16386 réponses à ce sujet

[Blackraven]

@Grond0, yet another successful run through BG1, congrats! Have fun in Amn.
@Jianson, thank you The Archdruid is part of Dark Side of the Sword Coast (DSotSC), which introduces a number of new NPCs and optional quests. The quests are superchallenging (for example Charleston Nib giving you access to a dungeon with vampires). The only problem I have with the mod is that many of the powerful items it offers are very useful in those modquests but overpowered in the traditional quests, which is why I use these items sparingly. I usually pick up a good piece of chainmail which allows for stealth and arcane casting, plus a few nice arcane spells (for example there is one called "Ettins Healing" which allows a mage to regenerate during a short period.
Your Andarthe showdown seems to be similar in difficulty to the one with the Archdruid (and optional ones with other druids in their "grove" in Cloakwood 3, confrontations tha tmy LN warrioress avoided for roleplaying reasons). Did he also give OP items? I recall having donde the Nadarthe quest once or twice, but I almost never have Jahiera along, and can't remember well.
@Grimwald, I could find no such thread (or even subforum) dedicated to your icy and windy game on here

[Grond0]

Have acquired a game similar to this where the weather is much colder. Does anyone know of a thread similar to this one for that game?

I remember looking a couple of years ago without finding a real equivalent.  You could try GOG - http://www.gog.com/f...dale#1394913930 and see if you could help breathe a bit of life into that,

[Blackraven]

@Grimwald: The Baldur's Gate Forums also have a subforum dedicated to challenges and playtrhoughs: http://forum.baldurs...nd-playthroughs

[Jianson]

@Jianson, thank you The Archdruid is part of Dark Side of the Sword Coast (DSotSC), which introduces a number of new NPCs and optional quests. The quests are superchallenging (for example Charleston Nib giving you access to a dungeon with vampires).

I have played DSotSC many years ago (perhaps even before BG2 was released, becuase I do not remember any vampires.) In the version I played, there were a total of 8 NPCs. I remember three tough quests:
- Some undead/spirit encounter on a new map somewhere around Peldvale (in fact, you had to travel through several new maps) Jet'Laya, a level 10 Cleric with some cool items, was the quest NPC. The enemies could only been found at night (although a Detect Evil spell would take note of them).
- A Forest Dragon (looked like wyvern) down by Gibberling Mountains.
- A dwarf NPC named Ferthgill Trollslayer had a quest in a large cave (looked like the big chamber in Candlekeep catacombs) with a ton of opponents that I do not rememeber what they are.
 

The only problem I have with the mod is that many of the powerful items it offers are very useful in those modquests but overpowered in the traditional quests, which is why I use these items sparingly.

The most overpowered item I remember from my playthrough a long time ago was a club for druids, "The Branch of Many Thorns". It was an enchanted club that I think did something like 2d4+2 damage, plus poison damage. It had 4.5 ranged attacks per round! Insane.
 

Your Andarthe showdown seems to be similar in difficulty to the one with the Archdruid (and optional ones with other druids in their "grove" in Cloakwood 3, confrontations tha tmy LN warrioress avoided for roleplaying reasons).

I think it was some unrelated spell tweak I had installed that was responsible for the Bearweres. I could also summon those myself once I knew Animal Summoning II.

The basic NPC Project version of this quest is very well balanced. Andarthe does use Iron Skins, Insect Plague, Call Woodland Beings and Call Lightning (if you "let" him) but his acolytes are not particularly strong. I think it's the most interesting and involved quest in the NPC Project.
 

Did he also give OP items?

I don't think so. Main reward (other than a good chunk of XP) is a +2 Club 'Eye of the Storm' (+25% electrical resistance, Call Lightning 1/day).

[Jianson]

A question: In Durlag's Tower, I decided not to enter the Demonknight's floor but have Islanne's ghost teleport us out at this stage. I thought I could come back later and fight the Demonknight, but I do not get teleported to the chessboard a second time (I know I have been able to in the past). Been in and out of the empty elemental challenge rooms a couple of times each.

I know I can use the console to get us there, but what I want to know is what is generally considered the way it is supposed to work? Am I supposed to just get one shot of the part of the Tower that is from the chessboard and beyond, or am I supposed to be able to return to those areas?

[Grond0]

Going back into any of the elemental rooms should teleport you to the chessboard, although you might need to walk round a bit to find a trigger point.  I think that might be easily bugged though, so if it doesn't work for you then you're probably stuck with the console.

[Serg BlackStrider]

@Jianson: You should be able to return to those areas, yes. Apparently this is a known SCS bug: check this.

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

A question: In Durlag's Tower, I decided not to enter the Demonknight's floor but have Islanne's ghost teleport us out at this stage. I thought I could come back later and fight the Demonknight, but I do not get teleported to the chessboard a second time (I know I have been able to in the past). Been in and out of the empty elemental challenge rooms a couple of times each.

I know I can use the console to get us there, but what I want to know is what is generally considered the way it is supposed to work? Am I supposed to just get one shot of the part of the Tower that is from the chessboard and beyond, or am I supposed to be able to return to those areas?

I always leave & come back, leave & come back over & over to sell loot, heal, buy potions etc.

 

I am always able to get back to the chess board Ice Chamber. CKT

[Grimwald the Wise]

Thanks for the suggestions re other forums. I'm having trouble posting there however. Perhaps a probationary period?

[Grimwald the Wise]

You could always use the CLUA console to get past the chess board a second time since I think it is a bug that doesn't allow you down a second time.

[Gate70]

I often went back from Kaldrons cave when a party member was killed.

 

Wise, I'd be interested in your posts once you find a suitable home for them.

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

@Grimwald: The Baldur's Gate Forums also have a subforum dedicated to challenges and playtrhoughs: http://forum.baldurs...nd-playthroughs

Agree w/Blackraven.  There is a 'catch all' playthrough in the BG Form that SapphireIce started. it's for any of the Forgotten Realms games, I think. I know there are posts there from BGI, BGII & IWD @ a minimum. CKT

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Mordred, a servant & Black Guard of Asmodeus. I led my subordinates to Ulcaster next. It seemed I let down my guard somewhat after such my masterful performance vs. the pack of wolves & Worgs led by Vampiric Wolves @ The Temple of the Morning. When I first arrived, I worked my way thru the ravine, battling a bunch of mindless Zombies & a single skeleton before going up a brick path to the ruins of Ulcaster on a hill.  I thought I’d gotten beyond having to worry about Skeletons & Kobolds w/Bows but I was wrong. When I first crested the hill, I met four Skeletons w/Composite Longbows who popped my Berserker Sergeant twice good before they were killed. This cost me a Potion of Healing to revive him a bit. Then, near the center of the ruins, I ran into a combination of three Ghouls & three Kobold Commando’s & some number of Kobolds, all w/Short Bows. My Berserker Sergeant went flyin’ into the fight, Enraged, & promptly got Held by a Ghoul swipe & was eventually killed.

 

I decided to stay & fight, trying to withdraw a bit to gain space & time. My Conjurer used his Ring of Energy to weaken the oncoming Ghouls. Unfortunately, the Kobolds w/their bows were just aggravating enough to make the fight tough. My Conjurer took a hard hit from an Arrow of Fire & quaffed a Potion of Healing & then kept fighting. My Bard/Herald/Sage cast a Sleep spell from a scroll but it didn’t take out the Commando Kobolds. He then started working on the Ghouls killing one that had already been softened up by my Conjurer. My Illusionist pulled out his sling & started helping wear down the Ghouls. Finally the last of them went down as I worked my way around to try & come up behind the Commando’s in the ruins. I did & I finished them but not before they landed two Arrows of Fire, back to back, on my Conjurer, killing him too. Then I had to divide up their gear so that we could lug it back to Beregost where I was forced to sell my Boots of Stealth & two of my extra sets of Plate Mail to raise them both before reorganizing & heading back.

 

Key Event: On my return I headed immediately back up onto the hill to the Ulcaster ruins to finish my reconnaissance up there before heading back down into the ravines. When I got there, there was an undead warrior who identified himself as Icharyd. He was tough but my subordinates assisted me in destroying a worthy foe. As is my SOP, my Illusionist cast Blindness on him; my Conjurer alternated between Melf’s Acid Arrow & Flame Arrow; my Bard/Herald/Sage cast a Magic Missile before switching to a Poison Arrow from his bow & then normal arrows after landing one of the former. My Berserker Sergeant was responsible for the gaggle of Kobolds that joined in. I cast Doom on Icharyd & then pulled out my Bastard Sword +1 & went toe to toe w/him until he finally went down. A fight worthy of the Blood War. My victory there landed me a Flail +1 so now I have an enchanted slashing weapon & an enchanted crushing weapon w/which I am Specialized or Proficient. Unfortunately, for my bottom line, I had to cash in another set of Plate Mail & a suit of extra Splint Mail to raise my Berserker Sergeant again after the battle. He’d become Enraged & took some hard hits. After the battle, he neglected to take care of himself & quaff a healing potion so when his rage left him, he died.

 

BATTLING ICHARYD THE UNDEAD WARRIOR!

AND THE WINNER IS ASMODEUS' BLACK GUARD!!!

 

On my return, I worked my way around & thru the ravines & destroyed eight Hobgoblin Elite w/Poison Arrows; ~ 16 Hobgoblins, four of them w/Short Bows & Poison Arrows; six Kobold Commando’s & maybe eight of their weaker counterparts; 20 Skeleton’s w/Warhammers & four more w/Composite Longbows & gobs of mindless Zombies.

 

I returned to Beregost & sold off all of the gems & weapons I collected. I’d had high hopes for one Turquoise Gem that my Bard/Herald/Sage had pilfered off another roguish type that approached me wanting to sell the thing to me for 1000gps. The thing was worth 2gps.  It turns out that the Thunderhammer is completely out of Battle Axes & the FAI has nothing @ all of value.  I had to send my Illusionist into Nashkel, using his Invisibility going in & returning. He bought every Battle Axe in the Nashkel Store. 

               

Treasure of Note: Flail +1 (Me)

 

Next Steps: My lord wishes me to descend into the Ulcaster Ruins

 

(Note: I have no rogue w/Thieving Skills so this could get costly. I’d planned on having Montaron here but he left. I plan to get Skie later as part of Eldoth’s plan but am really only in Chpt 2 so I can’t get to her yet. Imoen makes no sense to an Evil Party. If I take too much damage from traps I might go divert & go to the Lighthouse to get Safana but I’m trying to follow the Dudleyville Walkthrough in order soooo…we’ll see)

 

Level Up:  None

 

Current Party: (Reputation: 4 – Despised)

Black Guard of Asmodeus:  Fighter (Blk Gd)/5; Plate Mail w/Lg Shld, +1 B/Swd** & +1 Flail* (SSS**)             

Kagain: Fighter (Bkr)/5; Splint Mail w/B/Axe*** & T/Axe**

Eldoth: Bard/6; Chain Mail, Sh/Bow* & BoArchery, +1 S/Swd*, Dgr* (Arm,MM,ChOrb,Mir Img,Knock)

Edwin: Mage(Cjr/5); Knaves Rove & +1 Q/Staff* (Arm,Greasex2, C/Per,LMD,B/Hands,MelfsAA x3,PWS,F/Arrow x3)

Quayle: Mage(Ill/5); Mage Rove of FR, Slg* & Dgr (Ref Img, Blind x4,Blur,Inv,Mir Img)

 

Mods Used: HardTimes-v2; BG1UB_v12; bg1npc-v20; X0black101 (Blackguard); MegaModKits v1.01L; level1npcs-v1.9; bg2_tweaks-v14; Randomizer-v68; scs-v21 (- Tactical Challenges)

 

Reloads: 0

 

** Self-imposed restriction: I require my mages to ALWAYS select spells from their school to learn & memorize in spell slots. They can use others, only one of each from other schools, but after writing all the spells they can for their intelligence, if they find one from their own school, they have to choose one to remove in deference to the spell from their school. Same w/memorization, they must learn spells from their school first before others which I only allow them to learn one of. Any extra memorized spell slots have to go to spells from their school.  Bards & plain vanilla Mages aren’t restricted in this way. 

[Blackraven]

@Jianson:

- you're right, the vampires arent't part of DSotSC but of Northern Tales of the Sword Coast, which I think is a better mod than DSotSC (in terms of quests, and slightly less exaggerated items). My mistake.
- 4.5 APR on this ranged club is indeed ridiculous.
- I also liked the Jaheira quest (it allows you to prevent bloodshed in the conflict between Aldeth and Seniyad, which I really welcome). I think I never completed the quest though because on of the NPCs you need to talk to refused to show up. The Eye of the Storm club looks powerful enough, but within reason.

FINAL UPDATE ON GRYNNE:

***
With two dead companions, a serious lack of healing potions, and many unidentified items, we deemed it wise to travel back to the 'civilized' world, and made another tour past Mrs. Mirrorshade, Thalantyr and even a wizard or alchemist who resides in a tower in the Cloakwood. We had our fallen comrades raised and got all our loot identified: many great druid items for Faldorn [OP actually, but she won't be around for very long], a fine 2h sword for Isra, and as usual not much of interest for me.

We made our way back through the Cloakwood to the Iron Throne base. Outside the complex, on a bridge, more guards tried to stop us, but they were dealt with easily enough. At the entrance we met a group of assassins hired to kill us: a fighter, a priest and two mages. While my party took on the fighter I slew one of the two wizards, using my Shatter Magic ability.

My companions killed off the fighter and joined me in taking on the priest, which was complicated by a Teleport Field spell that the mage I killed had cast before. There was no trace of the second mage, or I would gone for him.

Then the mage showed up, well protected, and successfully cast a Chaos spell on Faldorn and Gavin. Faldorn walked off, but Gavin kept on fighting the priest. I lost side of Isra and Kagain, but instead of looking for them, I enabled my second Shatter Magic ability [Grynne got that one when she reached level 8], stripped the mage of his protections, and made short work of him. After that I ran toward Gavin to help him out against the priest.

We then had to finish off two more guards before we could rest, see to our injuries, and check for loot. Only the fighter had some interesting looking items. A quartermaster named Sellanio, who was actually willing to deal with us, identified the goods. We were enthralled with a pair of Boots of Speed. I would have given them to Gavin, but his mediocre armor class called for his continued use of the a pair of Boots of Avoidance. The Boots of Speed went to Isra.
We cleared the entire ground area of its guards, rested (becasue I wanted to restore my Shatter Magic ability), and descended into the mine. The daily operation of the mine was carried out by slaves. One of them had a plan for releasing the slaves and shutting down the mine. But for that we had to descend further and get a key from the leader of the operation.

On the next level we were a horde of guards, and a sorceress who used a Teleport Field and a Chaos spell to debilitate my party. Luckily we had already killed most of the guards, and the Teleport Field prevented the confused ones among us from doing each other too much harm. Nevertheless Faldorn almost fell to confused Kagain's blades so we had to heal her.

The rest of the floor was relatively quiet. We encountered an imprisoned slave and didn't hesitate to give him some gold so he could bribe a number of guards and set the other slaves free. We were joined by a dwarven warrior cleric who had been held captive by the Iron Throne. Yeslick is his name. Said he knew the premises well (the mine used to be run by dawrves of his clan), and that he'd guide us to the chief of the current Iron Throne operation down here, a man named Davaeorn.
With Yeslick in our midst we descended another level. It was guarded mainly by Hobgoblins, creatures who had ceased to be threat long since I first ventured out of Candlekeep. A more serious threat was an Ogre Mage who had been storing corpses in a room much to our dismay. He fell soon enough after I used my innate ability to shatter the beast's combat protections.
 

We also encountered another mage in the employ of the Iron Throne. She was stoneskinned, but we downed her with overwhelming physical force ([and many APR].
 

We cleared the remainder of the floor, and I had a bonding moment with Faldorn.
 

We descended one more level, and that's where we met Davaeorn, the brain behind the mine operation, a cursed wizard he had to be. He had two fearsome Battle Horrors at his side, though he didn't really need them to make an impression what with the Webs and Stinking Clouds and Fireballs he kept blasting our way. Besides I was unable to shatter his magic, because he simply teleported away everytime I came close.

...

This is Gavin. I want to finish Grynne's journal. Inbetween being held by Davaeorn's webs our party, thanks not in the least to to Grynne, killed off one of the Battle Horrors, but then she lost consciousness due to the Stinking Cloud's vapours. The remaining Battle Horror started pounding at Grynne, rapidly depleting her health. Only Faldorn and I remained to defend Grynne, that is, to kill off the Battle Horror before it could kill Grynne. Faldorn proposed casting Improved Invisibilty on Grynne, but before I finished telling her that Battle Horrors can somehow see through invisibility, we both passed out as well.
 

Spoiler:

The Battle Horror finished off Grynne first. The rest of us we managed to flee, back to the upper levels. I think some of the miners managed to escape their lot as Davaeorn's slaves, so at least we got that right.
 

Spoiler:

A week has passed, but I'm still very sad Grynne had to pass on, at such a young age.
Our party disbanded after the catastrophe. Isra said she was going back to the relative safety of her homeland Amn, to report back to her Order. Kagain decided to try and set up a new business with the gold we had acquired in our adventures. Yeslick told me he would look for outside help, from other dwarves up north, to help him reconquer the Cloakwood Mines. Faldorn returned to her Druid order in the Cloakwoods.
As to myself.. well I'm not sure what I'll be doing. I thought of travelling south with Isra, but with the impending war with Amn, I might not be a welcome face down there. The new Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate seems to be a real warmonger. Most likely I'll travel north to the peace and quiet of my hometown Ulgoth's Beard, pay my parents a visit and think for a while.

[Blackraven]

@CKT well done on Icharyd. That one is no pushover on SCS. Yours is steady playthrough.

@ the others: I think the rebalanced WS is a viable class, in spite of Grynne's tragic ending. She'd have become more powerful as a warrior, obtained higher MR, more and better gear, and more Shatter Magic abilities.
As all warriors, she was a bit too straightforward to play to my taste. I simply prefer spellcasters and thieves (especially multiclasses), because of their versatility and the strategic thinking required to play them well. But I can see myself keepering e.g. Valygar into a WS and having him along in Amn.

I mentioned before that I had started a new run with Teyl, which came a to halt when he got stunned (in spite of him wearing a Ring of Free Action and my having a mod component installed that supposedly extends the scope of Free Action to protect against Stun as well). I wanted to allow myself a reload, but I couldn't.

Instead I started anew, my third try. I've learned that Potions of Mirrored Eyes do not protect against basilisks' petrifying gaze. I had my charname, who had just quaffed a Potion of Mirrored Eyes, turned to stone after the second basilisk gaze attack. The potion description reads as follows: "This potion will protect the drinker from all gaze attacks, including those of Basilisks, Umber Hulks, Vampires, and other creatures.  The effect will last for 10 rounds or until dispelled."
These kinds of incongruencies could be the consequence of having specific mods installed, I don't know. What I do know is that I really can't be bothered with restarting yet again. So I'm going to allow myself a reload if an item doesn't behave in the way it's supposed to as in the above examples. It's not like I've been using cursed items or murky potions or anything. However I know now that Free Action in my game doesn't necessarily protect against stun, and that Potions of Mirrored eyes are no guarantee against petrification, so these won't count as valid excuses for a reload in my next runs.

In my current third run, I've tackled almost all optional areas before heading into the Nashkel Mines. This is more or less the order in which I did things:

Beregost quests => Melicamp/Thalantyr (lucky anti-chikenization) => Nashkel: Neira + purchase of Boots of the Cheetah from Karaea => Friendly Arm Inn => Cloudpeaks => Basilisks => Red Canyons / Bassilus => South Coast: Brage and Nib => Prism => Recruited Minsc to serve as my decoy in Nib's (mod) quest in hidden Firewine chambers, acquired Elven Chainmail of the Firewine => Lighthouse Area => Ankhegs North of FAI => Nashkel Mines => North Coast / Shoal (not recommendable to take her on t early levels because she's got charms and hold spells in my setup).

Apart from the aformentioned issues, this run has gone very smoothly so far. Teyl will have to tackle the Bandit camp and the Cloakwood/Mines, up till the point where his first run ended, charmed by Hareishan in the mines. From there I will continue his journal where it eneded.

[Gate70]

Condolences Blackraven

[Jianson]

@Blackraven: Oh crap! That's a tough death.

I usually try to avoid fighting until the whole teleport + AoE spells sequence is done.

Weird with the Battle Horrors seeing though invisibility. Is this a mod change? They can't do that on my setup. And Mirror Eyes potions definitely stop basilisk gaze there as well.

Gotta love that Faldorn moment.

GL on the next run. I also like to play casters and thieves more than warriors (although I like rangers a lot, too).




Eileth, elven Beast Master adventuring with Imoen, Viconia, Shar-Teel and Edwin. Durlag's Tower conclusion.

I cleaned up the four warders level of respawned monsters (Battle Horror x2, Phase Spider x6, Zombie x6 and Ogre Berserker x2) before buffing Shar-Teel with lots of stuff, Chaotic Commands (Eileth read a scroll) and Oil of Speed were the most important ones. Then I had Edwin hide the rest of the party.

I got quite lucky and could fight the warders pretty much one at a time. That made the battle much less messy than in my last run. Fear followed into the generator room. Shar-Teel hid in the shadows but Fear simply did not settle down enough for backstabs to work. He ran into the dead end where the you use the lever. Shar-Teel meleed him there. Lots of whiffing from both sides, but also several hits and Shar-Teel had to drink a couple of big healing potions. She won the fight and Love was next up:

Chaotic Commands lasts for quite a while. No problems here.

Pride was lured into the wine press room and repeatedly backstabbed after Shar-Teel could hide around corners. Some precision pausing was needed because both characters ran really fast.

Avarice did indeed drop a Cloudkill as soon as he could see an opponent. He later dropped another one. Viconia had summoned skeletons and cast True Seeing to combat his annoying ability to go invisible. With the wall of bones around him, he could not really go anywhere:


Great Many Doors level was so much easier with "vanilla" doppelgangers (although the Kiel and Islanne forms are still 'smarter' than in vanilla, because of SCS). I wanted to show something here...

...but the tool tip text does not get screencapped, apparently. It says: 'Greater Doppelganger - Dead'
Let me tell you that it was hitting pretty hard for being dead! This sorted itself out after it had shifted twice more. These guys are sometimes quite buggy, something I also thought this was:

How can it kill her when it was disarmed??

OK, no big deal. Eileth dug out a Raise Dead scroll and I SKed my companion down to CON 7. Don't die any more now, OK?

On the next floor, I had an invisble Shar-Teel de-trap the skeleton walkways and the garden. Viconia put on a Free Action ring and tanked the Greater Ghouls. Edwin found someone:


Shar-Teel used a combo of fiery oils and backstabs to kill the skeletons. Hard Times takes away most of the good ammo but Eileth could at least add a good number of ice arrows to the ammo belt. Viconia had some good advice for the next part:

Which is exactly how I handled it.

I had already killed the flying beasts, with invisble blocker strategy down by the door. Imoen acted as bait which they tried to fly to. Her throwing dagger had no effect, even on a critical hit. There was not even any text that it was ineffctive. Edwin tried Malison and Feeblemind but no effect and no message. Very weird. At least repeated backstabs (with mixed in healing when they managed to hit) worked.

I had forgotten that the entire population of the ice challenge room can see the party right away. We fled out, which made the battle take place here instead:

It worked out well, despite unusual tanking duty for Shar-Teel.

I then did air and fire challenge. For fire, I buffed Shar-Teel with Protection from Fire and had her borrow Imoen's ring. After we had entered the Earth room, I protected the whole party from lightning damage (3x spell from Viconia, 2x priest scroll from Eileth) and Edwin hid all but Shar-Teel with Invisibility. Shar-Teel killed the slime with Necklace of Missiles shots and exploding potions, hiding in shadows after each released bomb from a distance. After it was dead, Edwin felt a 'dweomer' coming, and we were teleported a few seconds after getting back to the main level:

With us lightning protected and invisble, we just ran past the chessboard. Better leave this fight for later, when we have a lot more space and I can choose battle ground.

Cleaned out the next floor. We owned the spiders and Viconia kept tanking the stun-capable undead and crypt crawlers to great effect. My party is so strong with ranged attacks that things usually die quckly. But I still managed to screw up one thing:

I have fallen for this more than once. IMO, that answer is very similar to the correct one.
(BTW, terribly unlucky that her 50% MR did not kick in at least once. Now she's down to CON 3 and 36 max HP. That is doubled when she drinks a Fortitude potion.

Haste and Prot.Evil and we lured down most of the chess pieces. I had troops waiting by my chosen choke point:

That damage is from one of her three traps in this corridor.
Viconia and a Knight had a private brawl and a rook was hell-bent on firing arrows at Eileth. She has AC-3 vs. missiles but that seemed like nothing to him! Really annoying. Then the queen cheated and cast spells and threw MMMs through the wall:

After this first batch of enemies, we licked our wounds and then went up to lure out the next batch: a couple more pawns and both Bishops. They are clerics and one of them managed to fry Edwin within an inch of his life (1HP!) with a Flame Strike.
The King was still on the chessboard so we fought him there. We disrupted most of his spells - Eileth shot ice arrows and Shar-Teel used Ring of Energy a couple of times.

Recent loot: Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise (Slythe), Kiel's Buckler and Helmet, Durlag's Goblet (Great Many Doors level), Large Shield +2, Mace +2, Staff of Striking (Grael's floor).

Imoen got her thief levels back during the chess battle. She added only a few items to her getup: gave Boots of the North to Viccy and donned Boots of Stealth instead. She also equipped a +1 Long Sword and Kiel's Buckler.


For the Demonknight fight, I had Edwin hide us all again. SCS readme says there will be actual copies of my party. Hmm.
Shar-Teel drank a giant strength potion, oil of speed and just before going down, a magic blocking potion. Oops, the last potion negated the other two. OK, I'll go on with just this anyway. As long as it can stop fireballs and PW:Stun, she is happy...

Backstabbed the demonknight with Staff of Striking, smacked the mirror and drank an invisibility potion. Evil mirror party shows up among my companions. They casually move over to the righthand side while Shar-Teel monitors the carnage in the arena. When the real DK is at near death, she strikes:

Ouch, I had forgotten about that fireball. Evil Viconia spotted Shar-Teel and Doomed her. S-T pulled back and hid in the shadows. Evil Viccy must have felt an attraction to her real self and moved over to her. My whole party was again invisble. Hm, if they really are actual copies of my party, then this cleric look-alike has few hit points. It fell to a backstab.

Viconia summoned undead and moved them towards the rest of the mirror fiends. Evil Eileth switched to staff mace and began clubbing the skellies. Viconia tanked Evil Eileth and my two archers eventually shot her down. Evil Edwin was pretty succesful with MMMs against skeletons, and Evil Imoen also killed a few. Both Imoens summoned a phase spider and they fought, one of them poisoning the other. When the 'red circle' spider was killed, I gained 850 XP. Not much but I still liked it because it was unexpected. No XP for the actual mirror fiends, and no items on their bodies. They did drink some extra- and regular healing potions during the fight. There was no sign of Evil Shar-Teel anywhere. Weird.

Shar-Teel found a melee weapon upgrade on the corpse of the demonknight: +2 Scimitar.

On the way out, Imoen and Shar-Teel shared a glorious thieving moment:

[Blackraven]

@Gate70, thank you

@Jianson, thank you too. Yes, this was painful. I tried to pull the Battle Horrors my way (but not Davaeorn) with a stealthed Kagain who also disarmed the traps. Davaeorn came teleporting in anyway. As to the Battle Horrors capacity to see through invisibility, I can't see anything suggesting this in my Weidu-log, but I know they behave like this.
I like Rangers as well, both from a roleplaying perspective and thanks to stealth. Yours is doing fantastic. I haven't been through Durlag's Tower in ages, so I think it would be quite suicidal for me to do so on a no-reload run. Reading through your post, and checking the images make me curious to give it a try though.

[Grond0]

My Berserker Sergeant went flyin’ into the fight, Enraged, & promptly got Held by a Ghoul swipe & was eventually killed.

If he successfully enraged that should have protected him against the ghoul touch.  It is possible though for activating that ability to fail as a result of being attacked.

 

 

Faldorn proposed casting Improved Invisibilty on Grynne, but before I finished telling her that Battle Horrors can somehow see through invisibility, we both passed out as well.

Sorry to hear about Grynne, Blackraven.  Battle horrors should not be able to see invisible things, so sounds like another glitch in your installation.  Best of luck with your new attempt with Teyl.

 

 

Shar-Teel drank a giant strength potion, oil of speed and just before going down, a magic blocking potion. Oops, the last potion negated the other two. OK, I'll go on with just this anyway. As long as it can stop fireballs and PW:Stun, she is happy...

Nice progress Jianson.  If your magic blocking potions are standard they only protect against level 1-5 spells - so wouldn't help against PW:stun ...

[Blackraven]

 

Sorry to hear about Grynne, Blackraven.  Battle horrors should not be able to see invisible things, so sounds like another glitch in your installation.  Best of luck with your new attempt with Teyl.

 

 

The Battle Horrors on the narrow path/bridge that leads to Durlag's Tower attacked and even hit a sanctuaried, stealthed Teyl (who was wearing the Cloak of Non-Detection).

I think I'm going to continue this run with Teyl in my current setup, and hopefully make it to Amn. After that I'll remove DSOTSC and NTOTSC, to see if that makes a difference.

[Aasim]

@ Blackraven

 

"Aurora's shoes and boots PnP Battle Horrors". Ended my no-reload about a year ago. Stay clear of those things....I was surprised you beat them on your first run, tbh. 

 

P.S.

Condolences. It was a lovely go.

 

Uther the halfling swashbuckler. update

 

He was left in a cave after dispatching the Revenant, given Kivan's demise we spent 1k gold on rasining the oh so important elf. We are still rich in money, and after selling enough random +1 loot we had enough to buy Darkveil - a hood with immunity to gaze attacks (RR item, makes basilisk attacks moot) and a +1 returning frost dart (RR) for Jaheira. After aquiring Darkveil, Kivan was sent on dispatching basilsiks. Had severe problems with Mutamin (he succesfully blinded Kivan 3 times (I nerfed Blindness spell to last 4 rounds, not an eternity), and slowed him. Kivan made it safely to Uther, and Mutamin was slain. SCS basilisk don't recognize Darkveil and constantly tried gazing Kivan, who slaughtered the all with his bow. 

 

Loot on Mutamin was good, a magical helmet, neckalce of missiles.

 

We pick up Korax after dispatching the last of basilisk, and attack the party in the middle of the map. Korax proved useless (he couldn't hit anything) but soaked up a few hits. Jaheira was very useful with her Call Lightning (I rewamped this spell also. It does less damage - I've set the cap at level 12, allows a save vs breath for half, and can be used indoors. Druids need some kind of damage here). Minsc made 2 saves vs Hold person, which was great. He will soon hopefully aquire Spider's Bane and be safe from those.

 

 

Random loot - Dex gauntlets. Not bad for Minsc.

 

Hungry for exp and gold, Durlag's Tower was visited briefly. Minsc died here.

Random loot on top of Durlag's - Wand of Lightning. Randomised tome was Charisma, and beside it a Wand of Monster summoning. We nearly had a game-ender here, when a trap exploded.

 

 

Random loot - Spirit armor scrolls, Mace +2. We decided to leave Durlag's for the time, and explored more of wilderness.

Amongst other minor quests, we rescued a cow, had severe problems against the assassins in Gullykin. No good loot was gained.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We need a mage, pronto. Jaheira doesn't cut it anymore. A cleric would be useful as well, if for nothing else then to cast Remove paralysis. Finally did the mines. Mulahey held Girdle of Slashing (I have huge respect for this guy, hence I wait for level 6 or 7 to fight him), Xan was adopted in party.

 

[Blackraven]

@Aasim, aah you're right, that's it! And you've had them end a run of yours as well...
Do you mean stay clear of those Battle Horrors? Or stay clear of these kinds of mod components? As such I like the challenge.

I didn't beat them on my first run btw, Teyl got charmed by Hareishan, never made it to Davaeorn...

[Aasim]

@Aasim, aah you're right, that's it! And you've had them end a run of yours as well...
Do you mean stay clear of those Battle Horrors? 

Well, that fight is unavoidable, so you can't "stay clear" of those if you install that particular Aurora component. I'd uninstall that component, yes. They might be vulnerable to Slow, but otherwise, they'll kill you. In my run, they teleported right next to Xan (he was invisible), killed him in a single round, then Davaeorn shows up and starts tossing webs/fireballs. I like the challenge, but having 2 oponnents with teleport/invisibility detection/+100 HP/-4 AC and various spell immunites in Cloakwood Mine isn't my idea of fun. With some mod-added equipment, I'd say they're vaguely doable, but I don't use such mods.

[Blackraven]

Well, that fight is unavoidable, so you can't "stay clear" of those if you install that particular Aurora component. I'd uninstall that component, yes. They might be vulnerable to Slow, but otherwise, they'll kill you. In my run, they teleported right next to Xan (he was invisible), killed him in a single round, then Davaeorn shows up and starts tossing webs/fireballs. I like the challenge, but having 2 oponnents with teleport/invisibility detection/+100 HP/-4 AC and various spell immunites in Cloakwood Mine isn't my idea of fun. With some mod-added equipment, I'd say they're vaguely doable, but I don't use such mods.

You've got a good point. I'm going to uninstall this component. And I think i might have to re-install Improved Bassilus (somehow on my last playthrough he was just "normal" Bassilus) and Item Randomization, because I always get the Tome of CON in the Lighthouse area and tome of WIS in Durlag's tower (other tomes are randomized though).

Careful with your swashy, that was one bloody affair in Durlag's Tower!

[Aasim]

Uther the halfling swashbuckler, 3rd update

 

Traveling in a party of five (Xan, changed to sorcerer joined in the mines).

Upon exiting the mines, we dispatched a group of amazons. One was lucky enough to survive long enough to cast Animate Dead (Spellpack changes this spell - it summons much more undead creatures, but they're very weak i.e. no Skeleton Warriors). Never the less, they proved very little challenge. Uther is at level 7, Minsc 6, Jaheira is very short of casting level 4 druid spells. Xan 1st level 3 spell is Slow. I probably should have nerfed it a bit, but the AI uses it fairly often so I let it be. It's outright devastating for throughout the game with it's massive penalty to save.

 

Nimbul greeted us in Nashkel, and was slain after a while. He knocked both Kivan and Xan out with Emotion (this spell is way to powerful for it's effect - an AoE save or die for the AI basically - I toned it down so unconcius effect lasts 4 rounds). he held Minsc but died regardless. His body held +3 vs Shapeshifters bastard sword.

 

Did the druids in Larswood. I kind of fear doing this battle since a succesfull Call Lightning can kill people outright, but it was a succesfull endeavor. No loot, however. 

The mage in Beregost proved very little challenge - apart Slow, he did nothing but die. Chain mail of the Dead was found on his body, and we set of into the bandit camp.

 

Bandit camp

 

Prebuff was very simple - Potion of defence for Uther, Potion of Invulnerability for Minsc.

Off we go..

Uther and Minsc rush forward, to draw the fire. Xan opens things up with Slow, which affects practically everyone caught in the Aoe. Next, he starts blasting the archers with wand of fire.

 

Their mage, for some reason, crawled from the north, which was a surprise. I didn't like it. He usually comes from the main tent direction.

Most of the lesser troops from the 1st wave died to fireballs and a potion of firebreath.

 

Minsc resisted a charm spell (I need to be more careful with those castings.) Xan slowed down the mage. Uther gets poisoned, but has a dozen potions for that.

 

Mage dies, and 2nd wave approaches. Xan lits them up. Uther & Minsc drink up potions to heal and remove poison.

 

Xan dies to an arrow. 

 

Kivan found 2 arrows of detonation in Durlag's tower. With the number of enemies still high, no disables apart Jaheira's Entangle, he uses one to a nice effect.

 

 

Fin! Random loot - Full Plate for Jaheira, and a Wand of Fire.

 

We pick up the rest of the loot, raise Xan (I forgot to pick up his equipment, so it was gone - I lost Moonblade, and God knows what else he was carrying. Wand of Fire I'm sure of got lost forever.)

To Cloakwood we go.