15235 réponses à ce sujet

[Alesia_BH]

Grond0 wrote...
He did have potions available, but was consciously taking a bit of a risk.  That was partly because I was a bit bored with him - hence I have started another BG1 challenge to do something different.

Understood.

I had intended to come back and complete his game, but while reading your post realised that I had neglected to take a final save for him - so the only save I have of him is starting out in Candlekeep!  I suppose I could replicate his position reasonably accurately with Shadowkeeper, but I'm not sure I will - I'll see how I feel after finishing my BG1 run.

Got it. Enjoy the BG run. :happy:

A.

[Grond0]

Vaclavc wrote...

corey_russell wrote...
We got through Chateau Irencus without much trouble. I did learn something this run through, however, which I was surprised at. When trying to get to the Djinn there's that pesky group of mephits on a platform. They've given me trouble in the past (read: party deaths), mainly because of the stun that one of them does. However, as I was about to approach them I checked through my spells to see if anything would be of any real help - I then considered Imoen's Minor Globe of Invulnerability. I thought to myself, what if that stun is considered a 3rd level spell or lower? Imoen can just walk right up, draw the stun, fire a fireball and come back to the party. It should be
just mop up then. And sure enough it worked perfectly she did not get stunned. Think I will use this technique from now on, it's perfectly safe.

Good to know that, I have troubles with those mephits regularly.

I wouldn't count on being safe V - I think that must only be in vanilla.  I was fairly sure I'd been stunned through magic protection in the past, though that would have been spell deflection rather than MGoI.  Just to test it I created a character and globed her - here she is stunned into silence.

[corey_russell]

You have the Atweaks Mephit mod though right, Grond0? Might it depend on that mod rather than just being vanilla or not?

[AnonymousHero]

Vaclavc wrote...

corey_russell wrote...
(snip stuff about MGoI protecting against stunning Mephits)

Good to know that, I have troubles with those mephits regularly.

If you take the Horn of Kazgaroth (sp?) with you from BG1, it can protect almost any character from those (vanilla) mephits -- a charge only lasts 3 rounds, however, so you'll have to kill it quick. IIRC it also works against the Radiant Mephit in the Mephit portal room.

Having no better options I tested it with a solo no-reload Kensai (long deceased).

[Alesia_BH]

In my install, the Mephit abilities are classed as Level 2 spells. Consequently, MGoI and the Horn would both work as suggested above.

A-Tweaks may very well be the mischief maker here.


@AH- What killed your Kensai? Do you have any tips or advice for Alessandra?

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 18 octobre 2011 - 06:11 .

[AnonymousHero]

Alesia_BH wrote...
@AH- What killed your Kensai? Do you have any tips or advice for Alessandra?

Greater Command by the Slaver cleric. For some reason I paniced and forgot all about that Potion of Clarity stowed away in a potion bag... (or even Magic Shielding or whatever the "make all saves automatically" potion is called).

EDIT: IOW, a truly facepalm moment.

Modifié par AnonymousHero, 18 octobre 2011 - 06:25 .

[corey_russell]

Grond0 wrote...

Alesia_BH wrote...

@Gron0- Sorry to hear about Ergot.

Call Lightning is one of those threats that demands a defense.

Do you intend to complete Ergot's game as planned?

He did have potions available, but was consciously taking a bit of a risk.  That was partly because I was a bit bored with him - hence I have started another BG1 challenge to do something different.  I had intended to come back and complete his game, but while reading your post realised that I had neglected to take a final save for him - so the only save I have of him is starting out in Candlekeep!  I suppose I could replicate his position reasonably accurately with Shadowkeeper, but I'm not sure I will - I'll see how I feel after finishing my BG1 run.

I'm not sure I understand Grond0. We are asking if you will continue Ergot, but you mention BG 1? And is there really no save for him, not even auto-save?

[HoonDing]

I'm not sure whether Alora's run will still continue, but let me share this:

[Alesia_BH]

AnonymousHero wrote...

Greater Command by the Slaver cleric. For some reason I paniced and forgot all about that Potion of Clarity stowed away in a potion bag... (or even Magic Shielding or whatever the "make all saves automatically" potion is called).

Understood. The Potion of Clarity wouldn't have worked there since it doesn't cover sleep.. The Potion of Magic Shielding would have saved him though.

If you have any advice, do let me know- I'm really a newbie when it comes to fighters. 

[Alesia_BH]

virumor wrote...

I'm not sure whether Alora's run will still continue, but let me share this:

Alora is feeling pretty abandoned right now. I'm not sure whether I'll get back to her.

The thing is, I have serious doubts about how she'll perform against Irenicus in Hell and Tougher Abazigal. She can take down Mel and the others, but those two fights may be dicey.

I'm sure she can do them, but I don't have a plan now and that makes me uncomfortable. I don't like getting characters killed...

Anyhoo. She was fun for a while. I apologize to those who were following her. 

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 18 octobre 2011 - 10:16 .

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alessandra's Game:

Alessandra is in the middle of a tough fight right now- I'm a little worried about her actually. This may be the point where her inability to use Dispelling Arrows and the Reflection Shield gets her killed.

It's in the Planar Prison. It's the second fight. There are 4 Mages and they are pummeling her with COrbs, Acid Arrows, Flame Arrows, and Meteors. There's also a bunch of Hasted Mordy Swords and Skeleton Warriors running around. Her buffs are getting dispelled and healing is running low. Of course, it's a lock-in quest so she can't just bail and buy more potions...

I think I have a plan to get her out of it, but it isn't going to be cheap. I have to say I'm worried about the Warden now as well. I've only done this quest in SCS once and that was with Maze Trapping Alesia. I may have a skewed perspective on the difficulty of the final fight.

Wish her luck. This could be the end...

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 18 octobre 2011 - 10:09 .

[Grond0]

corey_russell wrote...
I'm not sure I understand Grond0. We are asking if you will continue Ergot, but you mention BG 1? And is there really no save for him, not even auto-save?

I was mentioning BG1 in the context that I was a bit bored of Ergot and therefore looking for something different to do for a while.  I did intend to go back to him later, but don't have a save (the quicksave and autosave for Ergot were written over as soon as I started my no-XP BG1 run).  The only save I use during standard play is quicksave (+ occasionally autosave for a crash).  I do normally also save immediately after character creation - that fits in with my usual no-reload policy, i.e. if you want to start again it's got to be from the beginning.

I know I promised - sorry.  I'll get there one day.

[Grond0]

Alesia_BH wrote...
Wish her luck.

Consider her wished.

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alessandra's Game:

The quest is over. Alessandra survived (the 4 mages screwed up, the Warden was a pushover). She used a lot of potions on the quest, but she scored enough to cover expenses and then some.

All's well that ends well I suppose, but I'm none-to-pleased. Alessandra had to use the Rod of Resurrection to Heal. I know many players are comfortable with that, but it has always felt pretty cheesy to me. I sometimes let it slide in the final Ascension Battle, but aside from that, I consider it off limits. I'm ambivalent about continuing her game. Not sure at this point...

Best,

A.

Btw. Thanks Grond0. Maybe your wish was what caused those mages to catch a sudden case of stupidity...

Btw II. One thing I learned from this is that regen items can be especially helpful on lock-in quests.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 18 octobre 2011 - 10:11 .

[corey_russell]

Grond0 wrote...

corey_russell wrote...
I'm not sure I understand Grond0. We are asking if you will continue Ergot, but you mention BG 1? And is there really no save for him, not even auto-save?

I was mentioning BG1 in the context that I was a bit bored of Ergot and therefore looking for something different to do for a while.  I did intend to go back to him later, but don't have a save (the quicksave and autosave for Ergot were written over as soon as I started my no-XP BG1 run).  The only save I use during standard play is quicksave (+ occasionally autosave for a crash).  I do normally also save immediately after character creation - that fits in with my usual no-reload policy, i.e. if you want to start again it's got to be from the beginning.

I know I promised - sorry.  I'll get there one day.

Hmm...appears you are reading "too much" into this no-reload thing..it's no reloads (except the two cavaets), not no saving! I save all the time, partly due to crashes (rare, but does happen in Win7 for me) and also to the "no talk" bug I get in Vista/Win7. They won't talk to me (but should) but if I just save/reload they will talk. Annoying bug but easy to to get around I guess. I think I finally understand what happened to you, since you use the BG 2 engine for both BG1 and BG2, as you say your BG 1 overwrote Ergot. Too bad...Well you'll get another character. But BG 2 is a big game being bored can be fatal, as you've clearly demonstrated.

[Alesia_BH]

 Alessandra in the Planar Prison

The Planar Prison quest ended up being surprisingly difficult for Alessandra. After breezing through the first fight, she took a savage beating at the hands of 4 mages. She may have survived -and they may have died- but by all rights they won the battle, they hammered her with their spells. Alessandra out-healed them but she didn't outfight them.

The first battle was over almost as soon as it began. The casters fell quick, and then it was just clean up.


The Yuan-Ti Mage crew was a different story all together. They buffed and then blasted Alessandra. The 4 of them were a constant stream of Acid Arrow, Flame Arrows, Chromatic Orbs and Meteors. Potion buffs were dispelled quick. So long as they stayed together, they had the edge on Alessandra: she simply could remain visible long enough to cut through their Stoneskins and finish.



The Reflection Shield and Dispelling Arrows would have made a world of difference here. Without either, it was tough going.

Eventually, the mages broke formation and spread out. Once that happened, Alessandra was able to pick them off one by one. All she had to do was tolerate summons for that to work.


The Warden was a bit anti-climactic after that. Alessandra took advantage of his ability to see through invisibility, using it to seperate him from his support casters. On his own, he simply couldn't pump out enough offense to be a meaningful threat. His poor movement rate made his melee abilities were completely irrelevant. 


Alessandra is currently doing some clean-up work in Athkatla (Guarded Compound, Etc). She is considering investigating the Planar Sphere before heading to Spellhold.

Best,

A.


Btw. I'm still considering retiring Alessandra due to the Rod of Resurrection use. I'd prefer to keep that out of the set of allowable tactics for my characters. Even if I do let her continue, this run with have a big asterix on it in my mind...


 

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 19 octobre 2011 - 02:02 .

[Alesia_BH]

 Alessandra at the Guarded Compound

I've decided to let Alessandra continue. The Rod of Resurrection use wasn't egregious. I had her drink a Potion of Invisibility first each time (Divination was drained) so the speed of healing wasn't an issue- it was really the absolute amount of available healing that was at issue in the fight. Had she brought the Pearly White Ioun Stone, she could have just sat around invisible for a few game hours and achieved the same thing basically. Next time I'll bring the Stone, leave the Rod, and feel a lot better about life...

Regardless,  I'm curious to see how far the girl can get. I'm also interested in finishing the game with a single class fighter (I've started a few fighter games, but have abandoned them each time). Alessandra might as well be the first- hopefully without reloading.

So: the Guarded Compound. This was pretty straightforward.

Alessandra has a few ways of dealing with mages. Her favorite is to just cut them in half. I let her go ahead with that plan this time. She was pleased.


Next, it was Dual-Wielding Katana Kensai versus Two-Handeder Kensai. Dual Wielding Katana Kensai loses of course because he gets punked before his stinky little knives get close. Koshi (dizzy little dreamer that he is) held out hope that Alessandra would do something foolish and give him a window of opportunity to Stun her with Celestial Fury. With each blow, his hopes dwindled however. And as his head flew across the room he thought "Oh. that's right, she's a Halfling, she'd make the save anyways...)


The next phase of the fight basically consisted of avoiding Ketta while giving Stalman periodic pokes in the gut whenever he opened his mouth. Ketta wa the only tactically relevant one at this point: the Deva, the Fighters, the Cleric- they're all too slow.


Eventually, Stalman stopped opening his mouth...


Alessandra and Ketta continued to play cat and mouse. And it was never really clear who the cat was. Eventually, Alessandra got sick of waiting for her to pop out of invisibility. She hit one of the fighters with a Potion of Firebreath, ran around in circles and baked invisible Ketta to a golden brown. Just one thing left: carve the turkey.


It's not hard to imagine what happened to the slow poke fighters of course...


The end.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 19 octobre 2011 - 06:04 .

[Alesia_BH]

Final Update for Alessandra:

Well that was a surprise...

Alessandra has passed on. I was completely blindsided by a peculiar special ability from Entu. It's called Ballistic Attack. It's ranged, instacasts, does 5d12 Crushing Damage, and doesn't allow a save. He got a good roll and killed her. I didn't see that one coming...

I've noticed odd abilities from Entu before. But since they never actually effected my characters, I didn't pay much attention.

Ballistic Attack is something I've seen from Mind Flayers. I hadn't seen it from Entu though. I do vaguely recal Saros mentioning it on Entu in one of his IA runs, but that version has different properties. Live and learn. Or in this case, die and learn...

Since I'm in the mood for BG2, I may just go ahead and resume Alora's game. I'm not sure when I'll get to it though. The weather is starting to look better here finally.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 19 octobre 2011 - 08:01 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

@Alesia

Sad to hear that...
Well, *so far, so good*, at least we can hope for Alora back in action...

BTW, in *my* runs Entu use that ballistic attack quite often (practicaly always). Even in vanilla or *light*-modded installs. At the same time I've not experienced that kind of attack from Mind Flayers. They use Psionic Blast, which Stun target, ready for *brain-sucking* (I experienced that literally yesterday in the Underdark whilst saving Phaere from them. They shoot Psionic Blast as openning and stun me. Only Imoen's Death Spell and my ever-ready Contingency *Self=Helpless->Sunctuary* saved my hide...)

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 19 octobre 2011 - 09:02 .

[corey_russell]

Veene the level 12 thief dualed to a level 8 cleric > adventure continues...

Argghh...accidentally hit something on my keyboard which made me go back and page and lose my post...Party making good progress, Veene has dualed to a cleric. This is the higest level dual I have ever attempted.

Party Status:
Jaheira - level 9 fighter/level 11 druid, 74 HP
Korgan - level 10 berserker, 122 HP
Veene - level 12 thief (inactive) > level 8 cleric, 68 HP
Viconia - level 11 cleric, 52 HP
Yoshimo - level 11 bounty hunter, 78 HP
Edwin - level 10 conjurer, 50 HP

We've freed Hendak, dealt with the slavers in the moored ship (easily), did the Lilacor quest, found "Montaron", dealt with Maevar. So far, at least the party is doing much better than our initial foray into doing Korgan's quest.

Next goals will be to improve Jaheira's AC and give her a club from Trademeet.

[Grond0]

Alesia_BH wrote...
Alessandra has passed on. I was completely blindsided by a peculiar special ability from Entu. It's called Ballistic Attack. It's ranged, instacasts, does 5d12 Crushing Damage, and doesn't allow a save. He got a good roll and killed her. I didn't see that one coming...

Sorry to hear that - you're not tempted by the campfire idea to finish off a fighter run then?

[Alesia_BH]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...

BTW, in *my* runs Entu use that ballistic attack quite often (practically always).

Yeah. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that it is a common ability from him- I have seen the Ego Whip a number of times and that is in the same class of abilities. There is a pretty simple explanation for why I haven't noticed it before.

In Solo No Reloads, I typically only do the lock-in quests with characters that I am confident in. Those would be arcane defended characters and Alesia at Level 21+. Entu's Ballistic Attack wouldn't be tactically relevant for those characters.

In party play, I typically went all arcane and fought in Telefields with an occasional archer lingering at the edge of the battlefield. Ballistic Attack wouldn't have mattered then either.


As for the Mind Flayer use of it, I've only seen it from one particular Mind Flayer and only in my current install. It was the one near the Myconid King. I've seen him Dimmension Door, and then use Balistic Attack at range for damage when blocked out of melee by Myconids. I'm not confusing it with Psionic Blast. 

Anyhoo. It was an enjoyable run. And I did learn a bit about fighter play. Before my break, my Archer, Alia was the only Warrior I used. The recent posts I've made here on Alana and Alessandra reflect the sum total of my exprience with Fighters. I think I'm starting to get a feel, but I still don't consider myself to be at all competent with them. 

Grond0 wrote...
Sorry to hear that - you're not tempted by the campfire idea to finish off a fighter run then?

I'm tempted. But when I was on Photobucket last night, I noticed that the Alora pictures were getting a lot of views. I'm guessing that reflects interest in her run so I feel I should continue her rather than leaving her in limbo.

I'd consider finishing Alessandra's game in a Campfire Thread if: 1) others were interested; or 2) people who know fighters better than I would chime in and tell me what I could do better. I'm sure there are people out there who could help accelerate the learning process for me and that would be a good reason to post. Otherwise, I may let her rest in peace. I have a core set of characters that I reuse (Alesia (BH), Alanis (Sorceress, now retired), Alastria (Melee Sorceress), Alia (Archer), Aliana (Avenger Druid)). I'd like to admit a fighter to the group, but I don't think it's going to end up being Alessandra: my fighter will be able to use the Reflection Shield and Dispelling Arrows. 

Best of luck to the actives!

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 19 octobre 2011 - 04:55 .

[amanasleep]

Alesia, have you considered playing a Stalker? Less power but more fun than a F/T.

[Alesia_BH]

amanasleep wrote...

Alesia, have you considered playing a Stalker? Less power but more fun than a F/T.

Yes. I have considered a Stalker. 

There is an unused portrait in my collection that I really like. She looks like either a Stalker or a Swashbuckler to me. She's one of the characters that I intend to try someday. Her name will be Ashoka.


Oh. And so you know, I don't mind the power gap at all. Since resuming play after my ~4 year break, all of my characters have been fun builds of one flavor or another. 

Best,

A.

[polytope]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Serg BlackStrider wrote...

BTW, in *my* runs Entu use that ballistic attack quite often (practically always).

Yeah. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that it is a common ability from him- I have seen the Ego Whip a number of times and that is in the same class of abilities. There is a pretty simple explanation for why I haven't noticed it before.

In Solo No Reloads, I typically only do the lock-in quests with characters that I am confident in. Those would be arcane defended characters and Alesia at Level 21+. Entu's Ballistic Attack wouldn't be tactically relevant for those characters.

Also, SCS increases the damage of psionic attacks quite a bit (not as much as Tactics mindflayers, whose ballistic attack deals 12d6 damage), it's easy to ignore in the unmodded game.

May I ask how you manage to hit mages like Sion before they cast stoneskin? They've always had SS pre-cast in my games with SCS.