15235 réponses à ce sujet

[Grond0]

Thanks Corey.  Solis has made further progress, though not without a couple of scares:
- the closest escape was against a Myconid on her journey through the sewers. Her stealth failed and exposed her to a myconid confusion.  I watched anxiously as she took a couple of big criticals.  At the end both her and the Myconid were one hit away from death.  Fortunately the monk's motto "if in doubt punch them" came through for her.
- no trouble with the Chosen of Mystra thieves, though unfortunately none of their best equipment is usable by Solis.
- after dealing with Captain Haegan Solis tried to clear the trolls out of the way.  However, they proved tricky to finish off.  None of her damaging Bhaal powers (drain life, cause affliction or divine wrath) worked; she went to buy a ring of energy, but even that proved useless so she gave up on them.  The slaver mages were dragged all the way back to the Copper Coronet while trying to get them in a position to safely use stealth attacks.  This proved futile when a guard blocked the doorway exposing her to attack.  She then resorted to equipping the Claw of Kazgoroth which helped get her saving throws vs spells down to 1 - which proved good enough.
- to get reputation up to 20 she solved the mystery of the skinner murders in the Bridge district.  Then went on to the Docks to buy a nymph cloak to get charisma to 20.  On the way back from that she triggered the Suna Seni ambush - 2 uses of her stunning ability proved sufficient to beat down the mage's stoneskin and the rest proved easy enough.


After a somewhat manic start to her adventures I'm ready to revert to her more cautious BG1 approach.  Normally at this point I would head to help Nalia, but I've carefully avoided going near her so far in order to leave that for later.  Instead Solis will try and pick up some easy XP for a while with the initial aim of getting to level 14 and activating her monkish magic resistance.

[ussnorway]

Ud10;
Nice to see some new faces... Good luck to you all!

Brynnlaw:

We arrived on the island and dispatched the welcoming committee but none of us has a level up approaching so I decided to go ahead and get the important battle started.

Perth battle, take 1:

   

I kept my buffs light, ‘Shield’, ‘Stoneskin’ & the all-important ‘Invisibility, 10' Radius’ allows me to get the drop on him.
Round 1: Haer’dalis & Yoshimo toss out traps whilst the others put out adds... I remain (bravely) cloaked.

Round 2: The two traps go off and eat away about half of his health... Perth pops his reserves and Amber starts ‘Detect Illusions’.

Round 3: Haer’dalis decides that NOW would be an ideal time to talk about our relationship and starts to prattle on about two sad lovers he noticed earlier whilst the rest of us were fighting for our lives... GAME CRASH*.

Luckily the game AutoSave kicked in when we reached the island.

Perth battle, take 2:

   

I felt honour bound to, so kept my buffs the same.

Round 1: Haer’dalis & Yoshimo toss out traps but this time I let Do’Dad add his ‘Lightning Bolt’... I still remain (bravely) cloaked.

Round 2: The two traps/ Lightning almost finish him but Perth still pops his reserves.

Round 3: Haer’dalis casts ‘Skull Trap’ and that decides it... I was a bit surprised that it got through his buffs (‘Fireball’ wouldn’t have) but I’m not too proud to take it if it gives me the win.


p.s. The book had ‘Fireball’ so I turned a page and got ‘Lightning’ then the next page was ‘True sight’... I normally prefer ‘Wyverns call’ but decided to cover my losses and settled for the TS.

*Bug Report:

Since the game crashed I’m only guessing here but I think Perth becoming invisible is what made the Haer’dalis Romance mod flip out i.e. Haer’dalis can’t “SEE” any foe’s so go ahead and start a conversation, however the actual crash itself could have just been due to a lack of system resources... the fact that it didn’t repeat somewhat supports this view but only continued playing can confirm if the mod is stable and I’m enjoying the extra banter so I’ll press on with it.

Modifié par ussnorway, 29 mars 2012 - 12:39 .

[Grond0]

Final update for Solis.

Despite my best endeavours I couldn't bring myself to play risk-free and paid the penalty.  Solis was at level 12 and had completed Mae'var's tasks and commenced clearing out the thieves guild.  The top levels were done and only Mae'var and 1 thief were left downstairs.  Solis was at about 60 HP, but didn't use potions to heal when she could have as I was hoping she could quickly finish the opposition.

The supporting thief hit her with a critical for 20 HP (really should have got a ioun stone before this), but Solis would still have been a heavy favourite in a straight fight.  However, Mae'var had no interest in fighting fair and a potion of invisibility followed by an instant front-stab was too much for Solis.

[corey_russell]

Grond0 wrote...
 Normally at this point I would head to help Nalia, but I've carefully avoided going near her so far in order to leave that for later. 

Just wanted to point out that you don't need to avoid Nalia, especially since you are solo. Once you get the quest, you can delay helping her as long as you want. You only have a timer if shes in the group...I used to avoid her too, until I found this out.

[Blackmalkin]

ussnorway wrote...
@Blackmalkin, When the time comes… Please post a screenshot of him challenging you for the right to bed Aerie.

It might her at that time. You never know when wild magic is concerned.

[Gate70]

PPewt wrote...
-I'm going to find some way to avoid Keldorn and Viconia from murdering each other provided neither gets chunked. I don't know exactly how it works (since I've only ever had them in my party together once before), but I guess I'll probably need a mod to do this.

try the happy patch component of BG2 tweaks, you don't need the other components of the mod.
www.gibberlings3.net/bg2tweaks/index.php

Blackmalkin wrote...
(by the way – I checked that cursed sword of berserking and it’s +3 in BG 1 but +5 in BG 2, despite description).

+5 if you use it in BG1 via BGT, didn't realise BG1 treats it as +3. Presumably Easytutu has it as +5 too.

Modifié par Gate70, 29 mars 2012 - 07:21 .

[Krazy Solo]

corey_russell wrote...

Good luck Krazy Solo. Are you using a party or is this a solo endeavor? And if party, who do you envision to be your core group?

I'll be going with 4 member party, so my companion choice is out of  the dungeon will be Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo.  We will say good bye to Minsc when I start the Fighter Stronghold pick up Nalia.  Then grab Viconia drop Jaheira, Will keep Yoshimo until 1)..  Reach spellhold then Imoen replaces or 2)... Reach my dual lvl I take over the role of thief replace Yoshimo with Korgan.

After I dual my party will consist of Myself a Wizard Slayer--> Thief, Korgan, Imoen, Viconia.  As such this means 1) i'm gonna be the primary tank until I return from the Underdark or 2) the primary thief going into the underdark.  Either way Yoshimo and/or Nalia will be in the party going into Spellhold.

[Gate70]

Varel, LG human male cavalier. From level 9 to 10

I sell more stuff but Gaelan Bayle wants an outrageous sum of money, more than I could ever fit in my backpack. I purchase two gem bags, two scroll cases and glasses of identification fortune saver before setting off in search of more containers.

Suna Seni and her slavers ambush me. First to die is the wizard, then Suna Seni herself. Next, the cleric and two hapless slavers and finally Eldarin.

I reach Watchers Keep, only for Odren to tell me I am not ready. I bark back, and he backs down. I KNOW I am ready, to shop at least. Only a fool would head inside the keep itself this poorly equipped. I purchase a potion case from Sister Garlena and tell Odren to guard the Keep for the next few hundred days until if I return.

I return to the Bridge district and kill four muggers, taking minor wounds but healing completely with the Sword of Chaos. I decide to run past Hareishan and start speaking to Rose Boquet only for Hareishan to shout at me from several buildings away. I'm too honest, shouting back that I have no allegiance with the thieves, yet.

Thanks to Hareishan I have to pay Rose a second fee. I've already spoken to a beggar and Bel Delmark fills in the final gaps. I chase the tanner downstairs, resting after looting his storage items. I meet a group of sidekicks, switching to Arbane non-proficient to dispose of two ghasts. I switch back to the Sword of Chaos, cast lay on hands and glug five extra healing potions as two hasted rune assassin backstabs and attacks mount up.

Lt Aegisfield is not happy to hear Rejiek Hidesman has escaped on a hidden ship. I'm sure he'd have preferred to bungle the arrest himself.

The Copper Coronet.
I can't stand by and watch Hendak and the gladiators be forced to fight, so I kill the beastmaster and his animals. Hendak kills Lehtinan, then I trade a few items and accept another quest.

The Slaver Compound.
I work through the sewers, finding a hand, a staff and a ring and avoiding multiple hold spells with Arbane. A fallen door looks suspicious trap so I retreat to find another way into the compound. Cohrvale and Bregg interrupt me briefly, but after killing a guard I find the slaver door is too heavily fortified. They will have to wait until later.

Another interruption.
I have to rescue Renfeld, meaning anothe fight. I return to the docks, where Salia sets two more thieves onto me. Rylock takes Renfeld away, then Xzar loads yet another task onto my list. A mad cleric is foiled by Arbane.

The de'Arnise Keep.
Trolls! Captain Arat hands me some arrows, I'm a cavalier man. I show him my special weapons instead. As well as Arbane and the Sword of Chaos I have the Blade of Roses to persuade provendors that their prices should be reduced, but also the Stonefire axe.

I need to sell some items, but can't find my way out. I stash the gear instead and head upstairs. I retreat when I see a yuan-ti mage, and kill the nearby trolls in safety. The yuan-ti almost kills me (chaos, two skull traps, two magic missiles) but I recover, lay on hands and glug a blue potion before ending the battle. I'm really struggling to find hidden doors low int?

Glaicas looks tough but I buff with PfE, DUHM and then Arbane haste. He glugs an opil of speed as I doom him, and saves against command. I run, glugging an oil of speed, extra healing and then casting a trio of healing spells. Another extra healing potion and we fight again. Two more potions are required before he gets scared, although he has just glugged another potion. I kill him with my next blow.

I head outside and lower the drawbridge, then kill a few more attackers including a greater yuan-ti. To be continued...

[corey_russell]

Gate70 wrote...
A fallen door looks suspicious trap so I retreat to find another way into the compound.

You did not need to find another way. There's a plank to the left of that door, and you CAN walk on it and bypass that trap, just be careful doing it. I've done it many times with parties with no thieves.

[corey_russell]

Picenon the fighter/mage in ToB: Micro-Update

Picenon survived the forest area, and had summon help from the staff of air/staff of fire. The giants did some pretty big damage, as I expected and ran to heal and then finish them off. Used some traps on the giants as well.

I used a protection from undead scroll vs. the undead at the Temple of Bhaal. Met a witch named Nylee wh said I needed to enter Yaga-Shura's temple in order to get his and Nylee's hearts so that I could defeat him. Yaga's temple area will be next..

[Grond0]

corey_russell wrote...
You did not need to find another way. There's a plank to the left of that door, and you CAN walk on it and bypass that trap, just be careful doing it. I've done it many times with parties with no thieves.

I agree - though you need to ensure that your destination ahead is slightly is off to the side to avoid pathfinding moving across into the trap zone.  An easier alternative is to use the single plank off to the right (approaching from Copper Coronet).

[PPewt]

So I edited my PC from Fireball to Dispel Magic since fireball was totally useless and the only reason I didn't fix it earlier was not wanting to redo irenicus' dungeon. In addition, I found http://www.weidu.org/ease.html to solve my Keldorn-Viconia problem; I'm using "Turn off the hideous Cloak of Mirroring and Spell Trap animation", "Imoen Banter Fix", and "NPCs Won't Fight Each Other or Leave".

--

For some reason I felt like killing the Shadow Dragon, so I did the first two Shadowmaster quests for some experience (most of my party was on the verge of leveling) and selected one of the sillier abilities in the game



Many buffs later, it's Shadow Dragon time



The fight was pretty easy, although Yoshimo got level drained to Level 1 and then one-shotted.



Next on my list of gearing up, I hit the Guarded Compound and pretty much the exact same thing happened: I buffed up, crushed the opposition really easily, and Yoshimo found a way to get killed (in this case, I ran out of Remove Paralysis and then he got Celestial Furied to death; it's a good weapon, or so I'm told).

After that, I did enough of the third Shadowmaster quest (ie attacking the Vampires) to acquire the Mace of Disruption, then did the second Temple quest to upgrade it to +2. Both passed relatively without incident, since there weren't any notable fights involved.

Next on my list was to acquire some Boots of Speed for Valygar, meaning the Astral Prison was the quickest route. The Haer'Dalis quest was unremarkable other than some resistance from the adventurers outside the Mind Flayer Area, and thanks to an overabundance of buffs the Astral Prison was fairly straightforward too, although Valygar managed to die (turns out the Master of Thralls had a very liberal interpretation of "Near Death", and I was running low on potions and thus didn't want to waste any).



A quick run through the trademeet quests (which I was way overleveled for, except for a nasty experience against the Giant Trolls) gave me Belm +2 (for Valygar) and lots of unnecessary gold. I bought a Sensate Amulet for Viconia to use when she wasn't fighting Undead.

Valygar is a practically unstoppable killing machine (he only lacks the cloak) and Keldorn is basically just a walking True Sight/Dispel Magic at this point, so I decided it's time to clear the Windspear Hills and confront Firkraag. In addition, the other quests have become very grindy by this point so if I die to Firkraag I'll at least die before spending time finishing off the last of my pre-Asylum loot hunting (Flail of the Ages +4). I'll do the Copper Coronet (just couldn't be bothered) and the Planar Sphere (probably the hardest optional dungeon by far) upon returning from the Underdark and having some more overpowered spells, notably Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting. Not sure when I'll do the Twisted Rune, and I'm not sure if I'll do Kangaxx at all (since he's a pretty big risk in a no-reload game).

Playing on Core Rules feels strange. I think playing at least one notch harder might be better in the future, although I guess the ease is probably also partly that I'm nowhere near as anal about buffing when I save scum.

Modifié par PPewt, 30 mars 2012 - 05:35 .

[ussnorway]

Ud11;

Asylum:

  

I asked my familiar to hold onto some items (mostly scrolls) for me then went to get sis... I had to give up a point of wisdom in order to enter the library but ‘Skull Trap’/ ‘Chromatic Orb’ dispatched my essence & then it was time for fun in the maze.

Level 1:

 

The first order of business was welcoming Imoen * back then I decided to grab the “bag of holding” however Amber mis-stepped and the guardian attacked before I was ready... a little messy but on the up side we have some gear again.

Gemstone Portal:

 

The bats and wolf didn’t concern me but how can I safely kill a Pit Fiend? I decided that the simplest tactic would probably work the best, so we carefully stacked up 10 ‘Skull Trap’s in direct line between the portal and the door... Amber agreed to take one for the team (click the portal) and once she fell I got its interest with a ‘Remove Magic’ because the indirect firing nature of that spell allowed me a slight head start towards the safety of the door.
p.s. Alyssia claimed the “Doomplate +3”.

* By collecting her early she is a level 11 mage (only one below me) & I used SK to replace the extra Intel point that she learnt during BG1... Two “Potions of Genius” insured that none of the precious scrolls got wasted.

Modifié par ussnorway, 30 mars 2012 - 01:00 .

[Blackmalkin]

Update on Ayakanya:

Edwin found his scroll and started working on it. Ayakanya became a women again, but it didn’t discourage Aerie. She also learned Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting and Simulacrum. In order to test her new toys she summoned some Cowled Wizards. Simulacrum (created using Nahal’s) had lower level but still was able to cast anything (or try, at least). It didn’t manage to cast any Horrid Wiltings, but succeded in almost killing Jan and Edwin with a Lightning, and tranforming Aerie into a man. This romance is starting to be complicated. Anyway, party won themselves a right to cast spells on streets of Athkatla using Cloudkills an Horrid Wiltings. Then they killed slavers at the Copper Coronet and traveled to Warden’s Keep, mostly to get some containers for potions and bullets. While clearing the first level of the Keep, Ayakanya changed her sex again, and also Nalia’s. For a time Aerie was the only female member of the party.

Edwin grew jealous of Ayakanya’s powers and managed to change himself into a women. He wasn’t very happy with it, though, and even begged Aerie to help him. It wasn’t a best choice – she just couldn’t understand what’s wrong with an occasional gender change.

A messenger reached Jan, bringing dire news, and party decided to him. While fighting githyanki, Ayakanya tried casting Horrid Wiliting, but it turned out to be a Fireball, which killed Aerie. Ayakanya decided to invest some money in Staff of Resurrection.



One of the wild surges changed Ayakanya’s colors to gold:



She rather liked it and decided not to try any dipelling. When Jan’s business was dealt with, party cleared the sewers and slavers’ base, then journeyed to Trademeet. On the way they were ambushed and another gold vanishing wild surge occured. A few thousands were lost. In Trademeet party freed Cernd and agreed to meet with him in the grove. On their way there they killed the Dao genies. While travelling through the wilderness Ayakanya changed her gender again, destroyed some more gold (though there wasn’t much to destroy) and found a scroll of Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting in her pocket (Nalia learned it, but it will take some time before she’ll be able to cast it). Cenrd was allowed to kill Faldorn, and party came back to Trademeet to get the reward. Major shopping was done after that. Mostly spells were bought, including 2 Minor Sequencers, Improved Haste, Protection from Magic Weapons and Lower Resistance, but also the Cloak of Displacement. I decided to install some cosmetic mods then. Before leaving Trademeet party also did a quest with warring families, giving the mantle to one of them. It yielded an elven chainmail, which went to Aerie. Improved Haste was used for the first time during that quest. It gives 10 attacks per round with Melf’s Meteors – nice.

Next, party traveled to Umar Hills. Some gold was destroyed again. I found it interesting that Madulf managed to recognize Ayakanya as a humen even though she was polymorphed into a wolf (talking wolf, as it turned out).



Shadows in the Amaunator’s temple were destroyed by invisible Aerie (undead turning), while Ayakanya vanished some gold again (has she become a secret follower of Ilmater?). One of the two packs of high-level undead caused some trouble, as greater mummy’s attack surprised me with being non-magical. Nalia, who acted as a tank with her Protection from Magical Weapons, died from the disease (and was resurrected by Aerie). Party didn’t prebuff before approaching tha Shadow Lord, which was a mistake – one turn wasted on casting Globes was enought for him to cast Symbol: Stun, which stunned Ayakanya and Jan. So, no triple Fireball combo could be fired, but still, rest of the party had enough of their own Fireballs to deal with the enemy. Dragon with an unspeakable name was left alone, for now. Edwin’s original sex was restored by a certain mage who came hunting for him.

After recieving a reward party met with Valygar and agreed to his offer. On their way to Athkatla they bought a Robe of Good Archmagi for. Inside the Planar Sphere Valygar was kicked out. A halfling mage, Kayardi, caused some troubles, even though his party was quickly killed. Ayakanya was so annoyed by Jan’s failure in dispersing his invisibillity, that when she wanted to check if he still have it, she used a Fireball. Turned out he wasn’t invisible anymore (only looked like that with all of his other buffs), so Fireball was cast and turned party’s minions against them (doing no harm to globed Kayardi). Jan was stunned and nearly killed by said minions, but party managed to vanquish them just in time. Kayardi soon shared their fate. When Jan scouted another halfling party, a less fair strategy was employed – Ayakanya treated them with triple Fireball before they could react.

Lavok was immidiately silenced (Power Word: Silence), but it didn’t stop him from casting my favourite offensive spell – Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting. Aerie, Jan and Nalia successfully run to avoid it’s effect while Ayakanya tried casting immunity to necromancy. She wasn’t fast enough and was hit, but saved by magic resistance. Edwin was hit but survived (though just barely). Lavok’s protections were brought down while he was casting Horrid Wilting, so he didn’t survive the following round (triple Fireball among others). ‘I told you it would be more adequate to purchase the Belt of Inertial Barrier (Not that those ignorants would ever listen)’ – complained Edwin after the battle.



Tolgerias and his accomplice were both silenced (as both Edwin and Ayakanya knew the appropriate Power Word), and were killed with Melf’s Meteors, while casting vocalization. Tolgerias had some spell turning which was rather amusing – meteors were hiting him, dealing physical damage, and then turning back to the casters, dealing fire damage to them.

I was rather afraid of the demons which waited outside, but after lowering their magic resistance they were easily killed with Magic Missiles, and party had good enough saving throws to resist their special attacks. Usually, that is. Edwin was paralyzed and killed when fighting one of them, Jan suffered the same fate during the fight with another.

Now Ayakanya has a stronghold.

Party status:
Ayakanya – wild mage 13, 58 HP, fav. spell: Chaos Shield
Nalia – thief 4/mage 13, 66 HP, fav. spell: Stoneskin (which is rather strange, as she rarely have to recast it)
Edwin – conjurer 12, 54 HP, fav. spell: Melf’s Minute Meteor
Aerie – cleric 12/mage 12, 49 HP, fav. spell: Cure Light Wounds
Jan Jansen – illusionist 11/thief 12, 50 HP, fav. spell: Magic Missiles

Jan Jansen is the only party member whose sex haven't been changed (yet).

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 30 mars 2012 - 06:56 .

[Gate70]

Thanks for the hints, used below.
Good luck ussnorway, Blackmalkin, PPewt (& anybody else still active).

Varel, LG human male cavalier. From level 10 to 11

de'Arnise Keep.
I melee a pair of golems, then forge the Flail of Ages +3. I return to deal with a second pair of golems but the third can wait until I learn to fight with blunt weapons.

I make my way to Torgal, using an oil of speed before AoF and DUHM. I land four hits with four misses, then two criticals against his eight misses and one critical hit. I switch to the Stonefire axe and kill him.


I dual wield Stonefire and Frostreaver to defeat the final pair of trolls. I decide not to loot too many containers at present as I can't guess remember which are trapped. Instead I tell Nalia the bad news and return to the Copper Coronet.

Finishing the slavers. Thanks Corey.
I traverse a hidden plank (near the Hidden anyway) and retrieve Lilacor. Then I use an oil of speed, bless, AoF and DUHM to greet Captain Haegan. His men cast remove magic but I've done enough to kill him before another spell can land. A priest of Cyric is next, then a ranged slaver and finally six melee slavers who heal me via the Sword of Chaos (SoC).

DUHM with SoC then Stonefire drops two trolls. I give a child 100gp for warning me of an acid trap and release two further children who warn me of another trap sprung it anyway but dodged as learned from Grond0 in multiplayer. I cast PfE and Bless before attacking another group of slavers with haste from Arbane (not needed as oil is still active).

I use Arbane to foil a hold, then resist confusion and have my buffs removed. I brush off a lightning bolt and laugh as a skull trap hurts my enemies as much as it hurts me. SoC drops one mage and I turn to the second. He lands a Melf and a set of magic missiles but I SoC him too. I'm hurt 59/115hp so decide to see if the SoC and the still-active oil of speed can regenerate me from the remaining slavers.

In search of vampires.
Hendak rewards me well, and I can afford to pay Gaelan Bayle a reduced fee of 15000gp. In return I get a key and a promise of assistance from Aran Linvail. He hands over a ring of protection +2 and an Amulet of Power, so I equip both. My inventory is limited so I decide to leave his key on a table near the black market thief in case I need it later.

I scare Lassal away from the docks, but cannot revive Mook the warehouse thief. I hang around long enough to intercede between Del and Sansuki, casting DUHM as he screams for mercy. Del and her two vampiric allies are soon turned to mist, allowing me to return to Aran without his key. He wants me to investigate a pair of deserters, but that's a story for another day.

Feeling quite good about this. Very wary of traps but getting a decent set of item immunities. Need to think about what can dispel/remove magic until Carsomyr can be retrieved. Also thinking about consoling in a bag of holding otherwise I will run out of inventory slots and I'd prefer to have the right items for each encounter.

Modifié par Gate70, 30 mars 2012 - 08:00 .

[Gate70]

Varel, LG human male cavalier. From level 11 to ?

Interlude.
I purchase a nymph cloak and oil of speed from Gorch and deposit my thieves guild contract in a nearby bookcase in case I need to deal with Mae'Var at a later point. I suspect the vampires are alerted to my actions, so decide to return for them later. I inspect my equipment and decide to head to Trademeet instead.

Druid Grove. Using SoC to drop trolls and Stonefire to kill them.
I send Cernd ahead and stash some loot on a box, hoping to sell it when the merchants at Trademeet return to their senses.

A troll mound is carefully cleared, remembering to allow the trolls time to collapse instead of keeping them standing by continuing to attack. This nets me a Spear of the Unicorn, perhaps a better option for me than Arbane with 2 handed weapon style pips?

I have a scary moment and decide to glug a blue potion.


I glug a second potion and evade a second lightning strike, only for one of my attackers to drop me from about 65hp so maybe the lightning strike was a moment or two after the animation. Oh well, famous last words on the feeling confident.

[corey_russell]

Gate70, it's unclear did you snuff it or you still kicking?

[Gate70]

Dead, didn't see what so assume it was 2nd round of lightning or 2nd casting of lightning, or both, or something else. No way to glug quicker...

[Blackmalkin]

Update on the transsexual party of mages:

After completing the Sphere quest party went shopping. Girdle of Hill Giant Strenght and Bracers of Defense AC 3 were bought at the Adventurer’s Mart. Then party went to temple district to restock on potions of genius and buy a green scroll of Protection from Petrification. Edwin was tired of constant renewing the protection on Ayakanya (he relieved Aerie in this task some time ago, as he have the most spells), and devised a new method of protecting her – using a Simulacrum (created via Nahal’s) to duplicate the scroll (which lasts for 12 hours, not mere 5 turns). Of course, at least one Protection from Petrification spell is still needed. The morning ritual just got a little more complicated, especially that Nalia learned Protection from Fire spell, which was added to the list of Ayakanya’s standard protections. Then again, now that she is protected from fire, she doesn’t nesseccerily have to use Vampiric Touch all the time. By the way it took me some time to acquire Protection from Fire spell. The scroll found in the graveyard was wasted, as Nalia tried lerning it without 24 intelligence. I finally found another scroll in the selection of the merchant at the city gates. He also had 3 Lower Resistance scrolls.

The method with duplicating scrolls was also used with Protection from Undead scroll, and Aerie killed 2 liches (city gates and bridge district). Then party visited the Order of the Flaming Heart, as Ayakanya wanted to rid herself of the Solamnic knights. While there, she also agreed to take care of the fallen paladins. It didn’t work well, as she had another ‘burst’ wild surge when she tried to aid said paladins in a fight. It made them as bloodthirsty as Pinky with a cursed sword of berserking, and party had to pacify them with fire, failing the quest. While at the bridge, they also solved the ‘skinner murder case’ and discovered that a local fence had excellent selection of spells – 2 Minor Sequencers among others. With every party member having a Sequencer and Lower Resistance, Ayakanya decided to kill a shadow dragon. In case something went wrong, party created a few summons at the edges of the lair. Then they surrounded the poor dragon and opened the fight with 5 Lower Resistances. In the next round everyone fired their sequencers, unleashing 55 Magic Missiles, which was more then enough.



Then party traveled to Windspear Hills. Right after entering the location they fried some monsters which turned out to be knights. One of them was Pinky the Basilisk Slayer, but Ayakanya didn’t even notice that, which was very rude of her (considering his 700+ kills in BG 1). One of the enemies they killed while defending Garren Windspear’s home had a scroll of Mordenkainen Sword, which Ayakanya eagerly learned. Inside Firkraag’s lair she vanquished about 4000 gold (again!). Then, her copy managed to score a first successful cast of Mordenkainen Sword, which was very helpful in dealing with golems. Samia’s offer was turned down, and when her followers appeared, Ayakanya and her copy unleashed their sequencers, casting 6 Fireballs in one moment. After reaching Firkraag's lair she promised him to return and went back to kill Coster and free Garren’s child. Then party made neccessary preparations and attacked the dragon, this time without any summons. Firkraag surprised me and survived the second round. Only later I realized that Ayakanya didn’t fire her sequencer – must have been a result of synchronizing Lower Resistance, as she had to cast it later, due to Robe of Vecna an Amulet of Power. Anyway, first volley did exactly 161 damage and two more were needed, as Aerie was out due to Wing Buffet and Ayakanya had some useless wild surge (she tried to turn Firkraag into a squirrel, I think, as he did some polymorph save). Good thing whole party was protected from fire. I forgot about the Stoneskins, though, which had an amusing effect – Aerie took damage from Wing Buffet, but was healed by dragon’s fiery breath.



After clearing rest of the dungeon party wenty to Trademeet to buy a Belt of Inertial Barrier, then returned to Athkatla, where they bought the Shield of Balduran and Sensate Amulet. Ayakanya’s students failed to create a Wand of Apprenti, and were instructed to make a scroll of Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting. Party went to the sewers and asked Roger about a certain gong (they started the quest some time ago, but were to busy to do it earlier). After killing a hostile party and selling their stuff to the fence, Jan tried robbing him. He failed despite 280% pickpocket skill (stacked potions of master thievery). Then he tried the same with two other fences with the same result. Strange. Reputation went down from 15 to 9. After buying a stack of dispelling arrows party returned to Planar Sphere, where students successfully created a scroll. Ayakanya didn’t have money for the next project, so she led her party back to the sewers to deal with the Cult of the Eyeless.

While on their way to find a rod piece requested by Gaal, Aerie killed a lich, using a protection scroll. Beholders were killed with Balduran’s Shield. When party returned to the cult, Ayakanya summoned 4 Mordenkainen Swords. Two of them were charged with escorting Aerie, the other two stayed with the rest of the party in the antechamber. Aerie talked to the conspiring cultist to open a way to the dungeon, then delivered the artifact to Gaal for 75 000 exp. Gaal turned hostile and was hacked by the swords. Same happenned to the guards. The Unseeing Eye appeared and two of the swords attacked it, but were killed with Power Words. Ayakanya summoned some more swords and party attacked. Edwin breached beholder’s protections, allowing the swords to deal massive amounts of damage, but also drawing it’s attention, so party unleashed their sequencers, ending the fight.



Then they descended below and cleared the dungeon (finding a Mordenkainen Sword scroll among others). The pack of blind priests was defeated using Ayakanya’s favourite tactic from BG 1 – Webs and Malison. Only this time damage was dealt by Cloudkills, not berserkers. Then they went back to Amaunator’s temple to destroy the assembled rod. Using the Girdle of Fortitude (found on Gaal) enriched Ayakanya’s morning ritual.

Party status:
Ayakanya – wild mage 14, 59 HP, fav. spell: Chaos Shield (now she can cast Limited Wish and Improved Chaos Shield without Nahal’s)
Nalia – thief 4/mage 14, 67 HP, fav. spell: Magic Missile
Jan Jansen – illusionist 12/thief 13, 52 HP, fav. spell: Magic Missile
Aerie – cleric 13/mage 13, 56 HP (with Helm of Balduran and Sensate Amulet), fav. spell: Cure Light Wounds
Edwin – conjurer 13, 55 HP, fav. spell: Melf’s Minute Meteor

Aerie’s undead turning made her a leader in number of kills – 280, with Ayakanya having 264.

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 31 mars 2012 - 12:16 .

[Grond0]

Blackmalkin wrote...
After killing a hostile party and selling their stuff to the fence, Jan tried robbing him. He failed despite 280% pickpocket skill (stacked potions of master thievery). Then he tried the same with two other fences with the same result. Strange.

Interesting tactics Blackmalkin - keep it going.

The reason your pickpockets failed is that the maximum thief skills allowed by the game is 255 - scores wrap round to 0 there.  So you were actually making your attempts with 25% skill.  This thread explains why this happens.
http://social.biowar...-5160382-1.html

[Blackmalkin]

Grond0 wrote...
The reason your pickpockets failed is that the maximum thief skills allowed by the game is 255 - scores wrap round to 0 there.  So you were actually making your attempts with 25% skill.  This thread explains why this happens.
http://social.biowar...-5160382-1.html

Thanks. I have forgotten about that. That also explains why Jan did manage to steal a few potions from Roger. He started stealing after drinking 3 potions of master thievery. When stole a few more of those, he gulped them and got back to work.

[PPewt]

Didn't get around to posting this after I completed this section yesterday, so here goes:

So I left off in the first level of Firkraag's Dungeon, and came back to quickly run through the entire thing with no notable events (I skipped the area south of the air elemental because I didn't much fancy fighting more Greater Wolfweres than I had to). I expected Firkraag to be hard, but forgot how good traps are. (Apparently tooltips don't show on screenshots, but Firkraag is "Badly Wounded" immediately as the fight starts).



He didn't particularly do anything before being finished off by magic missiles. If I recall correctly he didn't even do any damage.

By this point I decided that Imoen was already going to be far enough behind in experience that I should do the Asylum now rather than later, and thus did it before the de'Arnise Keep. A quick run through the Asylum gave me a second pair of Boots of Speed (I only found 19 tokens and couldn't be bothered looking for the ones I missed), and Irenicus was defeated by clicking on him and whacking him with Carsomyr and Celestial Fury a few times.



After looting Irenicus' bedroom in the upper level of the Asylum, it occurred to me that I probably should've brought Cernd instead of Viconia (Greater Werewolf wielding a Staff of Thunder and Lightning makes for good times, practically Valygar 2.0 that doesn't even need equipment and is even stronger, and can cast Insect Swarm etc when needed). Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. If viconia or valygar gets chunked (unlikely by this point, with Valygar's Ring of Invisibility and Viconia's extremely low AC, but it could always happen) I'll probably pick him up.

Soon after, I gained one of the Silliest Abilities in the Game ™



A quick run through the Sahuagin City left Valygar pretty much fully geared up (in this screenshot, he lacks the Saving Throws amulet from the Beholder Dungeon and the Grandmaster Armour from ToB, and as far as I recall that's about it). He has a Cloak of Non-Detection to swap with his Cloak of Mirroring when appropriate.



I decided to clear the entire underdark area before entering Ust Natha, and the entire thing went pretty unremarkably other than Valygar getting intelligence drained to death a few times in the Mind Flayer Dungeon (he was my only character with persistent Free Action, so he pretty much soloed all the mind flayers). I got a bit of a scare against the Demon Knights when trying to get the Belt of Frost Giant Strength until I remembered that Mordenkainen's Sword is really, really, really good (overpowered). I took the evil path against the mage at the Elemental Portals because I wanted the scrolls. Valygar soloed the Beholder Dungeon since he needed a break from enemies which actually did damage to him.



After a quick run through Ust'Natha (I grabbed all the good scrolls from the drow merchant there), taking the "good" options (saving the gnomes, saving Soulafein, helping the dragon) and un-petrifying Imoen after an encounter with the Beholder there, I saw daylight again and continued my acquisition of overpowered spells.



Next session will involve killing Bodhi (again) and picking up the Flail of Ages +4, and in general completing whatever other minor sidequests there are before clearing Sundanessalar. I don't anticipate any trouble until the dragon there, since he's the first that can't be killed with cheese (not that I've had trouble with him in the past, just that dragons are a little more likely to chunk a character of yours or somesuch than your average evil minions).

Oh, and I guess I'll do the Twisted Rune and maybe Kangaxx as well to spice things up. That might end up going horribly wrong (and I only have one spare Scroll of Freedom) but we'll see.

Modifié par PPewt, 31 mars 2012 - 05:24 .

[Grond0]

PPewt wrote...
(Apparently tooltips don't show on screenshots, but Firkraag is "Badly Wounded" immediately as the fight starts).

The screenshots taken within the game don't show them, but if there's one you particularly want to see you can.  Pressing PrintScreen not only takes a screenshot within the game, but also copies the screen onto your clipboard.  Just open up Paint and paste into that (ctrl+v) and you will see a screenshot of exactly what was on your screen (including tooltips).

[BelgarathMTH]

Very exciting reading everyone! Thanks for the tip about screenshots, Grondo. I didn't know there was a prntscrn copy made to the clipboard.

[PPewt]

Grond0 wrote...

PPewt wrote...
(Apparently tooltips don't show on screenshots, but Firkraag is "Badly Wounded" immediately as the fight starts).

The screenshots taken within the game don't show them, but if there's one you particularly want to see you can.  Pressing PrintScreen not only takes a screenshot within the game, but also copies the screen onto your clipboard.  Just open up Paint and paste into that (ctrl+v) and you will see a screenshot of exactly what was on your screen (including tooltips).

Yeah, but I didn't look at the screenshots until the end of my play session (generally I just take like 20 and use a few of them) so it was far, far too late.

(And obviously I can't load back to re-play it since I only have quick/auto saves and the saves from editing with SK)