@Aasim & Alesia: Impish Face waves you both from the shadows near those tunnels. If you need any help - feel free to ask him 
aTweaks are must for me as well now - I love most changes they've brought into the scene. Some of Elementals might be an annoyance if they aren't allies of yours though (Aerial Servants for example with their permanent invisibility).
@ Serg
I'm afraid Darthus won't be needing any help. 
Darthus, final BG2 update
We had a really rough time in this session. First, I lost entire party vs Balor there. He gated in another Balor for double the fun. Sigh. Still, Darthus prevailed, raised Branwen and she raised the others.
Now we fought some more Drow, some Mind Flayers, and got approached by a dwarf saying that a fish wants a discussion. Fine, fine - let's get this over with I tought. This turned out to be our death sentence. Minsc died first to Finger of Death (this is really bad luck. He has 25% chance to fail that save, and he managed to fail it twice in a row; first time against Drow ambush and now here...bah). We took massive damage from Chain Lightnings/Magic Missile sequencers.
Nalia had 2x Remove Magic, first one failed, second one only affected one mage.
After being debuffed, Nalia and Imoen are next on death list....
Branwen smacks a drow with Harm - taking Mesthil's damage in return, and dying. At least drow now has 1 HP. 
Could Darthus again prevail against impossible odds? One down...
And then, bam. Game over. I don't really know what was the cause of death. Maybe Mesthil/Divine Retaliation interraction, maybe Magic Missiles. Be that as it may - Darthus died vs Quille and her mages.
@Aasim - sorry to hear the end of Darthus. By the way did you know you do NOT have to fight Quille at all? When the fish make his demand of you, you say no that's not how it's going to work, you will tell it what to do - it can't reveal that you are a surfacer or you will reveal its treachery and you both die - the fish then relents from its demand for Quille and you get experience and walk away without having to deal with her.
Arcadia, Half-Elven Fighter/Mage: Spellhold
Since Arcadia is almost ready to leave the Underdark -and her last post was on Athkatla- it's time for some quick catch-up coverage.
Spellhold was crazy. And I don't just mean the inmates. Weird stuff happened- including one anomaly that necessitated a bug reload.
For some reason, Arcadia's Bag of Holding swallowed most of her gear (I've seen this before). I considered playing through it -despite the fact that the all important Reflex had been lost, along with Dragonslayer and an epic potion collection- but when I saw that one of the minotaur horns had gone missing, firing up a pre-incident save was the only solution.
That wasn't the only oddity in this run. Some of the monster were in unexpected locations. Captain Swarmi was not pleased with this. And the battle with Jon? That was a crazy fest: crazy, I say.
The first surprise came over by the Kolbold crystal. Does anyone remember Alisa's run? Do you remember when I said that the kolbold fight ended up being one of hardest, simply because I took it for granted and left Alisa mostly unbuffed? I did something similar to Arcadia. Recalling Alisa, I gave Arcadia moderate buffs for this encounter. Those buffs would have been sufficient for the Kolbolds, but they weren't up to snuff for the Yuan-Ti Mage, who had unexpectedly spawned into the crystal room. Nor were they sufficient for the mage's summoned demon.
Arcadia managed to layer in enough buffs to emerge largely unscathed. Her Stoneskins were depleted, however. And when a crimson death got a critical in, Arcadia was hurt. She took a little snooze after that.
You do see that number right? 14 days? Yeah. That actually scared me. I wasn't certain whether I had the Spellhold time limit component of SCS installed. What happens now, I thought? As it turned out, nothing: I don't have the component installed. Good thing.
Onto Dace. Captain Swarmi saw no reason to fight the lich. Arcadia used a Pro-Undead scroll, purchased in Brynnlaw. She also ran SI:A just in case the lich had a cheeky proximity Chain with Remove.
Danced with dace, took his hand, and moved on.
The next surprise occurred over by the boot machine. And this one was a party. Arcadia had stealthed by the yuan-ti, the umber hulk, and the wolfweres on her way to her Boots of Speed. Fighting the golem in that area, however, alerted everyone -and I mean everyone- to her presence. They were all waiting for her when she opened the door.
SI:D->Invisibility->buff solved that.
Last surprise. The vampires got bored of standing next to Bodhi, and decided to take a look around (I can't say I blame them: they had been waiting for two weeks...). They ambushed Arcadia as soon as she finished the trolls. Not a problem.
I'll post on the Jon fight soon, followed by the Underdark.
Best,
A.
And then, bam. Game over. I don't really know what was the cause of death. Maybe Mesthil/Divine Retaliation interraction, maybe Magic Missiles. Be that as it may - Darthus died vs Quille and her mages.
No! Bummer!
Congratulations on an outstanding run nonetheless, Aasim. I really enjoyed that.
What's next?
Best,
A.
@Aasim: sad news indeed...
@Aasim & Alesia: Impish Face waves you both from the shadows near those tunnels. If you need any help - feel free to ask him
aTweaks are must for me as well now - I love most changes they've brought into the scene. Some of Elementals might be an annoyance if they aren't allies of yours though (Aerial Servants for example with their permanent invisibility).
Noted. I'll look into aTweaks.
And Impish Face is still alive? Awesome! Do you intend to play anytime soon?
Best,
A.
Noted. I'll look into aTweaks.
And Imish Face is still alive? Awesome! Do you intend to play anytime soon?
Aye, he is full and well. He is on duties as the Herald of Andraste at the moment but once those will be sorted out he will continue his main quest.
Some good improvisation there Alesia! Glad to see Arcadia going strong still.
Aasim, my condolences
As pretty much always, yours was a good run.
@Aasim - sorry to hear the end of Darthus. By the way did you know you do NOT have to fight Quille at all? When the fish make his demand of you, you say no that's not how it's going to work, you will tell it what to do - it can't reveal that you are a surfacer or you will reveal its treachery and you both die - the fish then relents from its demand for Quille and you get experience and walk away without having to deal with her.
I knew I don't have to (you don't even have to get near the dwarf there - I didn't know you can avoid the quest after speaking to Aboleth however - thxh for the info!) but I simply felt very confident. I didn't really expect the opossiton to be so high-leveled to not get dispelled by two Remove Magic castings.
Loosing Minsc so early to a Finger was a huge setback, since only reliable DPS was Darthus - and not even he has a solid chance of hitting drow - on my install, their AC is literally apsurd.
What's next?
I'm pondering about it. I'd like to retry a halfling barbarian run , which I had to abandon due to a SCS bug (I gave every mage +2 levels via ini option which caused some "specific" mages to actually become easier for some reason - very disturbing thing).
Maybe a fighter/thief multi...
I really enjoyed that.
Aasim, my condolences
As pretty much always, yours was a good run.
Tnx, I enjoyed it as well.
Arcadia v Spellhold Irenicus (Or One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest)
This battle made no sense. I mean that. Crazy stuff happened. I never know what to expect in this battle. Sometimes the clone spawns; sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the clone chunks all the inmates; sometimes it get annihilated. Sometimes Jon obliterates the inmates; sometimes they obliterate him. This fight it like Forest Gump's box of chocolates: I never know what I'm going to get. The only difference is that what I get is never sweet.
So, here's a picture of Arcadia at the start of the fight.
Now, some of your are thinking: What? Where? That? That's Arcadia? No it isn't! Arcadia is a swirling ball of abjuration magicks, occasionally incased in flames. That's just a half-elf. What's up?
What's up is that Arcadia entered the fight unbuffed. Actually, that's not quite true. She was running one buff: Friends. And in case anyone is wondering, an epic charisma score will not change Jon's tune. He was still singing Killing You Not So Softly.
So what happened? Most have probably figured it out. I had cast Friends prior to the Lonk encounter, but had accidentally triggered dialogue before layering in Arcadia's combat buffs. As a consequence, she entered the fight in the buff rather than buffed. That freaked me out. I had no idea what to do
Captain Swarmi's solution was to instruct Arcadia to activate her Ring of Air Control and then immediately run to the far corner of the room. There, she would cast SI:D, followed by SI:A, allowing her to buff in comparative safety, while Jon and the inmates threw down. Good plan, Captain Swarmi, I just hope a Whirlwinding Ages equipped Arcadia clone doesn't spawn and bust up the mages...
Right. Now, in my install, the clone is a fully equipped, fully leveled duplicate of the PC. It's dangerous. Sometimes. It really depends on the PCs abilities, and whether the script is capable of utilizing them. Happily, Arcadia is all about buffs, and the clones don't really buff. Arcadia's duplicate was likely to be a push over. But there she is running spells and Melfing with Ages soon to be at the ready.
What do you do in a situation like that? If you're Arcadia, you stay calm and keep buffing.
Out of the corner of your eye, you see a demon walking over inmate corpses. Stay calm, keep buffing.
Aphril is Secret Wording herself? Waddya do that for? Stay calm, keep buffing.
The inmates are dead! The Arcadia clone is finished! The demon is going for Jon! Jon is out of ProMW! What now? Don't stay calm, don't keep buffing: load up some acid arrows and fire at will.
And yeah -strange at it may seem- that's all it took. Glad to see Friends is still running. Maybe it will help against the murderers?
Fishville is next.
Best,
A.
Epic battle, Alesia. Fully agree - this battle is insane. But then again, it's Asylum. 
The loonie mages could indeed benefit from some script checking...
@Alesia: Very interesting battle there. Glad you pulled through. Kind of illustrates what I was talking about though - a buffless mage, even a high level one, can easily face defeat. Glad you were able to buff up after all.
Hard Luck Aasim.
In the below the language used for the ladies is a bit derogatory. It is not the language that I would use, but is the language that my characters would certainly use, and since it is their diary, I have left it as they would have written it. The software allowed that language but didn't allow a common English phrase to be used because the software is not intelligent.
Diary of the Gnasty Gnomes
Whilst in the slums I have received a note to go and help a bit of fluff who had been kidnapped.
I helped her and this raised my reputation somewhat.
I also received a note to go and help another bit of skirt in the Bridge District.
On the way, I decided to help another the bit of fluff and was it worth it! I rescued a merchant from a villain and his daughter Ilona was VERY grateful for the service I gave her. You can take that any way you want! 
Let us just say that we both ended up VERY happy. 
The bint in the Five Flagons has given me several profitable if morally dubious tasks to do, and now wants me to assassinate two harpers.
We have been joined by Viconia who has been a big help, [Actually any cleric would have been a big help] as well as Adario Kalvaras, an assassin. He was helpful against those that I needed to assassinate, and then I helped him (I put here a bird that can be a blue *** or a great *** or a crested ***) {The software thinks that it is a rude word and could be in a different context. } for tat.
[These tasks are from Mod for the Wicked, a mod that I installed due to the fact that I am playing an evil team. I would say that the hardest part is the decision making, deciding what your character would do in such a situation. So far the battles have not been too hard.]
I decided to help Nalia, though did not have her in the group. A namby pamby bint like her has no place in our party. She wouldn’t have liked being with us anyway, not the way we do things.
We opened the gate of the castle, returned to Amn to restock and then discovered there was another assassination to do. Completed it, and returned to the castle. Adario pick pocketed a nice scroll from the Aunt, [the first time that I have tried that.] Fighting the golems something weird happened. The iron golem started attacking the others and killed two of them.
Its behaviour still continued to be erratic after we started attacking it. We therefore had to be very careful.
Finally we were successful by getting Tor Gal to follow Bloodaxe into a Cloudkill spell.
The loonie mages could indeed benefit from some script checking...
Was this intentional, I wonder? Are they suppose to be a little off? I doubt it, but it had occurred to me.
Best,
A.
Hard Luck Aasim.
Meh. I'll get them next time.
Was this intentional, I wonder? Are they suppose to be a little off? I doubt it, but it had occurred to me.
I don't know. Aphril does have a specific line included in her scripting file, and other mages there are likely to have it as well.
VARIABLE(NeverGoHostile=True)
Now, this may malfunction in craziest of ways....
@Alesia: Very interesting battle there. Glad you pulled through. Kind of illustrates what I was talking about though - a buffless mage, even a high level one, can easily face defeat. Glad you were able to buff up after all.
It's pretty rare that you're forced to fight without pre-buffs and or can't start a fight invisible. I just made a mistake there. When it happens Invisibility->buff typically solves the problem, as it did in this case.
Later in the adventure, when I may be facing enemies who detect the invisible by script, and could stumble into a fight, I sometimes put Limited Wish in a see enemy chain. That gives me the option of taking an uninterruptible Time Stop immediately. See enemy ProMWs help too, of course. Well chosen Spell Triggers, such as ProMW + Spell Deflection + Spell Shield and defensive Chains, are another way of getting up and running quick when unbuffed and facing enemies who detect the invisible via script. I typically use a combination of those moves.
It's a risk that can be managed. But I agree that there are a lot of ways to screw up when you play a mage. We're actually in total agreement on that point.
Best,
A.
Good fun Alesia! And glad to see Arcadia make it. I'm impressed with the quality of your gameplay after quite a long break.
Was this intentional, I wonder? Are they suppose to be a little off? I doubt it, but it had occurred to me.
Best,
A.
I don't know. But I like it. Let them be unpredictable.
Last time I did that battle, with Norgath the Bounty Hunter, a Glabrezu gated in by Wanev dealt with Irenicus, similar to your experience. But I've had other experiences as well
It's pretty rare that you're forced to fight without pre-buffs and or can't start a fight invisible. I just made a mistake there. When it happens Invisibility->buff typically solves the problem, as it did in this case.
Later in the adventure, when I may be facing enemies who detect the invisible by script, and could stumble into a fight, I sometimes put Limited Wish in a see enemy chain. That gives me the option of taking an uninterruptible Time Stop immediately. See enemy ProMWs or Shadow Doors help too, of course. Well chosen Spell Triggers, such as ProMW + Spell Deflection + Spell Shield and defensive Chains, are another way of getting up and running quick when unbuffed and facing enemies who detect the invisible via script.
It's a risk that can be managed. But I agree that there are a lot of ways to screw up when you play a mage. We're actually in total agreement on that point.
Best,
A.
Right. I agree certainly solo mages both have options and can possibly manage it. But notice the complication of your answer - what if a PC mage doesn't have some of those spells you mentioned (such as tried to scribe them but flubbed them, or forgot to buy them, etc.). A fighter with some MR gear might write this: "Right. So I accidentally faced Irenicus buffless. I gulped a potion of magic protection and then put the beat down on him." This is a bit easier to execute, thus maybe why more solo melee characters get into ToB than arcane. Granted, my perception might be skewed somewhat, what with Grond0's vast swath of melee characters who are solo and get to ToB...
Oh just noticed you said you are in agreement lots of ways for a solo mage to mess things up - ah never mind then I guess.
Last time I did that battle, with Norgath the Bounty Hunter, a Glabrezu gated in by Wanev dealt with Irenicus, similar to your experience. But I've had other experiences as well
When my bounty hunter, Alesia, did that fight, the clone had a fat stack of invisibility potion in its quick slots. It chunked all the inmates.
(I'm just glad the clone didn't start tossing Maze traps...)
Best,
A.
Oh just noticed you said you are in agreement lots of ways for a solo mage to mess things up - ah never mind then I guess.
Yeah. Putting it simply: If you know the ins and outs, there are ways around everything. But if you make a bad call, you're dead.
Again, the extent of risk differs from player to player. For me, getting an arcane caster deep into ToB isn't hard. But I'm sort of weirdly obsessive about buffing and defensive magics. I've also been casting for a long time. I could see how it could be difficult for others.
Warriors, on the other hand, I'm not very good with. My odds are better with a mage than a berserker.
Best,
A.
I don't know. But I like it. Let them be unpredictable.
Agreed. If it was intentional, it was a good call.
Warriors, on the other hand, I'm not very good with. My odds are better with a mage than a berserker.
Best,
A.
You play SCS. I've played SCS myself, and it made me pay dearly for not buffing before a fight. It's not unusual for a SCS mage to use remove magic - big problem for a solo fighter, but not so much for a mage with SI. Thus, it may actually be easier to progress in your install if mage than fighter if solo. Just food for thought.
Arcadia, Half-Elven Fighter/Mage: Seafood Buffet
So, Galvena's dead, Spellhold has been liberated- the guys on the island are creeps, the drinks are watered down, and Captain Swarmi can't get his chamomile. Time to set sail.
As all of you know, I love the Love Boat. Saemon's ship? Not the love boat. Julie McCoy didn't greet me on deck. Issac didn't offer me a fruity beverage. Gopher and Dr. Bricker didn't hit on me, and Captain Stubbing didn't make me swoon. All I got was this jerk.
Stop dispelling my illusions: We're on the same side! If I have to waste one more Spell Immunity:D on you, I swear!
Chunked Desharik, and then hit the high seas. Or so I thought, and so the Githyanki thought. And so Saemon thought- seeing as how he had given me his sword.
The gith boarded the ship and went to town on the pirates. Then nothing happened- aside from pirates flying around in chunky bits. Arcadia asked the ship's substandard cruise director what was going on. He didn't have a clue either. He thought we were still standing on the dock.
Oh, how I hate when things go flooey on this boat...
Arcadia swung over by Saemon and, predictably, he gave Arcadia his sword again. This was bad, because now Arcadia was going to have wait for her Sauhgin saviors without any pirates to distract the SCS gith.
Not happy with her tactical footing, Arcadia vanished. Guess what happened...
Saemon! We're on the same side! I warned you! Will someone kill him already?
Thank you.
So now it was basically Arcadia and a whole lot of Gith she didn't want to fight. I don't think we had even gotten the Saughin warning yet.
SI:A stopped the remove. The Secret Word was countered with an MSD.
For lack of anything else to do, Arcadia started working on the Gith.
Finally -finally- the ship broke up. I've never been so grateful to be lost at sea.
Most damage taken so far. Ouch! Let's allocate a L5 to Pro Acid next time, shall we?
Arcadia healed herself. Then she was ambushed by BG1. Don't worry Chelak! I'll save your brother this time! I'm totally not afraid of Centeol, now that I have HLAs!
Got the cloak and the tooth, then punked the King. Killed the Prince as well for good measure and halbred parts. Captain Swarmi ate well that night.
Onto the Underdark.
Best,
A.
You play SCS. I've played SCS myself, and it made me pay dearly for not buffing before a fight. It's not unusual for a SCS mage to use remove magic - big problem for a solo fighter, but not so much for a mage with SI. Thus, it may actually be easier to progress in your install if mage than fighter if solo. Just food for thought.
True, in a sense. But well played mages are even more overpowered in vanilla. The gap between mages and warriors is smaller in my install, I'd say. This is mostly due to the final Ascension fight.
Again, it differs from player to player. I'm just more skilled with casters than warriors. I'm not aggressive enough to make a warrior truly shine. I'm also un-fond of dwarves, on RP grounds, and tend not to max out strength, again on RP grounds. At the same time, I have a fairly good understanding of the spell system.
I'm sure there are players who would find warriors easier than mages in SCS.
Basically, if you play a mage to its potential, they're powerful and highly survivable, but there's a learning curve. At the same time, a misstep can get you killed.
Best,
A.
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