15218 réponses à ce sujet

[Grond0]

polytope wrote...

Grond0 wrote...
I was at range and there were several gnolls in front of him, so it was definitely some sort of death area effect.  If not his aura the other possibility would be wail of the banshee, though I didn't see any spell animation happening.

I've never seen him cast that. What's your mod setup nowdays?

The installation I was playing with is pretty basic - just Fixpack, BGT, a few components from BG2 tweaks to help inventory management and widescreen.  I'm actually reasonably sure it was the aura the Shade Lord regularly emits rather than a spell - the aura definitely requires you to make a save vs death, although I don't remember dying to it before.

Will you be running another WM? I think you've had the most success out of any player with them, I'd never have the patience for it though.

I guess I will, but not for a while and then I would probably play it with all spells enabled rather than being restricted to NRD and special abilities.  It was an interesting experiment to play like that, but definitely hard grind to be restricted to 5 or 6 spells a day, out of which probably only a couple work properly on average.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Glad to see so much activities in the thread! Feel sad for the fallen and keep a good roll still going!

@Corey: concerning Cernd being *one-shotted* by a Shadows at full health - looks like that was a Strength drain which they are quite fond of...

@Polytope: I'm going to try aTweaks someday as well. From your experience how aTweaks' PnP Fiends and SCSII' Improved Fiends are faring together?

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 08 novembre 2013 - 10:41 .

[DeeKayNL]

Well, it's your game, so do what you want, but making Viconia into a magic resistant fighter/cleric with better physical stats is overpowered. In the vanilla game her poor strength and constitution and less useful single class are a trade off for her innate magic resistance... although I once entered a party with Mazzy kitted as an archer, so perhaps I shouldn't talk.

Anyway, good luck with your party, looks strong.

You're probably right. I never thought of her magic resistance. I will revert her adjustments and take her along just as is.
My party would probably be alright with the melee strength it already has.

I now only have to think of which quest to do first when I start.

Modifié par DeeKayNL, 08 novembre 2013 - 11:10 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

Better luck this time, DeeKayNL!

[DeeKayNL]

Thank you very much! I hope to post some progress tonight.

[WaterMane]

Grond0 wrote...
Incidentally, the death wasn't due to a bug, so technically your run is no longer a no-reload attempt according to the rules in the initial post on this thread. You may of course wish to continue it anyway in order to get knowledge of what tactics work well for future attempts ...

I was wondering if I would be bending the rules a bit by reverting the Cha loss so that my PC would be alive. This would be a good opportunity to try the game out with SCS and some other tweaks, I'll make another post a bit later today with the setup I'm running. 

PC: Adaes (Half Elf Mage/Thief)
Withdrawing from no-reload challenge?: Yes
Reason: Died due to Cha-->0 from Rod of Terror usage

The mage/thief combo was pretty fun so I will likely roll another in my next entry.

Modifié par WaterMane, 08 novembre 2013 - 05:18 .

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

BALIAN OF CANDLEKEEP

My new PC will start in the No Reload Challenge. My goal this run is to:
1) Get past the primary assassins Tarnish, Karlat & Neira w/o a reload
2) Kill Silke & enlist Garrick into my party at that time

For me, if I’m standing in Nashkel in w/Neira lying dead @ my feet, having survived Tarnish, Karlat & Silke w/o a reload, everything beyond that will be gravy. I’ll likely aid Minsc to rescue Dynahier before heading to the Nashkel Mines. I’d like to negotiate all that & defeat Nimbul too but I’ll take minimum.
 
This PC is based upon Balian, from the movie, Kingdom of Heaven, a historical figure also. In the movie, Balian is contacted by the father he never knew & becomes heir to his household. When his father dies from a battle-wound, Balian becomes the Baron of Ibelin. That will work into the Baldur’s Gate narrative that the protagonist faces as he works to find the nature of his heritage.
 
Balian will be NG. In the movie, it is the ‘established order’ that often causes Balian conflict but he always leans toward goodness. At the beginning, he is admonished to ‘defend the king’ and he does so until the ‘good king’ is replaced by a ‘bad king.’ Balian is not an individualist b/c in the end he fights for the helpless masses in defending Jerusalem. I’ll try to keep the PC on alignment in making his choices.
 
I gave him proficiencies in Bastard and two-Handed Swords b/c I see him w/both in the movie. I tossed in Flail b/c I see him w/the Flail of the Ages in BGII if I ever get there – which I RARELY do. Then, I had choice between Axe & a Mace. I chose Axe b/c that will give him a potential ranged weapon w/Throwing Axes. I plan to add Mace next, again looking ahead to BGII and the Mace of Disruption. Then I’ll start working on adding to these or adding appropriate Weapons Styles to build him up. If all goes well, and he doesn't die completely or I don't get bored & start over, he would dual to Cleric @ BGII. I've eliminated the Experience Point Cap from BGI/TotSC so he should have lots of HPs as a fighter by then so he should be really formidable even with low levels as a Cleric then.
 
I don’t want to but see no way around picking up Xzar & Montaron @ Lion’s Way to face Tarnish. I’ll drop them when I add Garrick. Here’s how I adjusted his ‘biography sketch.’
 
Balian was raised in the hallowed halls of knowledge called Candlekeep on the Sword Coast. He spent most of his 20 years of life within this keep's austere walls, under the tutelage of the sage Gorion, a minor nobleman.  Gorion had him trained as a knight by the Watchers of Candlekeep & study under its learned monks. Acting as his father, Gorion raised Balian on tales of heroes & monsters, lovers & infidels, battles & tragedies. However, one story was always left untold: that of his true heritage.
 
Key Event: 

Treasure of note: 130GPs & A QUARTER STAFF


Current Disposition:

Next Steps:

Level Up:

Current Party: (Reputation: 11 - Average)
Balian: Ftr/1 w/QStaff
 
Mods Used: HardTimes-v2; BG1UB_v12; bg1npc-v20; level1npcs-v1.9; bg2_tweaks-v14; Randomizer-v68; scs-v21 (- Tactical Challenges)
 
Reloads: 0

Modifié par Charlestonian Knight Templar, 08 novembre 2013 - 06:33 .

[corey_russell]

Wrong thread, CKT. BG 1 no-reloads in BG 1 no reload thread This thread is BG 2/ToB no-reloads.

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Oops. My bad. Thanks for the catch C_R.

Apologize all. CKT

[DeeKayNL]

@WaterMane sorry to hear that you had to resign.

Anthal's progress after a little time:

-Freed the Circus from Kalah and his illusions
-In the Copper Coronet we let Anomen join our group and freed Hendak and the other slaves (the beastmaster was not a real challenge) and promised to free other slaves (havent done this yet)
-We went to the Government District to free Viconia and recruit her and Jan Jansen. We also bought the "Magic License".
-Then we travelled to the Graveyard District for pickup some minor quests and the Battleaxe +2. We did so and travelled back to the slums to get Lillarcor +3 for the PC. But when travveling we were ambushed by Suna Seni and her party. The fight went quite easy compared to the SCSII Suna Seni



At this moment we are at the Copper Coronet ready to get Lillarcor and slaughter a child murderer.

[WaterMane]

 Alright I've gotten SCSII installed with the following components activated: 

• Spellstrike can take down Protection from Magic scroll
• More consistent Breach spell
• Antimagic spells remain single target, but affect target creature whether or not it is invisible
• Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin
• Enemy harm spells reduce target to 1 hit point, player harm spells deal 150 dmg
• Blade Barrier and Glove of Blades only affect hostile creatures
• Inquisitors dispel at 1.5 x their level
• Slightly weaken plague spells, fire shields block them
• Add an extra copy of some hard to find spell scrolls
• Remove the Shield of Balduran from the game
• Faster Bears
• Make Freedom scolls available earlier
• Retrieve dropped items from hell
• Make party members less likely to die irreversibly
• Make all strongholds available to all classes (will use for multi/dual class purposes only)
• Ease of use party AI (not sure if this will affect me much)
• Remove Cloak of Mirroring animation
• Move Boo into Minc's pack
• Smarter General AI
• Better calls for help
• More sensible choices of weapon proficiencies and kits for fighters
• All potions dropped by slain enemies are recoverable
• Give Celestials slightly more staying power
• Dragons cast like normal wizards
• Beholders unchanged
• Illithids unchanged
• Smarter githyanki
• Selected ToB mages get HLAs, same with priests
• Mages and Priests cast short duration spells once PC is in line of sight
• Smarter Yaga Shura and Gromnir
• Make starting dungeon slightly harder
• Mildly increased difficulty
• Improved random encounters
• Toned down version of tactics improved bodhi
• Improved battle with Irenicus in spellhold
• Improved Sahuagin and Beholder Hive
• Upgraded Ust Natha's defences (This should be fun)
• Slightly improved watcher's keep
• Improved Fire Giant Temple and Sendai's Enclave
• Improved minor encounters

I welcome any thoughts or suggestions to what I've listed above. Hopefully I can make it out of the first dungeon with the added difficulty. I'll be rolling a Half Elf Mage/Thief again with Jaheira in party from the beginning this time. Keldorn will be picked up also. Thats the plan so far but I may need to make adjustments along the way.

PC Name: Furous
Difficulty: Core (Will be switching to normal for leveling up and spell memorizing)
Noteable mods: Ascension and SCSII

[WaterMane]

Furous first and final update:

First, I didn't think the ogre mage in the beginning would have fast casting defensive spells. He was instantly stone skinned, mirror imaged and hasted. I would have been dead in seconds if the genie hadn't called him off. This encounter left me with about 10 life remaining. I'm considering turning this feature off for mages at least. I sent Furous (invisibly) past the first pack of duergar to grab the short bow in the mephit room, but there was a long bow there instead! I'm reading that this is a result of the increase in CI difficulty. I should mention that I did rest and heal up before going into the mephit room, a series of stuns resulted in my death.

Modifié par WaterMane, 09 novembre 2013 - 02:12 .

[polytope]

That's why I always tell that genie to get lost. Personally, I don't really like the SCS addition of lots of dueregar to the opening dungeon, unless your PC is a fighter or skald it's kind of difficult-but-boring (like the "more resilient trolls" option), rather than difficult in a fun way like most SCS components.

Aleks continued: The party challenged the planar warden by going west from the room with the master of thralls, hopefully less awkward than going north from the entry room.

Wait, why is he casting true sight (or whatever)? He sees through invisibility, I know he does!



Well, zapped him with the wand of cloudkill to interrupt him and hopefully clear the nearby umber hulks (umber hulks should really have too many HD to be affected by cloudkill but I'll exploit this little bug here because it's annoying to fight them alongside the warden).

However, this means our mage's aura is clouded and unable to cast debuffs so the warden got a couple of wiltings off before being breached. One slightly injured Valygar, doing 20 damage thanks to his armor and chant (the chant spell actually works similar to luck and reduces spell damage by 1 point per die) and hurt Nalia, one badly injured Anomen (who was fatigued after casting restoration on Keldorn - fatigue applies a luck penalty and increases the damage you take from spells).

Anomen is then finished off by a mordy sword - summoned by the warden's initial CC, that's what I get for not paying attention. 



Now, we need another breach because the warden rebuffs with a contingency:ProMW and sequencer with stoneskins and fireshield... but Nalia is below 60 hp and vulnerable to PW:Kill if she stands in his line of sight, so Aleks uses his Bhaal healing, Valygar the gloves of healing and Keldorn the staff of curing to bring her above 60 hp and get a breach off - good thing the umber hulks removed her MST with their gaze (even though it's not a spell and shouldn't bounce off ST).

The planar warden's last desperate act is a spell trigger with improved haste and tenser's transformation, still no match for our 3 fighters though.



Well, that was kind of sloppy, but there's not a lot I could do to protect my party from wiltings etc. at this stage (Nalia is level 12).

Loot: Skullcrusher mace and gauntlets of ogre power from warden, flame of the north sword from a thrall (sold that), rashad's talon scimitar (ditto), boomerang dagger from master of thralls, plus non-randomized items like cloak of the shield, staff of air, melodic chain (kept this, just in case we end up recruiting Haer...) and the usual "generic" +1 magic weapons. Dismissed Anomen after raising him, though I let him keep some of the magic gear rather than sell it... I got him killed after all. Had ~45000 gold after this expedition, bought Everard's morningstar from Joluv.

Now at least both Keldorn and Valygar have good strength scores and PC can use his holy might Bhaal power in tough battles.

Currently I'm 1/2 way through the Windspear hills, didn't screenshot anything because it's straightforward except for the improved vamps, Firkraag himself and maybe Samia's party and Conster. The rukh actually gave me a run for my money though...

Modifié par polytope, 09 novembre 2013 - 04:06 .

[corey_russell]

@Watermane: sorry to hear of your demise. But I concur with polytope, just don't fight the Ogre Mage. But I've said this before earlier in this thread - why add a component that is so hard (for the equipment/levels of the party at the encounter) that effectively, everyone is forced to skip it! What is the point of adding content that effectively doesn't get seen?

[Grond0]

WaterMane wrote...
First, I didn't think the ogre mage in the beginning would have fast casting defensive spells. He was instantly stone skinned, mirror imaged and hasted. I would have been dead in seconds if the genie hadn't called him off. This encounter left me with about 10 life remaining. I'm considering turning this feature off for mages at least. I sent Furous (invisibly) past the first pack of duergar to grab the short bow in the mephit room, but there was a long bow there instead! I'm reading that this is a result of the increase in CI difficulty. I should mention that I did rest and heal up before going into the mephit room, a series of stuns resulted in my death.

Hard luck WaterMane. As others have indicated though you do need to beware of the starting dungeon in SCS - it is difficult.  Personally I don't think the duergar are too bad, but all the spell-casters can be lethal for a solo character (ogre mage, clone, duergar x 2, battle mage, final assassin).  The inability to rest freely to regain spells means that even in a party with spell protections available you have to be very careful about what you take on so as not to use up your resources too early.

[Serg BlackStrider]

corey_russell wrote...
But I concur with polytope, just don't fight the Ogre Mage. But I've said this before earlier in this thread - why add a component that is so hard (for the equipment/levels of the party at the encounter) that effectively, everyone is forced to skip it! What is the point of adding content that effectively doesn't get seen?

The Avatars had defeated that Ogre Mage but then there were six of us with three mages who are able to strip his buffs.

Sad to hear of your dire experience, WaterMane... Hope The Lady Luck will be more kind to you next time.

[polytope]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...

@Polytope: I'm going to try aTweaks someday as well. From your experience how aTweaks' PnP Fiends and SCSII' Improved Fiends are faring together?

I thought I'd replied to you in my last post, I guess I didn't.

aTweaks fiends are actually better scripted than SCS fiends, one of the very few times I've seen SCS AI outclassed (Chosen of Cyric is another, but I won't be fighting them on this playthrough because they have too much OP, lootable equipment). aVENGER's fiends have weaker stats, less hp etc, than SCS gives to fiends, but as of recent versions of aTweaks you can choose to install aTweaks scripts and abilities and keep SCS stats - such as the 40% damage resistance and 200+ hp Balors have - which I think would be the most challenging option (although ToB Balors lose their Implosion spell and Mariliths lose ProMW).

Modifié par polytope, 09 novembre 2013 - 06:26 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

@Polytope: noted, thanks!

[WaterMane]

 After going through the SCSII readme a bit more thoroughly I uninstalled SCSII and installed BG2 Fixpack then reinstalled SCSII. I removed the mage buffing but kept the more challenging CI. This next entry will be my 4th attempt, if I've counted correctly.



This attempt will also be on Core difficulty using Ascension and SCSII mods.

Nosferatu and Jaheira were able to get through the first level of CI as a duo but both were out of spells at this point so Minsc and Yoshimo were recruited to help clear the mephit summoning room. Minsc and Yoshimo acted as decoys and damage sponges while Nos and Jaheira took out the portals themselves. Once this room was cleared Minsc and Yoshi were booted from the group. Putting an initial point in crossbow seemed to help quite a bit seeing as I didn't have access to a short bow and many of the duergar carried crossbows that I was able to use. Luckily I had found an identification scroll so I was able to the cloudkill wand to get rid of the final group of duergar beyond the furnaces. I used this tactic just to play it extremely safe as getting past everything up till that point was fairly tedious and I would like to avoid experiencing it again before progressing into the game. Also, with no spells, I was not able to kill the vampire, some missed xp but all the duergar made up for it.

Modifié par WaterMane, 10 novembre 2013 - 12:59 .

[Jehoahaz]

Hi! I have been lurking these forums for some time. Motivated your fantastic attempts (and successes) I thought, why not try myself. I decided to incorporate random character creation to this challenge. So this time I will be reporting of bard Eir's adventures as she tries to survive hostile cities and wilderness of Amn with her mediocre companions. I will use fixpack (I think it is installed) and Dungeon-be-gone, no other mods, so no Tactics or other Improved Encounters. I try to ”roleplay” my way through the game, so I will(/try) not use all of the cheesy items and tactics. As I will use Dungeon-be-gone this is not 'real' no-reload try. Although I doubt I could do it anyway with this party:

Protagonist is Eir, neutral evil, half-elf bard.
Force 10
Dexterity 12
Constitution 15
Intelligence 15
Wisdom 12
Charisma 16
51 hp
She got actually surprisingly good rolls. Her constitution is decent as is her intelligence, wisdom, and charisma.

With her she has:
Eudora, lawful evil, half-elf enchanter.
Force 12
Dexterity 7
Constitution 12
Intelligence 17
Wisdom 12
Charisma 16
23hp
At least she has decent intelligence...

Hizkiah, lawful neutral half-elf cleric.
Force 16
Dexterity 15
Constitution 12
Intelligence 15
Wisdom 10
Charisma 11
25 hp
the same thing cannot be said of this cleric's wisdom.

Pritha, lawful neutral, half-orc cleric of Helm.
Force 14
Dexterity 15
Constitution 15
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 13
Charisma 12
hp: 32
At least she is somewhat better. And free True Seeing also!

Gudrun, lawful evil, halfling bounty hunter.
Force 11
Dexterity 12
Constitution 14
Intelligence 17
Wisdom 13
Charisma 12
hp 37.
Yeah. Her stats are just mediocre.

Hayk, chaotic good, half-elf beastmaster.
Force 17
Dexterity 13
Constitution 14
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 15
Charisma 11
hp 57
Due to the high AC no tanking with this ranger. At least until he gets to summon his animal companion!

I used Dungeon-be-gone-mod, so I did not play through Irenicus's dungeon - o, how many times have I it crawled. So I took the free xp and ”stuff” from Jesper and went forth to Athkathla. I sold most of the items including the one-charge wands leaving only Wand of Cloudkill (by accident actually). Then to the slums to meet Gaelan Bayle. Deal is made... and so on.

His nephew guides party to Bridge District, where they agree to help some actors to find their missing fellow for some coins (I thought of solving the murders, but I did not think my party could handle the rune assassin). On to the Temple District. So the first encounter is against Tarnor and his company of goons.

First thing we do after refusing his demand is that we flee regroup, then Eudora summons some monsters and Pritha skeletons, meanwhile Gudrun sets successfully two special traps and one regular one. Eir shoots a fireball and some of the enemies attack, traps go off, and together with succesful Hold Person by Pritha and some Melph's Acid Arrows and other spells, the first wave is succesfully handled. The mage proves to be somewhat more problematic with his Globe of Minor Invulnerability (I think) and Stoneskins. First to attack him is Pritha. But thanks to the Globe and Stoneskin he succesfully casts disintegrate and Pritha fails the saving throw and is swiftly disintegrated. Rest of the party swarms him and he is taken down.

There are two enemies still left. The other one is killed swiftly, but the other has taken refuge with some goblins. I try to fight him and his newfound allies for while, but my underequipped, wounded, and mediocre party is in big trouble, getting killed and all that. I check through my inventory hoping that there would be some kind of help. Bingo! Eir has still the Wand of Cloudkill, which she puts to good use swiftly. Maybe three or four goblins die instantly, and my group can retreat without worrying about the goblin archers. The foolish enemy tries to cast some spells in Cloudkill zone, which did not matter really, as he was just outnumbered at this point. After him the party finished the last two goblin axemen.

First encounter went actually surprisingly well. Just one disintegrated. I rolled another character to replace her. He turned out to be Jodocus, lawful evil, halfling F/T.
Stats:
Strenght: 12
Dexterity: 18
Constitution: 11
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 11
Hp: 31

So with Jodocus they continue their quest to find Mekrath. They take care of some of his mephits (who almost kill Gudrun) and agree to search for the imp-thief. Jodocus goes scouting. In the SE his skill in sneaking (which are mediocre) betrays him and he is suddenly facing a kobold horde! He runs as fast as he can, and hides in shadows 'just' before he is hit with Kobold Shamans succesful Hold Person. There is not much time to waste, so Eudora casts Haste and all the group runs through the west side to help poor Jodocus. In their run they encounter a Green Slime which they decide to ignore, sadly it doesn't ignore them... Anyway it appears as if the party is just in the nick of time to help their new companion. But their mediocrity does not betray them this time. Jodocus is exposed just as Hayk has summoned a Dire wolf to draw the kobolds' attention. In vain. Poor Jodocus is murdered by three kobolds. Well kobolds are ust kobolds and they are easily taken care of. Group continues to NE where there are still three kobolds left, including the shaman. Eir is singing the battle song. I notice that she is slowed for some reason...

Oh no! Gudrun is poisoned! The Green slime has followed my party and is now attacking Gudrun who is still in its line of sight. Gudrun runs away and drinks extra healing potion. But the poison is too strong. She is soon dead.

Meanwhile while battling kobolds Eudora has summoned a spider, Hizkiah (or Eudora) has held kobold shaman and it seems that battle is easily over. But then, an earth elemental appears! It appears, we found the imp aswell! Nice!

Hizkiah and Hayk together with some melf's acid arrows beat imp to death while the wolf and spider try to keep the earth elemental otherwise occupied. After imp's dead all of the group attacks earth elemental, except Eir who is singing the battle song. Earth elemental bashes Hizkiah to death. Oh. It seems the fight won't be that easy. Then Hayk informs me that his quarterstaff does nothing against the elemental. Oops.

Hayk, Eir, and Eudora try to fight the elemental for a moment, but soon it is obvious that they have no chance, so they run (very slowly as Eir is still slowed) to the streets to regroup. But the elemental uses other exit (I do not know how), and comes rushing straight at them. The +1 daggers seem useless against it. Then I remember the bhaalspawn abilities. Vampiric puts Earth elemental to badly wounded, and some Larloch's minor drain deal some damage, but in the end I must retreat, this time back to the sewers. To wait until slow wears off. After get back up and make run to the Bridge District succesfully. The earth elemental seems to content itself by killing a nobleman (not sure if that is proper english ).

Dead characters are raised, the party rests for some time and heads back to the Temples to re-equip, hoping that they don't bump into that earth elemental. We use the NE entrance and get down and... WHAAAT!!! Four earth elementals, all of them uninjured! Hizkiah is dead in seconds and Hayk badly pounded. Off we run to the streets, but this time the elementals follow. So we run to the Government district to pay magic fee and to think of a new strategy to solve this situation. Maybe we should buy a Death spell to deal with them?

Modifié par Jehoahaz, 09 novembre 2013 - 11:56 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

Well met and welcome, Jehoahaz! Hope Tymora will smile on your Crew!

[corey_russell]

Good luck Jehoahaz! By the way, the rules actually specifically mention dungeon-be-gone as an allowable mod, so you run will count if you make it!

[corey_russell]

Theen the solo human Kensai - entering BG2 portion of trilogy no-reload challenge...

Theen has successfully made it out of Chateau Irenicus and survived the Suna Seni (hey Gate70, I finally got the ambusher's name right) ambush. I did everything in Irenicus' dungeon except the genie and the large group of mephitis guarding said genie - with no stun protection or invisibility, it seemed unwise to mess with these enemies.

Theen also solved the circus problem - all he needed was his +1 quarterstaff. The Suna Seni ambush was basically defeated by improved invisibility (via RoAC).

Theen

***** Quarterstaff
* Two-weapon style
* Axe

[Gate70]

Good stuff Corey. What weapons will you be looking to use? I can recommend Ilbratha as equipped but not selected, a mirrored kensai goes a long way...hopefully.

[WaterMane]

Corey quick question, how is it that as a human you have 19 str and dex but appear to be penalized in constitution?