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[Stworka]

Gorthaur X wrote...
Incidentally, Stworka, what program do you use to capture these videos?

Fraps to record, virtualdub (the most user unfriendly video editing software) to edit everything.
@A. Why, thank You. I'll probably poke around this encounter some more, my lich AI needs a little more work. 

And last but not least : Yay for Grondo back in SoA

Edit (2 hours later.. But i don't like to double-post) 
Bodhi, here we come! I will add some extra sprinkles on top of that fight. Maybe (spoiler? Aye, thus nothing will be said!)

Modifié par Stworka, 09 octobre 2011 - 01:46 .

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alora's Game:

Sad times.

Alora found herself in the regrettable position of having to chunk Jaheira. 


She tried to pickpocket Rylock and failed. Jaheira overreacted and had to be laid to rest. Alora isn't pleased.

I'm contemplating installing the RR modified thievery component for upcoming runs...


Anyhoo. On a more pleasant note, Alora has reached Level 20 and will head into Bodhi's Lair relatively soon. I'll post more when she's made additional progress.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 09 octobre 2011 - 02:50 .

[Grond0]

Ravvy is well under way in Athkatla.  After the rigours of the dungeon she was looking forward to a quiet trip to the circus - hey what happened to brotherly love!  She then wanted to acquire an invisibility ring - Brennan Riesling was the unlucky donor.  Mencar just survived the initial onslaught and was too hot to handle in melee - took a while to sling to death, but got there eventually.

Next up was the Copper Coronet.  Ravvy settled back for a snooze while her minions did the hard work here.  After a rest it was on to the slaver HQ; a use of Brennan's ring allowed her to find a quiet corner to breed a couple of fire elementals to deal with the priest.  Some more summons helped with the wizards.  Ravvy killed one of her own nymphs with a prismatic spray trap, but was much too quick to get caught in it herself.

After reporting back to Hendak she travelled towards the city gates and triggered the first ambush.  There was a double error here.  First she should have been invisible while travelling rather than showing herself to all the riff-raff.  Second I was expecting the mage to use mirror image as his first spell and had started casting insect plague when I noticed a charm person heading for Ravvy (I've got the SCS component that allows full pre-buffing of mages when they ambush you so he already had mirror image up).  Ravvy had no sure defense against this, but fortunately taking werewolf shape takes no time and Ravvy was able to hotfoot it away before the charm person struck.  As she can't use Arbane's sword anyway there was no great harm done.

She was better prepared for the second ambush and saved Renfeld without trouble.  After returning him she embarked on Xzar's quest.  She tried to use insect plague against Prebek, but it appeared that leaving the room turned off the spread effect and only a goblin was caught.  That meant some fast moves in and out of the door to use up opposition spells before finishing things off.

Ravvy was now in touching distance of level 13 and used some graveyard spiders to get there (using a potion of freedom on the way).  That gave her access to the greater werewolf - another big step up in power there.  She's just arrived at the De'Arnise Keep - ambushing some ambushers on the way.  She has no reliable defense against the spirit troll spells (or the yuan-ti mages), so the plan there will again be to rest a lot and use summons to do most of the work.  Her fall back is use Brennan's ring and the ring of air control to avoid being targeted herself.

[Grond0]

Nice to see Jaheira being reunited with Khalid - you know it makes sense

[Alesia_BH]

Grond0 wrote...

Nice to see Jaheira being reunited with Khalid - you know it makes sense

That's one way of looking at it...


Btw. What is that funky thing in your last quickslot Grond0?

Btw II. I'm getting kind of jealous of your Shapeshifter. She looks fun.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 09 octobre 2011 - 03:17 .

[Grond0]

Alesia_BH wrote...
Btw. What is that funky thing in your last quickslot Grond0?

The Jester's Bag of Holding - I'm not sure which mod added this.  It's quite fun, although almost (but not quite) useless.

Btw II. I'm getting kind of jealous of your Shapeshifter. She looks fun.

Yes.  As I originally posted I wasn't keen on the idea originally, but I have enjoyed it so far.  I think the lesser werewolf was nerfed a bit too much - I think a better AC would have been nice in order to make melee more of a viable option.  The werewolf shape seemed about the right balance for the end of BG1.  I have barely made use of the greater werewolf to date, but that appears a bit overpowered for the early stages of BG2 (at least with my mod set-up).  I'm not aiming to do it at the moment, but I think it should be possible to get magic resistance up to 100% using the druid spell - with the wolf form's decent AC, resistances and regeneration that makes a pretty formidable package even before adding in druidic buffs.  My half-formed idea is to try and keep developing her gently up to level 15 and then seeing what a maximised wolf can do.

[Alesia_BH]

Grond0 wrote...

I'm not aiming to do it at the moment, but I think it should be possible to get magic resistance up to 100% using the druid spell - with the wolf form's decent AC, resistances and regeneration that makes a pretty formidable package even before adding in druidic buffs.  My half-formed idea is to try and keep developing her gently up to level 15 and then seeing what a maximised wolf can do.

Makes sense. One note though: unless you have a modded version of the divine magic resistance spell, it sets to 40% rather than adds 40. A Potion of Magic Protection and an Amulet may get you to 100% however.

Good luck with her. 

Best,

A.

[Alesia_BH]

 Quick Note on Alora's Game:

Alora has destroyed Bodhi's Guild.


She needs to pick up a few items and do some housekeeping before leaving for Spellhold though so it may be a while before she sets sail. I'll post again when she is ready to go.


Best,

A.

[Grond0]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Makes sense. One note though: unless you have a modded version of the divine magic resistance spell, it sets to 40% rather than adds 40. A Potion of Magic Protection and an Amulet may get you to 100% however.

I don't have any mods that are aimed at changing spells, but I did experiment briefly at the end of BG1 and the MR was additive there.  I think the vanilla werewolf shape also fixed MR and this seems to have been changed in the SCS version - possibly that change also acted to make the spell additive as well.

[Gorthaur X]

Hador is in Firkraag's dungeon, and came close to defeat for the first time in BG2. Nay, for the first time in his career - there have been times where he's had bad luck, but he's never been in danger of being outmanouvered and straight out beaten, until now.

We went through Rukh, the orcs and golems like a hot knife through butter, as can be expected. For the vampires, we actually prepared quite a bit and went in with a number of buffs, but as it turned out, we were still far from being ready for them.

Hador's opening move was to use Pai'Na's Web Sack, which casts an improved version of that spell, followed by sending in Kitthix. The spell did hold a number of the undead, but Kitthix was level drained to death before managing to even scratch the vampires that made their saves. Three of them rushed by Hador and Korgan, the Elder Vampire was immune to Hador's +2 weapon, and suddenly our battle plan was in shambles.

With Jaheira holding off the giant rats coming in from the south corridor and our mages now threatened, Hador took to desperate measures and summoned a Nabassu to our aid. He got stunned by I still don't even know what in the process of casting, however, which didn't help my building anxiety at all.

By now, Jaheira was getting into trouble with the rats and one of the ancient vampires, and Korgan needed to abandon the front line to help her. Fortunately, Viconia's False dawn bought us enough time to do that, at least. However, Edwin was stunned in the process of casting a second Skull Trap - the first of which being the only thing we'd successfully hurt the vampires with.

Things only went wrong from there. The Nabassu was successfully conjured, but spent its spell duration trapped in our own web. Hador was stunned again (seriously, what does this?), saved only by Nalia's Chaos. Nalia cast Haste on the party, anticipating the possibility of needing to flee like cowards. Soon after, however, Jaheira was level drained and overwhelmed, and Nalia and Edwin both got dominated and turned against us.

Korgan did avenge the druid by slaying the vampire who killed her - our first bloodsucker down - and Viconia summoned some lesser undead to hold the south corridor, but things weren't looking well at all.



The elder vampire you see attacking Viconia there? Bad news: Viconia got killed by a sneak attack from her shortly after.

At this point, things were looking dire: Jaheira, Edwin and Viconia were dead, Nalia was unconscious (due to Hador's Emotion - which did not even affect any vampires). Hador was out of PFMW and Mirror Image and on his last stoneskin, and Korgan's last enrage ran out - everyone else was out of the fight.

Fortunately, Viconia's last act saved us. Korgan had thus far been the only one to reliably harm the vampires, and had not lost so much as one level despite fighting them toe to toe all this time. Just before she fell, the drow used one of her last useful spells on Korgan: Improved Haste.

This gave us the edge we needed to turn the fight around. Korgan was able to attract the attention of our remaining foes long enough for Hador to escape and cast Animate Dead, which summoned a Skeleton Warrior who was also able to hurt the vamps. While Hador still took a hit and lost three levels, we now had the offensive power to take out the remaining three vampires.



Korgan pulled our asses out of the fire again. I think when it comes to it, Hador may have to choose to keep him over Jaheira, regardless of any friendships and emotional attachments...

Afterwards, we raided the tomb of king Whatshisname of Tethyr, and got doublecrossed by the relic hunter Samia and her merry band. They appeared inconveniently right around us, which I did not remember. However, despite our otherwise depleted spells (I'd foolishly forgotten to redo the spellbooks of Hador and Jaheira after their level drain incidents), after a couple of Chaos spells, Samia found herself supported by quite the ineffectual group.



The subsequent Malison and Emotion were almost unnecessary, though perhaps they accentuated the stupidity of crossing us in Samia's mind in her final moments.

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 10 octobre 2011 - 12:08 .

[Grond0]

Ravvy eventually worked her way through the De'Arnise Keep.  Strategy was to use summons to take on a few trolls at a time while Ravvy was invisible.  If there were no spirit trolls in the group, or a spirit troll alone, Ravvy would join in for the exercise.  Ravvy particularly enjoyed the golems, where she didn't have to be so watchful - her +3 claws even made short work of the iron golem.

Although a touch on the boring side her tactics worked fine until the confrontation with Torgal's group.  Here Ravvy tried to split the opposition up into groups by shutting doors.  At one point I thought she had got a giant troll on its own (as the troll had just killed a dire wolf and nothing else had shown itself).  However, when Ravvy came in for the attack no less than 3 spirit trolls suddenly appeared!  Luckily her magic resistance kicked in against the one greater command tossed her way before she could escape.  There were no other alarms and Torgal went quietly in the end to leave Ravvy as the proud hostess of the Keep.

There were lots of XP on offer during that adventure and Ravvy is now rather more than half way towards her big step at level 14, when she gets 7th level spells.

[Alesia_BH]

Grond0 wrote...

I don't have any mods that are aimed at changing spells, but I did experiment briefly at the end of BG1 and the MR was additive there.  I think the vanilla werewolf shape also fixed MR and this seems to have been changed in the SCS version - possibly that change also acted to make the spell additive as well.

Got it. 

[polytope]

Gorthaur X wrote...
Hador was stunned again (seriously, what does this?)

It's the "mesmerism" ability of the improved vampires, though I don't like it's implementation as stun.
 
I didn't care for the vampires turning into rats either and turned this off: Bioware may have given rats 90% physical resistance to stop them suffering the "chunked" animation, but it's unrealistic to have to fight adamantine rats.

Emotion never worked on vampires, they can be stunned or confused though, unlike most undead.

[Gorthaur X]

Ah, right (though one imagines that hypnotism ought to be blocked by Potion of Clarity, even if it's implemented through a type of effect that usually isn't).

I wasn't really expecting Emotion to work, anyway, but I was getting a little desperate and would probably have tried "Summon Kitchen Sink" next. That being said, I didn't expect Chaos to work, either, and yet it probably saved my life in that battle - had the vampires not spent several rounds fighting each other and running about aimlessly, I might not have had the time to regain my composure.

I gather that the vampire component has been improved further in recent versions of SCSII? At least, I don't recall that particular encounter being nearly as hard the last time I did it, which is why I was so woefully unprepared for it.

Live and learn.

EDIT: Right, "This component - which has been completely overhauled as of version 16 - upgrades vampires' intelligence and abilities, roughly in line with pen-and-paper Dungeons and Dragons," emphasis mine. That'll teach me to skip actually reading the readme.

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 10 octobre 2011 - 03:05 .

[Alesia_BH]

 "Happify Athkatla" Progress Report

Alora was playing paddle ball and eating lollipops at headquarters when she received a report of grumpypusses operating out of a Guarded Compound in the Temple District. She immediately went to investigate.

At the compound, it quickly became clear that the inhabitants were irredeemable grumpypusses- they did not even offer her cookies upong arrival and instead prattled on about teaching. This was a serious case. The time for investigation had ended: it was time for enforcement.

Alora buffed with a Potion of Heroism, a Potion of Defense, a Potion of Fortitude, and a Potion of Mindfocusing. She approached Hidden in Shadows, disarmed the traps, and surveyed the situation.

Alora's opening occured when Sion tired to reveal her with a Divination spell. With his Aura clouded -and his buffs not yet active- Alora had a chance to take him out.

"Hey Sion. I don't think you're happy enough. I can teach you how to be happy!"


Alora activated her Ring of Invisibility and vanished. She then approached Ketta, summoned Ras, and introduced herself.

"Hey there, hi there!"



Stalman summoned a Fallen Deva, Alora countered with an Oil of Speed. Problem solved, more-or-less. 


At this point, Koshi charged Alora at a truly alarming rate of speed- there was no hope of running. Alora did have a clear aura and a large stack of Potions of Invisibility though coutesy of Ketta.

"Oh! Someone needs a tickle. Someone needs a tickle!"



Stalman turned out to be king of the grumpypusses- his damage resistance, Santucary->Heal, and Potion of Superior Healing  allowed him to weather a number of Alora backstabs. He was also the only member of the crew that managed to injure Alora.



All grumpy things must come to an end, however.


Just the slow melee fighters left now so the battle entered clean-up phase.



Fin!

Best,

A.


NW: While Koshi, Ketta et al. weren't threatening, Alora did have a major scare when she returned to loot the compound. She thoroughly botched the "Monster Trap" encounter and was very nearly pummelled to death.


Interestingly, Alora's closest calls and biggest setbacks have all occured during the looting phase of quests. She (really me here...) tends to let her guard down then and takes things too casually once the main quest has been completed. Importantly, she often clears her inventory before looting and therefore lacks the proper supplies for combat compounding the problem.

Lesson learned...

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 10 octobre 2011 - 12:06 .

[Gorthaur X]

I have to say, this new outlook on life Alora has adopted is both entertaining and terrifying. Perhaps having to kill Jaheira... unhinged her a little?

[Alesia_BH]

Gorthaur X wrote...

I have to say, this new outlook on life Alora has adopted is both entertaining and terrifying. Perhaps having to kill Jaheira... unhinged her a little?

The taint has insinuated itself into Alora's personality without her realizing it- she thinks she's the same happy-go-lucky girl she's always been.

It is pretty horrifying. I mean, what's scarier? Abazigal's "Your doom awaits!" or Alora's "I don't think you're happy enough..."

Best,

A.

Btw. I've been playing a lot recently because the weather has been awful. It's really nice now though and I think I may go to the coast for a few days. If I don't post for awhile, that's why. Alora's run will continue eventually.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 10 octobre 2011 - 05:22 .

[AnonymousHero]

Gorthaur X wrote...
I gather that the vampire component has been improved further in recent versions of SCSII? At least, I don't recall that particular encounter being nearly as hard the last time I did it, which is why I was so woefully unprepared for it.

AFAIK they've been toned down slightly in later versions (but have gained an... interesting ability). They were way out of proportion before that.

[Serg BlackStrider]

@Alesia

It was not obligatory to you to kill Jaheira, isn't it...? :'( I personally have couple of *angry* peasants running all over the Docks (they went hostile when confused Prebek flung out of the house) and I simply ignore them. You can lure her into some abandoned house and leave her there or something else... but killing only for being caught - I'm sorry but I can't imagine Alora behave like that...

[Stworka]

@Serg

But Jaheira is a menace, and killing her is actually a noble deed. I'm with Alora on this one!

Trying to get the damn game to work again, as random NPC's are hostile towards us, dialogues do not trigger, and in general, it's a fustercluck. But with some duct tape and glue..!

Modifié par Stworka, 10 octobre 2011 - 11:02 .

[Alesia_BH]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...
It was not obligatory to you to kill Jaheira, isn't it...? :'( I personally have couple of *angry* peasants running all over the Docks (they went hostile when confused Prebek flung out of the house) and I simply ignore them. You can lure her into some abandoned house and leave her there or something else... but killing only for being caught - I'm sorry but I can't imagine Alora behave like that...

I know. I felt bad about that.

The problem was that Jaheira was casting spells and following Alora. Also, it was just about nighttime and I was nervous about starting the Mook encounter. Rylock seemed pretty dangerous too and he was using invisibility spells. They worried me.

The way I deal with spells is to either: A) immediately eliminate casters or keep my Aura clear and then counter with either an equippable item or a spell equivalent action. If a spell caster makes a surprise appearance when Alora's aura is clouded, it can be a problem.

I was afraid that if I left them around, they'd end up unexpectedly ending the run so I decided to eliminate them(*).

And of course, NPC Alora wouldn't do that. The thing is, it's hard for me to see NPC Alora doing the majority of the things the PC is required to do in the adventure. That's one of the reasons I permuted her into this "unhinged" variant.

I hope NPC Alora fans don't take offense.


It would actually be more interesting to earnestly role play an NPC Alora like character through the adventure. It would likely end up being something a kin to a minimal killing run. It is hard to do that in the context of a No Reload though...

Best,

A.

(*) If Alora had UAI, I probably would have left Jaheira be. In that case, Alora would have a number of non-Aura based methods for dealing with disablers.

@Stworka- Sorry to hear about the problems in your install. I hope you manage to work through it.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 10 octobre 2011 - 12:22 .

[Gorthaur X]

AnonymousHero wrote...

AFAIK they've been toned down slightly in later versions (but have gained an... interesting ability). They were way out of proportion before that.

In the last version of SCS2 I fought them under (v9, I believe, so quite a while back),  the vampires could not backstab, teleport, stat-drain, and IIRC, their shapeshifting powers were much more limited. I don't remember if they could summon the hordes of diseased rats, either, but I believe that's a later addition, as well. The Swarm of Bats ability was a lot more powerful, granted, but arcane casters could block that with SI: Conjuration (and apparently even GoI, which I never tried myself, but seemed to work for Stworka in the Twisted Rune encounter), so I feel that they've been made significantly more dangerous now.

In the future, at least, I'll know to be prepared for them.

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 10 octobre 2011 - 01:04 .

[Wierdo]

Gorthaur X wrote...

Wierdo wrote...

About to encounter a very considerably improved Illasera, and then all that Ascension + SCSII has to throw at me. Wish me luck!

Good luck! Also, I hope you return to making updates on your progress.

Sorry Gorthaur, I have been very busy lately and have not been playing much BG recently dur to work load and family responsibilities. That, and the fact that good forum updates take just a long as a good high-level battle.

However, I need to find the time to post Wierdo's 'journal' for the hell trials and final fights with Irenicus ... man that was a battle of endurance! SCSII (or is it ascension?) are making things tought for me in ToB land.

[Stworka]

What happens when you mix Insanity, SCSII + Tactics enchanted Bodhi, a party reduced to 4 members (to simulate kidnapping of a character) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?

We get Queen of The Night.

Our party has only two items that protect from level drain - amulet of power and mace of disruption +dos. We have helm of brilliance and daystar though.
Our unprotected party members use Project Image spells. One of them runs in, with PFMW's that.. also protect from level drain!
And the other summons a few swords, and follows it up by ADHW spells.

We win.. By default. I'd make a rundown of what we do, but this time it's a plain and simple curbstomp, using Sunray-creating items and project images.
Two Project images entered the fight, thus their safety was inumportant, and the Two warriors that ventured inside were protected with +50MR, halved magic damage, all saves made and both impr. hastened.
Besides, i'm just trying to earn a right to participate 'ere.

JonBon, here we come. 

Modifié par Stworka, 10 octobre 2011 - 03:39 .

[Wierdo]

@Grond0

Wow, I just noticed that your Ravvy's stats total to 104 (previous page)! That is pretty ... impressive!