15241 réponses à ce sujet

[Humanoid_Taifun]

aVENGER has left the modding community? Darn, I didn't even notice. When did that happen?

[wise grimwald]

Diary of Dragonslayer

At last returned to the surface after defeating all my enemies in the Underdark.
The Illithid were the hardest,"Raise Dead" being used more than once.
I believe that I am now in a position to improve my weaponry when I returm to see Cromwell.
It is certainly good to see daylight once more.

[igneous.sponge]

Humanoid_Taifun wrote...

aVENGER has left the modding community? Darn, I didn't even notice. When did that happen?

A few months back. Irrbloss is maintaining his mods, now, I think.

[Alesia_BH]

polytope wrote...

The crowd of vampires were very difficult, even though they could only hit me with a roll of 19 or better, their bat clouds do amazing damage.

So you know, Spell Turning worked against the Bat Clouds in my run.


Best,

A.


Btw. I'm still busy, but I'm hoping to get Alastria back in action over the weekend. I'm also hoping to set up a No Reload group to post and maintain the full challenge completion list.

[wise grimwald]

Diary of Dragonslayer

Returned to the graveyard to deal with Bhodi.
You can imagine my distress when she turned Tyris into a vampire and killed her.

Everyone I care for seems to get killed, first Dynahir, now Tyris.

We have however killed both Bhodi and Irenicus.

Also another dragon, this one being quite easy with both a Planetar and Crom.

When it was time to deal with Irenicus, I kept the party out of the way and used summons whilst I used Crom.

Now I must see if I can get Tyris raised. 

Modifié par wise grimwald, 03 novembre 2010 - 05:08 .

[polytope]

Alesia_BH wrote...

So you know, Spell Turning worked against the Bat Clouds in my run.

Interesting, since the bats ignore magic resistance I assumed they would bypass spell protections. I'm glad Alastria is still with us.

Aspasia; end of chapter 2 and chapter 3 quests.

Completed the Windspear hills with no further problems. Samia started off hostile, and I realized this was because we had previously found some of her treasure (dragon scale shield) as a randomized item. As this was clearly a bug I reloaded: Left the shield at the door and accepted her quest, dragonslayer sword was in it's normal place (not that we'll be slaying any dragons soon). Samia's treacherous party are defeated quickly. As is Conster (and he gave me such a nightmare on my last playthrough!). Found the gauntlets of weapon expertise (randomizer is being very kind on this run)

On the way back from the hills we visit the trademeet Rakshasas, they attack us on sight due to the FoA in our possession. Although they are high level fighter/mages, they seem to have no debuffs besides remove magic - their stacked teleport fields, webs, cloudkills and such are useless against spell immunity + globe of invulnerability.

On return to Athkatla I tried to start the quest to rescue HD and co from the planar prison, but the game crashed every time... Forcing me to reload again. The party's equipment/potion situation was slightly better at my last save point, but I feel that missing out on all the planar prison items and experience will make up for this.

In Chapter 3 the party fought both shadow thieves and vampires (using Alternatives from g3). The shadow thief hq was, well, annoying (never actually sided against them before). No deaths though. Aran had the amulet of power as usual, plus the club of detonation.

Nalia is kidnapped upon our leaving the thief guild, and during the quest to rescue her we find a note about the guarded slaver compound in the temple district - which is our cue to assault this place.

Guarded Compound fight starts with us shooting some webs to slow down the melee opponents. Stalman has Aura of Flaming death in his prebuffs - not a good choice of a HLA, a fallen deva or even a Storm of Vengeance would have been much more useful. Then we find Sion and try debuffing him - he had an incredible number of spells! Starts the fight with Spell Trap and CC summoning a simulacrum (simmy didn't help him much as it got stuck in the web). Then he chain casts 2*timestop (during which he renews his buffs, Spellstrikes Tashia, debuffs our party), then Absolute Immunity. I figured he must be out of 9th level, time to charge: Bad idea as he had this up his sleeve (would have been gameover if cast on PC, I had spell immunity abjuration up, but I think it was removed moments before). Finally Sion is out of Absolute Immunity and Mantle and starts casting ProMW, so he is quickly dispatched with normal weapons. Koshi had the Answerer long sword, which Aspasia now uses as her main hand weapon.

After freeing Valygar, we head to the graveyard to clear out the vampire nest. Tis simple enough, Mace of Disruption is in it's normal place and we upgrade it with Illithium before the final fight with Bodhi. Buff with CC, Protection from Cold, ProME, ImpHaste, plus regeneration on Valygar. Unfortunately the pair of us have to do this fight without help from the rest of the party, as Bodhi will switch targets if she sees anyone unprotected from level drain.

There is one final quest to be attempted before leaving for Spellhold (one month into the game - I usually don't leave it this long to rescue Immy, but I've playing extra carefully) the Mind flayer base in the sewers.

First two rooms are nothing special (the thrall mage still stood around without casting anything... I thought this was fixed) except the flayers do quite some damage with their ballistic attack and detonate powers. The former is crushing and the latter magic damage, it would seem. Potions of fortitude and heroism keep Mazzy and Valygar alive for these fights, while ProME + stoneskin saves Aspasia and Tashia.

The last room (with the Alhoon) was another matter. Most of the debuff spells we tried to cast were disrupted by the Illithid's spamming detonate (since even if you're immune to energy/elemental damage, it still interupts casting). Viconia and Mazzy died after the alhoon dispelled their CC. He also kept turning invisible, and with the only person who had TS memorized dead, we did not push our luck - just killed the regular mind flayers, grabbed our fallen party member's stuff (plus the items from the altar - boots of grounding + staff or Arundel this time) and fled the base.

Considering the trouble we had with Sion + Alhoon, I think Valygar's sphere quest must wait until later. Party is not ready to fight high level mages.

[Shadow_Leech07]

I've gotten Stephanie Kettles past the Slaver quest, Seeking Sword, and finished up the Seven Vales encounter. I'll probably post more in detail once the more difficult dungeons arrive.

[wise grimwald]

Diary of Dragonslayer

Entered Throne of Bhaal after visiting another level in watchers keep and taking on Irenicus.

Dragonslayer Cleric level17/Ranger level15

Anomen           Fighter Level 16/Watcher of Helm Level 17

Jahiera             Fighter Level 16/Druid Level 14

Mazzy                Truesword of Avoreen level 24

Imoen               Illusionist Level 21/Thief Level 7

Tyris Flare        Mage Level 20/Fighter Level 6

[Gate70]

Right, I've kept an elven ranger alive through BG/TotSC so just about ready to import him into SOA/TOB. Will be patched game no mods/fixpacks etc, running under Ubuntu Linux on Wine Windows emulator (a bit trickier to configure than BG/TotSC was but think I am just about there).

Logic suggests an archer for the THACO but stalker (had a good last run with Valygar at lower levels) or beastmaster are both tempting options.I suppose I could restart with a different kit when the inevitable happens...

Modifié par Gate70, 05 novembre 2010 - 10:13 .

[wise grimwald]

Welcome Gate.

Comment on my mod installation.
I think that I am now overpowered due to having the multiple strongholds, even though I didn't keep the theatre, thieves' guild and ranger's stronghold. (Messed up somehow on the ranger's)

The question is: What is the best way to rectify this? Up the difficulty? (I am playing core rules)

Add a difficulty increasing mod? If so which?

Am I correct in thinking that Ascension and SCS might fit the bill?

What about other mods?

Suggestions please.

I haven't played ToB before, though I have got down to Lum in Watcher's Keep prior to Spellhold.

I am wondering whether to play a new character who will not be overpowered for ToB.

[igneous.sponge]

wise grimwald wrote...

The question is: What is the best way to rectify this? Up the difficulty? (I am playing core rules)

There are a few ways. One is to refrain from installing mods like Item Upgrade, since they add vastly overpowered equipment and weapons to the game. Since it's entirely possible to end up with overpowered characters from merely running a completionist play-through, the additions from Item Upgrade only further serve to increase the game imbalance.

Another way would be to install an experience limiter like DEF JAM. With this mod, you are given the option to specify how much experience you should accumulate from completing quests, defeating monsters, scribing scrolls, opening locks, and disarming traps. If you, say, set XP gained to 50 percent, this could make for a very interesting strategic challenge. It's something I, myself, have been meaning to try.

And, yes, probably the most fun and popular way is to install a difficulty-increasing mod. Sword Coast Stratagems, for example, vastly improves enemy A.I., especially that of spell-casters, and includes a number of excellent tactical challenges. Ascension, on the other hand, focuses on improving the major battles in Throne of Bhaal, and to quite epic proportions. There a few narrative improvements, as well.

A major benefit of these mods is that they are quite modular: you can pick and choose what components appeal to you.

I am wondering whether to play a new character who will not be overpowered for ToB.

I think that largely depends on your particular tolerance, and on what you consider to be overpowered. If you find you're enjoying yourself, in spite of the OP-ness of your characters, I would recommend you play through to the end of the saga. That way, you'll experience the ending in its original form. The choice, however, is entirely up to you.
Apologies, all, for the off-topical.

[wise grimwald]

Dragonslayer start of ToB further info:

Dragonslayer has Crom Faeyr and Arla's Dragonbane +3

Anomen has Flail of Ages +4 and sling of seeking +2

Jahiera has Usono's blade +4 and Boomerang dagger +2

Mazzy has sword of Arvoreen +5 (item upgrade) and cutthroat +4 and Gesen's bow

Imoen has Staff of the magi +5 and Tansheron's bow

Tyris Flare has Flametongue +4 and Azureedge +4 (item upgrade)

Only two item upgrade weapons. All the rest come from unmodded game.

The reason why I think that I am now overpowered is the ease with which I defeated the dragon in the elven city.

Normal buffing plus two summoned Devas and a summoned Planetar made the dragon a walkover.

Same story against Irenicus. (By normal buffing, I mean Chant, Bless, Haste, protection from fear, plus mirror image/shield for the mages)

[Flamedance]

Try SCS2 (highly recommended) and/or some Tactics components (recommended). Ascension is brilliant, but the final Ascension battle might come as a shock to you:).

For the ultimate challenge, you could try Improved Anvil, but that's really more of a total conversion.

[igneous.sponge]

wise grimwald wrote...

The reason why I think that I am now overpowered is the ease with which I defeated the dragon in the elven city.

Normal buffing plus two summoned Devas and a summoned Planetar made the dragon a walkover.

Same story against Irenicus. (By normal buffing, I mean Chant, Bless, Haste, protection from fear, plus mirror image/shield for the mages)

Yes, Devas and Planetars will bring most, if not all, vanilla SoA enemies to their knees. They are extremely powerful, Planetars especially so.

The story may change for you, however, once you get into the better part of ToB. There are quite a few encounters that may provide you a good challenge.

My tentative advice would be to head into ToB, and see if the situation changes. If it doesn't, and you find you're bothered too much by the imbalance, you can always start over. I say this because I, myself, find it very disappointing to invest a lot of time, emotion, and effort into a play-through, only to become dissatisfied with how it's turning out.

[Gate70]

Elnar, LG male elf. Ranger > Archer. Tomed stats from BG;

Str 19
Dex 20
Con 18
Int 12
Wis 18
Cha 12

Longbow ****, quarterstaffs *

There is no sign of Kivan, Yeslick or Coran but I am quickly re-united with Imoen, Minsc and the golden pantaloons. Jaheira thinks she used to travel with us while Imoen has swapped her sling for a shortbow and lost her spellcasting specialisation. At least we've learnt to stack our missiles more efficiently, how to rest until healed and can now use our backpacks in the heat of battle.

Our struggle to escape results in Jaheira discovering she is a widow, Minsc obtaining the Sword of Chaos, Yoshimo joining us and the elimination of every enemy inside the building. It ends with Imoen being arrested for illegal use of magic so I heroically open my journal and add a reminder to rescue her.

Minsc, Jaheira and Yoshimo wait patiently as I sell some loot at the Adventurers Mart and stash the rest in a nearby storage unit. Time to consider who will venture forth.

Modifié par Gate70, 06 novembre 2010 - 12:19 .

[polytope]

wise grimwald wrote...

I think that I am now overpowered due to having the multiple strongholds, even though I didn't keep the theatre, thieves' guild and ranger's stronghold. (Messed up somehow on the ranger's)

The question is: What is the best way to rectify this? Up the difficulty? (I am playing core rules)

Add a difficulty increasing mod? If so which?

Am I correct in thinking that Ascension and SCS might fit the bill?

I have had the same feeling, SoA finale is too easy if you have been to WK and got HLA's.

If you just want to reduce your party's power, I'd recommend the stage based xp cap from Zyraen's Miscellaney, and perhaps the Item Nerfs.

That said, on my last playthrough I didn't find vanilla ToB very challenging even with a random party + maximum difficulty. If it weren't for a moment of carelessness with my 96hp druid protaganist I doubt I would've died at all. Particularly as you have two arcane casters, they are real powerhouses in ToB.

Tactics has it's moments, but mainly enhances SoA content which you're already past.

Ascension greatly enhances ToB endgame and dificulty.

SCSII is the best difficulty enhancing mod; the combination of Ascension + SCSII should be very challenging.

Continued travels of Aspasia:

Finally we arrive in Brynnlaw, where we free Claire and Ginia and get the wardstone from Perth the Adept; he greets us with CC horrid wilting, but I suspected he might do something like that and was prepared with ProME.

In the Asylum we were stripped of all our magical equipment and cast into the maze below (Aspasia sacrifices a point of intelligence), but with 4 spellcasters there is no need to despair. A hasted aerial servant takes out a golem in the next room, where there is a bag of holding containing some gear.

Next we go to get the crystal from some kobolds, what a disaster this room was. Went in expecting only kobolds (and hardly buffed) but they were accompanied by my old nemesis, a Yuan-Ti mage: he kills Valygar, badly injures Imoen and Tashia and summons a Nabassu! Somehow I was able to interrupt the demon's spells by meleeing him (+3 long sword from the enchant weapon spell), though SCS fiends should cast instantly (Maybe an incompatability between aTweaks and SCSII) - I'm not complaining though as the Yuan-Ti shouldn't have been there at all. With buffs I'm able to get my save vs death to zero for the undead outside the library and avoid getting diseased. I use my one cast of ProMW for the vampire Dace as I really don't want to get level drained and lose spell slots here.

We have no choice but to risk a rest (and respawning vampires) before tackling the remaining Yuan Ti guarding the stone head. This time we were prepared and the fight goes smoothly, Imoen casts chaos and Viconia casts symbol:stun which incapacitates 2 out of 3 snake mages - the remaining one is quickly debuffed and slain. The vampires show up not here but whilst we are fighting the rakshasa, I ran away from them and entered spellhold maze 2.

Confronting Bodhi shortly thereafter prevents any further vampire spawns, which are obviously annoying without AoP or MoD. Even so, one of the pesky vampires with Bodhi gets a crit on me and steals my spell slots, it never fails.

Malakar, Doomplate and the ring of free action are all found in their normal place. The illithid had the ring of minor spell turning and the table which normally holds cloak of reflection instead had Kachiko's wakizashi (this weapon may be useful against Ascension Yaga shura, if I survive that long).

Talked my way past Lonk (this is possible if the party leader - Imoen in this case - has 15+ charisma). The fight with Irenicus was fun: Three main changes from the norm here.

-Irenicus get his protections up before summoning clones.
-The clones are exact copies of the party, same stats, equipment and spellcasting ability.
-The inmates of the asylum are actually pretty useful.

Perhaps death spell would dispatch the clones, but that would've detracted from the epic feel of this fight.

Yoshimo appears shortly thereafter, and is slightly more dangerous because I let him keep the cloak of non detection (my character didn't know otherwise) but he manages only one backstab before perishing.

[Gate70]

Interesting point about Lonk.

Elnar, Ranger > Archer. Core difficulty.

It turns out my companions are in great demand, Minsc and Jaheira in particular. I end up travelling with four relative strangers.

Nalia
An iron golem in the de'Arnise Hold is hard work to kill, badly wounding Anomen and Cernd. TorGal the troll is almost killed by three special traps so it only takes one Melfs acid arrow to finish him off. Nalia wants nothing further to do with the Hold, but Isaea Roenal still abducts her shortly after the funeral of her father. She is released when we show the trail of corruption Isaea has left.

Cernd
Faldorn is leader of the shadow druids and kills Cernd three times in a challenge. Anomen keeps raising him and on the fourth attempt Cernd summons three woodland beings, Faldorn is held (monster) and victory is claimed. The Trademeet genies are helped on their way and the mantle of Waukeen is safely with the towns mayor so Trademeet is safe, at least for now. Cernd has discovered he is a father, and taken the child to the druid grove before returning to us.

Anomen
A path of revenge is avoided by suggesting we deal with a group of fallen paladins. Anomen is now a full knight within the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart so we have to call him Sir.

Yoshimo
Yoshimo has less direct relationships than my other companions. There is at least one secret deal with the thieves guild, and during our encounter with Deril he is very wary of Lagole Gon. He takes us to the Crooked Crane, buys us drinks at the bar and quickly returns with a longsword that Nalia identifies as Daystar.

A moment of hasted recklessness.
I use Sunray on the lich within and kill it with four strikes of the sword. Two of his spells are disrupted but not meteor shower and protection from evil.

Yoshimo tells me to keep the sword nearby in case Lagole Gon appears.

Modifié par Gate70, 28 août 2012 - 09:20 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

Sad but BlackStrider is out of challenge...
In the Spellhold maze Beholder turned Mazzy to stone (Flesh to Stone I think) and she off the party. We finished Beh and I used Stone to Flesh on Mazzy. She was recovered (has blue circle) but when I tried to talk to her - *Mazzy has nothing to say at the moment*. I felt wrong about that (for what use is this spell if Mazzy is full and well but I can't join her back again?) and reloaded. So my no-reload is over. I'll continue this char further and planning to back again in time with gnomish Cleric/Illusionist (my favorite character). For now - best of luck to all no-reloaders! See ya later!

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 07 novembre 2010 - 03:51 .

[wise grimwald]

I agree. I was once quite upset when the same thing happened to one of my NPCs in BG1.

So much for being overpowered.

Dragonslayer was killed in the Marching Mountains. He was badly injured and ran intending to heal himself.
His spell was disrupted and a further spell killed him.

The only consolation is that this is the furthest that I have ever got in the game.

Modifié par wise grimwald, 07 novembre 2010 - 08:54 .

[Shadow_Leech07]

Sorry for both your losses.

[Gate70]

Yes, sorry to hear it.

Elnar, Ranger > Archer. Core difficulty. Been working on an NPC playlist as below.

We almost kill Rejiek Hidesman with missiles but he escapes and our cold pursuit allows him to make off in a boat. In Trademeet Tiris and Darsidian Moor lead us to Rejiek and a helpless Raissa. Rejiek and Darsidian are both skindancers so we kill them before Sir Anomen restores Raissa.

Jaheira.
Rylock has us clear a house of Prebek, Sanasha and their minions. Baron Ployer poisons Jaheira in the Seas Bounty Tavern so we have to rest at the Copper Coronet once we have killed him and his hired mages at a deserted house. Xzar perishes at the hand of a birdish assassin, then Sansuki is rescued from Del and two nameless vampires. We wait for almost an age but no harpers turn up, so we say goodbye to Jaheira. She's upset and says we won't see here again.

Jan Jansen.
I have no need for the case of plenty so hand it over to Jan. After reviewing his & Nalias spells we wander around for a few days before realising Jan has no unfinished business so we send him back to the slums.

Aerie.
We can't be bothered to work out illusions/monsters so kill everything that attacks. Aerie joins in and Kalah is soon dead. We leave Aerie with Quayle.

Valygar. Quite difficult in places so may leave until later in future.
The planar sphere shudders to a halt. After various critters die our fire elemental is being meleed by Lavok so Sir Anomen and Valygar join in and Lavok tells us to get a demonic heart. Tolgerias and his mage waste their best spells on a number of summons and then we silence and swarm them. We step outside, and are almost overwhelmed by a demon. Our two fire elementals save the day, so we haste them and two more demons are easy fodder. The journey back is straight-forward and Valygar returns to his cabin.

Hendak takes over the Copper Coronet with our help, and tasks us with stopping the local slaving trade. This should be easy but Nalia has a scary encounter with hobgoblins and we only just manage to keep her alive.

Viconia.
Our reputation is sullied when we rescue Viconia (19 to 17). With our objective complete we release her, only for our reputation to rise again. We need to think of another way to reduce our self-esteem so collect the ransom for Lady Elgea instead.

Korgan.
His quest sounds dangerous so I upgrade his armour and axe. He can't use Azuredge, but I can. Sir Anomen has to un-drain Cernd so we are beaten to the book of Kaza by Shagbag and his goons. The Pimlico estate has also been raidedso we track them to the roof of the Copper Coronet and take the book by force. Korgan has no interest in the book so we part ways.

Edwin.
Yoshimo grabs a necklace of Talos, which somehow enables Cernd to become a greater werewolf. Rayic Gethras is hard work as nobody has dispel/debuff spells memorised so we have to hack away. Then we retrieve some documents for Edwin, borrow a dagger from Embarl and obtain the services of Edwin. We immediately head to the graveyard district and get the Nether Scroll. After much wandering around Edwin becomes Edwina, and later still Degardan is fooled and then killed. Edwin clears off to the Copper Coronet, leaving us with the scroll to confront Mae'var on our own.

Mazzy, Keldorn, Haer'Dalis and Imoen will have to wait until we feel up to helping them.

Modifié par Gate70, 09 novembre 2010 - 12:39 .

[Gate70]

Elnar, Ranger > Archer. Core difficulty.

Mazzy. Dragon at levels 11-15.
After rescuing Mazzy some bone skeletons and greater mummies cause havoc, forcing us to switch positions and heal from spells and potions. A second group near an Amaunator puzzle are almost as difficult. Thaxll'ssillyia is our toughest fight so far, costing about 10 potions and is almost the end of Sir Anomen and Mazzy. Cernd exhausts his spells, recalls and uses a second insect plague before shifting to finish the dragon off with his claws. As a result we over-buff for the Shadow Lord/Patrick/Altar. Our attack lasts only a few seconds, with just two attacks each and Yoshimo using Daystar to Sunray in between the hits.

Firkraag.
Every battle is painful. We retreat before attempting to piece together the mask of King Strohm, thinking about specialist equipment. The Shield of Balduran and a few scrolls are easy to locate but no luck with better arrows so Yoshimo and I need to think of another way to contribute.

I hide and block an entrance. Sir Anomen NPP's Cernd who stands behind me while Yoshimo waits with Daystar. He Sunrays three vampires, two ghasts and two mummies. Two more vampires are almost dead so Cernd tears them to pieces. Cernd is immune to fire (ring, helm, inertial belt) so deals with several genies while Sir Anomen distracts a director and Yoshimo backstabs it.

We step outside to find a gang ready to ambush us. We wait patiently, eventually sending Sir Anomen back to where we met Samia. She attacks him and her gang attack the rest of us. Sigh. We duck as three special traps release and then we finish the gang off while Sir Anomen pulps Samia.

I get to kill Tazok again then Conster. A fire elemental, two skeletons and a woodland being join us to prepare for Firkraag. Cernd takes iron skins and chaotic commands while Sir Anomen gets a dragon scale shield, protection from fire, sling of seeking and DUHM. Nalia uses stoneskin and red fireshield. Yoshimo and I will try to stay our distance. We remove fear and haste, then talk to Firkraag - no force attack and no traps.

He attacks the fire elemental first. Nalia is lowering resistance (1 of 3) while Sir Anomen dooms. Cernd is fighting tooth and claw. As the fight progresses our summons wither and we add a golem and berserk warrior. A red dragon breath is wasted on the fire elemental but I take serious (51) area damage. Nalia adds greater malison, slow, minor sequencer (Melfs acid arrow, blind - both work) and hold monster (fail). Sir Anomen has cast holy smite while Yoshimo uses a first charge of the Ring of the Ram. Cernd takes a red dragon breath (no damage) and unless buffeted away has been attacking the entire battle (10-13 damage per hit). Sir Anomen takes moderate (30) area damage from this breath but is still very healthy. I have retreated to gulp two potions of healing, make a called shot on my return and Firkraag is dead. Cernd, Nalia and Yoshimo are all uninjured.

So we have a paladins sword. How convenient.

Would have preferred to have a HLA or two there. Starting to wonder what a shapeshifter (13) / fighter would be like. Next run...

Modifié par Gate70, 09 novembre 2010 - 10:52 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Joining the challenge.

Installation:
SoA+ToB+ official patch
Baldurdash 1.12 TOB fixpack
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // Component Name
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Infinite Weapon, Potion and Ring/Amulet Stacking
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #3 // True Grand Mastery (extra half-attack, etc.) (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #4 // Shut Up "You Must Gather Your Party Before Venturing Forth"
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #5 // Faster Chapter 1&2 Cut-Scenes and Dreams (Karzak, Blucher) (SEE WARNINGS)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #9 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table, Saving Throws, Grand-Mastery, and Arcane, Divine Spell Progression (Blucher)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #14 // Multiple Strongholds (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #15 // Bonus Merchants (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #17 // No Drow Avatars On Party In Underdark
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #18 // Imoen ToB Dialogue Fix
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #21 // Romance: Bug Fixes (required for later components).
~SETUP-IMPROVEDANVIL.TP2~ #0 #0 // Improved Anvil Premium

The version of Improved Anvil is 6.0. Since it unfortunately has many implemented in-game cheats against a soloer, I'd have to complete it with a party. Current party composition:

Astarta: PC female human Lawful Good Necromancer. Stats 18 18 16 18 18 3
Grunt: Custom half-orc Barbarian Chaotic Good Stats 19 18 19 14 15 3 ** Two-handed weapon style ** Two-handed sword ** Halberds
Torham: Custom human Ranger Neutral Good Stats 18/00 18 18 14 18 3 ** Two-weapon style ** Flail ** Mace ** Club
Alia: Custom elven sorcerer, True neutral, stats 18 19 17 9 18 9, spell picks:
Lvl 1 Chromatic Orb, MM, Larloch's Minor Drain, Shield, Armor
Lvl 2 Melf's Acid Arrow, Invisibility, Mirror Image
Lvl 3 Haste, Remove Magic
Saros: Custom human Riskbreaker (IA kit). Lawful good Stats 18/00 18 16 13 13 3 ** Two-weapon style, ** Longsword, ** Flails
Sixth slot is reserved for Valygar, but Anomen is going to make an appearance too, at least for a while

Difficulty (except on lvl up and scroll scribing) - Insane

Will make a VERY slow progress, also I intend to use still available in-game experience and gold exploits. Feel free to accuse me.

Posting document on the Riskbreaker kit:

Improved Anvil V6
Riskbreaker Kit description


RISKBREAKER: Riskbreakers are masters of simultaneous speed and accuracy. They have the ability to move and attack enemies in a way that only a blurred outline of their bodies can be seen. Riskbreakers have limited access to two mage spells as innate abilities. High level Riskbreakers gain unique abilities to break the risk involved in most difficult battles. The trainings required to become a riskbreaker are very demanding and require the riskbreaker to sacrifice a portion of his health and stamina during the process. Only Humans can be Riskbreakers.

Advantages:
- +2 Bonus to save vs. Breath Weapon.
- Makes critical hits at a roll of 17 or better (instead of the usual 20).
- Gains "Blur" every 5 levels.
- +2 bonus to Armor class for every 6 levels.
- Gains "Improved Haste" at levels 11, 16 and 21.
- Once the Riskbreaker reaches level 15, each of his successful hits will have 15% chance to apply a random effect picked from the following pool: "Hard Hit" on target (applies 10D6 +5 additional damage), "Risk Increment" on target (applies -4 penalty to AC for 2 rounds), "Avert Risk" (heals the Riskbreaker for 20 hp).
- Gains the ability "Chain Breaker Stance" at levels 17 and 23.
- Gains the innate ability "Risk Decrement" at levels 18, 24 and 30.

Chain Breaker Stance:
This ability applies the following effects to the caster for 5 rounds:
- +25% resistance to physical damage
- 25 strength
- Regenerating 12 hp per round

Risk Decrement:
When surrounded by lots of enemies and when most other warriors may fall or surrender in despair, a high level riskbreaker is more than capable to break the risk involved in the toughest situations.

Risk Decrement has the following effects:
- Heals the riskbreaker completely.
- Applies a massive attack to all enemies around the riskbreaker inflicting 8D10 crushing damage with no saving throw.
- Has a good chance to throw back all or some of the enemies.

Disadvantages:
- Cannot wear any armor.
- Cannot wear any helmet (other than Ioun stones).
- Cannot use gauntlets and shields.
- Cannot use ranged weapons.
- Cannot specialize in two handed weapons.
- Cannot be proficient in single weapon and Two handed weapon styles.
- Receives a -2 Penalty to constitution.
- Is immune to "Spirit Armor" and "Barkskin" spells.
- Requires 12 Intelligence.
- Cannot dual class.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 13 novembre 2010 - 09:54 .

[Gate70]

Good luck Saros.

Elnar, Ranger > Archer. Core difficulty.

Delon wants me to stop a bunch of ogrons attacking Imnesvale. I check Iltha Windspear has returned to her father and set off. The handful of ogrons are soon killed and we return to the city with a bejuril for the berserk warrior horn and some red dragon scales for Cromwell. Only Sir Anomen can wear the resulting armour.

Keldorn.
A helm of charm protection and Carsomyr are all we need to kit Keldorn out. He helps us with the cult of the eyeless and a lich before handing back our equipment and leaving.

The Witch of Umar turns out to be little more than an imposter and to be honest the moondog figurine I am awarded is more impressive.

Haer'Dalis
A simple rescue, but Yoshimo is distracted and steps on a trap with fatal consequences. Sir Anomen has to rest before raising him from the dead, then we end up in a planar prison. Gith, a wyvern and a master of thralls all die quickly. Cernd has to gulp a potion fighting a group of wolfweres. His fire resistance makes three efreetis easy prey while two more areas are cleared of prison captains. Yoshimo breaks the thrall bracelets as we attack the warden, release the acting troup and part company with Haer'Dalis.

Imoen, final NPC of SOA.
Our trail leads to the graveyard district, and after a brief battle we get Cromwell to improve the Mace of Disruption for Sir Anomen. I have Azuredge, Cernd is wearing the Amulet of Power and Yoshimo is ready with Daystar. This makes the vampires lair very easy but we fail to kill Bodhi. I decide to deal with Brynnlaw after Spellhold, only to find Yoshimo has betrayed us and we have to kill him instead of Irenicus. Imoen steps into his boots and we escape back to Brynnlaw, although I have a few strange turns along the way. Most of Brynnlaw has shut now Imoen has returned so we set sail with Saemon, only to end up having to kill a saugahin prince and doom their city. Cernd is highly annoyed to find the gauntlets of crushing won't fit his paws.

The Underdark.
Three hasted skeletons help us settle in. A freedom scroll releases Vithal, then we check out the southern tunnels. A very hasty retreat is followed by a second more prepared foray south. I'm behind the shield of Balduran while Sir Anomen and Cernd have Shield of the Archons. Nalia and Imoen are mirrored and have hasted us. Imoen has the cloak of mirroring and Nalia is going to have to take her chances.

The first beholder dies quickly but the accompanying elder orb is more difficult. Sir Anomen is petrified and after we kill the orb Imoen takes our only stone to flesh scroll (hmmm) out of her scroll case. Sir Anomen takes the Shield of Balduran and Cernd the cloak of mirroring. (Archons seemed to last well in BGT but not here in vanilla?)

All looks well until a second orb holds Cernd and imprisons Sir Anomen. Cernd is surrounded but the beholders are charming themselves and he recovers. He is scared several times but immediately dispelled by the volley of spells. Hundreds of spells bounce off over 2-3 minutes until he finally kills the orb and hunts down the other beholders. Imoen uses our only remaining freedom spell to retrieve Sir Anomen and we move on. Gauth hold Cernd and Sir Anomen is left to kill them.

The eastern tunnels contain an overwhelming presence. A group of gith use us to escape, but in the process leave the illithid open to reprisal. Sir Anomen dies after being held so I have to use the rod of resurrection. After taking some elder brain blood and freeing the slaves we leave, killing Simyaz at the entrance. A small group of drow are waiting.

Two nishruus are killed leaving us slightly injured before we can start on the drow. Two Melfs acid arrows hit me as I fire a called shot at a priestess. In the heat of battle I don't notice the reflective circle at her feet, nor that at least two of my arrows have come straight back at me. Game over.

Modifié par Gate70, 14 novembre 2010 - 01:29 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Yeah, thanx However, after completing Chateau Irenicus, I noticed that my Barbarian had the wrong weapon proficiencies - by mistake, I made him a dual-wielder instead of a two-handed weapon user. So I started anew, with the same party, but the new Barbarian has 13 Int and 14 Wis.



Also, added a sixth pre-generated character, called Temp (will be replaced by Valygar later) who is a Ranger (7) -> Cleric (dualled immediately after the start). Neutral Good. Stats 18/75 18 18 15 18 3. ***Two-weapon style ** Clubs ** Maces *Flails, and after dualling * Two-Handed weapon style * Quarterstaves