Baldur's Gate 2 No-Reload Challenge
#4251
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 11:05
Small un-dead can just be ‘Turn’ed & ‘Repulse Undead’ is great for keeping that Lich/ Shade Lord away from the group but ‘Blade Barrier’ helps with pushing past all those Drow in the final Ust'Natha escape (does wonders for his overall DPS as well)... personally I’d have given him more points in flail and “FoA” (eventually “Defender of Easthaven +2” o/h since he is one of the few Clerics that can DW well) but it looks like you want him to use “Crom Faeyr”? Whatever works man, as always it’s your game.
#4252
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 11:51
@USSNorway - thanks for the congratulations...it felt quite good to solo Abazigal. But it made me wonder how in the world would I have defeated him if I didn't have access to spike traps...a question for another day I guess...
#4253
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 11:57
No, Irenicus starts with a rather long lost of protections (he doesn't even have to cast them), but you made a good point. I didn't notice that Ruby Ray belongs to alteration, not abjuration. Melodia and Jan will have have their 7th level spell memorization revised. Thanks for the tip.PPewt wrote...
I haven't played SCSII, but if Irenicus only casts those two defences (as in no Spell Immunity: Alteration) then Ruby Ray will make short work of him.
#4254
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 12:18
Slaver compound, continued
Buffed skeletons help us clear the remaining slavers, then Hendak rewards us for our efforts.
de'Arnise keep
Our first priority is to open the drawbridge and cook the dog stew. Peer casts DUHM but the greater yuan-ti and trolls in the courtyard sneak up on him multiplayer lag and overwhelm him. Nawgrim retreats back towards the drawbridge mechanism, casting two flame arrows then using a wand of monster summoning first and only charge to unleash a pack of gnolls. The greater yuan-ti is soon halberded, and the guards have killed the trolls.
Nawgrim packs all the dropped equipment into containers (BOH, potion case, scroll case, ammunition belt were consoled in earlier & a gem pouch). 800gp at the temple of Helm sees Peer breathing again. A second flail proficiency helps him wield the FoA +3 and offhand a war hammer +1/+5 giants.
Sanctuaried feeding takes place, allowing Nawgrim to cast cloudkill then use mirror images and Lilacor to draw the umber hulks to their deaths.
More buffed skeletons briefly distract Torgal and his two huge trolls, allowing greater malison, slow and holy smite to be used. Peer is able to stand toe-to-toe dwarf head to troll knee with the trolls and the battle is over. We decide not to speak to Nalia until after we investigate a planar sphere.
Stats a bit misleading here, Peer did all the hard work before Nawgrim used fire/acid arrows to frazzle prone trolls.
Not discussed what next. Perhaps an equipment review and see what would be nice.
Grond0
Peer, dwarf fighter 9 / cleric 9. Tank.
390 kills, Iron Golem.
Gate70
Nawgrim, gnome fighter 9 / illusionist 10. Protaganist.
310 kills, Torgal.
Modifié par Gate70, 29 avril 2012 - 12:18 .
#4255
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 12:38
I strongly recommend the Wave halberd for frosties and auto-pause on enemy dead just for this small section. Even non-proficient, haste and a WW attack will usually drop them quickly.corey_russell wrote...
I rememberd how difficult those frost salamanders are. They were indeed difficult, GWW and heals were necessary to sort out 3 of them. A 4th didn't see me, so I backstabbed him and used ring of gaxx haste to finish him.
Hmm. Maybe poison protection (spiders deadly, particularly the queen - Lasharra?), or take the lower slave passage and nip to the end instead of fight. Psion blade vs illithid, Lilacor/cloudkill vs umber hulks. Also, watch the battle against 4-6 enemies near Ogremoch (beholder, vampire, lich, etc) and work out the best order to zap them.Sendai's enclave is next. Massive # of enemies there, I will have to consider carefully what tactics to take. Any advice for that portion of my quest is welcome.
#4256
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 12:45
Will check Blade Barrier out when I get there. I went from 0-2 with flail, priority will be there after 3rd dual-wield. No DoE in my game, and hoping he's spoilt for choice with FoA, Crom, Runehammer and iMoD. I just notice in pure melee his HP drop quicker than Viconia at the moment.ussnorway wrote...
I guess it depends on what you are tanking;
Small un-dead can just be ‘Turn’ed & ‘Repulse Undead’ is great for keeping that Lich/ Shade Lord away from the group but ‘Blade Barrier’ helps with pushing past all those Drow in the final Ust'Natha escape (does wonders for his overall DPS as well)... personally I’d have given him more points in flail and “FoA” (eventually “Defender of Easthaven +2” o/h since he is one of the few Clerics that can DW well) but it looks like you want him to use “Crom Faeyr”? Whatever works man, as always it’s your game.
#4257
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 01:16
Some of those enemies can avoided -- spiders, slaves, most of the drow forces, umber hulks. Lich in no problem with protection scroll. Diaytha could be killed by luring her into some traps with traps, same with illithids. For others you could use some spell scrolls, like Mislead with Spell Immunity: Divination, Improved Haste, perhaps a Time Stop -- Melissan and Ravager are immune to it, so it would be a good time to use it.corey_russell wrote...
Sendai's enclave is next. Massive # of enemies there, I will have to consider carefully what tactics to take. Any advice for that portion of my quest is welcome.
Modifié par Blackmalkin, 29 avril 2012 - 01:22 .
#4258
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 02:00
Gate70 wrote...
Great progress Corey, keep it up.I strongly recommend the Wave halberd for frosties and auto-pause on enemy dead just for this small section. Even non-proficient, haste and a WW attack will usually drop them quickly.corey_russell wrote...
I rememberd how difficult those frost salamanders are. They were indeed difficult, GWW and heals were necessary to sort out 3 of them. A 4th didn't see me, so I backstabbed him and used ring of gaxx haste to finish him.
Nice idea about the wave halberd Gate70 but a little problem with that -- I never went to the city of caverns, so assembling it was quite impossible in my run. And as for the auto-pause on enemy dead, I always have this active for Picenon.
Thanks all for your ideas everyone..I was thinking with the ring of gaxx I have poison immunity, and with free action ring equipped the spiders should be little trouble, less trouble than the slaves at least.
#4259
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 02:07
Why fight them at all? You have nothing to gain, and they can't see through invisibility.corey_russell wrote...
Thanks all for your ideas everyone..I was thinking with the ring of gaxx I have poison immunity, and with free action ring equipped the spiders should be little trouble, less trouble than the slaves at least.
#4260
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 02:46
@Gate70, Yes I can see how having an extra 4 points of armour would help him out in pure melee... certainly couldn’t hurt. I love how the practical Dwarf has to drag the hexcentric Gnome around with him while waiting for flashes of genius... I suspect that Nawgrim suffers more from multi-lag than the pure #kills show?
p.s. I'm enjoying the seeing the game played from different approaches guys... keep it up.
Modifié par ussnorway, 29 avril 2012 - 02:53 .
#4261
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 04:47
Yeah, Ruby Ray isn't the best spell removal in general (Warding Whip at the same level is much stronger, for example), but being an Alteration means that there are lots of enemies which can't be taken down by anything else (only Draconis in vanilla, but from what I understand tactics mods love Spell Immunity: Abjuration).Blackmalkin wrote...
No, Irenicus starts with a rather long lost of protections (he doesn't even have to cast them), but you made a good point. I didn't notice that Ruby Ray belongs to alteration, not abjuration. Melodia and Jan will have have their 7th level spell memorization revised. Thanks for the tip.PPewt wrote...
I haven't played SCSII, but if Irenicus only casts those two defences (as in no Spell Immunity: Alteration) then Ruby Ray will make short work of him.
#4262
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 05:47
Blackmalkin wrote...
Why fight them at all? You have nothing to gain, and they can't see through invisibility.corey_russell wrote...
Thanks all for your ideas everyone..I was thinking with the ring of gaxx I have poison immunity, and with free action ring equipped the spiders should be little trouble, less trouble than the slaves at least.
Actually, I KNEW I would have to backtrack before dealing with Sendai herself. So I wanted a clear path -- the last thing I needed was to stumble in a room of enemies that I didn't clear. As it turned out, it cost me nothing to destroy the spiders, using cloudkills from the shadows. Just a few thousand gold to recharge the wand, no biggie.
First step was the captain of Sendai's on the surface. I vaguely recall you can fight him right away if you examine the nearby grave and press him about it. Of course I had prepared with traps first, so he and his allies didn't last long.
Inside, cloudkills from the shadows eliminated the umber hulks (all of them), spiders and spore colonies. That was nice. As for the first large group drow you had to fight to get a key, lots of heals and GWW/WW were used here.
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, cloudkills from the shadows was plenty for all spiders except Lashara - but her weapon couldn't hit me so that made her simple.
Gilagamesh (the named Earth Elemental) was nearly my death, if not for the RoR I would have been dead. But I kept at it and eventually got him. I didn't know if he could go through the door or not. If I had known he could I would have traps for him! So it was unnecessarily close.
As for Driatha and her buddies, cloudkills plus traps was enough to dispose of all of the but the vampire. I used fireballs from the shadows for the vampire (wand).
The one-one-one with that drow captain was simple - one GWW.
I couldn't find all my potions of genius, but GWW and psionic's blade was enough to deal with the Illithids.
I recharged my wands (had to travel ALL the way back to entrance), and then equipped fighter armor and used the Staff of the Woodlands. During this battle discovered the power of this staff. I had summoned at least 10 shambling mounds at various points of the fight, maybe more. Sendai herself summoned a vast amount of spiders and skeletal warriors. The -19 AC proved quite useful vs. the drow adds, that plus the shambling mound meant most of the battles were handled pretty smoothly.
The battle with the real Sendai went badly, TWICE I was dropped to like 5% health with some kind of spell - RoR managed to kick in time each case. Here's a screenshot of my doing massive cloudkills from my wand, and also shows the great many dead of both sides around me.

Sendai apparently had emptied her spellbook, because near the end all she would do is de-buff me and onyx ring. I managed to lay some spike traps on some of the platforms, and she used a ring to one of them and got hit, after that, her end was certain - success!

I have a lot of respect for this staff of the woodlands, I decided to use it for pocket plane challenge #3. Sure enough with -19 AC the slayer could only hit on criticals! That was nice.
Challenge #4 was a disappointment - it's a wonder I didn't die. RoR was used extensively, because I could hit the thieves. The RoR even poofed! (yikes!). Turns out I couldn't hit the thieves because was using the staff of fire to summon some help, but +2 weapons can't hit the thieves! Once I equipped staff of the woodlands, the thieves started to drop and success!
Just Balthsazar, Ravager and Melissan left.
#4263
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 06:09
Verun, NE male human wild mage. With Stenky the imp familiar, Yoshimo, Viconia, Edwin and Anomen. Searching for Imoen.
Anomen
On our return to the city Anomen discovers his sister is dead. He almost resists the murderous request from his father but we're there to prevent him from wavering. We clear the ground floor of the Saerk estate, selling their junk for cash. After a rest we buff inside the estate and head upstairs.
Anomen murders the daughter of Saerk before our eyes, but Yusuf escapes assume this is scripted as he was near-death and took a lot of damage/spells before teleporting away. Saerk and his guards are obliterated then we loot the building. Anomen and his father agree he is sure to be knighted for such a deed.
Tarnor the Hatchetman
We can take him blind. In my case, I really have to after an oops surge. My next spell oops surge is an expensive one about 30k gp.

I wander in for another spell, then realise I'm fighting blind so step back and let the party continue without me. Anomen has killed Zorl and starts on Gaius. Draug Fea attacks us so Edwin blinds him. What next?

Gaius is slowed so Anomen quickly casts death-ward, but then kills Gaius before another spell is cast. Gallchobhair is next, then the emotional Rengaard and Tarnor. I regain my vision after a rest.
The Unseeing Eye
Anomen and Viconia are turning undead, destroying vampiric mists. This works until we reach a large staircase, with Anomen being held and Viconia getting scared. Anomen takes some drains until Edwin and I kill the wraiths, while Yoshimo has got scared too. We have to rest to recover.
Two sets of yuan-ti mess us up badly.

Unseeing Eye pit
A horde of undead won't stop us. Anomen grabs the gauntlets of dexterity, while I figure out we cannot climb back out of the pit. I didn't want to fight, but it looks like we have no choice. We buff again and continue, knowing we are ill-prepared.
Four gauth almost kill me 19/63hp, and do kill Anomen despite him glugging two healing potions. Yoshimo sneaks in and retrieves him so Viconia can raise him.
Yoshimo lays three snares while Edwin and I add skulltraps. A fireball entices the gauth and one set of enemies are eliminated. Yoshimo scouts around and finds some blind priests. Greater malison, slow, two fireballs and a skulltrap finish them off.
A beholder next. One snare, three skulltraps and a fireball. Another beholder near the exit gets a similar send-off (hmm, see below), and a gauth guarding part of the rift device. Anomen decides to finish off our investigations.

We head to the exit in a group. I'm towards the back, and the only one who triggers the skulltrap left after the beholder died. It kills me outright while everybody else is uninjured. Viconia and Anomen manage to raise me, but this also raises the Unseeing Eye and we have to kill it again.
That was annoying, had put the traps under an arch and wasn't paying attention.
Modifié par Gate70, 29 avril 2012 - 06:10 .
#4264
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 06:19
#4265
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 06:36
#4266
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 07:01
Hard luck Gate70 - I might have predicted you would get killed by your own spells, but that's a harsh way to go!
#4267
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 08:29
Picenon engaged the vast army of monks outside the fortress, trying to find the key to get in. Initially was using the staff of woodlands, but just wasn't killing them fast enough, so switched to the answerer and belm, that sped things up. Used up all my haste abilities and GWW/WW, still ran out, so many enemies. Resorted to cloudkills on myself to try to speed things along. Here's a screenie of all that action:

Eventually found the key. Went to merchant to recharge RoR and cloudkill wand. Came back and was time for Balthsazar himself! I have NEVER beaten Balthsazar solo before...the biggest problems will be his stun and hold effects. In a group I usually put chaotic commands and free action on everyone - but not an option here of course. I did what saves I could plus invulnerability potion, stoneskin, and hardiness and ilbratha.
The fight started and he got a stun on me! Uh, oh, saves aren't good enough (or is there even a save? makes me wonder). I tried to attack him but he held me and stunned me some more. I healed a few times, but then he got a long lasting stun and Picenon's Cinderella run comes to and end.

I had to know whether I could beat him or not, so reloaded and tried to maximize saves but still got stunned, maybe there isn't a save, you just need CC or one of very few stun immunity items. However, after shaking off two stuns, I ran to my traps at the entrance and Balthsazar dutifully followed and died! So apparently I could have beat him with my traps...oops.
It was a good run..will try to go to Melissan at some time, but at the moment ready for a change of pace (e.g. different character).
Final Picenon Character Sheet
Modifié par corey_russell, 29 avril 2012 - 08:30 .
#4268
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 08:43
Doesn't the upgraded flail of ages protect against stun? If so that would seem a good choice for that combat.
#4269
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 09:09
#4270
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 09:55
#4271
Posté 29 avril 2012 - 10:57
Nawgrim/Gate70 and Peer/Grond0. Session 9 (run time 1h10m. Total14h10)
Xzar
We retrieve "Montaron" and watch as the imposter assassinates Xzar.
Our finances just stretch to a ring, rod of resurrection and robe of Vecna.
Planar Sphere
We have a quick look inside, only for Peer to be stunned and mazed by halflings after his skeletons are insta-killed. Nawgrim quickly summons an ogre then two cloudkills. Peer returns, still stunned and between the cloudkill and Entu he dies.
Nawgrim has cast two flame arrows, killing Entu. He is chased back to the knights and slams the door as he arrives. He uses a rod charge to revive Peer, and hands him a weapon, armour, belt and helmet. We open the door and carefully look around but no sign of anyone. Eventually we decide they are hiding behind the door (which will now not close).
Peer retrieves his fallen gear then casts holy smite, forcing two halflings out. We kill them and call it a night.
Reloads: 0
Peer Resurrections: 2 (de'Arnise courtyard, Planar sphere halflings).
#4272
Posté 30 avril 2012 - 11:27
In this game there were a lot of firsts. I married Nalia, and it was the first time that I could summon a Planentar. Maybe that was why Firkraag was so easy this time.
I picked up Sheena, Saerileth and Anomen just before Firkraag and afterwards went for the supposedly easier dragon Thaxassyllia only to be beaten. Played it again with the same tacttics afterwards and it didn't last 10 seconds. Such is life.
Anyone power gaming should not pick up Sheena or Saerileth. However they do make for an interesting game.
It was the first time that I had picked up Sheena and the first time that I had played Saerileth without her being kidnapped. The extra goodies from the planes would certainly have helped.
Modifié par Grimwald the Wise, 30 avril 2012 - 11:32 .
#4273
Posté 30 avril 2012 - 12:54
#4274
Posté 30 avril 2012 - 01:18
Blackmalkin wrote...
It was very brave of Picenon to storm the front gates and fight the whole army all by himself. At least he could die proudly.
Thanks, Blackmalkin. Sounds like a fitting epitaph. Too bad Picenon didn't have any friends who could bury him and write the epitaph for him...
#4275
Posté 30 avril 2012 - 01:38
While travelling to Athkatla, my party was ambushed by Drizzt. Unfortunately, he still remembered how Dhanushka shot him near Baldur’s Gate, but I managed to persuade him to forgive that. I even convinced him to help against Bodhi. Arriving at Athkatla I made the same mistake as last time – I have chosen graveyard as destination, forgetting that it’s not only mine, but also Bodhi’s favourite hangout. I quickly escaped, buffed and returned to kill the vampires. After grabbing some of the equipment stashed in the tombs I went to Cromwell to forge Gesen’s Bow and Crom Faeyr. Short Bow of Gesen counts as +4 and have better damage output then Tansheron’s Bow. It’s missiles are terribly slow, though, so Dhanushka still carries Tasheron’s Bow (and still uses Strong Arm as main weapon, of course). Crom Faeyr was equipped by Samadarshin, though he sometimes lends it to Korgan. Korgan lost Girdle of Frost Giant Strenght, so Jan again has to buff him with Strenght spell (but he also uses potions). I couldn’t forge the Wave halberd, because I have misplaced the shaft somewhere. Probably in Warden’s Keep (will check later). At Adventurer’s Mart I bought Helm of Brilliance and all 9th level spells. Deidre have finally shown up, but didn’t have Robe of Vecna nor Vhailor’s Helm (moved to ToB) nor Balduran’s Shield (removed from game). I generally agree with those changes (especially removing of the Shield), but why move Deidre to the semi-final chapter of the game if she no longer sells any overpowered items?
When shopping and inventory management were concluded, I recruited some assassins and paladins to my cause and stormed Bodhi’s lair. I decided to use this fight as an opportunity to experiment with Wish spell. It ended up in a very long adventure with many retreats and rests. Turned out that Improved Alacrity in “Cast a double-length Time Stop and Improved Alacrity on the caster” is not the same thing as Improved Alacrity from high level abillities. It doesn’t eliminate pause between spells, but decreases casting time to 0. Coupled with the other Improved Alacrity it allows to cast every memorized spell during the Time Stop. Unlike Limited Wish, 9th level Wish cannot be used during Time Stop, so it doesn’t allow to cast infinite number of spells, but still a lot of them. So, here is a shot of Vaitali preparing a large amount of Magic Missiles for Valen:

Most of the vampires were killed in similiar manner, others where hacked to pieces by Korgan. Before killing them all I allowed them to eat the paladins, so that I could get their equipment (shopping at the Mart had seriously hurt my gold reserves). Bodhi was to be killed by Vaitali’s Magic Missiles and Horrid Wiltings. Sorceress took Boots of Speed from Samadarshin, stopped time with Wish and entered Bodhi’s main chamber. When she approached the vampire suddenly some lesser vampires spawned around her – SCS addition. I was rather happy to see some more victims, especially that they all could be hit with triple Cone of Cold combo. Standing next to Bodhi, Vaitali cast 4xLower Resistance, Pierce Magic and Breach. Then she retreated a few steps and started casting Magic Missiles, restoring her 1st level spells with Limited Wish. Then she retreated a few more steps and cast 5 Horrid Wiltings (she retreated, because Bodhi wasn’t hostile, Magic Missiles had to turn her aggressive, before Wilitings would hit). Then she left, though she couldn’t close the door behind her, which was troubling. I’m not sure what exactly happened to Bodhi when time resumed. I think I did enough damage, though all Magic Missiles were doing only 2 damage each (strange) and Horrid Wiltings didn’t hurt her at all, since she was still neutral. I got this:

I killed her vampires and grimwarders, at least, but some more appeared (I could see it because Jan cast Farsight). So I retreated, rested and came back. Vaitali couldn’t get the right option, so I reterated again. After a few tries she got the correct option and repeated the whole scenario. This time she cast more Magic Missiles, to make sure Bodhi cannot survive. I also put some care into casting the Missiles from different spots to get better artistic effect. That’s how it looked with time stopped:

...and now with time running again:

But Bodhi still refused to die. I got the “No! This life is mine!” line that she always give before dying and then “Bodhi: Healed” note. At least she didn’t summon any new enemies this time (and the previous wave died from Horrid Wiltings). Again I had feeling I’m playing Dragon Age, so I lost my patiance and sent dwarves to hack Bodhi to pieces. She died before the end of the round, but managed to cast Swarm of Bats which works like insect swarm spells, only it was much more powerful. I wasn’t even sure if one extra-healing potion per round would be enough to keep the dwarves alive, so Vaitali kept casting Limited Wishes to heal them. Everyone except Vaitali leveled up. Korgan took Critical Hit, Samadarshin Hardiness, Dhanushka Greater Deathblow, Jan and Melodia Use Any Item.
I wanted to equip Melodia with Cernd’s cloak, but she had “inadequate wisdom”, same thing with Jan. I bought her Robe of Good Archmagi and regretted not thinking about buying Robe of Evil Archmagi back in Ust Natha (I certainly won’t be showing myself there any time soon, or anywhere in Underdark for that matter). Then I moved to kill some unfinished business. Turned out that Rejiek was in Trademeet even though I killed him in Athkatla (and the game even recognized this and lowered my reputation for that). Then I paid a visit to Firkraag. He died so fast, that Jan’s Breach didn’t even reach him. He cast it just in case Firkraag recast some protections – Vaitali used spell trigger with Lower Resistance, Pierce Magic and Breach. And even her Breach reached Firkraag when his Stoneskins where already down. The killing blow was delivered by Korgan, which was a shame. since the greedy dwarf already took credit for killing Bodhi.

[That frightened thing behind the dragon is Mordenkainen's Sword. Deva's protection spell must have not affected him.]
Then I killed Sion, Kelta and their party in temple district (I have completely forgotten about this fight before). Despite my vows never to approach a lich again, I also decided to avenge Grunkh. Lich at the city gates died in three hits, before his protections kicked in.

You can see Grunkh’s body in the lower left corner. Unfortunately, lich have eaten all his equipment, Helm of Balduran included. Then I cleared the new wilderness areas. While exploring a cottage in Forest of Tethir Dhanushka suffered a strange panic attack:

Looking on the screenshot I see that Korgan and Vaitali are making saving throws, so I guess Dhanushka must have failed hers. It’s still strange, sine she was under the effect of Melodia’s song. But the mists were killed before any damage was done to the party.
Warden’s Keep will be the next stop – I’m going to venture into the labyrinth.
Party status:
Dhanushka – archer 19, 122 HP, 591 kills (Baalor)
Samadarshin – fighter 14/cleric 15, 106 HP, 397 kills (Thaxll’ssillyia)
Melodia – skald 25, 88 HP, fav. spell: Stoneskin, 127 kills (Spirit Troll)
Vaitali – sorcerer 18, 52 HP, fav. spell: Magic Missile, 248 kills (TorGal)
Jan Jansen – illusionist 14/thief 17. 57 HP, fav. spell: Stoneskin, 94 kills (Shade Lord)
Korgan – berserker 21, 150 HP, 733 kills (Bodhi)
Modifié par Blackmalkin, 30 avril 2012 - 01:49 .





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