15250 réponses à ce sujet

[saros_shadow_follower]

Good info! Didn't know that.

A little add-on: Astarta and party ditched the Ranger-Cleric Temp, leveled up a bit (up to PC lvl 15) via exploiting, raised rep to 14 via donating, raised rep to 18 by collecting some reputation rewards long overdue, then joined numerous NPCs temporarily in order to get their gear/complete their quests - those include Jaheira's two subquest (ditched her after receiving Harper's pin), Jan's quest and items, Keldorn's items, Cernd's cloak (completed Trademeet main plot and with Tiris' quest, got rep to 20), Valygar's items (cleared Umar Hills and opened Planar sphere door), and also used Aerie to buy some expensive items cheaply. Well, relatively - if one thinks that 25 000 gp is a 'cheap' price for Bracers of Protection +3 for example. Also forged the Treefolk's Arm +3. The weapon is nerfed in comparison to IA 5, and is also useable by rangers or druids only, so a waste of a permanency scroll doesn't seem right, but still, I think the weapon will be useful, and I have planned some permanency scroll preserving projects in the near future as well.

Scouted a bit lvl 1 of WK. Had to deal with a bunch of Noble trolls in the central corridor (those are immune to +2 or less weapons, and are good fighters). Using Farsight, found a bunch of improved undead (Eminent Vampires and Vampiric mists) in the left library, a bunch of improved spiders (a Killer, a Spirit, some Vortex and some Mutated ones) in the library to the right, and...ahem...a bunch of heavily armed skeletons and powerful golems guarding the fireplace. Will have to come back later...

One interesting piece of info though: The slippers (required by the Old Priest) actually grant 25% resistance to cold damage! Since there aren't that many good boots even in the late game, my guess is that the Old Priest won't get his slippers back

Back to exploiting, at least up to first HLAs. Before joining the Assassin-Fighter (yet to be created), the party has to join Cernd in order to obtain the Cloak of Balduran from Windspear dungeon lvl 2. And there are nasty random improved golem and improved undead spawns, for which ample preparations are needed. Current PC xp - 2 650 000. Needed - 3 500 000.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 15 mai 2011 - 05:01 .

[Windfoot]

It's been a long time since I played BG but I'd like to play the no-reload challenge.

I only have the the game (SoA/ToB) and patch loaded.

Party
Jaheria F/D
Anomen F/C
Keldorn Pal
Minsc Ranger
Imoen/Nalia T/M
Windfoot Kensai
Str 18/00
Dex 18
Con 18
Int 16
Wis 9
Cha 3
(Yes, I got very lucky on getting 18/00 after 2 minutes of rolling!!! I went 5* in quarterstaff and one in 2H weapon...plan on switching to thief and using staff of striking for BS, martial staff for normal attacks and Staff of the ram in ToB.  The only cheese I plan on doing is switching difficulty for level ups...otherwise it'll be on CORE.  I also exported this char so if I fail I can use him again on a new game.)

I'm still trying to decide when to switch...suggestions (with reasoning please)?

Modifié par Windfoot, 15 mai 2011 - 10:28 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Astarta and group, newest entry:

Raised PC xp to 3 425 000, Astarta and Alia gained lvl 18 both. Astarta picked Summon Planetar as HLA, while Alia chose Alchemy (the Defense potions are a must for the Riskbreaker versus skeletons or golems). Alia also picked Monster Summoning VII as first 9-th level pick. Those Greater Yuan-Ti can really pack a punch, can tank, have many immunities and good resistances both to physical attacks and magical ones. Riskbreaker is now specialized in shortswords too. The R-C is at present levels 16-11 (inactive ranger class) so he's of little use - but his buffs are going to be useful.

80 000 more xp for both fighters to hit lvl 20 and their first HLA. Maybe should've exploited a bit more. Anyways:

Party travelled to Druid grove. Killed Nithiril and her trolls, the Spirit of the grove gave some quest xp reward. Cleared Belm's guardian - a ghost spider. An easy fight with buffs at present party levels. Belm went to the Barbarian, who anyway needs more APR with the main hand weapon.

Travelled to the Temple Ruins. Entered the ruins, killed the Shadow Jailor and his two Skeleton Lords. Those are dangerous if the party fighters don't have Hardiness, which they didn't. Yet. Still, the Greater Yuantis and the Planetar took almost all blows (and even killed one Skeleton lord), while the riskbreaker and barbarian managed to kill the enemies one by one.

Freed Mazzy. Got her shortsword. Ditched Mazzy. Got a RRR scroll from her cell.

Cast some Farsight spells. Noticed a tough random undead spawn in the north chamber (the one with the stone pillar). The annoying thing was revealed via the second Farsight spell - one Skeleton Lord of that group was situated outside the chamber and had good observation on the fire lake. Bad.

Used the Sun gem to open the first shadow door. Re-cast haste and Mass Invisibility. Everyone retreated back to the exit while the fastest party member, the Barbarian, charged forward and looted the container in the middle of the fire lake (a Pearly White Ioun Stone). The Skeleton lord charged forward, followed by the rest of the group (1 more lord, 1 warlord, 1 grandlord and a slow-moving Shade Lich), but the barbarian quickly retreated and everyone left the tomb. For now.

Whew. All that trouble for a Ioun stone so that tha RB doesn't take any more critical hits.

Travelled to Windspear hills. Killed transformed paladins. Agreed to rescue Garen's child. Gave acorns. Killed dryads immediately afterwards.

Entered lvl 1 of the dungeon. Three undead spawns here, containing vampiric mists and mist horrors. Easy with the help of the Greater Yuantis and especially the Planetar. Those helped vs the improved Rukh and his kamikaze kobolds as well. An amulet +1 looted.

Lvl 2 of the dungeon:
2 tough golem spawns here are the hardest, although the improved undead are not to be underestimated either. Again, the summons soaked the damage, but the best thing was that right before engaging the first golem group, the RB and barbarian both reached lvl 20 and chose Hardiness as HLA. Still, at the second golem spawn, the Barbarian received enormous amount of damage in just half a round, and in desperate attempt to retreat, lured a nearby random undead spawn containing some Eminent vampires and Vampiric mists. Still, the barbarian survived. Sequencers and triggers from behind with Rays of Fragmentation, more summons (Elite trolls - Monster Summoning VI), and RB's Risk Decrement helped, and the golems and the undead were defeated. Enchanted +3 shortsword was created pre-battle, also RB consumed Potions of Defense before each of the golem fights.

Since each golem group contains a Greater Bone Golem (who has the Hideous laughter ability), the R-C helped the party, adding Free Action(vs the stun effect) and Resist Fear(vs the panic effect) to the usual buffs.

Left the dungeon after the second golem group fell. Travelled to the Druid grove. Joined Cernd. Travelled back to Windspear dungeon lvl 2. Went to challenge Tazok, with Cernd in party. Thus, amongst the other loot, the party found the nerfed Cloak of Balduran - an important ingredient for a powerful item. Cernd, having done his thing, was ditched.

Travelled back to Athkatla's docks, and joined the last party member. Captain Jack Sparrow. Nope, not some mod, this is the custom Assassin (to be dualled to Fighter much later), True Neutral, stats 18 18 18 14 18 3, proficiencies *Two-handed weapon style *Quarterstaff *Short Sword *Two-weapon style. Will be dualled at lvl 23, and then he has to achieve fighter lvl 24 to be of any use to the party. The total sum of experience needed for this is 8 410 000. Current xp - 110 000....will need a couple of days for this. Probably a week.

Ops forgot to write sorceress spell picks at lvl 18 (by order of picking):
Lvl 1: LMD, CO, MM, Shield, Armor
Lvl 2: Invis, Mirror Image, Acid Arrow, Resist Fear, Vocalize
Lvl 3: Remove Magic, Haste,Vampiric touch, ProFire
Lvl 4: Emotion, Stoneskin, Ray of Fragmentation, Ice Storm
Lvl 5: Sunfire, Breach, Spell Immunity, Lower Resistance
Lvl 6: Improved Haste, Giant Strength, ProMW
Lvl 7: Mass Invisibility, RRR, Hand of Undoing
Lvl 8: Monster Summoning VI, Spell Trigger
Lvl 9: Monster Summoning VII

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 16 mai 2011 - 01:22 .

[ussnorway]

Windfoot wrote...
I went 5* in quarterstaff and one in 2H weapon...plan on switching to thief and using staff of striking for BS, martial staff for normal attacks and Staff of the ram in ToB.  The only cheese I plan on doing is switching difficulty for level ups...otherwise it'll be on CORE.  I also exported this char so if I fail I can use him again on a new game.)

I'm still trying to decide when to switch...suggestions (with reasoning please)?

Level 11 will maximise both your attacks & hit points with out seriously impeding thief progression (thief is the fastest to level) but I have to say that I think making a protagonist that back-stabs is a mistake in no-reload games, simply because it places your most important asset into melee range and it only takes one unlucky save to end your hero's run.
Good luck Windfoot!

Modifié par ussnorway, 16 mai 2011 - 02:41 .

[Windfoot]

USSNorway,

Thank you for the advice. I could get him to level 13 Kensai befoe switching but I was concerned about the difficulty on getting the fighter abilities back. I know I'll have to be very careful. On fights I know fairly well I'll lead with a BS but on others I'll actually let my melee engage before BSing.


Well, my trusted band found our way out of that pesky dungeon where we found ourselves. The strange woodland warrior, Minsc, was able to get a good 2H sword. And all of us (Windfoot, Minsc, Jaheira, Imoen) were able to gear ourselves with reasonable decent gear. And just as we thought we made it out safely some damn mage attacked us which caused the local mage police to interfer. Unfortunately, Imoen cast a magic missle in the fight and subsequently caused her to be taken to prison along with the damn mage. Both Windfoot and Jaheira learned alot during the dungeon and became more capable from their experiences.

After selling some odds and ends our group of three started looking around for information on how to get Imoen released. We were approached by some thieves who told us they could help for 20,000gp! what an outrageous sum! Since we could think of nothing else we accepted their help but we are now trying to raise that huge sum. We ran into a hearty soul name Anomen who claimed to be a good fighter...though I could tell he was not as good as Windfoot but he did seem to know a bit about healing. He had heard about some problem in the promenade...something about the circus tent. We investigated and found it to be a minor problem with an illusionist. We quickly resolved the problem and freed the people from their entrapment. One of the people we freed was good at magic but she seemed very needy and even the little time we talked she seemed to annoy us. So, when she wanted to join us we had to turn her down. We did get a strange ring that seemed to cause people to be attracted to the wearer. We decided that Jaheira would be the best person to wear it and we let her talk for the group. It would have benefitted Windfoot alot more; but, he wears his childhood scars with pride and would not put it on.

When we went back to the inn where we found Anomen, we found out the Inn kept slaves in the back and fought them for the patrons entertainment. We decided to free the slaves. Our new companion, Nalia, used her magic which made our fight with the beastmaster who controlled the fights almost trivial. The new owner of the Inn, Hendak, told us of more local slavers and we decided to eliminate the slavers and free the slaves.

We decided to try to do a sneak attack though the sewers. At one point we got overconfident after seeing some signs of Kolbolds but not fully preparing for the battle. Unfortunately, Jaheira was frozen in place and couldn't defend herself and died. Fortunately, her body was intact and we were able to get her raised at the local temple. Even more suprisingly she was still on talking terms with Windfoot and even was flirting with him. I would have thought she would have lost any romantic interest after dying but I'll keep my fingers crossed on them being able to continue their romance.

We fully prepared ourselves before entering the slaver's den and quickly overcame Captain Haegan and his cohorts. Jaheira cast an insect plague on their priest to stop him from healing, Nalia cast a web spell near the priest to keep the hencemen off us followed up by a cloudkill. Windfoot drank a haste potion and used his Kai ability to quickly eliminate Captain Haegan. It was simple to finish cleaning out the rest of the slaver's nest. Nalia's combination of web followed up by a cloudkill made quick work of another group of slavers near the entrance of the slaver's den.

Nalia has been pestering us to go to her keep and help her take the keep back so that's where we'll go to next...

Modifié par Windfoot, 16 mai 2011 - 03:53 .

[AnonymousHero]

ussnorway wrote...
Level 11 will maximise both your attacks & hit points with out seriously impeding thief progression

It's level 13.

As you can see from that chart, the breakpoints for extra attacks are at L7 and L13. Some people prefer to dual at L9 (10?) for a little extra HP at almost negligable XP cost.

[ussnorway]

Nice chart AnonymousHero. I'm allowing for true Grandmastery but you are correct level 13 would give him an extra 1/2 attack, of course the level11 fighter will get his abilities back BEFORE the other guy reaches level 13... If he only does the odd back-stab is it worth it? Only Windfoot can answer that but I'd say no.

[Windfoot]

Thank you AnonymousHero and USSNorway.

I can switch at 11, 12, 13 or 14 and still reach level 39 as a rogue.

The difference between switching at 11 or 13 is 2hp, 2 poison save, 1 Poly save, 3 breath save, 1/2 attack/round and 3 THAC0! The extra 1/2 attack/round alone isn't worth it IMO. But add in the saves and -3 THAC0 and it is very attractive. The downside is it's going to be a real pain opening back up the Kensai abilities

Waiting until 14 instead of 13 gains me 1 hp and 1 THAC0. Which isn't worth it IMO.

[Windfoot]

Thank you Anonymous Hero and USSNorway.

The difference in the end between switching at 13 instead of 11 is 2hp, 2 poison save, 1 Poly save, 3 breath save 1/2 attack/round and 3 THAC0 ! If it was only 1/2 attack/round I'd say it isn't worth it but the saves and THAC0 are nice. I know it's going to be a real pain waiting the extra time to get the Kenasai abilities back.

The difference between 13 and 14 is 1 hp and 1 THAC0 which isn't worth it IMO.

Modifié par Windfoot, 16 mai 2011 - 09:26 .

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Random Adventures in Amkethran

Wierdo's focus at this point was to get Annakin up to Mage level 13, so that he could have his berserk fighting skills back again. Additionally, the party desperately needs at least one mage capable of casting level 6 spells (i.e. like Pierce Magic, Truesight, Contingency, Spell Deflection ... ). In fact, Nalia could already, but

Her strategy was to go back to Amkethran and just tool around for a while, completing various minor-moderate quests and building experience. She also wanted to get the Bard and Thief Strongholds ASAP as they would then earn income. Finally, she also wanted Anni to be able to fight as a fully mega-buffed berserker-mage up against Firkraag.

Jaheira ran away to give herself in to the Harpers, and Wierdo was approached by a mage with a note from her. As the mage was leaving, Wierdo pickpocketed him and recovered: Ring of Protection +2!, +1 Amulet of Protection and an extra-healing potion. Wow, Oarsome!

Went to the Harper hold to get Jaheira back. no real problems here.

Decided to ditch Nalia so that the XP gets split only five ways, therefore Annakin will level quicker. Wierdo was now equal to her in lockpicking, so she didn't really need an extra thief either.

She started the Thieves Guild/Mae'Var quest with Renal Bloodscalp. Mae'Var tasked Wierdo to steal the necklace from the Storm God Priestess. Wierdo did so easily, and she also robbed the temples to Helm and Lathander while she was there. Now what to do with this very pretty statue of Lathander? Never mind.

Before going back to Mae'Var, Wierdo went to the bridge district to see what trouble could be solved (or caused). She solved the murders and confronted the tanner. Had a good fight with some assassins. Found Gesen Bow shaft in a box there.

Amazingly, found the Dragonslayer +2 hidden inside a derelict house in the SW corner of the bridge district! WTF!?? Never mind, this will be handy for the shadow dragon and Firkraag

Found the Horn of Silence on Valeria's goons in a warehouse.

Modifié par Wierdo, 16 mai 2011 - 11:04 .

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Sewer Diving

Wierdo had been tasked to find Haer'dalis, so went sewer diving under the Temple District.

Wierdo's scouting revealed a beholder, two gauths and a mustard jelly. Wierdo has never encountered a fully-fledged beholder before, to this was a bit scary. However, the well-tested Immolation Strategy worked amazingly well!

Wierdo got Minsc buffed up with Protection from Fire, made him invisible, then sent him off to 'distract' the beholder while the rest of the party poured on the fireballs.




It was over pretty quickly, with Minsc squishing the beholder, and the gauths did not last long.





Wierdo also used the Immolation Strategy to eliminate the party of Gallgrobhair.




Got a few interesting magic items, including the Gloves of Pickpocketing! Now Wierdo will be unstoppable.

Found the Necklace of Form Stability and Rod off Lordly Might in Mekrath's lair.

Rescued Haer'dalis and took him into the party.

Wierdo went up a thief level - Illusionist(11)/Thief(13). She is now 100% at Detect Illusions.

Next: Planar Prison

Modifié par Wierdo, 16 mai 2011 - 11:05 .

[Windfoot]

Windfoot and his merry band helped Nalia with regaining her castle and made it through unscathed. I was really suprised how easy Torgal was to kill...Cloudkill shines again. I decided to kill Torgal before Glacias and it seemed to allow me to single pull Torgal without his 2 troll guards. Though Nalia is a decent mage she sort of sucks as a thief...she can spot every trap but she definately can't open up every lock...I hate leaving so much loot behind. After clearing the castle of trolls Windfoot decided to become the lord of the castle and master of his own domain
On the way through town we ran across a guy dying from an ambush...we took him to a harper hideout to return the now dead body. We tried to help an old friend find a missing companion in the Harper hold but it ended up just being a Harper assassin. To gain entrance into the Harper hold they sent me on a "small task" which caused me to fight a couple maglings. It was touch and go there for a minute as Windfoot and all companions besides Nalia were confused with the maglings and their summoned creatures doing alot of damage to the party. Nalia focused her damage on the mobs attacking Windfoot then proceeed to kill the mobs attacking the most damaged party members. Fortunately, the confusions started to wear off and the party rallied to finish all the enemies off without any party members dying...

(Note: I really need to start using the parties abilities better. For instance I need to use Minsc's berserk ability more and all the special ability. I'm also stingy on potion use...oh well I'll have to learn to do better)

[ussnorway]

Windfoot wrote...

(Note: I really need to start using the parties abilities better. For instance I need to use Minsc's berserk ability more and all the special ability. I'm also stingy on potion use...oh well I'll have to learn to do better)

Warning; Minsc gets confussed a lot more while Berserk... attacks whatever is within reach.

[Incantatar]

"Warning; Minsc gets confussed a lot more while Berserk... attacks whatever is within reach."

He attacks randomly if he sees no enemies for the combat length + one round. So it's really only problematic when enemies go out of sight, e.g. invisible. It's also risky when there are innocent bystanders of course.
I'd use it only sparingly in situations where you want the enemies to group together and debuff them from a distance.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Astarta & group, next entry:

Exploiting... up to PC and sorceress level 21, Riskbreaker and Barbarian lvl 24, Ranger-Cleric levels 16->17 (Ranger levels regained), and Assassin level 16. New mage HLAs - extra level 6 and 7 spells and Alacrity for both. Riskbreaker and Barbarian now have 2 Hardinesses and 2 Critical Strikes each, while the Assassin has 100% in lockpick, disarm trap and detect illusions. Sorceress' spells:

Lvl 1: LMD, CO, MM, Shield, Armor
Lvl 2: Invis, Mirror Image, Acid Arrow, Resist Fear, Vocalize
Lvl 3: Remove Magic, Haste,Vampiric touch, ProFire
Lvl 4: Emotion, Stoneskin, Ray of Fragmentation, Ice Storm
Lvl 5: Sunfire, Breach, Spell Immunity, Lower Resistance
Lvl 6: Improved Haste, Giant Strength, ProMW, Globe of Invulnerability
Lvl 7: Mass Invisibility, RRR, Hand of Undoing
Lvl 8: Monster Summoning VI, Spell Trigger, Foreknowledge*
Lvl 9: Monster Summoning VII, Wish, Chain Contingency

Foreknowledge: Casing time 8, School - Divination, target - self. Duration: 1 turn. Undispellable, doesn't stack with itself (thus cannot be refreshed before current one runs out) Effect: Adds 4 to AC, +1 THAC0 and saving throw bonus, and -1 casting speed. The spell is also available as a clerical HLA, replacing the old HLA Mass Raise Dead.

Equipped the Assassin with the best protective gear the party has, also used his Single-weapon style to gain the maximum AC possible. Went to the Slaver Ship, picked the back door lock, and went inside Gaelan's house to buff. After some resting got the needed Wish.

This battle is laughable for such a high-level party, however there are two things which are a bother: there are traps inside and the Assassin is good to have around to disarm those, but by doing so, he may be easily chunked by a backstab from the numerous respawning Assassins. So Hardiness is essential in order for him to survive. The second annoying thing is that the enemy wizard will read his Improved haste scroll if not slain quickly. He didn't have the chance to do it. Alia's Chain Contingency released 3 Elite Trolls to tangle with the vanilla slaver guards and the spawning enemy Assassins. However, the Assassin took a backstab for 40 damage through Hardiness. He drank a couple of potions and aAfterwards disarmed the stair trap (shooting poison darts - a real bother), and the fighters + some Elite trolls pressed on and killed the enemy Cleric. The Slave Golem was quickly slain via piercing weapons. The sorceress and PC, having summoned some more fodder (a Greater Yuanti and a Planetar), now refreshed some buffs. The Assassin alone pressed to the other entrance, in order to trigger Captain Haegan's appearance. This was dangerous, since the Wished Hardiness had already waned, and a single backstab could chunk him. Still, he was under II, and had the Girdle of piercing, and most important - the enemy Assassins were nowhere near him, but rather engaged the party fighters. Captain Haegan appeared and was almost immediately slain (Riskbreaker's Hard hit + elemental strike from the Flail of ages).

Inside are some not so great items, maybe most notable are a ring +1, a Permanency scroll, and the Improved Haste scroll. At least now PC also has that vital spell scribed.

Continued with exploiting, so far PC's lvl is 22. Forged another Cloak of Protection +2, using the Laeral's necklace found in Windspear hills lvl 2. Also forged an Ankheg plate and bought the Mauler's Arm +2 (with price reduction - only 7 000).

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 17 mai 2011 - 05:02 .

[Windfoot]

Bah finished the cult of the unseeing eye and decided to go north through the sewers...big mistake. The aoe fear did our party in. Oh well, now to figure out my next entry into the no-reload challenge.

[Wierdo]

Sorry about your loss, Windfoot.

Did you stumble into that band of adventurers?

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Planar Prison

Wierdo had a dream ... the party buffed up and went into the Void to help Haer'dalis. They went invisibly and expected to use an Immolation Strategy on the bounty hunters, but then found a dwarf slave/thrall called Hagget standing in the way! Grrrrr.  Anyway, just as the tough fight was nearly over and the group were chasing down the snake-mage, Jaheira goes into love-talk mode (the same one she has been doing for a while now).

When the lover-talk is finished and before you can say "AUTO-PAUSE", Minsc (who wear Boots of Speed and was hasted) chases the mage right up to where The Keeper is. NOOOOOoooooooo!! At about this point Wierdo has a quick conversation with Hagget, who tells her that she had better kill the Master of Thralls first, for it controls all the slave collars and this will make the Keeper weaker. And Minsc has just stumbled up and said hello. Oh, great.

Things went badly after that! Minsc managed to make himself invisible and run away, but the Master of Thralls was a tan'arri demon (like Aec'letec in Ulgoth's Beard, BG-TOSTC). In this battle Minsc went berserk in the middle of a room full of enemies ... but this didn't really help once those close to him were dead. It got messy.

Annakin was held, Jaheira became confused, Minsc spent most of his time completely and uncontrollably berserk, hitting anything close to him (not just enemies! He whacked Wierdo twice), and the yuan-ti mages were roaming around with the Master of Thralls.

Even so, Bruce and Wierdo kept it together enough and the party just about got through the battle wounded but intact. Having heard some tales that tan'arri are vulnerable to Cloudkill, Wierdo cast the spell and Bruce (who, as a level 14 monk, is immune to poison ... ) kept it busy (and drank a lot of healing potions). They killed the mages, the bad effects wore off Anni & Jaheira, Minsc came to his senses, the demon was about to come out of its second regeneration cycle (they get 2), and then it happenned ....

All of a sudden, Jaheira was DEAD and had become a ghast. But I couldn't see an attack or anything in the log. It must have been the demon's death gaze, but it was still regenerating and I swear I had just looked at her effects (she had just come out of confusion) and not seen anything alarming. She had been wounded but still had 53hp, but then she was DEAD and a ghast. Great.

However, the computer game gods saved me. Well, sort of. When I tried to quicksave my game after killing the demon my PC power supply decided to fail! Ooops. My save game was lost. Seriously. I had to go out, buy a new power supply and replace the old one to be talking to you now ...

So, it seems that what happened before was some kind of prohesy, or perhaps a warning?

Wierdo took this warning to heart and took no chances. As she had been busy pickpocketing pretty much everybody in Amkethran and beyond, and SCSII adds potions to average dumbo guards and ruffians etc, she had about 10-15 potions each of Clarity, Magic Shielding, Magic Blocking, Speed ... (and heaps & heaps of Extra Healing) etc so she gave them out and everybody imbibed before going through the portal. This meant no confusion, hold person or anything allowing a save was going to get through. Bruce, as Monk level 14, drank a potion of Magic Protection and went from 42% magic resistance to 92%!!

Awesome, let them come ...

They entered the planar prison with a new strategy: Speedy-Jaheira, Wierdo and Annakin kill the mage while Buddha & speedy-Minsc kill the others. It worked


"Now that's what I call Kick-Ass!"

The party then stealthed forward and eliminated the various yuan-ti mages and thralls with a combo of surprise fireballs and Minsc, Jaheira & Bruce invisibly ambushing them.

Realising from her earlier dream that the combo of Bruce's immunity to poison and the Cloudkill spell was an irresistable opportunity, she Cloudkilled the demon and an air elemental effectively. Bruce is really kicking butt here, although everyone helps in their own ways with missile fire.



The party managed to kill the demon really quickly, before it could even start a regeneration cycle. Annakin stole the prize from Minsc and Bruce with a Magic Missile.

Wierdo also used her Ring of Air Control to charm the remaining air elemental, thus gaining a new ally against The Keeper - who proved to be a complete wuzz-bag by comparison.

Modifié par Wierdo, 18 mai 2011 - 07:48 .

[ussnorway]

Nice save with the clouds, well done Wierdo!
I'm not a Minsc fan... IMO he is fine in normal games but to take him in no-reload you need your head read.
p.s.
What killed your computer power... was it just a power spike or the dreaded 'death by dust'?

[Wierdo]

Definitely "death by dust", due to my neglect and not giving my PC its regular 6 monthly vacuum. Ooops.

Minsc's berserk ability causes more damage than good, and is best left alone. But I have never seen him go into a rage without being told to do so.

With Unfinished Business installed, we have done the Kidnapping of Boo quest, after the completion of which Minsc gets 19 strength! That makes him a pretty awesome fighter at the low-mid levels, so I am hanging onto him for now. Eventually I may replace him with Keldorn or Mazzy (who has been modded to be a pally in this game).

[saros_shadow_follower]

Astarta and party, newest entry:

Exploiting further, party hit
levels: Necromancer and Sorceress 23, Riskbreaker and Barbarian 27,
Assassin 19, and Ranger-Cleric 16-20. New mage HLA - Dragon Breath,
fighter HLAs - Critical Strike. RB proficiencies: Flails*****,
Shortsword****, Longsword**, Two-weapon**. Barbarian: **Bastard Sword
**Shortsword **Warhammer **Scimitar **Club *Axe **Two-weapon. R-C now
has tons of proficiencies (he's specialized in almost all weapons he
can use), while the most notable of the Assassin's proficiencies are
*Quarterstaff and *Two-handed weapon style. Sorceress' spells:

Lvl 1: LMD, CO, MM, Shield, Armor
Lvl 2: Invis, Mirror Image, Acid Arrow, Resist Fear, Vocalize
Lvl 3: Remove Magic, Haste,Vampiric touch, ProFire, ProCold
Lvl 4: Emotion, Stoneskin, Ray of Fragmentation, Ice Storm
Lvl 5: Sunfire, Breach, Spell Immunity, Lower Resistance
Lvl 6: Improved Haste, Giant Strength, ProMW, Globe of Invulnerability
Lvl 7: Mass Invisibility, RRR, Hand of Undoing, Spell Turning
Lvl 8: Monster Summoning VI, Spell Trigger, Foreknowledge, ProEnergy
Lvl 9: Monster Summoning VII, Wish, Chain Contingency

So the party travelled around a bit and finished:
The vanilla graveyard tombs (but not the Improved Crypt King & Queen)
Graveyard Catacombs lvl 1 - filled with mildly improved spiders.
Graveyard Catacombs lvl 2 - only one improved Undead here - a Vampire Bride
Reijek's house (basement) - vanilla encounter
The Limited Wish quest. The fight with Grae the Troll Shaman caused the guardians of the Troll mound to arrive, and the party had almost depleted their spells and abilities, and were almost without buffs (didn't expect for those Noble trolls to notice Grae). However, the party did manage to win without casualties, due to high experience levels and proper equipment.
Freed Haer'Dalis. Had to fight a random tough spider encounter in Mekrath's lab, including: 1 Ghost spider, 2 Whisper ones, 2 Mutated ones, and some other lower-level ones. Mekrath's Ingenious Imp was easy.
Travelled to the playhouse, Haer'dalis and his group were taken to the Prison. Buffed well and entered. The Bounty Huntress was assaulted while still neutral and casting True Sight, and she fell right after the enemy speech. In the prison to the right there was another random tough spider encounter, alongside the two vanilla slave fighters. The Wyvern is vanilla, and the Master of Thralls only slightly modded. The party didn't take the western road from the Master of Thralls' chamber, because that would trigger a second random tough spider spawn near the Warden, and it's very hard to battle the Warden + the spiders. So the party retreated to the brazzer chamber, buffed extremely well, summoned some allies and destroyed the Control orb. A couple of Planar hounds appeared near PC, but were quickly slain. The Warden was under observation, and the Farsight spells used for that proved to be very useful for guiding summons. While only II summons assaulted him, he didn't even use True Sight. When party fighters pressed on, Warden gave his speech, 2 planar hounds appeared near him (fighters and summons killed them), while in the same time his defences were stripped by the sorceress with reduced casting time by 2 (AoP + Foreknowledge), and a second later, the Warden fell. And the R-C gained a level, choosing Foreknowledge as first HLA.

After completing this quest, the party was given the Playhouse deed, and after a bit of exploiting, all except the R-C gained another level of experience. PC chose Energy Blades as HLA, sorceress picked Summon Planetar, warriors picked another Hardiness.

Party started the vanilla Bard stronghold (playhouse) tasks, but also travelled to the Windspear Hills and challenged Conster for Garren's child. Conster has the support of 4 waves of 2 Skeleton Lords each - an easy task after he was slain.

The reason to kill Conster was that he posesses a Manual of Elaboration. Party already has 2 Permanency scrolls - one from Slaver Ship, second from Warden in Planar prison, who also dropped an Improved haste scroll, a GoI scroll, and some other useful items. Then the party travelled to Cromwell, with the Tome of Ancient Expertise (obtained from Elite Bounty Huntress) and the Manual of Elaboration in hand, but Cromwell couldn't brew anyway the experience potion designed for a F/M/C because of the moronic condition that PC has to be F/M/C for the potion to be created.

The party reported to Garren and were given entry and position inside MNORH.

Continued with exploiting, along with completing the vanilla playhouse tasks, up to the fight with the Improved Turmish Mercenaries. Regular buffing in this battle included sorceress' spell protections: SI:A, Spell Turning, GOI. Enemy Sorceress has BBoD. Used Vhailor's Helm to clear some stair-blocking Areal servants. While Alia under Alacrity was casting Remove Magic and RRR at enemy sorceress, followed by yet another Remove Magic, the party fighters eliminated the battlepriests. Now this is a stupidly wasted round for the enemy sorceress, and she fell soon after.

The party finished the playhouse, performed the play, and afterwards Astarta sold the playhouse deed to Higgold for 10 000 gold, but strangely enough, after a week there were some money for her in the playhouse (probably more to come in the future).

Using 9 of the assembled +1 rings, three +2 rings were forged, and now both RB and Barbarian are equipped with +2 protective items, and there are enough +1 ones for the rest of the party.

The C-R hit yet another level (16-22) and chose Aura of Flaming Death as HLA. The Assassin is now lvl 21, putting points in Set Traps.

[Windfoot]

Wierdo,

My stupidity. I knew the group was there and hasted but didn't prepare for fear...that aoe fear really messed me up

[Wierdo]

Windfoot wrote...

Wierdo,

My stupidity. I knew the group was there and hasted but didn't prepare for fear...that aoe fear really messed me up

Ahh, what a shame

It is such a basic buff and it lasts an hour. Good idea to cast that before going up against any spellcasters, or before going into any new area as it lasts an hour. Good to have scrolls on your spellcasters too.

[Thailog]

Chronicles of Grimm the Wizard Slayer, Part 10


The party arrives at Watcher's Keep and Grimm uses the journal of the elven prisoner to navigate the maze on the third floor. In the eastern room, the group stumbles upon a Dead Magic Zone where some demons are fighting amongst each other. Normal magic doesn't work here, neither for the party nor for the demons, but innate abilities like Minsc's berserk and the demons' fear aura remain functional.

In the next chamber, Grimm encounters a group of Tanarri demons who find him a bit too orderly for their tastes and decide to attack. This catches everyone off guard as all of the party's buffs were dispelled by the anti-magic zone in the previous area. Due to that, the ensuing battle is brutal.





Haer'Dalis, Edwin and Jaheira manage to put up a Stoneskin while Minsc Goes berserk once again. Meanwhile, several demons become ethereal while others start teleporting to the party. The Glabrezus have all cast Mirror Image and one of the hits Fade with a Power Word Stun. Meanwhile, a Succubus charms Edwin and immediately starts making out with him which drains several of his levels.





The Balor teleports to the incapacitated Fade and takes her down while Jaheira attempts to summon a shambler. Grimm and Minsc are badly wounded and start chugging Potions of Superior Healing. Grimm tries to run out of the fray but the Balor manages to score a vorpal hit on him. Ouch... game over.





Gah, I guess it's my own fault for wanting to finish the lower levels of Watcher's Keep before TOB, but I figured the party was strong enough. Strangely, I don't recall the demons here attacking me on sight before. They usually offered me a chance to hunt down the leader of their enemies, but I guess Grimm's lawful alignment bothered them too much. Were it not for that, I figure the party could have made it.

Some final thoughts: I've come to believe that the Wizard Slayer is a highly underrated kit. His magic resistance may be pitiful and his item restrictions are very severe, but in my view, his innate ability which causes spell failure on each hit makes up for all this, especially against SCSII mages. Landing just a few hits is usually enough to scramble their spellcasting for good, and since they almost always use ProMW, you can always attack them using normal weapons.

I actually found it easier to deal with the mages with a Wizard Slayer than with an Inquisitor which I had in my party during my previous run. The main reason is that SCSII mages tend to be very high level, and until the inquisitor reaches level 20, their buffs are pretty hard to dispel. On the other hand, the Wizard Slayer is pretty effective all the time and I think he'll get even more powerful in TOB as his magic resistance gains a big boost at higher levels. Guess I'll continue this game offline from now on. Best of luck to you all!


Final party stats:

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

[Thailog]

@Wierdo: Nice save against the Master of Thralls! That battle is pretty tough.

Watch out for the Warden! He likes to cast Imprisonment.