Baldur's Gate 2 No-Reload Challenge
#5526
Posté 29 janvier 2013 - 07:15
#5527
Posté 30 janvier 2013 - 05:37
Legions Update 6
The party had a gentle introduction to BG2 at the circus.
Before venturing further afield I decided to avoid the risk of using arcane magic by dealing with the cowled wizard enforcers. Vexillarius summoned them using invisibility, while Auxiliary set traps. That killed a few of them; others were generally allowed to depart as I wasn't really interested in a fair fight with them, but Auxiliary usually looked their condition over first from stealth. That caused his death at one point when one of the enforcers was hidden behind buffs of another and I didn't notice he was casting true sight until too late - exposing Auxiliary to a ADHW (I was lucky there that he was not chunked). The final group of top-level enforcers did all die, thanks to their carelessness in gating in a Pit Fiend when no-one else was around to be attacked by it.
Off to the Slums to rapidly free the Copper Coronet. Plenty of weapons upgrades there - Azuredge, Stonefire, Light Crossbow of Speed, Tuigan Bow and the Sling of Seeking. I could have stolen most of those, but decided I shouldn't need to bother with that in this run.
In the sewers pathfinding problems meant Optio was exposed against some hobgoblins and in danger of death when held by a shaman. Invisibility and remove paralysis arrived together to save him. Captain Haegan fell after hardly troubling the scorers, but one of the wizards survived a backstab to get a skull trap off causing a certain amount of damage, but no casualties.
Travelling invisibly the party sprang the Suna Seni ambush. Auxiliary got a critical backstab to make sure of the mage and the rest rapidly fell. The same treatment was given to Renfeld's attackers (no starting critical, but didn't change the result).
Off to Watchers Keep to buy a potion case. Cleared the first floor (though not the statues) to pick up more goodies such as a golem manual, quiver / case of plenty +1 and ammo case. There was one near disaster when I forgot the location of a trap and Vexillarius got petrified - fortunately Caesar was not in the lead and Sister Garlena was on hand to provide the necessary remedy.
At this point I realised I had not returned Renfeld to the Docks and went to do that. Fortunately he appeared to have been attacked with an extremely slow-acting poison and the quest was still available. Did the work for that, but didn't finish it as Legate wasn't far off 9th level where he intended to dual to a mage. To get the last bit of XP went and cleared a few tombs in the graveyard. I was thinking he would use the crimson dart, but of course he can't as a kensai, so will look forward eagerly to getting his kensai abilities back. Reporting back on Xzar's quest and to Hendak about the slavers quickly got him to level 7. He also learnt lots of spells, which would have been worth huge amounts of XP in vanilla BG2, but the amount of XP has been reduced by 99% in my BGT installation so didn't help much.
Party stats (continued from BG1)
Optio, F8 / D10, 90 HPs, 344 kills, 3 deaths (one to Shoal)
Vexillarius, Blade 11, 62 HPs, 112 kills, 1 death, 1 stoning
Auxiliary, Bounty Hunter 11, 51 HPs, 149 kills
Caesar, Berserker 9, 95 HPs, 389 kills
Centurion, Priest of Lathander 9, 55 HPs, 91 kills, 1 death
Legate, Mage 7 (Kensai 9, inactive), 99 HPs, 275 kills
#5528
Posté 30 janvier 2013 - 06:05
#5529
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 06:09
Legions Update 7
At the Bridge District picked up the berserker horn immediately. Solved the skinner murders - Vexillarius using mirror image to successfully foil a backstab from the rune assassin (the second one didn't appear).
Then went to intrude on Captain Dennis. Auxiliary went in first to lay some traps before the others joined in the fun. One of the mercenaries managed to buff up and survived to cast a death spell (that only affected the summoned skeletons), followed by a couple of painful fireballs. Eventually though the golem found a way through his stoneskins. That encounter provided some nice upgrades to plate armour, though the main purpose was to get the boomerang dagger for Legate.
Also discovered a kidnap victim. On the way to collect a ransom for her triggered an ambush. This time was not invisible, but the ambushers were still in trouble immediately. The reputation loss from the ransom was quickly regained by talking to Lt Aegisfield and the guard outside the circus tent.
On to the de'Arnise Hold. No problems there; the only point when I was momentarily worried was when Glaicas got petrified by a chromatic orb, but after the rock shattered there was the flail head safe and sound. Caesar took charge of the future of the stronghold, while Optio got to druid level 11 and access to 6th level spells.
At Trademeet protected Optio against petrification and he led the attack on the Dao. No problems with druids or trolls. Ihtafeer died too quickly to even start his scripted conversation, which was an error as it prevented his fellow rakshasa from appearing to be looted. Optio challenged Faldorn; an insect plague just about ensured his victory with a fire elemental and a couple of nymphs appearing to help him finish things off. Completing the main Trademeet quest got Legate a level and her kensai abilities back. Optio also got a level there to fighter 9, but only received 1 extra HP - I guess the bug there was connected with the druid level being so much higher already. Quickly cleansed the tomb and helped Tiris and then spent all my wealth in Trademeet's bustling markets (buying a few scrolls in addition to the normal useful items).
Party stats (continued from BG1)
Optio, F9 / D11, 92 HPs, 368 kills, 3 deaths (one to Shoal)
Vexillarius, Blade 12, 64 HPs, 129 kills, 1 death
Auxiliary, Bounty Hunter 12, 53 HPs, 191 kills
Caesar, Berserker 10, 98 HPs, 421 kills
Centurion, Priest of Lathander 10, 57 HPs, 94 kills, 1 death
Legate, Mage 10 / Kensai 9, 103 HPs, 287 kills
#5530
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 10:23
A predictable end to this run I'm afraid, with a loss of focus after a couple of easy sessions. In the last session I had done all the Mae'Var quests and some sundry bits of pieces and was preparing to go to the Umar Hills. I wanted the Amulet of Power for that so paid Gaelan and went to the thieves guild.
While there I thought it was a while since I'd explored the place, so would do that. My vague memory of the back room with the thief talking about treason was that it was not a good idea to get him in conversation, but that pickpocket might be possible. I tried charming him so that he would not start a conversation when I approached. Unfortunately that backfired on me - in my SCS installation charming does not make people turn hostile, but here it did (and retribution arrived before I could react).
#5531
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 10:35
I had high hopes for this crew.
What's next?
#5532
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 11:03
#5533
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 11:22
Ok. As some of you know, I recently ran an Elven sorcress named Alicia through BG1 while waiting to get my forumite party going (which I have dubbed The Avatars). I exported her without really intending to take her very far but then -for whatever reason- just kept going. She's now done with most of the Chapter 2/3 quests and nearly ready to head to Spellhold. I'm not sure I'm going to finish her game still, but since there seems to be some interest in SCS solo sorcerers here, I thought I'd post what she'd done so far. For those interested: enjoy. For those who'd prefer to see "The Avatars" in action, I sympathize: I'd prefer to run that crew as well, but for now we have Alicia.
In this post I'll introduce her and then do some quick highlight coverage in the hopes of bringing her up to date with her progress relatively soon. First, the introductions.

(NW: Shot from BG1 of course.)
Spellbook (in order of addition)
L1: Blindness, Shield, Chromatic Orb, Magic MIssle, Pro Evil
L2: Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow
L3: Skull Trap, Remove Magic, Melf's Minute Meteors
L4: Teleport Field, Stoneskins
Proficiencies: Darts, Ouarterstaves
So, there she is: Alicia!....Hooray!
Moving on to the highlight coverage...
Alicia in the Chataeu
Not much worthy of note happened in the Chataeu. I'll just mention a counple things. First, Alicia got a teensy tiny bit of help from Imoen at outset: Imoen unlocked the porttrait by the first golem, and also tossed Alicia a Strength spell. The latter -combined with DUHM- yielded some Potions of Extra Healing.

The only other thing worthy of mention here was the Mephit Portal room. Here's how Alicia handled that.
Alicia began by buffing and the reading the Monster Summoning scroll from Ellesime's room. The resultant Worg was used to lure the first two mephits away from the portals.

That freed Alicia to knock off two portals in peace.

The final two were easy after that.

The Promenade
Upon emergance, Alicia rescued Aerie and then picked up some potions. Progress.

The Slaver Quest
Off to The Copper next. By this time, Alicia had added her first Level 5: Sunfire. After stealthing over to the Beastmaster, she soon put it to use.
Teleport Field first to clear the animals (too much incoming APR for my taste).

Note the closed doors: the plan was to Field drop the animals back in their cages. This worked: Alicia was free to knock off the Beastmaster at her leisure.

Sunfires finished the job.

To The Loveboat. By this time, Alicia received her second level 5: Spell Immunity. SI:D and SI:E were run against the Priest of Cyric (insurance) along with, IIRC, Shield, Mirror Image, Pro Evil, Blur and improved Invisbility. A Sunfireand Meteors took out the Priest before he could cast.

Once they melee foes got a little thick, Alicia fired up a Field and then lit it up with more Sunfires.

Once the fodder fell, it was time for Haegan. Skull Trap->Melf's Minute Meteors ended him before he could roll.

All that remained was to Melf some swirling Troll.

That was followed by the pitter-patter of little feet running over Acid Blob and Prismatic Spray traps.
I'll try to post on Trademeet, Umar, and The Keep soon- followed by Mae'Var and Windspear.
Best,
A.
Btw. Spellbook at this point was.
L1: Blindness, Shield, Chromatic Orb, Magic MIssle, Pro Evil
L2: Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur
L3: Skull Trap, Remove Magic, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust
L4: Teleport Field, Stoneskins, Improved Invisibility
L5: Sunfire, Spell Immunity
And the potion collection.
Modifié par Alesia_BH, 31 janvier 2013 - 11:36 .
#5534
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 11:24
Grond0 wrote...
I think despite my best intentions I have little chance of staying focused all the way through BGT with a party. As an alternative I thought I would stick with the power-game philosophy, but with a single character - at the moment I'm thinking of berserker dualled to mage
Makes sense. Best of luck with that!
A.
#5535
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 11:31
#5536
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 11:36
p.s. Is it just me or is she being inappropriately pocked at in that first screenshot?
#5537
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 11:50
(More super-fast highlight coverage...)
Most -though not all- of the SCS Druid Grove was cleared. Alicia left the Shambling Mounds and the Druid party for another day, the rest were taken out using a combination of Skull Traps, Sunfires, and Melf's. Shield, Pro Evil, Mirror Image, Blur, Improved invisibility, Teleport Field handled the defense.
Here we see the Spiders. The Giant was nixed before he could deploy his Web.

The Troll groups were all taken out in the same fashion. The third group exemplifies best.
First Alicia approached invisible.

She then faded and placed a few Skull Traps in between her and the Trolls. A final Skull Trap was tossed over the previously set traps at the Trolls.

Rushing to their attacker, they tripped the remaining Skull Traps: that put all of them down.

Sunfire finish.

Having had her daily dose of combat, Alicia enlisted Cernd's aid in defeating Faldorn and then droped the Dao on her own.
Umar Hills next.
Best,
A.
Modifié par Alesia_BH, 31 janvier 2013 - 11:52 .
#5538
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 11:54
ussnorway wrote...
Go, Alicia, go... sure likes a drink when she is out saving small children from slayers and what not.
Thanks!
(And yes: Alicia is -like most of my characters- a potion junky...)
p.s. Is it just me or is she being inappropriately pocked at in that first screenshot?
(Not sure what you mean here...)
Modifié par Alesia_BH, 31 janvier 2013 - 11:55 .
#5539
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 12:35
The Umar Hills quest was a partial success and a partial failure. It was a success in the sense that Alicia destroyed the Shade Lord and brightened the skies of Immesvale. It was a failure in that she had to abandon her plans to take down the Shadow Dragon. As before, coverage here will be very concise.
The opening encounters were simple Sunfire-fests.
Perhaps feeling a teensy-bit overconfident, Alicia created a mess for herself over by the Amaunator tiles. This was by far the most interesting battle of the quest.
It started out simply enough: a Skull Trap assault on a crew of undead.

Not wanting to burn a Potion of Freedom -and with a Kazgaroth modified Save v. Death- Alicia decided to pull back when she noted a pair of Shadow Field had survived. Fading and Missling brought one down, but there was another.

and the noise attracted attention. When Alicia turned that corner a second time, she was in for a surprise.

Run away! Or more precisely, vanish: I panicked a little and quaffed a Potion of Invisibility.

Navigating through the foes, Alicia setup a Skull Trap line. It looked impressive, but the traps didn't trip (Skull Trap is funny like that...).

And soon Alicia was left running and nibbling.

Once the Shadow Fiends were gone, it was Sunfire time. Phew!

(Edit: Meteors finished the bone Golem after a rest.)
Scary fight. Now for some hardcore anti-climax!
Vaguely recalling seeing a Spellstrike through Improved Invisibility from the Shade Lord in the past -and still without Spell Shield- Alicia played it safe (lame?) against the Shade Lord by running Pro Undead.

For my characters, the price of running Pro Undead against the Shade Lord is an encounter with the Shadow Dragon. This seemed feasible in the planning phase (EDIT: Alicia already had the AoP at this point) but I did have some doubts as to whether Improved Staying Power for Dragons would prevent the Lower Resistance-less Alicia from getting the job done. The math was not on Alicia's side as it turned out. And sadly, I squandered some of Alicia's resources before discovering this.
To the fight (or pathetic attempt at a fight I should say...). Alicia began her prep by reading a Spell Trigger scroll and loading it with 3 Sunfires. She then slept, buffed and headed into the cavern. She approached and detonated.

Nice opening. But a hitpoint check revealed that Thaxy was Barely Injured. And that -in turn- meant that the fight was barely worth continuing: if 3 Sunfires equals Barely Injured, then finishing Thaxy would was out of the question. I was tempted to leave as soon as I saw the Barely Injured flag, but let Alicia give it a try nonetheless. Sure enough, Thaxy was still at Injured when Alicia's book ran dry. With nothing else to do, she shrugged and went home -and hinted that she'd have words with me over the waste of a Spell Trigger scroll, a Potion of Clarity, and an Oil of Speed. Head hung in shame.
Anyhoo. The De'Arnise Keep is next.
Best,
A.
Modifié par Alesia_BH, 31 janvier 2013 - 12:38 .
#5540
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 12:57
Glad to hear it. I'll try to bear it in mind for the future, but wouldn't like to promise I won't forget againSerg BlackStrider wrote...
@Grond0: what a horrible misfortune due to a vague memory...It's completely safe to talk with that thief and during the conversation the second thief arrives, kills the traitor and you just grab the free Ring of Lock Picking... I always do that in my runs for Nalia became less dependent on potions...
#5541
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 04:23
@Alicia: I don't really consider your encounter with the shadow dragon a failure - you lived to continue your run right?
#5542
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 04:36
corey_russell wrote...
@Alicia: I don't really consider your encounter with the shadow dragon a failure - you lived to continue your run right?
True: Survival alone can be seen as a success.
I was just hoping for a more satisfying ending.
Modifié par Alesia_BH, 31 janvier 2013 - 04:37 .
#5543
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 05:49
Following her adventures in the Umar Hills, Alicia reached Level 13.

I made a couple unusual choices with her spell book at this stage in the interest of experimenting. Note the exclamation points.
Level 1: Blindness, Shield, Chromatic Orb, Magic Missle, Pro Evil
Level 2: Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur
Level 3: Skull Trap, Remove Magic, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust
Level 4: Teleport Field, Stoneskins, Improved Invisbility, Ice Storm (!!)
Level 5: Sunfire, Spell Immunity, Spell Shield
Level 6: Protection from Magic Weapons, Globe of Invulnerability (!!)
Ice Storm and Globe of Invulnerability go together of course. And to be clear, I'm not entirely sold on either. Here's what I was thinking though. My characters typically end up bottlenecked a Level 5 due to their heavy reliance on Spell Immunities. There are a few ways of dealing with that, with GoI being one helpful move since it allows you to take your Malison defenses by casting at 6 rather than 5.
Now once you have GoI, Ice Storm becomes interesting. It's an awkward spell in a party, but the damage is actually pretty decent (8d8 over 4 rounds) and it fits into a Sequencer. Importantly, it also provides a means of diversifying damage without trying to cram Cone of Cold into 5. So hooray for Ice Storm huh? Not really. Ice Storms are fun, but there are some great spells at 4 that Alicia won't have room for- Malison, Polymorph Self, Minor Sequencer, and Fireshield: Blue are among them. I'm enjoying fiddling with Ice Storm -and I may warm to it- but I suspect that this will end up being a one time experiment: there's too much good stuff at 4.
Anyhoo. That's enough about the spellbook: on to The Keep (with a quick stop at the Den of Seven Vales first).
The Den of Seven Vales
Alicia took her standard arcane defense buffs here (including Spell Shield, II, SI:A, and SI:D). They ended up being unnecessary though due to a quick Skull Trap knock out of Amon.

With naught but melee fighters on the field, Alicia was spoiled for options here. She decided to go Pro MW->Ice Storm->Sunfire with some Melf's thrown in. That worked and it looked good to- what more can you ask for.


The De'Arnise Keep
Aside from the battle with Glaicas -which was humorously botched when her was lifted over a wall by Alicia's Telefield- the Keep went smoothy. My cowardice did, however, get the best of me once again leading to yet another death by seperation for Torgal.
First the ballroom Trolls. Alicia used the same method here that she worked out in the Druid Grove: Skull Trap line->Sunfire/MMMs.

I'm not sure why, but I really enjoy nixing Nalia's pooches. They were roasted this time.

Alicia's standard arcane defenses stumped the Yuan-Ti Mage. Spell Thrust->Ice Storm->Skull Trap ended him.

A few minor encounters later and it was time for Torgal.
Seeing the library Yuan Ti mage stumped by Alicia's buffs, I contemplated have her take on Torgal's entire crew (2 Yuan-Ti Mages, 2 Umber Hulk Elders, 2 Giant Trolls. and bunch of other trolls in addition to Torgal). The plan was to set up a Skull Trap line and see how much progress could be made that way. If the dent was big enough, Alicia would go ahead and finish.

The damage wasn't bad, but it was nowhere near enough. Alicia withdrew and took down Torgal on his own (using his invisbility detection to seperate once again). I was slightly worried that Alicia wouldn't be able to deal enough damage, but this worked out fine. Ice Storm and Sunfires did the heavy lifting, Acid arrow finish.


Mae'Var's Guild Hall is next.
Best,
A.
Modifié par Alesia_BH, 31 janvier 2013 - 06:00 .
#5544
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 05:57
#5545
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 06:01
#5546
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 06:06

The risk of loot loss is of course worth considering though.
Modifié par Alesia_BH, 31 janvier 2013 - 06:10 .
#5547
Posté 31 janvier 2013 - 09:08
After disposing of Sarevok Krimlor and co speak to Winski and Voleta Stiletto, sell a pile of loot and head back to Belt with the golden pantaloons. So starts their second adventure.
Castlist
Blackstrider, blade 8, 50 kills. 1 death. Jalantha Mistmyr.
Alesia, mage 5 thief 6, 31 kills. 1 death. Greater Basilisk.
Grond, archer 7, 184 kills. 1 death. Angelo.
Cassia, were cat 8, 188 kills. 4 deaths.Seniyad.
Krimlor, Bhaalspawn fighter 6 cleric 6, 75 kills. Slythe.
Pot, mage 7, 23 kills. 2 deaths. Taugosz Khosann. & Sarevok.
A steam mephit ignores our frontliners to stun and kills Pot in a room of giant glass jars. Alesia starts raiding every and any container so we can afford to raise Pot when we finally break out. Our situation worsens when the second of two lesser clay golems strikes Alesia to the ground. Blackstrider is almost killed (2hp) by Ilyich and Krimlor sees three anxious faces staring at him - pay more attention, this isn't the Sword Coast.
Cassia has to shrug off traps after this point, with Krimlor stemming poison on three occasions. The entire dungeon is cleared despite the risks of a cambion and numerous mephits. Ulvaryl is barely defeated, even with called arrows of biting, offensive longsword +1 and DUHM spiritual warhammer.
We have 1288gp, so pawn some loot to raise funds/Pot/Alesia. Our 2654gp drops to 1054 but a reputation of 20 has been maintained and Friend Blackstrider reckons he can snaffle a bargain or two.
Pot & Alesia both breath again, better still they gained the same experience as the rest of us for escaping despite being dead at the time. Woohoo. They celebrate by taking magical weapons and a bunch of scrolls we have saved for them. After memorising what they can, five surplus scrolls are quickly hawked away.
#5548
Posté 01 février 2013 - 12:29
Our first stop is at the circus. Despite taking great care to only attack shadow creatures Pot is injured by a wolfwere. We cast horror to distract them and move on to kill two more shadows plus Kalah.
Gaelan Bayle intercepts us and tells us about the plight of Imoen. We all think of the times she's helped us so agree to help her for once. Later though.
Cohrvale and Bregg breathe their last, then we look into a matter of slavery. Once Hendak is free he has another job for us, but after the earlier jailbreak we decide to rest overnight. The Tuigan bow (Grond) and Sling of Seeking (Krimlor) are likely to feature prominently.
#5549
Posté 01 février 2013 - 09:14
If at first you don't succeed ...
#5550
Posté 01 février 2013 - 12:23
As those of you following the BG1 thread are aware, I'm now ready to start running my forumite party, The Avatars. As a consequence, Alicia's game is being put on hold. Apologies to those who have been following her with interest, but I'm personally far more excited about The Avatars.
For the record, Alicia has completed all the major chapter 2/3 quests in standard order: Slaver->Trademeet->Umar
Hills->De'Arnise->Windspear->Planar Sphere->Unseeing Eye->Planar Prison. If and when she resumes she'll be heading into Bodhi's Lair. Her character record and inventory at time of hold appear below along with her current spellbook (once again, in order of addition).


Level 1: Blindness, Shield, Chromatic Orb, Magica Missle, Pro Evil
Level 2: Invisibility. Mirror Image, Resist Fear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur
Level 3: Skull Trap, Remove Magic, Melf's Minute Meteors, Spell Thrust
Level 4: Teleport Field, Stoneskins, Improved Invisibility, Ice Storm
Level 5: Sunfire, Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, Lower Resistance
Level 6: Protection from Magic Weapons, Globe of Invulnerability, Spell Deflection
Level 7: Spell Sequencer, Ruby Ray of Reversal, Projected Image
Level 8: Spell Trigger, Protection from Energy
Level 9: Spell Trap
HLAs: Improved Alacrity
As an aside, I'll note that this book has performed well so far: Alicia has reached the point of radical over-poweredness and hasn't really been threatened along the way. That was expected though. And to my mind, the
true test of a spellbook is the Ascension fight. I'll reserve judgement on her picks until she completes that fight.
Anyhoo. Best of luck everyone! Hopefully I'll be back in this thread with The Avatars soon.
Best,
A.
Modifié par Alesia_BH, 01 février 2013 - 12:28 .





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