15228 réponses à ce sujet

[Alesia_BH]

Wierdo wrote...
Heh, I wonder what music would make good background for thumping fire giants?

I rarely listen to music when playing since the sounds are tactically relevant, but I do often associate songs with battles and areas.

It depends a lot on the character for me. Alastria tends to get a lot of Electronica and Hipster stuff with a little bit of Bowie thrown in. Alesia mostly 70s Punk. Sex Pistols, The Clash- that sort of thing.

Here are some of my favorite pairings.

For Alesia:

In Beregost post Candlekeep expulsion: Pretty Vacant by the Sex Pistols
Bounty Hunting for Oublek: Career Opportunities by the Clash
At the Bandit Camp: No Feelings by the Sex Pistols
Returning to Candlekeep: My Family by Jay Reatard
Against Sarevok: Dead End Justice by The Runaways

For Alastria.

Against Sarevok: Big Brother and The Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family by David Bowie
In Spellhold: Tribulations by LCD Soundsytem
In the Underdark: Disco Infiltrator by LCD Soundsystem
In Suldanessalar: One Way of Another by Blondie
In the ToB Tougher Battle Series: Life During Wartime by the Talking Heads

Based on her portrait, Weirdo seems pretty New Wave Dance to me. I'm not sure what kind of music you like though...

Against Giants with Weirdo I'd probably be thinking of The Laughing Gnome by David Bowie (Ha, ha, ha! He, he, he! I'm a laughing gnome and you can't catch me!). That's pretty darn goofy though of course...

EDIT: Scratch that. If I were playing Weirdo, it would be Fields of Fire by Big Country in the Marching Mountains.

And If I were doing a video for her, Bruce would definitely have to kick-chunk a giant at 2:01 when the song goes "hut! hut! hut!". 


Anyhoo. Good luck choosing!

Best,

A.


NW: if you have the SCS Improved Fire Giant Temple component installed be careful Weirdo: there are some definite "gotchas" in that place. Watch out for the Fell Cats draining your Fire Resistance and don't take Imix lightly. That pair of Red Dragons over near Brennen could be dangerous as well. I can't really say since Alesia didn't give them an opening at all. The looked kinda scary though...

Best of luck!

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 24 octobre 2011 - 06:05 .

[Alesia_BH]

Quick question for the Stalkers out there.

Ashoka is entering HLA territory. Any advice on selection?

I'm thinking lots of Hardinesses and Critical Strikes with a few Whirlwinds sprinkled in so she can Doom->Kachiko Yaga. Does that make sense?

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 24 octobre 2011 - 06:06 .

[Gate70]

Alesia_BH wrote...
Ashoka is entering HLA territory. Any advice on selection?

I'm tempted to suggest Tracking but no it really is useless. I haven't tried war cry much, suspect many enemies would save but you never know. Your suggestions seem a good balance; Critical strike and backstab = fun.

[Alesia_BH]

Gate70 wrote...
Critical strike and backstab = fun.

Exactly. Critical Strike seems like a great HLA for Stalkers. With her Staff and Strength buffs, she'll be able to dish out ~140HP backstabs on command. That will complement her other abilities nicely.

Tracking make sense from an RP viewpoint. It's a shame that it serves little purpose.

As for War Cry...

From a style standpoint, it just doesn't fit. Ashoka has Horror as a Bhaal spawn abilty, and I haven't let her use it once.

Had Kensai Alessandra reached HLA land, I might have given it to her. That could have been fun. I like the image of a Halfling with a Two-Handed Sword freaking people out. 

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 24 octobre 2011 - 07:02 .

[amanasleep]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Quick question for the Stalkers out there.

Ashoka is entering HLA territory. Any advice on selection?

I'm thinking lots of Hardinesses and Critical Strikes with a few Whirlwinds sprinkled in so she can Doom->Kachiko Yaga. Does that make sense?

Hardiness, Critical Strike, and Whirlwinds are all very good, although the Whirlwinds may not be worth it if you decide to get Bracers of Blinding Strike or Ring of Gaxx.

Personally, I really like to take a Power Attack and a Smite when soloing.  The on-hit stun effect from Power attack is very effective, and the positional advantage of knockback from Smite can be a big save in tough battles if you are getting mobbed.

Do you use Arrows of Detonation?  If you do, then all sorts of ridiculous things can be pulled off with Power Attack, Smite, and Greater Deathblow.  They are pretty cheesy though.  Having Jaheira do it with Fire Seeds is more satisfying.

[Alesia_BH]

 Catch Up Coverage for Ashoka

Ashoka's updates are falling behind her progres so I'll quickly fill in the gap.

Swung by the Guarded Compound to raise gold for Dispelling Arrows and The Defender. Then it was off to Bodhi's Lair.


Most of the Vamps were pureed with Kachiko's and Belm. Minor Spell Defecltion foiled Cloud of Bats.


The Golem got Ages and the Defender.


Used a Staff of Striking charge on Lassal simply because he richly deserved a quick, undignified death after all his blathering on.


Against Bodh, Ashoka went with Ages and the Defender while running her first and only HLA (Hardiness) along with Armor of Faith.


Bodhi couldn't do a whole lot of damage then.


The AoP handled Level Drain. Potion and item buffs handled The Final Sleep and Touch of Death. Didn't see any bats from her this time.


Little damage was taken all told.


Rushing through Brynnlaw, Ashoka very nearly botched the Ginia guest. She hit the Shadow, equipped her Staff of Striking, and got in position behind her target. She was just about to finish him off when she noticed something wasn't quite right...


Galvena got a knock on the noggin followed by a blade in the gut.



Vadek had no answer for Improved Invisibiliy + Minor Spell Deflection. He got a Secret Word in, but that was countered with a second MSD. Cold Arrows dropped him.


Perth the Adept was skilled at one thing: demonstraing once again that mages look best in chunky bits...


The Book of Infinite spells was on Fireball when Ashoka received it. Ashoka quickly turned the page, and got something useful. The book is staying there.


Ashoka's (semi) current Character Record and Inventory.



NW: She puts the Helm of Defense on every now and then but since it looks terrible, she is primarily using the Pale Green Ioun Stone.

She'll head into the Asylum soon.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 24 octobre 2011 - 07:40 .

[Alesia_BH]

amanasleep wrote...

Personally, I really like to take a Power Attack and a Smite when soloing.  The on-hit stun effect from Power attack is very effective, and the positional advantage of knockback from Smite can be a big save in tough battles if you are getting mobbed.

Yeah. She'll take her Smite. I just negelected to mention that.

If you do, then all sorts of ridiculous things can be pulled off with Power Attack, Smite, and Greater Deathblow.  They are pretty cheesy though.  Having Jaheira do it with Fire Seeds is more satisfying. 

I'm aware. I think I'll pass on that stuff for this run. It could be fun with another character.

Thanks for the comments (Gate70 as well ).

As for the Whirlwinds, they are really just for Yaga. She'll use Item based Improved  Haste no doubt, but I'd like to have a few Whirlwinds for backup since she'll likely have to take a few shots at it. Under Doom, his Save v. Death will be 6. His Wisdom is 10.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 24 octobre 2011 - 07:36 .

[Alesia_BH]

A quick question for those more experienced with SCS scripted Mind Flayer.

The monster tome Mind Flayer panicked and then Dimmension Doored away before Ashoka could finish him.


Is he just going to come out of nowhere and ambush her later? I intend to defend against Psionics untill she leaves the area, but I'm curious if anyone has any insight on this.

[amanasleep]

Alesia_BH wrote...

As for the Whirlwinds, they are really just for Yaga. She'll use Item based Improved  Haste no doubt, but I'd like to have a few Whirlwinds for backup since she'll likely have to take a few shots at it. Under Doom, his Save v. Death will be 6. His Wisdom is 10.

Makes sense.  How is Minor Spell Deflection working out?  I saved a lot of Invisibility potions that way.  Deflecting Vampire bats is awesome.

edit: Statistically, I think it may be quite difficult to kill Yaga this way.  20 hits with Kachiko yield 5 failed saves on a straight average which would drain him to zero, but if you miss or he makes a few more than he will recover.

Does Kachiko's effect expire at the end of the round following the save or at the end of 2 rounds following?  If it lasts for the round in which it occurs plus two more full rounds then it should work provided you can Whirlwind 3 times.

What's plan B?

Modifié par amanasleep, 24 octobre 2011 - 09:51 .

[Alesia_BH]

amanasleep wrote...
Statistically, I think it may be quite difficult to kill Yaga this way.  20 hits with Kachiko yield 5 failed saves on a straight average which would drain him to zero, but if you miss or he makes a few more than he will recover.

Right. That's why I want more than one Whirlwind to give her a few shots at it. On average, it would work assuming she connects, but she won't necessarily hit and Tymora could be on his side.

It's nowhere near as effective as the Chaos Blade- that thing just drops him. Kachiko's is a potential time saver rather than a sure thing.

Does Kachiko's effect expire at the end of the round following the save or at the end of 2 rounds following?  If it lasts for the round in which it occurs plus two more full rounds then it should work provided you can Whirlwind 3 times.

The 2 round duration is implemented as Time 12.

What's plan B?

Plan B against Yaga is Poison. Darts of Wounding and Arrows of Biting are pretty effective against him. She can load him up, vanish, and then load him up again. I've done it before with Alesia. It works.

My guess is that she'll end up going the Poison route. The Kachiko thing just sounds more fun.

In general, Ashoka's use of Kachiko's is mostly about style. You may be able to mess up a cleric book or two with it, but I don't think the Wisom drain is likely to kill much. Yaga and Firkraag seem possible. Other stuff will just die by straight damage before their Wisdom gets to 0.


Best,

A.

Btw. On MSD. It's nice to have- no doubt about it. So far, it's been a convenience rather than  alife saver, but I'm glad it's there.

Ultimately, the most important thing about it may be that it will help her keep her Hardinesses up against Breachers.

Btw. Did you use SCS+Ascension in you Stalker solo? If so, there are a few battles that I'll want to talk to you about.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 25 octobre 2011 - 12:52 .

[corey_russell]

Veene the level 12 thief dualed to level 18 cleric - FINAL update

Just isn't my day, I guess. The party cleared out one of the new areas in Chapter 6 the pass I think. Then we went to the small area with the gavestones as you enter, and that party with the mage that casts Time Stop. When we first arrived two powerful vampires were present, we killed them fast, partially due to Edwin's spell sequencer.

There was a sarcophagus that needed to be opened so Veene walked forward. He almost made it when two Djinns appeared, apparently they were invisible. He ran back to the party but that was no salvation - both Djinns did a fire attack, maybe 2 fireballs? If Veene's HP were based on a fighter he would have survived but levels 1-9 were based on a thief -- as such he was the party's only fatality. He didn't have any fire resistance equipment, as of course he had thief based stuff, things that helped him hide in shadows, invisibility ring, etc.

Back to BG 1 to restart Picenon.

Modifié par corey_russell, 25 octobre 2011 - 01:36 .

[amanasleep]

[quote]Alesia_BH wrote...

[quote]amanasleep wrote...
Btw. Did you use SCS+Ascension in you Stalker solo? If so, there are a few battles that I'll want to talk to you about.

[/quote]

Yes, but I never got into ToB in that run.  I abandoned the game after I had trouble getting past the guardians of WK.

[Wierdo]

corey_russell wrote...

Wierdo wrote...

Alesia_BH wrote...

Weirdo's run is getting exciting!

You know, it's funny that you titled the Illasera post "Talking Heads". When I was reading your background post on Weirdo, the Talking Heads song "Punk Lolita" popped into my head. Odd coincidence...

Heh, I wonder what music would make good background for thumping fire giants?

Personally, I love the music that plays when you first enter Yaga-Shura's Temple, makes the fight with all the giants feel truly epic...

I usually play with the music volume way down so I missed that music! Wierdo is currently half-way through the fire giant part but went to the temple first. Maybe it will play again when Wierdo goes back with the hearts to Nyalee.

Anyway, I was thinking that maybe "Light my Fire" by The Doors would be appropriate ....

[Alesia_BH]

Sorry to hear about Veene Corey- he had made excellent progress. Enjoy your F/T solo.

[Alesia_BH]

 Ashoka in Spellhold

Ashoka has escaped the Maze end defeated Irenicus. I'll provide concise coverage of the Maze, and cover the Irenicus fight in some detail.

As mentioned in and earlier post, Ashoka "misplaced" a Mind Flayer somewhere in the Maze. And since she really didn't like the idea of a Mind Flayer coming out of nowhere while she was busy with something else, she zipped through.

The Lich was for all intents and purposes ignore. Ashoka just ran past him. The only effect he had on the run was to create a slight delay between Ashoka's opening Backstab on Dace and the Vamps end.


Time resumed and...


Ashoka grabbed her helping hand, and then took off. That was that for the resident undead.

The Golems got Ages + Defender under Hardiness. Ashoka scored the string along with Boots of the North, and Boots of Grounding.

Onto Lonk. I recall someone asking about convincing Lonk to cough up the key without paying him. I'll note that there are screenshots covering this in my Photobucket album. Anyhoo. The inmates were freed and it was time to throw down.

Irenicus began by taking his buffs. Here's a partial list.


He then Spawned the Ashoka Clone. Ashoka's clone was somewhere in between Alastria's and Alesia's. Alastria's was laughable -the script had no idea how to use her book. The Clone was a ToB leveled mage tossing Spook and Meteors. The Alesia clone, on the other hand, chunked all the inmates in a few rounds. 

Ashoka's clone was wielding Belm with Harmony in the offhand. She also had Boots of Speed and 5 Potions of Extra Healing. What she lacked, however, were Ashoka's strength and invisibilty potions. Without those, she couldn't be terribly dangerous. She did manage to take out a couple inmates though before getting chunked by the Staff of Striking.

As soon as the Ashoka Clone was spawned, it took Hardiness. Ashoka got her opening backstab in just before Hardiness took effect however.


The real Ashoka quaffed an Invisibility potion while her Clone Power Attacked Aphril. Aphril failed her save and was later killed. But note invisible Ashoka lurking behind her clone.


Jon took his first Time Stop. And when time resumed, the clone was finished off.


So now it was Irenicus versus Wanev, Dradeel, and Ashoka. Jon took his second Time Stop and wiped out the remaining inmates. Ashoka kept her distance and emerged unscathed.


Just Ashoka and Jon. Jon was hanging out in a multilayer Sphere of Chaos running Absolute Immunity and summoning Mordy Swords. This gave Ashoka zero incentive to do anything but sit around Hidden in Shadow while non-detectable. 


While she was waiting for Jon's buffs to expire, she started layering in her own. Buff->Debuff->Attack is a good formula. But Hide/Evade->Buff->Attack will beat it every time.


When the Abjuration stuff wore off, the Sphere died down, and the Mordy's unsummoned, Ashoka went to work with her Acid Arrows. MSD took some of the bite out of Jon's Meteors.


Meteors eat MSD, Ashoka refreshes.


Jon: Chain Lightning, Ashoka: Cloak of Reflection.


Jon: "Incantus", Ashoka: Disruption via Acid Arrow.


You can see where this is headed can't you...


Off to the Seafood Buffett.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 25 octobre 2011 - 03:01 .

[corey_russell]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Sorry to hear about Veene Corey- he had made excellent progress. Enjoy your F/T solo.

Yeah me too. Was dumbfounded for a few moments once I processed that the djinns took him out. This area has now ended two of my runs, might just avoid it in the future. Either that or equip a fire-resistance ring on my main character before coming here. : )

I am enjoying the F/T solo in BG 1. I expect to come to a grisly end in BG 2, but I guess will have to just wait and see.

[Alesia_BH]

 Ashoka in the Underdark Part 1

After deciding she wasn't in the mood for seafood, Ashoka grabbed Jon's key and journeyed into the Underdark. The early stages were uneventful.

The Air Elementals were dropped with the Staff of Air.


The Balor was Doomed, and then sent to his Doom.



It would suffice to say that things didn't go as smoothly after that...

Before triggering the bridge war party encounter, Ashoka dispatched the Kua Toans in order to create more space and take those evil infinite True Sights out of play. She noticed that there was one less spawn then expected, but shrugged her shoulders and moved on. She reached the bridge, and the Drow War Party paid her a visit.

She opened by nixing one of the Priests with a Staff of Striking backstab, and then raced to the shadows. So far, so good. Not much went right after that.

Seeking Shadows, she headed Southeast. Guess what happened? Rember that missing Kua Toan spawn? Yeah. Well it decided to appear now. Bummer.

Ashoka headed West. To her surprise, Finderlig and his pals decided to giv the Kuo Toans and Drow a helping hand. Double bummer.

Then, Ashoka learned that other Drow War Party was in call for help range from Finderlig. Triple bummer.

So yeah. Killing Ashoka became the Underdark's social event of the century. That may be a fractious group with little common ground between them, but they could agree on one thing: they all wanted to kill a ranger. The KuaToans, a pair of Drow War Parties, the Traders. Heck, the Elemental's decided to join in on the fun too. A couple screenshots to convey a sense of the action. I'll note that in both of these shots, you are just seeing a chunk of Ashoka's foes- they were spread throughout the Underdark.



With all the pre-buffing, potion chugging, and Improved Drow this qualified as a royal pain-in-the-keist. A few oldy-but-goody tricks helped Ashoka get through.

Equipping Belm and the Reflection Shield at a choke point.


Blocking a path with Stunned foes and then attacking with a Throwing Axe + The Reflection Shield


Eventually, Ashoka prevailed, but the fray did put a pretty big dent in the healing potion supply. This encounter could come back to haunt her. 

Ashoka is chatting with Adalon now.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 25 octobre 2011 - 06:14 .

[corey_russell]

Nice work getting through all that. I must admit, I usually just use summons against those drow war parties, though a heavy melee group (such as my all-paladin party) can churn through them suprisingly easy.

[Alesia_BH]

For Ashoka, meleeing them without Hardiness + AoF + Defender was a no go. They have a lot of Potions of Extra Healing, Potions of Heroism, and Exceptional Strength Potions in my install. They are also beefier than in vanilla.

That fight took a ridiculously long amount of time- the better part of an afternoon.

I'll definitely try to avoid making another mess like that...

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 25 octobre 2011 - 03:46 .

[corey_russell]

Well, a mess like yours Alesia is still a heck a lot better than Veene's getting fireballed to death, no?

[Alesia_BH]

Sure. That said, Ashoka had to dig pretty deep into her potion collection for that one. She may find herself strapped later on without resorting to Dart selling (Cloak of the Stars) or something of that nature.

I may be forced to retire her in the not to distant future. We'll see.

Best,

A.

Btw. I do hope you enjoy your F/T solo. I've never done one, but there is a really high power ceiling there. Even if this run doesn't work out, that's definitely a build that get you your Trilogy Solo No Reload some day. Good hunting!

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 25 octobre 2011 - 06:11 .

[AnonymousHero]

@Alesia: I forget, are you playing with improved fiends? If so, how were you protecting against the Baalor's vorpal hit?

(EDIT: I may have a solo barbarian on the way to the Underdark soonish, but we'll see... I don't want to think too far ahead.)

Modifié par AnonymousHero, 25 octobre 2011 - 04:35 .

[corey_russell]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Sure. That said, Ashoka had to dig pretty deep into her potion collection for that one. She may find herself strapped later on without resort to Dart selling (Cloak of the Stars) or something of that nature.

I may be forced to retire her in the not to distant future. We'll see.

Best,

A.

Btw. I do hope you enjoy your F/T solo. I've never done one, but there is a really high power ceiling there. Even if this run doesn't work out, that's definitely a build that get you your Trilogy Solo No Reload some day. Good hunting!

Well, guess you didn't see the BG 1 no-reload thread. Picedon was Flesh Golem meat. It was fun though. Going to try  a party next time -- for some reason getting clobbered solo hurts more ego-wise than in a party. Maybe because in a party it may have been a NPC's fault (such as Imoen killing me with her AoE when she's a mage). But  when I play solo, feels like chess in the sense if I die, I have no one to blame (if needed) but myself.

Will try again with Picedon once I do a party run-through.

[Grond0]

Nice story Alesia. It's always entertaining when enemies unite against you!

[Alesia_BH]

AnonymousHero wrote...

@Alesia: I forget, are you playing with improved fiends? If so, how were you protecting against the Baalor's vorpal hit?

No. I don't have Improved Fiends installed.

This install had been set up for Alastria's run just after my 4 year break. I figured the summoned Improved Fiends would really frack up her SoA Mustard Jelly approach against mages so I skipped that component. 

I was also worried it would make those Ascension Demon fights a mess.

After this run, I'm considering giving the original Transmuter Alastria a shot at this install. If I pass on that,  I'm definitely going spruce to it up. I'll likely install Improved Fiends then.

What are the mechanics on the Balor Vorpal? If it offers a save, just make it. Ashoka had everything -6 or lower in that fight without using consumables.

Incidentally, skipping Magical Armor in favor of Bracers of Defense + RoP and taking the Claw rather than the Helm is the way to go to my mind.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 25 octobre 2011 - 06:08 .