15237 réponses à ce sujet

[Alesia_BH]

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.

That makes sense to me. I've noticed myself getting backstabbed in the chest. And if I tried to use obstacles to foil backstabbers, it never seemed to work.

I've had apparent success using summons (ie- with Ashanti) but the additional targets were just decreasing the odds of getting hit I suppose...


Best,

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alesia's Game:

Alesia is currently making her way through Spellhold. She hasn't been doing much fighting really.

When she was ambushed by Valen and pals, she simply stealthed to the Inn, took a nap, and awoke to a sunny, vampire-less morning. She convinced Desharik she was nuts.

In the Maze, she's been stealthing by most foes. When she needs to pick up something (ie- Mithril Tokens) she uses her Sphere Traps to render enemies harmless and waltzes past. The only kills so far have been the Tome creatures, the Kobolds, Dace, the Minotaurs, and one Troll who made his save against Otiluke Resilient Sphere.

I'll let you know if and when she reaches Irenicus.

Best,

A.

Btw. She's at Level 18 now.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 18 juin 2011 - 11:50 .

[BronxH]

Hi all an good luck to all runners!

As a long time fan of this great game I decided to try to play a no-reload game.
Most probably I will fail since I have choosen a rather weird dualclass character a Wizard Slayer / Cleric.

No difficulty mods installed just patched SoA+ToB with some tweaks and fixes (nothing that changes the rules)


Difficulty: Hard
Marcellus
Atts: Str: 18/76 Dex: 18 Con: 10 Int: 10 Wis: 17 Cha:10
First roll with redistributed points to reach 18 Str, 18 Dex and 17 Wis (latter is a requirement of a Cleric Dual).
Profiences: 3 Flail, 3 Two Weapon fighting 
Lawful Neutral
www.imagebam.com/image/fd3ba1137050014

Without Stealth and Saving Throw improving spells the Irenicus dungeon is a dangerous place but with some luck I could avoid the disables of Mephits. Traps were very painful; the one that guarded the Baldur helm almost killed Marcellus. He aproached trapped sectors with full HP always and managed to survive the room with the Portal Key (Extra HP from the Bhaalspawn power Vampiric Touch helped here).
As a fighter Marcellus didnt have much problem in melee fights.

Leaving the dungeon, after selling some stuff to Ribald, Marcellus decided to enter the Circus tent. After killing the 2 orcs for the Ogre's sword he reached lvl9 and dualed to Cleric. Freeing Aarie provided enough experience to get 5 Cleric levels (or 6 I dont reallly remember). Using Dispel Magic and Turn Undead, Marcellus could clean the next level of the "tent". Went back and rested next to Aarie then entered the 3rd level. With some luck he could cast dispel before the first Werewolf could interrupt his casting, turn undead frightened the shadows then he used Spiritual Hammers to improve his terrible melee (www.imagebam.com/image/dee24a137050047) and managed to kill the gnome.

This was a very tough period of Marcellus' life, with awful melee skills he had to use Cleric spells to advance. Even clearing the Copper Coronet wasnt easy and there was a moment when I thought it is all over, but his skellies saved his hmm.. life (www.imagebam.com/image/ad208a137050057). He faced more carefully the Beastmaster (www.imagebam.com/image/ca1785137050067), though Holy Smite didnt hurt him (he is not evil it seems) but a Glyph of Warding and skeleton minions finished the Beastmaster (fortunately the hard hitting Grizzly stayed in his room). 

Now Marcellus went to explore the city and tried avoiding fights (Sanctuary helped in these situations).  
After completing some missions without major fights Marcellus was now lvl9 Cleric with still locked WS levels. He has bought The Sleeper (+2 Morning Star with the chance to sleep an opponent)  from Joluv who strangely enough camped outside of the Copper Coronet (www.imagebam.com/image/9dd22d137050157).  

He felt himself strong enough to face the Slavers now; there were some hot moments (www.imagebam.com/image/97a002137050072) but finally slowly he could clean the sewers and kill the slavers (using Hold, Holy Smite, Animate dead mostly). Free Action and Chaotic Command made him immune to most disablers and with Find Traps it was a slow but safe mission for him.
He reported back to Hendak and finally reached lvl10 gaining back WS levels (www.imagebam.com/image/dc9499137050094).  

He completed some quests in Athkatla including the fallen paladins, and finding Montaron.
He couldnt resist the charming Raelis Shai and went down to the Sewers to find Hear'dalis. His Wizard Slaying side has shined when he fought Mekrath because the Spellfailer hits actually work through Stoneskin and Prot from X Weapon protections. With 3 attacks Marcellus could quickly land 10 hits for 100% spellfailure to Mekrath then he was nothing more than a weak commoner (www.imagebam.com/image/6cd610137050137).

With enough wealth Marcellus bought the awesome Defender of Easthaven +2 Flail, very nice wepon which synergies well with Armor of Faith providing nice physical resistances: www.imagebam.com/image/96218e137050183.

He packed up and traveled to the D'Arnise Keep to help the girl he met in the Copper Coronet. A dude named Daleson mentioned that the Lord of the Keep had a Magical Flail so Marcellus became even more excited. First level was easy (seems at lvl11 no Spirit Trolls show up). On the second level he faced a Yuan-Ti mage who actually after Marcellus' Silence spell didnt even turned hostile and was slaughtered easily by him ( a tactic that worked against Rayic Gertras as well). Killed the treasure room Golems one by one excluding the Iron Golem. Marcellus stole the Flail head, cast Sanctuary and retreated to forge the fantastic Flail of Ages.  

On the 3rd level of the keep he decided to cast Sanctuary to sneak past the Umber Hulks and attract them to the tunnel (www.imagebam.com/image/9828ce137050202). The path was now clear to TorGal. Marcellus expected a tougher fight but Blade Barrier, Flame Strike and generally his formidable melee capabilities made that fight easy. (www.imagebam.com/image/f871af137050224)

He agreed to lead the keep and traveled back to Athkatla.  There he has finished Meavar and his guild (they tend to fail thier saving throws agains disables while Trueseeing prevented backstabs).  After contacting Aarin Linvail Marcellus went to the Promenade to sell some stuff and was very dissapointed when Ribald offered only 150 gold for the Amulet of Power. (www.imagebam.com/image/d7cbd2137050253)

As a cleric Marcellus had to answer the call of the Church of Helm (though he favors Tempus) now and investigating the Cult of the Eyeless. Level 14 Cleric now his Turn Undead skill kills most shadows and other undead (www.imagebam.com/image/584a12137050265). First time facing Gauths and a Beholder Marcellus used Holy Smite to damage heavily them but he almost fell (www.imagebam.com/image/4b58ba137050279), healed up and summoned an Aerial Servant (a strong ally indeed) who finished the pesky creatures (www.imagebam.com/image/fe8c7a137050302). With getting the Rod Marcellus leveled to 15 which means powerful Skeleton Warriors from Animate Dead.
He abused this in the Beholder Lair; 2 Skeleton Warriors has taken out the Beholders easily (www.imagebam.com/image/163980137050360). Then he turned against the priests in the middle, after 2 Holy Smites he made a big mistake. He ran into battle unprotected and a Cloak of Fear spell panicked him, as you can see he even lost his armor but fortunately Skeleton Warriors killed the priests before they could harm Marcellus (www.imagebam.com/image/1a23e6137050419). The Boss Beholder went down immediately by the Rod and by the still unharmed Skeleton Warriors. 

Marcellus is now heading to Trademeet.

Modifié par BronxH, 18 juin 2011 - 01:07 .

[Shadow_Leech07]

My second swashbuckler has fallen, this time to the mimic in Imnsvale. I think I'm getting a bit clumsy now. I'll think next about what I'm going to do.

[Alesia_BH]

Welcome BronxH! And Good Luck!


A.

[Shadow_Leech07]

I'm liking this character a lot, the aforementioned Priestess of Helm
Chloe Vineyard Female Human Chaotic Neutral
Str 18 Dex 18 Con 18 Int 10 Wis 16 Char 10

I'll dual her when she gets her second seeking sword.

[Aldain]

Alright, Odrelomp and gang are rested and ready, let's get this show on the road.
Before we can blast away Spellhold however, we need to find a way in. Not wanting to coddle slaving scum, Odrelomp decides a frontal assault on Lady Galvena's establishment is the way to go, culminating with Galvena and her little pet wizard falling (True Sight and Arrows of Ice did in for Vadek)


Given the need for caution, we actually decide NOT to kill Perth and swipe his wardstone. His treasure is neglible (the Book of Many Spells is potentially nice, potentially awful when you can't just reload if you get a bad pageturn) and he's not exactly harmless. Instead, Yoshimo is allowed to talk Desharik into admitting us to Spellhold.
Some treachery and wild fighting later (Odrelomp had to down 5-6 potions to survive Bhaal... hadn't exactly prepared his spells for one on one fighting), the party is, at long last, reunited in full!


We start making our way through the maze, naturally stealing anything that glitters (and some things that don't), and cutting a bloody swathe through anything that bars our path. Valygar shows a Rakshasa what's what


Some Yuan'Ti meet their destiny at our hands, after Valygar has backstabbed their mage into oblivion of course


Squeaking to himself in fear, Odrelomp decides to actually take on the Beholder spawned by the enchanted book.
Despite dreading this fight, it goes surprisingly smoothly. Everyone is buffed with protection from.. well, nearly everything, so the only thing the Beholder manages to do is hurt Jaheira slightly


The mass Umberhulk ambush is actually more of a headache, they hit often and hard. Odrelomp Dominates one of the hulks, and it helps us clear the remainder out. Amazingly neither Jaheira nor Minsc bite the dust, despite being very badly wounded


Another level, another Yuan'Ti mage gets his just desert courtesy of a backstab


Some cleared mooks later, it's time to open those enthralling doors.. the Spirit Troll and Royal Djinni go down very easily. Then the turn comes to the mindflayer. At this point we have no Chaotic Commands available, but figure it's alright.. the Mindflayer should go after the skellies while we pelt it to death at range. This supposition proves woefully inaccurate. Minsc is rapidly held along with Valygar, and while Valygar was stealthed at the time and hence is not targetted, the same cannot be said for Minsc, whose minor faculties end up an appetizer to the horrid Flayer


Mere seconds later, Valygar's stealth vanes (hard to actively keep hidden while stunned, I guess) and he goes the way of Minsc...


Thought we were goners here. It's an Ulitharid so the damn thing heals itself just as we bring it low. But then, thankfully, it turns on the skeletons, and after a veritable bombardment of bullets and arrows, it goes down.
Spending 10 minutes rearranging inventory gives us just enough space to pick up everything our poor fallen Rangers were carrying, and we risk a rest on the spot... and are NOT interrupted, phew. Jaheira raises the dead duo, and Odrelomp adds Raise Dead to his mental checklist of spells to always keep memorized


Following this, things go smoothly, and we make our way out of the maze


Keeping up with our policy of safety first, the decision is reached to bribe Lonk. He's a lot more dangerous than Irenicus at this stage, and even though we have spells available to tear down his protections, I just doubt we'll be able to do so before he kills half the party. And if Odrelomp is in that half, well, game over. Lonk takes his 2000 gold and releases the inmates. Irenicus, Yoshimo, hired help, they cannot stand before us, and we emerge victorious


Feeling somewhat emotionally drained, Odrelomp and co make their way back to the Vulgar Monkey to rest, recuperate and curse their poor memory for inserting 20 tokens into the machine instead of 15.. we now have a set of ludicrous armour instead of 2 sets of useful boots, bah


Odrelomp is now a level 13 Cleric of Lathander

[Saint of Sinners]

Continuation of the previous run, but will be considered Segment 3 as this one took me quite a while.

We left Meejee right after the Slaver quest, where she was able to get enough gold to restock her resources. First business first, she equipped Azuredge and went straight for Big Risk-Reward Scenario #2: the City Gates lich. This one took quite a while compared to the others because the lich was able to endure a few attacks, but eventually the kill mode kicked in and he fell. Easy way to claim Daystar.




Seeing as there were some other things to attend to, Meejee makes her way to the de'Arnise keep, but she was encountered a poisoned man and some assassins. She makes short work of them with a well-placed web, trap setting, and backstabbing.






After bringing Rylock to the Docks as he requested, our heroine continues her trek, but was met by an aggressive slaver group. Utilizing Web, Stoneskins, a couple of well-placed Sunfires, Emotions, and a Daystar, the group eventually fell, but not without great difficulty.







Finally wringing the truth out of that spoiled brat Nalia, Meejee infiltrated the keep, utilizing the shadows to her major advantage. Her magical skills were starting to show, but it's not yet something to write home about. When she gets a scroll of Find Familiar, she uses it to have a permanent hit point increase.




Tucking the familiar away (she's soloing, after all), she proceeds to kill the trolls using backstabs and acid arrows. The Short Sword of Mask did very short work of the trolls, hitting consistently above 50 points of damage, enough to bring them down for the kill.



She dispatches of issues outside like the otyugh, the dogs, and the drawbridge, using backstab as much as possible.




Taking the kitchen-side stairs up, Meejee lures the trolls into various rooms and kills them one by one. It is here that she discovers that Spirit Trolls will be her bane as they were only receiving half of the usual backstab damage. Meejee refined her methods and used traps and spells for them instead.




Discovering a nearby door and following it to a room, Meejee discovers Glaicus. Seeing his stupidly addled-with-charm face, Meejee goes for the backstab on him, which wasn't enough to bring him down as he easily has more than a hundred hit points apparently. Still, makes no difference to Meejee with her short sword and bow.





The next target was the Yuan-Ti mage, who fell to 77 points of yummy backstab goodness. The trolls were easy after that.



After releasing Nalia's aunt, Meejee discovers the treasure room and proceeded to kill the Iron Golem using the doorway and Azuredge. 'Twas a lengthy fight, but Meejee held out with her antidotes and Slow Poison. The other golems one fell to backstabs with the SSM, save for the Clay one which fell to a backstab of th newly picked-up hammer.



In the next level, Meejee sets up snares and Skull Traps along the path to the feeding grounds of the Umber Hulks. This takes care of all but two, which fell to more stealthy tactics. One even died to a an attack by a confused Meejee.





For TorGal, Meejee filled up her spell slots with purely offensive spells save for Shield and Mirror Image (those two will prevent the physical attackers from interrupting her casting). She lured them to the feeding grounds, hurting a lot of them with well-placed snares and whatnot. Once in the feeding grounds, Meejee, closed the door and pummelled them with Ice Storms, Sunfires, and Skull Traps. TorGal fell somewhere in there. Still not enough, though, to fell everyone so she backstabbed her way out and about, never leaving anyone behind. Suddenly, our Neutral Good mage/thief became Meejee the Merciless.





With stronghold restrictions removed, Meejee is now the Lady of the Keep.



This segment actually took more than two hours to finish. Spectral and Spirit Trolls are not a joke at the levels I confronted them. I don't want to cheese it by leaving after completing the Flail and powering up somewhere else. I think I learned a lot about trail manipulation and enemy group dynamics with this one, as well as utilizing area changes to disperse and to overpower dangerous opponents (Yuan-Ti mages become a joke if they don't have anyone to back them up, etc.).

Currently, Lady Meejee the Merciless Madame is resting at her keep, deciding on her next course of action. She has to have some serious firepower soon because the quests which doesn't have many powerful spellcasters are quickly dwindling. After this point, she has to have more spells. Also, I must say that I love Rogue Rebalancing, as it changed a lot of the HLA of the thieves, giving them more flexibility overall.

Cheers and good luck to everyone!

[Alesia_BH]

Alesia v. Spellhold Irenicus

When I first started playing Baldur's Gate, I had little interest in thieves- I invariably played a mage of one flavor or another and didn't care to try anything else

One day, I was on the old forums reading a thread discussing battles between thieves and mages. A number of forumites popped by to share their favorite method for blasting thieves, but then one person said this: "Well, in reality, the thief would wait 9 hours for Stoneskins to expire, follow the mage home, and murder him in his sleep..." That made sense to me. And suddenly I became interested in Thieves. That's how Alesia was born. And that's what Alesia just did to Spellhold Irenicus: she waited, and then murdered him.

The Plan: Don't take many pre-buffs, Jon will almost certainly dispel them. Wear the Belt of Inertial Barrier and keep Potions of Magic Shielding at the ready. Hit the Shadows and hide with the Cloak of Non-Detection on. Do not intervene in the fight between Jon and the inmates. When the fray ends- and there are no summons around- find Jon's position and scatter traps outside his sight range. Then, at close range, break invisibility with an Arrow of Dispelling. As soon as it hits, activate the Ring of Air Control's Improved Invisibility, and backstab with the Staff of Striking. Keep Invisibility Potions on hand and repeat the process.

Of course, Jon may choose to wander rather then stand around and get backstabbed to death. In that case, he'll fall to the traps. Either way, Alesia wins. Damage should be minimal.

Execution: The battle went as planned. Alesia had some bad luck- Critical Missing with Arrows of Dispelling twice when trying to execute AoD->PoI-Backstab. Nonetheless, she dropped Jon without putting herself at risk.

When the battle began, Alesia found herself tempted to take out her clone- she looked dangerous. Instead, she watched as planned. Spells slung back and forth.

Jon tried a Sphere of Chaos. Counter: Potion of Magic Shielding. He also caught invisible Alesia with a Wilting, but with a Potion of Magic Shielding active and the Belt of Inertial Barrier, it wasn't even vaguely threatening. Alesia waited.


While Alesia was enjoying the fireworks, she noticed that Cloned Alesia had a big stack of Invisibility potions and was tearing up the inmates- she had chunked 3 of them. The real Alesia was begining to fear that she would end up fighting Jon and herself when the chaos ended. Nonetheless, she stuck to the plan and remained Hidden in Shadows. Fortunately, a summoned Demon Stunned the Alesia Clone and killed her. The real Alesia waited.

Jon was alone now. Without an enemy in sight, he cast Sphere of Chaos and summmoned Mordy Swords. Alesia waited.

Finally, the room was silent. Jon was out there somewhere. Alesia sent Ras out to find his position. He was in the Southwest Corner. Perfect. Traps were set around his perimeter. Alesia equipped her bow, and approached from the rear hoping to execute Arrow of Dispelling->Invisibility-Backstab.


Bummer.

Alesia activated her Ring of Air Control nonetheless to insure that she'd be untargettable in her next attempt. Alesia disappeared and when she did Jon decided to scramble to avoid her staff. Good luck with that Jon...




After a third trap, Jon was Badly Injured. A desperation Wilting did little. In fact, Alesia had more Hitpoints now then she did at the begining of the battle thanks to a Potion of Power.


Jon tried a Time Stop. But with Alesia invisible, he had nothing to do. He paced around. And then...well...it actually looked like he tried to leave.....


Time resumed. That's when Jon discovered that his Time Stop pacing had set off another trap...


And the Coup De Grace: Arrow of Dispelling-> Potion of Invisibility-> Staff of Striking.



Fin.

Best,

A.


Edit: Corrected a LOAD of typos. Apologies to those who read this earlier...

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 18 juin 2011 - 07:50 .

[Enuhal]

Thisdan, level 13 sorcerer with randomized spellbook - gained:
Level 4: Improved Invisibilty
Level 5: Chaos
Level 6: Chain Lightning

II and CL are pretty good

I managed to fix my bug by chaning the variable of "JanLissaPlot" to 6 via the console. Did Jan's personal quest, inclucing a fight against some githyanki. Now, I could finally pick up key and bow to finish the windspear dungeon (no firkraag, though). While I had Minsc attack the adamantite golem wich Tansheron's Bow, Jaheira, Anomen and Jan went to the Labyrinth with 2 Fire elementals to kill all the ifritim and finally the guardian - somehow, the mask didn't work immediatly, and one of his fireballs hit the group, but no deaths (aerie and jan still were buffed with prot from fire). The group buffed and defeated Samia.

Back in Athkatla, the sewers were cleared. Used Holy Smite to kill the Kobolds and charged the Rakshasa.

For the Sewer Party, I included some additional buffs and summons (forest beings, deathward (I once lost a promising triology no-reload cleric here to a finger of death) etc.) and started with some smites from a distance. With Insect Plague and the hold spells from the forest beings, the Sewer Party was utterly demolished litteraly just a second later.

Went to Mekraths Lair, used "slow" to kill some umber hulks and went for Mekrath - I didn't remember his spelllist, so I had some summons and Aerie's Simmy attack him first to draw him out of spells before I killed him.

Now, the Astral Prison. Extra-High amount of buffs, including deathward for everyone and 4 cc's (Jaheira has shield of harmony, Minsc has Lirlarcor). I didn't ever stop, I just ran in, destroyed the first group, immediatly charged without looting to the next one, defeated the air elementals and finally the demon and went back.

I sent some summons to the Guardian to draw him out of powerful spells before simply charging him.

As you can see, my group was gaining quite a lot of strength and items, now having enough arcane spell slots to be protected from physical damage (stoneskins, mi's) and enough divine spellslots to negate most magic (deathward, chaotic commands). It seemed like nothing could stop me right now - but myself.

I went to Watchers Keep to get some of those nice ToB items in the first level. Bought Firetooth, Sword of Mask, potion bag. Cleared the level of all enemies via Fire Elementals, took the loot, including some nice upgradeable things and an ammunition belt. Put the items on the altar and destroyed the first statues.

And then I did the most insanely stupid thing I've ever done in a no-reload game - I didn't check up on the ritual and just decided to go with it, using my PC (I even buffed him with prot from fire and prot from lightning, because I was like 100% sure that, if I screwed up the ritual, I would be punished either by fire or by lightning damage), and I rang the bell. But now I lit the candle, and that's just wrong. Turns out the ritual deals magic damage, and on insanity, this damage is easily enough to kill a 78 hp sorcerer.

Yeah, so that's my run for now. At least I am never going to do THAT mistake again. This is definetly the most anticlimactic way I ever lost a pc in a no-reload, not counting the "killed by natural lightning because there's a storm outside" in BG1 (but that happen's to everybody at some point if they do a lot of BG1 no-reloads I guess).

Still, so far the game went pretty great, and I would recommend the randomized spelllist-thing - it was exciting and fun.

Don't know what I'll do next. Next game will propably be solo, duo or trio, because I don't want to play in a big party all the time. Not sure on the class yet. Propably either a barbarian, another randomized sorcerer, a completely randomized character or (only if I if solo) another totemic druid (last one died in the underdark, in an extremely unnecessary way). Let me know what of those you'd like to see most, I am open to suggestions and basically can't decide right now.

Modifié par Enuhal, 18 juin 2011 - 05:58 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Well, there is a quick add-on on Astarta's game too:

Exploited a bit more and got everyone to following levels:

Saros - lvl 19, 3 400 000 xp
Alia and Astarta - lvl 18, 3 400 000 xp each
Temp - lvl 7-17, total xp about 2 500 000
Torham - lvl 17, total xp about 3 200 000
Jack Sparrow - lvl 22, total xp about 3 400 000

Saros now has *** in Shortswords, while Torham has *. Temp gained a second 7-th level slot. Temp and Torham had to be killed in order for other character to level up faster via exploiting. Finally, they got resurrected by Astarta's Planetar.

Alia's first HLA was Alchemy, and her spell picks so far:

Lvl 1: MM, LMD, Shield, Armor, Chromatic Orb
Lvl 2: MirrorImage, Blur, ResistFear, Melf's Acid Arrow, Invisibility
Lvl 3: Remove Magic, Haste, Vampiric Touch, ProFire
Lvl 4: Stoneskin, Emotion, Minor Sequencer, Ray of Fragmentation
Lvl 5: Spell Immunity, Sunfire, Breach, Lower Resistance
Lvl 6: Giant Strength, Improved Haste, Protection from Magical Weapons
Lvl 7: Mass Invisibility, Ruby Ray of Reversal, Spell Sequencer
Lvl 8: Monster Summoning VI, Spell Trigger
Lvl 9: Wish

Since none of the fighters has Hardiness (not even one reached HLAs yet), Wish is the logical choice as being able to grant Hardiness to all.

The party currently overwhelmed the improved Rukh Transmuter in Windspear Dungeon lvl 1, as well as two bunches of Vampiric Mists + a couple of Mist Horrors. No biggie. Another Amulet of Protection +1 won for the party.

Now the real challenge awaits - clearing lvl 2 of WK dungeon. Up to Tazok and Samia that is.

[Alesia_BH]

Condolences Enuhal. That's an awful way to go.

Best of luck with your next run.


A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 18 juin 2011 - 06:30 .

[Shadow_Leech07]

Sorry for your loss Enuhal.

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alesia's Game:

Alesia is currently in the Underdark. She has defeated the Balor and is getting ready to meet Adalon.

The Balor was a royal pain since Alesia's regular Snares do Fire Damage at this point and her Special Snares cast Otiluke Resilient Sphere. Ring of Free Action for the the Stun (I have the Free Action protects against Stun tweak installed), Potion of Clarity for the Fear on hit, a Potion of Power, a Potion of Defense, and a big stack of heaing potions won the day.


She had a long snooze after the fight...


Alesia is running low on Potions of Clarity now and has awhile to go before she can use the Shield of Harmony and Kiel's Helmet. That's a concern...I'm not convinced that stealthing to the Greenstone Amulet is a good idea.

I'll post again if and when she makes meaningful storyline progress.

Best,

A.


NW: I was very tempted to refrain from leveling Alesia up from 15 until she had enough experience to reach 21. I may do so next time. She is at level 19 now. 2 more to go...

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 19 juin 2011 - 07:43 .

[Shadow_Leech07]

I'm not sure if this is a bug but it sure smells like one. My priestess of Helm Sora was in the Temple Sewers and one of the kobolds cast charm person on her. The game auto-paused as I looked desperately for something to counter it. I used the ring of air control to cast improved invisibility on her. She became invisible the moment the spell hit her and she got charmed but the game didn't end! And she was all green circles and I could move her around. Now of course is this some kind of weird bug/exploit? Has anyone encountered this before? Logically it kind of makes sense and this is what was going through my head. However the kobold already targeted Sora so it's kind of weird or perhaps it isn't. I've noticed thieves going invisible canceling spells but this didn't cancel the spell it actually went through. Bah it makes sense yet it doesn't.  Is my no reload game over or is it still legal? I'm just wondering what the consensus is. I've put her aside for now and am starting yet another game, but I won't continue the helm game until I know what people think.

Modifié par Shadow_Leech07, 19 juin 2011 - 08:22 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Sorry for your losses Enuhal, Shadow_leech.

Astarta and party, level 2 of Windspear Hills Dungeon:

The party buffed to the extreme. Wishing was attempted last, with good results. Saros imbibed a Potion of Invulnerability immediately afterwards (the named potion in IA 5.0 simply sets base AC to -1 for five turns). Astarta and Alia helped with Sequencers and Trigger loaded with Rays of Fragmentation. Since Coin Golems are on the one hand - harder to kill for the fighters (vulnerable to piercing-type damage), and on the other - have less HP than the Gem Golems (which are most vulnerable to crushing damage), the triple-Ray sequencers were targeted at one of the two Coin golems. However, although one Coin Golem fell quickly to the relentless assault of Torham and Saros, the Greater Bone Golem first succeeded in dispelling Temp's specific protections on a hit (and his Improved Invisibility was previously dispelled by a Gem Golem), and to stun Temp via the Hideous Laughter ability.

The ally Planetar, seeing Temp incapacitated, immediately cast Dispel Magic. It dispelled Temp's buffs and Saros' buffs (but not Torham's), leaving Temp defenseless and Saros had to refresh Improved Haste in order to be of some use. Temp died a round later, and despite Hardiness active - he was chunked. However by that time the Greater Bone Golem had already died, and the remaining two golems were easy to kill.

The inner part of the dungeon contained:

A lone Vampiric mist replacing the random Orc encounter right after the described golem fight.
A random improved Vampire encounter (four Vampires and 2 Eminent Vampires) to the right. Easily slain with the right tactic and of course, Limited Wish for NPP.
King Strohm's tomb - first were defeated the roaming monsters in the corridors. Those included a group of three Vampiric Mists (replacing the second Fell Ghast), and a Tomb Mist (good resistances, gates in Mist Horrors, drains str, wis and int on successful hit) - died easily with the great help of the Planetar.

Side note: A Planetar can cast targeted spells (like Heal for example) on Improved Invisible party members or allies.

Then Saros and Torham, with the help of a Planetar, slew each and every one of the Efreeti guardians. Those use SI:D and illusion buffs for hiding, and are pretty high-leveled (Remove Magic lvl 18 was unsuccessful in all attempts, except removing Mirror Image of course), but have only Stoneskin as second defensive buff, no True Sight, no Breaches, and not a very good THAC0 either, so they were easily slain.

With the Mask of King Strohm III assembled, now Saros has an excellent helmet to protect himself from critical hits.

A random improved Greater Wolfwere encounter was next eliminated, followed by a random spider group (2 Mutated, 2 Vortex, a Spirit, a Killer, a Lesser spirit, and an Ettercap). And here is what is seen viaFarsight, and a second Farsight afterwards.

Saros gained lvl 20, his first HLA is Power Attack. With a little exploiting, Jack hit lvl 23 and got his first HLA too, Use Any Item, and dualled immediately afterwards. Jack equipped himself as best as possible via UAI, emphasizing on good AC, for now. He also put **** in Halberds.

The party went back to the Circus Tent, joined temporarily Aerie, saw that she is of no use (too few clerical slots), ditched her, went to the Druid Grove instead (dealt with Grae and Dursh for Dennis' gong), joined Cernd - at lvl 12 (he has Free Action), travelled back to Windspear Hills dungeon lvl 2, buffed well twice with summoned fodder too (used Cernd for Free Action buffing), because the first time Wishing for Hardiness was unsuccessful (resting on this dungeon level is dangerous at present party levels), with the last Wish on the 2nd try the party got what they wanted, and Saros and Temp consumed some potions afterwards. While the summons were effectively blocking enemy's path and were dealing with a Coin golem (alongside Triggers and Sequencers with triple RoF), Saros and Torham eliminated a Gem Golem on the right flank , and with a Coin one afterwards. The Greater Bone Golem managed to dispel Saros' specific protections and illusions via a hit, however Saros retreated a bit and had Free Action refreshed by Cernd. The Greater Bone Golem fell very quickly after that, while summons kept the last Gem Golem busy. The Gem Golem managed to slay the Planetar, however Saros finished him with two quick Criticals.


The random Vampire + Mists encounter afterwards was easy, however the party decided to take on Tazok before resting. This was a bit of mistake, but with a few more potions (resurgence, healing), they prevailed. Loot - The Cloak of Balduran (alongside other items), and a Laeral's Tear Necklace. Cernd also gave away his cloak to Jack Sparrow, and left for good.

Back in the city:
Forged a second +2 cloak of protection, for Torham.
Joined Jan. Got his equipment. Ditched Jan.
Joined Jaheira. Completed both her quests (somewhere here Jack got fifth star in Halberds, and started helping effectively in combat). Also Torham hit Ranger level 18, chose Contact With Nature* as HLA, and dualled to Cleric.

*Contact with Nature - This HLA grants regeneration rate of 18HP per round for 1 turn, as well as immunity to Petrification and Imprisonment for the duration.

Decided to try dualling at a bit higher level. Aims:

A bit better saving throws - questionable actually
Almost the same amount of high-level slots - especially 7-th level slots are equal at clerical lvl 37 and 39. Also, buffs are almost equally undispellable at lvls 37 or 39 by enemy Remove/Dispel magics.
A useful HLA - although a R-C usually relies on Iron Skins rather than Hardiness + regeneration ability.
Better natural THAC0 - two points can really make a difference.
A bit more HP - not really needed.

Got the Harper Pin, and exactly enough Rings +1 for every party member to equip, Also, a fifth amulet +1.
Ditched Jaheira.
Wondered about Keldorn's weaponry (the armor in IA grants +1 to saves and +15% magical damage resistance, while the sword is good with the magical-damage fireshield ability, not to mention it's worth 1 300 gp when sold), but decided not to take those. Anyway, Jack will rely mostly on Jan's armor and its amazing physical protections.

Jack is currently lvls 7-23, while Torham is 6-18.

Joined the last party member.

Bane, lawful good human Riskbreaker, stats 18/00, 18, 16, 12, 8, 3
Proficiencies: **** Long Sword, ** Two-weapon style.

Well, that's it for now, will take a looooong long time to level up everyone to decent levels. Meaning PC lvl 32, and the others correspondingly.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 19 juin 2011 - 08:41 .

[Windfoot]

Sorry about the loss Enuhal and Shadow

[Alesia_BH]

Shadow_Leech07 wrote...

I'm not sure if this is a bug but it sure smells like one.

Invisibility shouldn't foil spells after the casting has finished- spells enroute can still take effect.

As regards the Charm. Some items and spells grant Charm immunity without suppressing the Portrait Icons or Messages. Were you wearing anything or running anything that might have stoppped it?

I've also often wondered whether some save bonuses apply to the Charm Effect but not the Portrait Icon and Message rolls. Perhaps someone else can comment on that possibility.


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 19 juin 2011 - 09:07 .

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alesia's Game:

Speaking of bugginess, this was an unwelcome surprise...


Alesia was on her way to the platform when suddenly the Githyankis near the entrance went Hostile and Chunked Soluafein. Everyone went Hostile on Alesia when he died...

Time for Plan B. Sacking the city isn't an option with the Drow City Improvements. Hopefully the Kua-Toan route is open- not sure it will be with SCS installed...


Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 19 juin 2011 - 09:12 .

[Alesia_BH]

Final Update for Alesia:

Sadly, Alesia was killed attempting to exit the Underdark via the Kua-Toan Tunnels. The Kua-Toans are trivial for some classes, but their speed and invisibility detection make them a nightmare for Single-class Thieves. Flanked by a pair of Glabrezus, a Drow War party, and two Stone Golems,...it was too much.

At level, 21, she could have used her Maze Traps and gotten through, but at level 19 it would have taken a lot of luck to successfully navigate those tunnels.

It's kind of a bummer that something buggy forced her into that mad scramble...

Oh well.

I'm half inclined to finish this game off- perhaps in a Campfire Thread. I'm also tempted to head back to BG1. I'm not sure what I'll do.

Best,

A.


@Enuhal. I enjoyed, you last Totemic Druid run and would be interested in seeing more, but feel free to follow your whim.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 19 juin 2011 - 10:14 .

[Shadow_Leech07]

Sorry for your loss Alesia. Yeah I don't like losing to bugs or being saved by them for that matter.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Very sad. A very good try, and as often happens, a lousy bug spoils it. I vouch for re-starting the challenge from where the bug began (entering the Drow city).

[Grimbergenme]

Hard luck Alesia. A fantastic read as always though! Looking forward to whatever you persue next.

[Shadow_Leech07]

Starting a sorceress game, I've never really solo-ed a sorceress in a no reload so don't laugh if she dies very quickly. Here is her statistics

Ashley Winterfold Female Elf Chaotic Good
Sorceress
Str 17 Dex 19 Con 16 Int 16 Wis 7 Char 9

She will be emulating a certain other famous sorceress

Modifié par Shadow_Leech07, 19 juin 2011 - 12:40 .

[BronxH]

Sorry for your loss Alesia, Enuhal and Shadow_Leech.

@Alesia: I really liked your tactic fighting Irenicus.
@Enuhal: Randomising the spellbook of a sorc is an excellent idea, I maybe will include one in a future party.

Must admit when I tried to start a totally random party back then, I rolled at least 5 Barbarians out of 10 chars. Obviously with total random char generating it is almost impossible to roll a paladin or a monk, so I decided to play  "half-random" with generating 15-20 chars then pick 4-5.

About my character:

Marcellus is now Wizard Slayer 9 / Cleric 17 and arrived to Trademeet. He agreed to help the High Merchant and to find the Rakshasa for the Genies. He is also after a Gong (hired Edwin to read the Wish scroll). The Troll Shaman named Grea was taken out easily by a Flamestrike and couple of hits (www.imagebam.com/image/bb3cae137191872).
On the way he has killed some Shadow druids and Trolls; they seem to take good damage from Holy Smite. Found the Rakshasa Ihtafeer, who after some flail swings from Marcellus couldnt really cast spells anymore and died (www.imagebam.com/image/db9ad6137191943), his buddies tried to hurt Marcellus with Cloudkill but a Zone of Sweet Air spell cleared it and they fell too.
Finally arrived to the Druid Grove he had to fight some tougher Druids. With the help of a Skeleton Warrior it wasnt hard and luckily Call Lightning only striked my summoned creature. Asked Cernd to fight with Faldorn, he was at lvl13 when joined and in Greater Werewolf form he could kill Faldorn easily. 
After some minor Trademeet quests (wand for the Ogre Mage, killing Rijek, clearing the tomb) Marcellus has returned to Athkatla, gave the Gong back to Dennis and he realised that he has unfinished business in the Bridge District. 
He prepared properly (www.imagebam.com/image/7076bc137191986) and entered the portal to the Planar Prison. The upcoming fight wasnt as hard as he expected, only a painful Flame Strike could hit him hard so he has killed the Yuan-Ti Priest first then the Sorcerer next (www.imagebam.com/image/a029c2137192002).
The Master of Thralls went down suprisingly easy 1-2 hits from my Aerial Servant + 1 Holy Smite (www.imagebam.com/image/49a6f3137192033).
Ony the dangeous Warden left (+ a large pack of Yuan-Ti with 3 Sorcerers) but something weird happened. For the first time in history the Thralls could heavily hurt the Warden and he was actually dead when Marcellus got there. I dont really know what happened, maybe the Yuan-ti sorcerers started to cast Skulltraps against the Thralls (they have a habit to do that) damaging everything nearby.
So that is how Marcellus freed Raelis and Hear'dalis (again). He reached level 19 with this heroic act. 

His Inventory now: www.imagebam.com/image/a68de2137192084

Plate of Balduran, Helm of Balduran, Flail of Ages, Defender of Eashthaven, Boots of Avoidence and a newly aquired Wand of Heavens.

Modifié par BronxH, 19 juin 2011 - 02:18 .