15218 réponses à ce sujet

[Alesia_BH]

That doesn't sound like an entirely safe strategy to me.  The fire seeds won't necessarily disrupt a spell - nor would one be at all guaranteed to even kill all the spiders in the area of effect (leading to the possibility of movement being blocked at least briefly).  If you wanted to be safer then going in invisible and producing summons out of sight of Pai'Na would be an option.  Insect plague could then be cast at your summons before you showed yourself - negating both the long casting time and slow projectile and leaving your aura clear for another spell of your choice at Pai'Na.

 

It was safe. 

 

By staying near the door, Adele insured that she could not be boxed in. By running RoAC II and Chaotic Commands, she could not have been disabled or targeted before having an opportunity to bring a counter into play (assuming she stayed outside Pai'Na's Aura of Fear range during her casting phase, which she did). Adele's counter toolkit is comprehensive: that's what the earlier trip to Roger accomplished.

 

The spiders have poor ACs and very low HP totals. Adele could only miss on a poor roll and she had two APR per round. Every spider in the AoE was killed on all four hits. 

 

Had Adele critical missed consecutively and or failed to disrupt Pai'Na she still had her aura in reserve to bring a counter into play. She also could have just left, since she stayed near the door. There was no risk there.  

 

Had Adele tried to sneak in under invisibility, seeking a place to summon out of sight, a Divination cast could have revealed her. In that case she could have been trapped and forced to fight in far less advantageous circumstances.

 

I prefer to avoid line of sight abuse. I also prefer to avoid targeting hostile spells on friendlies, or friendly spells (like Magic Resistance) on hostiles.

 

I deliberately had Adele reveal herself to Pai'Na in order to trigger the encounter.

 

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Adele's Game:

 

Adele has received a personal item. It is a magical scimitar called Grace Under Fire. Description below.

 

Grace Under Fire

 

THAC0: +2

Damage: 1d8+2

Speed Factor: 1

 

+1 Bonus to AC

Immune to Fear

 

Useable by Adele

 

Best,

 

A.

[Grond0]

It was safe. 

 

By staying near the door, Adele insured that she could not be boxed in. By running RoAC II and Chaotic Commands, she could not have been disabled or targeted before having an opportunity to bring a counter into play (assuming she stayed outside Pai'Na's Aura of Fear range during her casting phase, which she did). Adele's counter toolkit is comprehensive: that's what the earlier trip to Roger accomplished.

 

The spiders have poor ACs and very low HP totals. Adele could only miss on a critical and she had two APR per round. Every spider in the AoE was killed on all four hits. 

 

Had Adele critical missed consecutively and or failed to disrupt Pai'Na she still had her aura in reserve to bring a counter into play. She also could have just left, since she stayed near the door. There was no risk there.  

 

Had Adele tried to sneak in under invisibility, seeking a place to summon out of sight, a Divination cast could have revealed her. In that case she could have been trapped and forced to fight in far less advantageous circumstances.

 

I prefer to avoid line of sight abuse. I also prefer to avoid targeting hostile spells on friendlies, or friendly spells (like Magic Resistance) on hostiles.

 

I deliberately had Adele reveal herself to Pai'Na in order to trigger the encounter.

 

 

Best,

 

A.

I realise that you could have left the area, but that's also something you have said you try to avoid.  

 

In relation to invisibility, even if Pai'Na started casting immediately you could have been out of sight and in no danger by the time a spell had been cast if you moved forward immediately on entry.  You could I suppose argue on RP grounds that you couldn't know that, but given that you were going there specifically targeting that encounter it would seem only reasonable to me that you would know the details of it.

 

As to what's considered abuse that's of course a personal issue and I know our preferences differ .  I'm happy to discuss the details in the Lounge if you want.

[Alesia_BH]

I realise that you could have left the area, but that's also something you have said you try to avoid.  

 

I'm willing to leave an area in order to full retreat, but not to avoid spell effects or to separate enemies.

 

And I was confident that that wouldn't be necessary. Adele's plan was sound.

 

Pai'Na never had a window. Adele never led with her aura and she had a comprehensive counter toolkit.

 

The Fire Seeds were an excellent tool in that fight. They permitted Adele to wipe out all the spiders and disrupt Pai'Na without getting within Aura of Fear range or consuming aura. 

 

My comment about line of sight abuse etc was not intended to encourage you or anyone else to change their playing style, but to clarify why the approach you suggested wouldn't be suitable for Adele. 

 

I wanted Adele to reveal herself. I wanted Pai'Na's buffs to fire, and I wanted the two to face off on even terms.

 

In any case, staying near the door is safer, in my opinion.

 

 

Best,

 

A.

 

 

FYI: The spiders in Pai'Na's nest only have 2 hit points. To survive a Fire Seed, they'd have to roll a one out of 8 on their first damage dice and then make their save to avoid rolling the second dice. Their save v spells is 17. 

[Grond0]

FYI: The spiders in Pai'Na's nest only have 2 hit points. To survive a Fire Seed, they'd have to roll a one out of 8 on their first damage dice and then make their save to avoid rolling the second dice. Their save v spells is 17. 

I was thinking they had 5 .  I agree that with 2 it's no surprise that none survived ... 

[Dyara]

@Blackraven: I'm really sorry (again) about Bart's passing (stupid planetar ... if Dyara comes there and the planetar's still around it's up to getting its butt kicked very seriously )

 

 

... because of girlfriend ...

 

 

Another challenging noreload attempt ... but at least you don't get killed (usually).

[Grond0]

Phantasmic 6 {11} - monks party (update 1)

 

After graduating from BG1 the monks have made a good start to their adventures in Athkatla - at least it was a good start until they got to the Rune Assassins!

 

In the dungeon stealth attacks, like the one on this steam mephit,

Spoiler

dealt with the potentially more difficult encounters.  In the portal room 3 monks went to destroy the portals, while the others ran distraction.  

Spoiler

Everyone got up to level 9 there - another poor set of rolls meaning they finish rather below average.  Now with +1 fists they returned to the previous level to kill the golem jailor.  They did all the hard work of encircling Ulvaryl to protect the assassins from her.  Regrettably though, after the assassin got her to near death and Chimera tried to finish her off with vampiric touch, the assassin got the killing shot in first.

Spoiler

 

On exit from the dungeon they immediately went to sort out the circus.  Then, after reporting to Gaelan Bayle, they oversaw Hendak's hostile takeover of the Copper Coronet consortium.

Spoiler

The purchase of the Blade of Roses there allowed the monks to shop at the best possible prices and they bought a few bits and pieces from the Promenade before heading to the Bridge District.  They picked up the berserker horn there, Spectre using the Horn of Kazgaroth in the same house to get saves negative before triggering the petrification trap.

 

Next, they travelled to Watcher's Keep to get the potion bag.  Exploring inside, the other monks provided enough blocking and distraction to allow Chimera to kill the stone golem (he had the only weapon that could hit).  

Spoiler

However, they didn't have a strength potion that would allow them to collect the Crimson Dart - and didn't want to explore further in case vampiric wraiths were present, which would make getting the dart later more difficult.

 

Back in the City there was still no sign of Suna Seni, so the monks deliberately courted an ambush. A firebreath potion on the mage killed him on its second round of damage, along with a thief and the cleric.  

Spoiler

Meanwhile the other monks had stunned and killed 2 others, leaving only a badly wounded Suna Seni to be finished off.  The frost giant strength potion from that encounter was used back at Watcher's Keep to get the Crimson Dart - and opening the main room up after that showed that there were indeed vampiric wraiths blocking off further exploration.

 

Back in the City again they now had the money to pay Gaelan Bayle.  After doing that they went to get their goodies from Aran Linvail (only a small upgrade as the AoP is not usable by monks in this installation).  They went straight down to the waterfront to find Lassal, but hit a problem there when he refused to run away.  Eventually the monks just left him there and set off back to Aran to report the fate of Mook - at which point Lassal finally made his going-away speech .  

Spoiler

On the way there they had to deal with Salia's thief recruits - Spirit took a 50 HP backstab, but was able to avoid any follow-up.

 

On the way to the Bridge District they happened across Renfeld and put the fear of stun into some thugs.  

Spoiler

Carrying on, the Guild Contact and his conspirators were all stunned very quickly - maximising the potion haul.  

Spoiler

While there the monks also solved the skinner murders.  The Rune Assassins wouldn't follow them back upstairs, but the bone golem did - to its cost.  The intention was then to kill the ghasts using stealthy missile attacks.  However, I lingered a fraction of a second too long doing that for the first time and Phantom was killed by a backstab during the area transition.

Spoiler

 

Back from the temple there were no more mistakes finishing off the ghasts.  Spectre then went down to draw attacks using the girdle of piercing and RoAC.  The first backstab on him did 27 damage which he immediately repaired with an extra-healing potion.  A while later there was another backstab, for 35 damage, but that somehow managed to kill him despite his 54 HPs - something of a mystery as you can see from the full text of that encounter.  

Spoiler

Next for the chop was Wraith.  She did better - causing the assassins to use about half a dozen invisibility potions before they managed a synchronised set of backstabs (no argument about that one). 

Spoiler

 

Back from the temple again, Wraith continued the race to see which would run out first - party gold or invisibility potions.  In fact she found both assassins using oils of speed, so they were presumably out of invisibilities.  I didn't fancy trying to make her run round against those though so ran upstairs again.  Testing to see if the thieves would disappear into stealth she went back down, but her return exit was blocked on the stairs and died once more (having not died at all in BG1, she's trying to catch up ).  The temple took yet more cash before they came back again (having dodged Sansuki on the way and waited out the oils of speed) and this time got at least a tiny bit of revenge for the high resource cost of that encounter.

Spoiler

 

Stats (cont. from BG1):

Chimera - L8, 59 HPs, 390 kills

Spectre - L8, 54 HPs, 697 kills, 3 deaths

Phantom - L8, 50 HPs, 376 kills, 5 deaths

Wraith - L8, 68 HPs, 446 kills, 2 deaths

Spook - L8, 65 HPs, 412 kills, 5 deaths

Spirit - L8, 66 HPs, 365 kills, 0 deaths

[Alesia_BH]

I was thinking they had 5 .  I agree that with 2 it's no surprise that none survived ... 

 

Yes. The spiders' miniscule hitpoint totals are precisely why the Fireseeds work well in that battle.

 

In that encounter, they function like Arrow of Detonation, basically.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Dyara]

In the hunt for 'Spell Shield' ...

Dyara, elven Fighter/Mage/Thief (BG2 take 2, update 2)

As the party stepped through the City Gates Dyara remembered the rumor about the Lich living in a secret tomb in the Crooked Crane. About time to get some lich fighting practice she thought. Dyara (Flail of Ages+4), Valygar (Usuno's Blade+4) and Anomen (some bullets+4) entered the hidden tomb...

Spoiler

Seems Dyara still has to work on her lich fighting tactic. As a compensation for his death Valygar got his armor upgraded. After saying hello to Korgan's old 'friend' Mencar Pebblecrusher at the 'Den of Seven Vales'...

Spoiler

... (and after Anomen became Sir Anomen) the party entered the sewers in the temple district to meet another ill-tempered dwarf...

Spoiler

Once the dwarf and his friends were dealt with the party started the Unseeing Eye quest. However after seeing a beholder (and some gauths) waiting across the bridge Dyara decided to turn around (and come back once we have the 'spell shield' spell). Unfortunately it turned out that spell is only a random drop and not to buy until chapter 5. Thus Dyara started to search Athkatla for random treasure ('rndtre04') - she even started to pickpocket nobles and guards .

While there Dyara and her group cleansed the Guarded Compound (lvl 1 only), then they went to the 'Bridge District'. When Haer'Dalis (who had been released from Mekrath's clutches earlier) was kidnapped again the party followed through the portal...

At the Planar Prison Aawil and his bounty hunters were dispatched quickly, same was true for the Master of Thralls...

Spoiler

Then the party buffed and ignoring the pits the party rushed towards the Warden, a Death spell got rid of the Umber Hulks and without any support the Warden died quickly...

Spoiler

Back at the 'Bridge District' they fought the Baltis Estate guards (and at a temple Dyara paid for fighting the Baltis Estate guards), the warehouse was cleansed, Captain Dennis was removed from Delosar's Inn (so no 'gong' quest this time)...

Spoiler

... and Tirdir's kidnappers were forced to go out of business. But still no 'Spell Shield' scroll and that still held true after pickpocketing the nobles and guards at 'Waukeen's Promenade'. When leaving Cromwell (who had just merged one pair of boots of speed and one pair of boots of stealth - the party had two of both of them) Mazzy received some bad news about her sister Pala being poisoned  and so the party made for Trademeet.

Mazzy's sister got cured but as Mazzy stayed with her for one day Dyara and her remaining companions set out for Neera's 'Hidden Refuge'. After exploring the 'Wild Forest' the party (plus Neera who had joined temporarily) entered the 'Hidden Refuge'. There the party met quite a few very strange people, for catching eight runaway cats Dyara was rewarded with a... cat named Dings. Might be a good companion for her familiar Dyara thought... and then I realized Dyara still hadn't refreshed her BG1 familiar... oops. The best reward for visiting Neera however was the 'Spell Shield' scroll Dyara had found in one of the crates. Then it was time say good-bye to Neera and the party returned to Trademeet.

There Mazzy rejoined and after resting (and refreshing her familiar and taking away 6 HP with EEKeeper) quickly all the Trademeet problems were solved (Cernd fought Faldorn, Ihtafeer was beheaded, Raissa was saved and the 'Mantle of Waukeen' was given to the High Merchant). At the smithy Xan was able to buy back his stolen 'Robe of Neutral Archmage' (for 5,000 gold) while Dyara bought a 'Robe of Good Archmage' for herself (for ~16,000 gold).

Name: Level|Game Kills XP(in this update)||Game Kills(in this update)|Strongest Kill Name|Deaths
Dyara: Fighter(9)/Mage(11)/Thief(11)|480,415(+142,558)|235(+68)|Thaxll'ssillyia|-
Korgan: Berserker(12)|388,676(+118,537)|173(+54)|Giant Snake|-
Anomen:  Fighter(7)->Cleric(13)|120,036(+55,384)|82(+26)|Lich|-
Xan: Fighter(10)/Mage(11)|119,585(+107,985)|52(+38)|Ithafeer|-
Valygar: Stalker(10)|62,240(+44,300)|37(+20)|Falahar|1x
Mazzy: Fighter(10)|154,502(+119,082)|50(+45)|Shade Lord|-

Former party members:

Neera: Wild Mage(12)|1,307(+1,307)|3(+3)|Ogre|-
Jaheira: Fighter(9)/Druid(12)|21,137(+0)|19(+0)|Skeleton Warrior|-
Yoshimo: Bounty Hunter(13)|29,480(+0)|31(+0)/Mephit Portal|-
Minsc: Ranger(10)|118,370(+0)|79(+0)|Statue|-
Imoen: Thief(7)->Mage(8)|1,970(+0)|7(+0)|Ogre Mage|-

Despite being about two levels behind Korgan, despite fighting lots of trolls (only Dyara and Korgan can kill them, Mazzy would to switch to fire/acid arrows but I usually don't bother), despite having lesser equipment (only +2 weapons / arrows compared to Korgans Stonefire+3 axe but of course +2 APRs - thanks to tuigan bow - help a little bit) and despite staying with her sister for a while Mazzy has scored (slightly) more XP than Korgan in this update. I'm using a 'nerfed' Grandmastery patch (as in BG1 the fifth WP only give additional +1/2 APR while the 'BG2 tweaks' version give +1 APR on top of the +1/2 you get for the second WP) but that applies to both Korgan and Mazzy. Since also Anomen does well with his sling ranged combat seems to be still a good option in early/mid BG2. I'm somewhat worried about Valygar. He has done much better in my previous (no noreload) run with the same party (only Jaheira replacing Anomen). Perhaps I should do Guarded Compound Level 2 next ...

[Alesia_BH]

Adele, Half-Elven Fighter/Druid: Trademeet

 

 

It is done. Adele has completed her first major quest and secured her Stronghold. 

 

I'm happy with how this went.

 

In Arkona's run, which had started as an install test, I raced through the early Chapter 2/3 quests. Arkona's run ended up being a worthy entry into our Hall of Heroes, but that early corner cutting sapped some of the joy. I didn't want to make the same mistake with Adele. 

 

Adele, who is more druid than fighter, did her stronghold quest first. She struck a reasonable balance between safety and even footing. I'm pleased with her performance in the Druid Grove- even if it wasn't perfect.

 

The quest started with a difficult choice. I wanted Adele to fight all of the enemies in the grove -including the ATweaks elder earth elemental and the spirit trolls- but the elder earth elemental can only be hurt with +3 or above weapons and Adele lacks a magical troll finishing weapon. The answer for a Fighter/Druid with a proficiency point in clubs is obvious: Blackblood. And wouldn't it be nice to have Harmony for the myconids?The temptation, of course, was to kill the djinnis, claim Harmony, and open the shops.

 

But that's not how the quest is suppose to work. Guild Mistress Busya's dialogue makes this clear:

 

Spoiler

 

 

At the same time, I didn't want to stealth pass the elder earth elemental and Adele's alternatives weren't appealing. In the end, I chose to kill the dao and open the shops. Were it not for the ATweaks elemental, I wouldn't have.

 

The buffs for Khan Zahraa were long duration standards, complemented by a Protection from Petrification scroll. A Wand of the Heavens, purchased from the Temple District, did most of the damage.

 

Spoiler

 

So, we got the order wrong, but now we'd be able to fight properly in the grove. I was comfortable with that tradeoff.

 

The spirit trolls fell to Blackblood

 

Spoiler

 

Mr. Efreeti and the fire elementals led the charge against the spiders

 

Spoiler

 

Last trolls.

 

Spoiler

 

Time for the ATweaks elder earth elemental. 

 

As mentioned earlier, the elder earth elemental is immune to weapons of +2 enchantment or below. That's not the only thing that makes him dangerous. He has a strength of 23 and a crushing weapon that does 6d8 base damage. He can cast Earthquake once per day and he can use Elemental Concealment, a version of invisibility, once every three rounds. He's 50% resistant to magic, has excellent saves, and enjoys a broad spectrum of immunities. He's a potentially dangerous opponent for the unprepared. Adele was prepared.

 

When Arkona faced the elder earth elemental, she used a Potion of Absorption. Based on the rolls I saw, I concluded that that hadn't been necessary: splint mail, the Girdle of Bluntness, a Potion of Defense and standard AC enhancements would suffice. Adele, blessed with Iron Skins, decided to learn from Arkona and conserve a Potion of Absorption.

 

Iron Skins + Potion of Defense + unenchanted splint + Girdle of Bluntness + Armor of Faith + RoAC II + Defensive Harmony. Strength of One + DUHM + Blackblood handled the offense. True Sight foiled Elemental Concealment. Chaotic Commands covered Earthquake sleep. No damage was taken. 

 

Spoiler

 

First shadow druid encounter. After getting tagged with Slow, Adele chose to hang back and use her sling with the Reflex in the offhand. Fire elementals did the heavy lifting

 

Spoiler

 

Kylan Lind was allowed to live: he's misguided rather than evil. After Faldorn's death he regrets his actions and promises to atone by dedicating himself to the grove. With a druid, I prefer that resolution to the encounter.

 

The myconid horde was taken down in straight melee. Iron Skins + Anhkeg Plate + Girdle of Bluntness + Shield of Harmony handled the defense. The myconids are never dangerous -assuming you are protected from Confusion and have an emergency Potion of Invisibility. Myconids summoned by the spore colonies will unsummon eventually. If you are boxed in and threatened, you can just quaff and wait. Also, the spore colonies have a finite number of summons. Adele fought them all until there were no more to fight.

 

Spoiler

 

Adele killed the shambling mounds in melee, accompanied by her fire elementals. It's good to have Belm.

 

Spoiler

 

Finally, a friendly face. Let's team up, shall we?

 

Spoiler

 

I let Cernd join for two reasons. First, I figured it would be fun to have him around for the Dalok fight. Second, I wanted to at least have the option of using potions in the duel with Faldron. I was glad I made that choice when Faldorn started quaffing.

 

To the Dalok fight. Here's the prep phase. Adele and Cernd are both running Protection from Fire, Resist Fire/Cold, Protection from Lightning, Chaotic Commands and Iron Skins amongst other spells. 

 

Spoiler

 

Adele approached, flanked by her fire elementals, while Cernd and the nymphs stayed back. The ATweaks fire elementals are immune to insect spells. Adele is untargettable.

 

Spoiler

 

Adele had the advantage of pre-cast summons, I felt it was only fair to let Dalok and friends get their opening spells off once it was clear they were going Conjuration. They summoned nymphs. Adele countered with Divine Wrath->melee. The nymph were destroyed before they could cast. Cernd's opening Insect Plague is en route.

 

Spoiler

 

Their nymphs are dead and their casting is bottled. They're facing two fire elementals and a buffed duel wielding F/D.

 

Spoiler

 

Plus, they have Cernd and a pair of nymphs pounding them with spells. 

 

 

Shapeshifted Cernd joined in for the finish.

 

Spoiler

 

The Faldron duel was fun, if a touch silly in the end. Adele took the precaution of pre-buffing. She also left the potion case with Cernd, although she didn't necessarily expect to use that. 

 

The buffs were Iron Skins, Chaotic Commands, Potion of Defense, Potion of Clarity (for Aura of Fear), Potion of Regeneration, Oil of Speed, Potion of Freedom, Potion of Hill Giant Strength, Protection from Lightning, Protection from Fire, Resist Fire/Cold, RoAC II, Defensive Harmony. 

 

Adele opened with Conjure Fire Elemental, reasoning that Faldorn -who almost certainly would not have pre-cast Fire Seeds- would have no chance of disrupting an opening spell. It made sense to get down the mission critical spell in the round where disruption wouldn't be possible.

 

Spoiler

 

Unsurprisingly, Faldorn made the exact same move. Fortunately, we both got two elementals, keeping the playing field level.

 

With fire elementals in play, disruption was now a risk for both Faldorn and Adele. Adele's Protection from Fire + Resist Fire/Cold + Potion of Defense pre-buffs insured that Adele had the advantage at this stage, but it was Adele, not Faldorn, who saw her round two spell (Insect Plague) disrupted.  

 

Nonetheless, Faldorn's lack of AC buffs and fire resistance left her far more vulnerable than Adele. Faldorn was taking heavy damage: so much damage that she quaffed a Potion of Extra Healing. 

 

Potions in the ring, Faldorn? Ok. I'll play by those rules. Cernd, toss me a Potion of Invisibility.

 

Spoiler

 

Have fun with those fire elementals, Faldorn.

 

Spoiler

 

Victory. 

 

 

Adele is now in Trademeet admiring her statue. She's complete the Hero of Trademeet quest before heading on to the De'Arnise Keep.

 

Best,

 

A.

 

 

Btw. Current inventory (If you're a non-EE player, feel free to ask what's what: It's confusing, huh?)

 

Spoiler

 

Btw II. I'm a little disappointed with the inscription on Adele's statue. Whose idea was that?

 

Spoiler

[Dyara]

Btw II. I'm a little disappointed with the inscription on Adele's statue. Whose idea was that?

 

A bug... for the second time Dyara got Xan (the one standing to the left of her) as inscription (but only after clicking on her statue once). Since there's no-one there you get a peasent (just like in the Test of Selfishness in hell).

[Blackraven]

Btw II. I'm a little disappointed with the inscription on Adele's statue. Whose idea was that?

Stand where you're at, PEASANT!

 

Dyara, that's strange, the statue ought to say Adele, Hero of Trademeet no? No peasant statues are needed (just don't put up any statues for non-existing NPCs).

Nice work btw Alesia and Dyara.

 

I did two simple EE installs. Am hoping to get a new Charname on her way before I'm off in September.
 

[Blackraven]

Btw. Current inventory (If you're a non-EE player, feel free to ask what's what: It's confusing, huh?)

 

No, not at all. I always play BGT with the 1PP mod

[corey_russell]

Then again, perhaps being a hero and also "peasant" isn't so bad - Adele can lift the spirits of peasants everywhere, now that they know it's possible for one them to rise to hero status - it's not just reserved for the noble class.

[Alesia_BH]

Then again, perhaps being a hero and also "peasant" isn't so bad - Adele can lift the spirits of peasants everywhere, now that they know it's possible for one them to rise to hero status - it's not just reserved for the noble class.

 

Let's play it that way (or nearly that way).

 

Let's imagine that Adele requested -nay demanded- that the statue read "peasant."

 

Adele's inscription is a political statement: a bit of conceptual art, intended to jar the viewer into reconceptualizing classism and social status differentiation.  

 

The provocation is not that a peasant can become a hero, but, rather, that a hero would embrace the word peasant without any concern for the pejorative connotations of the word. The word "peasant" is meaningless to Adele, because it is part of a fabrication which lacks external validity: an empty classification schema, bred of the tendency to create artificial social status hierarchies.

 

To Adele, all of Faerun's creatures are barefoot equals living on the same earth. Noble? Peasant? Upper? Lower? Meaningless. Birth, life, death, and balance are the only truths, and those truths are invariant across time, across space, across species- across beings of all kinds. 

 

Best,

 

A.

 

Btw. On a semi-related note, if the statue is named after someone (anyone) in the vicinity, then it stands to reason that Neeber could become Hero of Trademeet, no? It shouldn't be hard to lure him into the area.

[Alesia_BH]

Adele, Half-Elven Fighter/Druid: Final Update

 

Sadly, Adele has fallen. The culprit was Torgal and more, precisely, unexpected behavior from his Aura of Fear. 

 

Adele was successfully battling Torgal in melee when her armor fell off. You can see the problem here in her inventory.

 

 

Presumably the armor loss was caused by Torgal's innate Aura of Fear. I was aware that Torgal's Aura of Fear is similar to the spell Cloak of Fear, however, I was not aware that they shared the item drop opcode. I've never noticed this because my characters typically have negative saves in this encounter.  I've seen the item drop opcode in action before in other contexts (notably the Ascension demon battles), but I've  never witnessed armor loss. I wasn't aware that was possible. (I have no idea how fear could causes armor to fall off: I find that hard to picture...) 

 

Adele was protected from fear effects via a Potion of Clarity, but Potions of Clarity are not patched to prevent Item Drop (264), only Panic (24). Had I been aware that Torgal's innate applied Item Drop (264), I would have taken a different approach.

 

Adele tried to run, but Torgal, who sees through invisibility, was too quick, due to his innate movement rate bonuses, combined with a haste effect, tossed by the yuan-ti mage. Adele died in the second floor hallway.

 

Spoiler

 

Had I noticed the problem sooner, Adele may have been able to quaff a Potion of Invulnerability in time to save herself, but I wasn't aware that armor loss was a possibility, let alone a possibility in this encounter. Lessons learned: Torgal's innate Aura of Fear causes item drop, like the spell Cloak of Fear. It can not be foiled via fear immunity granting items or spell effects. Negative saves are required in the presence of Torgal's Aura of Fear- even under Remove Fear and the like. Worn items, including armor can be dropped.

 

I'm not certain what's next. Adele's run was enjoyable, if brief. I may try a similar character. I'm not sure.

 

Thank you for your interest everyone! Sorry this one ended so soon!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Blackraven]

Ouch Alesia, that's a shame! I've always fought Torgal with clarity potions or clerical Fear protection and never experienced armor loss. 
Like you I see no link between panicking and dropping one's armor. I also think that if any armor loss is supposed to be caused by the panic, Clarity or other forms of Fear protection should prevent the armor loss. That doesn't help Adele though.

I hope we can see you back in action soon.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Ouch Alesia, that's a shame!

 

It is. I was enjoying Adele as a character. I was enjoying my install as well. This run hit the sweet spot.

 

Adele was powerful enough to be capable, but vulnerable enough to be challenging. She was stylish enough to hold my interest, but practical enough to prevail. She worked. I'm sad to see her go.

 

It's pretty unusual for me to lose a character that I'm serious about this early. I've abandoned characters, like Ariel, and I've gotten sloppy with characters in broken installs, like Aria. I also had a few semi-serious half-hearted runs that ended in mid SoA, prior to my one year break. I don't recall the last character that I was committed to and yet lost so early.

 

I've always fought Torgal with clarity potions or clerical Fear protection and never experienced armor loss. 

 

Neither have I. It may be a semi-recent change. In the alternative, saves and fortune may have prevented me from witnessing it to date.

Like you I see no link between panicking and dropping one's armor.

 

Dropping a held item, like a weapon: sure, that makes sense. I see that at the Throne all the time and I've never objected. Dropping your armor out of fear? That's ridiculous. It's almost as bad a pickpocketing bandit scalps 

 

I also think that if any armor loss is supposed to be caused by the panic, Clarity or other forms of Fear protection should prevent the armor loss. That doesn't help Adele though. 

 

"It could have been scary. But I wasn't scared at all, because I was ready. And yet I was so scared that my clothes fell off."

 

That's basically what happened to Adele. It makes zero sense.

 

Item drop should apply to weapons slots and quick slots only. Remove Fear, etc should be patched to protect against fear based item drop.

 

My understanding is that IR/SR has implemented the latter. I'm not sure whether the former is feasible.

 

Anyhoo. Thanks for your condolences. Best of luck with your run! Keep your clothes on!

 

Best,

 

A. 

 

PS: And before it comes up: no, I don't view this as a bug that could justify a reload. This was a peculiar, little known game mechanic that some may speculate was unintended. It was not a game breaking anomaly or design flaw that unambiguously subverted developer intent. This is a clear cut game over, in my opinion. 

[Grond0]

Keep your clothes on!

Sorry to see Adele exposed like that.  One reason for me to restart characters is when they've died in unfortunate or questionable circumstances - you could give Adele another chance ...

[Serg BlackStrider]

Sad to see Adele had ended like that, Alesia... She deserved more, that's for sure. It would be nice if you'll give her another chance.

[realmuzzy]

That's a shame Alesia, what a weird mechanic. 

 

 

PS: And before it comes up: no, I don't view this as a bug that could justify a reload. This was a peculiar, little known game mechanic that some may speculate was unintended. It was not a game breaking anomaly or design flaw that unambiguously subverted developer intent. This is a clear cut game over, in my opinion. 

 

I think one would be putting a massive amount of faith in developer intent to assume this was intended behavior. On the other hand there's some sort of weird rp sense to it: "I was so afraid of the troll I barely managed not to run. I didn't even notice my pants fell off."

 

Presumably this works in the player's favor too, as in cloak of fear being a little useful against fear immune opponents? 

[Golden28]

Alexander the fighter/mage Final Episode

 

We killed Bodhi easily, then I decided to gather ome more xp with beholders. 

 

So Alexander died, basically like this:

 

Step 1: Buy shield of Balduran

Step 2: Walk up to Beholders

Step 3: They snatch it with SCS snathc option and insta stone me with a ray still following me.

 

Thats fun.....

 

Ohwell the challenge was becoming a bit too easy with me being a fighter/mage.

 

I wanna try beastmaster solo :S, without maximum animal summoning cap of 5 which seems rediculous especially for a beastmaster and IWD hp on level up. An it wont be a total solo because I allow myself 1 npc per quest, like yoshimo for shadow thieves and Torgal, Keldorn on Unseeing eye, Valygar on Planar sphere, etcm but solo as much as possible.

 

I realise this will probably be a very short run but heck..

 

Cheers!

[Dyara]

Sorry to hear about Adele's (and Alexander's) fate

 

Dropping a held item, like a weapon: sure, that makes sense. I see that at the Throne all the time and I've never objected. Dropping your armor out of fear? That's ridiculous. 

At least removing your clothes in front of an enemy should distract that enemy long enough so you can make your escape .

 

If not a bug it's definitely wrong and should be fixed.

[Grond0]

Phantasmic 6 {11} - monks party (update 2)

 

After their tough time against the Rune Assassins the monks were immediately presented with another potential hard fight when a full SCS ambush spawned on the way to the Docks - this time they chose to just run away.

 

Prebek and Sanasha offered a more tempting target

Spoiler

and allowed them to recoup some of their recent losses by looting the harpers before taking a bonus by encircling and killing Lucette.  

Spoiler

Captain Dirth and the local pirates also got the treatment before the monks started Mae'Var's tasks.  There was a welcome moment on the way to get the necklace when some would-be ambushers suffered an immediate change of heart.  Chimera bought some Boots of Grounding at the temple just in case he accidentally triggered any Talosian traps.

 

Back at the Docks, Tanova was waiting for them outside Mae'Var's guildhouse.  Spirit was just quick enough to outrun a cloud of bats (and monk immunity to charm came in handy there), but concentrating on those nearly caused a problem when some thugs spawned and backstabbed Spectre.  Spirit was then hit twice by backstabs, which meant the bats actually caught her and she had to take a potion to ensure she survived until they could rest.

Spoiler

 

There were no further alarms returning to Mae'Var and they moved on to assault Rayic Gethras.  Choosing to go for a quick kill they tried a mass attack - that was successful, although unfortunately about half a second too late to save Phantom from a flame arrow sequencer.

Spoiler

That meant he was the only one not to get the XP for level 10 in that encounter, but the bonus for reporting back to Edwin did the job.  The monks did the remaining tasks to expose Mae'Var, but didn't fancy fighting lots of backstabbers for the time being so left the guild for now.

 

Moving on to the Temple sewers they considered helping Roger, but didn't fancy the beholder and gauths near the troll.  Instead they left the sewers and went to sort out the Fallen Paladins.  The effect of most of the group waiting away from triggering the encounter was that Anarg came to them on his own

Spoiler

- making him an easy kill.  The rest of the paladins also shared the same saving throw weakness and all were stunned without difficulty.

 

The monks did the Sir Sarles quest (not bothering with fake illithium as they can't use the MoD).  In order to maximise the benefit of the restoration from the child spirits

Spoiler

Chimera had already used a strength potion to force open Kangaxx's door and robbed the level drain cabinet in Rayic's house.

 

They've also helped out the Lathander temple and cleared the Graveyard upper tombs.  They used stealth attacks on the shadow fiends there to avoid one problem.  The intention was to dodge the horror from the Crypt King, but I think I made a control error, pressing the pause bar once too often - resulting in half of them being scared.  The remaining 3 did well to beat him up, although Chimera resorted to a rare use of a healing potion to repair a critical on him.  The acquisition of Namarra gives another option for +2 weapons as well as offering potential tactical uses for silence.

 

They hunted down the kidnappers and collected the ransom.  They then reported to the guard outside the circus to restore part of the reputation loss before heading into the sewers under the Copper Coronet.  They had no problems going through there and an opening stealth attack ensured the cleric wouldn't be doing any casting.  Captain Haegan was also stunned to ensure a quick victory.  

Spoiler

Spirit was then severely hurt by the acid blob trap,

Spoiler

but survived to help out with the trolls - 2 swords of flame are just enough to kill the ordinary ones.

Spoiler

 

Namarra silenced the slaver wizard, but that didn't stop him from unleashing a magic missile sequencer that nearly killed Phantom - a stun ensured he had no more tricks up his sleeve, however.

Spoiler

 

Deciding to spread their wings a bit the monks have just arrived in Trademeet, running away from a potentially difficult orog ambush on the way.

Spoiler

 

Stats (cont. from BG1):

Chimera - L10, 61 HPs, 419 kills

Spectre - L10, 56 HPs, 727 kills, 3 deaths

Phantom - L10, 52 HPs, 393 kills, 6 deaths

Wraith - L10, 70 HPs, 464 kills, 2 deaths

Spook - L10, 67 HPs, 431 kills, 5 deaths

Spirit - L10, 68 HPs, 380 kills, 0 deaths

[Grond0]

Phantasmic 6 {11} - monks party (3rd and possibly final update)

 

At Trademeet Taquee was stunned in place.

Spoiler

The berserk warrior soaked up petrification attempts when the monks stealthed into the tent to sort out the remaining genies.  Useful equipment purchased after that included Blackblood (in combination with 2 Swords of Flame that can kill spirit and spectral trolls), BoIB, CoD and Ras.

 

The first battle with lots of trolls at the Grove was a hard one.  The difficulty of moving in close quarters and among lots of continually disappearing spirit trolls made it hard to concentrate the use of the 3 weapons that could kill trolls, but the efreeti managed to kill a number with its spells allowing the others to finish off.  

Spoiler

There were no healing potions used there, but Spirit did use an invisibility potion when blocked in at one point.  Further troll battles after that were still fiddly, but pretty comfortable.

 

The efreeti killed the earth elemental pretty much on its own on the way to Kyland Lind.  He was killed at the start of the battle before he could attempt a retreat

Spoiler

and none of the druids were able to take any significant action.  The efreeti was supposed then to go and fireball the spore colonies, but it is barely controllable and refused to do so.  A first use of Ras allowed them to make progress part-way across the bridge,

Spoiler

but confusion is dangerous to them so they withdrew before Ras disappeared.  After resting they returned and stunned the remaining 3 colonies.  

Spoiler

They left the rakshasas for now, but some more trolls and spore colonies were soon, while they resorted to blades to deal with the blunt-immune shamblers.  

 

There was a reminder of the continuing fragility of the monks though when I didn't pay attention to party positioning - resulting in Chimera being targeted by 2 grizzly bears at once and taken down to 3 HPs before withdrawing.

Spoiler

I also got caught out a bit by the party guarding the Grove itself - the druid's chaotic commands allowing it to shrug off stun and launch an insect plague.  

Spoiler

That led to a general retreat and Spook using a healing potion before they turned to fight - the adherent with missiles and Dalok with a stealth attack.  The druid had disappeared though and quite a bit of wandering round failed to get him to show himself - even after resting.

 

Giving up on the druid the monks spoke to Cernd.  I was very reluctant to put him into the party and would have been perfectly happy to let Cernd take his chances in a fair fight with Faldorn.  However, in this installation he has virtually zero chance of success, so I did put him in the party.  I was thinking Wraith would stand around after being dismissed (I've re-recruited monks that have been stoned before, so knew that was possible), but she just disappeared - I think one of the Tweak packs corrects this behaviour, but I don't have any tweaks in this installation.

 

I'm not going to continue the run with just 5 monks, so that may be it for them.  However, although I'm always very reluctant to reload, this does seem a particularly harsh way to finish.  SCS v30 has clearly broken the original developer intention of the Cernd encounter (which he always wins when not in the party in vanilla).  If that change had been to a position where it was a fair fight that would have been understandable, but changing it so he always loses is not reasonable.  Although the position on party kick-outs is less clear it's arguable the developers did not intend that behaviour in general (though there are some specific instances where it is appropriate, such as personality and reputation conflicts) and just forgot to give multi-player characters the kick-out scripts provided to NPCs.  

 

I'll take a break there and mull things over for a while - any comments welcome.