15232 réponses à ce sujet

[Serg BlackStrider]

Sad for your bad ending, Corey. Looking forward for your next run. (And don't forget to install fixpack this time...)

Good to know that Ashanti could win Mel, Alesia. Waiting eagerly for detailed report 

And best of luck for your Swashi with you operating properly, Grond0!

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 14 septembre 2013 - 08:40 .

[Aasim]

@Corey
I have a vague distant memory of the bug you experienced. I'm positive that Fixpack won't "fix" it from happening, it happened to me regardless of mods.
Anyway, sorry for your run. Guess meeting Mel with such underleveled characters took it's toll...

[corey_russell]

Aasim wrote...

@Corey
I have a vague distant memory of the bug you experienced. I'm positive that Fixpack won't "fix" it from happening, it happened to me regardless of mods.
Anyway, sorry for your run. Guess meeting Mel with such underleveled characters took it's toll...

Being under-leveled definitely takes it toll, especially if it's the tanks that are. At the final fights its almost impossible for the tanks to survive without hardiness. I've failed before for the exact same reason.

[Alesia_BH]

Grond0 wrote...
Nice to know that rangers have what it takes Alesia.

Yes rangers are fine. That's something I've long suspected but it's good to have confirmation.

As for beastmasters in particular, ultimately there are just two issues with them: 1) they can't cast remove fear or resist fear and can't equip Dragonslayer or Blackrazor, 2) they can't equip The Defender for unbreachable cushioning of the damage from Mel's bone blades. Aside from those issues they're fine. (Really: they're fine...).

When you factor in that they are awesome in BG1 and solid throughout most of SoA (the animals are actually helpful in the early going) they really aren't a terrible choice for a solo no reload. There are easier plays, but the beastmaster is workable. This may cause someone's head to explode, but if I had to do a SCS Ascension trilogy solo no reload -with my life depending on the outcome- and was forced to choose between a beastmaster and, say, a monk, at this point, I'd take the beastmaster.

I look forward to a full demonstration in due course.

As do I. I'm not sure whether it will be Ashanti or another character. Alia (archer) and Ashoka (stalker) are also candidates. We'll see.

EDIT: If by "full demonstration", you mean Ashanti's final battles at The Throne, they'll come soon: tomorrow.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 15 septembre 2013 - 05:33 .

[Grond0]

Klug - dwarf swashbuckler (update 2)

An early morning session saw Klug survive a couple of nasty critical hits and he's now shaping up nicely at level 18.

Initially he cleared out the de'Arnise Hold.  For the clay golem (which nearly killed Twerp) Klug engaged it from distance to allow him to hide while it expired of continuing trap damage.  Klug did have a near-death experience of his own though, when I mistakenly thought a spectral troll had gone down from trap damage.  It hit Klug when he approached and then got another critical hit on him while he was running before he successfully hid round a doorway - the troll collapsed immediately afterwards anyway from continuing trap damage.

Rescued Renfeld, stealth-shot Prebek & Sanasha and looted Harper HQ.

In the temple sewers saw off a sea troll and a rakshasa. Started the Unseeing Eye and trapped the Shade Lich - it just survived the initial damage, but expired from the first lot of continuing damage.  Unlike Twerp, Klug has Bhaal healing, so was able to get the Avatar's rod.  I didn't originally intend to do the rest of the Eye at this stage, but got sucked into it.  The only tricky bit was finding somewhere to rest successfully right at the start with all the undead around.  The beholders were stealth shot / trapped, while the Eye itself couldn't even be bothered to wait for Klug to use the rod.  The experience for handing back the unused rod pushed Klug up to level 18.

With the 3 levels picked up from the Unseeing Eye I decided it would be safe to tackle Tarnor.  Some traps were laid down before Gaius was hit by a bolt of biting.  A second one killed him and the opposition was soon demolished by stealth shots and traps without launching any attacks of their own.

Mekrath and a bunch of umber hulks were the next victims.  Klug used Bhaal horror to separate the hulks and then started meleeing them.  However, a painful critical caused him to run, hide and set snares to finish them off.  Belatedly deciding he needed some headgear Klug went to call on Pai'Na.  This time I successfully set 4 snares before Pai'Na noticed what was happening and they cleared the area nicely.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 Multiplayer attempt 26 {2} - (update 1)
Stiel, halfling assassin (Grond0) & Andal, human bounty hunter (Gate70)

After escaping from the Sword Coast frying pan the duo found themselves in the Amn fire for an opening session last night. 

Their first task was to escape from the dungeon, which was done easily enough.  Ulvaryl was killed, but regrettably not by us - Andal's special trap damage just setting her up for the flame arrow finish.

After restoring the circus the duo moved on to the slums.  In the Copper Coronet Stiel took on Amalas to see if Andal's traps could get into the arena.  They couldn't and Stiel also found himself outmatched there.  In single player it's easy enough to make space to run and shoot, but the lag and difficulty of pausing in MP made that extremely difficult and Stiel had to resort to taking a potion of speed to stay safe.  The Beastmaster and his furry friends were put down and Hendak given the keys to the inn before the duo decided it was time to rest.

Stats:
Stiel, assassin L11, 64 HPs, 164 kills
Andal, bounty hunter  L11, 66 HPs, 180 kills, 1 death

[Grond0]

Klug - dwarf swashbuckler (3rd and final update)

The old trouble surfaced when Klug went in search of Daystar at the City Gates.  How could I forget the danger of maze you ask - sorry, can't remember. 



Unfortunately the 5% MR amulet from the beholder lair failed to do its job, so it's back to the Sword Coast drawing board.

[Aasim]

Alesia_BH wrote...
....... if I had to do a SCS Ascension trilogy solo no reload -with my life depending on the outcome- and was forced to choose between a beastmaster and, say, a monk, at this point, I'd take the beastmaster.

Hopefully it won't come down to these 2 options....
Anyhow, congrats of getting this far. And yes, Beastmaster can handle himself well apart from Fear (Greenstone Amulet?), even gets a nice few extra HP by Familiar in BG1.
Out of curiosity, do you use Fixpack, Baldurdash or nothing at all apart Ascension/SCS?

[Gate70]

Sigh. Easily done...

[Alesia_BH]

Aasim wrote...Hopefully it won't come down to these 2 options....

Agreed- though with a rod of resurection and the Cloak of Mirroring, the endgame would be trivial for a beastmaster  (both were restricted in Ashanti's run). It's actually not a particularly difficult solo without restrictions- especially in Ashanti's case since her personal item plugs the biggest hole in a beastmaster's defenses.

(As a reminder, Ashanti's personal item, Call of the Wild, is essentially Kiel's Helmet with a +1 save bonus.)

And yes, Beastmaster can handle himself well apart from Fear (Greenstone Amulet?)

The Greenstone Amulet is one of the beastmaster's options for fear defense. Moon dog howl and potions of clarity are others. Those are all useable, however, they have their limitations.

Greenstone Amulet charges are easily dispelled and their duration is brief. Moon dog howl has similar issues and can additionally only be cast once per day. Potions of clarity offer an excellent duration, but they are still easily dispelled and their supply is limited. On balance, fear defense is accessible to a beastmaster, however, keeping it active requires some dilligence and also contributes to the spell equivalent action bottlenecks that beastmasters can run into in some late game encounters. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it is a problem.

Personally, if I were modding the beastmaster kit to rebalance it with the other ranger kits, I'd grant it fear immunity. This would be easy to reconcile with the kit concept as well: wouldn't a master of beasts require command over his or her fears? If I wanted to make the kit seriously tempting I'd give it some barabarian like qualities- +2 to movement rate and a late game 10% to physical damage, perhaps. The kit would play pretty well with those adjustments in my estimation. 

Out of curiosity, do you use Fixpack, Baldurdash or nothing at all apart Ascension/SCS?

I use the G3 Fixpack. I currently have v9 installed. I see it as essential really.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 15 septembre 2013 - 11:30 .

[Alesia_BH]

Grond0 wrote...
How could I forget the danger of maze you ask - sorry, can't remember. 

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 15 septembre 2013 - 11:40 .

[corey_russell]

 Corey_Russell/Dogdancing Multi-player No-Reload
Loqi, gnomish fighter/cleric, controlled by CR
Gum, human level 7 berserker, dualed to thief (3.6 million experience), controlled by Dogdancing
Bait - permanently deceased

So, the duo finally make it to the Tree of Life. The parasites were dealt with easily enough. And as it happens, Gum's spike traps/snares were enough to kill Irenicus instantly. The duo were pulled to hell.

For the beholders, the key strategy was Gum enraged then attacked the Elder Orbs. Loqi assisted with Greater Whirlwind (3x) with his sling to speed up the kills of these fearsome beasts. These creatures did try to imprison gum, but her enrage saved her (whew).

For the 3rd trial, we tried a free action ring, but that did not save her she was held. Loqi let her die (with gum's permission), forgetting that would change his alignment - woops.

For 4th trial, we let the genie keep the Blackrazor, we didn't want it. And of course Sarevok could do nothing since by this point, Loqi was immune to +1 weapons...

Time to prepare for Irenicus himself. We did what buffs we could, probably most important being invulernability potions on the duo, 5 summons (arieal servants x4, Deva) and begin the fight. The demons did not live long thanks to Loqi's Greater Whirlwinds -- however they got Loqi to about 15% health - the team both did RoR to make sure he lived and he did. Once the duo killed Irenicus mislead?/project image? (not sure which) Irenicus ported himself around to the southern area...right where Loqi had told Gum to put all her traps! Yep, Irenicus died to the traps, and the duo move on to Throne of Bhaal.


Illsaera and her goons were easily defeated. The enemies in Saredush on entry were easy to the team as well. Thanks to the alignment change, the sister at the temple doesn't trust us. So the team had to crash the barracks, get the sewer key and fight in the sewers. The mass of shadows here were easy with Loqi's turn undead  making them all allies. Gum took a while to loot, and ran into a powerful Yaga-Shura mage, and almost died. Loqi eventually came and assisted and with his FoA/Crom Faeyr combo, he was able to put the beat down on the mage and save Gum. Gum was exhausted by this point, so we ended our session here.

Modifié par corey_russell, 15 septembre 2013 - 12:07 .

[Gate70]

Congratulations both.

[Aasim]

Alesia_BH wrote...
Personally, if I were modding the beastmaster kit to rebalance it with the other ranger kits, I'd grant it fear immunity. This would be easy to reconcile with the kit concept as well: wouldn't a master of beasts require command over his or her fears? If I wanted to make the kit seriously tempting I'd give it some barabarian like qualities- +2 to movement rate and a late game 10% to physical damage, perhaps. The kit would play pretty well with those adjustments in my estimation. 

You know,  Kit Revisions mod does exist at G3 (I'm kreso there - and was here until I forgot my account password:D). Interesting take on BM. Demivrgvs will opt for a synergy concept between his pet (no familiars anymore) afaik.

I use the G3 Fixpack. I currently have v9 installed. I see it as essential really.

Best,

A.

Do you modify some parts of it? I play with SR so it's not that it bothers me, but without it, I always found that long casting time for Ironskins introduced by Fixpack a real game-breaker.

Modifié par Aasim, 15 septembre 2013 - 01:14 .

[morbidest2]

How about giving a Beast Master instant control of umber hulks, et al.

[Alesia_BH]

Aasim wrote...You know,  Kit Revisions mod does exist at G3 (I'm kreso there - and was here until I forgot my account password:D). Interesting take on BM. Demivrgvs will opt for a synergy concept between his pet (no familiars anymore) afaik.

I just swung by the KR forums and took a look at the propsed beastmaster kit changes. Demivrgvs's approach makes sense in concept. It's not entirely clear to me how well it will work in practice since I'd need to know more about the animal companions and the animal horde special ability, but it has potential.

My suggestions were just off the cuff comments informed by my game play experiences with Ashanti. Basically, I took note of Ashanti's weaknesses and also her strengths. I then thought of simple ways of mititgating those weaknesses while also enhancing her strengths. There wasn't much more to it than that.

Do you modify some parts of it? I play with SR so it's not that it bothers me, but without it, I always found that long casting time for Ironskins introduced by Fixpack a real game-breaker.

No. I leave it pretty much as is. I have Free Action Protects Against Stun from the tweakpack installed, but aside from that and a few SCS spell tweaks, the mechanics of my install are pretty conventional.

Were I not posting on my games I'd seriously consider using IR and SR. However, since I do post, there is an advantage to using an install with conventional mechanics: it makes it easier for other player to relate to my characters' adventures.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 15 septembre 2013 - 03:21 .

[Alesia_BH]

morbidest2 wrote...

How about giving a Beast Master instant control of umber hulks, et al.

By "et al" I hope we don't mean every monster in the game!

(Umber hulks are monster, not animals.)

But I suppose the suggestion was to enhance the beastmaster's animal charming abilities beyond those available to other rangers. That could make sense. 

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 15 septembre 2013 - 11:17 .

[Alesia_BH]

Anyhoo: We're getting off topic.

Congrats to Corey and Dogdancing on finishing SoA!

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 15 septembre 2013 - 03:02 .

[Aasim]

Alesia_BH wrote...
Were I not posting on my games I'd seriously consider using IR and SR. However, since I do post, there is an advantage to using an install with conventional mechanics: it makes it easier for other player to relate to my characters' adventures.

Makes sense. GL on your next attempt, I'm enjoying your write-ups and  this thread immensly.

[Alesia_BH]

Aasim wrote...
 GL on your next attempt, I'm enjoying your write-ups and  this thread immensly.

That's kind of you to say. Please do feel free to join us Aasim: you are most welcome.

Cheers,

A.


Btw. Apologies to all for the shoddy progress reports of late. I'll try to provide more detailed and engaging coverage of my next run.

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note: At the moment I'm piloting Ashanti through Watcher's Keep which has been interesting given that it's been over 6 years since I've gone beyond the second level. She just arrived at level four.

The main purpose here is to assess the potion cost of completing Watcher's Keep. So far it's been cheaper than expected which is good news for those who'd like to see my characters journey into The Keep in future runs.

As an additional footnote, I thought I'd mention that Spectral Brand is useable by beastmasters in both its +4 and +5 forms. That brings the number of metal weapons that a beastmaster can equip to at least ten or elven depending on how you count.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 15 septembre 2013 - 05:53 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

Alesia_BH wrote...
Quick Note: At the moment I'm piloting Ashanti through Watcher's Keep which has been interesting given that it's been over 6 years since I've gone beyond the second level. She just arrived at level four.

It would be interesting to read about her adventures there (here or in separate thread). I'm intending to run the whole Keep with Avatars so it will be useful as well to see what to expect in SCS modified Keep.

[Alesia_BH]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...
It would be interesting to read about her adventures there (here or in separate thread). I'm intending to run the whole Keep with Avatars so it will be useful as well to see what to expect in SCS modified Keep.

Understood. I wasn't really planning to post on her time in WK. It was mostly intended as recon for upcoming runs. 

I suppose I can post in another thread if others are interested. In the alternative I can PM you some notes.

Best,

A.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Alesia_BH wrote...

I suppose I can post in another thread if others are interested. In the alternative I can PM you some notes.

I would be grateful for any option which would you choose 

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 15 septembre 2013 - 07:12 .

[corey_russell]

 Pedran the solo gnomish level 9 fighter/level 11 illusionsit - Update 1

Pedran made it out of Irenicus' Dungeon. I used Shadowkeeper to give Pedran a bag of holding. He failed to kill the vampire and skipped the trapped room with Fendan, but otherwise did everything else. A lot of rest, but as long as he buffed before any major encounter, he stayed out of trouble. 

He can cast level 5 spells, but knows none, so that is his first priority. He tried to cast friends..and got warned by the Cowlies! Woops...so he finished casting 2x friends inside the Seven Vales. Then he got some spells he was missing, but saved money for a magic license. 

Next step? Get the full plate from Mencar Pebblecrusher. I did web, stinking cloud, cloudkill, greater malison, emotion, cloudkill, fireball x2. Then Pedran used his remaining single target spells and bow to finish off the survivors. Brennan Risling nearly escaped, he was ONE FOOT from escape, but an arrow in his back stopped him in his tracks.

Pedran then tried to get his magic license, but got ambushed by Suna Suni. Pedran was using full plate and stoneskin, but that was all he needed to defeate these enemies. He finally got his magic license.

Next step? To get a potion bag. Almost my entire inventory is potions...so a quick stop by Watcher's Keep to get said bag was done.

More money was needed, so we freed Hendak. No difficulty at all, but a strong fighter with stoneskin and improved invisibility was far more than the slavers could handle.

Since disabling spells and undead hold effects are the biggest threats, getting the shield of harmony was a high priority. So Pedran stopped by trademeet and did maximum buffs - he did in fact prevail. By the way, when traveling, he is always wearing full plate.

Dealing with the slavers on the moored ship will be Pedran's next task.