16402 réponses à ce sujet

[BelgarathMTH]

I'm lovin' it, Gate. It reads kind of like one of those "Behind the Music" style TV magazines where they talk about a celebrity by using a long, long, series of sound bites from people who had encounters or knew the celebrity.

Very creative!

[Gate70]

Baldileaks investigation, extract 3 on Mangul.

Tiber. "My poor brother Chelak is dead and I wouldn't even have known without Mangul. He had to purchase some green potions, then left his armour and shield behind to drag my brother back. I've given him the sword that led Chelak into trouble, hopefully Mangul can make better use of it."

Eldoth has a brief tale. "We shared a fine wine one day, and while I cannot remember what he said it is obvious he was jealous of my many tales and capers revolving around ladies. He did mention a childhood friend who dressed all in pink, perhaps I shall woo her one day."

Woodsman. "I was on my way home when a cow almost landed on me, I hid quickly in case the wyvern turned around. Then I saw the hamadryad, and was so scared I could not move. Just as she was about to get me I saw Mangul switch from sword and shield to a mighty two handed sword. The hamadryad tried to charm him but he had a protective aura against evil and chased her down. After four or five teleports his aura grew dull and he said some strange words. The aura brightened up and he smote her to the ground. Fare thee well he said, and left."

Cloakwood guards. "He thrust us aside, leaving us badly wounded either side of the bridge. Then he equipped the bluntest girdle you've ever seen, backpacked his shield and equipped two swords each larger than the other. We thought that was it but he drew his bow from Hakt and spoke to Drasus. Friend or Foe were his words borrowed from Ajantis. Mangul misses with two arrows of biting and runs. We watch in disbelief as he switches back to sword and shield and turns to fight. He heals three times then glugs a blue potion before killing Drasus. He turns and leaves.

Davaeorn.
"With Drasus dead my worst fears were confimed when Mangul returned. He'd been drinking heavily and ploughed straight through Rezdan, Kysus and Genthore with a charge 5 of his greenstone amulet.

The mine guards were swept asunder, Mangul sidestepped a MM trap and dragged a lightning trap into the room occupied by Hareishan. Level 7, 86hp. Hareishan casts flame arrow and Aganazzars Scorcher, but Mangul has fire protection and takes no damage. The guards are down, and so is Hareishan.

He can't force a door black fog in the way so runs through the kitchen to kill a ghast before freeing Yeslick and Rill. At least my guards in the next area manage to hit him once, and my hopes are raised. He glugs a green regeneration potion and my heart sinks again. vanilla regeneration potion doesn't seem to double-time under haste.

He kills my remaining guards then ignores the traps and battle horrors to attack me. I teleport around and cast a fireball, it hurts me more than it hurts him. I've had enough and surrender but we must make it look like I have paid the ultimate price."

Modifié par Gate70, 16 avril 2012 - 08:50 .

[Grond0]

@Gate70. It sounds as though you're making good progress, but coming from Baldileaks we all know you're just making it up!

[Grond0]

Update for Sisam, halfling fighter/thief.

He's made a decent start - no mistakes or close calls so far.  Summary of progress as follows:
- Firebead (only just noticed that in this installation he doesn't have MMMs, so is really easy to kill)
- Ring of wizardry
- Algernon's cloak
- Boots of stealth
- Zordral, Oopah and Vitiare
- Hulrik's cow
- Basilisk area
- Firewine Bridge (used charmed creatures to kill Kaahrk without risk)
- Greywolf
- Nashkel mines
- Valley of tombs
- Nimbul + Neira
- Cloudpeak areas
- Gnoll stronghold

A couple of points of interest:
- I charmed Sendai and her companions with the intention of taking them to face Zal & Vax in the arena.  However, on the way I thought I would return Rufie.  He must have turned hostile when the dimension door animation started because the party fired on him and succeeded in killing the poor mite.  There's going to be one frustrated ogre mage when he gets out of the other end of the dimension door tunnel!
- I noted that Krumm lost some dexterity just before losing his life.  I am very tempted to give his katana a workout to see how realistic it would be to try and wrap some scores round to 25.

Edit: I gave into temptation.  As the katana description says each use has a chance of causing a loss of one of your stats or of HPs.  However, the loss of HPs is in blocks of 5 rather than just 1, which is a pretty serious punishment.  Sisam is still going, but I'm pretty sure he's going to end unhappily - as you can see from his current position. 


Charisma did indeed wrap round to 25, but is well on the way to going round again!  The leading contender for next action is wisdom, although there's a good chance he will die from HP loss before then.

For a character starting with high stats (as Sisam did) you would have to be incredibly lucky for the use of the katana to be beneficial.  However, that wouldn't be the case for someone starting with all 3s - a fighter type (who could benefit from high constitution) could easily get a HP benefit from this, as well as benefits from other stats.  I think I might have a go at a low-stat character like that and see if I could make it work.

Edit2: Sisam died from HP modification while trying to wrap wisdom round (using a potion of insight while wisdom was at 1).  I'll start a character with minimum stats and see how they get on.  There should be a certain amount of interest trying to get them up to a decent level anyway, though shouldn't be particularly difficult using Algernon's Cloak.

Modifié par Grond0, 17 avril 2012 - 06:13 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Grond0 wrote...

- Firewine Bridge (used charmed creatures to kill Kaahrk without risk)

- I noted that Krumm lost some dexterity just before losing his life.  I am very tempted to give his katana a workout to see how realistic it would be to try and wrap some scores round to 25.

Edit2: Sisam died from HP modification while trying to wrap wisdom round (using a potion of insight while wisdom was at 1).  I'll start a character with minimum stats and see how they get on.  There should be a certain amount of interest trying to get them up to a decent level anyway, though shouldn't be particularly difficult using Algernon's Cloak.

I'm surprised that killing Kaahrk via charmed creatures alone worked, since one successful Remove magic may as well dispel all Algernon's cloak effects and then you'd be facing both the ogre mage and the kobold horde. BTW I usually charm and use the more powerful entities in the area, namely Poe, Bentan and the fighter with gauntlets of weapon expertise (killed him just a couple of hours ago, but still forgot his name). Poe has some spells with which to try and gain the attention of the ogremage, Bentan at least has Bless for your (supposedly) big charmed force, and the fighter is surely better than any of these kobolds

BTW I enjoy charming Mad Arcand and the Surgeon in the seacoast area where Shoal is.  Well, mainly because they have potions which they don't wanna share so the easiest way to get them is charm them and send them in a monster horde. But not only that. They're extremely powerful casters. Mad Arcand has even one use of Harm spell, while the Surgeon has Sunfire in his spell repertoire. Mad Arcand also has 3*high level  Holy Smite, which can be extremely useful to kill large groups of enemies in one shot. Too bad that there isn't anyone really powerful in the area to use these two to defeat him.

My own no-reload party progress: Cleared all important items in all areas except Gullykin village (there is one Potion of Power which may be of interest). In order to preserve more potions for the party, used an offscreen Web + Cloudkill or simply Web + melee tactic on enemies like Sendai, Kirian and so on, and indeed - many healing potions, potions of Defense and even oils of speed were accumulated this way. Btw such potions (including extra healing ones, Heroism and Hill Giant str ones) are easily attainable by 'potion hunting' - killing Black Talon elites in Pedvale forest by thief traps/skull traps set on their respawn points. But the really powerful potions are acquired by killing Flesh golems in the engine room in Durlag's labyrinth lvl 1, although there is required an extremely good strategy to prevent the golems from drinking those. Or a thief with high skill in pickpocket, since golems always start as neutral.

So to make a long story short: Lvl 1 of Durlag's tower cleared up to bringing wine to Love (wine in pack). No trouble here. Greater Dopplegangers defeated via buffed Ranger, added Heroism potion to the mix of buffs, used Webs to disable enemies and Saros to dispel their illusions. This was the toughest battle on the level so far, PC acquired tons of scrolls on this level and from dopplegangers outside (all important 3rd level ones).

After artifact/xp/gold hunt:

PC: 18/18/18/18/18/7 Purple Ioun Stone, Robe of the Good archmagi, Algernon's cloak, Golden girdle, Quarterstaff +1 (coudln't kill Kirinhale fast enough while she was using Dimension Door to escape, so no Staff Spear  ) sling +1 with enough bullets +2, ring +1, ring of wizardry, greenstone amulet. Has Necklace of missiles in pack and some other jewellery. Wands of Fire, Paralyzation and Monster summoning equipped, another MS wand in pack (Durlag's tower lvl 1 + Valley of tombs raided)

Current level 9, known spells - many. Still lacking Stoneskin and Remove Magic, will probably try Ice prison soon, or simply kill Davaeorn. Prof in Quartertstaves and slings

Saros the Assassin - lvl 10, 18/18/19/18/18/5 85% findtraps, 100% detect illusions, other base, * Longsword, *Quarterstaff, *two-handed weapon * shortbow

Martial staff +3, Varscona +2 in pack, shortbow, various enchanted arrows in good quantity, Shadow armor, Bracers of Archery, Shield amulet, Boots of stealth, girdle of piercing, cloak of the wolf, ring of invisibility.

Drizzt the ranger - lvl 8, 18(00)/18/18/13/19/3, wields Icingdeath and Twinkle, full plate, gauntlets of weapon expertise, helmet of defense, amulet +1, boots of the North, girdle of bluntness, cloak of displacement.

Reputation 20, Cure Light Wounds bhaal power in chapter 2.

Afterwards the party completed Nashkel mines - no trouble here whatsoever - also killed Nimbul (backstab), Tranzig (charmed hostile Algernon so he wouldn't interfere or even flee to the level below and induce panic), talked to Vai, rested, travelled to the temple, a bug occured with no enemies spawning, reloaded, traveled again to the temple, no bug this time, amazons appeared, were webbed and Cloudkilled. Potion of Power being the important item here. Rested, and traveled to Pedvale. Talked to Raiken after buffing with longer-lasting buffs. Taken to bandit camp buffed with short-lasting buff. Enemy mage appeared and tried to charm Drizzt. Drizzt was a second too late with the Greenstone amulet charge, but managed to save vs that spell. Still risky as well buffed and equipped Drizzt could easily kill the rest of the party all by himself. Then the batlle went to Web-Web-Drizzt killing the more powerful enemies-Cloudkill for the rest. That's it for now, haven't yet visited the main tent.

[Gate70]

Baldileaks investigation, extract 4 on Mangul.

Halbazzer Drin frowns. "I've never seen anybody grab so many potions, he must have a serious problem. Still, it keeps me in a job.
He later added "Then Mangul returned for my storm giant potions and a mirrored eyes potion. I can book that holiday now, just hope I don't meet him when he is tanked up on that lot."

Gorpel Hind has a loose tongue from idling at a bar. "We were just talking about why we'd left the warehouse in a hurry when we heard a whomp. Then Mangul came downstairs with curls of smoke around his armour and trying to hold onto a very hot helmet with a big B emblazoned on it. He saw us and said we might not want to go upstairs for a while."

Lothander has a quiet word. "Mangul could have gutted me, but instead he helped me repent and dealt with Marek for me."

Varci Roaringhorn is the talk of the playground. "So I killed the evil Jalantha Mistmyr for what she had done, and paid Mangul to carry the body of Casson home. Tremain was unable to raise my friend so I cast power word:get up and my friend was restored."

Ragefast is standing in a draught. "He kicked my door down and freed my uh my ah my er companion. No doubt Ramazith is behind all this."

G'axir the Seer is struggling to see clearly. "He had the Sphene Gem. I knew it was the one, although he described the basilisk more as a priestess wrong gem G'axir, this is just a sphene gem not the Sphene Gem.

Larze the ogre is confused. "Mangul better at pasting than Larze. Larze not try again."

Marek has become the gander. "He said what is good for me is good for you. Then he poisoned me and left with the antidote, now I have less than ten days left."

Aldeth Sashenstar has more to say. "Subtlety is lost on Mangul, forcing the lock on a drawer resulted in the entire desk being smashed to pieces. Anyway, he found the evidence that eluded me and hacked down the doppelgangers on his own, although Brandilar did ty and help agaist Zorl. Now he has no need of it I gave him a sword that would kill shapeshifters far more efficiently."

Scar issues an official report. "Thanks to my unceasing efforts we have stopped people being kidnapped from the streets and restored the Seven Suns ownership. Of course, some of the credit has to go to Foolio Displasius but please rest assured these are rare and exceptional events and you should feel perfectly safe. Oh, and if anybody has seen a noblewomans ring that was pawned by mistake please contact me urgently."

[Grond0]

saros_shadow_follower wrote...

Grond0 wrote...
- Firewine Bridge (used charmed creatures to kill Kaahrk without risk)

I'm surprised that killing Kaahrk via charmed creatures alone worked, since one successful Remove magic may as well dispel all Algernon's cloak effects and then you'd be facing both the ogre mage and the kobold horde. BTW I usually charm and use the more powerful entities in the area, namely Poe, Bentan and the fighter with gauntlets of weapon expertise (killed him just a couple of hours ago, but still forgot his name). Poe has some spells with which to try and gain the attention of the ogremage, Bentan at least has Bless for your (supposedly) big charmed force, and the fighter is surely better than any of these kobolds

Kaahrk died of a faulty script.  He never actually saw the PC and therefore stood there waiting to have his little talk rather than activating properly.  I didn't know this would happen, but there are a few other examples like this with SCS installed, e.g. Vitiare.  

The original plan was to send various dogs, kobolds and undead in to combat in groups of 2 or 3 in order to use up Kaahrk's offensive and defensive spells.  I had charmed Poe, Bentan and Meilum, but they were away at the edge of the map so they could keep out of Kaahrk's way while his initial buffs died down.  I entirely agree that Meilum is likely to do more damage to him than the 20+ small fry I'd recruited, but his chances are even better if he's not faced with spells like chaos and if some of the work of battering down stoneskins has already been done.

Modifié par Grond0, 17 avril 2012 - 11:15 .

[Gate70]

Baldileaks investigation, extract 5 on Mangul. (note, I keep writing Mangal so apologies for any I missed)

Kirian recounts her tale. "The day I'd worry about the likes of him was when he had a potion of clarity and a sword granting free action. Unfortunately that proved to be today, and our attempt to rob and belittle him failed. He was fatigued even before we started, but still knocked me to the ground. As our spells ran out he switched to sword and shield. Lindin joined me on the floor, then Peter and finally Baerin. He stood over us and demanded payment for the six potions clarity & 5 healing he'd had to glug. We handed over everything he could carry and he said we could by most of it back from Sorcerous Sundries not the girdle or absorbtion potion though, and bought 3 more invisibility potions. That was the last we saw of him."

Zhalimar Cloudewulfe is matter-of fact. "He turned up, and he got the job done. His charisma saw him reach us without incident, even making friends with one of our more observant guards. We could see he was almost fully buffed not sure why rigid thinking is showing but noticed it with later buffs too. Saves are -3, -1, 0, -1, 2.


He used a greenstone ring as confusion was cast. saved with a 20 anyway Diyab was already out for the count, as was Aasim. Naaman and Alai follow level 8, 92hp. The doppelganger and Gardush follow and then I am floored. Thaldorn squeals to save his life and Mangul departs with our best equipment.

Duke Eltan picks up the story. "Mangul had stashed two girdles and some loot before arriving. He was in a hurry, insisting I send him to Candlekeep while he was still intoxicated. I handed him a book and cast the gettherenow spell." With hindsight could have dumped a number of potions to free up more inventory. A bit tricky without pause as the potion effects are key to the next stage.

Tethtoril is a voice of calm. "Mangul is innocent, of that I have no doubt. I sent him into the catacombs knowing he would glug a potion of regeneration then grab the two tomes, a protection scroll and a magical ring. I hope he can hold on to the ring of Koveras too."

Deder appears. "I helped him kill the doppelgangers, then he glugged a second oil of speed and potion of regeneration. His wounds were mounting but I could not keep up any longer." His voice trails off...

Prat spells it out. "He needed my throwing axe, so we agreed to fight for it. I knew he was buffed but could see gaping wounds 33/95hp and thought we could take him. Moments later I am lying on my back, staring up at him as are Sakul, Tam and Bor. Mangul takes my axe and a few arrows then departs with 43hp.. We hear two phase spiders chitter their last, then the roars of two greater basilisks are silenced. My keen ears can tell Mangul has glugged a green potion to counter the effects of basilisk poison, then there is silence."

[Diarmid is perceptive. "I wasn't going to fight him, even before he worked out the Draw Upon Holy Might spell. I watched him rest several times and he figured it out twice".

Degrodel is waiting patiently. "Mangul disposed of my doom guard, helmed horror and two invisible stalkers. He was about to leave when my other doom guard attacked, so he dealt with that too. He must have worn himself out as he returned later in the day and found my other invisible stalker and helmed horror. Eventually he finds me and I sub-contract a job to him, retrieve the helm and cloak of Balduran. He seemed to know where the helm was but wouldn't tell, just tapping his head and I understood it was a need-to-know situation no, it's on his head. All I have to do is wait for him to return the items to me not going to happen, have a nice wait.

Vail is wistful. "He only released me to get my cloak. Oh well."

Quenash has little to say. "I handed over a cloak, then he was attacked.

Slythe curses. "I hit him as he was putting the cloak on. He was multi-tasking, casting DUHM at the same time and I interrupted that and thought I had him pegged. Big mistake, he turned and hit me with his cold sword. A few hits later and I hand over everything I have and call for Krystin to staunch my wounds. She didn't even see him so was no help at all."

Mendas says "I was going slam the door in his face but then I saw the potential. Just pick up some charts and sail to the Isle of Balduran, be a good chap. Off he went too, if only everything in life was so simple."

De'Tranion demands payment for his information. "900gp it was to pay for the captains drinks. Mangul said his own bill was significantly higher, turned his nose up at my ale so must be drinking those over-priced pretentious beverages no, potions. Anyways, there's a regular supply of adventurers waiting to settle up for the captain, be another one along in a minute. Watch and see. Ah, here's Mangul himself, forgot the drink last time didn't ya, what with being interrupted by that tale about poor Scar."

Calahan smirks. "Mangul checked his equipment carefully before leaving, paying particular to a sword he named as Kondar. There'll be no mistakes there I expect. Although he obviously can't tell the ship he took is an accident waiting to happen."

Kaishas Gan shows remarkably white teeth. "There he stood, a magnificent sight. I asked him to smite evil to the north and off he went."

Palin growls "We swarmed him, but his PfE aura was dazzling and his holy might gave him tremendous strength. We manage one hit before the five of us are laid out."

Meym also growls "He was unbuffed but still too strong for me. I sent him to the sirine queen, good riddance."

Sirine queen "He took the body and left without a fight. I watched him kill four more hairballs.

Dradeel exclaims "From my hut I heard PfE and DUHM being cast. I was finally rid of Kryla and Jondal so gave him a spare amulet. He picked up a severe case of backpackitis and returned to the village with a body, a doll and some belladonna flowers.

Karoug is descending into barely understandable snarls. "Mangul killed my first sub-pack and went away to rest. He returned with potions and spells, clearing the second and third sub-packs one after the other. We prepared ourselves as he re-cast PfE and DUHM and then he was on us. First to fall was Daese, then he turned to me. Three mighty blows had me howling in pain on the deck.


My last three pack members fell in quick succession. I looked at Mangul and knew I had to stay on the ground, borne out when two more of the pack attack and are thrown about. The man is almost uninjured and could probably have taken the entire pack in one go. I heard a few traps being sprung, and then Dradeel's cry of glory as he finally escaped my clutches.


Kaishas Gan provides a brief update. Mangul was bloodied and battered but I could see he had smote our enemies until they could take no more. I left as the pack turned on him. When I reached the ship I found him there waiting for me, something I did not expect. His buffs were gone, but the Sword of Balduran cut me down and I cried for leniency.

Selaad has much to say. "He dared attack us using just PfE, DUHM and the Sword of Balduran. Once he had me beaten there was little Baresh could do."


Ramazith sighs. "I thought Mangul would help but he refused. I attacked him and then watched as he killed my minions and felled me with one blow. I handed my ring over and a tome too.

Erdane reckons Mangul shows promise. "He was a man on a mission, straight into the tower, up the stairs and grabbing a tome while protected from evil saved the charm anyway.

Duke Eltan is coughing. "It was good to see Mangul again, he seems stronger in every regard all 8 tomes read but I couldn't see him beat a hasted greater doppelganger. Or maybe I could, until he glugged a potion of invisibility and carried me to safe harbours.


Tamoko has waited for Mangul. "He listened, and said he would try not to kill Sarevok. In return I tell him about Slythe, Krystin, Cythandria and Rashad although he may have already heard some of this elsewhere."

Cythandria has no excuse to hand. "Mangul ignored Ughh and Arghh, waiting for my shadow door to complete. As soon as he saw me I was in trouble and I claimed leniency accepted but then chunked her with a previous hit. Aargh vanishes but Ughh is still attacking. After faking my death Aargh leaves with me but Ughh is too stupid to understand and is chunked."

Liia Janneth has plenty to say. "Mangul was too busy protecting me to save Belt not helped by a dirty aura glug of an oil of speed, and saving PfE and DUHM for later. Once our attackers were dead and Sarevok exposed he too turned hostile. Mangul manages a critical hit with a throwing axe and Sarevok leaves. I quickly send Mangul after him."

Black Lily is learning. "As soon as he appeared he was stuffing junk into a barrel paused inventory access. Then he grabbed a potion of power and some healing potions before heading into the thieves maze.

Voletta Stiletto is sad. "Those two are going to have an enormous bust-up and I can't get there to watch. If he has any sense he will use the traps to his advantage too."


Winski Perorate has been abandoned by Sarevok. "I thought Mangul would kill me but instead said he would bring help shortly."

Rahvin is crackling as he talks. "Shaldrissa saw her mirror images drop one by one before she collapsed. Gorf was the next target despite the girdle of bluntness and potion of absorbtion. and then Wudei as we light the area up.


He bashes me into submission, and then does the same to Carston and finally Haseo. I note he has glugged five blue potions to reduce his healing time and keep buffs active. I ask what it would take to stop him and he grimly says he'd have to have forgotten a bow, then picks mine up. Oops, there goes a bit of THACO for the first shot on Sarevok. He also gets five more blue potions ready.

Tamoko is upset. "He knew what to say, but chose to annoy me instead Her armour is handy as two rings of fire resistance can then be used. Oops two, second fire ring is with the bow. Anything else; oops 3 & 4 just the golden pantaloons and Koveras' ring left behind. Inventory issues and not prepared to backtrack all that way while buffs expire.

Angelo doesn't realise he is the primary target for a few moments. "Mangul has cast PfE and DUHM, using a single arrow on Sarevok to de-buff him and a second to de-buff Semaj. Then he runs away, switching from bow to sword/shield. He's a bit slow so we pile in and give him some pain.

I have partially de-buffed him and my arrows of detonation are injuring him. He inventory-hops to glug a potion of fire resistance and runs again. He glugs an oil of speed, doubles back and hits me. Off he goes again, this time glugging a potion of regeneration. His other buffs seem in order so he returns to hit me again, and stays for a final hit.


Semaj is cackling. "Mangul attacked me next. I ran after one hit, laughing as he got entangled silly, no way to equip Spiders Bane in time. I laughed more as Tazok caught up and Sarevok was closing too. Surely this was the end for Mangul, but unfortunately not as he broke free after only a single blow from Tazok.


He moves out of the area effects and throws an enchanted axe before Sarevok chases him away. Sarevok gets the next three axes, then returns to me. I am webbed so his shot slams me to the ground.


Tazok continues. "His axes come thick and fast, then he switches to a sword, sweeps in for a hit and back for a final slice. I'm on my knees and unable to help Sarevok."


Sarevok laughs. "The man with no pantaloons. What are you going to do?


You're on a trap, amateur. No damage though, and it will take a lot more than those two axes to stop me.


Slug it out like a man.


Come back here and stop throwing those axes. Curse that arrow of dispelling."

[Blackmalkin]

[...] and is currently farming xp from the dopplegangers found in Durlag's tower outskirts. Will take some time due to gnolls interrupting rest...

I prefer to rest inside -- ghasts provide more experience. And attack less frequently, I think.

[Blackmalkin]

Gate70 wrote...
 not sure why rigid thinking is showing but noticed it with later buffs too.

Rigid Thinking stands for potion of mind focusing. Great storytelling, by the way.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Congrats, Gate! Impressive run!

[Gate70]

Ah, that explains it. Thanks.

Just tried importing to BGT SOA - it works but I then noticed I had forgotten the CON tome too. Think I'm going to scrap it and maybe try a more modded run instead; aTweaks, maybe SCS (although I struggle to see why others regard it as a must-have) and check the BWP list to see if there is anything else that would add to the fun.

Good luck folks.

[Grond0]

Well done Gate.  Never underestimate a man with a big sword!

When I tried generating a character last night I realised it wasn't possible to have minimum stats for everything.  It would have been nice to have a character with charisma as their only main stat (as that can be adjusted with rod of terror in BG2), but there is no such class.  Next choice would have been wisdom, but the only classes with wisdom as their only main stat can't use Krumm's katana.

In the end I decided a plain fighter was the best choice as strength is an easy stat to enhance in BG2.  Rather than accept the minimum of 9 I went with 18 strength in the hope that he will still be fairly strong after other stats have wrapped round.

He has made good progress so far - he has completed the bandit camp and is closing in on level 7. 

I wanted to get him up to a decent level before trying to adjust stats so that he has a decent chance of surviving HP adjustments.

A couple of points of interest from Hilo's adventures so far:
- he got a lift from Teven to the bandit camp and proceeded to charm all those outside the main tent.  Some of them followed Hilo into the tent, but most stayed outside to punish anyone trying to escape.  Hilo had a fun old time setting them on each other after those inside the tent had been pacified.

One slight annoyance was that he came out of the tent before dealing with Taugosz and 3 or 4 others left inside (and couldn't get back in as he had already opened the chest).

- I didn't prepare so carefully for Kaahrk this time, so of course he activated before Hilo had a chance to back away.

A sunfire dealt with most of the attackers and the rest were creamed very quickly.  That meant Hilo had to use a potion of invisibility to loot the bodies.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Ok the ending battles of my current no-reload party:

Chapter 3: Had to reload twice - due to spawn bugs, the random bounty hunter encounters (Molkar and the amazons) spawned 2 out of 4 characters. Reloaded so that they could all spawn, as scripted. Killed them with ease.

Bandit camp - nothing unusual.

Cloakwood forest: The Horn of Kazgaroth indeed helps vs Giant spiders' Web ability (it may be innate, but still is obv considered to be a lvl 2 spell). The horn literally saved PC's life. The assassin was webbed during a second interception assault, but Drizzt and Astarta helped him, so he didn't die. Plus, Giant spider poison is way weaker than, for example, Phase or Sword spider poison.

Cloakwood mines: Drasus and party caught with offscreen web and killed by Drizzt (melee) and Saros (ranged support with fire arrows), and some fireballs from Astarta too (Drizzt is immune to fire after all).

Levels below - easy. Hareisan managed to cast Ray of Enfeeblement, but Drizzt still slaughtered her. Natasha wasn't that lucky and fell even quicker. Davaeorn - with casting preparations complete - a lone wolf tried to lure him. Didn't work though and only his 2 Battle Horrors took the bait. They were slaughtered, but it took quite some time and the buffs on party members waned soon. Drizzt was well protected from enemy elemental attacks, so he got the attention of Davaeorn while Saros dispelled his illusions. Tried a paralyzation wand charge - although Davaeorn obviously didn't manage to save, he was still unaffected - so he's probably immune to all hold effects. His last attempt was scary  - a Chromatic orb, which if successful, would've turned Drizzt to stone. But still, chances to fail that save are very slim. So Davaeorn, out of options, out of spells (shot 2 fireballs, a sunfire and 2 cones of cold at Drizzt), finally fell.

Baldur's gate city - cleared it as thoroughly as possible (well, I guess tons of items/gold still uncovered, tried to loot the biggest prizes) Managed to obtain all important items. Reloaded due to a bug in the Marek&Lothander quest - despite killing Marek, the quest didn't end and despite drinking his antidote, party died due to script after 10 days. Redid the quest, and all went well the 2nd time (did it exactly the same way as the first time).

The Iron throne - party almost got caught while looting the basement, but quick feet + haste solved that problem - they were out of the building before even one Flaming fist showed up. Let them count mice in the basement - the party has no wish or need to go in there again

5th floor: Party snuck with the help of 2 nondetection cloaks and innate stealth ability of ranger and assassin. Only PC had to read an Invisibility scroll. In the back room the party buffed well. Forgot only MGoI on the mage, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Ranger was under Anti-Magic globe, and buffed with Heroism, Fire Giant Strength, Absorbtion (for AC vs blunt weapons), had the girdle of piercing on (almost all enemies have either piercing or crushing weapons). The assassin used an invisibility charge from the ring in order to stand in the midst of enemies undetected while dispelling illusions. The fight started with a scroll-cast  Malison on the arrow left there intentionally by the assassin, but it was the two hasted wolves that actually got entire enemy attention first. Enemies wasted their Remove magics on the wolves. Emotion took out several enemies (both divine casters, but not only), and Drizzt joined the fight. He quickly assumed more defensive position though, leaving the enemy mages unattended for now - because the enemy fighters were closing on Astarta. Mages wasted some spells on Drizzt and a couple of hobgoblin archer summons. But their illusions were dispelled, their spells were ineffective vs the globe, and their defences were soon depleted. They fell, leaving the only one standing enemy Zalimar Cloudwulf. He fell quick enough, especially after 2 Arrows of dispelling (first missed), but still, Emotion had almost ended. Saros and Drizzt killed the 2 enemy divine casters and brought an enemy thief to near-death, killing her when she awoke. But the last thief managed to give them some trouble before finally falling.

Afterwards, party sold everything, bought everything they needed from all merchants, went and killed Elminster in Beregost (chapter 3 Elminster - left unattended until now), went to a nearby temple, donated to rep 12, killed Algernon (rep 7 - bad enough, but not that worse for the ranger to lose his status and become fallen) - and then buffed well and started chapter 6.

Ogre mage fight - have some pictures, but frankly, when their starting 2 remove magics failed, the fight was decided. Just want to show the power of the Shield Amulet and its importance in that fight.

Looted some of the Candlekeep + potion of Clarity in the tavern, but couldn't loot all. Pickpocketed Reitar for yet another potion. Didn't kill him or the others.

Catacombs - lvl 1 - easy with a good thief who has lots of potions to buff his skills (10+ perception, 10+Master thievery). Last 2 books found. Saros is now 19/19/19/18/18/5, Drizzt is 18(00)/18/18/13/21/3, and Astarta is 18/18/18/19/18/7. Also Saros found himself a good cloak - a +2 one, though he had to dump the Shadow armor and replace it with a regular studded leather. Still, with Shield amulet, AC is normal.

Lvl 2 and caves - bypassed under Invisibility (from ring).

Chapters 6 and 7 - got 2 Vampiric touch bhaalspawn abilities. Much more important in IA than DUHM - at least for a mage protagonist.

Chapter 7 - restored reputation to 20 via donations + some reputation quests left untouched. Recharged Invisibility ring.

Went to Iron throne - killed Cythandria with little effort. Well, playing drowsy almost got Drizzt killed, by nothing less than Magic missile (forgot to use the Shield amulet) + lightning bolt. Still, he was wearing the Boots of Grounding so he survived. Barely. Slythe and Kristyn were somewhat easier - due to offscreen Web Kristyn was held inactive for a turn, while 4 ettercaps, Drizzt, Saros and 6 hobgoblin archers killed Slythe. Kristyn was slaughtered by an ogre + Drizzt, after her illusions were repeatedly dispelled by Saros.

Duchal palace battle - was probably luck involved too. After proper buffing (everyone with Greenstone charge), Astarta shot minor sequencer with 2 webs on the dopplegangers upon transformation. This tactis usually is bad since dopplegangers tend to save very often vs web, and Belt and Lila - usually fail, but after a Slow and Malison, things were better.

Okay. So the party travelled back to their stash at Friendly arm inn, brought everything they thought necessary for the last confrontation, and bypassed the enemies in the Thieves' gauntlet and Undercity under invisibility. Had to waste a bit more scrolls and potions than expected due to enemy Invisibility purge, which caught Astarta and Drizzt off-screen and dispelled their invisibility, while Saros was passing through the enemy group. Still, the party assempled at the entrance of the temple of Bhaal all invisible and rested.

Entered. A lone assassin was sent as scout. Summoned some monsters, hasted them via a scroll, and sent them as bait - they did well, by attracting 2 enemy remove magics + crowding the enemies far away from the party. However Angelo decided to separate from the group and closed on PC - she was invisible the whole time of course. Still she ran away from him, leaving the ranger under nondetection to watch over him. Angelo tried Detect invisibility, Astarta was ready to refresh invisibility via ring (although she stood off-screenfrom all enemies), but it was unnecessary as she was unaffected. Now came the time for waiting, and the party waited for some turns, until even Diarmid's anti-magic globe waned. The party assembled in a corner away from all enemies, and buffed very well. No violet potion for Saros, because Astarta had forgotten to bring Potion of agility to restore the negative effect of the Titan strength potion. No problem - he'll be a detector and an archer. Drizzt afterwards challenged Angelo alone, and killed him one on one. The skeleton warrior which appeared after Angelo's death retreated outside of the temple under Drizzt's relentless assault. Then under Saros' field of vision, Astarta tried the offscreen web + malison tactic, which worked ok. Sarevok chased Astarta after her Malison, which was perfect, since she could absorb many blows under Stoneskin + Mirror Images, while the rest of the party dealt with the webbed enemies and the skeleton warriors appearing after their deaths. Sarevok was alone, and under heavy barrage. So that was for him.

Edit: Although some items will be transferred to my BG2 Improved Anvil v6 party, they most probably won't be used because they'll disbalance the starting game. Still, it would be interesting to see which items would be transferred actually 

[Grond0]

saros_shadow_follower wrote...
Cloakwood forest: The Horn of Kazgaroth indeed helps vs Giant spiders' Web ability (it may be innate, but still is obv considered to be a lvl 2 spell). The horn literally saved PC's life.

Well done on finishing your BG run Saros.

In relation to web the reason the Horn worked for you is that you are using an older version of SCS.  In newer versions the web attack is not considered magical- in addition the web effect is aimed at a single individual, rather than being area effect like the mage spell.

[Gate70]

Fuggil, CE male elf wild mage. If this is fun any disaster will continue in the minimal reload thread. Can't be faffed with another install at present.

Ascension. Fixpack. BGT. Tweaks (consistent stats, hideous mirroring). Generalised Biffing.

Str 9
Dex 19
Con 16
Int 18
Wis 15
Cha 9

* quarterstaff
Spells: Blindness, Find Familiar, Friends, Larloch's Minor Drain, Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, Shield, Sleep, Spook.

Quasit familiar
I'm likely to be travelling with vagabonds so I summon a backpack guardian. HP increase from 6 to 18.

Imoen (level 1-3)
I need someone that I can trust; Imoen will have to do. Time for some ground rules. "Fetch me a diamond, a ring of protection and a ring of Wizardry".

Viconia (level 2-3)
I cast blindness, Larloch's minor drain and sleep (resisted) on a Flaming Fist mercenary. Our reputation plummets from 8 to 6.

Survival techniques
Help a few people.
Kill a nymph as Caldo and Krumm run off.
Spell barrage; Command, Sleep, Hold person, Blindness, Larloch. Greywolf survives a command but not blindness.


Edwin (level 1, 1 behind Fuggil)
A witch hunt. Where do I sign up?

Wild surges
Edwin has asked about this, he was expecting more trouble and wonders if I speak with a forked tongue. Am I lying? I cannot explain my perfect casting to date so we rest and experiment. After two or three rests we have the answer, yes we do need to be aware of wild surges.


As we rest, I wonder if we need a bit of muscle, and bone, up front.

Modifié par Gate70, 18 avril 2012 - 11:44 .

[Gate70]

Fuggil, CE male elf wild mage. With Imoen, Viconia, Edwin (+ Kagain and Shar Teel).

Kagain (level 2)
The sturdy dwarf has TANK carved all over him. We immediately abandon his search for a caravan and I cast Shadowkeeper on him to remove crossbow/single weapon style and replace them with war hammer.

Shar Teel (level 2)
Beaten by a dwarf no less. I ask her to stand next to Kagain and Imoen meekly joins Viconia at the back of the party. Edwin and I hide in the middle, although everybody seems nervous whenever I open my mouth.

Securing the services of Edwin
We lean on our quarterstaffs, watching our companions fight the gnolls. Neither side seems able to hit a barn door but we are making gradual progress.

"Don't strain yourselves" gasps Shar Teel after felling the gnoll chieftain. I saunter over and pick up a stinking cloud scroll. I could cast chaos shield, while Edwin has an empty page so he memorises the scroll.

A few more gnolls, then Shar Teel asks Kagain how he has taken more hits but is less injured than her. "Old dwarf ritual" he says, stuffing a piece of gnoll flesh into one gaping wound and spitting on it. He turns to Dynaheir and obliterates her with his axe. Part of her lands on his shield and he stuffs it in a smaller wound. "Good as new" he says.

Edwin says nothing but I'll hold him to his word by whatever means are required.

That night I dream of romance. It's all I can do as neither Viconia or Shar Teel show the slightest bit of interest.

[Blackmalkin]

A wild mage! I hope he'll manage to kill someone with a falling cow. Other then himself, that is (though I can't promise I won't laugh if that happens).

By the way, an elven mage isn't bad with darts. Better THAC0 then Kagain on level 1.

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 18 avril 2012 - 02:05 .

[Gate70]

& he's out against Bassilus.

Had disposed of Zal, Vax, Arghain, Tenygan/Jemby & their hobgoblin archer.

Kagain got rigid thinking and wandered off. Shar Teel was held and killed. Fuggil was chased by Bassilus and ran in circles so Kagain would swing at Bassilus, but Bassilus seems to have a reasonable reach with the hammer.

Going to swap to a human wild mage so the romance option opens up.

[Grond0]

Hilo has finished his preparations and just commenced using Krumm's katana.


I wanted him to get to his maximum level to give him the best chance of surviving HP loss long enough to wrap stats round, so he has done nearly all the high value XP encounters prior to the cloakwood. 

At the ankheg area he charmed a few ankhegs and used them to kill the rest.
 
The charm gets cast before the ankhegs can attack initially, so there's no real risk doing that if you're careful.

Worked up to Ulgoth's Beard and with 20/20 charisma and reputation did some shopping (staff, cloak, ring & amulet).  Thus protected went to the sirene area and gave them a dose of their own charming medicine. 

However, decided the traps in the cave were too dangerous to be able to get the tome there yet.

Charmed the ogre clan to the north to attack Shoal and more sirenes.  Shoal was trapped and quite quickly killed despite her displacement ability to insta-cast a mirror image as an attack is coming in.  The water weird she summoned didn't last long either.

The ogres were far less successful against the sirenes at the bottom of the map - they moved around too quickly for the ogres to easily catch and shot them up.  That meant Hilo had to take care of 2 of the 3 of them himself. 

Over to Durlag's Tower to get the tome there.  Using some potions let him take on the battle horrors pretty safely and also got him to level 8.  He's bought plentiful stocks of potions to buff dexterity, intelligence and wisdom, although he's only got the 2 potions of fortitude from the bandit camp to keep constitution up.  If necessary he can make his way to Baldur's Gate to get more there.  He will be working the crossroads area to the south of the Friendly Arm as that has quite a few respawns without missile capability.

[BelgarathMTH]

Fascinating reading, everyone. Lots of good posts. Really enjoyed "Mangul the Paladin: Behind the Scenes" mini-novel, Gate.

[Grond0]

Hilo, true to his name, finished on a low. He was quite lucky with the katana effects, with only 3 reductions to HP in the time required to wrap the other stats round. However, unfortunately the dexterity, constitution and wisdom stats didn't want to wrap round in the game (even though shadow keeper showed them as having done so). He eventually got the dexterity one to work by adding a potion of agility to the potion of mind focusing already taken, but died when trying to rest.

I experimented for a while with shadow keeper afterwards, but couldn't pin down what the problem was. The only thing I could think of is that taking potions that set stats to 18 when the underlying stats are higher than that may have caused a problem (resetting all the stats to 18 in shadowkeeper allowed the game to proceed normally).

[Gate70]

Grond0, maybe some things just aren't meant to be.

Varon, NE male human wild mage.
(A couple of early deaths, set CON to 18 by mistake; wanted more WIS)

STR 9
DEX 18
CON 18
INT 18
WIS 12
CHA 12

* dagger
Spells: Blindness, Find Familiar, Friends, (Nahal's Reckless Dweomer), Reflected Image, Shield, Sleep, Spook.

Stinky the imp familiar looks a bit weedy compared to some familiars mage HP increase from 6 to 15 instead of recent 18's, but his polymorph, regeneration and elemental (fire, water, electricity) should keep him safe in my backpack.

Candlekeep
The chores are done and a Friends spell CHA 18 sees me get a family dagger from Fuller.

Imoen is once more my primary travelling companion. I dutifully hand her 10 sets of arrows and my quarterstaff. I show her how to keep her potions and wand readily available too.

Xzar and Montaron decline our offer, instead handing us some armour, potions and scrolls.

Viconia sullies our reputation once more, making us disliked. I hand her my sling and some bullets, and take her leather armour so she can carry some full plate armour to a store. She grumbles as I spellcheck her.

Tarnesh is in for a surprise as Viconia has blessed us. He resists blindness but not command. To his credit he manages to stand up again but Imoen pierces him with a missile and Viconia bludgeons him to the ground with a bullet. Our Resist Fear and Shield buffs remain untested and we celebrate by purloining a pair of golden pantaloons.

Joia is overwhelmed to get her ring returned. I have used the time to practice casting sleep and Larloch's Minor Drain at hobgoblins. We survive a kobold knife ambush despite skeletal archers hitting Viconia.

Marl is friends with anyone for the price of a drink. I buy a book to read but decide not to sell anything just yet classic wild mage mistake, only carry money when you need it.

Firebead Elvenhair snaffles the book and un-dislikes our reputation. We store various items in a chest south of his house (next to the cart and with a pick on top of it). Viconia wants to cast a glyph of warding over it but we don't know how to do that.

Mirianne is grateful for a letter we retrieved from a pair of dozy ogrillions.

Noober teaches Imoen how to talk without saying anything of value (level 2).

Imoen is killed by a worg bite, curse these ambushes. I cast sleep and both worgs and a xvart collapse. The worgs wake up before we can kill them, then we find we don't have 200gp to raise Imoen. We sell a pearl and return to get Imoen walking and talking again.

Brage has been returned to Nashkel temple, Viconia finds this an educational trip (level 3).

Oublek wants to give me 200gp but I decline, anybody called Greywolf is not somebody I want to argue with. We endure another two ambushes without death (gibberlings and kobold archers then gibberlings and gnolls).

That night I dream of romance, Viconia twisting around my thoughts. When I wake I realise it is a dream and she shows no interest; maybe she finds my arcane nature abhorrent not sure, need to check. Edit, suppose I ought to wait for BG2 I guess?

Early days;
Varon, wild mage 1. 12 kills, Flaming Fist Mercenary.
Imoen, thief 2. 8 kills, ogrillion.
Viconia, cleric 3. 1 kill, Tarnesh.

Modifié par Gate70, 19 avril 2012 - 09:42 .

[Gate70]

Varon, NE male human wild mage. With Imoen and Viconia.

Denak and his red robed freaks look daunting early for these but needs to be pre-Edwin. Imoen sneaks around, identifying their location and the best escape route. Then we buff (order on Varon; Remove fear, Aid, Bless, Shield) and move in. As they attack Imoen targets Denak while I Larloch him and Viconia casts silence past him.

Diana, Brendan and Lasala are silenced, but Denak has mirrored. Viconia retreats to leave me closest to him. Denak hits me with two Melf Acid arrows so I glug and run, then Larloch him and glug again. As I pass Viconia she heals me slightly and I return towards Denak. He has added two Melfs and a Larloch to Imoen and she has been glugging too.

The silence wears off but we almost have Denak dead and disrupt his next spell. We really should retreat but I stab him and quickly rob his corpse (level 2, +6hp) then glug a blue potion as Diana Melfs me. Lasala double casts armour and magic missile (eh) but my Shield is active. Brendan tries horror but we are protected.


I pray my Shield spell holds a little longer.


Lasala is out of spells and moves in to melee. Brendan wastes more magic missiles while Diana scorches me. I turn this spell to our advantage, searing Lasala to the ground before glugging a potion and heading to Brendan.


Imoen hurls me a blue potion as I run. In moments I have removed his mirrors but Diana is casting. Shield is still active and I am almost at full health so I melee Brendan. Imoen and Viconia fail to disrupt Diana and there is no way to avoid the resulting lightning bolt.


& they proved to be daunting for that low-level party. Edit, just checked them and that was their last spell (although to be fair Denak could have used Haste). Ho hum.

Modifié par Gate70, 19 avril 2012 - 10:36 .

[Gate70]

Veron Verun, NE male human wild mage. With Stenky the imp familiar, Imoen and Viconia.

Deja-vu through Candlekeep, Imoen, Xzar and Montaron, Viconia. We've only stopped to grab two rings and a diamond that were directly on-route.

Viconia and Imoen are not happy about travelling to the red-robed freaks immediately Viconia is level 2, Imoen and Veron level 1 but I'm out for revenge. I put Stenky on the ground and suggest he should become a mustard jelly.

Stenky attacks Denak while we deal with Diana. Soon only Brendan is left with his quarterstaff. I suggest Stenky switches forms; a venemous spider with lots of attacks will make short work of his mirrors.


Now, where is that other Thayvian?

Modifié par Gate70, 19 avril 2012 - 05:20 .