15235 réponses à ce sujet

[Alesia_BH]

@Serg. Do the mindflayers target their psionics through invisibility in your install? What about the gith?

[corey_russell]

 Pedran the solo gnomish level 11 fighter/level 12 illiusionist - Update 2

Pedran charged into the Slaver's Moored Ship from the Sewers, fully buffed - he did well. For the other large group of enemies, mages, etc. used area effects (web, stinking cloud, cloudkill) to great effect. He used protection from petrification so he didn't have to worry about the petrify trap in the sewers. He the Lilacor quest as well, with little to note.
Hendak was pleased

Pedran wanted extra help to deal with group of casters, so he did maximum buffs and defeated the Crypt King to get the Namuraa, which can silence like a cleric.

Pedran then obtained boots of grounding and cloak of the sewers to bump his AC and to give protection from lightning. He then proceeded to the Druid Grove to solve the problems there. He tanked the trolls excellent, though bypassed the troll mound as nothing there he wants, and not worth the resouces to deal with it just yet. As for the 1st group of druids/trolls, area effects dealt with them fine. For the 2nd group, improved invisibility and silence from Namuraa did well. Cernd of course dealt with Faldhorn, quest complete.


Pedran wanted to deal with the Umar Hills issues, but he would like to deal with the shadow dragon at the time, but Pedran needed level drain protection, BUT to get that (amulet of power) he needs 15,000 gold but only has about 3,000 gold right now. What to do, what to do....

Ah, perhaps Pedran could persuade Tarnor the Hatchetman to donate to the cause...so Pedran does maximum buffs, leaving improved invisibility in reserve (in case Gaius targets Pedran - note save vs spells = 1). He then did area effects one more (web, stinking cloud, cloudkill, greater malison, etc.). He ran into a problem - he targeted too close to the enemies and he was spotted! Yikes!

So a melee resists the disablers and charges - Pedran responds with glitterdust, which took. It only lasts 4 rounds, so he backed off, lining up in a line and fired his several lightning bolts...which hit people behind the melee, excellent! Once the melee was dead, more effects (emotion, fireball, cloudkill) and more enemies dieing..uh oh, here's Gaius! Time for improved invisibility, ah didn't matter the cloudkills killed Gaius right then.. Pedran scoots up with his long bow, and sees one final enemy. A few arrows destroy the last enemy, success!

After selling all the loot, Pedran has 17,000 gold so he pays off Galen Bayle and proceeds to Umar Hills. Umar Hills itself wasn't much problem.

But the Umar Hills Temple was much more difficult. First problem was Pedran was wearing armor and surrounded by dozens of shadows near the Temple and got boxed in. His strength got drained to 9! Hmm, will I get drained to 0? No, they were having too much trouble hitting him, whew. After a long time he finally destroys these enemies and presses forward.

For the enemies just beyond the fire-pit, Pedran had huge difficulties - the Greater Mummy was killing him! Pedran doesn't have RoR yet, so he is forced to retreat - problem? Many more shadows spawning, great...eventually Pedran uses the shadows like a shield and uses his Azuredge to finally kill the horrible creature. (note that my Azuredge never destroys undead in my install). The remaining shadows were simple enough...

For some reason the 2nd group of undead, they never spawned for some reason, so the massive buffs that Pedran used were used on the bone golem instead.

Next challenge the shadow dragon. Pedran used the cove so that the dragon can't get him with melee. Pedran fired all the arrows he had, his lightning wands, but still couldn''t kill it. The +1 arrows never hurt it, wonder if they are bugged. The dragon was badly injured, so Pedran was forced to use the dragonbane sling and sunstone bullets, despite not having no skill with slings - after 40 minutes of real time, finally - success!


Pedran rested, then did a sunstone bullet on the shadow altar, and charged the shade lord - the enemy could do nothing and Pedran succeeded in his quest. After reporting to the Immesvale Mayor, Corey_Russell ended the session here.

Modifié par corey_russell, 16 septembre 2013 - 12:36 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

@Alesia: I have both smarter mind flayers & githyanki installed but /Illithids have only original-game resistances; Illithids cannot see invisible enemies (matches original game)/ and gith can't see through invisibility as well.
Edit: basically my setup is based on yours (version vise) except Tactical Challenges (which I don't have installed at all for now).

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 16 septembre 2013 - 06:42 .

[corey_russell]

 Corey_Russell/Dogdancing Multi-Player No-Reload - Gromnir, North Forest
Loqi - gnomish level 19 fighter/level 20 cleric, controlled by CR
Gum - human level 7 berserker > level 29 thief, controlled by Dog

The duo battle their way into Gromnir's castle via the sewers. The duo had no trouble at all from the defenders of the lower level of the castle.

However, despite maximum buffs, Gum died. Part of the problem was that Gum entered the area in the shadows - that's great if she was solo, but that meant Loqi was the attention of everyone, and Loqi couldn't get a deva up. With no distractions, Loqi and Gum were taking a beating and eventual Gum death. Corey_Russell paused for a minute, to consider his options - can he win on his own? He eventually decided to retreat to the lowest level and regroup. Loqi can't cast any spells if he's being attacked so he used RoR and gave Gum some equipment, most of it pretty decent. Corey_Rusell had a new plan - Gum would use her lightning wands (she was wearing the boots of grounding) and just spam the thing - Loqi would do GWW on the mages - this plan worked perfectly and Gromnir and his pals were defeated!

It took a long time to sell our junk, but Gum's 72 lore is making a difference now. We then crashed the North Forest. Most enemies were pretty easy, except for the Fire Giants. Corey_Russell warned Dogdancing that they hit very hard, and took his own advice, as he did hit and run tactics. Gum tried to tank and got hurt real bad, and eventually decided hit and run was better. Loqi eventually did hardiness and amor of faith, giving him 65% resistance to melee weapons, and the giants then quickly fell. We took forever to loot again and decided to call it a night here. Nylee's Glade will be our next target.

[Grond0]

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

Yesterday's session began with a search for some critical protection.  Before getting to Pai'Na the duo had to run the gauntlet of some spiders - somewhat ragged progress, but they made it through.  Pai'Na was much smoother - Stiel ran round the edge of the nest, allowing Andal to cast special traps from the other edge.

In the Bridge District the kidnappers met their doom and Andal collected the berserker horn before trying to solve the skinner murders.  The fight with the Rune Assassins proved difficult.  They are bad opponents for thieves - they resist trap damage, can see through invisibility and are immune to poison and their use of haste means it's hard to run away from them - as Andal found.  Kitthix and the warrior allowed Stiel to finish one of them off before raising Andal at the temple and going back for the other - now slowed down, so could be killed with missiles.  Note also that Rejiek was still hanging round next to Stiel on my screen (though not on Gate70's).  There was still time for one further problem when Andal was held by a ghast - fortunately it wasn't quite sure whether to eat him now or chase Stiel and Andal survived.

The reputation loss for collecting the pantaloons was offset by reporting on the skinner murders and talking to the guard outside the circus tent.  The duo then headed for the Temple sewers.  The rakshasa and sea troll were disposed of on the way to begin the Unseeing Eye quest.  The Shade lich found itself among a number of traps and couldn't survive the continuing damage from those.  Back in the sewers the duo had fun with Tarnor's party once Gaius' 2 True Sights had finished - they were dragged round by stealthed attacks into traps.  I think the only response was that Gaius managed to get a PW: Stun off against Stiel - however, he was already in the shadows and Gaius and Zorl (as the only survivors by that time) left him alone.  Mekrath was held by one of Andal's special traps.  He was supported by a single yuan-ti mage - he managed to confuse Andal twice, but did no damage and Andal killed him anyway.

Off to Watcher's Keep to get a potion case.  On first entering there were some vampiric wraiths waiting, but the game crashed when we tried to run away.  On reloading the autosave the wraiths had gone, so looting the top floor was easy.

Back in Athkatla there was just time to do some running in and out of Prebek & Sanasha's house to kill them, before presenting Xzar with 'Montaron's transformed body'.

Stats:
Stiel, assassin L12, 72 HPs (incl. 6 from ioun stone), 208 kills
Andal, bounty hunter  L12, 68 HPs, 254 kills, 2 deaths

[Alesia_BH]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...

@Alesia: I have both smarter mind flayers & githyanki installed but /Illithids have only original-game resistances; Illithids cannot see invisible enemies (matches original game)/ and gith can't see through invisibility as well.
Edit: basically my setup is based on yours (version vise) except Tactical Challenges (which I don't have installed at all for now).

Understood. The mind flayers in my install aren't supposed to see through invisibility and it appears as though they in fact can't. Nonetheless, they will continue to target psionics at creatures that have become invisible in their presence. So, for example, if I send Ashanti into a mind flayer lair, and have her drink a potion of invisibility after she has been sighted, the flayers will treat her as invisible in most respects but will continue to target their psionics as if she were still visible. What I'm wondering is whether this was a design choice (perhaps psionics don't require visual contact with the target, merely cognizance of the target minds existance) or a bug that was fixed in later versions. Will your mind flayers cast detonate and ballistic attack on invisible creatures? More precisely, will the repeatedly target characters after they have vanished in the presence of mind flayers?

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 16 septembre 2013 - 09:53 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

@Alesia: just loaded my save before Illithid City to check. Cast Mass Invisibility and released slaves. All Mind Flayers are invisible as well by default and don't react on my invisible party. To force them to reveal themselves Krimlor called for Kitrix and immediately was attacked by Psionic Blast. They do made the planar travel to other invisible party members but don't attack them. And only as soon as Mass invisibility expired they hit with Detonate.

We all then used the Potions of Invisibility - they in turn went invisible as well and stay calm. So no, they don't  *repeatedly target characters after they have vanished in the presence of mind flayers?*

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 16 septembre 2013 - 09:53 .

[Alesia_BH]

Thanks for that Serg. What about if you have a character approach visible and then drinks a potion of invisibility after they have been sighted by the flayers: Will psionic targeting continue after the potion has been quaffed?

Btw. Just before reading your response, I had realized that my earlier question was underspecified and edited accordingly. Read my post just above if you need clarification.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Alesia_BH wrote...
 What about if you have a character approach visible and then drinks a potion of invisibility after they have been sighted by the flayers: Will psionic targeting continue after the potion has been quaffed?

Krimlor attacked dominated Kithrix revealing himself. Then approached being visible to the invisible Flayers location, was immediately hit by Ballistic Attack, quaffed another potion of invisibility ->Flayers went invisible and stopped their attacks completely.

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 16 septembre 2013 - 12:15 .

[Alesia_BH]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...
quaffed another potion of invisibility ->Flayers went invisible and stopped their attacks completely.

Ok. That's different. In my install they keep hammering away with detonate and ballistic attack. And not just once: round after round. I'm guessing it was a scripting bug that David fixed in subsequent editions.

FYI: So far WK has gone pretty smoothly for Ashanti. The mind flayers did require a reload due to the aforementioned script issue combined with their enhanced resistances, but aside from that, everything has gone fine so far (up to the second seal). I'll shoot you some notes in PM if you like, but bear in mind that I have the Slightly Improved Watcher's Keep tactical component installed and am also running an earlier edition of SCS. 

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 16 septembre 2013 - 01:37 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

Alesia_BH wrote...
I'll shoot you some notes in PM if you like, but bear in mind that I have the Slightly Improved Watcher's Keep tactical component installed and am also running an earlier edition of SCS. 

I will be very grateful for that  My main concern for now are improved fiends and the whole 3d level. They still scare me to the very core...

[corey_russell]

Predan the solo gnomish fighter/illusionist - D'Arnise Keep

So Predan worked on clearing out D'Arnise Keep by himself. With his -11 AC, he tanked the trolls very well. He used things like cloudkills/webs whenever possible as well.

Fully buffed, neither Glaicas nor the Yuan-Ti mage were of any problem. Predan used Minor Globe of Invulnerability to not die to the lightning trap on Glaicas door. Any time Predan opened things with traps, he would have spell turning running.

The umber hulks were tough, but he pulled through. For some reason, he was unable to make the meat (the () icon never showed up when mousing over the oven). I think it's because I missed some dialog with Delson, but Delson wouldn't talk to me anymore, so fighting the umber hulks was the only choice.

While Predan did attempt cloudkills/web on Torgal, he resisted it. And his cronies soon assisted. Predan was taking a massive beating, and was forced to summon his golem and genie - they distracted the enemies enough for Predan to prevail. Predan then talked to Nalia, and now Predan is Lord of the Keep.

[Gate70]

Not tempted to do the Planar Sphere stronghold then Corey, I'd opt for that over fighter now (always used to be fighter that was the preference).

Serg, level 3 is bad enough in vanilla. Maybe the bits I stick with will carry over?
1 The males need charm resistance (helmets, shields, etc) as succubi are very persuasive (-8?)
2 Use items that help resist fear.
3 Never rest in the keep, always teleport to the pocket plane. So only do it in ToB and not SoA.
4 Stay away from Balors - vorpal.
5 Watch out for the cambion with 4 demon knights. Level drains from memory.

[Grond0]

Gate70 wrote...
Not tempted to do the Planar Sphere stronghold then Corey, I'd opt for that over fighter now (always used to be fighter that was the preference).

I seem to remember that the mage stronghold is the only way to get the golden girdle, which is a significant advantage of going for that one.

[corey_russell]

Grond0 wrote...

Gate70 wrote...
Not tempted to do the Planar Sphere stronghold then Corey, I'd opt for that over fighter now (always used to be fighter that was the preference).

I seem to remember that the mage stronghold is the only way to get the golden girdle, which is a significant advantage of going for that one.

I've never had the planar sphere stronghold, and as such know nothing about it. Is this golden girdle really that much better than the one I'm using now? (Belt of the Inertial Barrier).

Also, lots of powerful enemies in the sphere, the sphere is usually one the last things I deal with before Suldanessar.

Corey

[Serg BlackStrider]

Thanks for the tips, Gate! Vanilla Keep isn't much a problem for me now (I've made it whole in no-reload with Cleric/Illusionist) but with improved fiends it's another story... I'm aware of Balor's vorpal and Demon Knight's level drains but their SCS abilities (Teleport without Error and Remove Magic at will in confined and trapped areas, which makes keeping the distance problematic) is what scared me most...
BTW, congratulations on finishing Sarevok with your Monk! Best of luck in SoA!

Back to the story.
On the first level of the Keep there were only Statues remained from our previous visit and Mage & Cleric Statues are nowhere to be seen (looks like that was set during our first visit here). Without them the remainig Statues are easy pickings.
On the second level we witnessed the new ability of Ice Golems - Scalding Steam (something like a Sunfire or Fireball centered on the Golem). Our buffs were still active but Pot was hit by fire - looks like I forgot to buff him with Pro vs Fire (buffing six party members could be tedious - seems that Alesia's tip on checklists is worth considering...). The rest of the level was uneventful. Before engaging the Chromatic Demon we briefly visited the Pocket Plane to forge some items (Foebane+5, FoA+4, Helm of the Rock). Then summoned a pair of Skelly Warriors and a Planetar. The Demon started in Shambling Mound form so I and Pot hit with Wands of Lightning bringing him to Injured. In SCS he is 100% immune to physical damage so our Skellies worked mainly as a distraction from his Acid Blobs. Our lightnings hit Planetar and he went hostile so Grond, Krimlor and Corey were busy with him. The Demon then changed into the Red Demon form - it's Wands of Frost time now (much less damage though). Finally he changed into the Shambling Mound again and was electrocuted by triple lightning strike (Pot claimed the victory).
We briefly descended onto the next level (to pick Bard gloves) but dare not to advance further for now so back to the main plot.



to be continued...

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 16 septembre 2013 - 06:15 .

[Grond0]

corey_russell wrote...
Is this golden girdle really that much better than the one I'm using now? (Belt of the Inertial Barrier).

Depends on what you're facing - the golden girdle is the same as in BG1 (-3 to slashing weapons).  I just find it odd that this belt is only available through a stronghold, rather than to anyone (as for belts vs piercing and blunt weapons).

[Alesia_BH]

Ashanti at The Throne: Ascension Irenicus

Ok. Before the screenshots get stale and the details slip from memory, I should probably take a moment to post on Ashanti's time at The Throne. I can't say that any of the fights here were particularly well handled. In fact, my suspicion that Ashanti's run would end in death led me to cut corners that I shouldn't have. Take these battles as proof of concept. Hopefully, my next beastmaster run will be more satisfying.

As Ascension veterans  know, the opening battle at The Throne pits good PCs against Irenicus, Bodhi, Slayer Imoen, and a pair of fallen solars. Balthazar is available as an ally- though his vulnerability to vorpal hits can cause him to quickly exit stage left.

Here we see the battlefield as combat begins. The second fallen solar is off screen to the right.


IIRC, Ashanti entered battle wearing the Shadow Dragon Armor, Call of the Wild, the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, the Amulet of Seldarine, the Ring of Gaxx, the Claw of the Kazgaroth, the Cloak of Reflection, the Belt of Inertial Barrier, and a pair of boots of speed. As can be seen, her main hand quick slots were occupied by Blackblood and the Sling of Seeking. Crucially, the Reflex was in her offhand.

And why, you ask, is it so important to have The Reflex in the offhand? Why don't we ask  Balthazar?


I'm sorry. We can't ask Balthazar- we can't ask Balthazar because he's dead. The mighty monk lasted about 0.5 secs before he was iced by a vorpal arrow. Does that answer your question?

Anyhoo. After breaking west, Ashanti began working on Bodhi with a Whirlwind before being interupted by an Irenicus Time Stop. The Time Stop expired uneventfully largely due to one of Ashanti's pre-buffs: RoAC II.


By this time, Ashanti's pre-buffs started wearing off- including her protection from fire and resist fire/cold. But since Ashanti's potion of fire resistance supply was actually pretty tight at this point, I had her refrain from quaffing. And with item swapping out of bounds, Ashanti was eminently vulnerable. Jon noticed.

Ow!
  

Ow again!


Lesson learned: bring red bottles of get bonked with comets...

Following a blue bottle drinking binge, Ashanti was finally ready to resume her assault on Bodhi. After luring Bodhi away, Ashanti applied a Protection from Undead scroll, and then went to work. Improved Haste->DUHM->Critical Strike.


One down. On to Jon-Jon. Arrow of Dispelling->unenchated darts post ProMW + Stoneskins rebuff-> Sling of Seeking.



Only the solars remained at this point. Now for those of you who have been thinking "Hey: where are the solars anyways?" I'll note here that that's a good question. I can tell you the answer, but I'm not sure what to make of it.


For some reason they teleported without error to one of the portals. I've seen this before, but I'm not really sure why they do this. True, they are brilliant range fighters and camping at the portals takes melee out of play, but it also seriously reduces their battle field coverage. On top of that, it is phenomenally bone headed against a solo PC bearing The Reflex. Whatever their reasoning, once they were there, they could do naught but fall to Ashanti's sling.


And that is how Ashanti's opening battle at The Throne ended. I'll post on the demon battles next followed by the final confrontation with Mel and The Five.

Best,

A. 

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 16 septembre 2013 - 11:31 .

[Gate70]

I'm fairly sure core difficulty only has one fallen solar & 2 solars = insane. Worth mentioning.


Carthusian
With Sarevok dead I dealt with Rahvin and his gang, then worked my way back through the thieves maze. I left a pair of mustard jellies as none of my weapons (fists, darts, throwing daggers and Dagger of Venom) did any lasting damage to them. Belt sent me off on a little errand and I've been put-up in a mysterious chateau.



Day 34 hour 18
I had to rest once, maybe twice. I sneaked past a few mephits to grab the Sword of Chaos but all other "obstacles" were cleared away. A vampire called Ulvaryl took a firebreath potion badly and if any of her brethren come calling I'll have something else waiting for them.

Modifié par Gate70, 16 septembre 2013 - 07:44 .

[corey_russell]

Good luck Gate70. Perhaps Carthusian will pass by Predan on Carthusian's travels.

Modifié par corey_russell, 16 septembre 2013 - 08:22 .

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note: I'd advise against fighting SCS-Ascension Demogorgon with a solo beastmaster in a no reload game. It may be workable with experimentation, but going in blind is a recipe for a beating.

EDIT: I have a little more experience with the fight now. It's actually not that bad so long as you deal with the breach threat. Demogorgon is a crusher so Roranach's+Hardiness+Armor of Faith will allow a beastmaster to take regen off of his melee hits. If you buff to 127% fire resistance you can also take some additional healing off of his Aura of Flaming Death. There are slasher to worry about, but so long as you have Demogorgon and some glabrezus beating on you, you'll have enough regen to offset their damage. Ashanti has won her last 3 battles with him.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 16 septembre 2013 - 10:18 .

[Alesia_BH]

Gate70 wrote...

I'm fairly sure core difficulty only has one fallen solar & 2 solars = insane. Worth mentioning.

In my experience it has always been one on easy and normal, two on core and above.

Btw.Good luck with Carthusian!

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 16 septembre 2013 - 11:37 .

[Alesia_BH]

Ashanti at The Throne: The Demon Battles

As is now well known, Ashanti met her end in demon battle 1. She was also forced to reload a second time in demon battle 2. This should not be taken to imply that the demon battles are unusually difficult for beastmasters. The truth is, I just screwed up. In the first case, I had failed to recognize the threat posed by telekinesis. In the second, I overlooked the backstabbing babaus. It's wasn't the demon battles that were deadly: it was misjudgement.

Unfortunately, I no longer have screenshots from the two battles that claimed Ashanti. But what I do have are shots from the third demon battle- a battle that Ashanti handled well.

Here we have the opening spawn. As you can see, there really isn't much to worry about. There's a balor, a glabrezu, a marilith, a cambion, and of a few more of their ilk off screen. It's not a particularly intimidating crew- at least not on a spatious battlefield like The Throne.


Nonetheless, there are dangers here. The Balor's telekinesis ability knocks the target back and restricts movement-potentially causing you to be boxed in and overwhelemed. It's a tough save at -10. Learning her lesson from demon battle 1, Ashanti went straight for the balor in demon battle 3- whirlwinding through his stoneskins and then finishing him before he could put his telekinesis ability into play.


The glabrezu was next- mostly because of his infinite power word: stuns.


By now there was very little for Ashanti to worry about. A succubus remained on the field, but as a femal pc that isn't really a threat. And while the bow wielding cambions could be dangerous to some, they are no threat to a shield user. Ashanti was essentially free to finisih whoever she wanted at whatever pace she liked. Here, a cambion.


Soon after, the marilith- finished by the Ring of the Ram after having casted ProMW just before a last sling bullet could finish her.


Last cambion.


Looks easy huh? That's what happens when you do things right. Hopefully my next beastmaster will handle all three demon battles as well.


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 17 septembre 2013 - 01:30 .

[corey_russell]

 Pedran the fighter/illusionist FINAL Update

Well Pedran went to get the berserker horn, and foolishly thought Minor Spell Turning foil a maze - well it doesn't.


What's sad is I reloaded the spell descriptions - oh minor can only do up to 4 levels, and am pretty sure maze is like level 7 or something -- oops. What's sadder still is I have the 6th level spell called Spell Deflection can do up to 10 levels, and that WOULD have foiled the maze, if I am reading it right. Well, this one of the reasons I am playing a solo arcane character, to learn more about spells that I wouldn't learn in party play. 

[Alesia_BH]

Sorry for your loss Corey. Are you thinking of trying another caster?

(And yes: Spell Deflection would have worked. Since Maze casts at level 8 it gets over the top of the minors. Spell Deflection, Spell Turning, and Spell Trap will foil it. Spell Immunity: Conjuration is another option- though I personally wouldn't bank on the trap based versions being assigned the correct school; I'd stick with the spell protection angle if I needed to set off a Maze trap.)

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 17 septembre 2013 - 01:11 .