16404 réponses à ce sujet

[PicklePepperPiper]

Some really intense gaming happening. I've had to sa goodbye to my own run wth Jacamo, he was doing well enough with a first time SCS run but that skeleton fella outside Ulcaster was just a huge surprise. I'm used to a level 4 party mowing him down. Anyway, continuing the run as a minimal, if you can call 30+ reloads a minimal :-D
-PPP

[SapphireIce101]

Condolences Belgarath, and Piper.

I wish the rest of you good luck, and most importantly, have fun!

[saros_shadow_follower]

My own no-reload party's PC met an untimely end while travelling between Cloakwood areas. Those nasty Giant spiders are no laugh, with their web spells. Should've used the Horn for protection...will know better in the future.

Anyway, that run was too easy thanx to the dual-scimitar wielding ranger with fire resistance of 110. Current run consists only of an Assassin, with stats 18/18/18/18/18/5 (yeah, 95) and PC Necromancer LG with stats 18/18/18/18/18/6. They have already completed the long and tiresome fund/xp/artifact gain procedure...well, only a couple of items aren't obtained yet - the Ring of Energy (not that useful) and the constitution tome (same as above). The Assassin has prof in Scimitars, Qarterstaves, Shortbow and two-handed weapon style. Wields Drizzt's scimitar Icingdeath +3, and the +3 martial staff. PC has prof in Slings and Quarterstaves, and is currently equipped with the Staff Spear taken from Kirinhale. Levels are maxed (Assassin 10, Necro 9), all important spell scrolls are scribed (Durlag's labyrinth lvl 1 is almost cleared), and the party has just completed Nashkel mines, Nimbul (backstab), Tranzig, and Morvin (web + cloudkill) fights. This run the party will not undertake encounters with no profit in them - namely Aec'Letec fight (although they will still do the Demonknight) and Balduran's isle, since there aren't many valuable items (for the party) gained from those.

[Grond0]

saros_shadow_follower wrote...

My own no-reload party's PC met an untimely end while travelling between Cloakwood areas. Those nasty Giant spiders are no laugh, with their web spells. Should've used the Horn for protection...will know better in the future.

I'm not sure that would have helped much as I think the spider attack is coded as a natural weapon rather than a spell (though I can't remember if that's the case for all the older SCS versions).  You would get the benefit of the +2 save against spells from the Horn, but that still leaves most characters pretty vulnerable.

Best of luck in finishing off your current run.

[Shadow_Leech07]

I'm not very hyped about my current palindrome run to even play it, as it has too many palindromes in it, so I am going to reduce the number of palindromes and see where I stand.

[Blackmalkin]

Update on Dhanushka’s party:

In Baldur’s Gate a bug robbed me of Black Lilly’s shop (I lost many arrow of dispelling that way) – whole guild turned hostile (even Husam) after finishing the quest for Alatos (I think this is supposed to happen if Shandalar’s daughters are killed, and that wasn’t the case). Tome of dexterity was used by Samadarshin to raise it to 18. After finishing most of the city quests I went to deal with Iron Throne. For Zhalimar’s party I used Fireball combo – Dhanushka, Shari and Grunkh were shooting explosive arrows (they hit automatically, so proficiency in bows isn’t needed) and Samadarashin used Necklace of Missiles. For those who would survive Melodia cast Greater Malison and Vaitali Chaos (from scrolls, which are found in infinite quantity at Sorcerous Sundries – I bought quite a lot of them). Tactic resulted in a staggering victory.

Then I went to finish wilderness areas. I gave Drizzt a fair fight (if you can consider six against one fair), announcing hostility in a dialogue (which turned gnolls into his allies) and tanking his blows. I even forgot about re-equipping arrows of piercing for Dhanushka, and she killed him with plain +1 arrows. Grunkh took his chainmail.



After restoring reputation I went after Kahrk. His Protection from Magic Weapons kept him safe for some time (I was surprised to learn that fire arrows are also considered magical), but when it expired he was quickly slain. Before dying he only did some melee damage to Shari and tried dominating Dhanushka (but she resisted using potion of clarity). I was rather disappointed by his performance.

Then I continued with the main quest. By the gates of Candlekeep I found out that Arrow of Slaying is bugged in SCS (doesn’t work at all, appareantly), but ogre-magi assassins went down easily anyway. Same thing with Rieltar’s party and doppelgangers (Shari’s 100% in detect illusion is very usefull against them). Prat’s party was webbed but didn’t die without a fight as they were immune to thief’s detect illusion, which was irritating. Then I discovered that Diarmid is immortal in SCS, same as Tazok (until the final battle, that is). Tome of strenght was used by Grunkh (strenght raised to 20). Samadarshin have a weak 18, but he uses Gauntlets of Ogre Strenght.

Time has come for the Tales of the Sword Coast quests. Shandalar’s quest went smoothly. Same with werewolves, which rather surprised me. They were supposed to be improved, but defeating them was much easier then it ever was in the original game. At least improved Durlag’s Tower failed to disappoint. I forgot to mention that I didn’t loot Mulahey’s body, loosing Ring of Holiness and Boots of Grounding that way (which will be important in a moment). Second and third level didn’t cause any trouble, but the the improved chess game was absurdly difficult, even though I made some preparations before it begun. Not only did the enemy charge at once, but they also focused on Dhanushka. And their king was left behind. To make matters worse queen dispelled my prebuffs. Vaitali cast Web on the middle of the board, while Melodia tried Chaos (only later I read that enemies are immune not only to lightning but also mind affecting spells). I didn’t think I had any chance of winning against such odds, so I needed to hunt their king down. Samadarshin, Grunkh and Shari charged forward, using potions of magic shielding to replace lost potions of absorption. King was invisible, so Shari turned on her detection. An she did detect him, but not exactly the in way she was supposed to – she was killed with the blow of his greatsword. To kill him I still needed to dispel his protections. Since Dhanushka was focused on staying alive, Melodia had to step forwards, but she couldn’t hit the king. Meanwhile, cornered Dhanushka and Vaitali used potions of invisibillity. After drinking some extra-healing potions they went to join rest of the party. Without protection from lightning it was a painful matter for Dhanushka (she had only 25% from Helmet of Defense), so Vailtali retreated (she still had her protection, but she was bringing more lightnings on Dhanushka). There was even one moment when I thought the game is over (especially that queen cast Chaos on Melodia, affecting also Dhanushka, but fortunately Cloak of Balduran have saved her from confusion). Here’s a screenshot made right after Dhanushka dogded a lightning bolt, which could have finished her:



She couldn’t start shooting before healing herself, so Samadarshin and Grunkh had to survive for a few more rounds. Only thing that kept my fighters alive was Web which held most of the enemies, so Vaitali started casting some more Webs. Unfortunately, king and queen seemed immune. Before Dhanushka was healed, Samadarshin was dead. Arrow of dispelling took care of king’s protections, and then he was killed with Grunkh’s Spider’s Bane and Dhanushka’s acid arrows. Just in time, as Dhanushka was under attack again.



Grunkh was happy to acquire a new sword, but with two characters dead it was impossible to carry out all of the equipment. I decided to come back after being teleported outside and stashing some items, but discovered that SCS bugged the transition from third level to chess board. I felt somehow relieved for a moment, but then decided to find a cheat that will allow me to proceed.

Party status:
Dhanushka – archer 8, 75 HP, 993 kills
Grunkh – barbarian 8, 84 HP (and that’s with Helm of Balduran – he rolled 1 on his last level-up), 475 kills
Samadarshin – fighter 7/cleric 7, 74 HP, 400 kills
Shari – swashbuckler 10, 53 HP, 256 kills
Melodia – skald 10, 58 HP, fav. spell: Friends, 153 kills
Vaitali – sorcerer 9, 41 HP, fav. spell: Magic Missile, 87 kills

Everyone has already reached experience limit. Which was rather surprising – I haven’t played with experience cap active since my first playthrough, but SCS must have restored it.

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 14 avril 2012 - 02:12 .

[BelgarathMTH]

@Blackmalkin, gratz on surviving that! Good luck to all who are starting new runs.

[Gate70]

If you complete the two thieving jobs for Narlen Darkwalk he will object to you being deceived and kills the wizard. From what he says I had assumed the thieves would side with the wizard without his intervention.

[Blackmalkin]

Gate70 wrote...
If you complete the two thieving jobs for Narlen Darkwalk he will object to you being deceived and kills the wizard. From what he says I had assumed the thieves would side with the wizard without his intervention.

I usually do Narlen's quests before finishing Alatos', but I'm almost sure that without Narlen's intervention Guild's reaction depends on how the job is done -- they remain neutral if it's done "without attracting unnecessary attention".

[Grond0]

I'm starting the long road to Spellhold again. The shorty saving throw bonuses for Wolfsbane proved so useful I'm reluctant to give them up, so have gone for a halfling fighter/thief this time. Here's his record having disposed of Firebead in Candlekeep.


I'll probably only post a summary of progress unless something particularly interesting happens. Incidentally I've updated my installation to include the latest version of aTweaks. I ran a test character as far as Shoal to check that it was working - which it is. It would be a brave no-reload low level 1 character that seeks XP there in future!

[Blackmalkin]

Dhanushka returns to Durlag’s Tower:

After consulting the list of console commands I tried reching the chessboard again. My party was transported to some noble’s residence, where they where asked to leave immediately. They complied and found themselves on the streets of Athkatla. Well, that definitely wasn’t where I wanted to go. After checking TuTu’s area codes I finally managed to get to the chessboard. After grabbing the equipment I left the Tower again to resurrect Shari and Samadarshin. After another trip through first 3 levels (and using a console command again) I did the last level. Almost no problems there. Almost makes a huge difference – I was a little impatient at the end, which resulted in Shari being killed by a devious trap:



It reminded me why I used to explore dungeons with a tank in front and thief right behind him. With no one to disarm the trap I thought there was no way to get the equipment back (I doubted that Stoneskin would have helped). But I decided I have a moment before trap returns to it’s former position, so I stripped Grunkh of all items an ordered him to grab Shari’s inventory. He was fast enough. After another trip to the temple and back, I found that it was a standard one-use trap, and Shari’s death have disarmed it.

I usually use the mirror to defeat the demonknight, as the mirror’s creatures are so weak. But I had a strong suspicion that SCS have greatly improved them, so I decided to try an open fight. After some heavy buffing (including immunity to fire for all) Grunkh charged alone, while Dhanushka started shooting, Melodia summoned some monsters, Samadarshin cast Doom and Vaitali used wand of paralyzation (didn’t work). Demonknight’s first action was Remove Magic on Grunkh (that’s why he charged alone). Samadarshin and Shari joined the barbarian in melee combat. Next came the dreaded Fireball (I remember it well, as once it wiped out 4 of my characters) followed by Power Word: Stun. Grunkh, with his protections dispelled, took 75 damage [75! From a Fireball! That demonknight’s d6s must be seriously loaded], summons were killed and Shari was stunned. Barbarian retreated and switched to Crossbow of Speed. Demonknight managed to hit Shari twice and then died.



After returning to Ulgoth’s Beard party gulped potions of invisibility to avoid the ambush. One the enemies have grown impatient and killed a boy:



He didn’t have worry about his party’s reputation though, as it was soon wiped out, thanks to well placed Webs mostly. There were some problems with the assassins, as they were immune to thief’s skill Detect Illusion, but Grunkh was immune to their backstabs. The other party of cultists was also defeated with Webs – Vaitali was casting them in front of the building while Grunkh was luring enemies outside. Buffs before the final fight included potions of mirrored eyes for all except Dhanushka, who gulped a potion of magic shielding. I must admit that I wasn’t playing fair and had some traps laid in cellar some time earlier (Shari reached 55% in Set Traps at level 10). Three of the cultists were killed instantly and others soon followed. Aec’Letec have fallen in the second round.



When I came to Hurgen for my reward, the only dialogue option stated that I don’t need any reward (was it some Jedi mind trick or a result of Melodia’s good character?). So I had to kill him to extract the payment (and then donate some it to a temple, of course).

In Baldur’s Gate I rescued Eltan – I didn’t prepare in any way (apart from Haste, which I use all the time, thanks to having a sorcerer in the party) and Grunkh was charmed while Samadarshin was confused. Dhanushka wasted a few dispelling arrows on the barbarian, but then I checked his armor class (-11 against missiles) and ordered Vaitali to use a wand of paralyzation to solve accuracy problems. Eltan was hidden in a backpack, before confused dwarf could chunk him. Oh, there were also 2 Flaming Fist mercenaries, who followed the party from the streets, but they didn’t cause any problems.

Then I checked how Cythandria fares in SCS. Not bad – her golems where killed in the first round, but she managed to kill Vaitali with a Fireball before dying. Slythe had good enough saving throws to deal some damage despite multiple Webs. Kristin was protected by Minor Globe and immune to Detect Illusion so I left without killing her. Actually, it wasn’t that easy, as Grunkh had wrong sword equipped and was webbed, but managed to free himself before Kristin did any serious harm.

For the palace fight I decided not to use any summons. I employed a variant of a tactic that I used in a previous playthrough. Invisible Grunkh (with Rage active), Samadarshin (protected by a potion of clarity) and Melodia were positioned in front of Belt, Dhanushka and Vaitali in the back, and Shari (also protected by a potion of clarity) waited in the neighbouring room. When Vaitali finished casting the first Web, Melodia initiated dialogue and then cast Invisibility on Belt. I forgot about protecing her from fear and she started running moments later, but her role was already finished (she was also supposed to use double Web sequencer but I forgot to prepare it).



Shari rushed to dispel illusions while Grunkh and Samadarshin got to hacking, slashing and hammering. After the second Web doppelgangers stopped moving and were killed with both of the grand dukes still alive. As Vaitali cast 3 Webs in total, there was some time (and no enemies) to kill before Belt could talk again, so Shari went to rob the palace. And here I made a great discovery – palace have a basement! With a treasury and even a movie. I think I have never been there, probably because I always used the stairs in south-eastern part of the map, while the basement entrance is below the other staircase. Anyway, basement exploration provided not only gold (which I had in abundance anyway), but also 10 arrows of dispelling (which are always welcome).

After being teleported to Thieves’ Guild, party went to Sorcerous Sundried to fill freed inventory slots with acid arrows. After entering the maze I was surpised to find not one, but four Black Lilies, all of them hostile, unfortunately (I had a healthy supply of dispelling arrows but some potions of magic shielding would come in handy). Journey through the maze was uneventful (enemies were too weak to be considered an event, and all the traps were safely disarmed). Shaldrissa’s party in the Undercity was showered with explosive arrows. Only the mage survived that, and died when her Protection from Magic Weapons have expired (before it happened she was entertained with summons). Tamoko was killed in one round.

After the final rest, party was strongly buffed and stormed the temple, Diarmid was the first to fall. Angelo followed, but not before Semaj dispelled Grunkh’s and Shari’s buffs (Angelo was second in line only because I confused him with Semaj). Then came Semaj’s turn. Tazok died soon after and finally Sarevok was slain. I ignored the skeletons, which was a good idea with one exception – one of them kept firing arrows of dispelling at Shari. Among the party members only Grunkh and Shari took any serious damage.



Final death count (after loading the Final Save and finishing the skeletons):
Dhanushka (archer) – 1053 kills, demonknight listed as the most powerful (I rather preferred having Drizzt here)
Grunkh (barbarian) – 510 kills (Angelo)
Samadarshin (fighter/cleric) – 440 kills (Ungh – that’s one of Cythandria’s golems)
Shari (swashbuckler) – 266 kills (Andris)
Melodia (skald) – 191 kills (Greater Wolfwere)
Vaitali (sorcerer) – 91 kills (Greater Doppelganger)

I intend to continue with this party, after installing SCS 2.

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 15 avril 2012 - 01:30 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Gratz on your successful running of SCS Durlag's Tower, Blackmalkin. I notice that you have similar desktop publishing skills to Gate's, as far as mixing and splicing multiple screenshots together to produce amazingly artful pictures of your glorious battles!

EDIT: Oh, and gratz on that beautiful final battle, and on finishing the BG1 portion of your run.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 15 avril 2012 - 03:50 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Ugh, I guess I will have to post too, although I skipped A LOT of battles in order to finish the game faster.

Anyhow - Cloakwood mines were no biggie, except for second level, where PC decided to try offscreen cloudkill tactic...which didn't work this time and the party left the level only to find 20 guards + Hareisan following them immediately. Assassin was confused, PC escaped at 2 HP and started summoning via wand. The summons did the rest. Raised assassin in a temple. Travelled back uneventfully (well no giant spiders at least). More careful on the next two levels, things were uneventful...monsters did the job.

In chapter 5 did the Durlag labyrinth 1 end fight (love, avarice, pride and fear) by cheesing it and killing the four guardians via buffs, speed, invisibility and the undisarmable fireball-lightning trap nearby. Not very epic, thus completely effective. Avarice tried to hide, but was found and fried in pretty much the same manner as the rest.

Lvl 2 gave the party a bit of trouble - the fight in the throne room PC attempted alone,t ransformed in Mustard Jelly form. This successfully negated the cloudkill, but at the same time, PC couldn't effectively summon. She should wait for the clouds to dissipate and then attack, but she decided otherwise and barely escaped with her life at the end of the battle (again, wand of monster summoning gratz). The rest of the level was easy again thanx to an undisarmable fire trap near the exit. Obtained Kiel's items.

There were 2 powerful items on lvl 4 of the labyrinth...but seriously, are they worth it so much trouble. The staff is good, but frankly too much risk. So the party decided against that and completed chapter 5.

Iron throne fight -  in short - summons lure, invisible thief dispel enemy mage illusions, PC casts Malison via scroll, then 2 emotions, first incapacitated clerics, second mages. With enemy spellcasters lying asleep, battle was easily won.

Chapter 6 starting fight - started buffed, enemy remove magics didn't dispel anything, invisible thief dispelled illusions, PC summoned monsters, and cast Remove magic. Bye ogre mages.

Rest of chapter 6 - no fight with Prat because I'm lazy. In fact, lvl 2 of catacombs and the caves were bypassed under Invisibility.

Chapter 7: killed mage on top of Iron Throne and her 2 Stone golems via hordes of monsters (she was paralyzed via wand, but bugged and went permanently invisible - happens with SCS - so couldn't kill her while she was paralyzed).

Slythe and Kristyn - monster horde overwhelmed them.

Duchal palace - no monsters (because they can easily go hostile on the dukes under confusion), just Malison + 2 emotions, which incapacitated 5 dopplegangers. Sufficient.

Thieves' gauntlet - bypassed under Invisibility. Same goes for the monsters (and enemy group) in Undercity.

Sarevok: Went inside both invisible, approached Sarevok Invisible, his goons appeared...well, not exactly - they're permanently invisible - a bug. Time to lure them with summons. Just for this fight, summons were kept in numbers of 5-7 max (wanted to be always capped at 5 but the wand keeps playing tricks on me). Enemies appeared (all of them), and killed the summons, but sensing someone nearby, Semaj cast a fireball at his feet, damaging the assassin. Still, the assassin was wielding Icingdeath so he took only half damage from the blast. Then Angelo tried the same - but the assassin was prepared. With both party members wearing cloaks of nondetection, Angelo's attempts to find them were in vain. Anyway after 10 turns of nothing but waiting even Diarmid's Protection from Magic globe waned. The party buffed well. Only the assassin was running Magic Protection globe, and it turned out for the best actually. In the ensuing battle, while Saros tried to hit everyone with a Dispelling arrow (because Tazok and Angelo suddenly drank yet another Oil of Speed), Astarta was breached. It's a very good thihg that her resistances came from green scrolls, so those weren't dispelled by the breach. Diarmid, however, found her to be a good target for his arrows now with her ProMissiles dispelled. She summoned monster fodder to block his attacks, while Saros managed finally to hit Tazok thus slowing him down. While Astarta kept Semaj, Sarevok and Diarmid busy via monsters, Saros focused on Angelo with acidic arrows, and finally attempted close combat (he was buffed with the Violet potion granting 25 str). Bad idea. Tazok closed in and after only 2 hits Saros' health was critical. So he retreated a bit and continued the barrage, killing Angelo. What was he trying to do with that enchantment spell vs the anti-magic globe will remain a mystery.

Here things messed up. Astarta escaped successfully, but somehow Saros' buffs were dispelled! All of them! Bad. Still, the summoned monsters killed Tazok, leaving 2 skeleton warriors and the remaining 3 enemies. Astarta and Saros hid under Invisibility, healed wounds via potions.
Saros decided to use a Proundead scroll and safely kill the 2 skeleton warriors from a distance with his bow, but apparently this breed of SCS skeleton warriors is immune to proundead scroll - they retaliated, and only Astarta's help with the wand of summoning saved Saros from enemy lightning arrows.

After the two skeleton warriors fell, Saros buffed himself with basic buffs - potions of defense, absorbtion, speed and mind focusing. Then Invisible Astarta decided to check on the enemies and found them huddled in the nw part of the temple. She decided to use offscreen web + greater malison in hopes of trapping at least one enemy. Worked like a charm. Spells from scrolls cannot be cast unless there is a target, but in this case there were many items lying arond to be the target of the Malison spell. Of course, Sarevok wasn't webbed. He was lured by summoned fodder while Saros eliminated first Semaj, and then Diarmid. The two newly appeared skeleton warriors were eliminated with the help of summons, and finally Sarevok himself was left - Saros was pelting him with Piercing arrows, Astarta with sling +1 and bullets +2, and constantly refreshed monsters (only when 1 was left were summoned new ones)...and this was the result.

Thoughts: since this is my first successful no-reload with a good-aligned devoid of illusion spells caster, I'd say the biggest problem (maybe even to any good aligned caster) are the enemy clerics and their Unholy Blight spell. On insane, this may kill PC outright if a save vs spell isn't made successfully.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 15 avril 2012 - 05:37 .

[Grond0]

Well done Blackmalkin and Saros and best of luck in BG2.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Blackmalkin wrote...
When I came to Hurgen for my reward, the only dialogue option stated that I don’t need any reward (was it some Jedi mind trick or a result of Melodia’s good character?). So I had to kill him to extract the payment (and then donate some it to a temple, of course).

Did you ask him of compensation in the first place when taking the quest? If no - the dialog line about it doesn't appear upon completing  the task.

And grats on beating down Sarevok! Safe journeys in Amn!

[BelgarathMTH]

Gratz Saros and Blackmalkin.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Well, it seems that the Wisdom tomes aren't successfully transferred to an Improved Anvil v6 modified game. Astarta had them in her pack while transferring the character. Still, a few items were actually transferred successfully - Drizzt's scimitar +3, Frostbrand, as well as the Claw of Kazgaroth. Those don't really matter that much in an v6 Anvil game, but still are useful (because soon anyways all characters will be equipped with two +2 protection rings, and those are superioor to the Claw). As for Icingdeath - a good scimitar undoubtedly, but in IA scimitars are a wasted proficiency because of the lack of powerful weapons of that class. However, Semaj's Ring of Protection +3 was successfully transferred. Well anyways, since the wisdom tomes weren't, will start a new no-reload in BG1 SCS - hopefully the last one - with a human Ranger, Drizzt - LG 18(00)/18/18/13/18/3. Astarta, human LG Necromancer 18/18/18/18/18/6 and Saros, human TN assassin 18/18/18/18/18/5. Hopefully this will be the last one Will try to be as quick as possible - meaning many not significant to the game plot encounters will be bypassed.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 15 avril 2012 - 05:10 .

[Grond0]

First and final update for Sisal.

He got up to fighter 5 / thief 5 without any incident and I thought I would save up to buy the green amulet. To help with this Sisal sneaked past the sirenes and into the pirate cave. Unfortunately as all his points had gone into stealth, he was unable to detect the traps there. I decided to risk it and crash through anyway, but he fell victim to a repeating damage trap.

Modifié par Grond0, 16 avril 2012 - 05:08 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Condolences, Grond0. Gotta watch those careless errors. You seem to be getting a little bored with the game, maybe? I usually cycle around and around through a dozen or so games that I like.

[Grond0]

Probably true, though errors have always been a mainstay of my game! I still feel that there should be more to come from a fighter/thief - that should be an easy class to play solo, though I've not done very well with it. I'll have one more go: I didn't take an opening save with Sisal, so have rolled up another halfling. Here he is on leaving Candlekeep. The main difference with him is that he will get decent scores in locks and traps before turning to stealth.


Incidentally, one point I didn't note in my previous game. In this installation Firebead's choice of spells does not include MMM - that makes him even easier to kill by going in and out of the door.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Grond0 wrote...

First and final update for Sisal.

He got up to fighter 5 / thief 5 without any incident and I thought I would save up to buy the green amulet. To help with this Sisal sneaked past the sirenes and into the pirate cave. Unfortunately as all his points had gone into stealth, he was unable to detect the traps there. I decided to risk it and crash through anyway, but he fell victim to a repeating damage trap.

I strongly advise on using first a guide of some sort to refresh memory where the traps are set - I don't think that's cheating because if you have no means of evading the traps effect/damage they're just as scary even if you know their position. However for any kind of thief two are the important skills in BG1 IMO: Detect Illusions and Detect/disarm traps. I agree that Hide in Shadows/Move silently are good skills, but first they require too many points invested in them to work, second you may exploit/buf them with various items like Boots of Stealth or any sort of dex increase (DUHM bhaal power in chapter 6+, Manual of Quickness of action, Kiel's buckler) or even Potions of Perception. In addition, even with base Stealth skill of 20-25% you may hide successfully after 10+ attempts (especially if you use the terrain and try to hide in the shadow of trees for example) and sneak behind a dangerous enemy for the first (and probably most important) backstab.  In addition, there are items granting invisibility. But nothing of the listed will save you from trap damage/effects. Unless you want to invest enormous amount of resources to avoid each and every trap damage type (and some cannot be avoided by any simple means - those include the traps that fire 10 subsequent arrows in your character) - you'd better increase your trap detection skill to 80% first thing, and then if you want -  buff Hide in Shadows, although I'd personally focus on Detect Illusions.

By seeing your bg1 and bg2 runs, I'd say that traps are your biggest enemy. You should know at least the most dangerous of them, their locations and the type of damage/effect they have. For example - the maze traps. As I remember correctly there is a total of 4 of these in BG2/ToB - one guarding the chest with Horn of Valhalla, second in the Guarded compound (yeah you found it), third in the Shadow Thieves' practice room, and the fourth in the Sahuagin city near the Spectator beholder. Next in line are the scary acid blob traps, which may kill your character right away on insane difficulty, and these are more common, although you still should know their locations, since acid damage is hard to guard against generally, and the hold effect is also sometimes big deal - as in your case in Mekrath's lab. Next in line come the Flesh to Stone traps, with the two most important ones being the one guarding the door to the Twisted rune, and the second one in the sewers under Copper coronet - you may avoid the second one by taking an alternative route via a plank. In addition, some of the traps aren't disarmed by walking over them and stay triggered forever until disarmed by a thief. You may consider temporarily joining a thief to get rid of some nasty traps.

Edit: Just saw your post above. Put NO points in locks. Open locks can be easily coped with potions of Master Thievery + Perception + DUHM bhaal power (for the most sturdy locks which require 100% lockpick skill)

Blackmalkin wrote...
When I came to Hurgen for my reward, the only dialogue option stated that I don’t need any reward (was it some Jedi mind trick or a result of Melodia’s good character?). So I had to kill him to extract the payment (and then donate some it to a temple, of course).

When you first enter the tavern, make sure you do it with a character with great charisma. Don't remember the exact amount, I usually enter with character with Cha 21.  It can easily be done by stacking Friends spell on a magic user - best way to have all the benefit of high charisma without actually spending any points in that stupid attribute. Then Hurgan will talk to you and when you ask him of compensation, he'll offer his enchanted hammer to you. Your second option of getting that hammer without killing him is simple by pickpocketing him. Anyway the warhammer isn't that different from any other +1 enchanted warhammer and thus I find it silly spending so much efforts to get it.

Back on topic: my current noreload party has reached 40k experience each, slew Elminster and Drizzt, but raised rep back to 20 via donations/completing several rep increase quests, and is currently farming xp from the dopplegangers found in Durlag's tower outskirts. Will take some time due to gnolls interrupting rest...

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 16 avril 2012 - 07:22 .

[Grond0]

Thanks for taking the time to provide some pointers saros. I'm not sure that it's traps per se I struggle with - just taking risks in general. My last BG2 run for instance the PC could have been made safe by using rage (or more simply by just not investigating a worthless chest in the first place). For Sisal I could have just come back later when able to disarm the trap, but chose to gamble (one of my mods randomizes those traps so I couldn't rely on past knowledge of what they were). Admittedly those sorts of decisions do make it rather hard to complete a no-reload game, but on the positive side they help keep the game interesting!

In relation to using thief skill points stealth is so useful in BG1 that I like to have some points in that. In many situations it is certainly possible to use even a low stealth chance by making repeated attempts, but it also adds considerably to the time required to play the game if you use stealth a lot (as I often do). As a rule of thumb I like to get stealth up to around 100% average (including items), which means failures are rare at night and underground and there's a reasonable chance of success even in the daytime (when using shadows).

Points in locks is also something of a game convenience. The game is set up to avoid completion being blocked by locks, so a high thief skill in that is never essential. Where it is particularly useful (as for instance in getting access to tomes) I agree you can use potions / DUHM. However, if you're anal enough to want to be able to open things as you go along then some starting points in locks helps.

I think that detect illusions comes more into its own in BG2, where mages are more of a problem and access to invisibility for a solo non-arcane character is easier.

[Gate70]

Baldileaks investigation, extract on Mangul the paladin.

Winthrop thinks he knows it all. "I can tell a lot about an adventurer by the ice cream they select. Most go for EasyscoopTutu which has improved flavours and for which I add coloured sprinkles. The sophisticated adventurers tend to prefer the NeapolitanBGT which has three layers seamlessly merged together. Mangul prefers a plain vanilla ice, a bit tricky to scoop and looks a bit dull. But each to their own."

Gorion murmurs "Mangul will stop you". With his last breath the dying man adds "He may be stupid but he knows how to equip himself, and he drinks like a fish". All lies of course, but the huge armoured figure is not to know.

Imoen confirms she grew up alongside Mangul, not sure that he has really matured though. "He's a buffle-headed loner. What other paladin would strip Candlekeep bare, he even stole my potions, arrows and a wand of missiles afterwards. Hopefully I won't see him again."

Xzar and Montaron are more dismissive. "We were going to help with Nashkel mine until Mangul commandeered our armour, scrolls and potions. He can't even use half that stuff."

Marl and Dunkin can be found in Feldeposts Inn. "I was upset about my son" admits Marl "but Mangul scared me. All that talk about dying heroically, I just wanted to get away as it brought back too many memories. I'm drinking to forget him now, and not my lad."

Firebead Elvenhair is speaking through a crack in his door. "I told the boy to read something but I don't think he knows his alphabet. He stared at the pictures a lot though."

Noober is complaining. "I tried to talk to him, I really tried but I could hardly get a word in edgeways."

Brage is in awe. "He grew in stature before my very eyes. When I first met him he was a raw adventurer, by the time we reached Nashkel temple he had twice as much life about him level 2, 22hp."

Berrun Ghastkill is similarly struck. "When I saw him striding out of the temple I just knew he was the man for the job. He's got an upright stance, at first I thought he'd had a nasty encounter with a spike up the <redacted> but then I realised it's just an old-fashioned way of walking with your head held high."

A nameless storkeep at Nashkel store is rather complimentary. "Say what you like" he says, "but it's not every day someone comes into my store and sells me a real ring of wizardry. He had a huge sword too, but refused to part with that. Uh, you don't have any winter wolf hides do you?"

A woodland nymph is an unusual source of information. "Mangul agreed to help save my tree. He swapped swords and got a crazy look in his eye if I'm honest. When Caldo and Krumm turned nasty he moved out of my sight before killing them in a rage."

Drienne may be a bit too young and emotional to rely on for information. "Sob...He found my cat Pixie, she'd drowned...sniff".

Gnarl and Hairtooth have etched their tale in blood across the length of a bridge. "He attacked us after refusing to pay the toll and although we thumped him he seemed to be tougher than when we first saw him level 3, 32hp. We lay bleeding until he left.

Ogre mage ambusher. "I thought I had him but he ran out of sight, then turned and reached safety."

Lena is gushing. "There he was, a knight in shining green armour in our hour of need. He scooped Samuel up and rushed him to the Temple of Wisdom. I heard later that they'd been waylaid by worgs and kobolds, and then again by wolves and bandits".

Samuel added something that he plagiarised badly from Mangulator 2...

Mangul is part man, part mechanism. Underneath, he's a iron-hard combat freak - righteousness-controlled, fully armored. Very tough. But outside, he's living human tissue - flesh, skin, hair, blood...He is human. Sweat, bad breath, everything.

Listen, and understand! That Mangul is out there! He can't be bargained with. He can't be reasoned with. He doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And he absolutely will not stop, ever, until he is dead."

When challenged, he refused to admit to his crime, simply saying he only purloined it.

Tarnesh is not being coy. "We pretended to go behind the cow shed for some medieval fun. I had no intention of that, neither did he. I showed him the meaning of fear but he was using protection from evil and half-crazed. I like using mirrors with my magic missiles but after one volley he beat me to the ground and left."

A nobleman is upset. "He stole my golden pantaloons. Said they'd come back into style if he was lucky."

Joia is happy. "Short, sharp and efficient " she snaps. "Not only did he get the ring back for me but he hunted all the hobgoblins down so I don't have to worry about them either. He said four out of seven hobgoblins won't ever be put back together again, whatever that means."

Aoln the hunter vouches for his combat skills. "He stood there toe to toe with an ogre, trading blows until the ogre could take no more. Then I realised Mangul had successfully avoided everything the ogre had thrown".

Rumours surface that maybe Mangul can be stopped, until evidence surfaces that not even an untargeted ghast managed to hold him. Level 4, 46hp


Ardrouine has heard of this. "Praise be that Mangul survived to rescue my boy from a pack of worgs. After that we could hear him fighting sirines to the north. We thought all was lost when he was charmed PfE wore off during a fight as a third sirine appeared but he kept going thanks to the BG1 engine not treating solo charm as dead. We could hardly believe it when he attacked Sil and two more sirines level 5, 56hp, but note he decides not to investigate the cave of Black Alaric.

Prism has added a backdrop to his sculpture, showing Mangul defeating Greywolf and deciding it is almost time to remove the cursed sword of berserking.

Modifié par Gate70, 16 avril 2012 - 02:21 .

[Gate70]

Baldileaks investigation, further extract on Mangul.

Bjornin is grinning from ear to ear. "He's using my shield. My shield. MY SHIELD. I can see him using it to bash ogres, xvarts, gnolls, spiders and other horrible things in the wotsits."

Emerson wants to know why Mangul believes he can sort out Nashkel mine.




Miner Kylee reckons his dagger was used by the paladin to defeat a horde of kobolds. Not true.

Mulahey has recorded everything. Including when Mangul fought two spiders and a ghoul staggered over, and how Mangul ran back to pick up a bow and arrows from a kobold corpse to pin the ghoul down. Mulahey notes that Mangul had rested and cast PfE then used a greenstone ward before intoducing himself. Mulahey cast rigid thinking but the amulet allowed Mangul to continue his attack, remembering to glug a hill giant strength potion. Mulahey concedes defeat and his chunked hand completes his memoirs.

Mrs Joseph cries as Mangul hands her a greenstone ring.

Nimbul prides himself on his magical abilities, casting premonition to scribe in his spellbook, but is unable to read it in time. The unread contents say "Mangul has used the amulet to shrug off horror, and used two healings plus lay on hands. He is then forced to glug two blue healing potions, and while his is the final attack the extended flight of three arrows mean the Nashkel guard will kill me instead."

Algernon is chatty and charismatic. "Mangul used an amulet third time before Tranzig cast magic missiles. They force Mangul to heal twice, lay on hands and glug a blue potion before the mage is chunked."

Ender Sai must have cast wizards eye to record events outside the bandit camp. His statement says "Taugosz Khosann forces two heals, a lay on hands and one blue potion before he is chunked."


The statement continues "Ardenor Crush feels the might of Varscona" level 6, 70hp. Have added ** to axe, already had ** large sword and ** bow.

The next paragraph from Ender Sai is scarcely believable. "Venkt is facing an oil of speed, PfE and the greenstone amulet charge four. Four hits kill him without a spell being cast. Hakt takes three hits, Raemon four and Britik four. Mangul is uninjured, until he opens a trapped chest and takes minor 11 damage from an electric bolt."

Kahrk the ogre mage isn't cowed. "Meilum was outclassed, landing one hit but taking five and getting chunked. I saw nothing that scared me and I challenge Mangul to face me" not likely.

Aldeth Sashenstar is a grateful man. "I had been attacked by druids, Mangul braved lightning and fire to defend me."

Modifié par Gate70, 16 avril 2012 - 06:39 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

@Gate70: unusual and quite interesting approach to narration Keep rockin'!