15202 réponses à ce sujet

[polytope]

Wow, this topic is really picking up again, two new contenders since yesterday. Very brave to enter a non-stoneskin-casting protagonist with 9 dex Aasim (don't think I've made a character with less than 17, except in randomly generated parties).

 

Thorn, vicious Berserker -> Mage. Update No.3

Thorn came back to the city to sell loots, bought Everard's Morning Star (I want to try if it works in SCS)

 

I've tried it and since ToBEx prevents spell disruption on zero damage it can be more useful for preventing spellcasting by wizards under Protection From Energy or whatever than those weapons with added elemental damage. On the other hand Flail of Ages also has slow effect, which doubles spell casting times; I'm not sure which is better vs enemy casters but it's not like your solo F->M will run out of money.

 

Oh wait, you're using Enhanced Edition so won't have the ToBEx fixes.

 

Is UAI not available for blades, or are you just concerned about the THAC0 penalty for non-proficiency?

 

It's sadder than that I'm afraid; Carsomyr has vanished somewhere. I think it happened in the planar prison when Raelis gives you the playhouse deed for the silly Bard stronghold, my inventory was full after looting the place and receiving another item (the deed) caused me to drop Carsomyr, then scripted teleport back to the Inn before I realized what had happened.

 

Oh well, that's an Ironman game for you - Carsomyr isn't needed for this party though might have been handy vs Kangaxx and Zallanora (no chance to dispel either of them), I'll see how they go when I have time to play again.

 

CoreTalos nearly died fighting Nylee, however - CoreTalos was charmed, and there were powerful party summons - his own summons could easily kill him! I kept it paused for a long time, trying to figure out how to survive (CoreTalos was about 25% health or so). Eventually, decided Hanna would do Time Stop and do her most powerful direct damage spells on each summon and turn off AI so the party doesn't attack CoreTalos - doing it this way, we were able to kill all our own summons, and thus CoreTalos survived - close call there.

 

Even if the summons weren't killed they should turn hostile after taking any damage, so they'd stop attacking charmed party members and attack the ones you have control over. Shame about Imoen...

[Grond0]

Killed Lethian, and Hendak took charge, hit LvL cleric 9/ ranger 8.   Casted Death Ward to bypass the death trap.  Insect plague was casted on the priest of cyric and it spread out to 4 other slavers, which fled in fear.  

I assume you're talking about the trap on the bridge in the middle of the sewers.  That's a petrification trap - does one of your mods make death ward protect against that?

[Grond0]

Augur - dwarven wizard slayer (update 6)

 

I found it a bit of a struggle to concentrate this morning and Augur was potentially exposed several times.  However, he survived and has got some nice new dragon armour to play with.

 

First, he headed for Watcher's Keep  to investigate the top level.  He brought out the simmy to try and WW the expected vampiric wraiths, but they were nowhere to be seen and other enemies proved no obstacle.  Augur left the FoD trap alone as he can't get his saving throw below 0 at the moment, but he cleared everything else - including the statues (level 22 - GWW).

 

Went to get the portal gem and followed Haer'Dalis to the Planar Prison.  Normally I enter there invisibly, but with no way to do that Augur just buffed with DUHM and MI and entered.  An opening GWW killed the unbuffed mage and a bounty hunter and a follow-up WW everyone else except the buffed mage.  I thought that with only 2 rounds gone Augur would have been safe to retreat out of sight of the mage and bring  out his simmy.  However, he saw this coming (first time in the game he's been exposed to a potentially lethal spell), so if I were trying that again the first priority would have to be to get the simmy up.  With the simmy active the danger was averted and the bounty hunter duly keeled over when his PFMW ended.

 

Moving round the area anti-clockwise, Augur rested before taking on the group of yuan-ti in order to have the simmy and Ras available again.  Ras from simmy caused quite a bit of self-inflicted harm and the simmy itself just left Augur with a small amount of mopping up (level 23 - GWW).  After another rest the simmy killed both the Master of Thralls and the Warden and finally disappeared leaving Augur with just a single badly wounded yuan-ti mage to finish off.

 

After deciding which bits of loot to leave behind Augur released the prisoners and returned to Athkatla before travelling on to the Windspear Hills.  He returned some acorns there and then used a GWW to kill Digdag at the entrance.  A rakshasa took him to level 24 - GWW.  I intended to use a sunray on the large group of vampires, but couldn't find it (I checked later that it wasn't in storage, so I presume it must have got bumped from a full inventory at some stage).  Augur withdrew and summoned his simmy and they were able to clear the vampires and other undead easily enough.  Some greater wolfweres and golems later and he got to level 25 - GWW.  He used 2 green scrolls to protect against fire while dealing with some genies.

 

For Samia's ambush, Augur summoned his simmy, along with an air elemental for the first time.  That was unfortunately too large to fit through the doorway, but Samia was totally outclassed anyway. Conster was then left an air elemental to play with while Augur summoned his simmy to finish him off.  Letting Iltha out of her cell got Augur to level 26 - hardiness.  For Firkraag, Augur summoned an elemental and then his simmy and tried a pre-emptive attack with GWW (Augur switched to Dragonslayer after a few whacks, to protect against fear, though his simmy stayed with FoA).  That got Firky to badly injured before he reacted.  He buffeted the simmy away somewhere and breathed on Augur as well as making him very vulnerable to spells with a malison, but another GWW finished him off before he could take further action.

 

Back in the city Augur got the Red Dragon Scale armour made up and then decided he would like a matching set. However, first he used Tazok's key to assault the mind-flayer enclave.  The tactic there was essentially to use summons and the simmy in the front line, while Augur stayed behind throwing Azuredge - that generally worked, although Augur was targeted with a psionic blast at least once (when an illithid didn't have a line of sight to the simmy) and the simmy was stunned and then lost its brain in the assault on the final room - Augur choosing to be safe by running away and resting before finishing off the last couple of illithid.

 

For Thaxy, Augur arrived at the ruined temple - and turned straight round.  After picking up the wardstone he arrived back again and prepared his assault.  Thaxy was a touch slower to react than Firkraag and, though he tried a buffet, it hadn't taken effect before he keeled over.  The buffet did in fact render both Augur and his simmy unconscious, though Thaxy would have had 2 air elementals and Ras behind him to occupy his attention for a moment anyway while they recovered.  Augur returned to Cromwell to make up the Black Dragon Scale and is thinking about taking on the Planar Sphere next - that has the major prize of the staff of fire, which could provide almost unlimited summons.

[Aasim]

Looking good, Grond0.

 

I'm afraid Grim has failed his game. Shade lord got lucky and disintegrated him with Black Blade of Disaster. Should have drank Magic Shielding potion.

 

 

Back to the drawing board.

[Grond0]

Sorry to hear that Aasim - the improved Shade Lord is a significant threat.

 

Augur - dwarven wizard slayer (update 7)

 

Augur has finished his work in Athkatla and arrived in Spellhold, though he had to make another saving throw on the way.

 

In the Planar Sphere Augur and his simmy battled through some angry halflings (level 28 - GWW).  There was another potentially fatal moment when Augur went through the FoD trap (I decided it was better to risk the 5% failure on this than use one of the 2 scrolls of magic protection).  For Lavok, Augur inched forward until he could see him and then retreated before the mage noticed him - leaving the air elemental to render him harmless.  Tolgerias was similar - the simmy GWWing him and then the supporting mage after Augur spotted their locations.  The simmy still had enough time left to clear the fire room, before Augur finished off the cold room on his own.

 

Some golems in the engine room got him to level 29 - GWW - before Augur once more acted as spotter to allow his simmy to get a heart before the Tanar'ri could blink.  He then repowered the sphere and exited with Lavok.  Unfortunately, when selling a couple of things I realised Ras had gone and searching the Planar Sphere yielded no result.  I had tried to leave an inventory space open, but think I must have filled it with the demon heart - meaning Ras was dropped on the floor there (and gone for good).  That's annoying as the sword had been extremely useful, but at least with other summons now available it's not as important for the future.

 

The Guarded Compound and Twisted Rune had nothing Augur wanted so he just set sail for Brynnlaw.  An Azuredge GWW negated the vampire ambush and a critical hit meant Perth failed his test of limits (Augur can't use his book so didn't have to waste time flicking through the pages).  A couple more Azuredge GWWs and Augur was inside Spellhold (level 30 - GWW), where he's just been stripped of his Bhaal powers and lost a point of intelligence.

[polytope]

I'm afraid Grim has failed his game. Shade lord got lucky and disintegrated him with Black Blade of Disaster. Should have drank Magic Shielding potion.

 

SR disintegration isn't blocked by Death Ward is it? (Been a long while since I played with that mod).

 

 

 There was another potentially fatal moment when Augur went through the FoD trap (I decided it was better to risk the 5% failure on this than use one of the 2 scrolls of magic protection). 

 

Are you wearing Delvers plate from the Windspear hills? It gives a +2 bonus to save vs spell though that's not in the description, if you've sold it and are in Spellhold now I guess you won't see it again till after the underdark.

[Grond0]

Are you wearing Delvers plate from the Windspear hills? It gives a +2 bonus to save vs spell though that's not in the description, if you've sold it and are in Spellhold now I guess you won't see it again till after the underdark.

Thanks for the tip - I hadn't realised that.  Regrettably I don't think I picked it up at all (due to being always short of inventory space).

[Aasim]

SR disintegration isn't blocked by Death Ward is it? (Been a long while since I played with that mod).

It is. I don't think that disintegration effect from BBoD is blocked, however.

Description states it forces a save vs spells (at -5) or take 20d6 magic damage. Apperantly this was enough; but highly improbable (Grim had 113 HP).

NearInfinity otoh shows that BBoD does 35d6 (!) on a failed save.....that's quite impossible to survive. It could be called a bug mayhap, since it's clearly different from what the spell description states...meh. Now you got me thinking. Regardless, Grim is dead; but I'll fix the spell to act per it's description (and won't attack Shade in melee no more).

[Mr_Goldbeard]

@Aasim, condolences to Grim, hopefully your next contestant doesn't meet the same demise

[Mr_Goldbeard]

Norros Woodsoul - Half Elf Cleric 12/ Ranger 11 - 2nd Update in SoA

 

Made some decent progress.  I drank a potion of frost giant strength and casted DUHM and unlocked the door in the docks, and in the city gates, then casted protection from magic, and descended into the lich's lair.  I retrieved all the bones and killed the city gate lich, then killed the demilich to get the ring.  I was going to do the staff of magi battle with the scroll still under effect but sadly it ended when I returned back to the bridge.  So I decided that I could really use a pair of speed boots, so I returned the gem to the playhouse, and left at once for the planar prison. 

 

The opening battle with the bounty hunters was of no complication.  Insect Plague was casted on the middle bounty hunter and it spread like locust (literally lol) to the rest of the bounty hunters, spells were unable to be cast and their morale dropped, I continued onward, with my lovely boots of speed.  I didn't walk five feet without having Death Ward, Chaotic Command, and Remove Fear applied to me.  All the Yuan mages were dealt with insect plague and they weren't of any problem.  The master of thralls had been defeated as well, and the master orb returned and thralls freed.  I reapplied my buffs : Death Ward, Chaotic Command, Iron Skins, Remove Fear.  With these buffs applied I had zero worry about survival, so I entered battle with an Insect plague centered on the Warden, and then another IP on the warden, then just kept swinging at whatever was next to me, and at the end of every round just cast Holy Smite, hit LvL cleric 13/ ranger 11.  Easy day, I took 0 damage in the planar prison.  I left at once to go to Umar Hills to kill the dragon and get my scouting armor.

 

Upon arrival I spoke to Madulf and agreed to tell the people about a truce between the two, then I made my way to investigate the cabin and set off for the temple.  Inside I used turn undead on the shades and they explode, so I sat where you have to take the light gem and watched the shades as they approach explode, hit LvL Cleric 13/ Ranger 12.  I prepped myself with these following spells before facing the first lich : Death Ward, Remove Fear, Chaotic Command, Blade Barrier, Physical Mirror, Repulse Undead.  They did nothing to me, except the lich got a time stop off, but all his spells he casted I was able to protect against them.  The same tactic was used against the second lich.  The same buffs were used facing Thax.  And it proved successful, I backed off once he casted PfMW, and used a Dispel Magic then ran back in with the Gaxx's Haste and at 6 apr just kept trading blows, he got me down to 34 HP but I used a potion then reapplied the Haste and killed the mighty Thax.  Reused the same buffs from before on the Shade Lord.  And it proved successful, I was kinda worried for a second when he removed my protections, but I proved successful, the altar was destroyed and so was the Shade Lord, I went back to turn in the quest (hit LvL Cleric 14/ Ranger 12 and talk to the Val Ranger about the planar sphere.  *****Please don't let this not work against the Solo No Reload Challenge, but I brought Val with me, because I find it VERY against my alignment and my class to kill someone to use their body for their own personal greed, so I couldn't kill him, but I had him open the door then let him go **** Then went off to talk to Firkaag.

 

I dealt the with the opening knights and witnessed the daughter being kidnapped.  Before I enter the dungeon I returned the acorns to the dryads and freed up an item slot that I had filled up since day one of SoA.  The hobgoblins and orcs were dealt with just fine, but I had to use the first usage of my wand of RoR during the fight with the golems.  I was being to complacent and wasn't watching my HP when facing the Adam. Golem.  I dispatched the vampire hoard with supreme ease with the following buffs : Remove Fear, Death Ward, Chaotic Command, Iron Skins, Shield of Achrons, PfE, DUHM, Armor of Faith.  As a matter of fact, i'm not stepping five feet in this place without having those buffs activated.  I killed Samai at the beginning, seemed more suiting to do so.  The guardians and the beholder director served no purpose than to grant me a lvl up Cleric 14/ Ranger 13, first HLA was the Summon Deva.  I took the key off Tazok's body and descended down into the depths of Firkaags lair.  I told the beast that I would return for him, and went upstairs to kill Constar so that I could free the girl.  The girls freedom bought me another level Cleric 15/ Ranger 13, and acquired the WW HLA.  I rebuffed myself for the fight against Firkaag, except I used Fire Protection also.  HAHAHA I casted magic resistance on the dragon, and then 2x Insect Plagues HAHAH this battle is won, and he's feared HAHAHAH.  I thought this fight was going to loose this character HAHAHA.  Good Show good show, didn't even take a point of damage that fight.  Firkaag lies dead, and now its off to turn in the quest, get the best armor in the game, and enter the Planar Sphere.

 

But i'm going to take a break, I'll update another session later on today, if I play again. 

 

Norros Woodsoul - Half Elf Cleric 15/ Ranger 13 - kills 617

HLA - 1 WW, Summon Deva

M Hand FoA +3, O Hand IMoD

Full Plate Mail with +2 ring and Gaxx ring

Balduran Helm with boots of speed, amulet of power, and xarnasous' second arm, sewer cloak, and elves bane

[Mr_Goldbeard]

I assume you're talking about the trap on the bridge in the middle of the sewers.  That's a petrification trap - does one of your mods make death ward protect against that?

Yea right where the kobold shaman is.  I was always under the assumption it was a death trap and not petrification.  So death ward never really helped and all of my games I just made the save, interesting.   Thank you for pointing this out.

[Grond0]

Augur - dwarven wizard slayer (update 8)

 

Augur has successfully escaped from the Underdark and is moving rapidly towards the completion of SoA.

 

The escape from Spellhold was accomplished safely.  The lich and the vampire were both destroyed in the first area (level 31 - GWW), while the air elemental persuaded all the yuan-ti to commit suicide by skull trap.

 

In the second area I realised belatedly that unfortunately Augur had no way to open the container to get the bowstring for Gesen - a shame as I had been intending to make use of that.  However, although he couldn't get some tokens, he still had enough for the boots protecting against cold and lightning (which was all he wanted anyway).  The XP for escaping the Asylum got him to level 32 - GWW.

 

Lonk died before he could buff and Augur moved on to confront Irenicus.  An opening GWW with the throwing hammer effectively killed him, but his script kept him going until after Wanev's time stop.  Three of the murderers succeeded with backstabs, but they didn't do much damage and Augur soon took ship with Saemon.

 

Arriving at the City of Caverns he GWW'd a spectator to get the tooth and then avoided conflict while going to see the prince.  After giving the king the false heart he GWW'd him and his guards before the prince could arrive (level 33 - GWW).  It was then the prince's turn before Augur took the rope and descended to the Underdark.

 

The simmy and a couple of air elementals chewed through some drow and then some spore colonies before they could produce myconids.  After resting, Augur + simmy used GWWs on the balor threatening the svirfneblin village.  He then invaded the beholder nest just far enough to get an elder orb eyestalk.  I didn't think there was anything useful to him in any of the areas (the Soul Reaver sword that reduces THAC0 would potentially have been useful, but I think is bugged in this installation), so he just went to talk to Adalon.  Some drow in the way didn't delay him long (level 34 - hardiness).

 

In the City he bought the Sentinel Shield and Staff of Earth before resting and searching out Solaufein.  On the way to rescue Phaere he was ambushed.  N'ashtar ended one of my recent runs and once again he initially ignored the simmy and ran towards Augur looking like he wanted to maze.  However, Augur ran away quicker and, once N'ashtar turned on the simmy, he was quickly GWW'd.  The others were no threat and Augur rested again before joining Solaufein and bringing out the simmy once more to rescue Phaere.

 

Phaere's tasks were quickly complete.  I normally switch the eggs for her using stealth, but that wasn't possible with Augur.  Rather than try a different method I'm not familiar with though, he just beat up the guards and golems guarding the eggs (level 35 - GWW).

 

After the demon killed the Matron Mother and Phaere, Augur quickly picked up their equipment and legged it out of the city.  He reported to Adalon and she helped clear a path out of the Underdark.  That was actually another error as I had intended to kill her and thought she would reappear in her cave.  It seems that getting the Human Flesh Armour is no longer possible, so Augur just used a GWW to run quickly through the drow at the exit to talk to Elhan.  

[corey_russell]

CoreTalos the Priest of Talos and his rag-tag band - Update 16

Traveling with: Sarevok, Paja, Valygar, Haer'Dalis, Hanna

 

CoreTalos and team successfully survived the Oasis. We also successfully destroyed all enemies at the Sendai's Enclave in the surface. We had little trouble in Sendai's Enclave itself, though CoreTalos got a close call against the Drow Captain, as CoreTalos got stunned. Once it wore off, CoreTalos did RoR heal, deva, then ranged attacking and that got the job done. Lots of buffs vs. Sendai, invulnerability potions on the fighters, and for once no one died or got chunked. Hanna once again was a key party member, de-buffing Sendai's mages, death spell for her summons and Hanna summoned a planetar to assist. Success!

 

Draconis will be our next target...

[Jianson]

@Aasim: Yikes, that's nasty. (I'm glad I did not install that component this time)

@polytype: That's some impressive beholder kicking! Trying to protect myself from them is too complicated for me (especially with Elder Orbs and such involved). If I don't have the cheesy shield, I resort to summons and off-screen bombing only. I have a question. Can you describe what the anti-magic ray does? I have never understood that.



Eileth, elven Beast Master, adventuring in early SoA with Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo and Aerie.

All my travelling between maps have been while invisible. This made the ambush fights much easier:

We rescued Renfield but did not do anything major on the Docks map (started Xzar's quest, did some robbery and fought minor ruffians.)

I have only played the extension of the circus quest once before, and that time we easily beat Jafir (a Rakshasa, or at least he looks and behaves like one) so I provoked a fight. Turns out I was in over my head. He started off with a Cloudkill that we quickly escaped, then some sort of confusion spell that Yoshimo failed his save against. Another spell that the three of us fled from by going downstairs (it was Cloudkill again) and Yoshimo failed another save:

We got up and moved past the noxious cloud and made some progress on Jafir. Then he quickly seized dominance with a nasty Web/Stinking Cloud sequencer:

I had 3-4 charaters out of control every round for several rounds now. Very frustrating and dangerous. Everyone awake worked as best as they could on tearing down Jafir's Stoneskins. Jaheira was eventually killed and Eileth failed her save against Hold Person! Minsc could not divert Jafir's attention away from hitting Eileth, and it's of course autohit when you are held. However, Yoshimo was now free to act again and both area of effect spells had expired. Desperate to save Eileth, Minsc and Yoshimo both used oil of speed and Yoshimo backed off to try to throw a special trap or to hide for a backstab:

Yoshimo failed his trap throwing (no bad effect, though) and I thought he could not wait a full round to try another, so he quickly hid around the corner and moved in for a backstab. Missed, but Jafir attacked him instead of Eileth. YES!! Thank you David W for your policy of having your SCS opponents trying to win the whole fight instead of trying to kill as many as possible. Yoshimo had plenty of big potions so he could survive for quite a while. Minsc hit twice more and Jafir yielded to us.
Whew, that was far too close for comfort.


I decided to pick up Anomen. As pompous as he is, he is the only single-class Cleric in the game that can Turn undead to chunks (something I absolutely love to do!) so if I do not play a Cleric myself, there really is not much choice...


Time for our first major quest, the de'Arnise keep. On our way there we got the Orog ambush, along with a regular slaver pack. We could not quite make our way out of sight before the slaver wizard had dispelled our invisibility. When Jaheira failed her Iron Skins casting and the orogs seemed to save against everything we threw at them, it was obvious we were outmatched. Good thing we had moved to the map edge. So long guys - I hope you had no juicy loot...

I have decided to give Nalia a chance long-term. While outdoors on the map, we had an unexpected visit:

Eileth has too much respect for nature and dryads, but my next character that gets this far will choose answer #6. Eileth did not trust Phluafae - there was something in her voice. She took our answer as a declaration of war or something.

I play with the 'upgraded' Stratagems Keep, but with no extra powers of Spirit Trolls. They are annoying enough as they are (drains STR on hit, moves in an out of invisibility). I have the component that removes improbably placed convenient items, and the small pack of fire arrows that was given to us did not last long. My casters memorized many fire/acid spells. Jaheira had a bunch of Flame Blades, which were useful.

Reasonably smooth troll slaying and looting, etc, but my first visit to one part of the roof came to an abrupt halt:

I had no idea of her powers. She could be a nasty demon of some sort for all I knew. She called in something big. I did not stay to see what. We fled back in.

Everything up to the basement was done. We forged two of the flail heads and I found an axe that did a little acid damage, so now both Anomen and Minsc had permanent gear capable of troll slaying. Glaicas was saved with a Dispel Magic. My goal with that spell was just to dispel his oil of speed and giant strength potion effects, but it also dispelled the charm he was under! Very nice, I did not know it was possible to save him.

After a rest and some Pixie Dust, we returned to the roof to see if our tenacious visitor and her posse were still there. They were:

This was much easier than expected. Phluafae was easily shot down and the shambling mound was stuck on the stairs.


Nalia killed all five umber hulks with a Cloudkill. I prepared the room outside the throne room with a couple of thief traps. Yoshimo peeked in and saw TorGal, two giant trolls and two yuan-ti mages. TorGal walked out of the room to talk to us. He brought two nasty surprises: an umber hulk elder (where did that come from?) and he cast Cloak of Fear quite often during the fight. None of our buffs were adapted to that but I admit that I should have had a Remove Fear going. Minsc could save himself from confusion gazes by holding Lilarcor.

We summoned Aerial Servant and Fire Elemental, and had already cast Haste and PfE 10'. Major chaos ensued. I had 4 of 6 characters scared or confused. Yoshimo fled into the throne room (idiot!) but Jaheira managed to cut off the yuan-ti mages from the main fight by closing the door before she became scared. Yoshimo suffered the wrath of two magi and two trolls in there and was of course doomed. At least he drew a lot of high-level spells from the mages and died a bit back in the room so it took a while for the creatures in there to find us again (yes, they can open doors in my setup).

Anomen was confused for a long time but made a heroic stand against the umber hulk:

The hulk was slowed both by the FoA (3 heads version because we found the third head in early basement) and a Slow spell from Nalia. We focused on damaging the umber hulk elder because confusion is worse than panic and because it was easier to damage. The two big enemies do a lot of damage in melee and my major summons were soon dead and the animals from Eileth's Animal Summoning II were dying rapidly.

That hulk's gotta go. Eileth was getting desperate. She used up the magic lamp and chose to gain control over time. She threw two Darts of Stunning at the hulk before I realized that the darts became stuck in mid-air now that time was stopped. She moved in to whack the hulk instead. Backed off as soon as time returned. Two more arrows and the hulk died. She, Jaheira and Minsc now took turns meleeing TorGal. Eileth used the door to the prison corridor to make TorGal switch between attacking her and some of the others.

By now, the two giant trolls entered the scene. Eileth failed her Cloak of Fear save, ran left and one of the giant trolls chased her. Minsc and Jaheira had brought down TorGal to zombie state. Jaheira, amazingly enough still with iron skins left, blocked the other giant troll. Minsc attacked with the magical axe. He isn't proficient with axes, so he was stuck at 2 apr (1 + oil of speed haste). 1 acid damage here, 1 acid damage there wasn't enough. TorGal had MR blocked just about every spell we had thrown at him but Nalia tried a Melf's anywaw. Yay!


Eileth takes the occasional hit from the giant troll, but not that many because she is still speedy.
Somewhat scary here

but she managed to run around a corner and go into stealth. Minsc and Jaheira had just killed a giant troll and moved into the next room to take out the other one. This fight was still not over. Just when I thought I had some control, this guy showed up:

Eileth ran into the room to the left in case the mage would cast a damage spell. Mage wasted a Breach on Nalia ("that troll is soon dead, and I am not afraid of your fighting skills").

That mage was soon dead, and the next one showed up in the doorway, and it Breached Jaheira. Next spell was Chaos, which confused Jaheira. I did not want her to see a non-Stoneskinned Nalia or a very hurt Eileth so we decided to stay in that other room. Minsc was holding Lilarcor so he was Chaos proof. Idiot me sent a Berserked Minsc to fight that second mage. I came to that decision after Minsc ate a Fireball that hardly did any damage to him. I figured there would be Horror or Hold coming soon. Minsc did great at first, then the mage got down to low-level spells focused on damage, and Minsc was in trouble. Mage threw two of these:
They were of course useless but the mage had a few Magic Missiles left, and Minsc got killed. Jaheira got back to normal and we ate our whole supply of goodberries before taking out the mage. OK, Jaheira is still alive and nobody got chunked so just a few CON points lost. To avoid the risk of losing items if we rested, we picked up Yoshimo's gear and stuffed Anomen's and Minsc's gear in containers.

Now, we just need to rest and...

Oh crap, we are out of almost everything (potions, arrows, spells). This fight was unbeliabley hard for us considering the relatively meager enemies. We met them in a doorway but Jaheira took too much damage. Eileth's Darts of Stunning were crucial to get some control.

Jaheira raised Anomen and Minsc and they recoved their gear. Then we tried to rest again, this time by the basement stairs. Another 4-pack of yuan-ti. We fled upstairs and only two followed. Nalia tried to hide us but Jaheira had moral failure from heavy damage:

Jaheira ran into the golem room. Nalia blocked the doorway to keep Jaheira safe:

Anomen conjures up an aerial servant, so the snakes were soon dead.

A succesful rest, and a final tough troll fight outside (including three spirit trolls). Holy Smite and two thrown Yoshimo traps softened up them pretty well.


From the Keep vi visited Imnesvale. Did some minor quests there (but for some reason never had a chance to talk about the gem in the chicken). I played really well in the temple ruins. Anomen could turn everything up to and including Shadow Fiends (except for that short period after taking a light gem), and we were not high enough in level for any Liches or Bone Golems to spawn.

Mazzy replaced Minsc for a while (I sent him to the Copper Coronet).
I have just the vanilla Shade Lord and we got off to the perfect start:


Piece of cake, and Eileth is now the new Ranger-protector of Imnesvale (despite having handed out some Baalor Ale to the youngsters earlier (no swords, though)).

[Aasim]

Great read Jianson....

 

@Corey

This might be a great success. GL and keep concentrated!

[Alaestr]

Thorn, vicious Berserker -> Mage. Update No.4.

 

Quick update, since I don't have any time right now. Thorn managed to beat the Spellhold, explored slimy, fishy city, upon descendeing in to Underdark killed Adalon, gathered pieces of Equalizer, bought scrolls in UstNatha (before killing silver dragon), resurfaced, destroyed party at the guarded compound, grabbed staff of magi, helped elves reclaim their city, defeated Irenicus for the first time, did hell challenges (+20% resists, +1 weapons immunity, +15HP, +2STR, +10%magic resistance), killed Joneleth and co. for the second time. Welcome to ToB.

 

Spellhold: Enchanted Weapon and Planetar were my friends, illithids lair - IH, Tenser and Thorn mowed through them, beholders - Mislead cheese and juked Hive Mother cause she can see through invisibility, Adalon fight was a bit shaky, but fortunately she likes to focus on Mord swords, so was no biggy, I completed UBER strength warhammer, equalizer, silver sword. Twisted Rune - immediately backed off and summoned a bunch of swords. I abused SCS AI: usually enemies will fight together, but they also escape AoE spells, so incendiary cloud on top of the lich let me face only him. Then I used summons to lure out spells from Layenne. I managed to lure Elder Orb, which cannot see through invisibilty and my mislead illusion gave enough time to buff properly and debuff the beholder. Rest was mopped up with IH. Mage in elven temple was wrecked by Time Stop, Comet, a couple of wiltings. Thorn let the summons tank Irenicus' spells. In hell, the priority was dodging the beholder SLAYER (everything is beholders for me after their lair) and once again I abused AI which don't like aoe spells to keep IRENICUS at the distance (extensive use of potion and wands). I remind that the latest SCS version does not include Improved Irenicus in Hell.

[Mr_Goldbeard]

@Alaestr- I've never been to fond of Tensers, even for a fighter (kit)/ mage.  A simple debuffer on my mage normally meant death, as I couldn't cast time stop to rebuff or just rebuff right then.  Glad to see you have strength were I have found only weakness. 

[corey_russell]

CoreTalos the Priest of Talos and his rag-tag band - Update 17

Traveling with: Keldorn, Sarevok, Haer'Dalis, Valygar, Hanna

Permanently killed: Misty (Kensai), Korgan, Imoen, Paja (berserker)

 

So the party tried to take on Draconis. We did a few buffs and 5 summons, but we had a lot more trouble than usual vs. the human form of Draconis - the mage form managed to kill Haer'Dalis and Hanna (uh oh, no true sights or breaches). Sarevok, Valygar, Paja and CoreTalos tried their best to win, but the constant wing buffets were difficult to work around. As it turned out, Paja was chunked! Sarevok and Valygar were killed a little later, CoreTalos is by himself!

Belated, I tried to equip the acid resistance armor, but can't doing doing combat...uh oh. CoreTalos eventually gets pinned in by the edge by invisible stalkers and CoreTalos gets hit with a single breath attack that nearly killed him - he was out of sight of Draconis (was out of offensive spells and summons by this point), burned through a few stalkers, ran around the area, picking up all the equipment, and fled the area by getting to the edge. CoreTalos recharged the only RoR left (one was burned up in the fight) to resurrect the fallen. CoreTalos went to the pocket plane to re-equip everyone (took forever).

 

We'll try it again, but this time with Keldorn's help - hope it's enough...and this time CoreTalos will wear the acid resistance armor, just in case we get a deja vu...

 

EDIT:

Sure enough, with Keldorn's help, we did manage to defeat Draconis in our 2nd attempt. A lot of near deaths, but RoR brought everyone back to speed to continue the fight. Definitely a bit easier with Hanna's debuffs. Incidentally, on our arrival we had no time to buff at all, just 1 round of summons before the battle started, and CoreTalos was running in fear! Luckily the planetar cast resist fear on CoreTalos and thus CoreTalos avoided death once more...it was still tough fight, forced to fight unbuffed, but we did prevail this time...

 

We shall press into Abazigal's lair...

[polytope]

@Alaestr, are you playing w Ascension?

 

-Edit, well done with the Draconis rematch, Corey.

 

@polytype: That's some impressive beholder kicking! Trying to protect myself from them is too complicated for me (especially with Elder Orbs and such involved). If I don't have the cheesy shield, I resort to summons and off-screen bombing only. I have a question. Can you describe what the anti-magic ray does? I have never understood that.

 

In Vanilla the AMR dispels everything and blocks spellcasting for 3 rounds, with SCS (depending the option you choose) it is less powerful, in my game still dispels everything, blocks spellcasting and quickslot items for 1 round but also gives immunity to magic for one round (this is the "PnP" option).

 

I agree it is tedious to buff a whole party of 6, but not doing so means having to micromanage them more in combat because they are vulnerable and take longer to kill anything, then having to resurrect/heal/re-equip everybody afterwards... works out about the same in time expenditure IMO plus a much bigger chance to get someone perma killed.

 

Eileth ran into the room to the left in case the mage would cast a damage spell. Mage wasted a Breach on Nalia ("that troll is soon dead, and I am not afraid of your fighting skills").

 

I haven't been impressed by mage AI in this playthrough either.   Their unpredictability still calls for caution though.

 

Oh crap, we are out of almost everything (potions, arrows, spells). This fight was unbeliabley hard for us considering the relatively meager enemies. We met them in a doorway but Jaheira took too much damage. Eileth's Darts of Stunning were crucial to get some control.

Jaheira raised Anomen and Minsc and they recoved their gear. Then we tried to rest again, this time by the basement stairs. Another 4-pack of yuan-ti.

 

 

The Yuan Ti fighters are a bit more formidable with SCS, they have grandmastery in their swords vs no proficiency at all in vanilla, but the real problem are those packs with three Yuan Ti mages each, little machine gun nests of save-or-else spells.

[corey_russell]

Thanks Polytope! I was surprised, though happy to make it past this hurdle...this reminds me of my cleric Vessen's run - he succeeded, but had quite a few near death experiences in his run as well...

[Mr_Goldbeard]

@corey- Paja's death sure does shed some darkness on your crew, but I think you'll do just fine my friend.  Best advice I can give your group, don't let Hanna go, I personally would see Hanna as vital as CoreTalos.  Best wishes Corey. 

[Grond0]

Well done for surviving Draconis, Corey.

 

Augur - dwarven wizard slayer (update 9)

 

Augur has completed the second stage of his journeys and arrived in ToB.

 

Back at Athkatla he gave the Silver Sword blade to Kruin then sorted out equipment - making The Wave (and realising that perhaps he could have done with the Girdle of Frost Giant strength in order to make Crom Faeyr, now that he no longer has DUHM available).  He also bought the Helm of Brilliance and Tansheron's Bow (as a poor man's replacement for Gesen).

 

Azuredge got another good workout at the vampire guild, although Augur did get drained once and had to use a scroll of restoration.  He got to level 36 (GWW) by clearing the top level before heading downstairs.  That was a pretty easy battle - Bodhi killed the simmy, but only because her script kept her going that long (she died a moment after this screenshot, providing Augur with level 37 - GWW).

 

Before reporting to Elhan I decided Augur should return to the Underdark in order to forge Crom Faeyr.  Bludgeoning his way through the drow at the exit got Augur to level 38 - GWW.  He and his simmy then made short work of the demon knights (sacrificing an earth elemental to summon them).  Back in Athkatla, the Frost Giant girdle allowed him to forge Crom Faeyr and he also bought the Defender of Easthaven and a few extra green scrolls.  Finally ready, he reported to Elhan and followed him into Suldanesselar.

 

With relatively poor AC and very limited regeneration Augur found Suldanesselar rather heavier going than most of my characters.  He started off by meleeing a few golems, but had to switch to missile fire to finish this adamantite one off as a result of not having used hardiness.  After that he was a bit more cautious with the golems.  He had to rest several times - choosing somewhere where he could run away if necessary - which it usually was.

 

The fight with Nizi was also a bit more difficult than I expected.  The plan was for the simmy and a couple of elementals to engage in melee, while Augur stayed at range.  However, the simmy got caught in Nizi's entangle - just outside his own melee range, though the dragon could bite him OK - that meant the simmy was being hurt rather more quickly than Augur could damage him.  Therefore, Augur equipped his FoA and came on in; the simmy died, but Nizi was already nearly dead by then and collapsed shortly after (without ever trying a breath).  Augur got his 40th (and last) level there.  Taking GWW gave him a total of 3 hardinesses, 1 WW and 17 GWWs.  I normally take other abilities as well, but as Augur can't use improved haste GWW seems to make the most sense.

 

At the temple I couldn't resist fighting rather than just putting things on the altar.  Augur made a first use of the Sling of Everard there to continue hitting Suneer through improved mantle - wizard slayer ability meaning he soon had no chance of successful casting.

 

After resting in the temple Augur made his way to the palace and onto the Tree of Life.  After killing the parasites his simmy and an air elemental attacked, but Jon's buffs kept him safe until the simmy disappeared.  Augur put up an earth elemental then hit with a number of slingshots to shut down Jon's casting.  He survived a while longer thanks to mislead and absolute immunity contingencies, but wasn't able to complete any more spells before ranged attacks started getting through again.

 

In the hell trials Augur picked up:

- immunity to normal / +1 weapons (using Dragonslayer to resist fear)

- +10 MR (required to get 100% MR now that Human Flesh Armour has gone, even though the loss of dexterity is painful)

- +15 HPs (a close decision there, but I decided that having Blackrazor was more important than improved saving throws for those occasions where MR doesn't help)

- +20% elemental resistance

- +2 strength

 

Reviewing equipment for the final fight I realised yet another mistake in that I didn't have the Sword of Balduran (which I had intended to buy when I realised I couldn't make the Human Flesh Armour).  Augur can still get over 100% MR, but only by using a 2-handed sword - he has no proficiency in that as well as losing shield benefits.

 

The fight itself went pretty much according to plan.  Two throwing hammer GWWs were used to finish off the balors and then one from the FoA did for both the glabrezu.  A couple of fire elementals and the simmy then occupied the slayer for a while, but couldn't get through its buffs.  When the simmy disappeared Augur kept on the move, just sending in the odd hammer GWW.  He still had plenty of those left when Jon had had enough.

[Mr_Goldbeard]

@ Grond0 - isnt the initial MR for a wizard slayer at LvL 40 90%?  So the 90 + 10 = 100.  Nevertheless, magnificent progress, can't wait to see Augur slay the five in ToB.

[Grond0]

@Mr_Goldbeard.  The MR for a wizard slayer tops out at 84% (1% each level to 19, 5% at level 20 and then alternating 1% and 5% for the next 20 levels).  However, MR has become less of an issue than I expected ...

 

Augur - dwarven wizard slayer (update 10)

 

Arriving in ToB Augur immediately found a big bonus in that he could equip the Amulet of Seldarine.  I'm not sure if that was intended by developers or not, but will wear it anyway - that now gets MR above 100% without the need for equipping a weapon.

 

Illasera failed to complete a spell and Augur moved on to the first of his Pocket Plane Challenges.  That proved simple with normal attacks with Blackrazor keeping HPs up early on before a couple of GWWs finished off the last characters.

 

In Saradush, Augur didn't bother with any of the side quests, but just arranged a date in the prison with a bunch of vampires (as you do).  He got hit a couple of times killing those, so used a restoration scroll and rested.  Using Blackrazor on some orcs and orogs got Augur a strength bonus - which allowed him to open the chest with F'lar's scabbard.

 

In the palace, the first group of enemies were easily meleed; a first use of Crom Faeyr there helped smash through the mage's improved mantle.  Returning to the Pocket Plane, Augur improved Foebane and rested before coming back for Gromnir.  On entry he immediately put up his simmy.  That went after the mages and Gromnir, while Augur occupied the others.  The simmy successfully killed the supporting mage before he could complete true sight and the presence of mirror images made the rest of the fight easy after the simmy killed Gromnir.

 

Improved Foebane got a first workout against some soldiers on the way to Yaga-Shura's home - Augur getting up to 375 HPs there before selling junk to the merchant.  Augur wimped out at the Temple of Mir and used a protection from undead scroll to clear the Master Wraith and his cronies.

 

Moving on to the Fire Giant temple, Augur was able to enter and retreat slightly immediately to get out of sight before the door guard reacted.  That allowed him to summon his simmy and buff up before engaging.  I decided that the simmy wasn't really needed though, so after that Augur just continued on his own - crushing and fire resistance over 100%, Blackrazor healing and Foebane were all that was needed to keep HPs up (so long as he stood in lava and avoided being surrounded).  Augur hadn't brought along a normal weapon, so just pummeled the magic golem unconscious with his fists and left it.

 

He had a Pocket Plane rest before doing the top area.  Berenn was meleed, before Augur dug the Wave out of his backpack for the first time to use on Imix.  He left the area with his original green scroll fire protection still active (the 12 hour duration on those allows a rest in between use).

 

Back at the Temple of Mir a couple of vampiric wraiths (which had gone invisible when he was here before) attacked, but ineffectively.  Nyalee tried to change sides, but had picked the losing one.

 

At the Siege Camp a sling stone set Yaga-Shura running.  Augur then found a bit of free space to bring out his simmy and await the giant's return.  When he did come back a pair of GWWs starting with FoA, then switching to Blackrazor (for the level drain) made a nasty mess of Yaga-Shura very quickly.

 

The 2nd Pocket Plane challenge also proved easy.  Augur again brought out the simmy at the start and the pair attacked the Augur clone.  It fell at the beginning of the second GWW, Tamoko in the 3rd and Semaj and Angelo in the fourth.

 

A single GWW killed Jamis at the Oasis and Augur ran straight on through - he's just arrived at Amkethran.

[Matuse73]

Arriving in ToB Augur immediately found a big bonus in that he could equip the Amulet of Seldarine.  I'm not sure if that was intended by developers or not, but will wear it anyway - that now gets MR above 100% without the need for equipping a weapon.

 

It's not the amulet of power, it lists no restrictions at all. Why wouldn't you be able to use it?