to fail, but as you can see, I lived twice with 3hp and once with 6 so I guess I'm lucky (right?).
Finally, we went to the Bandit Camp, after enlisting as a Bandit from the Larswood. We destroyed Tazok in about two rounds. We looted the whole camp and buffed knowing we had to fight if we wanted to discover what Tazok had in his tent. I think this one's justified because the Guard outside tells you, but IDK, still I won the battle because nobody saved against anything (Hold Person, double Sleep from wand and Xan and Horror from Garrick) and PC was buffed with Potion of Power + Oil of Speed + Poison Weapon. Here I commit the worse mistake I almost always do: get out of the tent visible. It's the worst idea ever, but I always do this, run away, and come back after having rested and prepared to fight all the rest of the bandits and Black Talons.
After we got out, we got ambushed by the other band of assassins. It wasn't that bad, but I send Ajantis to hit one of them that was really far from the party and that made all of the Bandits and Black Talons come towards us. They saved vs around 4 Sleep spells Xan/Garrick casted, Garrick got chunked by a 40 damage melee crit from a random Bandit, and Xan soon followed with his 16hp to the grave.
Here I had another bad idea: to go back inside the tent. If I wasn't sentenced yet, this was it. Ajantis and Viconia died at the door because they couldn't move from all the Bandits that were there (and it didn't occur to me to use the Oils of Fiery Burning I had looted from the Bandit Camp previously). Me and Kivan got away. They went for the Elf with the least HP, guess who that was, fucking misogynists LMAO. YASD I guess.
Edit: Actually, I'm surprised I didn't die before here, because I played everything rather badly, from the Sirines till I died. I guess I deserved it.
Edit2: I guess I'll be playing with my Berkserker through vanilla BG2EE like I did through vanilla BG:EE. I'll post about it but I don't think it's gonna be too interesting. Oh, and my forgotten Berkserker/Battleguard of Tempus run that I started on the Bioware forums like an year ago. Haven't played that one ever since o.0
@CrevsDaak Yes the oil of fiery burning would have been the way to go. That is how I used to fight the hundreds of xvarts at the gnoll stronghold before the bug was corrected. Even if you get badly hurt by it yourself, it is better than being killed by sheer force of numbers.
The fighting dwarves marched on in today's session, with just the one hiccup on the way.
Things started off with a quick trip to the circus - though I missed a screenshot of the flying chunks as Kalah disintegrated under the pressure of a 64 damage critical.
By travelling to the Graveyard next, the duo knew that Suna Seni would ambush them on the way to the Docks. She duly tried, but fore-warned, Calis was able to one-shot the mage through her mirrors and the ambushers landed a grand total of 0 hits.
At the Docks Mae'Var's quest was soon started and Renfeld was rescued on the way to get his desired necklace. Juto put his rage to good use on arriving back at the Docks to sort out Hareishan and went on to make Rayic feel the cold of death from his sword.
Sansuki begged for help as well, but no vampire attackers were to be found, so Prebek was next to face an enraged Juto before Mae'Var let his guild slip through his dying fingers.
After paying Gaelan Bayle Mook was avenged on Lassal and the duo moved on to the Bridge District. The berserker horn was retrieved and the skinner murders solved - Juto taking a bit of damage there as a result of needing to take the lead to combat both the ghasts (hold immunity) and the Rune Assassins (backstab immunity).
Next the Guild Contact was sorted out. However, things went sour after emerging from the inn. I was looking in Calis' inventory, so didn't immediately see Tanova and her vampires springing an ambush. Juto was also caught a bit unawares and failed to rage until after being hit and drained 4 levels. Things might still have been OK though if both of us hadn't then attacked Tanova without realising quickly enough our +2 weapons were ineffective against her. That meant that with Juto's rage about to expire Tanova and another vampire were still active, while Juto was critically injured. Throwing up the berserk warrior and running into the inn left Tanova behind, but the vampire followed - which was bad news for Juto (lucky he wasn't chunked there).
After stashing equipment and resting (to ensure Tanova was not still around), Juto was revived at the temple and Aran Linvail soon directed us to more vampires in the Graveyard. This time Juto made sure to rest regularly so that opponents were always faced with his rage. That meant only Tanova was a real threat and she made the mistake of trying to maze Juto - allowing him to shrug that off with his rage and counter with a deadly blow from the Mace of Disruption.
Bodhi was then quickly beaten down to low HPs (though the rapid hits meant she couldn't get her speech out and we had to withdraw a bit before she gave up).
The final action was at Watcher's Keep. There were no vampiric wraiths there, which meant looting the top floor was no problem, though we left the statues untouched for now.
Calis, fighter 11, 119 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 135 kills (+177 in BG1) Juto, barbarian 11, 137 HPs, 88 kills (+196 in BG1), 2 deaths
Adamant, Half-Elf Fighter/Mage, BG1EE Update 3 Previous update found here Next update found here
The party did indeed follow through on their plan to loot the Ulcaster ruins, although we left the Wolf of Ulcaster alone for the moment (we could probably have taken him, but better to be certain... which I will be once we can summon 3x Skeleton Warriors to distract the wolf's Ghoul summons). This netted us a fair bit of XP, as well as another Wand of Fire. Lovely.
I also decided to take care of Droth, as the Gift of Peace, with its very useful defensive properties, will serve Adamant all the way until we reach the city proper and retrieve Balduran's Helmet. Droth turns out to be quite a bit more dangerous than I expected, mainly because we are still so very low-level. Imoen takes one for the team and is kissed to death, Droth turns up... and Sleeps everyone but Imoen and Branwen! Thankfully, after this titanic effort he has nothing left but a Glitterdust and Magic Missile. In the end, Branwen and Imoen are reduced to running in circles and slowly bringing the Ogre down with a Wand of Magic Missiles. Not pretty, but it worked.
So, what next? Bandit camp? Of course not! We need to make the very most of Imoen while we have her in full thiefy capacity. The choice is obvious: Durlag's Tower!
Before embarking, every precaution is taken: As there is a small, small chance of Basilisk ambush in that area, Adamant purchases 5 scrolls of Stone to Flesh, and keeps a Potion of Mirrored Eyes in his inventory. It will turn out to be unwarranted, but still... sensible precautions.
The party arrives at the Tower, and proceeds to clear the perimeter defenses. Battle Horrors have precisely no immunity to fire, which is good because we really don't have the THAC0 to take them down the traditional way. Our Wands of Fire are put to very good use.
So, the plan is simple: Have Imoen clear all traps in the above-ground levels (while we also clear the easy enemies, i.e. Ghasts). Then we step out onto the balcony and take care of the Basilisks. We've come well-prepared: Every priest spell slot is either Chant, Aid, Bless, CLW or (in Branwen's case) Remove Paralysis, the latter being quite necessary for me to be comfortable with letting Adamant fight paralyzation-inducing monsters in melee. Adamant has spent his grand total of 3 Mage spells on 2x Protection from Petrification and 1x Mirror Image. The poor Ghasts are quite outmatched, and land only a single hit throughout the entire tower (and Adamant makes his save against paralyzation).
Despite being low-level and sporting rather an unimpressive off-hand, dual-wielding is already proving effective. Adamant keeps a shield handy for hard-hitting enemies, but regular chaff enemies drop very quickly indeed. So, the Ghasts are handled. Adamant and Khalid recieve our two PfP spells, and are sent out! The first Lesser Basilisk is easily overcome, but I had forgotten how nasty the Greater Basilisks are. Even with immunity to their gaze, they swiftly put serious hurt on Adamant, while we simply cannot hit them in return. Our Wands of Fire once again prove absolutely invaluable, as we are reduced to having to scorch the three Greater Basilisks to death.
This massive chunk of XP gets Imoen to level 6, hooray! She now has 100 Find Traps and 85 Open Lock, which is just enough for all our needs. She swiftly duals to Mage, picking Darts as her proficiency, and will now be rather useless for a time. On our way out, we take care of the two Battle Horrors on the walls (one of which for some reason has 50% fire resistance and was only worth 2000 experience, not 4000. Eh).
Now begins our great come-back tour, so to speak. All the little things we've left undone (a few of the Nashkel areas, Bassilus, the Larswood druids, the Farm areas north of FAI) are cleared at a swift pace. Sendai literally doesn't know what hit her, she drops so fast:
While Bassilus is no doubt quite surprised at getting a Lightning Bolt in the head.
All of this gets Imoen up to L3 Mage, so at least now she can help (a tiny bit) once per rest with a Horror, Web or something like that. As she now has access to L2 Mage spells, our next stop will be High Hedge for some scrolls, and we'll probably pick up a Robe of the Good Archmagi + Full Plate Mail while we're at it (we've got a lot of gold now). Following this, our next target will in all likelihood be the Bandit Camp, which I am quite comfortable with taking on now that we'll have so many castings of Web at our disposal. All in good time, though, as the party settles in at the Jovial Juggler.
Our efforts to squeeze as much XP as possible out of the rural areas of the Sword Coast have not been in vain. Adamant is now a L5/L4 Fighter/Mage, and quite the terror with his dual-wielded Longswords.
So after Eïlwa died, I decided to start another BGT run, on the same install (WeiDU.log).
I did as many quests as I could to get XP fast. The Prot. from Magic scroll I got it from Hafiz (since that area is super safe and gives some XP/loot I am going to start visiting at the start of every run), along with a Medium Shield+1, an Excellent Short Bow and other stuff we sold. Naisharel has proficiency points on Long sword and long bow, the classics. Tarnesh was killed with a 24 damage backstab and ranged enemies were avoided so far. I might do Basilisks early on since triple-class multi needs so much XP, not sure yet.
The class I'm playing is a multikit; Wizard Slayer/Enchanter/Bounty Hunter. I've chosen this different kits because they seem to work together pretty well from a RP point of view, since you're a Bounty Hunter specialised in Mages, that is able to bluff/convince enemies as well, besides being competent in combat and thievery. Here's the in-game description of the WS (I have WSR installed) and the Bounty Hunter (because I have RR as well). Enchanter is vanilla so it's worthless to take a picture of.
I wasn't intending to post on this run until I'd got past Davaeorn - but didn't get that far. However, as Freya's end should give you a giggle I thought I'd put it up anyway.
Freya was nearing her final BG1 level and had cleared most of the maps when she arrived at the basilisk area. She killed all the basilisks except Mutamin's favourite greater basilisk and then went to sort that one out. Given it was still neutral that really shouldn't have been a problem, but as Freya arrived in sight of it she saw some gibberlings had appeared on the nearby encounter spot. They were not worth killing so she just tried running past with the intention of going invisible once they had been pulled away. However, in LoB you need to be careful at all times and I'm not terribly good at that - hence the dismaying sight of a level 8 sorcerer being one-shotted by a gibberling . (Freya did actually know stoneskin, but I rarely bother casting that ...)
(Freya did actually know stoneskin, but I rarely bother casting that ...)
Stoneskin bleh, why would you?
This bit actually gave me the biggest giggle. I hope Freya the 42nd will have a better time dodging Gibberlings, Xvarts etc. I'm interested in doing a LoB run as well, probably with a party though.
Comments
Is this correct for a hobgoblin or is it supposed to be Tazok who was a half-orc?
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Seems that he anticipated your question and argued that hobgoblins come in all shapes and forms...
Emerson was also obviously a Child of Bhaal.
Combined with the previous realization that William Faulkner was Bhaalspawn ("Murder your darlings!"), it is clear that there is a literary conspiracy that span centuries!
(An Adventurer's Mart discount to those who find the next link in the conspiracy.)
“Looking out the window, Moist saw a small swarm of goblins leave the train and at first he thought, ha! Trust the buggers to run away, and then he mentally corrected himself: that was storybook thinking and with clearer eyesight and a bit of understanding he realized that the goblins were scrambling up to the delvers on the rocks and beating the shit out of them by diving into the multiple layers of dwarf clothing. The delvers discovered all too rapidly that trying to fight while a busy goblin was in your underwear was very bad for the concentration.”
Well, I love Pratchett. But I think for it to be a concealed conspiracy the writing has to be at least away from the fantasy genre itself. So, no Tolkien, Pratchett, Martin etc.. (One can argue that the genre acquired all this after the conspiracy....)
(If we admit Pratchett to be a Bhaalchild.... *gasp*... ooh, it's like charname being a Jester.)
.... in fact, an Igor class!
I want to play Igor the Igor.
"Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets."
Question: Is Melissan mentioned by name there?
I suppose that means that I can use any image, and if I say it is a hobgoblin, it is. If I say that same image is a goblin it is that. I was however looking for some clarity, and there ain't none.
Thank you to the no-reloaders whose advice and exploits helped to inspire my run. I doubt I'll be able to go back after all the tension of this time out
Calis, dwarf fighter (Grond0) & Juto, dwarf barbarian (Gate70)
Previous updates at:
This fighting pair continued to make rapid progress once they reached the City. Juto's desire to cut down at the knees anything bigger than him nearly proved costly against Larze, but he just survived.
Getting the tomes jogged our memories that there were a couple more available out there in the wider world. The one at Durlag's Tower was soon bagged before going sirine hunting. Juto found that his rage (unlike the berserker version) doesn't protect against feeblemind,
Back in Baldur's Gate the Iron Throne party proved helpless as the duo firing a couple of Arrows of Detonation each saw all 4 casters wiped out.
There was no mucking about in Candlekeep, with a PfM scroll being used to loot the tombs and then provide protection for an assault on Prat.
After Slythe's chances to resist a joint attack were reduced to near-zero by a dispelling arrow the duo moved on to the dreaded conflict at the palace. Some potions there further enhanced their already pretty vicious attacks, but with the dukes being so fragile in BGEE success was not guaranteed. However, while Belt was taken to near death by 3 of the dopplegangers, he just hung on and Liia also survived the one attacking her - it was lucky though that Calis and Juto were attacked by a doppleganger each or the story would have had an unhappy ending.
The maze was soon redecorated with chunks of various enemies found on the way through before the Undercity party fell under the assault of more exploding arrows.
In the Temple Calis missed with several (non-proficient) shots with dispelling arrows while running Sarevok round. Meanwhile Juto was sorting out Semaj and once that was done he got a dispelling arrow to stick. Rather than spend time both shooting Sarevok as we typically do a few potions were gulped before a melee assault from Calis brought a quick conclusion.
There was still time to load up the game into BG2EE and clear out the dungeon. Calis got badly hurt by a trap there - getting caught out when he expected Juto to perform his normal duties of opening a poisoned trap, but only being faced with the sight of some dwarven legs twinkling into the distance. However, he survived and, with both fighters able to heal overnight from constitution regeneration, loss of HPs didn't slow things down much. There was a nice finish when Ulvaryl's chances of getting away were ended by a critical from Juto.
Calis, fighter 9, 113 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 54 kills (+177 in BG1)
Juto, barbarian 9, 131 HPs, 36 kills (+196 in BG1), 1 death
Juto continued to get some quality HP rolls and with additional bonuses when enraged is going to take a lot of stopping in BG2
Goblins are chaotic in the extreme, Small sized and malicious.
Hobgoblins are militaristic (and therefore tends towards Lawful), Medium sized and can coorperate (i.e., not as malicious).
Introducing Gwennar. She's a half-elf diviner.
Same rig. SCS with super-unpredictable assassin parties, item randomizer, BG1 NPC, etc.
So far she's managed to live up to level 6, mostly because she's agile and had the forethought to buy many, many darts. She's teamed up with Jaheira, Khalid and Imoen. The future is unknown, and uncertain.
Yes, this is what you think. Yes, the (in)famous Multiplayer crew is back
(from the grave).Meet new heroes!
Charming Proesis ( @Gotural), the dragon disciple
Cunning Glod Glodssonson ( @bengoshi), the cleric/thief
Mighty Zareen ( @Blackraven), the fighter/mage
Deadly Valwen ( @CrevsDaak), the wizard slayer
We started in the Monty Python way, with 3 level-one characters dead at the hands of Droth, the ogre-mage...
@Blackraven was very saddened by these silly deaths, and we will have to make amends in the future.
Proesis hurried to raise us dead, only to be ambushed by kobolds with arrows... RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
But Tymora smiled to our beauty, she managed to flee, raise everyone, hire Tiax and with the help of the ghast kill the ogre.
After that we did all the basic staff in Beregost and the FAI.
Tarnesh was killed very cautiously, just as Blackraven asked.
P.S. Did anyone notice Glod Glodssonson (yes, two sons, it's a long story) was the only gnome among the ladies? A ladies' Gnome!
Previous update found here
Next update found here
Adamant begins the arduous task of triggering the assassin ambushes. After a week spent traveling through the Nashkel wilderness, seeking mighty assassins but finding naught but not-so-mighty Xvarts, he deduces that perhaps the ambushes will only trigger once a multiclass character is L3 in all his classes. True or not, we might as well do something productive while we wait.
So, we progress the plot a tiny bit more. Tranzig is dealt with: He rather foolishly despoils his aura by leading with a Remove Magic, giving ample time for our fighter-heavy party to cut through his meager defenses, consisting of Mirror Image and Ghost Armor.
Not much of note to report immediately afterwards. We cleared out the bandits in Larswood and Peldvale (netting another Plate Mail from Viconia's would-be executioner), but left the Larswood druids alone, as that's an easy 3300 or so XP once Imoen has dual-classed. While at it, Adamant actually gained a level, prompting a scroll shopping spree augmented by casting Friends.
I'd kept the Red Potion handy for my first scribing bout. One neat little trick if you're as stuck-up as I am about not using un-identified items, while at the same time being too cheap to pay for it: Invest in a Potion of Insight and quaff it alongside the red potion. Adamant shot up to 59 lore, allowing him to finally finish identifying our massive back-log of items.
Now then, with L3 in both Mage and Fighter, can we lure our enemies out of hiding? Travelling to and fro Nashkel via the Xvart Village, we soon luck out!
This is the stronger of the two assassin parties when it comes to HP, saves and melee damage potential. The Amazons are nasty at range, thanks to their rogues with magic arrows, but tend to die very quickly once focused.
Anyway, not wanting to risk anything, we lead with 3 Fireballs: 1 from Adamant's Wand of Fire, 1 from Imoen's Necklace of Missiles, and 1 from a Potion of Explosions courtesy of Ajantis.
I thought I went overboard, but apparently not: Only Drakar, the party's Cleric, actually drops. The others all survive at varying degrees of well-done, and move to engage! Halacan, as always, leads with Sleep from his scroll, while Morvin quaffs an Oil of Speed and Malakar a Potion of Heroism. We are fortunate in that said Sleep was targetted at Branwen for some reason. She retreats alone and so is the only one affected by it. Nice try, Halacan!
Halacan doesn't have the defenses to survive long enough to be a threat. Khalid with Arrows of Fire +2, backed up by Imoen with Masterwork arrows, drop him within a round, wounded as he was by our trio of Fireballs. Meanwhile, Adamant and Ajantis are chopping down Malakar rather rapidly, despite the latter quaffing a healing potion. Morvin likewise heals a little, but since he went with Oil of Speed instead of something nasty like Stone Giant Strength, he's not that dangerous, and Jaheira can occupy him.
Malakar soon falls to concentrated fire, and Morvin is the last to bite the dust.
We gather the loot (which is quite inconsequential, unfortunately) and head back to Nashkel.
A round of resting and repeated traveling later, we get the Amazon Attack. However, these ladies are decidedly more fragile: Two Fireballs wipe them out completely. Adamant never even got to swing his sword (and he's mighty good with that sword, too!).
Despite being arguably weaker than Malakar and co, they have far finer treasure, as we all know: Interesting potions and magical arrows, another Platemail, magical leather armors, and the longsword Harrower +1. Which means that Adamant can take his first steps towards becoming a dual-wielding legend! Hooray!
Having accomplished enough magnificent feats for one night, the party heads back to Nashkel. Most likely, their next course of action will be descending into the Ulcaster ruins, making good use of Imoen's Disarm Traps while we still have it available. That is for later, however.
Adamant is now a L3/L3 Fighter/Mage, sporting a rather impressive spell-book, even though having only a single L2 spellslot does limit him somewhat.
Eilwa's journey
previous postpart 5
REALLY long post ahead.
Things didn't start well, I got struck by lightning (and got scared the fuck out of this world irl), killed the Worgs, the wizard and a bunch of Tasloi without any problems, but while I was fighting the sorceress, I used Kivan's aTweaks modified Charm Animal, which charms all the animals in the current area.
In the last image I moved Garrick away (and the party away from him) so he was the only one affected by Horror.
After this, we went to murder Tranzig after having rested in the Inn (I always do this... Makes it look more RP-friendly, like sneaking out of your own room at night to murder him).
Finally, we went to the Bandit Camp, after enlisting as a Bandit from the Larswood. We destroyed Tazok in about two rounds. We looted the whole camp and buffed knowing we had to fight if we wanted to discover what Tazok had in his tent. I think this one's justified because the Guard outside tells you, but IDK, still I won the battle because nobody saved against anything (Hold Person, double Sleep from wand and Xan and Horror from Garrick) and PC was buffed with Potion of Power + Oil of Speed + Poison Weapon. Here I commit the worse mistake I almost always do: get out of the tent visible. It's the worst idea ever, but I always do this, run away, and come back after having rested and prepared to fight all the rest of the bandits and Black Talons.
Edit2: I guess I'll be playing with my Berkserker through vanilla BG2EE like I did through vanilla BG:EE. I'll post about it but I don't think it's gonna be too interesting. Oh, and my forgotten Berkserker/Battleguard of Tempus run that I started on the Bioware forums like an year ago. Haven't played that one ever since o.0
Calis, dwarf fighter (Grond0) & Juto, dwarf barbarian (Gate70)
Previous updates at:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/832940/#Comment_832940
The fighting dwarves marched on in today's session, with just the one hiccup on the way.
Things started off with a quick trip to the circus - though I missed a screenshot of the flying chunks as Kalah disintegrated under the pressure of a 64 damage critical.
By travelling to the Graveyard next, the duo knew that Suna Seni would ambush them on the way to the Docks. She duly tried, but fore-warned, Calis was able to one-shot the mage through her mirrors and the ambushers landed a grand total of 0 hits.
At the Docks Mae'Var's quest was soon started and Renfeld was rescued on the way to get his desired necklace. Juto put his rage to good use on arriving back at the Docks to sort out Hareishan and went on to make Rayic feel the cold of death from his sword.
After paying Gaelan Bayle Mook was avenged on Lassal and the duo moved on to the Bridge District. The berserker horn was retrieved and the skinner murders solved - Juto taking a bit of damage there as a result of needing to take the lead to combat both the ghasts (hold immunity) and the Rune Assassins (backstab immunity).
Next the Guild Contact was sorted out. However, things went sour after emerging from the inn. I was looking in Calis' inventory, so didn't immediately see Tanova and her vampires springing an ambush. Juto was also caught a bit unawares and failed to rage until after being hit and drained 4 levels. Things might still have been OK though if both of us hadn't then attacked Tanova without realising quickly enough our +2 weapons were ineffective against her. That meant that with Juto's rage about to expire Tanova and another vampire were still active, while Juto was critically injured. Throwing up the berserk warrior and running into the inn left Tanova behind, but the vampire followed - which was bad news for Juto (lucky he wasn't chunked there).
After stashing equipment and resting (to ensure Tanova was not still around), Juto was revived at the temple and Aran Linvail soon directed us to more vampires in the Graveyard. This time Juto made sure to rest regularly so that opponents were always faced with his rage. That meant only Tanova was a real threat and she made the mistake of trying to maze Juto - allowing him to shrug that off with his rage and counter with a deadly blow from the Mace of Disruption.
The final action was at Watcher's Keep. There were no vampiric wraiths there, which meant looting the top floor was no problem, though we left the statues untouched for now.
Calis, fighter 11, 119 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 135 kills (+177 in BG1)
Juto, barbarian 11, 137 HPs, 88 kills (+196 in BG1), 2 deaths
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The party did indeed follow through on their plan to loot the Ulcaster ruins, although we left the Wolf of Ulcaster alone for the moment (we could probably have taken him, but better to be certain... which I will be once we can summon 3x Skeleton Warriors to distract the wolf's Ghoul summons). This netted us a fair bit of XP, as well as another Wand of Fire. Lovely.
I also decided to take care of Droth, as the Gift of Peace, with its very useful defensive properties, will serve Adamant all the way until we reach the city proper and retrieve Balduran's Helmet.
Droth turns out to be quite a bit more dangerous than I expected, mainly because we are still so very low-level. Imoen takes one for the team and is kissed to death, Droth turns up... and Sleeps everyone but Imoen and Branwen! Thankfully, after this titanic effort he has nothing left but a Glitterdust and Magic Missile. In the end, Branwen and Imoen are reduced to running in circles and slowly bringing the Ogre down with a Wand of Magic Missiles. Not pretty, but it worked.
So, what next? Bandit camp? Of course not! We need to make the very most of Imoen while we have her in full thiefy capacity. The choice is obvious: Durlag's Tower!
Before embarking, every precaution is taken: As there is a small, small chance of Basilisk ambush in that area, Adamant purchases 5 scrolls of Stone to Flesh, and keeps a Potion of Mirrored Eyes in his inventory. It will turn out to be unwarranted, but still... sensible precautions.
The party arrives at the Tower, and proceeds to clear the perimeter defenses. Battle Horrors have precisely no immunity to fire, which is good because we really don't have the THAC0 to take them down the traditional way. Our Wands of Fire are put to very good use.
So, the plan is simple: Have Imoen clear all traps in the above-ground levels (while we also clear the easy enemies, i.e. Ghasts). Then we step out onto the balcony and take care of the Basilisks. We've come well-prepared: Every priest spell slot is either Chant, Aid, Bless, CLW or (in Branwen's case) Remove Paralysis, the latter being quite necessary for me to be comfortable with letting Adamant fight paralyzation-inducing monsters in melee. Adamant has spent his grand total of 3 Mage spells on 2x Protection from Petrification and 1x Mirror Image.
The poor Ghasts are quite outmatched, and land only a single hit throughout the entire tower (and Adamant makes his save against paralyzation).
Despite being low-level and sporting rather an unimpressive off-hand, dual-wielding is already proving effective. Adamant keeps a shield handy for hard-hitting enemies, but regular chaff enemies drop very quickly indeed. So, the Ghasts are handled. Adamant and Khalid recieve our two PfP spells, and are sent out! The first Lesser Basilisk is easily overcome, but I had forgotten how nasty the Greater Basilisks are.
Even with immunity to their gaze, they swiftly put serious hurt on Adamant, while we simply cannot hit them in return. Our Wands of Fire once again prove absolutely invaluable, as we are reduced to having to scorch the three Greater Basilisks to death.
This massive chunk of XP gets Imoen to level 6, hooray! She now has 100 Find Traps and 85 Open Lock, which is just enough for all our needs. She swiftly duals to Mage, picking Darts as her proficiency, and will now be rather useless for a time.
On our way out, we take care of the two Battle Horrors on the walls (one of which for some reason has 50% fire resistance and was only worth 2000 experience, not 4000. Eh).
Now begins our great come-back tour, so to speak. All the little things we've left undone (a few of the Nashkel areas, Bassilus, the Larswood druids, the Farm areas north of FAI) are cleared at a swift pace.
Sendai literally doesn't know what hit her, she drops so fast:
While Bassilus is no doubt quite surprised at getting a Lightning Bolt in the head.
All of this gets Imoen up to L3 Mage, so at least now she can help (a tiny bit) once per rest with a Horror, Web or something like that. As she now has access to L2 Mage spells, our next stop will be High Hedge for some scrolls, and we'll probably pick up a Robe of the Good Archmagi + Full Plate Mail while we're at it (we've got a lot of gold now). Following this, our next target will in all likelihood be the Bandit Camp, which I am quite comfortable with taking on now that we'll have so many castings of Web at our disposal.
All in good time, though, as the party settles in at the Jovial Juggler.
Our efforts to squeeze as much XP as possible out of the rural areas of the Sword Coast have not been in vain. Adamant is now a L5/L4 Fighter/Mage, and quite the terror with his dual-wielded Longswords.
next: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/837463/#Comment_837463
So after Eïlwa died, I decided to start another BGT run, on the same install (WeiDU.log).
The class I'm playing is a multikit; Wizard Slayer/Enchanter/Bounty Hunter. I've chosen this different kits because they seem to work together pretty well from a RP point of view, since you're a Bounty Hunter specialised in Mages, that is able to bluff/convince enemies as well, besides being competent in combat and thievery. Here's the in-game description of the WS (I have WSR installed) and the Bounty Hunter (because I have RR as well). Enchanter is vanilla so it's worthless to take a picture of.
I wasn't intending to post on this run until I'd got past Davaeorn - but didn't get that far. However, as Freya's end should give you a giggle I thought I'd put it up anyway.
Freya was nearing her final BG1 level and had cleared most of the maps when she arrived at the basilisk area. She killed all the basilisks except Mutamin's favourite greater basilisk and then went to sort that one out. Given it was still neutral that really shouldn't have been a problem, but as Freya arrived in sight of it she saw some gibberlings had appeared on the nearby encounter spot. They were not worth killing so she just tried running past with the intention of going invisible once they had been pulled away. However, in LoB you need to be careful at all times and I'm not terribly good at that - hence the dismaying sight of a level 8 sorcerer being one-shotted by a gibberling
(Freya did actually know stoneskin, but I rarely bother casting that ...)
This bit actually gave me the biggest giggle. I hope Freya the 42nd will have a better time dodging Gibberlings, Xvarts etc. I'm interested in doing a LoB run as well, probably with a party though.