15235 réponses à ce sujet

[Gate70]

Vayler, LG human male cavalier.
Viconia & Edwin recruited and tomed-up in BG1.
Have installed consistent BG2 stats and modified Viconia/Edwin to match.

Str 19
Dex 19
Con 19
Int 6
Wis 14
Cha 19

** 2HS, ** 2WS, * short sword, * axe.
I wake up in a circular cage, and can remember very little other than Irenicus casting a Shadowkeeper spell and blatting my experience back to 161k.

Imoen releases me from the cage. We set Minsc and Jaheira free too, get them some gear and send them on their way. No sign of Edwin or Viconia so maybe they are mounting a rescue attempt. Imoen reckons we can't wait for them so I agree to work with her for the time being.

We're methodical, working our way through enemies and traps until we reach Yoshimo. I decide he can help, and the three of us kill whatever stands in our way with the exception of a vampire that is too quick for us.

We emerge into daylight to find our captor, both he and Imoen are arrested and taken away for illegal use of magic. Yoshimo suggests we check what the local thieves know, but first I must visit a store to unload a pile of loot.

After visiting the Adventurers Mart we head to the slums only to be intercepted by Gaelan Bayle. Yoshimo nudges me and I realise I have been hallucinating, this time about Imoen being sentenced and imprisoned.

20,000gp to find out where Imoen is? I will soon have that in hand. At the docks a mad cleric attacks us, carelessly standing on a Yoshi-snare. Renal Bloodscalp is pleased to see me, less pleased to see Yoshimo. Nevertheless, we are tasked with rooting out treachery within the thieves ranks.

Suna Seni shouts that we are ambushed, Yoshimo replies that it is they who are ambushed. His special snare fails though so I have to use vampiric touch to heal and kill them the hard way.

Yoshimo uses his knowledge and the glasses of identification to identify their equipment. We make our way back to the slums in search of rest.

Modifié par Gate70, 31 mars 2012 - 11:40 .

[PPewt]

Didn't get much time to play today, so a quick update:

My party ran through the de'Arnise Keep with no difficulty (unsurprisingly) and the first two levels of Watcher's Keep with little difficulty (Keldorn almost died to Creeping Doom, and Imoen got one-shotted through stoneskin by two invisible Vampiric Mists), only to find out that Cromwell doesn't actually know how to forge the Flail +4. Oh well, I'll hang on to that (and the other useful items I picked up) to give to Cespenar in a while. I reported back to Aran Linvail and enlisted the Order of the Radiant Heart as well (and Drizzt of course). I think I'll do the Planar Sphere and the Mind Flayer Area (from Crom Faeyr) and then fight Bodhi. I don't anticipate any difficulty for almost the entire rest of the game (except the dragon in Sundanessalar and the final battle with Irenicus in Hell)

Oh, and more overpowered spells!

My level 7 spell pick was Spell Turning (not many level 7 spells interest me when compared to Mordenkainen's Sword--Ruby Ray of Reversal and Khelben's Warding Whip are great but can be cast by Imoen and Aerie--so I went for some protection) and my level 8 spell pick was...



I'm not sure whether to kiss or punch the person who thought that Contingencies and Sequencers were a good idea.

--

Oh, and a question: since I'll no doubt do this again some day (either by losing this one or starting a new one on Insane after winning), is there any good anti-petrification available other than using Protection from Petrification all the time? Imoen getting petrified was a bit of a scare, since that very well could've been me. As far as I know I'm past all the petrification in this playthrough (basically just Beholders).

Modifié par PPewt, 01 avril 2012 - 06:35 .

[Grond0]

There are various spell turning and deflection spells. Improved invisibility will stop enemies targeting you (though not traps) and there's also spell immunity (though you would need more than one version to stop all forms of petrification).

At your level I would have thought you should be aiming to have automatic saving throw success against petrification anyway for your main character.

[Blackmalkin]

PPewt wrote...
Oh, and a question: since I'll no doubt do this again some day (either by losing this one or starting a new one on Insane after winning), is there any good anti-petrification available other than using Protection from Petrification all the time?

You mean Protection from Petrification spell or scroll (the green one)? I just discovered that the green scrolls don't last for 12 hours despite description, but they do have longer duration then the spell. Even if you don't duplicate them using Simulacrum there's quite lot of them to buy in the temples.

[ussnorway]

Ud12;

@Blackmalkin, Gold is definitely your colour.

@Gate70, Back to the drawing board again... Sorry.

Summoning Tome:
 



The Mind Flayer put up a spirited battle before casting ‘Dimension Door’... He didn’t return. After an exhausting search I shrugged and summoned the Beholder for a surprisingly easy battle... Alyssia grabbed the “Ring of Free Action”.

Skull Traps in Battle:

   

Standard ‘Skull Trap’ tactics allowed me to clear the un-dead/ monsters but I still occasionally misjudge the distance... opps sorry, Alyssia. On the up side we achieved two mile-stones, Alyssia hit level 11 (recovering her Swashbuckler skills) & Do’Dad collected level 12, significantly improving his turn ability.

Modifié par ussnorway, 01 avril 2012 - 09:45 .

[PPewt]

Grond0 wrote...

There are various spell turning and deflection spells. Improved invisibility will stop enemies targeting you (though not traps) and there's also spell immunity (though you would need more than one version to stop all forms of petrification).

At your level I would have thought you should be aiming to have automatic saving throw success against petrification anyway for your main character.

I'm pretty sure that when I buff up I'm immune to it, but I'm still paranoid since it's one of the easiest ways to lose. Honestly, in general I'm probably a lot more careful with my player character than I need to be; half the time I don't even use him as part of the fight just in case.

Edit: Just checked and my character is not quite immune when unbuffed and immune when buffed. When I pick up a few power items for my main character (such as the Ring of Gaxx and/or the Staff of the Magi) I'll be completely immune all the time.

That said, I'm more wondering for future playthroughs when I don't have a giant pile of contingencies, spell protections, high level abilities, power items etc.

Modifié par PPewt, 01 avril 2012 - 04:24 .

[BelgarathMTH]

@PPewt: If you fear ending a run to petrification, don't forget about that floorplate trap at the entrance to the Temple of Amaunator where you get the rod for killing the Unseeing Eye. It's just around the corner from the riddle bridge area with all the gauths.

After fighting the gauths, it's easy to get distracted and forget to have your thief or cleric detecting traps. I got petrified there once or twice.

BTW: Doesn't rolling a "1" automatically fail a save even if your saving throw is negative? In most rule systems that would be a critical fail no matter what.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 01 avril 2012 - 05:34 .

[Blackmalkin]

BelgarathMTH wrote...
BTW: Doesn't rolling a "1" automatically fail a save even if your saving throw is negative? In most rule systems that would be a critical fail no matter what.

There is no critical failure for saving throws, as far as I know. I probably even made some tests to verify that. I don't remeber the results, but I think I would if it was negative.

Edit: I made a quick test and my gnome made a save at -1 against Web (it has -2 penalty).

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 01 avril 2012 - 06:13 .

[Blackmalkin]

ussnorway wrote...
@Blackmalkin, Gold is definitely your colour.

Ah, now I understand what Ayakanya does with all that gold. Maybe I should try explaining her that the same effect can be accomplished with Shadow Keeper.

[Grond0]

I PnP 2nd edition a 1 was a critical failure with saving throws, but (unlike critical miss on attacks) that wasn't implemented in the game.

@PPewt. As far as I am aware the only item that gives protection against petrification is Hindo's Doom.

[Blackmalkin]

Update on Ayakanya:

With money made during the behoder quest Ayakanya could fund a Staff of Power project. Then part went to kill Gaax using 5 Protection from Undead scrolls and Melf’s Meteors. Ring of Gaax went to Ayakanya, of course. Edwin reached seventh spell level, so party went shopping (though he already had Power Word: Stun). Protection from Lightning was added to Ayakanya's morning ritual. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to buy for level 7, so Edwin only got Cacofiend. He was rather happy with the spell and produced a "list of people I don’t like". First came a beggar standing at the entrance to the Planar Sphere who kept pausing the game, as he was aggresive since Jan failed at robbing a fence on a nearby roof.



It triggered a chain reaction and all ended up in a major street cleaning. I guess it’s not how Nalia imagined a "war on poverty", but she had to grow up some day. Then party paid a visit to the mayor or Imnesvale and then Trademeet. Lord Logan Coprith had a full plate mail and two handed sword +1 so it was both fun and profit. His bodyguard was too cowardly to face a demon and run to the streets. Party followed him and Edwin summoned another demon. Major massacre ensued. Funny thing was that the local militia joined the revelries and started shooting people who tried to escape, even women and children.



Edwin's list was a rather long one, so Ayakanya decided that enough is enough and led party to the druid grove to finally find the gong. Then party returned to the Planar Sphere (this time unopposed by raging beggars). Ayakanya was very displeased by her students’ deaths. They wasted 10 000 gold pieces – gold that she could properly vanquish with wild magic. But when she identified plainly looking staff she looted from one of the bodies, it turned out that the project was a success after all – she had her Staff of Power. Meanwhile, Nalia prepared her first triple Fireball sequencer. Party went to bridge district to test it on Valeria’s party and then finished the gong quest. Later they cleared the private residence in temple district with 2 triple Fireball sequencers, 2 double Web sequencers and a Malison. And to think that I once considered this a hard fight.



On their way out they decided to attack the demon they previously ignored. Demon easily killed the other summons, apart from an efreet, who have hidden himself in a gaseous form. When party killed the demon, efreet took back his normal form, quickly made himself invisible, interrupting party’s Magic Missiles, and fired a Fireball in the same round (not fair!). It exploded exactly at the moment when Ayakanya finished her Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting casting (via Nahal’s, of course). She didn’t get the desired effect – she created an explosion centered at her. Two Fireballs were too much for Edwin, but the rest survived and retreated, leaving fire-immune Ayakanya to deal with the cowardly creature. When she finally managed to cast Horrid Wilting (in third try), nearly dead efreet entered gaseous form again. She couldn’t just leave him, not after Edwin’s death (all that post-death inventory management is really annoying), so she waited patiently, and when the enemy appeared again, she paralyzed him with a wand. And so one efreet caused more trouble then entire Sion’s party...



Next on the to-do list was killing tha party staying at the Den of the Seven Vales. Ayakanya decided to do this alone – she used Mislead and Spell Immunity: Divination, so that she could freely experiment on completely helpless victims. Then party resumed their work for Helm’s temple. No Baldur’s Gate playthrough is complete without a few backstabs, so here’s Nalia stabbing Neb with Celestial Fury:



Then she got to backstabbing illithids, togetther with Jan. I think I have forgotten to mention that she wears Girdle of Hill Giant Strenght, which wasn't really important until now. With Celestial Fury in one hand and Belm in the other, she reached 6 attacks per round with Improved Haste. She doesn’t know the first thing about dual wielding, nor scimitar fighting, but with Tenser’s Transformation ‘stick them with the pointy end’ was enough (of course she cast Mislead before Tenser’s). Jan had only two attacks with Short Sword of Backstabbing, but at least had an appropriate backstab multiplier (x5). They didn’t manage to kill everyone before their illusions expired, but being protected with Chaotic Commands and having high intelligence (16 and 17 are as good as 18 in this case), they continued fighting, mostly with Melf’s Meteors. Thanks to that, I discovered that meteors can be used with an off-hand weapon. So, Nalia can take advantage of Arbane’s Sword free movement even when using meteors or, better, use Celestial Fury as a ranged weapon. I know it’s a bug, but it’s just too entertaining to resist.

Then party rescued Haer’Dalis and followed him to planar prison to rescue him again. Bounty hunters were easily deafeted using Webs/Fireballs combo. Thralls were killed with Meteors, pack of yuan-ti with Webs, Cloudkills and Ice Storms. Master of Thralls had his magic resistance lowered and was killed with everyone’s favourite first level spell. Ayakanya wanted to join the "Magic Missile party" but summoned a cow instead (usually, she only has Nahal’s as first level spells). Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to capture a screenshot of demon being hit by a falling cow. After that, Nalia was properly buffed (Improved Haste, Tenser’s, Mislead) and cleared the cells with her backstabs. With Kundane and Belm she reached 8 attacks per round (or at least that’s what the character record stated). As for the Warden, two Mordenkainen Swords were sent to occcupy him, while party took down his protections and magic resistance (if he had any, I wasn’t sure). He tried hiding behind an illusion, but Jan quickly sorted out what’s real and what’s not. Then Nalia cast Magic Missiles to check if that Spell Turning was really down – it was, so rest of the party unleashed their sequencers. What’s enough for a dragon should be enough for anyone. So far it is. Haer’Dalis was allowed to join party for a while.

Party status:
Ayakanya – wild mage 15, 60 HP (71 after using Girdle of Fortitude), fav. spell: Chaos Shield (though she now uses Improved Chaos Shield almost exclusively)
Nalia – thief 4/mage 15, 68 HP, fav. spell: Magic Missile
Jan Jansen – illusionist 12/thief 14, 53 HP, fav. spell: Magic Missile
Aerie – cleric 13/mage 13, 56 HP, fav. spell: Cure Light Wounds
Edwin – conjurer 14, 56 HP, fav. spell: Melf’s Minute Meteor
Haer’Dalis – blade 12, 50 HP

Ayakanya is once again leading in the most kills contest – it’s 309, compared to Aerie’s 306. Shows that she has the God of Murder in her. Nalia is catching up with 239.

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 04 avril 2012 - 09:49 .

[PPewt]

Yet another update, with lots of pictures! There is pretty much no challenge left at this point, although I'm a bit worried about that since letting your guard down can always be fatal, no matter how weak your enemies.

First stop was the Planar Sphere, part of my quest to assemble Crom Faeyr. Most of the enemies were a total walkover, demons included, but Adamantine Golems are always nasty. Luckily, Keldorn had a solution...



If I recall correctly there aren't any adamantine golems who aren't vulnerable to this except for the one in the Windspear Hills (due to the angle of the corridor not letting you stay far away), since there are always nearby chokepoints given how huge they are.

The rest of the Planar Sphere went without incident: Keldorn and Valygar with Free Action ran over the entirety of the abyss (since the demons can't really do much other than Hold you) and soon enough the planar sphere was done. From there I spammed Rest to go through the Stronghold quests and chose to save all three of my apprentices.

For some reason I decided it was time to do Bodhi even though I hadn't finished Crom Faeyr. The upper level was quite straightforward, as was to be expected. I got a little overprepared for the Bodhi fight...



...and then finished off everything in the room with a single Sunray from Viconia. Doesn't hurt to be prepared, I guess...?

From there I was close enough to leveling up that disarming some random trap on my way out gave my character his pick of a Level 9 spell (Chain Contingency) and a High Level Ability (Summon Planetar). Cheese is... fun?



Next stop was the Twisted Rune, since by this point I figured I was way overleveled for it anyways. Nonetheless I prepared quite a lot since it's a nasty fight, but my chain contingency and planetar pretty much soloed everything. I had a bit of a scare when, after everything died, my planetar decided to attack me for some reason (no, I didn't use any AoE spells that have friendly fire), and Valygar and Keldorn had a hell of a time killing it.

Next on my list of becoming more or less invincible (as fitting for the son of a god, I suppose) was Kangaxx. Unsurprisingly, Abi-Dalzim's is very effective against Liches if you Breach them first...



When Aerie and Imoen acquire Level 9 spells in ToB, they'll be doing the same thing... I've found very few fights which can't be ended before they start with this tactic, including some that people consider among the hardest in the game (such as the fight at the end of the Watcher's Keep, Level 5).

On my way out of the sewers I cleared the Mind Flayer Area to complete Crom Faeyr, although two Ulitharids gave me a nasty reminder about what can happen when you get overconfident and let your guard down.



(There was no risk of losing the game thanks to the Staff of the Magi on my main character, but there was a serious risk of having a character chunked; I don't really lose characters to physical damage by normal means and am thus not worried about it usually, but Mind Flayers are a special exception. Luckily I'm done with them until ToB)

Kangaxx himself died initially to Abi-Dalzim's, although he returned as a Demi-Lich. Prior to the fight I replaced all of Aerie's level 5 spells with Spell Immunity, so she cleaned Kangaxx up pretty easily with Ring of the Ram, Mace of Disruption +2, and Draw Upon Holy Might + Holy Power + Righteous Magic. Upon acquiring the Ring of Gaxx, all my player character's saving throws are below zero except for Save vs Death at 2.

With that, I think it's time for a break.

Since I'm a completionist and am running a bit low on money I'll probably do the quests I've missed (Temple of Helm quest 3, the Copper Coronet, random enemies in the North Forest) before finishing the game, but we'll see.

[Blackmalkin]

PPewt wrote...
Keldorn and Valygar with Free Action ran over the entirety of the abyss (since the demons can't really do much other than Hold you)

Well, they can also silence you, which isn't nice if play a party of mages. Ill-prepared mages that is. Only after that encounter I taught Vocalize to every party member.

[Blackmalkin]

PPewt wrote...
Unsurprisingly, Abi-Dalzim's is very effective against Liches if you Breach them first...

Good to know -- it is rather surprising for me, since spell description mentions living creatures.

[Gate70]

Nice going Blackmalkin, PPewt. Finding your strategies very interesting.
ussnorway, is a low-level recovery of Imoen something you've done before?

Vayler, LG human male cavalier. Travelling with Yoshimo.

We rest twice, Yoshimo advising that we should not adventure overnight pesky vampires. A barrel outside the Copper Coronet looks like a good temporary store for items until Hendak is in charge but I treat myself to a scroll case before we leave.

Viconia.
I describe Viconia to Edwin, this he has to see. He soon tracks her down, proving better at this than his luck with snares or shadows. With a trio of fanatics dead Viconia decides to re-join us. My reputation sinks lower 8 and I realise I must do something about it soon. Meanwhile Yoshimo is saying Viconia is everything I described, and more. For starters someone seems to have SK'd her stats to consistent + tomes, oops. Still, her XP is only 55k.

Edwin.
I describe Edwin to Yoshimo. He immediately sets off, then turns to ask why I'd want such a person as a travelling companion. Answers on a postcard please.

Yoshimo is asking Mae'Var about Edwin, turns out we must do some heinous deeds to obtain information. I'm about to decline but Yoshimo says it is for a greater good and accepts. I wish I was clever enough to argue with his decision.

We have to steal a golden statuette from the temple of Lathander. Not seen this before, is it because of Yoshimo or something else. First though, we have to rescue Renfeld.

I'm not sure what we are looking for at the temple, but Yoshimo is treating it as a challenge. He's blase about it, even talking to me about Bhaal as he searches. It's not long before he realises it must be in one of two locked containers. He can only open one, then chooses to wait outside with me while Viconia casts sanctuary and removes the statuette.

Our reward is an audience with Edwin and he has an evil deed for us. Yoshimo and Viconia are in agreement though, these Cowled Wizards are up to no good and I must stop them. OK then.

Viconia wants to change her spells so we rest before heading to the home of Rayic Gethras. His mephits are overwhelmed but Viconia insists we rest at an inn before heading upstairs. A pair of stone golems greet my DUHM so I add Arbane haste and pulp them. Once more Viconia suggests we rest. I'm having a series of bad dreams but agree.

Viconia and I discuss tactics to deal with Rayic Gethras. We buff, only realising Yoshimo has grabbed Arbane, hasted and stealthed upstairs. Rayic has sensed him but Yoshimo has reached a concealed corner of the room.

I'm buffed so face Rayic. Viconia mis-times her arrival and is badly wounded by a fireball so sends in two pairs of skeletons instead. Yoshimo stays out of reach until I hit Rayic, then he joins for a backstab and retreats. An invisible stalker arrives but we kill Rayic before turning to the summon.


After retrieving documents from Marcus we have to help Mae'Var again, returning a dagger without killing Embarl. Finally Edwin provides us with evidence of treachery, joining forces with us. He has 30k xp, again SK'd to be consistent BG2 values + the intelligence tome.

Edwin greedily grabs our two scroll cases and learns a bunch of spells. We rest before returning to Renal Bloodscalp, then agree to deal with Mae'Var.

I enter alone, with DUHM. As I am attacked I call for help and my companions arrive. Edwin hastes me as Viconia summons skeletons. With the ground floor cleared Viconia suggests we rest but Yoshimo seems strangely confident.


With Mae'Var dead his thieves fall quickly. We return to the Copper Coronet and free Hendak. Captain Haegan and his slavers are next, and as we emerge into daylight again we are propositioned by Valen. Brus appears to mention a new deal and as we are standing by his door we pop in to pay Gaelan Bayle a reduced fee of 15000gp. Yoshimo and Edwin are both muttering about the shadowmaster we are now able to visit.

Aran Linvail will have to wait while we sort out the circus. It takes as long to inform the guard, a child, his mother and Fearghus as it does to actually sort out the problem in the first place.

Aran Linvail.
We unlock the doors and enter, throwing the key on a nearby container. These thieves don't seem to lock their doors every night. Edwin watches jealously as I put the Amulet of Power on. Perhaps I will share it with Viconia to double his agony.

Mook is murdered, and we are unable to kill this Lassal before he vanishes. Aran asks us to deal with a pair of traitors next. We do as he bids, and then chase Rejiek Hidesman out of the city. Lt Aegisfield is part relieved but part sad that Rejiek has escaped.

My next task is to investigate the vampire lair. For this I purchase the Azuredge axe and the services of Korgan. Should be fun.

Edwin and Korgan.
We take a wrong turn and end up speaking to a lich called Neveziah. Korgan asks about a book and we move on to find the tomb it was in. Korgan realises the tomb has already been plundered by Shagbag. Edwin takes a Nether scroll a few minutes later. We check the Pimlico estate, but Shagbag has been and gone. Edit; forgot to mention Shagbag died on the roof of the Copper Coronet.

Vampire lair.
Haz opens the door and we save him from a group of grimstone warders not sure I've saved him before. Korgan and I tear through vampires and other undead until we reach Tanova. She stuns a berserk warrior, myself and Korgan. I'm held despite free action, but Korgan is enraged game says he is held but not the case. Strong feeling of deja-vu at this point and expecting Corey to point this out...

Enraged Korgan kills Tanova as (strength and DUHM) Viconia MoD's a second Tanova, while I stand there stunned. The end-scene is burned into my retinas.

Modifié par Gate70, 01 avril 2012 - 09:46 .

[PPewt]

Blackmalkin wrote...

PPewt wrote...
Unsurprisingly, Abi-Dalzim's is very effective against Liches if you Breach them first...

Good to know -- it is rather surprising for me, since spell description mentions living creatures.

Lucky for me that I didn't read spell descriptions very carefully way back when I was first playing Baldur's Gate I guess. Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting is basically the be-all and end-all of offensive spells, since it only hits enemies (it doesn't even hit neutrals, which makes it safe to use in situations like the second Bodhi encounter), does absurd damage, and ignores pretty much everything except Magic Resistance (so yeah, it's effective against Liches, Vampires, Zombies etc just as it is everything else). This goes for other games too; for example, in Neverwinter Nights [SPOILER ALERT] if you haven't played NWN1 Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting ignores the final boss' complicated elemental damage system and just kills all her guardians (and the boss herself in a few hits).

Modifié par PPewt, 01 avril 2012 - 09:54 .

[corey_russell]

Picenon the gnomish fighter/thief continues his solo adventure - Yaga Shura's Temple

This area, BY FAR, has been the most difficult challenge for Picenon since he got access to his HLAs. He did survive, despite being near death a number of times, but that's only because of his haste boots, stealth skills and that for whatever reason the initial temple guards didn't follow Picenon outside.

Speaking of temple guards, these were very difficult to deal with. First, I laid some traps outside (which were wasted, since they never followed Picenon), used haste potion, strength potion, hardiness and Ilbratha mirror image and dual-wielding -- it was all for naught, however, as he couldn't even kill a single one before he was forced to retreat.

Clearly, his fighter skills weren't up to the task. So instead Picenon decided to use his thief skills - backstab, run and hide and repeat. This technique finally managed to whittle down the giants some. However, I ran into a problem once there were only two - namely, I get one to badly injured but his morale would break - then he run into the fire pools and get healed! I could never kill the two fast enough and the other would recover and whale on me. But if switched targets (by going out the temple, hiding and hitting the other instead), they would simply switch roles.

So, once again, to make progress, I had to use cloudkill-from-the-shadows (via wand). Took a lot of charges, but finally these roadblocks are gone.

The next group of giants were taken down via cloudkills-from-the-shadows as well, combined with backstabs when the giants got out of the area of effect. I went to the pocket plane a lot to reset my traps, as I would set traps before looting the containers. In fact the spawns from the containers were no problem, it was always the enemies before setting traps that were hard. First major use of the time trap, it's interesting..can GWW someone dead before it expires.

After solving the little puzzle of the force field of the stairs, I used cloudkill from the shadows once more on the two guards at the top of the stairs. I moved to the right, scouted and had to fight a few fell cats. I cast some cloudkills before that though, giants approaching, I killed one, got hit hard and retreated through the lava passageway - the giant couldn't follow. I tried to whack him with my Staff of Rhynn but the giant could reach me too.

So decided to get the cobwebs off my Tuigan's short bow and use some arrows of biting. The giant could not hit me, nor did he have the sense to back off, so died instead. Picenon scooted forward in the shadows, still having the bow equipped. I saw that caster giant and opened fire with the bow at extreme range, the giant did NOT retaliate. I think it's because I could see the giant, but he couldn't see me (e.g., I could see him because of his size), and was killed easily.

Finally, I got Yaga's heart. Did some de-trapping, took the right door and got Nylee's heart. Tried to cloudkill from the shadows Ivix (or however you spell the named fire elemental) but he saw me. This was fine, actually, as I backed off, got into melee range, and GWW him down with the blackrazor. I got got an amulet with of the master harper, a lot of useless abilities, except for the +3 AC when using thief armor - I like that, will take the AoP off for now.

Forgot the mention, before I had even finished this part of the quest, I had to talk the merchant in the forest to re-charge my cloudkill wand. Will recharge RoR and then head to Nylee's. The run is still going, somehow...

Modifié par corey_russell, 01 avril 2012 - 10:29 .

[Blackmalkin]

PPewt wrote...
[...] it doesn't even hit neutrals, which makes it safe to use in situations like the second Bodhi encounter [...]

In Icewind Dale it works with more sense and hits everything (or everything non-undead, I'm not sure).

[PPewt]

Indeed. Icewind Dale had different problems (notably the fact that a few buffed fighters/rangers/paladins could take on anything, so the game basically involved having 2-3 characters who fought in combat and 3-4 characters who just carried around a ton of buff spells).

--

A general note for anyone whose play is as cheesy as mine: A few things to watch out for (annoying bugs which wasted a fair amount of time in some cases due to having to reload from my most recent auto-save):

-As far as I can tell if you sleep in Watcher's Keep Level 1 without having killed all active statues, you cannot initiate the ritual (since the remaining statues disappear).

-Skull traps will kill the person who attempts to ambush you after the King Strohm quest without her party appearing.

-Killing Shangalar before he teleports down from the table (which I did via my Chain Contingency) will cause the other members of the Twisted Rune to not spawn.

Modifié par PPewt, 02 avril 2012 - 12:35 .

[PPewt]

The copper coronet and the other various quests left for me to do went without much incident (which shouldn't be particularly surprising). Sundanessalar was fairly straightforward (Viconia+Keldorn+Valygar cleaned up the golems, tanar'ri, and minor enemies, and chain contingency triple abi-dalzim's took down anything particularly threatening (the swarms of rakshasa and high level mages)). Once again I talked up the inevitable dragon encounter only to be disappointed... My preparation was thorough (not pictured: a chain contingency triple mordenkainen's sword on See Enemy)



So thorough, in fact, that he only managed to use a single Wing Buffet (and deal about 20 damage to Valygar and Keldorn) before being killed.

With him out of the way I climbed the tree of life and used the usual cheese to defeat Irenicus the first time around (move back, first time stop is wasted, use Monster Summoning to waste his high level spells, then beat him to death with something that doesn't care about magic damage... in my case, Mordenkainen's Sword). After he used up his Mazes, Power Word: Kills, Power Word: Stuns, and Time Stops, Keldorn observed from a safe distance to help out the swords with Dispel Magic.

In hell I took all 5 good options, and cleared the Elder Orbs by sending Mordenkainen's Swords at them to waste their dangerous abilities and then finishing them off with Valygar wearing the Cloak of Mirroring. I overprepared for the second Irenicus confrontation, only to be once again disappointed...



And during the cutscene, after Abi-Dalzim's fired...



Unfortunately it fired before he summoned the demons, so only he took damage. He's at "Near Death", although unfortunately the screenshot once again doesn't show tooltips (and Print Screen printed the window behind BG2 rather than BG2 itself for some reason). I beat the demons to death for the experience and then finished Irenicus in a few swings.

Well, that was a lot easier than expected. I've never abused Chain Contingency this thoroughly in the past, mostly because you don't have to be so anal about winning every fight decisively when you save scum. I'll allow myself a save at the start of ToB (so if I die in ToB I'll revert to there), and if this goes well I might very well try a BG1 -> ToB run with no saves at any point (should be interesting).

Hell, maybe I'll fight Demogorgon... I'll probably go find some old character and do a test run to see how he plays out on Core Rules, since I've never fought him on anything other than Insanity. However, if he's anything like he is on Insanity, fighting him might be... fatal for my chances at a successful ToB run.

Modifié par PPewt, 02 avril 2012 - 02:56 .

[ussnorway]

Gate70 wrote...

ussnorway, is a low-level recovery of Imoen something you've done before?

Yes, any time I want to keep her in my group.

There are two hurdles to this approach;
Perth (Brynnlaw), SCS vastly increases his difficulty but you don’t NEED to fight him to advance the plot and entering his house whilst cloaked allows you to get the drop on him.
The Elder Blood which is needed in order to finish the Ust'Natha sub-quest IMO Beholder Dungeon is the easiest because you get it off the first encounter without having to explore the rest of the nest... there is also the option of Deirex the Lich but he is not for the faint of heart and doesn’t give any important  items anyway.

You can skip a good deal of the games content and return to do it later (Adalon, the Silver Dragon springs to mind)... the exceptions are Ust'Natha & Sahuagin City because if you choose to skip them first time then they are forever barred to you.

[Blackmalkin]

PPewt wrote...
Indeed. Icewind Dale had different problems (notably the fact that a few buffed fighters/rangers/paladins could take on anything, so the game basically involved having 2-3 characters who fought in combat and 3-4 characters who just carried around a ton of buff spells).

I cannot agree that Icewind Dale encourages to focus on fighter classes. My last two playthroughs were done with a party of 6 different spellcasters and then 4 druids. And I didn't found them harder then the ones with fighters. I did notice that archers are great, but how's that different from Baldur's Gate? And they are nerfed by not being able to progress beyond 3 prof. points. I would even risk stating that Icewind Dale is superior to both Baldur's Gate as a tactical game.

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 02 avril 2012 - 09:10 .

[Blackmalkin]

corey_russell wrote...
Clearly, his fighter skills weren't up to the task. So instead Picenon decided to use his thief skills - backstab, run and hide and repeat.

Why not use some invisibillity potions? In Throne of Bhaal I usually have more of them then my party could carry.

[PPewt]

Blackmalkin wrote...

PPewt wrote...
Indeed. Icewind Dale had different problems (notably the fact that a few buffed fighters/rangers/paladins could take on anything, so the game basically involved having 2-3 characters who fought in combat and 3-4 characters who just carried around a ton of buff spells).

I cannot agree that Icewind Dale encourages to focus on fighter classes. My last two playthroughs were done with a party of 6 different spellcasters and then 4 druids. And I didn't found them harder then the ones with fighters. I did notice that archers are great, but how's that different from Baldur's Gate? And they are nerfed by not being able to progress beyond 3 prof. points. I would even risk stating that Icewind Dale is superior to both Baldur's Gate as a tactical game.

Last time I played IWD1 I beat every encounter past the few few char levels, including both bosses, with two buffed-up fighters (well, I think one was a Ranger and one was a Paladin, but both were beefy characters with big swords) on the hardest difficulty while the rest of my party twiddled their thumbs. I didn't even have to micromanage them; I just told them to go whack something and let them work. I haven't played IWD2 enough to comment on it.

Also I find archers pretty weak in BG2 due to a lack of decent bows when compared to the variety of long swords, bastard swords, and two-handed swords (and even a few non-sword items, like Ravager). They were definitely great in BG1, where an {x} +2 was the best thing ever.

Modifié par PPewt, 02 avril 2012 - 12:27 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

PPewt wrote...
Unsurprisingly, Abi-Dalzim's is very effective against Liches if you Breach them first...

Well... vanilla Liches are immune to spells of Level 5 and lower (i.e. Breach...). Or do you have SCS's 
More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning)  component installed?

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 02 avril 2012 - 03:00 .