15226 réponses à ce sujet

[Jabberwock]

Agreed.

 

And, if I'm reading you correctly, there is an implied critique of the ATweaks balor vorpal: it unduly canalizes the players options. Roll arcane, use Death Ward, or stay ranged? Maybe that's too narrow. I sympathize with that view.

 

My take on Bodhi's Con drain is similar. I think Bodhi's Con drain is worse.

 

Best,

 

A. 

 

Having recently done the C6 Bodhi fight, I agrew with how off the charts her Con drain is. Very rapidly disables or kills melee characters. That said, we did discover (as the fight devolved into farce after she con-drained all my warriors) that she is vulnerable to wands of paralyzation. About half a dozen charges and she failed a save and that was the end of that...

[Alesia_BH]

Having recently done the C6 Bodhi fight, I agrew with how off the charts her Con drain is. Very rapidly disables or kills melee characters.

 

Yes. It's crazy. And she's super fast with a high regen rate so warriors can't kill her with ranged weapons either. You need ProMW (or do you...).

 

 

That said, we did discover (as the fight devolved into farce after she con-drained all my warriors) that she is vulnerable to wands of paralyzation. 

 

Awesome! Thanks for that! If Bodhi is vulnerable to Stun then Power Attack may work.

 

Splint + Girdle of Bluntness + Potion of Defense + Potion of Absorption + Sentinel + Power Attack + GWW may let Arkona fix her. Thanks!

 

EDIT: Unless the Con drain weapon has a different damage type than the level drain weapon. The level drain weapon is blunt. I should check the Con drain weapon.

 

Cheers!

 

A. 

[Jabberwock]

Yes. It's crazy. And she's super fast with a high regen rate so warriors can't kill her with ranged weapons either. You need ProMW (or do you...).

 

 

 

 

Awesome! Thanks for that! If Bodhi is vulnerable to Stun then Power Attack may work.

 

Splint + Girdle of Bluntness + Potion of Defense + Potion of Absorption + Sentinel + Power Attack + GWW may let Arkona fix her. Thanks!

 

EDIT: Unless the Con drain weapon has a different damage type than the level drain weapon. The level drain weapon is blunt. I should check the Con drain weapon.

 

Cheers!

 

A. 

 

Glad to be helpful. Bear in mind though that I have standard SCS Bodhi w/o the "Full Tactics Upgrade" or whatever it's called in the options when you install SCS. So I can't make any promises on the uber-Bodhi as I don't play with her (if you do).

[Alesia_BH]

Glad to be helpful. Bear in mind though that I have standard SCS Bodhi w/o the "Full Tactics Upgrade" or whatever it's called in the options when you install SCS. So I can't make any promises on the uber-Bodhi as I don't play with her (if you do).

 

I use the SCS/Tactics hybrid "toned down version." Is that what you use?

 

Best,

 

A.

[Jabberwock]

I use the SCS/Tactics hybrid "toned down version." Is that what you use?

 

Best,

 

A.

 

Yes that's what I use.

[Alesia_BH]

Arkona, Halfling Barbarian: Watcher's Keep- Level 2

 

The Chromy D is in the box. Arkona is chillin' with Yakman, wishing the Rod of Resurrection would cure him like Heal does.

 

I've always enjoyed Watcher's Keep level 2- even if does feel slightly unfinished to me. It's easy. Too easy, arguably. But there's enough variety between areas to make it interesting. You find yourself planning your approach to each room. And even if victory is very nearly assured, it's fun to tweak stuff for each encounter. I like it.

 

I was curious to see what, if anything, ATweaks has done for level 2. Because while I enjoy level 2, it could use a spruce up. Unfortunately, there aren't that many creatures on level 2 that are within ATweaks sphere of influence. I suppose getting L2 right will be mostly up to SCS.

 

One area was significantly improved by ATweaks: the air wizard room. This was great.

 

Arkona rolled into the Air Guardian's abode running Hardiness + Roranach's + Cloak of Reflection. That made her invulnerable, essentially: +100% resistant to both crushing and electricity. Arkona activated the turbines and, to her surprise, most of the air elementals vanished. The one that remained ran around at hyper speed: ludicrous speed, really. He too then vanished. Why?

 

True Sight from the Book of Infinite Spells revealed the Guardian of Air and a greater air elemental. They refused to fight and instead kept running around, as though frightened. Again, why? And where were the other elementals? Foebane and Seeking cleared the room, and Arkona went on the hunt for the others.

 

Spoiler

 

Eventually, Arkona found them over by the Chromy D. They were hiding, invisible. True Sight revealed them.

 

Spoiler

 

They started running around again. Arkona killed the lesser, and then I guessed at the cause of their behavior: Roranach's + Hardiness + barbarian resistances. Had they detected Arkona's 100% crushing resistance? Is that why they refused to fight? Because they knew the deck was stacked against them? That is was hopeless? To test, I let Hardiness expire. And sure enough, the remaining greater air elemental bull charged Arkona as soon as there was an opening. Cool. I like smart enemies. Seeking finished him before he could close. (These guys are crazy fast, btw- way faster than a Oil of Speed + Boots of Speed barbarian)

 

Spoiler

 

I have on a few occasions indicated that I'm sold on the ATweaks elementals. I should add one caveat: if the player can summon these- and I believe the player can, based on what I've seen from the elemental staves- that could be an issue. I'm not sure whether or to what extent enemy AI will be able to handle a crew of ATweaks aerial servants, for example. It may be like the days of the stupidly over-powered tactics greater bearweres. I don't know. Perhaps I should roll divine to find out?

 

Anyhoo. Back to the combat.

 

The golem spawn got Roranach's + Hardiness + Foebane + Defender. Quick vote: who thinks the ice golems should have the icy death animation, rather than the chunky death animation. I vote for icy death. Why would an ice golem have blood and guts?

 

Spoiler

 

 

Shadow Dragon Armor, Gaxx, and Rage for the poison room, natch.

 

I never noticed this Wilting trap can nix hostiles. Good to know.

 

Spoiler

 

Grandmaster Armor and Boots of the North for the cold room.

 

Spoiler

 

Arkona is all: I don't always freeze my fire elementals, but when I do, I crack them with Ages.

 

Spoiler

 

I always feel bad about killing this giant. I mean, he's so polite. He won't attack you when he's invulnerable. Why should I ruthlessly kick his butt?

 

Spoiler

 

Chromy D. 

 

I didn't know what to expect from the Chromy D. ATweaks might have tweaked him, and SCS could have done any number of things to him. The things I didn't know about the Chromy D exceeded the things I did know. I knew I could expect 100% physical damage immunity. I also knew to expect elemental damage AoE spells. But beyond that, I had no idea. And so I decided to play it safe. 

 

Arkona went with Helm of the Rock + Shadow Dragon Armor + Dragon Shield + Cloak of Refelction to start. That gave her excellent undispellable, broad based elemental damage resistances.

 

Spoiler

 

I should note that while prepping for this battle, I observed an oddity in relation to the Helm of the Rock and Ring of Gaxx poison resistance. If you equip the Helm of the Rock after the Ring of Gaxx, poison immunity is set to 25. You have to re-equip the Ring of Gaxx to recover your 100% poison immunity. Good to know, huh? I did not notice this issue with acid, cold, fire, or electricity, interestingly. 

 

Layering in a Potion of Fire Resistance and a Potion of Cold Resistance filled out most of Arkona's resistances, save acid.

 

Spoiler

 

We could have gone with a scroll of acid resistance as a precaution, in case the Chromy D had an acid based attack, but I'm extremely stingy with those until after Draconis is dead. I almost never use them in SoA pre-Niz. 

 

We probably could have nixed the Chromy D in melee with Ages, Ice Star, etc, but I didn't want to risk the possibility of a dangerous on hit effect. Rule of thumb in BG: range fighting it usually safer. If you don't know what you're getting into, equip your missile weapon, keep your distance, and observe.

 

Tried the classic poison room maneuver. No dice on that in this install.

 

Spoiler

 

Gessen go the kill. I used to hate Gessen, due to the slow projectile. I've gotten over that. Gessen is great.

 

Spoiler

 

Time to kill some demons. And maybe play some cards.

 

Best,

 

A.

 

[szczurszymon]

@ Alesia I just wondering why your barbarian uses studded leather but not splint mail? Studded leather has AC 7 (effective: 7 vs blunt, 7 vs, misiles, 6 vs. piercing & 5 vs slashing). Splint mail has AC 4  (effective: 2 vs blunt, 4 vs, misiles, 3 vs. piercing & 4 vs slashing). SL average AC = 6,25 vs SM average AC 3,5. 

[Alesia_BH]

Hello! Welcome to the forum, Szczurszymon!

 

@ Alesia I just wondering why your barbarian uses studded leather but not splint mail? Studded leather has AC 7 (effective: 7 vs blunt, 7 vs, misiles, 6 vs. piercing & 5 vs slashing). Splint mail has AC 4  (effective: 2 vs blunt, 4 vs, misiles, 3 vs. piercing & 4 vs slashing). SL average AC = 6,25 vs SM average AC 3,5. 

 

The base AC is irrelevant, since Arkona wears the Bracers of AC 3 when she is wearing unenchanted armor. From the armor slot, all that matters are the adjustments.

 

When facing blunt enemies, she'll wear splint for the -2 to blunt. When facing slashers, she'll wear the studded leather for the -2 to slashing. Slashers are more common than blunt damage dealers, so she ends up wearing studded leather more.

 

To clarify, the AC with studded leather + Bracer of AC 3 is

 

blunt 3, missile 2, slashing 1, piercing 2

 

The AC with splint and Bracers of AC 3 is

 

blunt 1, missile 3, slashing 3, piercing 2

 

Splint is better against crushers, studded leather is better against slashers. Arkona sees more slashers than crushers, so she wears studded leather more often. She does, however, use splint against crushers, or at least she used to. Bodhi, golems, and the Underdark elementals were among the enemies that faced Arkona in splint.

 

Now that Arkona has Roranach's, which grants 50% resistance to blunt damage, blunt adjustments are no longer that helpful: Arkona can attain +100% resistance to blunt damage with ease. She has no need to worry about her blunt AC. Splint mail is of less use.

 

 

Best,

 

A.

 

NW: Her armor choice will change if and when she gets the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization. She'll likely go back to magical armor then.

[Blackraven]

Nice to see Arkona in action in Watcher's Keep Alesia. Hope you're enjoying it as well
She looks very solid, but that's usually my impression with your characters.

Bartholomew, 1st BG2 report

Bart and Imoen survived Chateau Irenicus. I'm going to keep this short because I've got other things to do.

Devoid of their equipment, bruised and battered in Irenicus' Dungeon, the Gnomes picked up some gear, looted the room with the glass containers and the one with the warden Golem. They caught the eye of several Duergar when trying to enter Rielev's room, but managed to park them in the glass container room.

Spoiler

Bart dealt with the Otyugh, and Imoen lured three Duergar that were blocking a corridor into the Otyugh room. They removed traps and picked locks in the master room to obtain the Helm of Balduran, Sarevok's Ring of Protection, and the Claw and Horn of Kazgaroth. (Bart hasn't used the Claw yet. Because of his 16 Con, I'm not sure whether he will.)

 

Two snares nearly killed one of the Lesser Clay Golems;

Spoiler

the construct and its 'brother' were eventually done in by sneak attacks by (oil of speed) Hasted Bart. Slightly better equipped, Bart intrepidly ventured into Ilych's territory. Under Sanctuary he found and picked up Semaj's Cloak and a Wand of the Heavens. A Duergar Mage died to a backstab + Divine Wrath, before the Gnome retreated to hide in shadows and leave the the Duergar behind for the time being.

Spoiler

He then returned to Ilych's now empty room, summoned Skeletons and with their help, Holy Smite, and backstabs slew Ilych and most Duergar.

Spoiler

Imoen and Bart entered a mini plane of air, where they picked up a scroll and received a blade from a Genie in return for a flask. (Only two Mephits were slain.)

 

Before moving on to the next level, the Gnomes with a group of angry Duergar on their trail liberated Minsc and Jaheira (and briefly recruited them for XP) . Sadly, Jaheira - level 1 NPC - got hit even after she had been dismissed from the party. She died.

Spoiler

The Gnomes made it safely to the next floor, where they rested out of Yoshimo's sight. Skeletons were PfE and Hasted, and were a great help in dealing with the Mephit and their Portals in the next room.

Spoiler

Stealth and Sanctuary then allowed the duo to convert keys into wands, loot a Duergar forge room, Cloudkill Ulvaryl, and slay Frennedan, without earning them the wrath of the Duergar. Yoshimo was then recruited to haul some loot out of the dungeon. (I didn't remember if/when Imoen drops her items.) The Skeletons, still around, helped kill three Assassins, including one that dropped three invisibility potions  (It surprised me that the Assassin didn't use them, and that they didn't break, as I play with 50% breakage.)

On the surface, Imoen was sadly and wrongly arrested. Yoshimo dropped the contents of his pack and left for the Copper Coronet.

[Alesia_BH]

Nice to see Arkona in action in Watcher's Keep Alesia. Hope you're enjoying it as well

 

It's been fun. Level 3 has been great so far. I've been restricting use of GDB and DB against the ATweaks demons and that has helped a lot. They still need more statistical beef, but they do some really cool things. It is fanastic work, even if I may choose not to use it long term.

 

I definitely intend to try SCS Improved Fiends + ATweaks Option 3 someday. That may work.

 

I've been tempted to enable Fiendish Gating. I've refrained. I probably would have gotten some cool fights if I had enabled it. 

She looks very solid, but that's usually my impression with your characters.

 

 

That's kind of you to say.

 

I look forward to seeing more of Bartholomew! Welcome to Amn!

 

Best,

A.

[Jabberwock]

Well charname fell to Irenicus in hell. Timestop + melee. Oops. 

 

What's the safe strategy there other than hiding charname? I guess make sure you always have a full stoneskin up? I unfortunately wasn't paying much attention because the fight seemed in the bag and unbenknownst to me SI:A had worn off and charname caught a dispel about a second or two before Jon did another timestop and then killed him.

 

I guess a reminder that buffs drain during timestops and all the timestops going off mean that short buffs can be very short...

[Blackraven]

@Jabberwock, I personally prefer maintaining a distance (without necessarily hiding: you can engage his demons for example). Stoneskins obviously help. Quaffing a potion of invisibility, or activating a trigger with Invisibility and e.g. Mirror Image when you hear the Alteration incantation can also work.

Sorry to know your character fell btw. You did well nonetheless, regardless of whether or not the Fireshield issue you described should be considered a bug. 

 

Edit: Illusions (Simulacra, Misleads) might also be an option, and summons of course.

[Alesia_BH]

Well charname fell to Irenicus in hell. Timestop + melee. Oops. 

 

Condolences. Time Stop melee is dangerous. 

 

Jon's Time Stop melee is especially dangerous since it's easy to take that fight for granted if you're playing with the ToB level cap. 

 

 

What's the safe strategy there other than hiding charname?

 

Unless I see an opening for a one round kill, such as in Aphril's case, my tendency is to view Jon's Time Stops as hurdles that must be cleared before offensive action can be taken. I reserve my aura, listen to Jon's incantations, and then deploy a prophylactic defensive measure just before the Time Stop begins. The best method will depend on class, although there are some commonalities.

 

Using invisibility just before Jon's Time Stop begins is a highly effective approach, since Jon can not attack invisible characters. Timing is essential, since a remove or a True Sight tick could dispel ones invisibility at an inopportune time. Creating distance helps since it will increase the travel time of any remove projectiles, permitting the effect to be avoided until after the Time Stop. My solo non-arcane characters immediately race away from Jon and the demons. They listen for "praeses" and "alia" and then quaff. Getting the timing right can be tricky, but if you are soley focused on clearing the Time Stop hurdles, it becomes much easier. All of my non-arcane character have taken this approach. I've yet to lose a character to Jonicus.

 

Of course, this may be what you meant by "hiding" the charname, and maybe it seems un-fun to you. I, personally, don't have a problem with using invisibility to foil Time Stops. The AI will attempt to do it to you. Turnabout is fair play. Still, we all have our preferences. I respect yours.

 

Alternate tactics for surviving Jon's Time Stop are class specific. Personally, I tend to employ multiple methods: invisibility is my first line defense, but I find it wise to have a fall back in place as well.

 

With arcane characters who can't execute a one round knock out, ProMW is the preferred tool. Recall that you can store three ProMWs in contingencies and triggers in addition to the ones in your book. Chain: Hit- ProMW (the rest to taste), Contingency: Hitpoints 50%- ProMW, Trigger- ProMW, SI:A (the rest to taste) can put you in a much better position to survive Jon's Time Stops. Obviously there are multiple variations on this approach. Stoneskins and Mirror Images should be givens. As you've observed, SI:A should be up at all times. Maintain a round count. Even better, cast Fire Shield: Red or Fire Shield: Blue four rounds before SI:A. When the Fire Shield comes down, you know it's time to refresh SI:A. I frequently cast Fire Shield for this purpose alone: to provide a visual reminder to refresh SI:A.

 

Fighters should run Hardiness and clutch the Defender. Ilbratha Mirror Images can help too. Fighters should be invisible, in my opinion. Barbarians may be able to tough it out.

 

Rangers and paladins should run Hardiness and AoF while clutching the Defender and running Ilbratha MI. Rangers and paladins should be invisible, in my opinion, but some may be able to tough it out. Beastmaster have the worst of it here since they can't use the Defender or Illbratha. Beastmasters should really be invisible.

 

Clerics have AoF and the Defender. Chant, too, but clerics should be invisible, really. Druids have Ironskins and AoF. They should be invisible.

 

UAI thieves have Adventure wear, the Defender, and scrolls. They're thieves: they should really, really be invisible. 

 

Anyhoo. Those are the strategies that have worked in my runs. Best of luck with your next attempt, Jabberwock! Do check out Grim Jim's post in the Adventurer's Lounge if you intend to run v30. And if you don't mind, stop over by the Lounge and share your current thoughts on no reload play in BG2 EE. I'm interested in hearing whether or to what extent you think EE is suitable for no reload runs. I'd love to hear from other players not his topic as well.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Arkona, Halfling Barbarian: Watcher's Keep- Level 3

 

I'm picturing a hardcore, beyond reason PnP addict. This guy has a felt Robin Hood hat that his high school girlfriend made for him in 1989. This guy has a tinfoil sword and a stack of dog eared monster manuals. This guy still calls the high school girlfriend who made him the felt Robin Hood hat in 1989, even though she's married now and has three kids. This guy lives with his mother and drinks Mountain Dew. His high school girlfriend will never call him back. 

 

This guy doesn't exist. I'm pretty certain no PnP player is actually like that. But if he did exist, he'd love battling through Watcher Keep Level 3 with the ATweaks Fiends. He'd love the attention to detail. He'd love the adherence to source material. His eyes would light up with glee at the sight of each new creature. He'd point at the screen, rattling off monster manual statistics, gulping Mountain Dew, and explaining why each and every creature is exactly, positively right. He'd love it.

 

This guy and I would not get along. I'd listen, politely, and then say: "Yeah. But fighting the SCS demons is more fun." PnP Man would be furious. PnP Man would hit the roof. PnP Man would say that Baldur's Gate got fiends wrong, and that SCS just put wrong on steroids. Right is better than wrong: ATweaks is right, he'd claim.

 

"But Baldur's Gate isn't PnP," I'd reply. PnP Man would murder me. End of conversation.

 

I'm sure PnP man is right, in some senses. And in preferring the SCS fiends, I feel a little like the beer addled college kid who'd rather see the summer blockbuster than the Sundance Festival winner over at the art cinema. But I know what I like. And in Watcher's Keep, I want explosions, car chases, telegraphed plots, and maybe Matt Damon. I want a blockbuster. I want the SCS Fiends.

 

Caveat I: When I say ATweaks Fiends I mean exactly that- ATWeaks PnP Fiends with PnP stats (option 1, sans SCS or option 2, with SCS). The SCS/ATweaks Script hybrid fiends (SCS Improved Fiends + ATweaks Option 3) may be fine. I can't say.

 

Caveat II: Fiendish Gating may be enough to rebalance the ATweaks PnP fiends, though I doubt it. 

 

Caveat III: We all have our styles and tastes. Any one of these options may work for any given player. Know yourself and choose accordingly. But if you're an SCS player who is used to hard hitting tactical combat, I'm inclined to advise SCS/ATweaks hybrid fiends with or without Fiendish Gating or straight SCS Fiends, depending on taste. The other options are problematic.

 

To the combat. Let me begin by sharing Arkona's inventory for Level 3. We went with studded leather, but we also swapped out the Helm of Defense for the Lavender Ioun Stone

 

Spoiler

 

Why you ask? Saves. I wasn't 100% sure what to expect from ATweaks Level 3. As a consequence, I wanted Arkona's saves in the basement across the board. This is with no buffs but Rage, and with Foebane unequipped. Go ahead and Malison us. Feel free.

 

Spoiler

 

In the opening battle by the Stone Pillar, Arkona saw a balor. Akrona immediately went to work with Seeking.

 

Spoiler

 

But then I thought: Hey, you know, this would be a great opportunity to see the famed balor vorpal.

 

Spoiler

 

Ok. I don't need to see that again.

 

Spoiler

 

Onto Tahazzar. Arkona opened with GDB->Whirlwind seeking to clear the fodder. 

 

Spoiler

 

I felt really dumb when I recalled that the glabrezus respawn infinitely until Tahazzar dies. This happened when my beast master, Ashanti, no reloaded the straight SCS version of Watcher's Keep. I just forgot. It has been awhile.

 

Seeking Whirlwinds for Tahazzar.

 

Spoiler

 

With the vorpal ability out of the way, the rest could be taken down in toe-to-to melee. With 80% physical resistance, Foebane, the Ring of Gaxx, and the saves to shrug off any spell or on hit effect -even under malison- no demon short of a balor has a chance to stop Arkona.

 

Spoiler

 

Lackey Baatezu room. Seeking Whirlwind for the Pit Fiend. Foebane + Defender + Hardiness for everything else.

 

Spoiler

 

The alu-fiends were interesting- very different from their SCS counterparts. The SCS alu-fiends are beefy demons with limited spell abilities. The ATweaks alu-fiends are fragile F/Ms, who use Vampiric Touch to compensate for their lack of hit points. You can see them unbuffed here.

 

Spoiler

 

Not knowing what to expect, but assuming they'd be harmless, I had Arkona rush them. The first alu-fiend exploded almost instantly. I was confused, but when the buffs started firing, I realized that these were fragile mages who really needed to get their buffs up. 

 

Spoiler

 

The ATweaks buffs will kick in slower than the SCS buffs, it seems. Give them some time. Note also that the alu-fiends, at least, don't full pre-buff. They use Contingencies and Sequencers. Give them a few rounds if you'd prefer to fight full buffed enemies.

 

Some cool things happened in this battle. Did you notice that blue swirly looking thing? That's  the succubus entering and exiting the ethereal plane. While in the ethereal plane, she can not be attacked. A True Sight spell will reveal her position, but she will remain protected. Many ATweaks demons have this ability. 

 

Spoiler

 

Lots of VT from the alu-fiends. Without those they would have been absolute pushovers.

 

Spoiler

 

Interesting, but, in the end, this kind of reminded me of that scene from the first Indiana Jones movie where the guy with the sword gets all fancy and then Indiana Jones just shoots him in the face. Under options 1 and 2, fighting ATweaks fiends can feel like that sometimes. Pump'em up with SCS stats. Give'em a chance.

 

Spoiler

 

Against Ka'rashur, Arkona opened with a Seeking Whirlwind. Executing Invisibility->Wish, permitted him to stay in the game.

 

Spoiler

 

Lots of TWEing and Fireballs until Ka'rashur fell.

 

Spoiler

 

 

We settled into Foebane + Defender + Hardiness melee after that. It takes more than an army of demons to stop Arkona.

 

Spoiler

 

Glabrezu room. There are some good shots of Plane Shifting here. The glabrezus will cast Mirror Image and run True Sight.

 

Spoiler

 

They chunk well. Like lizard men. Note the ethereal demon here. If you cast True Sight while they're in the ethereal plane, you'll see this ghosty thing. You can't attack it. This is cute, but I'm not sure what it accomplishes tactically. It's like they're casting Maze on themselves. Perhaps they can heal or regenerate in the ethereal plane and I just haven't noticed

 

Spoiler

 

He's back now. We can chunk him.

 

Spoiler

 

Tieflings. This was unfun. We chunked the mostly vanilla warriors quickly enough.

 

Spoiler

 

but I was terrified that a crazy Wild Surge from the mage would end the run. That didn't happen, thankfully. I was oh-so-glad when she buggy-wugged herself.

 

Spoiler

 

The Cambion room was a drag. I really want to like the ATweaks fiends because it seems like the cool thing to do, but a few of the rooms were problems and it was the ATweaks scripts -not the ATweaks stats- that were the issue. Using SCS stats can't salvage these encounters if the ATweaks script is used. Only ditching ATweaks or lobbying for patches/fixes/changes will.

 

ATweaks doesn't do mage scripts well. If you're used to vanilla enemies, then the ATweaks arcane casters will seem clever, even brilliant, but if you're used to SCS scripting, then the ATweaks arcane scripts don't make the grade. Some of the ATweaks scripting is fantastics- like the elementals- but there are lacks in other areas.

 

The cambions kept spamming Power Word: Blind.

 

Spoiler

 

And their Power Word: Blinds stack, so Arkona's THAC0 went up to 40. (Yes: Forty)

 

Spoiler

 

So now we had a cadre of Watcher's Keep cambions chasing a quadruple blinded barbarian. I noticed that they wanted to cast this Ice Sheet spell -and I figured that one of them had to have Remove- so I thought I might be able to get them to remove my blindness for me if I bumped cold resistance up to 100% with a Potion of Cold Resistance and a Protection from Cold scroll. That worked, eventually, and then we just chunked the cambions in a ice storm. This was too geeky-puzzly-weird for my taste.

 

Spoiler

 

Onto the demon wraith. He buffed well.

 

Spoiler

 

But he achieved little. He favored Symbol spells. They all met rock bottom saves + Rage. Arkona focused on the slave wraiths. Note that Arkona kept the iMod at the ready in case Rage expired at the wrong time. In this install, shorty save bonuses are temporarily lost if you are level drained.

 

Spoiler

 

With the slave wraiths down, Arkona turned her attention to the demon wraith himself. Arkona translated Improved Mantle as Everad, please. 

 

Spoiler

 

He was finished in melee.

 

Finally, the Deck of Many things. This was an ordeal. Total ordeal! In fact, at one point I though I might have to retire Arkona.

 

Seeking a ToB caliber low speed factor weapon for aerial servant punking, we played for Spectral Brand. This was stupid. Belm works fine. Who cares if it's an early SoA weapon? We won Spectral Brand eventually, but we were cursed first: Arkona's strength was set to 6. We had to go all the way to Saradush for a cure. We made our way back through the Maze and played again- this time, for the way out. We lost, and in the process we were Silenced. This worried me. I've never had this happen before. What if it wasn't a curse? What if a Vocalize cast was required? Would Arkona have to play the rest of the game as a mute? We escaped level 3 and then immediately raced for the portal.

 

 

Spoiler

 

Sister Garlena was no help: Arkona couldn't talk. Fortunately, an old friend came to the rescue.

 

Thanks Aerie!

 

Spoiler

 

 

Arkona will complete level 4 this afternoon.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Serg BlackStrider]

The Cambion room was a drag. I really want to like the ATweaks fiends because it seems like the cool thing to do, but the last two rooms were problems and it was the ATweaks scripts -not the ATweaks stats- that were the issue. Using SCS stats can't salvage these encounters if the ATweaks script is used. Only ditching ATweaks or lobbying for patches/fixes/changes will.

 

The fundamental issue is that ATweaks just doesn't do mage scripts well. If you're used to vanilla enemies, then the ATweaks arcane casters will seem clever, even brilliant, but if you're used to SCS scripting, then the ATweaks mage scripts don't make the grade. Some of the ATweaks scripting is fantastics- like the elementals- but ATweaks just doesn't do arcane that well- not yet, at least.

 

The cambions kept spamming Power Word: Blind.

 

Spoiler

 

...

 

So now we had a cadre of Watcher's Keep cambions chasing a quadruple blinded barbarian. I noticed that they wanted to cast this Ice Sheet spell -and I figured that one of the had to have Remove- so I thought I might be able to get them to remove my blindness for me if I bumped cold resistance up to 100% with a Potion of Cold Resistance and a Protection from Cold scroll. That worked, eventually, and then we just chunked the cambions in a ice storm. This was too geeky-puzzly-weird for my taste.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Nice progress there, Alesia! And very insightful.

 

One note from me, though, if you don't mind 

Those Death Knights in Cambions room are not Fiends but Undead. They do have PW:Blind, which they spammed on Arkona, and Wall of Ice you've called Ice Sheet. There was(were) a Cambion(s) there as well (as it's obvious from the last screenshot), but they are cubs compared to Death Knights.

In my current run I've already encountered aTweaks' Skelly Warriors weirdness, may be those Death Knights are also a bit broken?

[Alesia_BH]

 

Those Death Knights in Cambions room are not Fiends but Undead.

 

Yes. We had at least one fiend, a cambion. The rest were death knights, I believe.

 

Distinctive coloring would have been helpful here, although it may have looked awkward.

 

 

 Wall of Ice you've called Ice Sheet

 

That's what you'd expect based on the Read Me.

 

The spell we saw in Watcher's Keep was called Ice Sheet, not Wall of Ice.

 

This spell:

 

Spoiler

 

They're basically the same: 2d10 Cold and 1D10 crushing.

 

 

In my current run I've already encountered aTweaks' Skelly Warriors weirdness, may be those Death Knights are also a bit broken?

 

 

Perhaps. Maybe the Undead component is on the unfinished side. 

 

That said, I was also less than pleased with the Watcher's Keep alu-fiends, which definitely come from the PnP Fiends component.

 

On balance, I found the ATweaks Option 2, no Fiendish Gating version of Watcher's Keep less than satisfying, sadly.

 

When my beast master, Ashanti, completed the SCS Slightly Improved Watcher's Keep + Improved Fiends w/ Improved Staying Power version, I graded it an A, maybe A- to leave room for improvement.

 

In comparison, I'd give the ATweaks Option 2, no Fiendish Gating version a C- (for my purposes at least, it may be perfect for someone else).

 

Everything ATweaks related gets an A+ for effort, however, and the SCS/ATweaks hybrid option may work out nicely. I can't say. I haven't tried it. I also can't comment on Fiendish Gating.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Arkona's Game:

 

Look where we are.

 

 

I'll post on level 4 soon. Current character record and inventory appear below.

 

Spoiler

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Arkona, Halfling Barbarian: Watcher's Keep- Level 4

 

Level 4 is complete, although the Saladex and the Demi-Lich yet live. 

 

If I were to rank the levels in terms of challenge, atmosphere and fun, level 5 would be the run away winner in all categories. Level 3 would come in second. Level 4 would come next- following closely on the heals of 3. There's a lot to like about 4.

 

But for no reloaders, level 4 can be dangerous. There is a lot of potential for undignified death on 4. Mind flayers, maze traps, psionic maze, and, or course, misclicks at the Machine of Lum the mad. Level 4 is a place where letting your guard down can be deadly, a place where mistakes can lead to death.

 

Upon returning to level 4, curse free and ready to fight, Arkona was reminded that she had some unfinished business to attend to with mind flayers and yuan-ti.

 

A Greater Death Blow Whirlwind handled both.

 

Spoiler

 

Onto the githyanki area. The githyanki area started off well enough. And it ended well enough, but it was terrifying nonetheless. It started innocently, with a handful of gith rushing a well protected Arkona.

 

Spoiler

 

Out of stinginess and laziness, I refrained from quaffing a strength potion, and instead left Arkona's strength belt on here. Given the gith's Laroch's like ability, the BoIB was really called for. But I figured Foebane Whirlwind would more compensate for any hit points lost. That ended up being the case. We took a lot of damage, but our hitpoint total stayed in equilibrium. Next time I'll wear the BoIB, though.

 

The frightening thing was anti-paladin Psionic Maze. Psionic Maze appears in the battle record just like normal Maze, but it's different from the mage spell. It's not a touch spell: It has a range of 70. It differs in one other key respect: it offers a save v spells at -4. Arkona can make -4s all day, but the irritating thing is that the Maze sound effect does not offer a save, and so we had to hear that distinctive, potentially game ending, rattling cage sound, over and over again. It was un-fun, if non-threatening

 

Spoiler

 

 

As mentioned, skipping the BoIB led to a lot of unneeded damage, but the hitpoint total remained pretty much stable. We won and we were never in danger.

 

Spoiler

 

The mind flayer room didn't go quite as smoothly. Once again, I got a little over-casual and a little lazy. What are the essentials when fighting mind flayers with a solo warrior? Negative saves? A rock bottom AC? Range weapons? Potions of Genius? Potions of Mind Focusing? Of course. Check. But with SCS Smarter Mindflayers, who use Detontate and Ballistic Attack, while having excellent damage resistances, Roranach's and the Belt of Inertial Barrier are equally important. And if your mind flayers can target those spells through invisibility (mine can), you should really have an emergency Potion of Magic Shielding at the ready, too. We checked most of those boxes. But since I didn't feel like digging Roranach's out of the Bag of Holding, we were exposed to ballistic attack. We quickly found ourselves forced to retreat. 

 

Spoiler

 

Ok. Let's try this again- this time with Roranach's and with the Crimson Dart for GDBs.

 

Spoiler

 

Ballistic Attack does nothing now, thanks to Hardiness + Roranach's. We win.

 

 

Greater Death Blows finished the vampiric illithid.

 

Spoiler

 

Rock and Garock.

 

Rock was killed in toe-to-toe melee. He couldn't hit and he couldn't withstand Foebane. He fell quickly.

 

Spoiler

 

Garock kept phasing away. Apparently he likes getting jacked with sling bullets. Seeking Whirlwind.

 

Spoiler

 

Finally, a Wave Whirlwind for the frost salamanders.

 

Spoiler

 

Does anyone want to see Saladrex or the demi-lich? I'm inclined to pass, but if others would enjoy seeing them, Arkona can oblige.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Does anyone want to see Saladrex of the demi-lich? I'm inclined to pass, but if others would enjoy seeing them, Arkona can oblige.

Me never fought Saladrex (I do not see neither sense nor necessity) so it's up to you. In my setup he will have one or two of the randomized items but I'm not yet decided if I'll fight him this time (may be I'll try to rob him first...   One thing I don't like in Randomizer mod is that it sometimes *force* you to fight when you don't want to). Demi-lich? Without Randomizer it's all about a question whether Dagger of the Star worth the effort for you... Personally, (and taking into account that he might have some nice Randomized item(s) as well) I'm planning to face him (if I'll get that far) but I'm not going to encourage you to do that and take unnecessary risk.

[Alesia_BH]

Me never fought Saladrex (I do not see neither sense nor necessity)

 

I've nixed him a few times. I don't think Ashanti killed him though.

 

Without the randomizer, he guards the The Staff of the Ram. The Staff of the Ram is a nice item, but upgrading it seems foolish to me. Why would I give up Roranach's for a weapon? There are plenty of ways to hurt things. There is only one way to get 50% crushing resistance from the helmet slot. 

 Demi-lich

 

I've actually never found the Demi-Lich in Watcher's Keep. I literally don't know where he is, and I refuse to look it up. I've tried to find his hidey-hole on a number of occasions, but I've yet to succeed. All I know is that he's somewhere on L4. EDIT: Don't tell me! I want to find him on my own!

 

The loot definitely isn't worth the risk, but I'm tempted to try to find him. I'm curious. Further, I wouldn't be heart broken if this run ended early. I'm more excited about Arkona's upcoming SCS v30/Ascension/ATweaks (SCS Fiends) EE run.  

 

Best,

 

A.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Jardik the Axe has just killed the shadow dragon will write up his saga up to date tomorrow, but upon re-entering the shadow dragons lair he has come across another dragon called Grondor together with some wyvern cohorts.

 

This dragon, I have only met once before and it was my doom. Does anyone know anything about it?

 

This time I ran away because I have so many quests currently in progress that I don't want to start anything new at present.

[Alesia_BH]

Jardik the Axe has just killed the shadow dragon

 

Congrats!

 

 

he has come across another dragon called Grondor together with some wyvern cohorts.

 

This dragon, I have only met once before and it was my doom. Does anyone know anything about it?

 

 

I've never met Grondor. Perhaps someone else can advise.

 

It always seem like you're fighting dragons, Wise. Everytime I read a BG2 post form you, you're killing a dragon- or dragons plural. 

 

Best,

 

A.

[Blackraven]

It always seem like you're fighting dragons, Wise. Everytime I read a BG2 post form you, you're killing a dragon- or dragons plural. 

Very true!

Btw no idea who Grondor is. I do know a Grond0 though

[Alesia_BH]

But it is...

 

I'll post on levels 5 and 6 soon.

 

Best,

 

A.

 

Btw. The ATweaks fiends redeemed themselves in Demogorgon's Lair. The TWEing vorpaling balors and the glabrezus entering and exiting the ethereal plane definitely added some excitement. This was a great fight. Fun! 

[Blackraven]

Congrats Alesia! After years(?) without doing Wacher's Keep, you've just soloed it!