15235 réponses à ce sujet

[Easymask]

Ah, thank you for the comments both of you!

Final update for Itharius and his companions.

Alas, just before reading this - Itharius followed his brother Inarius at the very same location.



Things where going a lot better this time, the party dominated their way through the Astral Prison with increadible speed! Properly buffed and making good progress, they where winning the fight against the warden, when my micro management messed up. I noticed Jan was dying, so I attempted to get him some potions. Then, I had Torgaddon use his Simacularum to get more damage out against the Warden himself, as Valgyar was Mazed. Aerie had just cleared the enemy area of effect spells - when suddenly Itharius died. I noticed there where two Yuan-Ti warriors near him, but I guess was relying on his Contingency 10% Stone Skin too much as I never saw it go off.

I was hoping this would be a proper test before venturing onwards to the Planar Sphere, but alas the party was killed and thus proved that they where not. Baldurs Gate 2 SCS is a beast - that's all I can say really. Especially when playing a Mage, even though I did a lot better protecting him this time around.

Really a shame that something so stupid of me would end this run, as they had done very good progress the last couple of days. I'll do a two man run next time, from Baldurs Gate 1(then probably back to four in BG2) of course - as I will eventually beat this challenge - wether you all like it or not!

Edit: Oh and yes, I have been reading up on your previous endavours in this thread latley Alesia, they have been a great help for me - I just need to remember it all in addition to watching my micro management. I haven't found any of the arrows you mentioned in the game sadly. I tried looking in Trademeet, Athkatla and Watcher's Keep - but no Arrows of Dispelling anywhere to be found. I do use Melf's Minute Meteors a lot on Itharius and Aerie, as they are absolutley wonderful against stoneskin!

Modifié par Easymask, 28 novembre 2011 - 10:00 .

[corey_russell]

Condelences, Easy Mask. Lots of ways to die in BG 2, as you are finding. I'm not seeing a lot of summons in your screenshots, they can be of big use. Once mages or clerics get to level 15 their animate dead gives you a skeletal warrior - quite handy, he has a magical weapon, requires magical weapons to even injure him, and of course a host of undead resistances (cold, poison) and 90% magic resistance to boot! Can't tell you how many battles my party sipped drinks while my sketal warriors took down enemy mages just out of visual range.

Just a quick note EasyMask: if you were at say 11% health, and the warrior got a CRITICAL, you could get to zero and indeed the contingency would never get a chance to go off. Probably 25% would give you a better chance to get it off to help.

Something I do with my Imoen - if she gets low health, she has a contingency to improved invisible at 50%. Most melees can't see her, and mages can no longer target her with bad stuff. Just an idea. This gives her a chance to regroup and heal if needed.

Modifié par corey_russell, 28 novembre 2011 - 10:19 .

[Easymask]

Thank you corey, appriciated. I was expecting the group of Yuan-Ti, so I wanted to use area of effect spells(Skull Trap, Fireballs and Chaos) to deal with them. I don't like using summons in battles where I will be using area of effect spells, as I find the micro management required to be absolutley tiresome. It was enough with five characters for me - and even then I managed to get Jan killed. My party was at around level 11/11 - 13 at this point, I tried holding it off as long as I could - but I have completed most of the other areas. I wanted to clear the Astral Prison then move on to the Planar Sphere and get my stronghold before going to Spellhold.

You are absolutley right about the contingency. I'm not very used to the spell, so I'm still learning. I'll be sure to do try that next time - I just don't like using invisibility too much as the enemy casters seem to love dispelling that(and then most of my other buffs as well).

[Humanoid_Taifun]

Yeah, 10% HP is usually a rather pointless contingency. I would go with "50%" or better yet (unless the enemy deals non-physical damage) "hit", which makes sure that the enemy will only get 1 attack in before the old stoneskin is replaced with a new one. My personal favourites (depending on the situation) are "helpless" and "see enemy" though.

[Alesia_BH]

Easymask wrote...
I was expecting the group of Yuan-Ti, so I wanted to use area of effect spells(Skull Trap, Fireballs and Chaos) to deal with them. I don't like using summons in battles where I will be using area of effect spells, as I find the micro management required to be absolutley tiresome.

Sorry for your loss Easymask.

In SCS, summons elicit a Death Spell cast so that likey wouldn't have helped much other then consumming some spell equivalent actions. With a single mage, you can draw out the Death Spell, pull back, and then do your serious summoning but with a group it isn't an especially promising avenue. 

The SCS Yuan-Ti Mages also run double Fireshields (which ignore Magic Resistance) and use Mel's Minute Meteors so they can ice Skeleton Warriors even if they are out of Death Spells. They have enough Mirror Images, ProMW and Stoneskins to weather their attacks.

The other issue here is that the mages were running globes so your Fireballs etc wouldn't have worked. You'd need to either remove the globes or get over the top of them. They likely protected themselves from Fire damage as well so without taking down the Specific Protections, Sunfire wouldn't have done the job either.

Assuming you don't want to use the invisibility speration method, evading them untill their ProMW wore off, popping each with an Arrows of Dispelling, and then using Sunfires could have fixed the Yuan-Ti Mages. The Yuan-Ti are also only Level 12 so assuming they hadn't gone SI:A, your Conjurer could have Removed them (though it might take a couple tries).The Warden could then be dispatched on his own. 

As for the tactical ammo, the Arrows of Dispelling can be purchased at the Fletcher in the promenade- assuming you haven't installed the SCS tweak which removes them. They're expensive at ~10000 per stack, but ultimately a bargin. Arrows of Ice can be purchased there as well. Arrows of Biting and Darts of Stunning can be found in the Planar Prison itself amongst other places.
Ultimately though, it seems that taking your eye off the PC was fatal error. Lesson learned right. 

Anyhoo. Best of luck in your next run!

Best,

A.

Btw. Since the Planar Prison seems to be a hotspot for you, you may just want to skip it. And if it is just the Yuan-Ti Mages that are causing you grief, you could go early and get the Umber Hulks instead.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 28 novembre 2011 - 11:40 .

[Alesia_BH]

Opps!

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 28 novembre 2011 - 11:42 .

[amanasleep]

@easymask:

Just to add to what the others say here. I find that the easiest, most no-frills way to deal with Yuan-ti spawns in SCS is to spam them with Chaos. It has a strong save penalty and ignores Globe of Invulnerability. Simultaneous opening casting by two mages should easily incapacitate several, if not all of them. Once confused, they will no longer cast spells, allowing easy mop up once their PfMW contingencies expire. Additional castings of Chaos can be layered in as needed. Cloudkill is also very effective at disrupting Yuan-ti casting, as they have no effective counter (except moving out of the area).

[Alesia_BH]

Makes sense.

Cheers,

A.

NW: Do mind the distinction between Chaos and Confusion Easymask and others. Chaos will get over the top of a Globe of Invulnerability, Confusion won't.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 29 novembre 2011 - 08:14 .

[Easymask]

@Alesia and amanasleep - thank you both very much for the tips and pointers. One of my biggest errors might just be that I spend too much time trying to cast over/remove enemy spells with the wrong ones etc. From your feedback, I now know a lot more than I previously did - and I really want you both to know that I appriciate it. Hell, I appriciate all the feedback I get as it is much easier to improve if someone points out flaws in your gameplay!

Having blazed through Baldurs Gate - Icharius, Rylanor and Ember find themselves in Amn. They have decided to proceed into the circus tent first, hoping to help and recruit Aerie like the others have done. Hopefully they will able to make it even further than Icharius' older brothers!

Introducing: Icharius the Berserker/Mage.


Rylanor the Inquisitor.


Ember the Assassin.


I hope that Lady Luck smiles upon all of your travels friends!

Modifié par Easymask, 29 novembre 2011 - 08:30 .

[amanasleep]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Makes sense.

Cheers,

A.

NW: Do mind the distinction between Chaos and Confusion Easymask and others. Chaos will get over the top of a Globe of Invulnerability, Confusion won't.

Good note.  To fully explain:  The L4 mage spell (and L7 Cleric spell) Confusion and the L5 Mage spell Chaos both apply the "Confusion" status effect to creatures in the AoE on a failed save.  The only practical differences are spell level, duration, and save penalty.

It is worth noting that the Clerical L7 Confusion spell will also beat Globe of Invulnerability.  In fact, this is the only good reason to cast it!  Of course, even in this situation a cleric is better off with Holy Word, Symbol: Stun, or Sunray against spellcasters.  Even L5 Greater Command is probably better.

[BBMorti]

Update on Anatole the human Assassin;

She desided to clear the second level of watchers keep.. but after some contemplation it felt too risky to give the third level a try, I simply do not know it well enough.. and I have a feeling just about all of the demons there sees through invisibility.. tight quarters, no it seems risky.
Do anyone know if any solo thief's have gone through there in these challenges?

I used a potion of absorbtion for lightning generator room, a few shots of the lightning spell of the staff of magi for slimes..


A bit of bow usage and pulling monsters around and some use of traps, mainly for the Chromatic demon since only time stop traps allowed her to land solid blows on it because of its true seeing or what it has.



Demon was taken down, had places a time stop trap before releasing it.



With little left to do in amn the bodhi lair was cleared.


And so I just picked up a ward stone from a mad mage to hopefully let me enter spellhold.


I think I will at least help Imoen out of the maze under spellhold and send her on a ship to amn, for role playing purposes, besides that I will keep doing this run solo.

I will return to my session, cheers!

[DMWW]

I don't normally advertise my mods here, but since lots of people seem to be playing No-Reloads with SCSII (and demonstrating they're way better tactically than I am) and since the last version was a bit unstable, I thought I'd mention that a new version is now out. No real content changes, just bugfixes.

[BBMorti]

I think a lot of people will appreciate this mention, DMWW. Impressive to see you keeping your great mod in good shape to this day.

[Easymask]

Icharius final update.

After doing a few quests, killing Mencar and his friends for their gear - Icharius and his followers decided they would seek out the Guarded Compound before going to Trademeet. Defeating the Demon and the other monsters on the first floor - the party felt rather good about proceeding to the second floor. Fully buffed and rested, the party got oblitorated the second they got upstaires. It was a slaughter.

Sion, the enemy Mage quickly Time Stopped and removed our buffs, followed by the death of both Aerie and Ember in two quick backstabs from their thief. Icharius and Rylanor where hit by Cloudkill and when Icharius tried to get away - the enemy thief backstabbed him aswell.



The Guarded Compound is death itself it seems, and I will be sure to never set foot in that place untill I am of *much* higher level.

Gah, Baldurs Gate 2 is a cruel mistress indeed.

[DMWW]

BTW (picking up belatedly on a question from Alesia_BH): the post-Balthazar skirmish with Melissan, and the solar fight at the talking heads, are both from Wheels of Prophecy.

Modifié par DMWW, 30 novembre 2011 - 12:53 .

[corey_russell]

Condolences, EasyMask. Yeah, I usually leave the guarded compound until much later, only exception is if I need the Celestial Fury soon.

EDIT: Often, if the party moves up, then moves back immediately down, with traps and summons waiting for whomever follows (and usually the thief does) you can finish off most of the melees that way. This way you only have to deal with the mage and maybe their cleric, who isn't too bad to deal with actually. Use a dispel magic and then concentrate fire on him. Disabling spells are helpful as well. Strongly consider glitterdust -- you could target the cleric you see, but it will also get the mage and he can't hurt you if he can't target you! Same idea with chaos or confusion. Insect plague is devastation if you have a druid available (100% spell failure)- it's worth it to have a druid just for this one fight! And kick them out afterwards...

Modifié par corey_russell, 30 novembre 2011 - 11:01 .

[Alesia_BH]

@ DavidWW

It's wonderful to see you back! 

And thank you once again for all the wonderful work! Were is not for SCS, I would have stopped playing BG long ago. Many, many thanks!

DMWW wrote...
I thought I'd mention that a new version is now out. No real content changes, just bugfixes.

Thanks for the notice. I'm actually still on 15 since I ran into a problem with the version of ToBex packaged with 16-19 (Magic Damage Resistance wasn't working). I've been wanting to update, but have been holding off. Now seems like a good time to do it.

Cheers,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 30 novembre 2011 - 11:10 .

[Alesia_BH]

corey_russell wrote...

Disabling spells are helpful as well. Strongly consider glitterdust -- you could target the cleric you see, but it will also get the mage and he can't hurt you if he can't target you! Same idea with chaos or confusion. Insect plague is devastation if you have a druid available (100% spell failure)- it's worth it to have a druid just for this one fight! And kick them out afterwards...

Just a couple footnotes for the SCS players. True Sight can grant immunity to the Blindness state (and hence Glitterdust) in recent versions. And like Confusion (as opposed to Chaos), Glitterdust is foiled by GoI. It's also worth remembering that Fireshields can block the Druidic insect spells depending on your install options.

Best,

A.

Easymask wrote...
@Alesia and amanasleep - thank you both very much for the tips and pointers. One of my biggest errors might just be that I spend too much time trying to cast over/remove enemy spells with the wrong ones etc. From your feedback, I now know a lot more than I previously did - and I really want you both to know that I appriciate it.

Not a problem. But I think this is the best advice I can give: read  the spell, potion, and item descriptions. That, and use the battle record to keep track of which spells and potions exactly your enemies are using. If you know how everything works, and know what your enemies are doing, life gets a lot easier.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 30 novembre 2011 - 11:33 .

[Dante2377]

DMWW wrote...

I don't normally advertise my mods here, but since lots of people seem to be playing No-Reloads with SCSII (and demonstrating they're way better tactically than I am) and since the last version was a bit unstable, I thought I'd mention that a new version is now out. No real content changes, just bugfixes.

from the readme:

"In deference to Alesia_BH's observations about the economics of crime, the ordinary muggers at the docks don't get potions. (Their leader still does.)"

thought that was funny, though appropriate.

[corey_russell]

Picenon the fighter/thief entering challenge...and also FINAL update

Picenon was doing just fine until what happened to my last fighter/thief attempt happened to Picenon - mainly, that I wanted to bypass the mephits with no real defense to their stun so with 100% hide in shadows AND 100% move siliently I tried to get past them to report to the genie and finally get off this level - well the hiding FAILED and I got stunned. I was less than 1/2 life, so ran to the genie and hid in the shadows and talked to him but the mephits followed me. I gulped my last haste potion and ran for the exit - for a few seconds I was clear.

Here, I forgot an extremely important difference between vanilla BG 1 and BG 2 - namely that enemies follow you through doors! So while I had to chance to run to a mirror portal and theoretically should lose the mephits, I didn't do so immediately. I got surrounded and couldn't get past them (the other way is a dead) end, got stunned and then the end.


I don't feel embarrassed to die here since I was solo, but was disappointed to be kicked back to BG 1 so soon. I like BG 1 but I like BG 2 too and I had some ideas I wanted to try.

[Enuhal]

I've been busy lately, that's why there were no updates on Aedan. Here is another one, though:

The Asylum, Part II:

At the next level of the Asylum, a cc buff helped with the Illithid and a protection from undead scroll with the undead and Dace. The trolls and Yuan-Ti of the next level were no real threat, and the party used some stored blunt weapons and traps for the 3 clay golems. New boots for Shakti! Nothing else of interest happened there.

The fight with Irenicus was rather simple. He summoned the clones and Wanev time stopped (Argus had to drink a potion here). The party quickly took care of the clones with regular attacks, and Achilleus used an Arrow of Dispelling on Irenicus, making him easy to defeat.

Back in Brynnlaw, Aedan stole a Horn and fought some pirates, and eventually sailed with Seamon, but got to Sauaghin City. Since Andrastos summons Skeleton Warriors now, they took care of the city, though Andrastos helped with the undead. Had to use a lot of ranged weapons for the Sauaghin at the Princes Domain and eventually killed the king and the prince for the wave.

At the Underdark, a CCed Phobos and some Skeletons defeated the 3 mind flayers while a combination of summons, running away and fighting helped with the first drow group. Also took care of some Mykonids before closing this session.

Right now, I really have a lot to do, so I don't know how often I'll be able to update on Aedan. We shall see.

Modifié par Enuhal, 01 décembre 2011 - 09:51 .

[Easymask]

Condolences to you Corey, your character did a wonderful job in BG1, and it is very sad to see him fall to the mephits. I too get suprised more than I like with Baldurs Gate 2, even though I'm playing bgtutu.

Looking forward to your next run none the less!

Modifié par Easymask, 01 décembre 2011 - 12:17 .

[Alesia_BH]

Dante2377 wrote...
"In deference to Alesia_BH's observations about the economics of crime, the ordinary muggers at the docks don't get potions. (Their leader still does.)"

thought that was funny, though appropriate.

That is funny. 

It didn't really bother me- it was more along the lines of, for example, Adratha saying "Why you're all such big men!" when I roll into her cabin with a solo female Halfling...

I guess the streets will be safer at night now though...

corey_russell wrote...
Picenon was doing just fine until what happened to my last fighter/thief attempt happened to Picenon.

Sorry to hear that. That's an encounter I generally skip on both RP and tactical grounds. My characters don't see it as wise to futz around with Mephits in the midst of a hurried escape- especially without a tactical toolkit covering Stun and Elemental Damage. I tend to agree with them (though I can see why others might feel compelled to do it).

Anyhoo: good luck with your next run!

Best,

A. 

Btw. I may work an Alessandra session into my weekend plans. I'll post on it if it occurs of course. 

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 01 décembre 2011 - 04:16 .

[corey_russell]

Thanks for the consolations guys. I still have his beginning save (e.g., his character just created). I may restart him, but will need a change of pace first. Started a new run, though haven't posted a official entry yet. You can see my unofficial description of my hopefully soon to be posted entry in the BG 1 no-reload thread.

[Easymask]

Greetings and salutations everyone!

Having completed Baldurs Gate 1 SCS solo with my Stalker, he has now made his way to Amn!

As Sarevok's corpse crumbled and burned - Canderon fell to his knees, holding one hand on a wound on his shoulder - a wound Sarevok had just recently given him. He looked around for a moment, searching around the room for answers still unanswered. All he could see was Tazok and Angelo fleeing the scene, now that their master had fallen. As he got back on his feet, he was startled for a second - something was watching him, but for how long they had, he could not tell. "Who are you, and what do you want?!" he said in a stern voice, grasping his bow and preparing an arrow from his quiver. The shadowed silhouete stepped into the light, revealing a young elven woman.

"How long have you been standing there?!" he said, still stern in tone. "Name's Belatrice, and I've been keepin' me eye on you for quite some time "Human"." She said smirkingly while she leaned backwards, arms crossed. "I'm an old friend of Gorions, 'n I caught yer trail once ya returned to Baldurs Gate. I couldn' reveal meself  'fore I knew yer true purpose now could I? Either way it seems to me like Gorion taught ye well, now doesn't it?" hinting over to the corpse next to him.

The two talked for a while, before Canderon agreed that it was time he traveled with company. He found the woman charming, and he was quite impressed by her skill to hide in the shadows. They discussed what path to follow next over a pint of ale, back in the Elfsong Tavern. They decided to seek more answers further south - alongside Minsc, Jaheira, Imoen and Khalid.

After they had made camp for the night, they where ambushed by shadows, ending up in the dungeon of one particularly evil Mage.

Canderon(Shadowkeeper'd down to 161000 xp(the cap in BG1) with Keldorn's voicekit.


Belatrice(unshadowkeepered) - with Anna's voicekit from Planescape Torment.


They will probably travel alongside either Minsc or Keldorn, in addition to either Aerie or Edwin.

Good luck out there everyone, see you at the Coronet!

Modifié par Easymask, 01 décembre 2011 - 06:47 .