16405 réponses à ce sujet

[Grond0]

The Fred wrote...

Unlucky, Grond.

Thanks for the sympathy, although as hinted in my post I think doom came more as a result of an absence of thought rather than luck!

I've restarted with a monk (called Trapp, partly in homage to the previous character's demise).  Although I've soloed a monk through BG1 a couple of times, it's a long while since I've had one in a BG1 party, so thought that might be interesting.   I'm also intending to use characters that are not part of my normal repertoire to complement Imoen and Trapp.

Thus far have mainly concentrated on the axis from Friendly Arm to Nashkel and recruited Kivan and Tiax in the process.  Trapp is just approaching level 4:

It's been an almost trouble-free trip thus far; the only slight moment of concern was being ambushed by bandits:

With his friends to support him Trapp was damned if he would run from them, even when some kobold supporters immediately joined the fray.  Tiax couldn't take the heat and Imoen was suffering, but the battle was virtually won when some hobgoblins arrived to bolster the attackers.  Fortunately only one of them had remembered his bow and he was quickly despatched.

[Bhryaen]

Andrizztyl, Day 23: "Getting Around to Rescue"
[I neglected to mention that just after rescuing Imoen and reaching the High Hedge, I found that I was unable to save the game due to the "cannot save at this time" message. It is entirely likely that some dialogue began in that travel area which couldn't be completed. I tried leaving the area, but it didn't seem to create an auto-save either, and I couldn't rest from an inn or even at the Carnival. I was in some fluster because not saving would negate having rescued Imoen! But then I used SK to examine the Auto-save game, and apparently it had saved just fine even though it hadn't reported it. On restarting the game it's been working ok...]

Having rescued Imoen, recruited Kivan, and finished their final preparations, the Quintro++ at last set off for the supposed "gnoll stronghold" mentioned by Minsc. Departing from the Carnival, they only got as far as the exact area just west of the Nashkell mines where Andrizztyl had lost Imoen: waylaid by yet another higher level travel spawn. [Clearly the broken travel spawn assignment issue is going to remain a serious threat throughout the game...] This time they came upon an ambush that was not in a barren, rocky, debris-covered flatland but instead a lush, grassy plain with a variety of trees, deciduous and coniferous... (peculiar how the topography directly west of the Nashkell Mines varies so...) and four waiting ettercaps. There was a notion that crossed their minds to take them out, but when Gavin's Hold and Andrizztyl's Blind were shrugged off, and Minsc's -5AC got him hit thrice in two rounds, this was seen as a sign to vacate. Alas there was a trap to the northwest... since the ettercaps had put a large red "X" there... *ahem*... so the Quintro++ had to make it southeast through the ettercaps in order to get to freedom. Gavin distracted another ettercap (and with -1AC apparently Lathander lent his cleric a hand,) and Rabbit darted south to lead the fourth ettercap on a wild rabbit chase. That created an opening through the middle of the engaged three, so Imoen, Kivan, and Andrizztyl snuck through, and then Rabbit swung up to meet them as Gavin and Minsc broke off and joined the others. A well-orchestrated escape... but not exactly a victory... [Went a little overboard on the pointers... looks like a sports strategy chart...]

And they arrived at a grassy area far to the southwest... full of xvarts, not gnolls... Not a gnoll in sight, in fact, but Andrizztyl had some fun with exploding xvart innards, and they nabbed a not-so-significant treasure hoard from a cave bear.

When they decided to try a vista from the western side of the boulder-strewn terrain, they met up with an overeager potion dealer who wouldn't stop chasing until someone heard his sales pitch. Minsc told a joke to the man about being robbers, but he seemed to take it seriously, so the Quintro++ ended up in combat. This merchant was no xvart, however- exploding or otherwise... He immediately Slowed most everyone, while all Andrizztyl's, Imoen's, and Gavin's spells kept dissipating off him due to magic resistance. He also wouldn't stand still, so they couldn't engage him in melee (not even when Andrizztyl resorted to sneaking around in stealth trying to backstab him), and his AC was high enough that even Kivan couldn't connect his dots consistently. And... unlike the party at this point... the potion merchant seemed to have an endless supply of Invisibility potions with which to keep dodging the entire Quintro to turn up on the far side of the screen and cast something else at them... Rabbit wasn't sure if he was in danger, so he fled back to the now-deserted xvart village, but fortunately nothing but Slow of the merchant's spells worked on anyone, and ultimately this or that stray arrow, bolt, or axe swing did take him down. Searching him afterward, the party discovered that he had only a couple potions on him, so it was assumed he must have thrown the rest of his bountiful supply into the nearby gorge while invisible...

Minsc led the way to a clearing of sorts from where they could make out in the distance what did indeed appear to be a fortress of some sort. Since gnolls don't tend to build fortresses, Andrizztyl assumed it must have been abandoned at some point by some human occupants many years ago. Still... they hadn't seen any gnolls yet, and it might turn up to be occupied by vampires or troglodytes... or humans... for all they knew, so Andrizztyl remained skeptical...

Arriving at a bridge they encountered half-ogres instead of gnolls... which went down before they could cross their own bridge to the archers. Andrizztyl might have suspected Minsc of trying to set them up, but, well... he wasn't exactly the most cool and calculating of sorts... and his eager exclamations of impending triumph upon arriving at the bridge had seemed earnest enough...

Upon crossing the bridge, however, they suddenly heard a number of spells being cast in the distance, and a thug came out of the shadows to try backstabbing Minsc... Not a good idea: Minsc cleaved him in one hit.

Minsc: "Take that, evil! And Boo hurls bad wishes upon on you too!"

Then things went awry. Minsc rushed a gnome mage that was in front of what appeared to be an armor-clad dwarf, but he did not reach him in time to disrupt the casting of Confusion. The mote reached Minsc's addled mind... and bounced off harmlessly... but traveled back to both Gavin (who was rushing in to assist Minsc) and Andrizztyl (who was stealthing in to backstab whatever mage was out there) and immediately took both of them out of the fight... Well, sort of... Gavin took a Spiritual Hammer swing at Kivan that hit, and then paced about and ended up back on the bridge just gazing off, looking at the sights for the duration. Andrizztyl, on the other hand- armed with his overpowered short sword- paused for a while in the shadows and then suddenly couldn't stop stabbing relentlessly at every party member he came across. Even for Andrizztyl this was strange behavior... Minsc ignored the low-level mage-thief's jabs, and the drow ultimately went away... to attack Kivan, who got stabbed once, but managed to evade him.

Then the drow went after the same person he'd recently been mourning, having sacrificed all the party's available Invisibility potions and a pickpocketed Stone-to-Flesh scroll to save her... and as she fled from him even into the sight of the first gnolls they'd witnessed so far... the nasty sword stabbed and... *ahem*... Held... She didn't make it... Meanwhile Minsc- who had entered a beserker rage- and Kivan finished off the remaining three mystery attackers, and just when Andrizztyl could be useful by attacking the oncoming gnolls instead... the Confusion wore off.

A note on one of the dead spellcaster assassins indicated that Andrizztyl was being hunted here... at the gnoll stronghold... uh, yeah... but while that note had placed a bounty of 450gp on his head, another note on the cleaved assassin mentioned a 250gp bounty. With conflicting bounties like that, it's a wonder they didn't think the bounty a lie...

Disheartened about Imoen while sifting through the overpowered treasures and alotting carriers for the not-quick-enough bard's items, the drow donned the robe of a defeated mage and went exploring by himself up a northward side path. There were a couple more powerful looking gnolls up there, however, so he let the party do its thing and they were ranged to death. Scouting further north he came upon a group of only three slasher gnolls, positioned himself for a backstab that succeeded... and promptly found himself blocked by the gnolls from running back to the party. Instead he tried to run further north, but that way became blocked too as the three gnoll thugs closed in on him. Backing away into the small cliff to the side, he positioned himself to one side where they would all converge on him, and then rapidly circumnavigated them to freedom... The party arrived several seconds later which clearly would've been too late to save him from potentially deadly halberd slasher slashes.

Determined to go on, they plodded immediately up the staircase that led to the gnoll stronghold itself, using Gavin's two skeletons (and Minsc) as the frontline... and the skeletons lasted significantly longer and better than anticipated... Minsc, however... Well, at the top of the stairs they initially discovered a large group of gnolls with a very dangerous looking leaderly type, but Gavin's Hold froze it nicely- as well as the veteran next to it. So things looked fairly gravy. Then another leaderly type with blondish hair (I believe... and actually DH did a good job on crafting these gnolls, even if yet again dumping overpowered items on them) weaved in without the party (or I) noticing... at least not until Minsc suddenly started taking heavy damage. Before Minsc could make a strategic retreat, he was suddenly knocked on his back (but didn't fall down the stairs somehow). In that prone position the gnolls apparently simply couldn't miss him with their overpowered halberds, and despite a rather belated but failed attempt to Blind the leader by Andrizztyl, even a quick healing by Gavin wouldn't prevent the inevitable... Within no more than 2 rounds, they'd lost another party member... The remaining wave of (2) skeletons delayed the gnolls long enough for them to fall to ranged fire, but somewhere under that carnage was yet another set of equipment to lug back to the nearest temple...

The remaining three of the group collected what they could... put Rabbit back in the pack... and, on the off-chance that they might find a container to stash what they couldn't carry- you know, could happen- they decided to explore the area south of the stronghold instead of attempting to take on any more of those hyenas with their barks of "scum!" On the way they met more xvarts... apparently tolerated by the gnolls... but then came across... *ahem*... kobolds... in a xvart area... *ahem* And these weren't your ordinary kobolds... Instead they carried exploding arrows and more than 10X as many fire arrows. Fortunately they simply stood there when encountered and took their pincushioning better than a Blinded merc. Had they used the former type of arrow on the party's remaining three, the party would probably not have had quite that count, though all were uninjured... They also came across a sort of leader kobold also who seemed to be guarding a cave... Ah! So there were kobolds inside! Now it all made sense: a kobold area and a xvart area... And after the leader was taken out by a backstab and archery, Andrizztyl snuck inside the cave... to find... *ahem* regular xvarts... So the kobolds were clearly not inhabitants... and none of it made any sense... But free exploding arrows! *ahem*

And what do you know, the stragglers did find a cave with a large crate in it in which to store what they had to. They circled back once to pick up more items and then rested at the cave... having to fight their way through xvarts to reach the bridge and return to Nashkell... This time Andrizztyl cast Invisibility on Kivan and himself before departing, Gavin able to use Sanctuary, but, predictably enough, this time there was no travel encounter... whatsoever...

A mere 1600gp later *cough*... and down to their last 42gp... the Quintro++ was revivified, but as they finished their stashing at the Carnival and such, a messenger had arrived for... erm, Gavin. Gavin was being summoned back to the Beregost temple to meet with his superior about some urgent business. Smelling some sort of treasure-bearing quest, Andrizztyl immediately agreed to go there at once, leaving Dynaheir to only a day or two more of torture... She was probably dead already anyway...

Arriving at the Temple of Lathander, Andrizztyl was not pleased at the priest's words...


Andrizztyl: *raising his hand impatiently* "Uh... yeah... see, we were on an urgent mission."
Minsc: "Urgent *and* dire...!"
Andrizztyl: "Right? And we were compelled... by circumstances beyond our control... to return to Nashkell, see... but only for a day to recover lost comrades..."
Imoen: "I wasn't *lost*! You killed me!"
Minsc: "Urgent and dire and *important*!"
Andrizztyl: "Not now, please, Imoen..."
Imoen: "With that nasty blade you're so fond of..."
Andrizztyl: "What I'm trying to say is, you can *not* have summoned us away from that sort of mission..."
Minsc: "Important and also *evil-stomping*!"
Andrizztyl: "... just to tell us about this guy Bassilus..."
Keldath: "Bassilus is a dangerous person. Someone needs to deal with him..."
Andrizztyl: "Right, but... we've been hearing about him for weeks now and haven't heard about a single victim..."
Keldath: "There are victims..."
Minsc: "And Boo would like to add 'epic.' Minsc would agree..."
Andrizztyl: "OK, fine... I'll grant you that provisionally... though I haven't heard any proof of this..."
Keldath: "There is plenty of proof with the families of-"
Andrizztyl: "Whatever. There's also someone who Minsc knows being tortured right at this minute by some fairly vicious creatures..."
Minsc: "No! Minsc cannot stand to hear this!"
Andrizztyl: "See? So why bring us up here days out of our way just to tell us something we already knew from the Beregost town crier?"
Keldath: *looks at Gavin*
Gavin: *shrugs with a sheepish grin*
Keldath: *to Andrizztyl* "Do you know for sure that this person is being tortured? On the word of... well, surely a competant fighter..."
Andrizztyl: "Uh... well..."
Minsc: "No more! We must make the evil pay with their lives!"
Kivan: "Don't worry, Minsc. We'll save her..."
Keldath: "Or even exists...?"
Kivan: "Or at least destroy a stronghold of ogre-allies trying..."
Andrizztyl: "But that's not the point..."
Imoen: "She exists. She exists or Minsc wouldn't be so upset right now!"
Minsc: "Dynaheir must be alive!"
Andrizztyl: "I just don't see why you'd send a special messenger to tell us something that's common knowledge..."
Minsc: "And we will save her!"
Keldath: "That dangerous man still lurks out there somewhere, offending Lathander..."
Gavin: "You're right, sir..."
Keldath: "... and doing evil..."
Minsc: "Evil? What? What evil?"
Gavin: "Couldn't have said it better myself..."
Andrizztyl: "I mean, first you wouldn't even take the wyvern head..."
Keldath: "Oh... not this again..."
Rabbit: "Come on, you gotta let me out to see this..."
Andrizztyl: "And you know perfectly well you're going to want it... With the price you'll pay for it, you'd better know!"
Minsc: "An evil is lurking out there?!"
Keldath: "Gavin?"
Gavin: "Really, sir. I met them, they seemed like good people, they said they were looking for help to find a friend, seemed well-liked..."
Keldath: "Mm-hm..."
Andrizztyl: "And now you go interrupting our progress for something we knew by walking through the town square..."
Gavin: "I mean, we did find gnolls, sir."
Keldath: "You did..."
Imoen: "Yeah!... I mean I saw a few..."
Rabbit: "It only takes a second to let me out..."
Minsc: "We will defeat this lurking evil you speak of!"
Gavin: "There were more than a few... Really, sir."
Minsc: "And the evil will no longer be able to lurk..."
Andrizztyl: "And you know full well how bloody dangerous the roads are..."
Keldath: "You're going to take care of this Bassilus though, are you not?"
Minsc: "The evil, lurking Bassilisk will be smited by our merciless goodness!"
Andrizztyl: "We could've all been eaten by webslinging giant spiders just by coming north from Nashkell to see you..."
Gavin: "We'll get right on it, sir. I swear. Don't worry..."
Andrizztyl: "... all of us, including your boy here..."
Imoen: "Or we could get stabbed by Andrizztyl..."
Keldath: "Well, I certainly hope you'll get on it immediately..."
Rabbit: "Come on, I'm missing it!"
Keldath: "You know how important this is to our order..."
Andrizztyl: "And saving Dynaheir isn't important to Minsc here?"
Minsc: "No, no, I mentioned 'important' already..."
Gavin: "Uh, yes, sir... So let's be on our way, everyone...?"
Kivan: "About time..." *groans*
Imoen: "Yeah, let's go. Bufflehead can stay and argue if he wants..."
Andrizztyl: "I have no interest in wasting another second at this temple..."
Rabbit: "Oh, come on, I missed it?"
Imoen: "Safer for the rest of us if he just stays here anyway..."
Gavin: "OK... so the exit is this way, guys..."
Minsc: *lumbers out eagerly toward his destiny*
Imoen: "Who are you callin' 'guys?'"
Kivan: *exits while rubbing his temples*
Gavin: "Guys and girls, indeed, my dear..."
Imoen: "That's better...* *grins and exits*
Keldath: "Don't forget about Bassilus!"
Gavin: "Of course, sir..."
Andrizztyl: "And you don't forget about the wyvern head!" *exits to get the last word*
Keldath: "And these are your new companions?"
Gavin: "It's been a trying time for them lately... Sorry, sir... You just have to get to know them..." *rushes out to keep up*
Sirine: "And to think I gave up a life on the beach for this..."

Andrizztyl:               Imoen:                   Gavin:                       Kivan:                      Minsc:
MAGE 4/ THF 5        BARD 5                     PRIESToLATH 5        ARCHER 5                   BERSERKER 5
STR 18, DEX 19      STR 12, DEX 18      STR 16, DEX 12         STR 18/12, DEX 19    STR18/93, DEX 16    
CON 16, INT 18       CON 16, INT 15      CON 16, INT 12          CON 11, INT 12           CON 16, INT 8
WIS 10, CHA 9         WIS 11, CHA 16      WIS 17, CHA 12         WIS 15, CHA 8             WIS 6, CHA 9
HP 44;  TK 245         HP 40; TK 134        HP 52; TK 11              HP 50; TK 100              HP 60, TK 35
Vampiric Wolf           Greywolf                   Gnoll Elite Warrior     Gnoll Clan Leader       Borda                 
Short sword (?)        Crossbow                Sling                             Bow & arrows              Battleaxe

Modifié par Bhryaen, 11 mars 2011 - 07:21 .

[Gorthaur X]

R.I.P. Oberon. You were a Bhaalspawn like few other.

I'll be starting a new game, this time with an evil character. Let's see if I have the heart to play him that way. Enter Thaddeus C. Murderknife:


"Why is he not a gnome? Because I am irrationally prejudiced against small people."

Already he has abused the trust of his fellow man by plundering Winthorp's inn. The old fool gave 1000 gp for a star sapphire that belonged to one of his guests. Ha ha!

(I'll be tweaking my modlist before properly starting the game. SCS, at least, seems to have been updated recently.)

[Grond0]

Sorry to hear about Oberon's exit - he can turn in his grave with Trapp.  I had been finding progress generally rather too easy, so started setting game challenges.  Taking on Borda's not much of a risk with a full party, but with only 4 in a low-level group there is a definite chance all will be separately held or slept - but this time only 2 were and Borda gave up his hoard of magic.  Next up was the gibberlings ambush facilitated by Laurel.  After triggering this Trapp sprinted onto the nearby bridge and got busy kicking gibberling ass.  Meanwhile the rest of the party did their best to keep one end of the bridge clear.  Trapp actually performed amazingly well in this test - here he is with his victims lining up.


The party worked their way through the kobold infested mines and Tiax let his ghast out of his pocket dimension for the only time in the game in the confrontation with Mulahey - the ghast performed well.  Trapp then recruited Xan, who I had forgotten I had set up as a wild mage - but took him anyway.  His first attempt at a spell was during the ambush by Nimbul and produced a wild surge - hey this wild mage lark is magic I thought.  After that I looked at the manual and gulped at how lucky I'd been not to be incinerated by the surge.

The next challenge was less self-inflicted as we were ambushed by giant spiders on the way to the bandit camp.  No freedom enhancers, but Imoen used a sleep scroll to take one out and Xan used a colour spray scroll on another.

The final one was quickly killed, but unfortunately not before poisoning Tiax.  As he was the only character that could remove poison he succumbed before the web dissolved.  Headed for the nearest temple and saw with gratitude the looming towers of the Friendly Arm - safe at last.  Or would have been if Molkar and his merry crew had not turned up.  Faced with the choice or run or fight they chose to fight.  Trapp was charmed fairly early on, but fortunately just stood around gormlessly rather than punching his erstwhile friends.  The rest of the team put in a good performance stringing out the combat and by the time the last of them fell Trapp was back in action.  Although still blinded he felt reasonably confident that all the dangerous spells had been used up and that he could take them in time.  Oh the reckless confidence of youth!.  He saw (well felt some strange distortions in the ether) a rigid thinking coming and opted to risk it rather than skip off the edge of the map.  A round or two later and his skipping days were done for good.

I think it's time to take a little break from BG and try something different until my appetite for the no-reload challenge comes back - which I'm sure it will.  In the meantime best of luck to everyone.

[Bhryaen]

Grond0 wrote...
I think it's time to take a little break from BG and try something different until my appetite for the no-reload challenge comes back - which I'm sure it will[smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/grin.png[/smilie]

Molkar seems to be the bane of your runs... But that gibberling picture is way too funny to go now! Have fun with whatever you're doing though!

You and Gorthaur X seem to have found some really good custom portraits... Trapp's was quite good. I couldn't find anything other than a large but fairly repeated stock through the plethora of pages listed at the main BG sites.

Gorthaur X wrote...
I'll be starting a new game, this time with an evil character. Let's see if I have the heart to play him that way.

Or have the heartlessness, as the case may be.  As much as I'll make fun of "do-gooders" at times, I don't think I can play evil. I don't want to miss the content from the evil NPCs though so I'm going to SK them into neutrality when I get there... That said, Gate70's evil gnome that was courting Shar-Teel was quite a stitch...

Modifié par Bhryaen, 10 mars 2011 - 03:29 .

[Gorthaur X]

Heh, yeah. Having already conquered BG1 once, I'm not sure how much I'll be posting, myself. I'll still play, but possibly a bit slower than the last time around.

In any case, here's a list of my current mods. The 3rd Ed. style stats is probably the biggest change; L1NPC also allows priests and druids to put one star in any weapon, though multiclass fighter/druids can now only use druid armour.

Bhryaen, I tend to make my own portraits (with the aid of Google Image Search). The easiest way is to just resize & paste your desired image into an existing portrait file with GIMP or some similar program, and then save it as a new file (with no more than 8 characters in the file name).

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 10 mars 2011 - 04:32 .

[Grond0]

Gorthaur X wrote...
Bhryaen, I tend to make my own portraits (with the aid of Google Image Search). The easiest way is to just resize & paste your desired image into an existing portrait file with GIMP or some similar program, and then save it as a new file (with no more than 8 characters in the file name).

Similar for me.  Once I saw a picture I thought was suitable I R-clicked and saved it as a bmp file and then used the resizing option in photobucket.  My first attempt I was making a picture larger and didn't like the slightly grainy result, but it seemed fine when making it smaller.

[Bhryaen]

Gorthaur X wrote...

Heh, yeah. Having already conquered BG1 once, I'm not sure how much I'll be posting, myself. I'll still play, but possibly a bit slower than the last time around.

I liked Oberon too. I wish he'd had the same success in BG2 because I was looking forward to reading the continuing story...

Gorthaur X wrote...
Bhryaen, I tend to make my own portraits (with the aid of Google Image Search). The easiest way is to just resize & paste your desired image into an existing portrait file with GIMP or some similar program, and then save it as a new file (with no more than 8 characters in the file name).

I've been pretty good at using GIMP since igneous.sponge pointed it out to me, but I haven't known where to look to get good material. I tried Google Image Search for a couple hours tonight but found very few worth saving. (Incidentally I did find Oberon's portrait though.)

On a similar note... Bioware must get rid of these annoying giants who are now stabbing and scowling at my text window...

Modifié par Bhryaen, 11 mars 2011 - 07:54 .

[Gorthaur X]

Thanks! The warm reception to Oberon's silly antics has been flattering, and a good part of the reason I want to try again.

So, I'll get back to posting in time, once I get into the mood to power through the tedious, tedious beginning of BG1: I was just toying around with Thaddeus, but managed to get Korax killed by a bear before getting any of the basilisks, and then got my PC killed on purpose in a frustrated suicide charge at the big lizards rather than face the prospect of having to slooooooowly whittle them down with arrows.

I suspect I'll reroll Thaddeus as a CG character because the Fairy Dragon's II makes the early parts so much less annoying. I feel that BG1 doesn't really start until you have 50,000 or so exp - up until that point, you're fighting your own crappy abilities more than the enemy.

Don't worry, though, I'll return to the challenge eventually, and I'm fairly certain that I'll make it to BG2 now that I know what to expect. I think a Mage/Thief will be more interesting than a Sorcerer, even, since it allows for a more hands-on approach - as I'm sure you know, since you play one yourself. Particularly in BG2, where a M/T could conceivably equip the Scarlet Ninja-To, Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization, cast Imp. Haste and Black Blade of Disaster to end up with 10 APR without even being a fighter. Oh yes, I'm already seeing myself in ToB with this character.

I think I'll just take a little break to play Dragon Age II and come back with renewed spirits. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue writing at least equally entertaining accounts on my adventures, then!

Modifié par Gorthaur X, 11 mars 2011 - 09:44 .

[Wierdo]

Gorthaur X wrote...

I'll be starting a new game, this time with an evil character. Let's see if I have the heart to play him that way. Enter Thaddeus C. Murderknife:


"Why is he not a gnome? Because I am irrationally prejudiced against small people."

Wierdo the Bhaalspawn CG gnome illusionist/thief Level 8/8 wrote ...

"Hmmmm. So just what is your irrational prejudice against small folk? Did a gnome backstab your wuzzy elf in the butt or something? Don't take it personally, the goodly gnome probably just mistook your ugly mug for an orc. Poor little elfie welfie."

Ooops! Sorry about that Gorthaur X! My BG character seems to have taken over my computer! I can't stop it! Arrrrrgh! No! Please Wierdo! DON'T hit that "submit" button!

Modifié par Wierdo, 11 mars 2011 - 12:07 .

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Well, I tried but got "Held" and smoked by 2 Ghasts somewhere in the southern portion of the Xvart Village  - overconfidence can yield negative consequences.

My PC is a LG, F (6 lvl), 18/20, 18, 18, 10,10, 19 (Tome of Leadership).

My new rule (so I can keep playing) is:

1) If over half the party is alive when I assume room temperature

2) We have the "money in the bank" to raise me (and any other dead) then we reload, fight it out or depart at once and come back. Once we get back to a priest we raise those that are dead and contribute the amount of money it would have taken to raise me (right now it's 800GP) to the temple.

This assumes the party WOULD have raised me just as I do them when they have a bad day.

This works for me and keeps me from feeling guilty knowing that my character should be six feet (or therabouts) under.

CKT

Modifié par Charlestonian Knight Templar, 11 mars 2011 - 06:42 .

[Bhryaen]

Charlestonian Knight Templar wrote...
Well, I tried but got "Held" and smoked...
My new rule (so I can keep playing) is... We have the "money in the bank" to raise me (and any other dead) then we reload

Not exactly sure what you're saying, but if you mean you're posting for the no reload challenge (here, that is) and have died... but reloaded... then as far as I gather from the rules of this thread ("No Reload Challenge"), you shouldn't be posting here with that PC any longer (unless you start over, of course,) though I don't recall you posting your PC on char start in the first place...

From Page 1...
Rules --
1. No reloading, this one should be obvious. If dies that is it for this challenge. Feel free to enter the Minimal-Reloads Challenge and continue posting your character’s exploits. If a bug or glitch in your game should cause you to have to reload that is acceptable. If, however, an NPC dies (chunked), you have to live with the death and are not allowed to reload.
(Emphasis is mine: your "new rules" should work fine on a "Minimal-Reloads Challenge.")

Grond0's successful char Bene "died" recently to something as otherwise harmless as a Maze spell- which only temporarily imprisons a person anyway. In that case I was and remain tempted to vote for reload since it's absurd to be considered dead from it if other temporary debilitators like Charm, Confusion, and Hold don't in themselves kill the char. But the game interprets it as death, and the rule of the thread says that the "Main Character Has Died" screen means death, so... Grond0 relinquished the game. I've invested a lot in my present character and want him and his entire party to succeed, but if for any reason my main char is killed- even if my main char the only one who even took damage- that would be it. Time to start over... The suspense and care you experience when you have no reload option (whatsoever) present a qualitative difference to a game.

But in your case you did die- slashed to death by ghasts, it seems, right in front of your party. There's no certainty that your NPCs will raise you. Perhaps they all suffered the same fate when their leader fell to overconfidence and party morale went kaput. Perhaps they died from a travel spawn on the way back to a temple. Perhaps they all just disbanded and went their own ways, selling your stuff. How well did you really know them? And how well do they tend to do when put on AI instead of being directed by your pause-intensive orchestrations? You have no control or say at that point. That's why it's game over...

So you can keep playing obviously, but you shouldn't post it here. Those of us suffering the genuine difficulty of not reloading (and thus losing characters we wanted to keep) appreciate this thread for the challenge it poses and, at least from my estimation, aren't entertaining "new rules" as such. If that's what you intended already, then just ignore the rest of what I said.

[Crippled Jack]

Bhryaen wrote...

I've been pretty good at using GIMP since igneous.sponge pointed it out to me, but I haven't known where to look to get good material. I tried Google Image Search for a couple hours tonight but found very few worth saving. (Incidentally I did find Oberon's portrait though.)

http://drakonis.org/

Here, try this site mate. It has some quality portraits.

[Gate70]

The usual solution is to post in a campfire thread. Doesn't look like one is active so you could always start one up again.

(btw as a bhaalspawn there was mention that charname couldn't be raised, although 2 others don't seem to have this restriction).

[The Fred]

I think that you can be raised, but are no longer a bhaalspawn. So, you would lose the game, essentially, even if you were revived after dying - though to be honest, it might be nicer. You could just settle down, have some kids, get a vegetable patch, whatever, really.

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Ulgoth's Beard

As the party invisibly arrived at Ulgoth's Beard, Wierdo noticed a particularly aggressive looking mage dude waiting near the main gate. He seems to be some kind of cultist. He might not be alone.


"Growl ... mutter ... hate bhaalspawn ... kill ... mush ... grind ... mutter ... where is she??

So, Wierdo took her party off to the side, and they all buffed and summoned skeletons before coming back down.

The bad dude noticed Wierdo when she came back (think she tried to hide in shadows/failed, which must have broken the invisibility), and a fight ensued. Seems that the mage did have some friends after all.

Wierdo simultaneously cast Detect Invisibility and Invisibility on herself (using a minor sequencer), which also revealed 3 assassins, a couple of guards and archers. It obviously also made Wierdo invisible, so that she could get in a backstab.


"Here WE are! Now come out, come out, wherever YOU are ..."

The backstabbing was a success. Wierdo scored another tun (cricketing term for scoring 100) on an archer. Imoen also followed suit by scoring a good backstab on an assassin a few moments later.


"Wierdo backstabbing. She is inside the magic light ball (Minor Spell Deflection)."

After that, the rest fell pretty quickly. Now, time for the pub!

Modifié par Wierdo, 12 mars 2011 - 04:30 .

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

This post is slightly out of order - I should have done it before the Ulgoth's Beard one above. Ooops!

Durlag's Tower - Final chapter

The demonknight was relatively easy to kill. The party rested first and entered invisibly, as you would expect. They then surrounded the demonknight yet kept their distance, except for Annakin who was keen for blood (berserk).

Yeslick summoned skeletons, but they were of no practical use. While Annakin wailed upon the demonknight, it threw out a fireball that crispied all the skeletons. Of course, it didn't hurt Annakin who was already at 110% fire resistance.

However, the fireball did hurt Buddha pretty bad. He failed a save and took 69hp damage from the fireball - reducing him to just 19hp. He ran away and quaffed a healing potion. Everyone else had wisely kept their distance, fortunately.


"Demonknight: OMD*! This human with the deadly swords is invulnerable to my fire!

* OMD = "Oh My Demon"

Anyway, the dmeonknight fell pretty quickly. Annakin diod not get hit or hurt. He did most of the damage, although a couple of magic missiles from Xan and Wierdo did manage to penetrate the demon's magic resistance and score some damage as well.

All done, time to gather the loot and go back to Ulgoth's Beard! It is a long journey, so the party might rest along the way at Tanya's house (near the Baldur's Gate City bridge).

Refer to my previous post to find out what happens next in Ulgoth's Beard.

Modifié par Wierdo, 12 mars 2011 - 11:51 .

[Grond0]

Bhryaen wrote...
Grond0's successful char Bene "died" recently to something as otherwise harmless as a Maze spell- which only temporarily imprisons a person anyway. In that case I was and remain tempted to vote for reload since it's absurd to be considered dead from it if other temporary debilitators like Charm, Confusion, and Hold don't in themselves kill the char. But the game interprets it as death, and the rule of the thread says that the "Main Character Has Died" screen means death, so... Grond0 relinquished the game. I've invested a lot in my present character and want him and his entire party to succeed, but if for any reason my main char is killed- even if my main char the only one who even took damage- that would be it. Time to start over... The suspense and care you experience when you have no reload option (whatsoever) present a qualitative difference to a game.

What about a new thread (with apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan):
No reloads.
What, no reloads?
No reloads!!
What, no reloads?
NO RELOADS.
What, no reloads?
Well, hardly any reloads.

By the way charm also ends the game - been there, done that more than once.  That's one reason why the green amulet is so useful in BG1.

[Bhryaen]

Grond0 wrote...
Well, hardly any reloads.

By the way charm also ends the game - been there, done that more than once.  That's one reason why the green amulet is so useful in BG1.

Successfully Charming main chars doesn't instantly end the game though, unlike successfully Mazing them apparently. (Unless you mean something from illithids in BG2 or something...) I've been killed during a Charm before, but actually when I've soloed I've tended to end up merely enduring a Direly long wait for the spell to end while the foe simply relaxes next to me now that I'm "one of them."

Modifié par Bhryaen, 12 mars 2011 - 07:15 .

[Grond0]

Bhryaen wrote...
Successfully Charming main chars doesn't instantly end the game though, unlike successfully Mazing them apparently. (Unless you mean something from illithids in BG2 or something...) I've been killed during a Charm before, but actually when I've soloed I've tended to end up merely enduring a Direly long wait for the spell to end while the foe simply relaxes next to me now that I'm "one of them."

I think that must be the function of one of your mods - though don't ask me to try and track down which one.  In vanilla charming will end the game for a solo character (though not if you have other characters in your party).

[Wierdo]

Grond0 wrote...
In vanilla charming will end the game for a solo character (though not if you have other characters in your party).

Well, that actually makes sense (as distinct from that Maze spell). You would have to assume that the enemies would just attack and kill the charmed charname if they had no more of his/her allies to fight.

Modifié par Wierdo, 12 mars 2011 - 10:27 .

[Deaderinred]

In vanilla charm does not end the game if the main character is charmed, Gond0, you must be thinking of petrification which does end the game unless it's nodded but even then it's buggy.

Charm has never ever instantly ended a game in vanilla, both bg1 and bg2, it would be insane for it to given the amount of times it gets used normally.

[Flamedance]

Deadinred wrote...

In vanilla charm does not end the game if the main character is charmed, Gond0, you must be thinking of petrification which does end the game unless it's nodded but even then it's buggy.

Charm has never ever instantly ended a game in vanilla, both bg1 and bg2, it would be insane for it to given the amount of times it gets used normally.

Grondo is referring to solo games. In vanilla solo, the game ends if you get charmed/dominated.

Modifié par Flamedance, 12 mars 2011 - 10:59 .

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Ulgoth's Beard - The Demon

Wierdo went to Hurgan Stoneblade in the Ulgost Tavern to give him the Soultaker dagger, but then embassasedly found that it had vanished!!

How could this happened? She was looking at it only a few hours ago, after making sure  that no-one was watching, before she put it in a locked and trapped box buried under a pile of soiled clothes in her bag of holding. It must have been those Cultists. Surely these Cultists were not so kinky as to sift through a female gnome's laundry whilst she was backstabbing them?

Or maybe they were? 

Anyway, moving right along, Hurgan told Wierdo all about the cultists and some demon. Looks like this needs a hero! Well, a small and somewhat scared hero. OK, the party has been travelling and just had a big fight - so let's rest and get ready first.

Modifié par Wierdo, 12 mars 2011 - 11:46 .

[Wierdo]

@Grond0:

Thanks for the tip about the Ring of Free Action from Dushai. Wierdo pickpocketed it after the action with the cultists   That will be useful, I am sure!

Modifié par Wierdo, 12 mars 2011 - 11:55 .