15250 réponses à ce sujet

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Firkraag Frustrations

On the way back to Firkraag's dungeon in the Windspear Hills, Wierdo's band encountered a huge random ambush involving orcs, trolls and an orc mage and orc priest.



This was challenging and Jaheira took a lot of damage, but the enemy mage's Teleport Field worked to Wierdo's favour as it gave party members a chance to get away from being surrounded by monsters, with the weaker ones moving to the perimeter over a couple of rounds. A Chaos spell from Nalia helped as well. Eventually, only Minsc was left in the 'scrum',  so he quaffed a Potion of Fire Resistance and Wierdo cast a Fireball spell followed by one or two Arrows of Detonation. This cleared things up a bit!



Just as the fight finished, Nalia was spirited away (ie jailed) by Isaea.



Off to rescue her! In completing the quest to recover Nalia and put Isaea in his place, Wierdo levels up as a thief (lv12). She puts points into lockpicking and detect illusions (now 75% each).

Back to Firkraag dungeon. Blasting away the last of the defenders, as well as a few new groups of hobgoblins and orcs.

Bruce levels up (Monk level 12). His fists are now +2 weapons!

Killed orogs, stone golems, juggernaut golem.

Killed a large air elemental. Found the Crossbow of Searing in the well.

A massive fight with two stone golems and a Adamantite golem. The Adamantite golem was very hard to kill. It took a massive amount of damage, did heaps of its own, and only +3 or better weapons would hit it. Anni had his Flametongue and Minsc had his Flail of Ages, while Buddha used the Silvanus dagger. Other party members supported where possible with spells.

Reward from the Golems: +3 Blackwood club (+3 acid damage) for Jaheira (yay!), and a bejuril gem!

Defeated wolfweres and picked up the Silver Horn of Valhalla.

Killed Tazok and Chief Digdug. Got Dragon Scale Shield +2 (Jaheira) and Elven Court Bow +3 (Minsc). Other minor treasures including Two-handed sword +2. In the closet Wierdo found the Rod of Smiting +3, awesome except that we just finished killing golems, and 2 rogue stones. Noice!

Finally, Wierdo went to face the big bad Firkraag himself.



Wierdo ended up defeating Firkraag's lackey mage Conster and rescuing the child, but decided to leave Firkraag for now, or until completing the paladin stronghold quests anyway!

Annakin is now almost at Berserker Level 12, which means that he will have Grandmastery (5 stars) in longsword and three stars in dual-wielding. It is also when he will dual to be a mage! Find out more in the next post!

Modifié par Wierdo, 07 mai 2011 - 09:14 .

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Grimm the Wizard Slayer, Part 6


The party arrives at de'Arnise keep and Grimm promises Nalia to get the keep cleares of the troll infestation. Thanks to his Firetooth crossbow and Fade's acid dagger, the trolls on the first two floors are wiped out with ease. The golems at the chapel are handled quickly as well, except for the iron one, who is slowly taken down from a safe distance by Grimm's crossbow. Haer'Dalis fails to charm Glacias so the party is forced to dispose of him too before proceeding to the basement. The Umber Hulks choke on Edwin's Cloudkill which clears the path to the main dungeon.





Jaheira summons a Fire Elemental and a shambler to help out with Torgal and his giant troll buddies and they are quickly burned to ashes. Nalia is thankful and hands over the keep to Grimm due to some issues which she currently has in the aristocratic circles. As the group ponders their next move, an old acquaintance of Edwin named Degarden shows up and inquires about the conjurer's whereabouts. Grimm decides to cover him and the mage departs for now.

Confident in their ability to deal with trolls, the party heads for Trademeet next. After talking to the High Merchant and Cernd, Grimm takes the party to the Druid Grove. They clear out a troll mound and defeat a bunch Shadow Druids and a few Rakshasa before Jaheira finally gets a chance to challenge Faldorn to a duel.





Jaheira starts off with an Insect Plague while Faldorn pre-casts regeneration and Armor of Faith. The insects scramble Faldorn's spellcasting giving Jaheira enough time to summon a Fire Elemental and conjure up a Flame Blade. From this point on, Faldorn stood no chance. After Jaheira's victory, the grove is restored but the group gets ambushed by Degarden once more on the way back. This time, he recognizes Edwin's condition and dispels it. Out of gratitude, Edwin decides that the party should take Degarden down out. He protects himself from magical weapons but soon falls to Grimm's plain crossbow bolts which afflict him with spell failure causing him to miscast all of his subsequent spells.

Upon their return to Trademeet, the party receives a substantial reward from Lord Coprith. In the meantime, Fade relieves some of local merchants of their magical items (her pickpocket skill is now at 150%) while Grimm and the others help out a woman in distress and resolve the feud between the town's noble families. Back in Atkhatla, Grimm decides to spend a large portion of the party's gold on the Shield of Balduran and takes the group toward the Temple District. As the party searches the sewers for the cultists they come across a band of thugs.





Jaheira drops an Insect Plague on the dwarf nearest to the enemy mage while Edwin and Haer'Dalis try to slow and confuse the other enemies using the respective spells. Minsc and the summons stall the dwarven warriors while Grimm focuses his fire on the elven wizard causing him to miscast all of his spells. The enemy cleric casts Sanctuary and tries to run away while the party disposes of the remaining enemies. He is soon found and dispatched, though he somehow managed to heal himself fully in the meantime. After selling off the thugs' gear to Roger, the party enters the lair of the cultists.


Party overview:

Grimm - Wizard Slayer(14)
Minsc - Barbarian(13)
Jaheira - Fighter(11)/Druid(13)
Haer'Dalis - Blade(16)
Fade - Swashbuckler(18)
Edwin - Conjurer(13)

[ussnorway]

Wierdo wrote...

@ussnorway:

Make sure that you don't go outside after killing Torgal, because that seems to trigger the end of the keep seige and replaces the keeps maps - which would mean no chance to kill the big rustbucket golem!

Thanks Wierdo I'll make sure I clear everything before leaving for the final time.

Ok now I'm starting to get confussed guys.

First thing is that the big iron golom on the second floor is dead! Yashimo did it with traps and there is a screenshot of the big guy on the floor with the exp added to my total.
Am I missing something here... does SCS2 add an extra iron golom down stairs perhaps?

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Annakin begins turning to the Dark Side

Awesome! Completed King Strohm quest, now just need to kill Samia and her gang. Recovered Ring of Regeneration and Hammer +1 +4 vs Giantkin.

Killed Samia. Now Annakin is Lv12 Berserker: 5 stars in Longsword, 3 stars in dual-wield. However, he is about to give all that up for quite some time as he has been aching to try his hand at some magic.

So, at Berserker level 12, Annakin dual-classes to become a mage!

Reading scrolls gets Anni up to Level 7 as a mage, which means he can cast Stoneskin.

The party has done the paladin stronghold quests. Gone to Umar hills, sorted out the town's local problems but haven't gone up to the temple ruins, partly because Wierdo is not ready to pick up Mazzy yet.

Did the Jermaine mimic blood mage/golem quest and got the Cloak of Displacement as a reward. Also found the +3 Backbiter Spear.

Bruce got to Monk level 13! Now he has Quivering Palm attack. This is pretty cool. For one round or so, every enemy he hits must save vs death or die (Bruce gets 3 fist attacks each round with a -5 THAC0). In just a small number of battles so far he has used Quivering Palm to deadly effect on some otherwise quite tough opponents!
 
Annakin got to Mage level 9.

Now for the big question: what new portrait to use for Annakin, as his turning to the Dark Side impacts on him mentally and physically? I have already chosen a new small portrait:




However, I would appreciate input to help me choose between these two large portraits:

............ and ...............

Both of them are intentionally very dark, but not necessarily evil as such. Currently have no plans to change his alignment from Chaotic Good.

Modifié par Wierdo, 08 mai 2011 - 06:05 .

[ussnorway]

I vote blue!

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Announcement:

As some of you may recall, a group of us compiled a list of successful Trilogy/BGII No Reloaders before my last "sabbatical".

The list was posted in the tread, however, we never settled on a long term presentation strategy. I think we'd all agree that it would be nice to have a place of honor for those who have been fortunate enough to complete the challenge.

One poster -and pardon me I've forgotten who- suggested that we create a group and maintain the list there. That's the best option I've heard. Do others concur? And is there anyone out there who is willing to help maintain/update the list/group? Please chime in. We can handle this on forum or in PM. Whatever makes sense.

Best,

A.

NW: If we use the group strategy then, to my mind, it would be ideal if we could use the Trilogy No Reload group created by Dark Lauron. That makes more sense to me then creating a second, overlapping group. I'd greatly appreciate input from someone who has administrative control of that group.

NWII: I like blue as well Weirdo.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 08 mai 2011 - 07:29 .

[Thailog]

Wierdo wrote...

So, at Berserker level 12, Annakin dual-classes to become a mage!

Why didn't you wait until he hit level 13 for that last 1/2 attack?

Anyway, red lightsaber for the portrait. It has a more darkside feel to it.

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Grimm the Wizard Slayer, Part 7


In the lair of the Unseeing Eye cultists, the party talks to Gaal and gets the key to the lower levels. On the way down, they pass an ominous crypt but Grimm decides to leave it alone for now. After dispatching some gibberings and a pack of Yuan-Ti, the party runs into their first bunch of beholders. The shield of cheese seems like an appropriate counter to the inherent cheesiness of the BG2 beholders so Grimm has no qualms using it.





Across the bridge, the group encounters a bunch of followers of some dead god and an emphatic manifestation of their hate, in the form of a demon. Jaheira uses a healing spell to banish the creature and the avatar of Amaunator appears before the party. He gives them a part of a powerful item which can supposedly destroy the Unseeing Eye. On the way back, some ex-cultists point Grimm toward the beholder's lair.

Downstairs, the party encounters several groups of undead, but fortunately no Liches. Grimm leads the group into the heart of the beholders' lair, but decides to go ahead alone, equipped with the Dagger of Venom and the Shield of Balduran. After he takes out the beholders and the blind priests the Unseeing Eye falls to Fade's snares and Edwin's Skull Traps. Grimm returns the rod the Amaunator's avatar and then confronts Gaal and the other cultists before reporting back to the Temple of Helm.

Next up, the party heads for the slums and Grimm decides that it's time to explore the Planar Sphere. After looting a few Bolts of Paralysis from some Sahuagin, Grimm prepares the party for the fight with the Dark Sun halfling mages. Instead of facing them directly, he gets Edwin to summon a Flesh Golem (from the book he found in Watcher's Keep) and has the creature distract the halflings while Haer'Dalis and Edwin cover the area with Web, Cloudkill and Acid Fog.





The golem is 100% resistant to magic and therefore unaffected by any of those spells while the halflings take heavy damage. Recently, I'm finding it easier to deal with SCSII mages using area effect spells than to bother with dispelling their numerous protections. Anyhow, one of the halfling spellcasters manages to break through and gets to the party but Grimm picks him off with a few well-placed shots from his crossbow. Meanwhile, Edwin summons two Mordenkeinen's Swords who finish off the rest of the enemies.

The mages in the upper chamber fall to Jaheira's Insect Plague (love this spell) while Grimm receives an Improved Haste from Edwin and makes sure they are thoroughly afflicted by miscast magic. After dispatching some Fire Elementals, the party builds a golem of his and the construct opens the door to Lavok's chamber. Grimm employs a similar tactic as with the halfling mages, but Lavok sees through the ruse and kills the summons with a single Death Spell.

He then conjures up some Mummies and starts spamming Absolute Immunity which protects even against +5 weapons with SR. The party retreats to the lower corner of the chamber while Minsc summons a berserker from the Horn of Valhala to keep the necromancer company until his protections run out. Lavok takes out the nordic warrior with a Horrid Wilting and then casts a Teleport Field. Fade summons Kittix while Grimm puts Lavok's defenses to the test once again and finds out that he switched to Protection from Magic Weapons. Big mistake.





Using plain crossbow bolts, he disables the necromancer's spellcasting while Minsc, Jaheira and Fade tend to the summoned mummies. The necromancer finally falls and begs Grimm to take him back to Athkhatla so that he can die on his home plane. In order to do this, the group needs to power up the Planar Sphere again and that requires a demon's heart. Conveniently, there's an Abyssal plane just around the corner. The demons that live there are sneaky, have level draining claws and love to teleport to paralyzed targets. Thanks to Free Action and SR's Negative Plane Protection, which lasts 1 turn/level, they are dispatched without any casualties, though Haer'Dalis got close to death a few times.

On the way to the power room, the party is ambushed by Tolgerias and his apprentice. They try to put up some defenses but quickly fall to Grimm's enflamed non-magical crossbow bolts, courtesy of IR's Crossbow of Searing. After disposing of some fire based creatures and several golems the party returns the sphere to the Prime Material Plane where Lavok passes away in peace. Minsc reminds everyone that Umar Hills still needs help so Grimm takes the party towards the shadowy Temple Ruins.


Party overview:

Grimm - Wizard Slayer(15)
Minsc - Barbarian(15)
Jaheira - Fighter(11)/Druid(13)
Haer'Dalis - Blade(17)
Fade - Swashbuckler(19)
Edwin - Conjurer(14)

[Wierdo]

Thailog wrote...

Wierdo wrote...

So, at Berserker level 12, Annakin dual-classes to become a mage!

Why didn't you wait until he hit level 13 for that last 1/2 attack?

Anyway, red lightsaber for the portrait. It has a more darkside feel to it.

In fact, you get the extra 1/2 attack at level 12! Adding in the extra 1/2 attack for 5 star grandmastery, and that is a whole 1 extra attack per round from getting to level 12!

Compare this, Annakin at level 11 before leveling:




With this, Annakin now at level 12:




What he does miss out on by not getting to level 13 is -1 THAC0 and extra saving throw reductions, around -2 per category. In the long run this makes little difference though. Mage saving throws mostly suck compared to fighters (except vs spells), but by level 21 this would only make a -2 difference for saves against Death/Poison/Paralyzation and Breath Weapon.

The extra cost of waiting until level 13? An extra 575,000 experience points on top of the 1,125,000 million Annakin already needs to earn to reach level 12 as a mage and be a berserker again.  That is, 51.11% extra.

I figure that it gets really hard from Spellhold, and then the Underdark. Annakin needs to be able to be a berserk fighter by then. I think it just isn't possible. T'would be hard in any case. As a level 12 berserker Annakin will be able to melee with the worst of enemies, but will have all sorts of extra magical protections and enhancements.

Thanks for the vote, it was a tough ballot with one for the red lightsabre and two for the blue! The blues have it, so I will go with that for now. However, noting Thailog's comment, Annakin may use the red version at some point ... 

Modifié par Wierdo, 08 mai 2011 - 12:56 .

[touch_of_the_void]

@ Wierdo

You get the extra 1/2 attack at level 13 (unless you have a mod which alters this).

I would guess that the reason you have gained a whole attack at level 12 is because grandmastery grants a full extra attack (over having four stars) with True Grandmastery installed.

[Wierdo]

touch_of_the_void wrote...
@ Wierdo

You get the extra 1/2 attack at level 13 (unless you have a mod which alters this).

I would guess that the reason you have gained a whole attack at level 12 is because grandmastery grants a full extra attack (over having four stars) with True Grandmastery installed.

You must be right. I went back to that old save and tried giving the proficiency point to something else (ie no grandmastery) and the attacks per round didn't change

Well, the extra 575k xp is too much, and it is too late anyway. Annakin remains a powerhouse with four attacks per round, unhasted!

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Grimm the Wizard Slayer, Part 8


At the Temple Ruins, the party frees Mazzy who tells them that a certain Shade Lord is responsible for the killings in Umar Hills. Trudging through the shadowy temple, the group destroys a bunch of undead, including several Bone Golems and Greater Mummies, but fortunately, no Liches. Grimm returns the remains of a child priestess to her coffin and her spirit rewards him with a special wardstone which makes the party invisible to the Shadow Dragon that lurks deeper underground. They proceed past the beast and engage the Shade Lord.





Surprisingly, he isn't as powerful as one might expect from a Lich. Grimm keeps disrupting the Shade Lord's spells allowing Jaheira to take him out with a few Sunscorches. Meanwhile, Minsc and Haer'Dalis dispose of the shadows and the altar. The area is purified and the group receives a rather unimpressive leather armor after reporting back to Umar Hills. Feeling up to it, Grimm decides to test the party's prowess against the Shadow Dragon.





Before entering the dragon's chamber, the party buffs up heavily with Improved Haste and Negative Plane Protection on all fighters in addition to their regular defensive spells. Next, they position themselves around the dragon so that he is unable to blast away everyone with his wing buffet. Minsc finally has a chance to show off the full potential of his Wyrmcleaver and the Shadow Dragon takes heavy damage after Edwin breaches his defenses.

The dragon's breath drains some levels from the unprotected party members before he falls to Minsc's halberd and Haer'Dalis' magic missile barrage. Back in Athkhatla, Cromwell forges a nice set of armor for Jaheira from the dragon's scales. Encouraged by the success against the Shadow Dragon, Grimm leads the party toward Windsper Hills.



Party overview:

Grimm - Wizard Slayer(15)
Minsc - Barbarian(15)
Jaheira - Fighter(11)/Druid(13)
Haer'Dalis - Blade(18)
Fade - Swashbuckler(20)
Edwin - Conjurer(14)

[Incantatar]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Quick Announcement:

As some of you may recall, a group of us compiled a list of successful Trilogy/BGII No Reloaders before my last "sabbatical".

The list was posted in the tread, however, we never settled on a long term presentation strategy. I think we'd all agree that it would be nice to have a place of honor for those who have been fortunate enough to complete the challenge.

One poster -and pardon me I've forgotten who- suggested that we create a group and maintain the list there. That's the best option I've heard. Do others concur? And is there anyone out there who is willing to help maintain/update the list/group? Please chime in. We can handle this on forum or in PM. Whatever makes sense.

Best,

A.

NW: If we use the group strategy then, to my mind, it would be ideal if we could use the Trilogy No Reload group created by Dark Lauron. That makes more sense to me then creating a second, overlapping group. I'd greatly appreciate input from someone who has administrative control of that group.

The group thing has some flaws:
-Last post months ago, ergo there is not much going on. Most no-reloaders post in the official forums.
-The group splits the no-reload challenge up.
-Newcomers don't know about the club group.

Imho as seen in other forums, the list should be in the first post of the thread and updated sometimes. (I hope the forum software here doesn't suck and forbids it.)

[Alesia_BH]

Incantatar wrote...

The group thing has some flaws:
-Last post months ago, ergo there is not much going on. Most no-reloaders post in the official forums.
-The group splits the no-reload challenge up.
-Newcomers don't know about the club group.

All fine points Incantatar.

The current No Reload Group discussion forums don't get much traffic at this point. And with good reason perhaps: the BG forums are small enough in scale that a group doesn't serve much of a purpose.

When the "group" presentation approach was originally suggested, the idea was to essentially use the front page as a whiteboad- not the forums as such. Access and notice could be improved by encouraging challenge participants to put a banner/link to the page in their signatures. So, for example, a newcomer could read a post in the challenge thread, click the banner at the bottom of the post, and immediately see the list. All other participants could do the same naturally.

Imho as seen in other forums, the list should be in the first post of
the thread and updated sometimes. (I hope the forum software here
doesn't suck and forbids it

 

Your opinion is highly valued Incantatar since you were instrumental in creating the list. And I think this is a reasonable suggestion. We should look into the feasibility of both. And -of course- remember they aren't mutually exclusive.

Additional input would be appreciated.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 11 mai 2011 - 06:04 .

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Grimm the Wizard Slayer, Part 9

At Windsper Hills, the party picks up some Ankheg shells, returns the acorns to the dryad queen and prepares to rescue Garren's child as penance for accidentally killing some knights. Inside the dungeon, they dispatch some mists, one Rakshasa, a few golems and some orcs before running into a pack of ancient vampires. Minsc, Fade and a summoned berserker (who is pretty useful now, thanks to Item Revisions) take the bloodsuckers on alone under Improved Haste and Negative Plane Protection while the rest of the party waits back at the corridor.





It also helps that they are all immune to charm, thanks to Lilacor and Fade's amulet. The silver dagger which the party got from the elven fence comes in handy too because it counts as a +5 weapon against vampires and even stuns them occasionally. Moving on, Jaheira uses 2 Wondrous Recalls to protect herself, Minsc, Fade and Haer'Dalis from fire in order to clear out the tomb of the old king before the party gets ambushed by Samia and her cronies. Unlucky for the wannabe grave robbers, they walk right into Fade's snares and get cut down.

The group then dispatches some werewolves and orogs, a few more golems and a bunch of orcs led by Tazok, Sarevok's pet minotaur from BG1. While dealing with the werevolves, I've noticed that Minsc now crits on a roll of 17 while wielding IR's Wyrmcleaver. Very cool. The party descends the stairs and finds Firkraag, but they are almost out of spells now and decide to fight the dragon another day, taking on his lackey Conster instead.

He merely manages to charm Haer'Dalis before Grimm pumps him full of spell failure, elegantly bypassing his Protection from Magical weapons. After returning Garren's daughter to her home and resting up, the party decides to take on Firkraag. Everyone is under Prot. from Fire, Improved Haste and the standard buffs, while Jaheira summons a Fire Elemental, Kittix and a shambler to serve as cannon fodder.





The battle doesn't start so well as Firkraag immediately hits the party with a Remove Magic dispelling their protections and killing Fade with his breath. Thankfully, she's not perma-dead, so Grimm, whose buffs are still intact, opts for a different approach. Minsc equips the Ring of Fire Protection and tries to occupy the dragon while Edwin and Haer'Dalis pelt him with Magic Missiles. Grimm has been keeping his distance and hitting Firkraag with spell disrupting bolts.

The dragon's contingency kicks in giving him another Stoneskin which Haer'Dalis tries to breach but gets blown away. Fortunately, Edwin has a Wand of Spell Striking at hand (from Watcher's keep) which resolves the matter. With the dragon's protections down, the Wyrmcleaver lives up to its name and Minsc manages to get in a few very good hits on the beast but Grimm beats him to the punch and lands the killing blow on Firkraag. Hehe, that'll look good on his character sheet.

In addition to his regular treasures, the group also finds one of Firky's teeth on his corpse. Now that's a first, I wonder what mod it comes from? Anyhow, Fade gets raised by the Rod of Ressurection and the party retreats to Athkhatla where Cromwell forges a Red Dragon Plate for Jaheira. Slaying two dragons gave the party a huge boost in confidence (not to mention XP), so Grimm decides that it's time to pay another visit to Watcher's Keep.



Party overview:

Grimm - Wizard Slayer(16)
Minsc - Barbarian(16)
Jaheira - Fighter(12)/Druid(13)
Haer'Dalis - Blade(19)
Fade - Swashbuckler(21)
Edwin - Conjurer(15)

Modifié par Thailog, 11 mai 2011 - 09:39 .

[Wierdo]

@Thailog:

Well done with your wyrm removal efforts! Inspirational.

I am currently sizing up Firkraag for Wierdo's attention, but figure it might be best left until Annakin gets his berserker class back again.

[Thailog]

Thanks!

I'm playing with SCSII Smarter Dragons so the fight was a bit tougher than usual. Some hints: watch out for Firkraag's nasty Remove Magic! He surprised me and dispelled Protection from Fire and Improved Haste from all of my melee characters (thankfully, Grimm and Edwin were out of range) before I could react. His Contingency instantly renews his Stoneskin after you tear it down, so it's good to have a few Breach spells handy.

He also hits pretty hard, so I suggest using a character who can cast Mirror Image and Stoneskin to tank here. Also, Item Revisions' Dragonslayer and Wyrmcleaver were really helpful in this battle since they both deal +8 damage vs. dragons.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Re-entering the challenge. My last team dropped dead by boredom, and frankly, I don't like Valygar power-wise. He's weak.

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

Having much more experience with the mod and characters, will stick to the original configuration with several relatively small changes. Having stored some characters as files, so will use those now instead of rerolling one day or so. Current party composition:

Astarta: PC female human Lawful Good Necromancer. Stats 18 18 16 18 18 3
Grunt: Custom half-orc Barbarian Chaotic Good Stats 19 18 19 15 15 3 (this was even a better roll, replaced old Grunt) ** Two weapon style ** Clubs ** Short sword. Two-weapon wielder is far better suited for Barbarian, who cannot achieve grandmastery in polearms and thus will be always hindered by few APR even with Improved Haste, and sticking to GWW instead of Criticals is lame in IA.
Torham: Custom human Ranger Neutral Good Stats 18/00 18 18 14 18 3 ** Two-weapon style ** Flail ** Mace ** Club
Alia: Custom elven sorcerer, True neutral, stats 18 19 17 9 18 9, spell picks:
Lvl 1 Chromatic Orb, MM, Larloch's Minor Drain, Shield, Armor
Lvl 2 Melf's Acid Arrow, Invisibility, Mirror Image
Lvl 3 Haste, Remove Magic
Saros: Custom human Riskbreaker (IA kit). Lawful good Stats 18/00 18 16 13 13 3 ** Two-weapon style, ** Longsword, ** Flails
Sixth slot - Temp: A custom Ranger(7)->Cleric, with stats18/96 18 18 12 18 3 ** Two-weapon style **Mace **Flail **Quarterstaff
Sixth slot is reserved for various NPCs with quests (specifically for the items gained from those quests) like Jaheira, Jan Jansen, and Cernd. Finally, the slot will be occupied by an Assassin(24)->Fighter(34).
A quick explanation on this character. He could be a swashie-fighter just as well, but swashies in IA 6.0 cannot attain Use Any Item. Bounty Hunter seems nice too, but most tough enemies are immune to BH's special traps (and to all traps). So the Assassin is the only logical choice, because of the extra +1 THAC0 and damage bonuses, and in some battles the backstab could prove to be very useful.
The A-F will be a 2-handed weapon user, and unlike a barbarian will be able to achieve grand mastery in all basic types of polearms, plus at least one star in two-handed weapon style.
The only HLA from the thieving pool for this character will be Use Any Item. Basically, this will be a high-level fighter, master of polearms, with UAI ability and Detect Illusions 100%.
The character will be created in the multiplayer party after completing the named above NPC quests, and will start as a regular Assassin with 89 000 xp points.

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

I intend to use still available in-game experience and gold exploits.

Posting (again) document on the Riskbreaker kit:

Improved Anvil V6
Riskbreaker Kit description


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

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

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

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

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

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

Currently, the party has just started chapter 2, while in chapter 1 cleared the Circus Tent, and by applying a gold exploit has bought several items from the Promenade - amulet and ring of protection +1, s knave's robe, sunfire, breach and proacid scrolls, two Flails +2, some containers, and a Limited Wish scroll. All scrolls scribed by Necromancer. Also, met with all five vanilla vampire-thief night-time encounters, making it safe to travel night-time throughout the city.

Currently, applying gold + xp exploit, which has to be prolonged until PC hits lvl 14 (1 700 000 xp). Current PC xp - 850 000 (lvl 12).

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 11 mai 2011 - 01:07 .

[amanasleep]

Thailog wrote...

He merely manages to charm Haer'Dalis before Grimm pumps him full of spell failure, elegantly bypassing his Protection from Magical weapons.

I am surprised at how well this is working in SCS2.  In my runs mages cast Protection From Normal Missiles on top of PfMW, which should foil this strategy.

[Thailog]

amanasleep wrote...

I am surprised at how well this is working in SCS2.  In my runs mages cast Protection From Normal Missiles on top of PfMW, which should foil this strategy.

At a guess, they don't do it in my game because I chose the "no short lasting pre-buff spells" option for Smarter Mages and Spell Revisions reduces the duration of Protection from Normal Missiles to 2 turns.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Astarta & party, new entry:

The party mages hit lvl 14, and the rest of the party levels are as follows: Grunt Barbarian lvl 13, Saros Riskbreaker lvl 14, Torham Ranger lvl 13, Temp Ranger (7)->Cleric (14).

Sorcerer spell picks:
Lvl 1: MM, Chromatic Orb, LMD, Shield, Armor*
*IA 6.0's Shield and Armor spells are tweaked. They have casting time 1, duration 3 turns, and set AC to 6, plus they provide additional AC modifier bonuses - Shield adds 3 bonus AC modifier to Missile and Crushing weapons, and Armor grants 3 bonus AC modifier vs Slashing and Piercing weapons. Shield no longer protects from Magic Missile. Also, multiple castings of those spells aren't cumulative.
Lvl 2: Mirror Image, Resist Fear, M's Acid Arrow, Invisibility, Vocalize*
*Invisibility is extremely essential in bypassing meaningless bandit wilderness encounters. Vocalize isn't very useful, but it may actually help once or twice.
Lvl 3: Remove Magic, Haste, Vampiric Touch, Protection from Fire*
*If any combat spell has to be picked from lvl 3 spells, I'd vouch for Lightning Bolt. Still, I'd rather pick Protection from Cold instead.
Lvl 4: Stoneskin, Ice Storm, Emotion, Ray of Fragmentation*
*Improved Invisibility is slow, too inappropriate as party buff, and way less useful at higher experience levels compared to Mass Invisibility
Lvl 5: Sunfire, Spell Immunity, Breach*
* Do NOT pick Spell Shield in IA 6.0. Never. The spell has been further nerfed (cannot be used together with SI:A), and beholders upgraded (any beholder or gauth's ray bypass the Spell Shield), so it's totally useless.
Lvl 6: *Giant Strength, Improved Haste
* Giant Strength spell: Undispellable, alteration spell, duration 2 turns, sets target's strength to: 20 at lvl 12, 21 at lvl 14, 22 at lvl 16, 23 at lvl 18, and to 24 at mage level 20. 
Lvl 7: Mass Invisibility*
If one plays without exploits, there are better first picks - like RRR.

Proficiencies:
Riskbreaker - ****Flails **Long Sword **Two-weapon
Barbarian - **Scimitar **Club **Short Sword **Two-weapon
Ranger - *Axe **Mace **Club **Flail ***Two-weapon
R-C - **Mace **Flail **Quarterstaff ***Two-weapon *Two-handed weapon

PC cast Limited Wish several times, and got the full plate +2 for the ranger.

Travelled to the Bridge - took Raelis' task to free Haer'dalis, found some scrolls in the basement of Five Flaggons inn, including one Stoneskin scroll - these are going to be useful later for the last party member. Also exposed Rejiek, but didn't talk to the captain yet. Bought a potion of Clarity from the local temple, and some scrolls from a night-time fence (ProMW, ProCold, Minor Sequencer, PW:Silence)

Travelled to the Slums, bought some containers,  a potion of Freedom from the Temple of Ilmater, also a Fire giant str potion and another amulet +1 from Aledrian.

Prepared as good as possible for the challenge ahead, with a Contingency and Minor Sequencer from PC, and some undispellable buffs (True Sight, Giant Strength). Travelled from the Slums to the City Gates' district. Was intercepted by Suna Seni. Party buffs were dispelled.
The strategy here is breaking the Cleric's greater command spell, and also avoiding the enemy mage's Chaos spell (if possible, no one should get confused).
In order to disrupt the cleric, three fighters engaged him in melee (Barbarian enraged, Riskbreaker cast Improved Haste), and also Astarta released her Minor Sequencer. Astarta's Contingency triggered, and she immediately reloaded it with Emotion.
The tactic utterly failed. Being subject to heavy hits, the Cleric still managed to shoot his Greater Command. Fortunately, the only one put to sleep was the party Ranger. The Cleric fell, but the enemy wizard released her spell, which was unfortunately targeted at the R-C, whose aura was not yet cleansed after the Iron Skins spell, and unfortunately was not hasted in order to run away and thus minimize the area of effect of the Chaos spell. The sorceress finally finished her Mass Invisibility spell, which didn't save both mages from being confused. And three of the enemy fighters immediately charged on PC. Bad. PC didn't even have time to erect Stoneskin. One hit and she's on half her hitpoints. In a desperate attempt, Temp shot Greater Command, which incapacitated two of the fighters. The party fighters engaged Eldarin, when finally PC's contingency kicked in, and Eldarin was put to sleep as well.

The fighters then quickly eliminated Suna Seni, followed by the enemy mage.

Conclusion: Badly fought, bad timing, bad tactic. If I continue this way, this will be a very short no-reload.

Spoils: well, at least now the entire party has +1 weapons. Arbane's sword went to the Barbarian. Also - another ring +1, and a plate +1 for the R-C. Also, some Invisibility potions for PC.

Back to the Slums: Copper coronet:

Killed Corvale + Bregg. Killed Amalas. Killed the guards at the cages. The two 10-th level mages are extremely easy at current levels, and (unlike those nasty Cleric and Mage from Suna's group) are quite vulnerable to PW:Silence. Charged on the Beastmaster. Having forgotten that IA 6.0's Tabitha cannot be slain until the Beastmaster is alive, made the mistake to attack her. She has a powerful attack, with Knockback effect, and she and the nearby Minotaur almost killed the party Ranger. Fortunately, that same Knockback effect saved him (he was pushed away from the battlefield). The Beastmaster was Silenced and Breached, and slain quickly, followed by Tabitha and the Minotaur. Spoils - a Cloak +1 for the Riskbreaker, a Club +3 for the Barbarian, another Ring +1, Tabitha's Hide (ingredient), Magical Flower Seeds (ingredient). Freed Hendak, killed Lethian, obtained a Death Fog scroll for PC, and also bought Spell Turning and Spell Sequencer scrolls for her.

Barbarian hit lvl 14.

Note: Should've first cleared CC, and THEN tangled with Suna Seni. Would've been much easier with Spell Sequencer.

Next adventures - travelled (day-time) to the Graveyard, prepared undispellable buffs and sequencer, met with Rylock's assassins while travelling to the Docks (same Cleric and Mage as in Suna's party), this time was able to take out many enemies in the start via Spell Sequencer with GM + 2*Emotion, including enemy cleric. Took Rylock's body to the Harper Hold, took X'zar's quest, started Mae'var's quest, bought another +1 ring from Gorch, used the Cleric's Knock and Find Traps spells to unlock\\bash some doors/chests in the area. 

Travelled to the Temple. On the way dealt with the last of the bandit dispel-buffs-on-sight encounters. From now on, bandit encounters won't start with dispelling buffs, and no further gold, xp or items will be gained from random bandits. So those encounters are best avoided using Haste (for city limits) or Invisibility (for wilderness encounters).

 Took Lathander's unseeing eye quest, Sir Sarles' quest, MNORH Fallen Paladins quest, stole Priestess of Talos' necklace, killed everyone inside the Temple of Helm barring the trader, got the Helm of Glory from Guardian Telwyn's corpse - equipped it on the Ranger.

Travelled to Government district. Started Valygar's quest, talked to Delon, talked to Sir Sarles.

Travelled to the Promenade, talked to Ore Merchant.

Travelled to Slums, talked to duergar.

Well, that's it for now.

[Alesia_BH]

Glad to see you posting again Saros. Best of luck!

A.

[Deaderinred]

Deadinred wrote...

I'm putting this run on hiatus since I now have da2, I'll pick it back up once again after I'm done with da2.

I did all the misc and some mod quests I could find in athkatla, also did the bard stronghold quest and the thief guild quest (bard one came very close to ending it all but I managed to use portals to regroup) party is around lv11ish with minsc, jaheira viconia yoshimo and edwin, using the Edwin slot for noc quests and such, prior was anomen, just got to nalias keep and had her replace Edwin for the duration of this quest, I'm well kitted out so hopefully the ace trolls won't be too much of a problem.. Just waiting outside in te camp now until I'm done with da2

and im back! hahah! finally some free time and i've just loaded her up, new system  and everything and i didnt even have to reinstall everything, suuu-weet!.

my group left off at the camp outside de'arnise keep, where they've been waiting a long time.

we sure can talking sword thing!

and so we enter exploring the keep, more to follow soon.

i should note however that while this is a long update coming, my free time will probably last the next few hours with more work the next 4 days and then on tuesday the witcher 2 is out so it might be nother month or something before the next update. 

Modifié par Deadinred, 12 mai 2011 - 07:07 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Astarta & party, new entry:

Well, to keep a long story short:

Completed Mae'var's tasks. Rayic has 2 golems (Clay + Stone) which were slain while gating via dimension door. Rayic himself fell to the normal weapon attacks of party fighters.

Mae'var is only slightly improved (has a Cleric like the one in Suna Seni's group, and he himself has more HP and better THAC0).

Finished this quest and got the Short Sword of backstabbing. Good. +3 weapons are rarity, and a needed thing against some improved enemies.

Purchased some items from the thief's guildhall, then assaulted the place, killing Renal. Two +2 cloaks and some other sellable items. No Boots of Speed, no Permanency scroll. Still, killing Renal is worth it, even if only for the cloaks.

Sided with Bodhi. Finished her tasks, up to killing Aran Linvail. Got cloaks +1 for the entire party, and even an extra one. Got the AoP and a ring +2 of course. No more Ring of Djinni Summoning here. Bad.

Killed Neb. Forged IMoD +2, which in IA 6.0 is a total waste, since it
strikes as a +2 weapon, IA 6's improved undead are immune to instakill
effects AND turn undead, and the mace doesn't offer NPP. Still, even
decent +2 weapons are rarity at this stage of the game.

Killed Anarg and the fallen paladins. Used Anarg's Laeral tear necklace and 30 000 gold, plus two +1 cloaks to forge a +2 cloak.

Riskbreaker and Barbarian hit lvl 15, while Ranger hit lvl 14. RB is now grandmaster of flails, while Barbarian got * in Warhammers. The R-C hit clerical level 15.

Travelled to De'Arnise hold. Cleared the entire place except the basement. The battle with the Greater Yuanti and later with Glaicas is laughable at present levels with a team of 6. Forged the Flail of Ages +3. Also, killed the Keep Viper and got the Frostreaver Axe +3. The ranger can use it, although not so good (only * in axes).

Decided to try the Improved Screaming Statue challenge (available only if PC's overall xp is 2 350 000 or lower).

R-C summoned Skeleton Warriors, then he and the Barbarian took the best party gear, buffed good (but not too much), with regular ProEvil (lvl 1), also the Barbarian consumed a Fire Giant Str potion.

The challenge has 3 waves of improved undead, which has to be defeated without resting.

First wave, and after killing the lone Vampire in it - second wave were summoned.

Tactic - very simple. While Skeleton warriors distract mists, the two NPP fighters eliminate the vampires, and then flank and kill the mists one by one while those try to breach the Skeleton Warrior defences.
Artificial intelligence of enemies - ZERO. Improved Vampiric Mists attacks are still counted as normal weapons, that's why they are ineffective vs the Skeleton Warriors, but the Vampiric Mists don't switch targets. The result.

The last wave is a bit trickier, containing a Master Vampire. That thing gates in 2 Vampire Brides each 6 rounds, and is immune to +2 or less weapons, besides having good combat abilities, resistances and regeneration rate. Good pre-buffing is required. Main quantity of party buffs were preserved for this moment. While Free Action is not as essential, Chaotic Commands is. Vampiric mists can Envelop a target, slowing it without a saving throw + causing continuous lvl drain, but since the tactic is emphasized on distracting mists with skeletons, they weren't any problem. However, vampires can dispel specific protections on hit, and that's exactly what the Mist Horrors wait, releasing immediately their Chaos at the unprotected target.

So the buffing. Being most fragile, the Riskbreaker drank the Potion of Defense found in De'arnise keep, and a Fire giant str potion too (sorceress had to preserve all her 6-th lvl slots for Improved haste). ProEvil radius 10', a Limited Wish for some lower lvl spell regaining (especially the R-C who has almost had his book depleted), R-C used his 2 wondrous recalls wisely (to regain some Chaotic Commands, Holy Power and Rigteous magic buffs), sorceress cast Mass Invisibility at the end, party gear was redistributed once more so that each fighter had a +3 weapon in main hand, Necromancer cast Limited Wish for NPP and the battle commenced. Soon the Master Vampire was slain, because all fighters have focused him as primary threat. The rest of the battle was easy.

Again, enemy's AI is weak. Vampires didn't attack the Riskbreaker, whose NPP was dispellable, but instead focused on the best protected character - the R-C, who was protected from lvl drain via Shield of the Archons. Still, they managed to dispel his CC and he fell prey to the second Chaos spell released by the Mist Horrors, but even confused, he helped killing a pair of Eminent Vampires.

Now again comes the boring part of exploiting, so probably won't write for some time.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 15 mai 2011 - 12:18 .

[touch_of_the_void]

I believe the Improved Anvil Vampiric Mists have a magical weapon in one hand and a non-magical one in the other, meaning they can damage the Skeleton Warriors at least some of the time. It's true they are not a good target though.