15239 réponses à ce sujet

[Enuhal]

Thisdan, still level 11 sorcerer with randomized spellbook.

This time, I finished Imnesvale. Got the Shield by talking to Madulf, entered the Umar Cave and buffed up to be mostly immune to the killer mimic's hold ability. Brought back his blood and defeated a stone golem. MI for Minsc!

More importantly, the temple ruins. I did something stupid by revealing an invisible yoshimo to lure the shadows by the mirror into the range of the crystal - even though the crystal was activated, the shadows were fast enough to surround and kill him. Well, no problem, I just rested at the place and ressurected the bounty hunter, rested again and went downstairs.

The battles in this place were pretty similiar - it was basically a solo fire elemental run: first group, sun stone battle, bridge battle, fight at the lava lake - you get how it works. Used some prot from fire spells to heal Yoshimo by giving him also the ring of fire protection and positioning him in the lava lake
Basically, I had Minsc and Jaheira assist the Elemental to kill faster. Its summoning time only expired when I engaged the bone golem. Since I had all other spells left, there was no problem - just summoned some Monsters as meatshields, hasted and attacked, killing the golem in seconds.

I rested and decided to cast all major buffs right here and now before engaging the Shade Lord. My first assault brought him to injured before he could cast protection spells, and Yoshimo finished him and all the other enemies off with daystar's sunray.

I guess stealing this blade and using it all the time is still my favorite BG2-gimmick. Basically, I learned about this trick before even ever playing BG2 many, many years ago from a friend of my brother, and it was literally the first thing I heard about this game, so for me it's the oldest and most beloved trick in the book. Still useful even later on, especially if you have two other clerics in your group - you can triple-sunray. It's amazing.

Modifié par Enuhal, 16 juin 2011 - 09:14 .

[Saint of Sinners]

Meejee, Human Archer, falls to the might of Improved Torgal. I tried to ward off as many Spirit Trolls as I can before felling Torgal himself but the attacks came in so fast, I died to severe ability drain. Must rethink the strategy involved here if I must run this solo with a non-arcanist.

Anyway, either I post caps from my F/T test character or roll up a new character. God, I'm going through them like popcorn. It's just really that, often, I will pull up a wrong strategy for a situation. I think being a spellmonger actually caused me to be too darn complacent with mistakes.

[Shadow_Leech07]

Sorry for your loss Saint of Sinners. While my second kensai run hasn't ended, I'm putting her aside due to the fact that her 8 intelligence coupled with irritable journal problem I've had have made such an experience quite the annoyance. Tried running a monk through the first dungeon gauntlet. I'm not sure if she is able to survive the traps on hard and I don't feel like trying it out. I'm settling in on a half-elf barbarian.

[Saint of Sinners]

Thanks, Shadow. I'm rethinking that Sorceress run right now. I know I could do it, only that I really effed up at the tent the first time around. Should have been more careful. And arcanists really are my strength, which I find quite disturbing. I can run with a berserker or a barbarian, though, but I get tired of the hacking and slashing quite quickly. I've went with a kensai/mage before and it was more of a fighter with immunities up more than anything else, which saddened me, prompting me to quit just after the Ravager. I also like flashy techniques when it comes to the kill, and none are as flashy as spellcasters IMO.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Good progress, Alesia.

Well, for my own no-reload - the party finished the following minor quests:

Mae'var's quest - didn't accept Renal's offer so he just gave the party the Short Sword of Backstabbing +3 and some gold.
Illitium Ore quest - Sarles got the fake illithium, Neb's head was stored for now. Astarta got the Periapt of Life Protection from the Temple of Lathander.
Fallen Paladins quest - up to the point of defeating Anarg, but not yet returned to MNORH with the good news. Anarg dropped some potions and a Laeral's tear necklace.
After completing Mae'var's quest, the party killed Renal and his guards. Renal no longer has Boots of Speed or Permanency scrolls, however he and one of his goons drop a cloak of protection +1. The party now has a total of three such cloaks.
After killing Renal, the party went straight to the graveyard and accepted Bodhi's offer. They have a little choice now, having angered the thieves' guild by killing its second in command.
The party completed Bodhi's first task by killing Mook and Arcanis Gath. The Rifthome Axe +3 was obtained from this fight - will be used by the Ranger for now. Also, they seized the opportunity to forge the Improved Mace of Disruption +2. It is a weak item, but has still good damage output versus the lower undead like Vampiric Mists.
The party completed Bodhi's second task by rescuing a man from the second floor of the Thieves' guildhall. A mage was guarding him, with a cloak of protection +1. Two more such mages were situated on the floor below. All were easily defeated via Spell Sequencer with triple Remove Magics. Now all of the party  have +1 cloaks of protection.
The party finished the third (and last) of Bodhi's tasks - they killed Aran Linvail, obtaining yet another +1 cloak, some other weak items, and of course, a ring +2 and the Amulet of Power.

The party used two Cloaks +1 (they have one extra now) and the Laeral's tear necklace obtained by Anarg to forge a Cloak +2 - for the Riskbreaker.

Saros, the Riskbreaker, gained a new level (15), as did Torham (lvl 14) and Temp (lvl 7-15). 15th level is an important one for a Riskbreaker (look at posts above for further info).

Next the party set foot for Trademeet. All invisible, of course. They were intercepted by a random relatively powerful bandit group, but managed to escape at the time the enemy finished her True Sight casting.

In Trademeet, the party bought everything they wanted from the Djinni. The most important item being another Amulet of Protection +1.

The party didn't visit the Mayor, but instead set foot for de'Arnise hold. The trolls inside were no big deal, neither was the Neo-Otyugh outside nor the Yuan-ti mage on the second floor, nor the Killer (in the kitchen) or Spirit (in the library) spiders. The battle with the guardians of the drawbridge was very easy. The Whisper Spider was slain quickly thanx to a lucky Hard Hit from the Riskbreaker. The Greater Yuanti's illusion and combat protections were quickly removed. Of course, he has a contingencied Stoneskin, however by the time he finished casting True Sight from a scroll, he was already dead.

So the party obtained another Ring of Protection +1 from this fight. And the Ice Flail Head. And the Ring of Earth Control previously.

On the second floor, enemies were somehow tougher. The golems were defeated with ease. Even though the party has very few +3 weapons, they simply used Rays of Fragmentation to kill the Iron Golem. A killer and spirit spider guard the Fire Flail Head - easily slain. Next the party took the secret corridor to Glaicas' quarters, and killed him. He still managed to quaff one of his Fire giant str potions, but Astarta dispelled that with a Remove Magic. Still, Glaicas managed to hurt seriously Saros, but Temp helped with a Greater Restoration.

Loot: Yet another +1 ring, the Acid Flail Head,a full plate and some potions.

The party was finally able to forge the Flail of Ages +3, which of course went to Saros, for now at least.

Since the party has a sufficient amount of +3 weapons, now was the time to challenge the Keep Viper (guardian of the Frostreaver Axe). Temp summoned a bunch of Skeleton Warriors. The party fighters buffed very well, and Astarta picked up the axe (while protected from Magical weapons). The viper appeared, and since the nearest enemies were the Skeleton warriors, it attacked one of those. Torham equipped the Frostreaver Axe main, the fighters charged, Temp cast Defensive Harmony, and the viper quickly fell.

Now I'm not positive if the Viper is immune to +2 of less weapons, but I didn't wanna risk it and so every fighter was equipped with a decent +3 weapon main and some had even decent +3 weapons off-hand.

Now the party travelled to the Temple district, took the long way on lvl 1 (avoiding Tarnor's group and the Horrid Rakshasa in the middle), killed some improved Vampiric Mists on the 2nd level (immune to Turn Undead, can envelop their targets = slow + causing several times lvl drain, wield both magical and nonmagical weapons, under permanent /Improved?/ haste, with better resistances, hitpoints and THAC0). And on lvl 3, defeated some random spawns (a Mummy + Ghast one and an improved Yuanti + Yuanti mage group).

Thus, having cleared the way for the Screaming Statue challenge, the party applied some more xp exploit, so that Temp hit lvl 16 (clerical) for a few more spell slots.

Temple Sewers, lvl 3, Screaming statue.
Torham (the Ranger) equipped himself with the Amulet of Power. Torham and Temp were buffed well, and were armed with the best gear the party has currently. Both wield +3 weapons main and off-hand. Torham has the FoA +3 and the  Frostreaver Axe +3, while Temp wields  a Mace +3(enchanted weapon) and a Club +3 (loot from the Copper Coronet Beastmaster). Torham had also equipped the party's +2 protective items. And the pre-buff includes two Potions of Heroism for both of them, plus a Potion of Fire Giant Str for Torham.

The two fighters and the five Skeleton Warriors quickly eliminated the first wave of Undead.

The second wave however, has more vampires. And they're the real problem, since they're improved (also immune to turn undead, with permanent Improved Haste, far better THAC0 and other bonuses - like a chance to dispel all specific protections on hit). Astarta cast Limited Wish, which failed due to having 5 monsters. Temp has one Shield of the Archons memorized, but preferred to risk it for now and leave the Shield for the third wave of undead, which is much more dangerous.

Torham and Temp managed to slay the Eminent one while still gating via the Dimension Door, however one of the remaining two Vampires managed to drain 3 levels out of Temp, thus Temp lost several spells, including the Shield of the Archons. The vampires scored no more hits (Temp was actually running in circles while Torham finished them), and the second wave fell soon.

Temp now has only two Wondrous recall spells. Using one, he managed to 'recall' a Lesser Restoration spell, and used it to raise his levels back to 16. That didn't restore him the lost spells of course. With the last Wondrous recall he recalled a Righteous Magic and a second Chaotic Commands spell.

Temp also used a Potion of Vitality (an IA potion which cures disease, poison, fatigue and 16 HP) to cure the negative effect of the Lesser Restoration.

The party now waited a bit for the short-lasting buffs (Mass Invisibility, Improved Haste, etc) to wane, and then re-buffed as best as possible - Saros too. He also buffed himself with a Heroism potion, an Invulnerability potion and a Fire Giant Str potion. Weapons and protective items were redistributed once more, now Saros is wielding FoA +3 main and the Short sword of Backstabbing +3 off (he has now ** in short swords). Torham (still with AoP) is wielding the Frostreaver Axe main and the Mace +3 off, while Temp has only the Club +3 main and the IMoD +2 off. One skeleton warrior was previously killed because of the last pre-combat buff. But four are just as good as five, since they can almost as easily hold off the Vampiric mists and Mist Horrors at bay. The Master Vampire was subject to heavy hits while still gating in via the Dimension Door. Temp got his first hit by the time the Master Vampire fell. However NPP guarded him and wasn't dispelled by the subsequent two enemy hits which Temp sustained before the vampires fell. Killing the mists afterwards was very easy.

Loot: A Permanency Scroll, a Potion of Barbarian essence and some other lousy potions.

Well, that's it for now.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 17 juin 2011 - 10:40 .

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alesia's Game

Alesia has completed the De'Arnise Keep Quest and reached level 15. Her current character information appears below.




I'll post a report on the Keep soon.


Best,

A.

[Saint of Sinners]

Hello, guys. I've got a new run up. This took some really lengthy consideration, but I think I'm going to stick with this one for quite a while.

The character:
Meejee
Elven Mage/Thief
Neutral Good
16 19 16 18 10 10
Attitude: Assassination-inclined (go for the silent kill, no matter how long it takes)



I think I'll bore everyone with details with Irenicus' Dungeon. Suffice to say that I finished it without resting even once, and that I was able to pull off a very high 90% assassination rate in the whole dungeon. Only very few were killed without resorting to full-out confrontations (the three golems, the cambion, and the two hooded assassins in the last gauntlet). I've got 76 screenshots since I really wanted to have a record of each kill because it was a blast planning attacks for Meejee. As with my sorceresses, I utilized a lot of fog of war tricks with this one, baiting and leading andwhatnot. I only used traps for the Ogre Mage, and most kills took two to three backstabs (bar critical, of course) because of SCSII's maximum HP mod. The golems were brought down with a summon from a Monster Summoning scroll.

As I always do, I used the Sword of Chaos (other times, the Quarterstaff +1) to reach them from behind the summon using the door to the dryad area. Note that this works very well, especially because the golem can only come one at a time.



Best kill, despite the many critical hits, is of course the mage-thief assassin, which fell to a 50+ DUHM-enhanced backstab, which chunked him.



Gained a few levels along the way. While I think the dungeon was pretty easy, I really am hardpressed playing without any sort of spellcasting support, so I do think that, eventually, the Mage part of her is going to be utilized hardcore.



The other pics, for those interested scrolling among pictures of duergars and mephits getting chunked in the various corners of the map, can be found in this album:

http://s421.photobuc...o NR/Segment 1/

Good luck to all the others!

EDIT: Changed the third image's link, which wasn't working as of first edit.

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 17 juin 2011 - 01:09 .

[Alesia_BH]

Alesia at the De'Arnise Keep

There were three potentially dangerous battles here: the Yuan-Ti Mage, Torgal, and Glaicus. I'll cover each in turn.

The Yuan-TI Mage

Alesia escaped the Yuan-Ti Mage battle without taking meaningful damage.

Her first move was to stealth through the room and open nearby doors. The more doorways the better for a thief.

Then, she got just out of sight range, tossed a Special Snare, and hit the Shadows to survey the damage.


The Ice Troll was down and just needed a little Acid.


Alesia and her Efreeti turned the corner invisible to see what else remained.


When thieves Hide in Shadows, SCS foes tend to wander. This makes them more difficult to backstab, but it also makes it easier to seperate enemies- a boon to thieves. The Yuan-Ti Mage was alone. He died alone


Then the bifurcating Troll- taken down with repeated Backstabs using the doorways for Shadows.



Torgal

The Torgal Battle had a high Potion cost and it became more dangerous then it should have been. Alesia made the mistake of abandoning favorable turf. Fortunately, she didn't pay with her life.

Alesia pre-buffed with a Potion of Strength, a Potion of Defense, a Potion of Power, an Oil of Speed, a Potion of Regeneration, Mirror Image, and Draw on Holy Might. (She had run out of MInd Focusing Potions).

She tried to open the fight with a Backstab on Torgal, but he dectects invisible and pivots to avoid exposing his back. This was the first sign that the battle might be an expensive one.


Using Arrows of Piercing and Oils of Fiery Burning, Alesia made some progress. However, the Spirit Trolls were a nuisance. She tried to use the doorway to find Shadows and ended up getting pushed into a narrow hallway.


Now this was dangerous. SCS enemies are good at boxing in their opponents. They had trapped Alesia here. And with Torgal seeing through invisibility, there was no refuge to be had. What to do...Invisibility was an obvious first step- better to have just Torgal wailing on you then the whole troll army. But what next?

Alesia summoned her Efreeti and had it cast Invisibility on her immediately. While the Efreeti drew the attention of the Trolls that could not see her, Alesia drew Torgal back to the more spacious and hospitable "Ballroom". She also locked Torgal's buds in with the Umber Hulks while her Efreeti had his last stand.



Advantage Alesia. All she had to do now was finish.





Glaicus

Glaicus fell to a Backstab, two regular Snares, and Darts of Stunning- classic thief tactics. Ras ran distraction while Alesia took shots with her Darts.




At this point, Glaicus was Stunned in addition to being scared.



Fin!

Alesia is currently at the Copper Coronet trying to decide on her next move. I'll let you know when she makes up her mind.


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 17 juin 2011 - 05:28 .

[Saint of Sinners]

@Alesia:

Wonderful tactic with TorGal! That was what was missing with my archer in that battle. I take it that no one in that battle can cast True Sight or whatnot, yes? Because I might adopt that for my mage-thief, especially that she can now cast Invisibility. Though, I must admit, closing doors really are a inane way to actually isolate enemies. One would believe that they can bring it down with their sheer numbers but, no, they don't.

As always, all the luck and skill to your Alesia.

===

As for enemies running around during backstabbing, I have observed three types of behavior so far. I hope others who are yet to use the SCS mod will be able to read this as this is quite important with regards to thieves.

As I said, there are three behaviors. The first one is pretty common and realistic. When someone is backstabbed in the immediate vicinity, the closest four or five will respond to the area where it happened and chase down the thief in a very tight formation, even if said thief is hidden. Sometimes, they do end up right beside you. This behavior has a chance of boxing a thief in narrow hallways (I experienced this in the first dungeon, and strived to use it to my advantage).

The second is this: should enemies head into an open area, they will 'cover' each other's backs. I doubt if this was what the author of the mod intended, but the duergar I baited to the wand traproom were so tightly knit together, with each looking at a different direction, that it took a well placed fireball to disperse them for the backstab.

The third, I believe, is reserved for 'bosses' or anyone with a proper name. Ilyich was hard to track down for the backstab. I had to steady with bows until he lost morale and stood at a corner, free for the taking.

Of course, I think this very basic behavior can be used to maximum effect by players, too. When Meejee faced the last two assassins in the dungeon, she kept her back to the wall, which forced them to a confrontation (which they lost to a DUHM, duh).

Hope this helps!

[Alesia_BH]

Saint of Sinners wrote...

Though, I must admit, closing doors really are a inane way to actually isolate enemies. One would believe that they can bring it down with their sheer numbers but, no, they don't.

Agreed. And I typically don't like using doors to isolate. But soloing SCS-II with my Bounty Hunter in a desperate situation...Yeah. I'll do it then. I'd rather see Trolls scratch at a door than see Alesia die...

Ashanti the Beastmaster didn't need to use doors at all in that fight. The key was to keep a big stack of Oils of Speed at the ready to counter Torgal's slow on hit and to use a quick ranged weapon that does he heavy damage with each hit (in this case, Sling of Seeking + Exceptional Strength Potion).

She dropped all the Trolls- no meaningful damage.

As always, all the luck and skill to your Alesia.

Thanks! And good luck with Meejee! i've been tempted to try a M/T for a long time now.


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 17 juin 2011 - 01:56 .

[AnonymousHero]

When Meejee faced the last two assassins in the dungeon, she kept her back to the wall, which forced them to a confrontation (which they lost to a DUHM, duh).

Unless you have some sort of mod which changes things, enemies don't have to hit you in the back to land a successful backstab. Them being invisible when attacking is enough.

[Shadow_Leech07]

Here's my barbarian that is currently doing semi-odd things.

Faith female half-elf chaotic neutral barbarian level 9
Str 18/20 Dex 18 Con 18 Int 11 Wis 9 Char (18)(ring of human influence)
Hard
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // Component Name
~SETUP-TACTICS.TP2~ #0 #6 // Improved Guarded Compound in the Temple District
~SETUP-TACTICS.TP2~ #0 #7 // Improved Twisted Rune
~SETUP-TACTICS.TP2~ #0 #14 // Kensai Ryu's Gnome Fighter/Illusionist in the Docks
~SETUP-TACTICS.TP2~ #0 #16 // Ishan's "Always Toughest Random Spawns in Dungeons"
~SETUP-TACTICS.TP2~ #0 #22 // Smarter Dragons in SoA
~SETUP-TACTICS.TP2~ #0 #31 // Mike Barnes' Improved Small Teeth Pass
~SETUP-TACTICS.TP2~ #0 #32 // Mike Barnes' Improved North Forest
~SETUP-TACTICS.TP2~ #0 #30 // SimDing0's Improved Oasis
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Ascension v1.41 (requires ToB)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1 // Tougher Abazigal (optional, requires ToB)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2 // Original Tougher Demogorgon (optional, requires ToB)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #3 // Tougher Gromnir (optional, requires ToB)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #4 // Tougher Illasera (optional, requires ToB)

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alesia's Game:

Alesia has destroyed Bodhi's Guild. It was fairly uneventful since I let her use Pro Undead*. She did have some decent backstabs with the Staff of Striking- for a mid SoA Bounty Hunter that is.


She is currently packing for Spellhold. She may take on another quest if she feels the need for additional experience or gear.


Best,

A.


* Level Drain is an issue for Alesia when solo untill she gets UAI. She'll stop using Pro Undead then.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 17 juin 2011 - 06:48 .

[Alesia_BH]

Shadow_Leech07 wrote...

Here's my barbarian that is currently doing semi-odd things.

Best of luck with your Barbarian Shadow Leech.


Best,

A.

[Enuhal]

Good luck Saint and Shadow, well done Saros and Alesia!

Thisdan is now a level 12 sorcerer with randomized spelllist. For his first level 6 spell, he had bad luck and randomized Tensers Transformation. Really not that useful without any synergy considering his other spells.

This update includes mainly all the not yet finished minor Athkatla-Quests (not including anything too dangerous) and everything concerning trademeet.

Started with entering the temple district and accepting fallen paladins quest. I had a fire elemental distract them to make combat an easy win. Brought fake Ilithium to Sir Sarles and fought Neb, killing the ghosts with Sunray and using detect invisible to catch the murderer. Also acquired the Ring of Dawn with some smiting.

I brought the Storm Amulet to Mae'vae - on my way, I destroyed Xzar's disciples with some fast nuking spells and attacks.
Charged Rayic's home. Level 1 and Level 2 were easily finished, and I rested and buffed before entering Level 3. Even though I didn't have breach, Insect Plague disabled the wizards spell casting, thus making him an easy target.

Next was Mae'Var himself. I entered the building and was attacked by backstabbing thiefs. I somehow forgot that a successful backstab will kill any of my party members instantly, and at the second floor, this happened: Yoshimo was chunked by a 112 damage-backstab - not that horrible, I prefer Jan anyway. However, I started being very careful then and let Fire Elementals take care of Mae'var.

Went to the Slums to pick up Jan, and solved the Xzar/Montaron quest. On my way back, I killed the Pirates. Sold and bought several things, including a Sensate Amulet for Anomen and the Shield of Balduran. Also got the Staff of Rynn for Jaheira.

Next stop, the Druid Grove. After fighting several groups of trolls and spiders, the troll mound was the first important target. Focusing the damage on the important targets and summoning fire elementals was key here. I imagined it to be harder, but it went down pretty smoothly.

For the Shadow Druids, I worked with Jans 3m invisibilty and Insect Plague, effectivly disabling all of them. I used all of my offensive buffs and best equipment to quickly kill the Raksasha, and none of them managed to cast a single spell. Since I had a lot of spells left, I just destroyed the last druid group with ease.

Jaheira received all the buffs I had to offer. Basic strategy: Summon 2 Fire Elementals, 2 Forest Beings, Insect Plague, Flame Sword and attack. It worked.

Back in Trademeet, the group killed Rejiek and cleared the family crypt before buying all the important items from the trademeet merchant (including the blackblood club, mainly for De'Arnise keep, which will be my next stop).

[Saint of Sinners]

AnonymousHero wrote...

Unless you have some sort of mod which changes things, enemies don't have to hit you in the back to land a successful backstab. Them being invisible when attacking is enough.

Not quite with my games. I don't know if Rogue Rebalancing does this either, but I have never experienced backstabs from the front or side even in vanilla.

[AnonymousHero]

Saint of Sinners wrote...
Not quite with my games. I don't know if Rogue Rebalancing does this either, but I have never experienced backstabs from the front or side even in vanilla.

I'm a 99.9% certain that backstabs also occur when you're attacked from the front in vanilla. (People have speculated that it was done this way for ease of programming the AI.)

[Saint of Sinners]

AnonymousHero wrote...

I'm a 99.9% certain that backstabs also occur when you're attacked from the front in vanilla. (People have speculated that it was done this way for ease of programming the AI.)

I will accept this as fact, then. It seems highly difficult to script an enemy thief to always aim for the back anyway. Though, this bums me out because it just shows that some thieves in some ways are better than some PC characters will ever be, damage instance-wise. :/

Anyway, on to my run!

Meejee levels up upon exiting the dungeon. She also takes another level after answering the initial question in the circus quest. This was made possible by a thorough gathering and reading of scrolls. Since werewolves were now dealing a great deal of real damage for reasons I don't know, I skipped the circular room and proceeded straight to Kalah. One firebreath potion, goons down. One attack, Kalah's delusions of grandeur are gone. RoHI is mine.






Meejee then sold nearly everything she was able to pick up. She then bought a composite short bow, some arrows, more potions, some really helpful scrolls (even if I already got them inscribed), and the Robe of Vecna. This was quite a gamble at this point because I haven't rested yet to load up my spellbook and the following plan is a bit closer to suicide than I want.

The obligatory chapter change and Meejee sets out to the one place holding the key for early-game dominance: Watcher's Keep. As I predicted (and expected), Suna Seni interrupts the trip barely outside the Slums, even.



Two of her goons fall to a well timed invi potion baiting plus some arrows. The rest were taken out by a firebreath potion and oil of speed combo. Suna Seni fell easily enough with a second one. The thief died accidentally while I was running around with the firebreath activated. Arbane is mine.





Encountering no more hitches, Meejee arrives at Watcher's Keep and buys the Short Sword of Mask. This is a very powerful weapon at this point of the game, and is well worth the investment. Some more scrolls are bought, including a couple of semi-high level ones.



Back at the Copper Coronet, Meejee had no time to lose. She kills Amalas, discovers the slave ring, sets up a trap in a nearby corridor to prevent anyone from entering from that direction, and enters the prison and backstabs the guard there to prevent any call for back-up.





Agreeing to Hendak's demands, Meejee hunts down the Beastmaster, proceeds to damage him massively, and pulled back to use two fireball scrolls. This kills everyone but the Beastmaster, Tabitha, and two bears. Tabitha was the first to fall to a backstab. Next were the bears. Beastmaster was last. Meejee then freed Hendak and backstabbed Lehtinan herself. She was already fatigued at this point so she rested in merchant's trappings.






As discounts were in order, some really high-level scrolls were bought (Mordenkainen's, etc.) so that Meejee's XP will be augmented early on. She also buys Azuredge, as this will be a prime weapon of the second big risk-reward scenario at this point (the City Gates lich).

The sewers were managed with stealth. Only the bare minimum was done. Took the item under the grate using stealth, took out the lone hobgoblin shaman (there won't be others if you're under stealth unless you return, as seen below), took the ring, took out the kobold shaman (they won't go hostile if you kill him before he gets to talk to you), took the staff, took out Quallo's friend, took the blood. Finally, solved the quest and took Lilarcor.







She proceeds to the slaver warehouse, eviscerates the initial defenders with backstabs, and wiped out nearly half of the lot when Meejee decided to use Cloudkill because they were all in one room, including the wizards.





The wizards themselves fell to backstabs but not after a very lengthy trading of blows (Stoneskins are hard to handle at this point of time). Wasting an Animate Dead and Mons. Summ. III scrolls, Meejee went detour after detour, backstabbing all over the place until everyone fell.




Meejee paid one last visit to the sewers and cleaned up house.





The quest done, Meejee returned to Hendak but not before dispatching with Cohrvale and Bregg.




Still not enough gold for a lot of the planned purchases, but Meejee is already doing well with what she has. Anyway, will update again soon enough. I'm still playing right now and I just took a break to upload the pictures. Again, an album is set up for the other pics.

http://s421.photobuc...o NR/Segment 2/

Good luck to everyone! Cheers.

EDIT: Corrected some links.

Modifié par Saint of Sinners, 18 juin 2011 - 05:02 .

[Aldain]

Odrelomp's Escapades continues. When last leaving our hero, he was deciding on a course of action in the Den of the Seven Vales.
After some deliberation, it was decided that, even though Imoen's need of rescue was dire, it would not do to charge in poor as churchrats and as underequipped as a run-of-the-mill bandit. Meaning that even though normally when I want Imoen, I go after her the instant I have 15000, we'll be doing an extra sidequest this time to beef us up a little, xp- and gear-wise.

Helping rid the city of Slavers seemed a logical first stop. On the way to do so, Odrelomp was accosted by Amalas, and decided to teach the brute a lesson. However, it ended up being Amalas who taught Odrelomp one! As you may remember, Odrelomp is no physical juggernaut, and even though buffing amply before stepping into the ring, he only manages to get Amalas down to Injured before those buffs run out (being a lowly level 9 cleric).
After that it's essentially cat and mouse taking potshots with his sling, until a doomed Amalas fails his save vs poison and slowly succumbs



I actually quite like the Poison spell, even though it's ever so hard getting it to stick. But here it sure proved useful!
Anyhoo, the party rapidly clears the Copper Coronet of it's slaver infestation. No screenies since it went without incident (the wand of cloudkill from Irenicus' Dungeon was used to ensure none of the Beastmaster's animals posed a threat). Making our way through the sewers to the slaver's stronghold passes equally without issue, and then we're in the slaver's midst, Odrelomp once again providing tactical advice from the rear!


Mental Domination, another fine level 4 priest spell. Since we are less concerned with hogging every single point of XP available, and more with actually surviving, dominating the odd powerful enemy here and there seems a wise choice. Haegan is very helpful in cleaning up the mess of slaver guards we still have to contend with, but unfortunately turns on us before he can provide a meatshield against the trolls.


Alright, time to make a decision. We need a sixth party member. With Odrelomp, Jaheira and Aerie we have more than enough Divine power. Once we get Imoen back, we'll have a mage and a half total.. that should be adequate. Maybe another semi-frontliner to supplement Minsc? I eventually settle on Valygar. Yep, that means we'll be taking Tolgerias on with a party of level 9-10 characters... Odrelomp feels certain Tymora will grace them with victory, however.
On the way to pick up Valygar, Suna Seni and her chronies take a shot at Odrelomp. Silly slavers.


Following this, we successfully pick up Valygar and make our way back to the Sphere (naturally resting inbetween).
Entering the Sphere with a sense of foreboding, the party soon runs into trouble, as Minsc naturally fails his save and is stunned by a fishy bolt


This is exactly why Aerie now always has at least 2 Remove Paralysis memorized. The only thing you can rely on about Minsc's saves is that you can't rely on Minsc's saves. The party makes it through the encounter, slightly scuffed.

Alright, time for the first somewhat challenging fight. Having cleared the regular Halfling warriors that greet us, the party scout (Valygar) runs into an organized group of the fiends


Here, we'd usually cheese it a bit and send in summons piecemeal to suck up all the spells. But, feeling adventurous, Odrelomp foregoes such behaviour and instead prepares the entire party for a mighty battle! I even used a few potions, and that's a big thing when you're a packrat of my caliber. Off the party goes, to victory or death! The astute observer will note that even though we're not sending in summons one by one, we do have a wall of them to take the brunt of the onslaught.. no need to be stupid just because you're not being cheesy, after all


We actually get off to a good start. Not skimping on anything, Valygar is allowed to use some of our precious magical ammunition, the net result being that Togan falls before really doing anything


Then.. things take a turn for the worse. Kayardi tosses out a Symbol: Stun, and being so low level, our entire frontline is frozen!


Odrelomp keeps his wits about him however, and responds with a Silence spell.. and huzzah! Both priests fail their saving throws and are now essentially lowlevel fighters with one attack per round, insofar as how they can affect the battle. Aerie also finds the time to cast Remove Paralysis on the frontline, clearing that dreadful Stun effect


We're pulling out all the stops at this point. Some more summons are called in, and the party then sets to work taking down the priests before the Silence expires. I gave it a shot going after Kayardi first, but unsurprisingly he has enough protections to last half a lifetime, and Aerie has no Breach yet, so we leave him to unload his spells into our summoned wall while the priests are finished off


Here, I figure the battle is as good as won. Kayardi seems to be out of his more powerful spells.. but then this happens


This damn halfling just won't quit! Digging deep into our inventories, I find a Wand of Monster Summoning from the first dungeon, and figure hey.. no time like the present


The gnolls prove to be no laughing matter, and end up chopping Kayardi to pieces! Victory to Team Odrelomp!



Feeling slightly worn from the battle, and undoubtedly low on spells, we nevertheless decide to push on, just a little.
We of course run into the second Halfling group, though this one is a lot less lethal than the first


Why didn't I use that Insect Swarm on the first group you ask? Jaheira was disabled almost the entire battle, first Stunned, then Confused. But here it proves delightfully effective.. or well, not quite, since Taibela manages to escape it's area of effect! But hm.. she has no GoI up. Can a simple Hold actually work? Yes. Yes, it can


Since we're by no means low on healing magic yet, the party presses on: First, we light the furnaces


Valygar is actually more effective than I remembered. Since Minsc already has such a high strength, I let Valygar have the Gauntlets of Ogre Power. Lets him equip the good bows without hassle, and also gives him a really mean backstab. I'll have him start most fights with a backstab, then move off and plink away with arrows. Add his very good stealth into the mix (perfect scout), and he's overall a highly useful character.
Anyway, there's little left to do on this level of the Sphere but get the final piece for our guardian golem. Probably due to our (very) low average level, the opposition awaiting us in the final room is a single stone golem. Pfeh.


So! After all this excertion, the party is left standing outside Lavok's abode, after having properly rested in the Solamnic Knight's room, of course. Odrelomp remains a level 9 cleric, though frightfully close to level 10.

[Shadow_Leech07]

I've lost focus on my barbarian game. Namely I think I got frightened when Pooky cast a charm spell and I wasn't prepared for it, even though Faith saved against it, I just felt that it was really a luck job. I had shield of harmony in the inventory and I just really was disturbed at my lack of preparation. I've set the barbarian game aside and started numerous other games and ended up settling on a swashbuckler that will eventually dual to a fighter. I'm still unsure if I want to do this game or my priestess of helm who I also plan to dual to a fighter...hmmmm...decisions.

[Aldain]

Continuing from the previous post, Odrelomp and friends move on Lavok.
Here, we do utilize just a pinch of cheese. A single skeleton is sent in to absorb ADHW, but after that it's regular tactics.. a few summons up front to take the punishment while the party plinks away at range. Again due to the no Breach thing, it takes a while to down him...


Agreeing to grab a demon's heart for the dying Lavok, the party first explores the sidepassages. Not much to report, though we do find a tasty scroll on one of the Lizardmen


We've actually had tremendous luck with random scroll drops so far. Imoen will have a truly beefy spellbook once we get her back.
Anyway, it seems unwise engaging more demons than we absolutely have to given our overall fragility, so we opt for the closest one, just North of the Sphere.


He proves rather longlived (does this type of demon regenerate? I can't remember), but eventually, despite deathgaze galore, we manage to bring him down


After this, it's time for something that will separate the men from the boys... Tolgerias must die. Here I succumb completely to my darker impulses and just lame out utterly. Summons are sent in one at a time, and of course they all die horribly (Tolgerias being a level 18 or so mage, and having a summoning specialist mage around L12 with him)



Eventually, it seems Tolgerias grows confounded with all the wildlife marching stoically to their deaths against him, and so decide to investigate (he was probably trying to close the distance to a stunned Summon to cast Maze or something). Of course, this isn't good for the party...


Here I contemplate wimping out completely and running up the stairs.. but what is life without risk? Odrelomp decides to roll his dice and take his chances... and it does pay off! That spell of spells, Insect Swarm, manages to snag Tolgerias and turns him into a laughing stock!


With his spells neutralized, there's really nothing poor Tolgerias can do, but die painfully.. his mage flunky died moments before him


A celebratory rest later, the party tackles both the Ice and Fire rooms (why settle for the treasure of one when you can have both). Not much to report, the Efreeti makes a real nuisance of himself, but since the entire party is protected from fire, there's little he can do


After this, we fell the last few golems in the engine room, and are off back to the Prime!
A LOT of rests, heals and identify's later, we feel ready to go after Imoen. Vampires should prove no problem at this stage, since Minsc is assigned the Amulet of Power, making him the quintessential Vampire Slayer


Immune to level drain, immune to charm, and with a big honkin' +3 twohanded sword, Minsc should easily cleave a righteous path through any vampire.
Before we can get to that however, we get the Renfield ambush. Save him, kill Prebek, yaddayadda, usual stuff



Finally, we're on the hunt for vampires. We do make a quick detour to relieve Pai'Na of her lovely little spider figurine


Inside the vampire nest, it turns out the Greater Ghouls are actually more of a threat than the vampires.. the vampires can easily be baited into attacking Minsc, while the Greater Ghouls run haywire, attacking anyone and anything seemingly at random. Minsc gets held a couple of times, but overall we do alright



We clear the ambush downstairs, but due to Minsc being our preferred focus for Vampire aggression, we can't get past the Fledgling ones that block the entrance.. so we patiently mow them down, and in the meantime the Grimward Archers actually run out of arrows. Ah well, we emerge victorious regardless


Ugh, Tanova-Time. You guessed it, Aerie STILL has no breach (we're conserving money for the Underdark and so can't afford 1000g for int potions everytime we find a new scroll), so it's cheese deluxe time, once again. Singular summons are sent to their deaths. As tends to be the case, Tanova's simulacrum kills itself with a lightning bolt


Eventually out of everything except level 2 and below spells, we feel it's safe to engage Tanova. Slighty sour taste afterwards, but what can you do? Had we gone after her the regular way, she'd have utterly destroyed us


Dealing with the final Head Vampire means Bodhi shows up. She's even more of a softie than I remember, and manage to kill one single skeleton before running away, screaming like a little girl (at least that's how it plays out in my head).
I tried to lay down some traps, but Yoshi's 35 Set traps skill doesn't really lend itself well to that.. I managed to eeke out two of them.


Some minor tasks in Brynnlaw later (dealing with the Vampire ambush, saving some children yet again), the party can be seen below just as they are about to enter the Vulgar Monkey


Here we leave Odrelomp and his brave compatriots, for now. Odrelomp is now a level 11 Cleric of Lathander

[ussnorway]

Shadow_Leech07 wrote...
I've set the barbarian game aside and started numerous other games and ended up settling on a swashbuckler that will eventually dual to a fighter. I'm still unsure if I want to do this game or my priestess of helm who I also plan to dual to a fighter...hmmmm...decisions.

Why would you dual a swashbucker into fighter?

The swash gives up backstab to get better thac0 and the whirlwind ability both these things are negated by going fighter... It's your game of course but I'm a bit confused.

[Shadow_Leech07]

ussnorway wrote...

Shadow_Leech07 wrote...
I've set the barbarian game aside and started numerous other games and ended up settling on a swashbuckler that will eventually dual to a fighter. I'm still unsure if I want to do this game or my priestess of helm who I also plan to dual to a fighter...hmmmm...decisions.

Why would you dual a swashbucker into fighter?

The swash gives up backstab to get better thac0 and the whirlwind ability both these things are negated by going fighter... It's your game of course but I'm a bit confused.

Well she is dead currently due to my misconception that having eleven intelligence protections against the radiant imp, not sure if I wish to resurrect her.

It's a minimal advantage at best, a swashbuckler going to a fighter, but it's an advantage nevertheless. A swashbuckler to a fighter obviously has the find traps ability that is very useful in a solo, also the fallback strategy the useful set traps ability. Swashbucklers have an AC bonus and a ThAco bonus which interested me very much.
The sacrifice of several potential hitpoints is the downside though.

*Edit starting a new swashbuckler to fighter.

Modifié par Shadow_Leech07, 18 juin 2011 - 09:57 .

[Enuhal]

Thisdan, level 12 sorcerer with randomized spellbook.

De'Arnise keep was no problem, since my group is pretty much overleveled and overequipped for the area. Nobody took a single point of damage, and I didn't need to rest. Pretty much everything was tanked by an ironskinned Jaheira, didn't use a lot of spells.
After the first level, the party opened the gates, defeated the yuna'ti mage and Glacias before killing the Golems with some elemental help.
Downstairs, the still buffed party destroyed another group of trolls, minsc lured away the umber hulks and the party attacked Torgal, who was helpless against their power.

On the way back, I fought the central room trollgroup and forged the flail of ages. Sadly, Anomen doesn't really have enough weapon profiency points.

Back in Athkatla, I did some medium-difficult things like defeating the Bridge Party and exploring the crypts - fought some Spiders, buffed everyone with prot from fire before casting fireball to get Kittix, fought some undead - I mistakenly used fireball again which turned my two fire elementals hostile even though they are immune - and, after clearing the crypt, took Korgan with me.

I left Anomen at CC and finished the Book of Kazaa quest, then took Anomen with me again.
Decided to pay Gaelan now and obtained Amulet of Power and +2 ring, fought Lassal and killed the traitors.

I also went to Windspear Hills to do the optional parts of the dungeon not including Firkraag, and killed the wolfweres, but I forgot both the Key for the Labyrinth and Tansheron's Bow for the Adamantite Golem - so back again. In Athkatla, Jan's personal quest started, and right now I am having a dialogue bug where every time I enter Jans home, he attempts to start conversation, but it doesn't work and he tries again and again... mh. Trying to fix this now.

[saros_shadow_follower]

A little add-on, Astarta's adventures:

After completing the Screaming Statue challenge, the party exploited up to 2 350 000 PC xp. Meaning  Saros, Torham and Jack Sparrow all got a level-up. Afterwards the party visited Watcher's keep (for the first time), bought all useful scrolls and other items from the Helmites, entered level 1 of WK, killed four Noble Trolls (immune to +2 or less weapons fighter-type improved trolls) and two Spirit ones (vanilla), and found this random monster spawn in the fireplace room (via Farsight of course). The things that look like Skeleton Warriors are Lords, Warlords and even one Grandlord (immune to weapons +3 or less and highly resistant to slashing and piercing damage, and even somewhat to crushing). Those that look like Stone Golems are actually Gem and Coin ones - much tougher. And there is one Greater Bone Golem too. That group would be the bane to this no-reload party at current levels, so this fight has to be postponed a bit.

Next, the party set foot for Trademeet, killed the Djinnis, got the prize for that (Shield of Harmony), agreed to help Cernd, and went to the Druid Grove.

The first improved encounter in the grove is the regular spider spawn, which now consists of a Killer, a Spirit, a lesser spirit and 3-4 Sword spiders. Easy.

The next improved encounter is the 6 or 8 (unsure) Noble Trolls guarding the entrance of the Troll Mound. The party decided to take those on, which cost them dearly. Both Saros and Torham, despite their good AC, were brought to near-death several times (despite the healing potions, the Greater Restoration spell and even Oil of Resurgence - regenerates 6 HP per round for 10 rounds). Torham fell in the middle of combat, however Temp and Saros managed to slay the remaining 2-3 Noble Trolls and the vanilla ones (Giant trolls, Spirit trolls). Temp resurrected Torham afterwards.

The following improved encounter was the guardians of the entrance to the grove - easily slain.

Astarta easily defeated Faldorn in the duel (Magic Missiles), got the Staff of Thunder and Lightning, rested inside the Grove, got the Root of the Problem club (unnerfed - inflicts +1 acid damage per each strike, as in vanilla), and went to Trademeet. There the party helped Raissa up to casting Lesser Restoration on her, also bought everything they needed from the local merchants.

Then the party travelled to the city to forge the Treefolk's arm club. Can be used only by Druids or Rangers, though.

Finally, the party went back to the grove, killed Nithirili (or something) the troll shaman, and her three trolls, were rewarded by the Spirit of the Grove, and (with enough +3 crushing weapons at their disposal) fought with Belm's guardian (a Ghost spider who gates in several more minor spiders - a Whisper, a Killer, a Spirit and a Lesser spirit one). The Ghost spider managed to dispel Temp's protections with a successful hit (including the Free Action and Chaotic Commands) however by that time all the other spiders were slain, and although the Ghost spider immediately shot his Improved Web,  Temp was the only one caught in it, while Saros and Torham (with active Free Action) killed the spider in a couple of seconds.

Currently, the party is exploiting some more. Temp is level 7-17, Saros is lvl 17, Torham is lvl 15, Jack is lvl 19, and the two mages are lvl 16. Will exploit up to mage level 18 (really need that Wish spell).