Congrats on defeating Sendai, Corey! Almost there!
Condolences on the loss of Tank.
Best,
A.
Btw. With regards to spell book depletion: Can you comment on your use of Projected Image? Have you found it helpful? Is there something preventing you from using it?
Btw II. I provide additional comments on your spell books when I get the chance.
Condolence, Aasim.
Sounds like Tanova played her hand well. Con Drain->PW:S is a great move.
What's next?
Best,
A.
Good to see Ruzzel persevering, even if with diminished resources. I hope he can teach Mel a lesson.
Me too. I am uncertain. Up to this point, I have only defeated Melissan by melee avenues (I'm including summons in the melee avenues). Up to this point, my mages would mostly just pierce magic/true sight/breach Melissan, and maybe some horrid wiltings on the pool enemies. Trying to beat her with magic is an entirely new thing for me. Now that Tank died, I no longer have access to GWW, so magic is going to have to do most of the work.
Congrats on defeating Sendai, Corey! Almost there!
Condolences on the loss of Tank.
Best,
A.
Btw. With regards to spell book depletion: Can you comment on your use of Projected Image? Have you found it helpful? Is there something preventing you from using it?
Btw II. I provide additional comments on your spell books when I get the chance.
Thanks for the congrats. Glad to make it past Sendai. It was too bad about Tank, but of of the Five, Sendai has always done the most chunkings of my party. We were heavily protected by fire, so her sunfires/fireballs weren't a threat, but her Harm/hit 'em hard combo is still pretty effective at chunking my tanks. I really should only attack her cleric form with range attacks but I often can't tell when I'm fighting her cleric.
As to my use of Projected Image - can I comment? Yes. I never cast the spell, not even once (though maybe I should have in the fight with the Woodcutter). It was only memorized as Ruzzel just didn't have anything better to memorize. Fortunately, thanks to Lazarus in Amkethran, Ruzzel now has some useful level 8 spells, so those have replaced PI. (Bigby's Hand, Improved Mantle, Maze, Spell Trigger)
I'm glad to hear that Ruzzel has Spell Trigger. Any thoughts on how you'll use it?
As to my use of Projected Image - can I comment? Yes. I never cast the spell, not even once (though maybe I should have in the fight with the Woodcutter). It was only memorized as Ruzzel just didn't have anything better to memorize. Fortunately, thanks to Lazarus in Amkethran, Ruzzel now has some useful level 8 spells, so those have replaced PI. (Bigby's Hand, Improved Mantle, Maze, Spell Trigger)
Are you restricting use of Projected Image because you find it overpowered, or have you just not experimented with it yet?
Projected Image is a L7 spell. If you are running out of spells on a regular basis, then you should consider using it. It duplicates your entire spell book, at the cost of a L7 spell, dramatically increasing the number of spells that can be cast inbetween rests.
For an illustration of Projected Image based spell book management in an extended fight, check out Alicia's insane Ascension solo. Alicia did not wish rest during this fight. Use of Projected Image insured that she never ran out of spells.
http://forum.bioware...ttle-on-insane/
Note that Projected Images can be dispelled by True Sight and Remove. If those spells are a threat, have your PI cast SI:D + SI:A ASAP. Castin Improved Alacrity first is often the best move, although there are situations when SI:D->IA->SI:A makes more sense.
Note also that the caster is held in stasis while the PI is active. Positioning, buffs, and invisibility can keep the caster safe while in stasis. Consider Contingency: Helpless- Otiluke's and or other Helpless Contingencies. PI stasis will trigger Contingencies set to helpless.
Projected Image can also be used in the context of infinite spell strategies. A mage with a sufficiently high wisdom, along with Wish, Spell Trap, Power Word:Kill, Projected Image and Power Word: Stun can essentially get free wishes and therefore infinite spells. Have a mage cast Spell Trap from her book (SotM Spell Trap won't work). Then, have the mage cast Projected Image. Next, have the Projected Image fire one Power Word: Kill and one Power Word: Stun into the mage's Spell Trap. The power words will replenish the two spells that had been cast by the real mage, Spell Trap and Projected Image. All the spells in the PI's book are now freebies, including Wish if that had been memorized. This is difficult to execute in combat, but it can be done in between battles, including in between battles at the Throne. Just don't screw up and PW:K yourself: make sure that Spell Trap is active.
Best,
A.
@Alesia: I'll respond to your post a little later, but I am not sure why we were talking about Projected Image, as my level 8 spells were Simulacrum - or were you saying I should use it?
Condolence, Aasim.
Sounds like Tanova played her hand well. Con Drain->PW:S is a great move.
What's next?
Yeah, especially since she was under Mislead, gaining +4 to hit bonus, cheesy punk... I'll get her next time.
Swashbuckler is next. I've also made one more kit for vanilla BG2- Dwarven Defender; albeit it's more in line with it's DnD incarnation then EE version. So I'm gonna squeeze him in as well - it will be a custom party.
I will use one more custom kit; called Warsling Sniper (not my own, it's from Spellhold Studios - I will tweak it slightly, but more on that later).
I'm glad to hear that Ruzzel has Spell Trigger. Any thoughts on how you'll use it?
Are you restricting use of Projected Image because you find it overpowered, or have you just not experimented with it yet?
Projected Image is a L7 spell. If you are running out of spells on a regular basis, then you should consider using it. It duplicates your entire spell book, at the cost of a L7 spell, dramatically increasing the number of spells that can be cast inbetween rests.
For an illustration of Projected Image based spell book management in an extended fight, check out Alicia's insane Ascension solo. Alicia did not wish rest during this fight. Use of Projected Image insured that she never ran out of spells.
http://forum.bioware...ttle-on-insane/
Note that Projected Images can be dispelled by True Sight and Remove. If those spells are a threat, have your PI cast SI:D + SI:A ASAP. Castin Improved Alacrity first is often the best move, although there are situations when SI:D->IA->SI:A makes more sense.
Note also that the caster is held in stasis while the PI is active. Positioning, buffs, and invisibility can keep the caster safe while in stasis. Consider Contingency: Helpless- Otiluke's and or other Helpless Contingencies. PI stasis will trigger Contingencies set to helpless.
Projected Image can also be used in the context of infinite spell strategies. A mage with a sufficiently high wisdom, along with Wish, Spell Trap, Power Word:Kill, Projected Image and Power Word: Stun can essentially get free wishes and therefore infinite spells. Have a mage cast Spell Trap from her book (SotM Spell Trap won't work). Then, have the mage cast Projected Image. Next, have the Projected Image fire one Power Word: Kill and one Power Word: Stun into the mage's Spell Trap. The power words will replenish the two spells that had been cast by the real mage, Spell Trap and Projected Image. All the spells in the PI's book are now freebies, including Wish if that had been memorized. This is difficult to execute in combat, but it can be done in between battles, including in between battles at the Throne. Just don't screw up and PW:K yourself: make sure that Spell Trap is active.
Best,
A.
I was planning on using it as defense (things like improved mantle > mirror image > blur) - I used it this way against the Captain that you have to duel in Sendai's Lair - it was quite helpful to allow me to cast some spells. Although I ran out of offensive spells and eventually was forced to MMM and kite him around till he gave it up.
As for projected image - I am just uncertain on its strengths and weaknesses - was just uncertain when and how I would use such a spell. I also remember one of Grond0's wild mages ending because of PI against Balthazar and didn't want the same thing to happen to me.
@Alesia: I'll respond to your post a little later, but I am not sure why we were talking about Projected Image, as my level 8 spells were Simulacrum - or were you saying I should use it?
My initial question was about Projected Image.
Btw. With regards to spell book depletion: Can you comment on your use of Projected Image? Have you found it helpful? Is there something preventing you from using it?
As to my use of Projected Image - can I comment? Yes. I never cast the spell, not even once
I thought you had replied as I had intended, although perhaps you had said Projected Image when you were really thinking of Simulacrum.
I had asked about Projected Image because it is the single most important spell book management spell. It's an obvious spell to recommend to a mage who is running out of spells. It's also an obvious spell to recommend to a mage who is thinking about Wish resting: Wish is far less reliable if you aren't multiplying your Wishes via PIs.
While PI can be used safely in the thick of heavy combat, as Alicia's battle demonstrates, it can get you into trouble if you don't have a command of the details. Casting Projected Image will freeze the caster, leaving him vulnerable to attack. You have to have a strategy for keeping the immobilized caster safe. There are a number, some involving Helpless Contingencies. Before using Projected Image in combat, you should probably experiment with it in your Pocket Plane to get comfortable with the mechanics. Consider having some one other than Ruzzel use it at first.
Best,
A.
My initial question was about Projected Image.
I thought you had replied as I had intended, although perhaps you had said Projected Image when you were really thinking of Simulacrum.
I had asked about Projected Image because it is the single most important spell book management spell. It's an obvious spell to recommend to a mage who is running out of spells. It's also an obvious spell to recommend to a mage who is thinking about Wish resting: Wish is far less reliable if you aren't multiplying your Wishes via PIs.
While PI can be used safely in the thick of heavy combat, as Alicia's battle demonstrates, it can get you into trouble if you don't have a command of the details. Casting Projected Image will freeze the caster, leaving him vulnerable to attack. You have to have a strategy for keeping the immobilized caster safe. There are a number, some involving Helpless Contingencies. Before using Projected Image in combat, you should probably experiment with it in your Pocket Plane to get comfortable with the mechanics. Consider having some one other than Ruzzel use it at first.
Best,
A.
I see. Rather than experiment so late into the run, could I not just use 3 Wishes for Ruzzel? Combined with Stealer's traps, I think that would be be enough to both care of Melissan and the pools. We aren't going to run out of spells for anything but her encounter by this point.
I see. Rather than experiment so late into the run, could I not just use 3 Wishes for Ruzzel? Combined with Stealer's traps, I think that would be be enough to both care of Melissan and the pools. We aren't going to run out of spells for anything but her encounter by this point.
The chance of getting the option to refresh spells using wish is relatively low - even with 3 wishes memorized you would be far from certain to be successful if you don't use some sort of spell supplementing. Even if you don't want to use the infinite spell techniques Alesia referred to, memorising a couple of project images would triple the number of wish attempts you have - and then you really would have to be unlucky not to be able to wish-rest.
Another spell you might want to consider is PW: blind. A spell trigger triple lower resistance followed up by PW: blind is difficult for enemies to combat and makes managing the minutiae of combat a lot easier.
The chance of getting the option to refresh spells using wish is relatively low - even with 3 wishes memorized you would be far from certain to be successful if you don't use some sort of spell supplementing.
Yes. Even with a wisdom of 18 you only have a ~20% chance, per casting, of getting the rest option.
Even if you don't want to use the infinite spell techniques Alesia referred to, memorising a couple of project images would triple the number of wish attempts you have - and then you really would have to be unlucky not to be able to wish-rest.
Agreed.
Another spell you might want to consider is PW: blind. A spell trigger triple lower resistance followed up by PW: blind is difficult for enemies to combat and makes managing the minutiae of combat a lot easier.
Agreed.
Best,
A.
Yes. Even with a wisdom of 18 you only have a ~20% chance, per casting, of getting the rest option.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Best,
A.
20% chance? That's important to know, thanks! What's ironic about all of this is I accidentally cast wish since I didn't recognize the icon (was looking for spell trigger), and got the refresh my spells on 1st attempt...too bad was in pocket plane so wasn't particularly relevant then...
The chance of getting the option to refresh spells using wish is relatively low - even with 3 wishes memorized you would be far from certain to be successful if you don't use some sort of spell supplementing. Even if you don't want to use the infinite spell techniques Alesia referred to, memorising a couple of project images would triple the number of wish attempts you have - and then you really would have to be unlucky not to be able to wish-rest.
Another spell you might want to consider is PW: blind. A spell trigger triple lower resistance followed up by PW: blind is difficult for enemies to combat and makes managing the minutiae of combat a lot easier.
That sounds like a good reason to memorize two PIs then - will do so, thanks for the tip.
As for the PW: Blind tip - I don't think anyone even knows that spell, so looks like I will have to pass on that.
Aphril, Elven Sorcerer: Torgal (Or The Audition)
Prior to the party's showdown with Torgal, Aphril explained the party rules to Nalia. We eat together, we drink together, we buff together and we fight together. But no one takes the ship down with them. If your defenses are compromised, you take yourself out of the equation before you endanger anyone else. Nalia nodded. She understood. But she was also nervous.
Under-levelled and underpowered relative to her new teammates, Nalia feared she would be unable to contribute. Meeting the party's defensive standards alone would put a strain on her resources. Her concern was justified. But in the end, the party triumphed, Nalia contributed and, once again, no injuries were taken.
As usual, everyone took Pro Cold and Pro Fire. Aerie, Adara, and Aphril received Protection from Energy. Everyone took an armor spell along with Stoneskins, Resist Fear, Haste, Pro Evil, Blur, Mirror Image, Improved Invisibility, Spell Immunity: Divination and Spell Immunity: Abjuration. Adara and Aphril received Chaotic Commands, while Aerie wielded Harmony. Nalia drank a Potion of Clarity. Nalia and Aerie took MGoI. Aphril took GoI.
With the buffing complete, the party got into position. Nalia opened with a Malison.
That was quickly followed by a trio of Sunfires from Aphril, Adara, and Aerie.
After detonating their spells, the party pulled back, tossing meteors as they fled. When their auras cleared, Aphril and Adara lit off a second round of Sunfires while Aerie cast a Holy Smite. Nalia took a shot at disabling the yuan-ti mages with a Chaos.
Torgal's melee support had been devastated, but Torgal himself was still on his feet and his mages were still in the game. The yuan-ti mages went to work on Adara and Nalia's defenses while the party finished Torgal. Torgal would soon fall, but Adara and Nalia had both been compromised: they had lost their Spell Immunities to Spell Thrust. They were both now vulnerable to Remove.
The Remove landed just as Torgal fell. Adara protections held, but Nalia's did not.
To Nalia's credit, she understood what she had to do. Without her specific protections, she had become a liability. She immediately quaffed a Potion of Invisibility and withdrew from combat. For her, the battle was over.
With the compromised Nalia out of the picture -and with Adara's specific protections still in place- the party could resume its AoE assault. Spell Thrusts from Aphril cleared the way for Skull Traps and Holy Smites while the last of the Sunfires were put into play.
Last mage.
Nalia had been a weak link, to be sure. But she contributed and she knew when to quit. Aphril, Adara and Aerie now have to decide whether to keep her. They'll reach a decision soon.
Best,
A.
Ruzzel and his band of mages, thief/mage and Keldorn - FINAL Update!
Ruzzel and gang managed to fight their way to Balthazar's Lair. I didn't use summons for Balthazar (at first), but should have, as the 6x horrid wiltings weren't enough. It was a long battle, but with the help of summons we did prevail.
I thought I had real good prep for Ravager, 6 spike traps, 5 summons, buffs and 6x horrid wilting contigencies. We injured it badly, but we weren't able to finish it off right away. One by one the party fell, until it was only Exploder and Ruzzel left. We tried MMs, we tried dragon breaths, we tried pierce magics/lower resists, but Ravager would not die.
Eventually it was just Ruzzel left - he tried to range attack Ravager, but the large mass of bone blades was making that difficult.
However, Ravager's range attacks were overwhelming Ruzzel - Ruzzel couldn't keep his health up, and he fell.
RIP Ruzzel.
Condolences, Corey.
It's a shame to see Ruzzel fall so close to the finish line.
Best,
A.
Btw. The Ravager has 100% fire resistance, which is why Dragon's Breath won't work against him. He's vulnerable to magic damage, but he has 90% magic resistance and also has immunity to Lower Resistance.
The level 8 spell Pierce Shield can be used to lower the Ravager's magic resistance. After that, he'll be vulnerable to magic damage spells, including Wilting.
Energy Blades and Melf's Minute Meteors also work well against him.
My condolences Corey, 
but also congratulations on a very good run, especially considering your limited affinity with magic.
I think Stealer could have used teh Reflection Shield against the Ravager's ranged attacks, but that's water under the bridge now...
Thanks you two. I have to say one of the goals of the run was met - that is, I'm better with magic. I will be able to use the mages in my parties better and more effectively. Also, I learned where some of the important spells were (such as spell trigger and chain contingency) - I will be able to use such info for future runs.
Incidentally, we were using MMM's on him when Ravager was near death, but it took a while to get through his stoneskins I think. Perhaps ironically, if I had Tank's GWWs Ravager probably would have went down...
That's a shame Corey. With an all mage party mordy swords are great against the Ravager - a single one can occupy all the bone blades, while another can soak up most of the Ravager's attacks. As Alesia noted a few castings of MMMs by each mage would quickly take him down if they are attacking uninterrupted (concentrated fire from everyone means stoneskins are only a minor hindrance).
I remember finding ravager quite hard also. 2 npcs died which I immidiately resurrected, and Eren's Holy avenger dispelled all protections on the beast making it easier for us to hit it...
GL with next.
Cheers!
Corey....when I saw that "final update" I was certain to see Mel...but it was fairly clear after the first screenshot something went horribly wrong .
Btw. It's good to hear from you ussnorway!
Best,
A.
A status report and a question. Question first:
My party is at spellhold and my plan has been to recruit Imoen (replacing Jan). I tried to be careful to generate the level 13 version of Imoen (1.2mm exp) vs. the level 11 version (400k exp). I even broke my personal rule about "testing" (i.e. creating a temporary fork from the no-reload tree where I could try things out) to make sure I got it right. Unfortunately, my certainty that I would spawn the level 11 version in the test run, given my understanding of the script mechanics, combined with my surprise at spawning the level 13 version caused me to make a grave error and assume that BG2:EE fixed the (in my opinion) silly requirements to spawn the level 13 version. This meant that after the test run on my "real run" I did not perfectly retrace my steps and spawned the level 11 version, costing Imoen 800k experience.
I don't want to reload, and I also don't want to play the rest of the run with a gimped Imoen because I forgot to level up Haerdalis before stepping in the door to Spellhold (I remembered only at the moment of entering the dungeon, right before Imoen joined), so was thinking of just adding a level 13 Imoen to my party via a mod. Is that remotely kosher? I guess alternatively I'm considering going to a 5 member party, at least through the rest of SoA. How much harder is that likely to be?
---
Anyhow, I am attempting a no-reload SCS run through SoA (EE). I've previously completed a "few reload" run where I limited reloads to 1 per chapter. It amazes me how much more interesting the game is without reloads, and I was glad to have the excuse for another reason to play what is a great game with a new angle that makes it interesting. I first completed SoA around the time it came out more than a decade ago, and after a long absence played through it again around maybe 5-7 years ago in a solo run.
This run is the farthest I've gotten so far. Prior runs ended on Neera's quest (twice - ouch). First was to a buff cast rolling petrify on my charname while in the wild forest. Embarrassing, but thems the breaks. Amazingly, I managed to die on the same quest my next run; I've decided its actually a somewhat deceptively difficult question because the danger it represents is materially different from other quests at this stage of the game. The second death was during the fight at the red wizard enclave. As people playing EE may know, the fight is segmented into a few parts: a fight with the merchant mages outside the first locked door; a fight in the bar where it is easy to recruit the thayan mercenaries against the red wizards; and a final fight against the boss and her lackies.
Due to what I think is probably poor design, if an opponent in the first fight opens the locked door (not sure why this sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't), all the thayan mercenaries and the red wizards in the second fight will go hostile and join in (i.e. the mercenaries are no longer allies). This leads to a giant fight against several dozen mages and fighters. Anyhow, I did not sufficiently quickly realize how much trouble I was in and my charname went from injured -> dead before I could clear my aura and get a potion down.
Next most successful prior run ended at the shade lord. I think this may have been a bug, but I didn't realize it at the time. After killing the altar and patrick, I was facing the shade lord (who had cast black blade of disaster). I was worried about potentially taking hits from the black blade on my charname, because I knew it could instakill disintegrate, but I carefully checked that he had death ward and felt confident. Cut almost immediately to the death screen. I initially though death ward did not protect against black blade, which is not the case at least in my install. Then I thought maybe I simultaneously took a crit (kensai, no helmet) and globe of blades damage which could have done enough to take me from ~120hp to -10 shown on the death screen in one hit. I've since learned that there is some buggy behavior with the shade lord where some of his improved version scripts can instakill party members. I don't know whether this was the cause; in either case I treated it as a death and restarted.
---
This run I am playing with:
Charname (kensai -> mage) - I know the kensai / mage is a bit gimmicky but its challenging up until you get the kensai levels back, which I have not, and I wanted something different than the fighter / illusionist I had been playing recently. For what it's worth, it surprises me that there seems to be such a strong opinion that k / m dual > than f / m multi. F/m has no downtime, far more total HLA's as well as the fighter HLAs, helmets (no crits!), bracers (at least +2 damage, i.e. half the level 13 kensai bonus...) and the ability to wear robes, which is a bit marginal but still helpful. He gives up half an attack from no grandmastery, as well as a few points of damage and AC and gets level 9 spells considerably later. I guess a decent trade if you are using reloads, but for a no-reload run kensai / mage is I think at a marked disadvantage.
Jaheira - great NPC, although SCS nerfs her bug spells to be blocked by fireshields, which tend to be omnipresent on mages. Dual wielding with belm + getting her a strength buff makes for a great tanky + high damage fighter, with the only shortcoming of course being that she can't cast spell immunity. Iron skins are great; bug spells are great. Nature's beauty is brutal as a no-save permanent AoE blind that cuts through mage protections later on (although unfortunately not through magic resistance).
Haerdalis - the poor mans fighter / mage (or fighter / mage / thief depending on your point of view). I haven't played with him before but having been looking forward to making him into a beast
Viccy - need a cleric and I like her pure class for its early access of powerful spells and resistance to dispelling (later on anyway). Getting her to 100 magic resistance also isn't that hard and can be a helpful edge when a battle is going south but she stays healthy
Jan -> Imoen. Normally I play with Jan because he is a thief with thief HLAs and a decent mage. The plan this run is to use Imoen as a superior mage and Haerdalis provides the trap HLAs. I have never once played with Imoen, so looking forward to that (or I was...)
Edwin - a beast, enough said
---
So far this run I am up to spell hold, as stated earlier. I had one close call in Firkraag's dungeon where I rested near the vampire spawn when all my buffs had worn off and I was almost out of spells. Shadows + shadowfiends spawned (not great, but OK) and PULLED THE VAMPIRES which include about half a dozen ancient and elder vampires. What I should have done was immediately use potions of clarity and protection from undead scrolls. What I instead did was get everybody charmed and/or killed including my charname charmed. Viccy was the only one who stayed healthy.
Fortunately, my charname was not killed while charmed, so the second it wore off I drank a potion of invisibility and ran away with Viccy. For roleplaying reasons, I didn't feel comfortable resurrecting everyone outside and resting and going back in (rationale being that their bodies were still trapped inside). It was at this point I remembered that I had both azureedge and two protection for undead scrolls. Long story short, went back and murdered all the vampires and breathed a sigh of relief.
I have done all the chapter 2/3 content except liches, planar sphere, dragons, planar prison, unseeing eye, twisted rune or the mindflayers. I felt things were going well up until my issue with spawning Imoen at 11...
Retour en haut
