16402 réponses à ce sujet

[Wierdo]

Grond0 wrote...

Wierdo wrote...

OIK. I have SCS Smarter Deployment v14 installed also. Maybe my habt of moving invisibly helps. Or maybe I hve been lucky.

Smarter deployment is actually a different component.  On my install the assassins deployment is code 6020, but that is version 16, so it might be different on v14.  And by the way who are you calling an oik - I try my best.

Sorry, just a mistake! It is a typo - meant to be "OK".  "I" is next to "K" on the keyboard.

Modifié par Wierdo, 26 février 2011 - 10:54 .

[Wierdo]

Bhryaen wrote...

Wierdo wrote...

Grond0 wrote...

Han eventually succumbed to the dubious charms of the amazon ambushers.  They originally teleported in to greet him in the zombie area, but couldn't see him.  This didn't stop them surrounding him wherever he went, which effectively would make it impossible to attack anything else in the area.  I wasn't sure if this behaviour would change if they went hostile so showed myself briefly before leaving the area and returning elsewhere.  Only a few seconds passed and there they were again homing in on me (I've noted this sort of scripting behaviour before in these threads and it doesn't get any less annoying).

?? Is this encounter mod-related??

I think Wierdo meant to ask "Is this tendency to follow people around despite them being invisible something that's mod-related?"

Yes, I guessI had two questions, and that was one. The other one was "this is from which mod?

I'm quite familiar with the SCS monsters' behaviour of following an invisible character or stealthed. In playing thieves, I just get used to it. You backstab, run/hide, monsters follow until they get
to your character, so you may as well wait until they 'nose touch' your character and stop. Character then moves behind, backstabs again, rinse, repeat ....

Modifié par Wierdo, 26 février 2011 - 10:55 .

[Bhryaen]

Grond0 wrote...
I'll add something to the SCS forum as you suggest and see if there's any response from there.

You're probably already seeing this at the forum (I started looking as soon as I posted hehe), but I thought I'd throw it in here since it's kinda funny after what Gorthaur X has experienced... There is one thread from October of last year that mentions a similar issue about problems of the "hunters" (or "mercs" as we're calling them here) being spawned in at places where they can't get at the party or where they end up in limbo. That would explain why Gorthaur X might not have seen them at all during this game: they tried to spawn in to get him, but their TARDIS landed in a temporal vortex. But this post is particularly relevant:

I've had it happen before where the hunters don't show, or where they pop up in an unsuitable location (sometimes blocking some of them from appearing), or just a place where it terribly unbalances an encounter (try the bandit camp with the hunters thrown in!).That can't happen, can it??

That doesn't have to do with the follow-invisible-party bug though. Instead this thread from June, 2009, lists the question (#3 of the list)...

3, Most enemies are following me through invisibility and they are not only following me but trying to
eliminate my escape route.
DavidW's response:
This isn't really intended; getting optimal behaviour with invisibility (especially with solo characters) has been difficult to get right and probably needs more work. (SCS is mostly tested in a non-solo environment; soloing issues sometimes catch me out.)
Probably worth it to renew the issue on its own rather than simply a #3 of 6...

[Bhryaen]

Wierdo wrote...
I'm quite familiar with the SCS monsters' behaviour of following an invisible character or stealthed. In playing thieves, I just get used to it. You backstab, run/hide, monsters follow until they get
to your character, so you may as well wait until they 'nose touch' your character and stop. Character then moves behind, backstabs again, rinse, repeat ....

Yes, and that's true also from vanilla. What Grond0 and I have seen is that, yes, in Vanilla after they come right up to you where you've snuck off to and stop... they stay stopped. So you can do the rinse, repeat quite well. But what we're seeing with SCS is that you can't even move your character without the SCS monster trailing you. You can't sneak behind again because they're turning with you as if looking straight at you. In fact you can't go anywhere without them following every single footstep right on your heels. That's just inexplicable from a roleplay standpoint...

"Aye, Molkar an' I an' the rest of the band went to where we 'eard there been that whelp an' 'is team o' troublemakers. We asked a bandit who thought they'd 'eard somethin' goin' toward the main tent, so we went up there an', well, we... uh... we smelt 'em. Yeah, that's it. We could smell 'em right there, so we stopped an' listened... Nothin'... Couldn't see 'em nor 'ear 'em, but there they were somewheres, close as steam off a stuck pig in winter... Then the scent went off to the west so we follows that way, see... After an hour or two o' that we don't smell 'em no more, but we waits. Sure enough a couple days later we smells 'em again somewhere to the south o' the camp an' jus' takes off toward 'em right away. Would ye believe that whelp 'as a real strong scent!"

No...

[Grond0]

Bhryaen wrote...
"Aye, Molkar an' I an' the rest of the band went to where we 'eard there been that whelp an' 'is team o' troublemakers. We asked a bandit who thought they'd 'eard somethin' goin' toward the main tent, so we went up there an', well, we... uh... we smelt 'em. Yeah, that's it. We could smell 'em right there, so we stopped an' listened... Nothin'... Couldn't see 'em nor 'ear 'em, but there they were somewheres, close as steam off a stuck pig in winter... Then the scent went off to the west so we follows that way, see... After an hour or two o' that we don't smell 'em no more, but we waits. Sure enough a couple days later we smells 'em again somewhere to the south o' the camp an' jus' takes off toward 'em right away. Would ye believe that whelp 'as a real strong scent!"

No...

I like it, but my vote goes to the magnetic attraction of my main character (I believe pigeons are among the other creatures supposed to home using magnetism).

[Gorthaur X]

Durlag's Tower, sublevel one.

We enter the maze like the intrepid adventurers we are, with Coran detecting traps and moving ahead an inch at a time. Good thing, too, since he immediately finds a trap right in front of us. It is disarmed, but we are even more cautious to make sure not to go anywhere before the elf has throughly investigated the area. The enemies are not the thing - three Greater Doppelgangers present the most difficulty, managing to confuse Coran, but are swiftly fireballed to oblivion while Kagain tanks with his two rings of fire resistance - the traps are our main concern now. As we make our way through the tunnels, Coran does set off a couple, but thankfully there is no shortage of healing potions scattered across the level.

After finally managing to explore the area and complete the quests given by the four ghosts, we prepare for the inevitable battle. No way these guys will just let us pass.

Many of our offensive spells have been used getting here, but ultimately we decide to skip resting until after the fight. We still have plenty of supportive spells, after all. A few skeletons to soak up damage, Blur for Oberon, Spirit Armors for Edwin, Viconia, Oberon and Coran, a Protection From Evil on everybody and we're good to go. No, wait - let's throw in a Haste, since we have one available. Viccy also casts a Skull trap at the left-side corner of the lift. Might not help, but shouldn't hurt either.

Now we're ready.

The battle starts well: one of the ghosties casts a Cloudkill, but our skeletons charge in with no regard for it. They don't breathe, after all. Fear is the first one to fall, struck down by a flaming arrow from Coran.

Meanwhile, Pride has defeated the skeletons attacking it, and charges Viconia. Kagain nobly throws himself in the way, taking quite a beating before we start taking Pride seriously enough. Edwin saves Kagain's dwarven arse by summoning more dead people around him, buying the Kagster enough time to gulp an extra-healing potion. We all focus fire on Pride, delivering a beating after which he must surely consider changing his name to Humility.

Love is next: She has been surprisingly resilient, taking several Arrows of Dispelling while still retaining her protections. Not wanting to waste those precious, precious arrows, we decide to overwhelm her, instead. Inelegant, but it works.

Avarice still manages to go invisible, and Viconia has already used her two DI spells due to his antics. He appears suddenly to stab Edwin in the face, but fortunately not quite hard enough to kill him. Kivan and Coran perforate him with arrows before he can disappear again.

Somewhat emboldened, but still far from overconfident, we rest and get ready for the second sublevel.

[Cowboy_christo]

 hey yall im back with some more history about Ruelov Starsky.
More gibberling. This is where i started to notice something might be wrong with my spawnrandomizer mod. 3 group of about 6-8 gibberling. That's right folks i was chased down by about 20 gibberling. Took down a few but ultimately had to run for it.

Hobo came back for some retribution. Had to chug a potion to not die here. Geez walking down an area is dangerous and going trough them too. Thx god im just at hardcore rule.

Im currently reinstalling my spawnrandomizer w/ the right setting hopefully this time. Because its impossible for me to get to beregost ffs.

Reinstalling the mod seem to have worked. No more 12 skeleton that walk twice as fast as me. Or cave bears running wild outside of cave O_o.

Next up was a few gnoll. Starsky and Imoen managed to kite them but feared they would eventually encounter more enemy. Luckily they found a helpfull ranger in the way. Kivan DW 2 katana lulz(probably an issues from lvl1npc, imoen started out with a bastard sword but i wont mind 2 katana).

Next up was beregost. Didnt take long for trouble to find us. A women came, hurrying for the help of the group for is neighbor who was transformed in a slime. For a nice fee we accepted to help her and are now tracking down the culprit.

Clues indicated the culprit hanged out at an inn and imoen wanted a nice bath so we went to feldepost.
Starsky didnt exactly like is welcome at the inn. But got a nice lvlup from this. More skill traps(i hate when they backfire or just fail)

The culprit wasnt at feldepost so we decided to hit another inn after some well deserved rest. During our search we met Garrick who offered us a nice sum to act as bodyguard for his mistress(and Kivan is all up for helping out a lady in distress apparently). Turned out the job ended up being a killing job. We declined and Silk went all magic missile on us. First off Starsky poisoned is bolts with is secret bounty hunter poison. Silk managed to stoneskin before getting crit hit but she got paralized anyway. Apparently Starsky was her first target after coming to her senses and he almost died but managed to get a gulp before the remaining missiles finish him off. She then casted mirror image but imoen<s trusty wand and our shower of arrow and bolt stopped her from doing anything else while Kivan took care of the remaining image.

Garrick was now playing solo but imoen has some kind of crush on him so we picked him up.

Next up(hoh gods not another assasin) a dwarf tried to kill us as we entered an inn. Poor dwarf got overwhelmed by the group and even Finch who was passing by decided to pitch in and help us out. I wasnt gonna use Finch but im in need of a cleric So we picked her up for the ride. Im not evil so no viccy and i hate that tempus girl <_<

Modifié par Cowboy_christo, 27 février 2011 - 03:38 .

[Bhryaen]

Grond0 wrote...
... [M]y vote goes to the magnetic attraction of my main character (I believe pigeons are among the other creatures supposed to home using magnetism).

Actually I've heard- but can't confirm obviously- that they keep mercs in a coop ready for deployment. There are also rumors that mercs usually have the best quality iron armor and weaponry, so that might also account for the attraction. Who needs a gauss meter when Bhaalspawn blood can turn a compass?... See? And who needs bug solutions when we can solve it ourselves by just pretending it makes sense?

That said, I seconded you to make sure it got attention... It seems DavidW's last post was nearly 2 weeks ago...

Modifié par Bhryaen, 27 février 2011 - 04:53 .

[Wierdo]

Cowboy_christo wrote...
Next up(hoh gods not another assasin) a dwarf tried to kill us as we entered an inn. Poor dwarf got overwhelmed by the group and even Finch who was passing by decided to pitch in and help us out. I wasnt gonna use Finch but im in need of a cleric So we picked her up for the ride. Im not evil so no viccy and i hate that tempus girl <_<

Finch is OK as a cleric, at least until you get to the cloakwood mines. She has some interesting dialogue

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren ...

Just entering the Cloakwood Mines, having "done" all the other cloakwood maps. As testimony to the power of stealth, Wierdo can claim over 60% kills for the chapter so far, as she moves from victim to victim invisibly. More on Wierdo's adventure in the Cloakwood Mines soon ....

[Wierdo]

Bhryaen wrote...
Yes, and that's true also from vanilla. What Grond0 and I have seen is that, yes, in Vanilla after they come right up to you where you've snuck off to and stop... they stay stopped. So you can do the rinse, repeat quite well. But what we're seeing with SCS is that you can't even move your character without the SCS monster trailing you. You can't sneak behind again because they're turning with you as if looking straight at you. In fact you can't go anywhere without them following every single footstep right on your heels. That's just inexplicable from a roleplay standpoint...

As you would well know, I am playing with SCS right now. So I guess, as you have, that this is something peculiar to playing solo. I've seen a similar problem before, but gotten around it in other ways (e.g. getting another character in my party to talk to the NPC in question - obviously you can't do that in solo mode).

Modifié par Wierdo, 27 février 2011 - 11:51 .

[Bhryaen]

Wierdo wrote...
So I guess, as you have, that this is something peculiar to playing solo. I've seen a similar problem before, but gotten around it in other ways (e.g. getting another character in my party to talk to the NPC in question - obviously you can't do that in solo mode).

Actually my last game (my first in several yrs) was a party of 4, but, similar to you, I would send out my FTR/THF alone to deal with easily-backstabbable foes or, more often, simply to scout the area and distract so that the rest of the party could close in more advantageously. So this ought to be interesting to watch, since you may (or for some reason may not) encounter it yourself if Wierdo's semi-soloing keeps on that way. The Vanilla way still more or less holds so long as the foe doesn't have the "find-blabber-attack" script... Another thing I found is that if the scout enters an area where there are foes and is seen but then hides again, the foes will then instantly know where the rest of the party is and come after them... So be wary!

Modifié par Bhryaen, 27 février 2011 - 01:49 .

[Gorthaur X]

Oberon continues to press on through Durlag's Tower. Down, down we go.

Level 2 provides us little challenge: the Greater Dopplegangers in the initial rooms are easily dealth with, and the throne room battle is fought by skeletons and Kagain. Coran, however, manages to get himself killed by a trap.

"And I thought I disarmed that one, too."

The rest of the level goes without incident, however, and we finish our looting by taking Kiel's stuff and killing some dwarven Doom Guards. They're pretty tough, but a few skeletons and ogres give us the advantage - the latter even manage to do some damage.

"Pound them to pudding! Mmm, pudding."

We enter level three, and find a room with some Greater Wyverns and trapped previous adventures. Viconia suggests using and killing them, which we do: we use two of them to distract the wyverns, and then kill them as they become hostile. Kagain, however, gets killed by one of the beasts, and since he's low on HP after being raised, we decide to take yet another adventurer with us to the other side of the map and tank for us.

"Another day, another blade in another fool's back."

Tarnor gets held by some greater ghouls, and is still helpless when he becomes hostile. Sadly, we only get 15 exp for killing him - perhaps because the game didn't have the chance to properly register him as a hostile?

We decide to head back into the dead dragon room to rest, when disaster strikes. We walk into a trap. With the entire party. Triggering a bloody fireball right in the bloody middle of our group. We are badly beaten, but at least nobody dies.

Except that then we trigger another trap and another fireball.

DEAR BHAAL IN HEAVEN HELL THE ASTRAL PLANE

It's amazing, though, how situations like this can sharpen your senses and hone your reflexes. It's almost as though some invisible, omnipotent hand had suddenly made time itself stand still. In the mere moments it takes for the second fireball to reach us, both Kagain and Coran toss their rings of fire resistance to Viconia, who expertly catches them by sliding her fingers into them in midair, while the rest of the party pre-emptively gulp  healing potions. Grim as the situation is, five of us seven still survive the blunder.

"Nobody. Make. Another. Move."

Viconia has thankfully survived thanks to her fire resistance, so she is available to resurrect our two fallen archers. We sternly ask Coran to explain how something like this could have happened, and what the hell it is that we pay him for, anyway.


"Oh, NOW I see it. My bad guys."

This level of Durlag's Tower has cost us three Raise Dead scrolls, bringing the insane old dwarf's total to four. Way to go, Durlag. Our hats are off to you. In fact, after the blast waves of those fireballs, we're still looking for them.

(I could swear I hit "Print Screen" when that second fireball was about to hit, but I guess not. Would have made an awesome screenie, too.)

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 27 février 2011 - 06:39 .

[Bhryaen]

Gorthaur X wrote...
Coran, however, manages to get himself killed by a trap.
"And I thought I disarmed that one, too."

*wince* Oh, yeah... I forgot to warn about that one... NOW I remember. My bad...

Actually that would be one of three insta-kill situations in BG1. No matter how many times my Detect Traps 130% (don't ask...) Imoen tried to disarm that one in my last game, it would always splat her for even trying... Best to just circumnavigate...

[welcomehome160]

Kilgannon the Cleric/Thief entering the challenge!

Str 18
Dex 18
Con 16
Int 13
Wis 17
Cha 3

once I figure out how to do the pictures thing I will share some of those!


I'm excited about starting this; it's something I've wanted to do for a while with BG2 but I figured it's better to start at the beginning!  I've never actually played all the way through BG1 so I expect to fail miserably, but hopefully it will be fun and help me play optimally.

I kept Imoen after she met up with me right outside Candlekeep.  Told off Elminster in the second area and used an oil of speed + ranged attacks to take down an ogre on my way to the Friendly Arm Inn!  That's about it for now but more to come...

Modifié par welcomehome160, 27 février 2011 - 08:56 .

[Gorthaur X]

Bhryaen wrote...
*wince* Oh, yeah... I forgot to warn about that one... NOW I remember. My bad...

Actually that would be one of three insta-kill situations in BG1. No matter how many times my Detect Traps 130% (don't ask...) Imoen tried to disarm that one in my last game, it would always splat her for even trying... Best to just circumnavigate...

Heh. To be honest, I should have been able to avoid that. I've probably died there before, and it looked very similar to the instakill trap in Spellhold. But, um, Coran is a brash, unthinking kinda guy, and his confidence in his thieving skills is perhaps a little too high. Yeah, let's blame Coran.

Anyway.

We kill the Ashir.. Asihkuruku... invisible stabbity things in the green maze with the help of the remaining two imprisoned adventurers; an ogre and a hobgoblin. They turn on me eventually, of course, but experience is experience, and indeed, Coran reaches level 9 as a thief, bringing his backstab to the guadruple range and his trap & lock skills to 100%. We're getting what are likely to be our final level ups now, so we enjoy them fully.

The elemental guardians are not much of a challenge. Fire falls to Arrows of Ice before managing to do anything. The Fission Slime dies to a couple of Oberon's trusty Fireballs. The Air Aspect is the toughest, but even so, it can't stand against our hail of arrows and Magic Missiles for long.

Before facing the bear, we prepare for the coming battle: Spirit Armors for Ed, Vic, Oberon and Coran; Potions of Invulnerability for the two archers, and enough various magics to make everybody immune to electricity. Kagain is brought above 100% resistance, in the hopes that the chessboard might actually heal him a little bit. Finally, our mages Shield themselves and Viconia protects everyone from evil (possibly pointlessly, since the chess pieces are probably unfeeling constructs). I hope I haven't spent so many of our potions needlessly, but better safe than sorry, eh?

And then we kill Yogi.

As the battle begins, I realize that if anything, I should have prepared more. The Pawns rush us immediately, too quickly to effectively fireball, as I had planned. Kivan and Coran shoot a few Arrows of Dispelling, followed by a few more Arrows of Detonation, but many of the enemy have already cleared the effective blast zone. Still, we do manage to damage their spellcasters and ranged fighters. Edwin tries to protect himself with a wall of summoned monsters, but he isn't fast enough - the Pawns appear to be hasted, and go straight to the mage - and falls. Viconia, on the other hand, Mirror Images herself and makes quite a stand, holding off several enemies with hammer and shield.

The battle is hard - both sides get slowed, hasted, slowed and hasted again, and everyone in my party is bloodied and beaten to an inch of their life before it's all said and done. Ultimately, the tide was turned when Kagan managed to get the attention of most of the enemy melee force, giving Viccy the opportunity to make a hasted retreat and attack from afar with the Wand of Fire. Kagain, of course, is wearing the two fire resistance rings, making friendly fire almost a non-issue.

With the pressure off them, Oberon, Kivan and Coran focus on the King, and he falls before their combined might soon enough. Viconia manages to get one more fireball of before the rest of the pieces disappear, killing one more Bishop before the battle is officially over.

One more level to go before the Demon Knight.

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 27 février 2011 - 09:35 .

[Wierdo]

Gorthaur X wrote...
As the battle begins, I realize that if anything, I should have prepared more. The Pawns rush us immediately, too quickly to effectively fireball, as I had planned. Kivan and Coran shoot a few Arrows of Dispelling, followed by a few more Arrows of Detonation, but many of the enemy have already cleared the effective blast zone.

That is a great write up of the battle, Gorthaur!

A suggestion (for next time, whenever that happens) is to try putting the Boots of Speed on Kagain, have him quaff a Potion of Fire Resistance to bring his fire resistance up to 127%, and have him charge into battle, directly towards the centre of the enemies or the chessboard itself. Ideally the rest of your party would be invisible as they enter (but not Kagain). That way the enemies will focus on Kagain initially, giving your mages a chance to throw fireballs.

In fact, get everybody equipped with potions of exploding or fiery burning and get about 5 fireballs going off at once. Don't forget that a character can cast a spell or use a potion AND fire an Arrow of Detonation IN THE SAME ROUND! So, in theory you might be able to get up to 8 fireballs going if you had two bow-users (Kagain can even drop a bottle on his own head!).

With Kagain's 127% fire resistance, he will actually be HEALED by the furnace-like temperatures. So don't worry if he takes a hit or two initially, it will get healed!

Modifié par Wierdo, 28 février 2011 - 02:44 .

[Gorthaur X]

Wierdo, that is exactly what I had planned to do, except that I had remembered the chessboard being roughly three times as large than it actually turned out to be, and thus assumed that I would have plenty of time to firebomb the Pawns and Knights before they got to my position regardless. I suspect I made this mistake because the last time I played with a smaller resolution, so everything seemed bigger.

Of course, that didn't turn out to be the case, and your assessment of what I could've, should've and didn't do is pretty much what I meant by "more preparation." As it happened, Kagain just wasn't quick enough to intercept the oncoming horde.

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 28 février 2011 - 03:28 .

[Gorthaur X]

Short update on the final level of Durlag's Tower.

So, we finally stand ready to face the Demon Knight himself. The road has been tedious, and Coran has gotten flattened by many undetectable traps, but here we are.

We prepare with the usual "...and this time, it's personal" set of protective spells: Prot:E, Spirit Armor, Potions of Invulnerability and Heroism, and Shield spells on the mages. Finally, Edwin casts Haste and Smog invisibilizes us all.

We play it safe and break the Mirror of Opposition. The Demon Knight is evenly matched with his evil... um, eviler twin, leaving us to deal with our own clones. Fortunately, they spawn without any of our buffs. Coran immediately backstabs his counterpart, killing him in one blow, and then joins in on some Kivan on Kivan action. Mirror-Vicky tries dispelling our invisibility (or so I suspect), only to get Fireballed by Edwin, Oberon and Vicky Mark One. I don't like how gleeful Edwin looks fireballing my clone, though.

Soon enough, only Kagain and Oberon remain of our mirror twins. Not-Kagain actually manages to hit Edwin before finally being blinded and rendered harmless by a combination of Doom and, er, Blindness. While the mages deal with them, Kagain, Kivan and Coran make sure to help the Demon Knight out a little by killing the Mirror Fiend Knight so we're not cheated out of any experience, and once that is done, Kagain delivers the final blow. Mirror-Oberon there is casting Emotion, which does nothing on the supremely doped-up Kagain.

Now we must decide whether or not we want to take on Aec'Letec before going back to Baldur's Gate. Everything else is, by and large, done.

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 28 février 2011 - 04:12 .

[Bhryaen]

welcomehome160 wrote...
Kilgannon the Cleric/Thief entering the challenge!

Welcome, welcomehome160! Actually I'm not an official welcomer, but it just seemed fun to say that.

once I figure out how to do the pictures thing I will share some of those!

I'm newly learning too. You just need to find a way to- well, first crop your photos if you want to save space a bit or just make the interesting bits stand out more- and then get them online somehow. By right-clicking photos you see you can trace their origin. That's how I managed to get a free account with photobucket after just looking at where others were putting their pictures, but you can check out more in case those sites are easier to work with. If you do use Photobucket you should first set up a special album for your character where you'll upload your pictures so that you can keep from cluttering your main album. I didn't until my 3rd character, so I've got a hodgepodge there at present.

Then you can decide to simply make a link to the picture or embed it in the post. Photobucket gives you a list of copy options with each uploaded photo at your album page (you have to let your cursor hover over the picture a moment before the list box appears) so that you can one-click copy the address and paste it here. For making links you one-click the 2nd bar from the top ("Direct Link") and it copies it how you'd paste it in the browser address bar. Then go to the post and simply highlight some text and click the globe icon at the top of the post window, then paste the address of the online picture there. It should make the highlighted text now blue (though it's orange when posted).

For embedding the picture you one-click the bottom option- "IMG Code-" that creates a link that starts with {img} (actually wrapped in [ ]) and ends with {/img}. You simply paste it in your post, and it will look like text, but it will initiate the picture import from there.

But mostly just get into your own game. That will come across. I like the way Gorthaur does it best, peppering some very funny commentary (truly gets me laughing to myself with some of those off-handed quips), adding just a few telling pictures, some simply links and others embedded in the post... (This one has got to be the funniest so far with the added instructional pointers.) Wierdo has some very good ones too and has been fairly pioneering with his cropped pictures... but I like everyone's. I'm just wondering where The Fred's alternate universe went...

[Gorthaur X]

The Chronicles of Oberon the Mighty: "Demons? In My Cutlery?"

We return to Ulgoth's Beard with the Soultaker, as we promised Hurgan we would. Hard to believe that this all began as another fetch quest, isn't it? But still, we are adventurers, and that, it seems, is what we do.

However, it turns out that Ulgoth's Beard is no longer quite the sleepy and peaceful village it once appeared. As soon as we arrive, we are greeted by a rather rude group of cultists, demanding that I hand over the dagger I just spent days clearing Durlag's death trap of a tower for.

Upon consulting the rest of the team, our decision is unanimous.

For some reason, the ruffians take offense to this, and Oberon gets stabbed in the face. HOW RUDE.


"After a Greater Malison and an Emotion, most of them just wanted to lie down and listen to Simple Plan."

Somehow, the hooligans manage to steal the dagger from me regardless of my obvious martial superiority, and at the inn, Hurgan tells us that they intend to perform a ritual to summon the demon Aec'Letec back into the Prime Material. Whoa.

We have killed Ogre Magi. We have killed Wyverns. We have stared down hordes of enemies and emerged victorious. We even faced a Demon Knight and made it feel like a redheaded stepchild, but today - today is the day we truly shine. In one glorious moment, for good or ill, we will have fought a Greater Tanar'ri, a demon of the Abyss.


"Nothing shows the enemy you mean business like some fart-gas on their porch."

We're about to enter the house when my party members suggest we should rest before assaulting the house itself. They say they're too fatigued to fight effectively. I say they're just pansies, but we agree to prepare for the assault at the inn for a few hours before going in - I suppose these things need to be done right.

After the rest, we abandon all sense of frugality and dive into the good old potion bag. Potions of Speed for everyone, Potions of Freedom, Heroism, Cloud Giant Strength, you name it. Spirit Armors are cast on those who need them, as is Protection From Evil, several Shield spells, and so on. After a few rounds, we are doped enough to warrant a lifetime ban to any sporting event in the realms.

We go in, and the rest is history.

The mage running the show falls to Arrows of Dispelling as soon as she finishes her ominous speech.


"You will all di... oh, NO FAIR!"

You can see Edwin and Viconia positioning to summon skeletons and hobgoblins between Aec'Letec and Kagain, which they do shortly after the screenshot. The uppermost cultist falls quickly to Kagain and Coran, after which the two elven archers nuke the living daylights out of the lower right corner with a few Arrows of Detonation.

In no time at all, the room has been cleared of cultists, and the only losses we have suffered are a few hobgoblins.

Now it's just us - six adventurers between levels eight and ten - and a a creature of incarnate evil. Whatever else, this is sure to be a battle for the ages. We brace ourselves for what is to come, we gather our wits, our swords, our spells, and...

...

...

...Well, that was a bit of an anticlimax.

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 28 février 2011 - 07:34 .

[Grond0]

Have now done a reinstallation with the following mods:
CharmPatch
BG2 Fixpack
BGT
The Secret of Bone Hill
BG1 Mini-quests and encounters
BG1 NPC Project
Gavin
BG1 UB
BGT Tweak Pack
Gavin BG2
BG2 UB
SCS
Solaufein
G3 anniversary
SCS II
Item Pack
aTweaks
Worldmap
L1 NPCs
Widescreen Mod
Generalised Biffing
Actually, did it twice as the game initially crashed.  Eventually tracked down the problem to Level1 NPCs, which does not appear to correctly implement monks.

Now started a new game with a solo sorceror (which makes some of the mods redundant for now, but I'm planning ahead).  The run nearly came to a grinding halt at Candlekeep, when I forgot that the reinstallation meant no autopause on sighting an enemy - fortunately Felice's wounds were not fatal.  Here are her starting stats -  I did my best to avoid the bad habit of optimisation, but failed again I'm afraid!


Risked a brief trip up to the Friendly Arm to pick up a handy ring for a sorceror, but left Tarnesh for now.  Then, after dealing with a renegade ogre, it was back down to Beregost.  Some easy experience there gave Felice a level and got her HP into double figures.  At the inn calmed down a potential opponent before attempting to purloin a cloak.  Unfortunately the cloak's owner ran downstairs and Felice had to pop up and down trying to shoot him without spending more than a second or so in the room (or everyone there would go hostile).  Eventually she succeeded, but the death blow only actually took effect after Algernon had already gone upstairs.  Not sure if this was the reason, but Algernon had apparently stashed his cloak somewhere on the staircase - oh well I wasn't really expecting to make much use of it anyway.

[Wierdo]

Gorthaur X wrote...
"...Well, that was a bit of an anticlimax."

I don't know about that! In fact, that was a mighty fine backstab by Coran on the demon - worthy of raising him one more time I guess    I bet that he will get lots of pub stories out of that one! "Oh brave Coran, tell us again how you single-handedly defeated the powerful demon ...."

Modifié par Wierdo, 28 février 2011 - 12:17 .

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

The adventure continues ....

Cloakwood Mines

Wierdo's party moved invisibily into the fort, ignoring the surrounding areas for now. They then encountered the Cloakwood fort's bandit defenders who proved unfit for the challenge.


"Aha! Detect Invisibility reveals a second mage, equally willing to die ..."

The party moved through level 1 of the mines invisibly, although Wierdo could not help herself and backstabbed a few of the foolish guards. They got to Level 2 of the mines invisibly, but met some serious resistance there. Lots of guards and a mage.

After overcoming the first few guards, a nicely placed Stinking Cloud and some skeletons (immune to the cloud) made it easy to contain the guards and their resident mage (Hariesan).


"This plan stinks!"

Unfortunately, the cloud's area of effect managed to include Wierdo, so she was overcome by the fumes. Not to worry though, her friends helped out while she was coughing her guts up.

After that it was just a melee with guards punctuated by ice arrows from the Black Talon Elites. A beautiful backstab from Wierdo and a Bolt of Biting from Annakin made short work of them.


"Argh! My clavin!"

One of the guards wanted to live and told us everything he knew - which wasn't much. However, we let him go without stabbing him in the back (although he probably deserved it). There is some honour among thieves after all.

Pity for the pitiful is Wierdo's true curse and part of the fight constantly being waged inside her lately. What has not occurred to her yet is that it might be her blessing. Her pity and compassion for the innocent - and sometimes the weak or unwise - might just be the light she needs to guide her own soul through the troubled times ahead.

Modifié par Wierdo, 10 avril 2011 - 09:27 .

[Bhryaen]

Andrizztyl, DAY 11: "The Trouble of Increasing Numbers" or "The Dwarfing of a Drow"
When last the Andrizztyl Saga was unfolding, the Duo had gone to the Beregost Temple area... Having reduced several creatures to vulture food, they happened upon a Priest of Lathander who seemed very willing to join up with them and become a part of the merry band that they were... but they left him... and went back to the crossroads whence they'd passed en route to Beregost those miserably trepidatious first days out of Candlekeep (when Imoen left without a single weapon!). On the way, however, there was an unpleasant reminder of alternate realities...


Andrizztyl: "At least there's no ogre mage with them..."

Once safely arrived, a change seemed to sweep over the Lvl 3 bard that made the Lvl 1/ 2 drow pale in comparison. With her crossbow in hand, Imoen the Quick Bard quickly caught up to Andrizztyl's kill record with wolves, gibberlings, and little screeching blue men falling to her bolts... while only a scant few composite bow shots even found their mark.


Imoen: "Are you gonna tell me a story about trollops and plugtails?"
Andrizztyl: *shaking his head incredulously* "Great... I'm being punked by a child..."

So while scouting Andrizztyl decided to fell a local Golliath on his own... which proves a tad more difficult when his single Blindness spell fails...

Andrizztyl: "Just stay back! I got this one...!"
Imoen: "But it'll go much faster if you just let me-"
Andrizztyl: "I don't care if you can shoot him right between the eyes. Go play with dolls or your lute or something!"

And the title belt went to the victor... Also in the area they happened upon some sort of hunter... who was nice enough to give the two pickpockets his bow and everything else they could grab... and they happened to notice a rock with a secret crevasse that seemed destined to yield a mighty magical treasure... which yielded a gold ring... Then they returned to the wilderness where Gorion had been slain (while trying to stab a high-level fighter with a dagger) and they happened to notice a tree with a secret crevasse that seemed destined to yield a... zircon gem... And they were sullen over the hard times... for it was annoying enough to recognize rather well past too late that when they'd left the area days ago they'd forgotten to loot the more expensive gems from the ogres Gorion had managed to slay. But at least the looters had left Gorion's irrelevant letter...

A few bears and wolves later, the Duo headed back to the Temple to make it a Trio. However, traveling from that area brought a rather showstopping shock as not one... not two... but THREE giant spiders suddenly surrounded them. ["Well, yet another short run...NEXT!"] It looked like that was pretty much it as two of the spiders launched spider web splashes, one for each mobile sack of blood...

But no! Tymora wasn't done with them quite yet!

Imoen had left Candlekeep with a Potion of Speed (so at least she thought to bring something), and fortunately for the Duo an evil halfling had given Andrizztyl one as well, so they hastily swallowed them and ran in different directions. Somehow the web ball tossed at Andrizztyl was too slow and exploded behind him as he ran north and then sharply west. The one against Imoen, however, caught her as she went the distance west, but she eluded the sticky fibers and ran north. Before leaving they took a defiant (but no less ineffectual) shot at their arachnid pursuers...


Imoen: "Take that, ya overgrown Donglebongers!"
Andrizztyl: "Dongle...? *clears throat* We shall spite them all the better with a successful escape..."

And thus they formed the Trio with Gavin. Their first task- after equipping the so-called "elderly" 20-something Priest of Lathander with some rather mangled Flaming Fist plate- was to remove a meddlesome mercenery from the entrance of a central Beregost Inn. Andrizztyl snuck in and readied himself on the far side of the room with a Blindness spell while Gavin positioned himself in a side corner while in a Sanctuary spell, Imoen staying by the door out of sight. The plan was to cast Blindness, but Gavin took it upon himself to start the fight with a sling stone... [Scripts/ click:*none*] So Andrizztyl cast a bit late... and the spell failed during casting ["Huh?"] while not wearing armor, nor even sporting his buckler... *fizzle* Fortunately Gavin's Hold Person did freeze the surly dwarf in time and the three made short work of him, Gavin and Imoen making "Must have cast it on himself" type of jibes... Andrizztyl kept shaking his head, hoping this was not a sign of things to come with his spellcasting...

Off the Trio went south to procure a certain set of boots from hobgoblins in order to make a certain drow feel more useful. After what seemed a dangerous encounter with blue circles in a cave, the Trio skirted the loving couple along the road (they were necking, didn't want to interrupt) and ventured further south to collect even more hobgob bastard swords, and since they were in the area, they headed south to Nashkell. On the way, however, a Lord Foreshadow gave Andrizztyl a peculiar ring in case our protagonist were to "fall in love with a companion." [Never seen that before...] The Trio exchanged glances and concluded it would probably bring in a decent exchange rate when properly identified...

Arriving safely in Nashkell they decided to just let loose and feel at home, so the two cutpurses cutpursed the town's guardmaster, babysat children who were even younger than Imoen, chatted with chatty locals, and found a strange hole in a farm field that appeared to hold something very valuable and magical... and had a broken sword and pearl in it. They took the pearl... and for good measure they went off to the Nashkell Carnival to establish their Carnival Stash point. Loaded with hobgob bastard swords, it seemed this might be a good time to sell them to some weapon-buying magic salesman. Intending on the High Hedge, they first returned to Nashkell...

Now, as everyone knows the road from the Nashkell Carnival to the town of Nashkell is long, wild, and treacherous, and thus it came as no surprise when the Trio suddenly  found themselves once again in the middle of three giant spiders...And this time no Speed potions... ["Now that's the bitter end... NEXT!"

But...

Inexplicably... without explication... and disturbingly thankfully... these SCS-equipped monstrosities... whether by Tymora's Hand or some spider bug or simply because the members of this Trio are on a mission from Bhaal... did not toss a single exploding web ball at anyone. Not three, not two, not one. Just followed... solemnly... like ushers carrying a coffin behind them. The Trio literally and quite simply walked right out of there as casually as any Trio might that wonders just how often this kind of thing is going to happen when traveling... [And that miraculous 20 meter walk to the screen edge was a ScrnShot I sorely wish I'd taken...]
Andrizzt: "Just keep walking... Pretend they're not there... If you don't look at them they won't get an itchy trigger claw..."

And they made it. As they entered Nashkell, Gavin bid hello to a local fellow they were passing... who, as if to punctuate the gravity of the previous moment, immediately became engulfed in a display of the gods' will...


Imoen: *turns to Gavin accusingly* "Did you do that?!"
Gavin: "I believe you're confusing me with druids, my dear. Would you like to chat about that for a while? Let's see if I know anything about druids we can discuss in more detail.."
Imoen: "Oh, nevermind. Now if the story was about trollops and plugtails..."
Andrizztyl: *oblivious to both the banter and the lightning bolt and still shaking his head in incredulity at the fact that they're still alive at that moment* "They just... didn't kill us... No strategy... just... somehow..."

[And now I start wondering if my complaints about instakill spiders and wyverns in another thread have incensed my game against me... Might be about time to invest in a particular Familiar...]

And with backpacks somehow stuffed with bastard swords- having collected enough for a full sale- they headed back north to get full price at the High Hedge, cringing with every moment of travel... Arriving without incident at the High Hedge, there they met and did battle with a handful or so of skeletal nuisances- serious nuisances. And the brave Gavin with his nuisance-smashing hammer demonstrated what utter futility as a tank looks like by literally and without exaggeration swinging over 100 times to kill fully 6 such nuisances. Fortunately Tymora was also playing havoc on the skeletons because they tossed their knives and swung their swords at his -1AC without more than 3 hits during those many, many, incredibly many ineffectual rounds. [I began to root for the skeletons! Actually this was the first time anyone had taken damage during the entire game other than that 1HP shot from the "armored figure's" girlfriend against Andrizztyl.] It got so bad with miss after miss- even with Imoen's lute-playing (or because of it?)- that Andrizztyl began to shoot them with 1 dam arrows just to speed up matters somewhat.

Andrizztyl: *to Gavin* "Perhaps it was to you that my Blindness went in Beregost, o' great athlete of Lathander..."
Gavin: "Just getting my second wind... You know how weary us late 20-yr-olds can get with exertion!"
Imoen: *sings* "... And the Bufflehead swung, but again his blows hung, on misses that were compilin'...
So he tried yet once more, but he just couldn't score, and the skeletons, I swear they be smilin'..."
Andrizztyl: "Gavin, PLEASE just hit them!"

But at last they sold their bastards to a pissant town wizard and collected the skeletons' large shields. Outside the quaint shopping mall (plenty of golem shoppers too, must be a sale on golem parts) the Trio met up with an elven ranger who had an arrowhead to grind with ogres. This certainly didn't sound bad, so the Trio became a... erm... Quattro. And now there were not one, not two, but three members of the party at 3rd level, while the increasingly inconsequential Mage/Thief still lagged behind at 1/2 with 11 HP... After a brief visit to Beregost to equip this new archer with a large shield, they all headed back south to Nashkell to take other matters in hand.

The first battle to whet the whistle of the new archer (well, after a group of hobgoblin ambushers) involved a decision to remove another inn-entrance-blocking mercenery. Andrizztyl at first was going to sneak in and backstab, but she didn't look hostile... so that meant he had to talk first... which he did... and then... playing it safe instead of relying on potentially faulty stealthing... fired once and ran... The plan was to lure her straight into Gavin's Hold Person to give her a taste of her own medicine... but a bit late it was discovered that his last Hold was used up on some hobgob or such up north. So he tried a Command... and failed. Then Neira promptly tried her own Hold Person on Kivan who was in the alleyway... and succeeded. (So much for a whetted whistle...)

And then the guard joined in, hoping to cash in on some merc XP themselves, (well, at least they're more help than a Morninglord... no offense intended, Gavin,) but we managed to get the killing shot in anyway. Alas it was a moment too late because with her dying breath Neira had summoned... *sigh* nuisances... and they didn't just disappear with her death. And perhaps because it was Imoen who had delivered Neira to the realm from whence cameth her skeletons, these nuisances targetted Imoen and just wouldn't stop chasing her no matter how long it took and how skillfully the quick bard wove through other party members and town guards. Fortunately Kivan came out of his Hold to deliver a 10HP arrow crit that put us all out of that misery because Gavin's Spiritual Hammer had just expired by then and he wasn't about to catch up to the nuisance or sling it to death. The other nuisance had run off due to Gavin's Turn Nuisance ability.


Andrizztyl: "Hey, Imoen, maybe another song will scare it away from you?"
Imoen: "Not funny, Bufflehead!"

And then they went south to the mines. Did I mention that the mayor of Nashkell asked them to days ago? Anyway they arrived only to be greeted by an axe-wielding dwarf who did not introduce himself but yet got his name in the party's journal as a merc. [Didn't remember this guy...] Seeing this as a grand opportunity to redeem his Blindness casting failure in the Beregost inn, Andrizztyl once again launched into the spell while others attacked and distracted... and once again the spellcasting failed without apparent reason... (Andrizztyl to self: "What is it with trying to cast Blindness on dwarves?") [self to self: "Please don't make me reinstall again!"] While party members took turns running Zargos in convenient circles, it was Gavin himself who landed the killing blow with another Spiritual Hammer, but it was not quite enough to redeem himself either for his poor tanking skills...

[Nevertheless at long, long last the lagggging Mage/ Thief levels up to 2/3 and is at the marginally more sustainable 18HP. Imoen too levels up to 4th level and gains a halberd proficiency for some reason (which would become fortuituous later), but as a result of having never located an INT-raising potion, still has only her 8-hour Mage Armor to cast... twice...] After tossing the dwarf's magic axe to Kivan (for now) and collecting a cold blue wand that they just couldn't identify (at least some mysterious holes remain filled!), they all retired to a wardog kennel to rest, recuperate spells, and recover from dog bites.

Venturing south the Quattro discovered a battalion of kobolds... and later another battalion joined by... xvarts? The initial onset of battle found Gavin attempting to Hold a group of them while still clustered... but managing only one... single... kobold...


*everyone exchanging glances*
Gavin: "Because I could, that's why!"

And with the field at last full of dead kobolds just begging to be looted (before getting too smelly), that was when Gavin decided to chat with Andrizztyl about philosophy and life... As good a time as any... That fight had involved every one of the Quattro doing their own dodging, weaving, and ranging, all in turn, and, despite some poor coordination at times, all without injury, most importantly without injury by the kobold guards among the battalions sporting their poison daggers. The second fight let Andrizztyl lure them around some trees to the north repeatedly, so the others didn't have to scramble so much, only the most crucial character... Fortunately the kobolds had neglected to include archers in their ranks...


Andrizztyl: "INCOMING!"
Imoen: "But you already brought xvarts. Enough already!"

Once all the kobolds and xvarts were dispatched, the Pair o' Pickpockets happened upon a small gnomish mage who yielded up a number of useful protection spell scrolls... oh, and was running from a much smaller battalion of yet more kobolds...

And at last they discovered an artist with a bounty on his head. Both Imoen and Gavin spoke up in his defense- Kivan remaining the stoic ranger- and that swayed the virtuous Andrizztyl... Besides, he could use a magic longsword... So he bid Imoen tell the stone-carving social deviant that the Quattro would indeed defend him... And sure enough here comes the reknowned bounty hunter Greywolf, and Andrizztyl is about to just toss away his tainted-iron longsword right now, but... huh? What is he sporting? A magic halberd??


["Wait, I didn't install Item Randomizer this time! You mean Hard Times replaces it??"]
Andrizztyl: "Looks like you'll have use for that halberd proficiency after all, Imoen..."

And the fight begins... and maybe it was frustration due to being cheated of an anticipated magic backstabber, or maybe it was the level up, or maybe it was Tymora playing her usual cat-and-mouse, but before Greywolf could take more than 20 paces, Andrizztyl actually successfully launches a Blindness spell this time... and it works! Alas Greywolf is not like giant rats that stand still stoically when Blinded, and the bounty-hunter-become-bounty-prey takes off into the hillside, running clear across the map, and often eluding the Quattro in their jumbling together as they attempt to pursue. ["Yes... good decision to take out the kobolds first..."] But eventually he is felled... by Kivan... and now everyone's greatest kill is a famous adversary... except the lagging drow who is credited only for his Beregost spider... and with Imoen already at 2nd level mage spells, Gavin casting day-saving Hold Persons, and Kivan's archery now putting him in second place for bowmanship...


Andrizztyl: "Look, I'm just getting the hang of these spells. You know Gorion wasn't a brilliant teacher, Imoen. He couldn't even cast better than a couple Lightning Bolts against that eye-glowing human."
Imoen: "Well, that instakill spell he put on the evil lady might've been nice for you to know..."
Kivan: "Do you need a few pointers with the bow?"
Gavin: "You'll be more helpful at some point, surely. We still need a scout."
Kivan: "Well, uh... not to intrude, but... I could always do the scouting myself frankly, if you just give me those nice boots..."
Gavin: "Hm, true." *turns to Andrizztyl consolingly* "How are your lockpicking abilities coming along?"
Andrizztyl: *tosses Greywolf's magic halberd to Imoen* "Don't... mock... Drizzt... It is entirely unsociable..."

Andrizztyl:                 Imoen:                         Gavin:                         Kivan:
MAGE 2/ THF 3          BARD 4                           PRIESToLATH 3        ARCHER 3
STR 18, DEX 19        STR 12, DEX 18            STR 16, DEX 12         STR 18/12, DEX 19        
CON 16, INT 18         CON 16, INT 14            CON 16, INT 12          CON 11, INT 12        
WIS 10, CHA 8           WIS 11, CHA 17(9)       WIS 17, CHA 12         WIS 15, CHA 8
HP 18;  TK 65             HP 32; TK 58                 HP 32; TK 12              HP 30; TK 47              
Huge Spider               Neira                               Zargos Flintblade      Greywolf
Bow & arrows            Crossbow & bolts         Warhammer               Bow & arrows

Modifié par Bhryaen, 01 mars 2011 - 04:29 .