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[Blackraven]

Meet Gylliane:

 

Spoiler

My mouth fell open after about about 20 minutes of rolling for good stats...

For pure powergaming purposes I should have invested more in WIS, for Wish and lore, but I always want my Swashies to be highly charismatic and I wasn't willing to compromise on physical stats or INT, so this is how I redistributed her rolls:

The purpose of the present run with the Swashmage is to get her into Amn as fast as possible, because it's been a while since I last played SoA & ToB (except for a few quests with Teyl the Cleric/Thief). So unlike previous runs I've journalled on the forums, this one will be a more technical run in which I'll be more generous in using my metaknowledge of BG1. I'll be solo'ing most if not all of BG1, for quick experience gain even though I shall adhere to the XP cap. I'm still debating whether or not to pick up Coran along for romance purposes. If charname makes it into SoA, gameplay will likely change because my knowledge of SoA/ToB is (even) less comprehensive than that of BG1. I'll probbaly end up using various NPCs in SoA & ToB.
Gylliane starts out with two pips in Scimitars. At levels 4 and 8 she'll invest proficiency points in Two Weapon Fighting so that dualwielding becomes viable by mid/late BG1. In the beginning she will be using her shortbow quite a lot, despite her Thac0 penalty for non-proficiency (which is partly offset by high DEX). The thing is that the Swashbuckler doesn't get many proficiency points to spend, compared to other 'fighter' types. And for a multiclass Swashmage, progression is even slower in this respect.

Backstory/Personality:

Spoiler

She trained for years with the Candlekeep guards but rather than copying her instructors she developed a fighting style of her own, relying on her agility and preferring light or no armor over the movement restricting heavier armors the guards would use, and slender curved blades rather than the more common but weightier longswords and bastard swords. Her fighting style makes her a fairly good dualist for a beginning adventurer but it also makes her vulnerable against groups and archers. Fortunately Gylliane has an attunement for the arcane arts and she has learned to use some basic arcane spells, thanks to Gorion's teachings, that enhance her fighting prowess. But as many inexperienced adventurers, she'd benefit greatly from more advanced magical training. Spells that buff her as a fighter and spells that strip her foes' protections interest her more than damaging spells or crowd control spells, though she will soon learn that especially the latter may well be indispensable for her to survive as an adventurer. With Imoen she practised certain thieving skills, especially sneaking and picking locks, but in a context of play and even mischief rather than one of formal training.

[I gave her the True Neutral alignment so that she wouldn't be affected by Unholy Blights that some priests cast in SCS (nor by Holy Smites that future party members may cast), but I I'll try to roleplay her true to her alignment. The fact that I'll be metagaming more than I usually do, does not detract from that. The metagaming will manifest itself more in quest order, rather than in behaviour toward NPCs.]
Unlike seekers of balance between good and evil such as Jaheira or unbiased mercenaries such as Greywolf, Gylliane isn't committed to neutrality as such. She's simply a flawed person, too flawed to be good-aligned. For example she adores elegant blades, especially the cutlass and the scimitar (along with the wakizashi and the ninja-to the only blades she's developed an affinity with so far), and she wouldn't hesitate to resort to theft to acquire an enchanted blade for herself. Other flaws include her somewhat quick temper and her resentfulness, both consequences of a sensitive and passionate nature when it comes to her interaction with others. In contrast, she'll often be indifferent about social issues that other people would have strong feelings about. This is due to a distinctly libertarian outlook on life. In her liberal worldview people ought to leave each other alone and at peace as much as possible. However she's highly deferential of life and liberty and disapproves not only of the lowlife murderer but also of the presumptuous paladin who kills a stranger to "enact justice". She loves a good duel, one of her favourite activities, but she's unlikely to pick fights and would resort to bloodshed only in self-defense. She's unlikely to display outright evil behaviour and she may even combat evil, though not retro-actively (to punish or enact justice when the damage has already been done, like the aformentioned paladin might do). Note that indifference may as well cause her to refrain from taking action in a given situation.

***
A level 1/1 Swashbuckler/Mage who's specialized in scimitars, has negligible arcane and ranged power, even is she's a high DEX elf. So Gylliane tried to gain as much XP as possible with as little effort as possible.
She did most chores in Candlekeep (including striking down Carbos and Shank in melee combat). She then spoke with Imoen, Xzar and Montaron, had them join, and kept their potions, wand, and scrolls. She first went to Beregost and did most quests there, everything except Silke and Karlat. I think she reached level 2/3 (this is thanks to two mod-added non-violent quests).

Spoiler

As most lower level wizards, she thankfully used sleep against possibly dangerous foes:

As a thief she spent her skill points on HiS/MS. Thus stealth became just good enough for sneaking at night. It allowed her to reach Nashkel safely, where she spoke with Berrun Ghastkill to trigger the first dream (and gain her first Bhaalpower, the healing touch), and with Karaea the gnome to buy the stylish boots of the cheetah (speed). Stealth also enabled Gylliane to enter the Lighthouse and get its treasure, most importantly the Manual of Bodily Health (for full HP), without being attacked by sirines or golems. On the Coast she also did the Mad Arcand quest for the XP and the good items, including a paralyzation wand she used to take down Shoal the Nereid. On the South coast she spoke with Brage and guided him back to Nashkel, to Nalin. From the gold she has accumulated she bought a Ring of Free Action from Thalantyr.

Spoiler

I've re-installed a number of mods/components, which should slightly alter my game. One of the changes was a re-install of a component that has Free Action protect against stun. I've decided to allow myself one reload if my ring of Free Action does not protect against stun, as had happened to me before in another playthrough.

She also had Thalantyr attempt to restore Melicamp, but he failed. She then travelled with Landrin's possessions to the area north of Beregost, killed the rogue ogre for Unshey's belt (he saved against sleep, but got blinded), and pushed on toward the FAI. There she found a scroll of Find Familiar near a tree trunk (no Ring of Wizardry for Gylliane). She cast the spell and got a cute bunny familiar and a nice increase in HP. She then killed the hobgoblins for Joia, and she sneaked past Tarnesh into the Inn to get the XP from Landrin and Unshey. (Forgot to have Jaheira join for her potion of invisibility btw). On her way out she forgot to hide before stepping outside, so the dialogue with Tarnesh was triggered after which he turned hostile. Gylliane stepped back inside, hid, and returned outside where Tarnesh was waiting for her. From a safe distance near the Temlple of Garl Glittergold, she tried to Sleep him, but he saved and retalliated with a Magic Missile. Then she tried to Blind him, but again he saved. Before he could Horror her, she stepped into the temple. When she sneaked out, she saw how a Guard (critically) hit Tarnesh, who panicked for a while. Gylliane tried to take him down with her bow but failed. When he overcame his panic, he followed Gylliane into the temple. She was hidden though, and from stealth she killed him in one hit.

Spoiler

In Cloakwood 1 she put a group of Tasloi to sleep and slew them all to find Gurke's Cloak of Non-Detection on one of them. With more than 20k XP (level 4 mage/5 swashy) she travelled to Mutamin's garden with a scroll of protection from petrification she had bought at the Nashkel Carnival. The majority of basilisks were easily dealt with, although her decision to take them on in melee for faster results than ranged attacks with her bow, caused her to use various healing potions. She had a bit of a hard time with Mutamin and his closest basilisks, when she saw from a distance and under the cover of Invisibility (a spell she'd bought from Thalantyr) how a Hasted Mutamin mercilessly killed off Korax. She quaffed a potion of clarity, to prevent herself from getting charmed or confused by the gnome, and successfully cast Blindness on him before he could hurt her in any way. Blinded and hasted Mutamin was difficult to kill, he ran in all directions. Gylliane had to be careful not to betray her presence to a group of adventurers whose intentions she was unsure about, so she had some difficulty following the gnome around and shooting him down with her arrows.

Spoiler

After this she killed the last basilisks and reached level 5/6 as a mage/swashbuckler, which is her current level. Mutamin dropped the Tome of Clear Thought to raise her INT to 19, and she got some more great loot soon after. In Durlag's Tower she hoped to find the Tome of Understanding but found a Greenstone Amulet instead (that amulet is superexpensive in Ulgoth's Beard in my setup). The Tome of Understanding might be stored in another place/chest in Durlag's Tower, but Gylliane didn't dare opening any chests because her Find Traps skill wasn't very developed yet, and she had no potions to boost that skill.
Protected by Free Action she was confident in taking on Bassilus, and when she managed to Blind him, he was easily dispatched. She also had little difficulty with Zargal and his friends after she had cast Sleep on them. In the Wilderness Lake area she killed four Half-Ogres for Bjornin, and she also slewTeyngan and company. At the Nashkel Carnival she did the same with Zordral, whom she paralyzed with her wand before beating him to death.
In the Cloudpeaks she brought down Vax and Zal and found the Boots of Speed on one of them. Clicking the wrong dialogue option got her in a fight with Sendai, Alexander and Delgod [I'm roleplaying Gylliane as reticent and violent only in self-defense. For example in the basilisk area, she shunned the adventuring party.] Delgod and Alexander were good archers, so she ran around a lot in order try and separate the three foes and take them on in melee and/or Blind them. Sendai dropped two Scimitars +1, which Gylliane will use until she has dealt with Drizzt and Molkar. She also helped Albert reunite with Rufie, protected the Dryad from Caldo and Krumm and gave Drienne her dead cat back. She returned to the wilderness area south of Beregost, where she killed a number of hobgoblins, and took the Boots of Stealth from one of them. She had Thalantyr forge the Boots of Speed and those of Stealth into one pair of 'Boots of the Thief: Fast Legs', which will be her footwear for the remainder of the game. One of her foes also dropped a Wand of Fire, but I can't remember who, probably Jemby in the Wilderness Lake area or Zordral at the Carnival.
Gylliane now own robes of fire, cold and electricity resistance, a knave's robe and an adventurer's robe. Once she finds a traveller's robe, Thalantyr can combine these six robes into one Robe of of 'Practical Protection', which gives +2 AC, +1 to saves and 20% fire, cold and electricity resistance, a good alternative for the currently unfindable Robe of the Neutral Archmagi.

Spoiler

I might change her avatar to that of Mage Female Elf rather than Thief female Elf.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Blinded and hasted Mutamin was difficult to kill, he ran in all directions. Gylliane had to be careful not to betray her presence to a group of adventurers whose intentions she was unsure about, so she had some difficulty following the gnome around and shooting him down with her arrows.

It might be a pure coincidence but I've found out that at least in my setup blinded foes (even though running aimlessly in all directions) do not run past my line of sight so I can relatively easy pick'em up with bows/slings just standing still in one place. No need to chase them all over the map risking to trigger an unneeded encounter.

 

In any case all the best of luck, intelligence etc. with your cutie!

[Blackraven]

It might be a pure coincidence but I've found out that at least in my setup blinded foes (even though running aimlessly in all directions) do not run past my line of sight so I can relatively easy pick'em up with bows/slings just standing still in one place. No need to chase them all over the map risking to trigger an unneeded encounter.

 

In any case all the best of luck, intelligence etc. with your cutie!

That's convenient, my blinded foes tend to run all over the map. (Same happened with Greywolf whom I will mention in my next update).
Thank you for your words and eh, she asked me to tell you she was most pleased with your calling her a cutie
 

[Jianson]

Good luck with Gylliane, Blackraven. I like the idea of a multiclass where one class is kitted. However, I would never play a swashbuckler bacause thief = backstab for me. Mage/Bounty Hunter or Mage/Assassin would have suited me far better.

My one and only run through ToB was with an elven Thief/Mage, btw. It was not no-reload but I think that she only died once in ToB - in the third pocket plane challenge. My one and only solo no-reload attempt of (vanilla) Icewind Dale was also with an elven Thief/Mage. She made it to the final battle but lost it.


I think there is a Robe of the Neutral Archmage in your game, if you really want one. Take the Dagger of Venom to Ulcaster and stab the old ghost with it. You can only hit on criticals. Be prepared to take a large drop in reputation. (Also, Shandalar probably has one, but killing him is extremely dangerous solo. Prot. Magic scroll and Wand of Paralyzation may be able to do it).

[Mr_Goldbeard]

@Blackraven - why such a high charisma? I believe 12 is the lowest you can go with a thief which leaves 6 points able to go into wisdom, and with 2 or 3 books of wis with the lum machine you could've had enough to maximize wish spells. Either way, looking forward to hearing the rest of your adventure.

[Mr_Goldbeard]

Disregard my last post. You mentioned why lol.

[Blackraven]

@Jianson, yes I love backstabbing as well. But after doing almost nothing else with Teyl the Cleric/Thief, I was in for a different experience. A swashmage plays more like a fighter/mage with a number of (bearable) limitations but also specific advantages.
Thanks for your tips re: the robe of the neutral archmagi.
@Mr_Goldbeard, I think I could use Potions of Insight if necessasy (and if I make it all the way to late SoA and ToB).

[corey_russell]

Hanna the Priest of Talos and her random party - update 3

Traveling with: Uriah (fighter), Lily (shapeshifter), Werg (thief), Joshua (sorcerer), Paja (enchanter)

 

The team has made decent progress. We get a death now and then, but not too often - Paja got one-shotted by some winter wolves. We've cleared out the gnoll fortress and the xvart village - Borda is pretty easy with resist fear and the shield amulet. We've also defeated Greywolf, using a blind and doom. The team does well when exploring - some ambushes are still pretty scary, such as ghoul ambushes, which we always run away from for now. Werg is using the bracers of archer and the +1 bow, so at least someone can hit something. Hanna herself finally got a sling proficiency, (though she has been using a sling all along, to stay out of trouble). Most of the team's HP stink, except Hanna's, so guess that's a silver lining...Uriah got ONE HP from his last level up...Sendai  and her goons were defeated by putting Werg invisible to spot them, then Lily fired a few necklace of missile shots out of sight - they did find us, but by then the archer's were slain. Sendai is a lot easier without her friends helping her...Vax and Zal were a bit tough, but blindness once again carried the day.

 

Considering party status: Clearly, as far as damage dealing goes, LIly is carrying the group with her 19 STR in werewolf form, as is evidenced by her high kill count. The extremly low HP of Werg, Joshua, and Paja is scary, easily chunkable in BG 2 or even by Sarevok for that matter. If I can get the casters to level 5, the power of the group should rise quite a bit, but so far, they are able to get things done. Due to all the dagger proficiencies, the party would stink against Jellies, but I'm not sure what to do about that...I don't think I would want the mages (or Werg, for that matter) to go anywhere near jellies, as they easily could be one-shotted. So will need to delay valley of the tombs for a while...

 

Party Status: (MPV=most powerful vanquished)

Uriah: level 4 fighter, 26 HP, MPV=Winter Wolf, 61 kills

Lily: level 4 shapeshifter, 28 HP, MPV=Winter Wolf, 162 kills

Werg: level 4 thief, 12 HP, MPV=Neira, 38 kills

Hanna: level 4 cleric, 29 HP, MPV=Ogre Berserker, 41 kills

Joshua: level 3 sorcerer, 9 HP, MPV= Greywolf, 31 kills

Paja, level 3 enchanter, 8 HP, MPV=Cave Bear, 32 kills

[Jianson]

Glasya, Sorceress with random spell picks, trying to build up a party

Glasya and Imoen made their way far enough south to open up the path to Nashkel. They were careful to avoid all ranged attackers. Imoen's (ex-Zhurlong's) boots helps her sneaking.

Since they were so succesful against Tarnesh in my last run, I picked up Xzar and Montaron this time as well. Got them at one level lower than last time. On the way to FAI, Glasya was ambushed for the first time. Quite lucky that it took so long for it to happen the first time, and it was not a tough ambush, just two wolves. Monty started off nicely:


I had my imp familiar polymorph to jelly, sent in Monty for a backstab and Xzar as spell slinger and expendable "warrior". As to what happened in the fight, the pics speak for themselves:


Destroyer of worlds!

But not the brightest tool in the box...:


We ditched four characters and instead recruited Branwen for some easy quests on the southern maps. Lured dog to master, saved dryad, brought cat to kid, enjoyed a staple spell:


I very much avoided things I thought we could not handle: winter wolves, cave bears, Sendai, Zal & Vax and other such nasty things. Ludrug the gnoll named Glasya our 'best champion'. Hardly my pick in our gang. Not by a long shot even though we have no warriors. Glasya prepared with her newest spell:


I ran into a bug I have seen before. It may be something in EasyTutu itself that needs fixing. I don't think SCS is responsible because we got to the correct dialogue after wounding Ludrug:


It's at this stage he is supposed to give us 500 XP and leave, but he kept attacking Glasya while still being 'blue circled'. We had to kill him. Oh well.

Opened up the passage to Gnoll Stronghold and then we recruited Minsc and went back to the road S Beregost for the three FF guards and their plate mails (now that we had enough combined strength to carry them all). Minsc and Branwen sure liked their new shiny armors.

Dynaheir was rescued (Gnoll Stronghold area is much less scary for a low-level party with my current mod setup because it lacks endless respawning unless a whole day passes), but then almost killed in an ambush on the way back from there:


Here it was an ambush, but later on, we have succesfully killed three pairs of cave bears by having Minsc sneak up on them in shadows, charm one and have it attack the other. By the time we have shot down the hostile one, our recruit is usually Injured or worse. An Imoen backstab and/or a couple of arrows is all that's needed to kill that one as well.

A weird thing has happened with Glasya's weapons and to hit chances. She is only proficient with daggers and that is really wasteful to use under Hard Times - a pack of 20 costs between 40 and 80 gold and does not last long. She tried using sling so she can have something to do in the fights besides the occasional spellcasting. What's weird is that she has THAC0 18 with a sling (regular, non magical sling and standard bullets). If she tries Darts, the massive mage penalty hits and she has THAC0 23...

Dynaheir proved her worth with noxious clouds during wolf hunting in Gibberling Mountains:


During the Samuel rescue, we were ambushed by skeletons. I counted two archers. I figured the one at the top could not see my mages, so I sent Branwen to melee it. My mages cast spells (MM and Larloch's) at the other archer but that did not kill it. Switched to weapons, Dynaheir took a hit and I had to move Glasya away from incoming war hammer skeletons. I figured it was soon a new round and Dyna should be able to kill the skeleton with another magic missile. She did, but I had neglected keeping track of Glasya's movement the last few seconds and she nearly bit the dust because of that:


Mages are damn frail for a long time, I must not give the enemies any chances if at all possible!


We hunted Ankhegs succesfully (Branwen now has AC in the negatives, especially against missiles and blunt). I had huge plans of selling all the ankheg shells using advanced methods of first storing them in a chest in Brun's house while we visited the nothernmost areas, then having my characters throw them to each other so we could reach the end of the map, then the same procedure in Beregost. And Taerom buys one shell and that's that...there went 10k gold and I can't even have a nice armor made now. Bugger. This must be Hard Times, or just how Tutu works. (BTW, I have already seen this with Fenten, so I shouldn't really be surprised).

Still, we have some decent stuff now even though it's hard times. Imoen's artifact, Ring of Protection (Mirianne), Cloak of Protection (Brun's neighbour), Girdle of Bluntness (merchant at the carnival), Bracers of AC8 (Hairtooth), Medium Shield +1 (Bjornin), Halberd +1 (Greywolf), Knave's Robe (Zordral), Robe of fire resist (Jemby), a 30-pack of +1 arrows (Taerom). I also know that it's possible to buy all the standard TotSC level 4 mage scrolls at Ulgoth's Beard Inn. Oh, and Dynaheir seems to have just one opposing mage school, which is different from vanilla. Unfortunately it's the one with the best high-level disabling spells. Once we have met Drizzt again and found Dynaheir's journal, dumping her for Edwin feels like the 'power' option (especially after rolling that spell at Glasya's last level-up).

Coolest random rare loot: a Neutralize Poison priest scroll from a lowly gibberling (IMO, this is the only healing spell fast enough to be useful in the middle of combat).

Glasya, Imoen and Branwen are now level 5. Minsc and Dynaheir are level 4.

Glasya's random spell picks:
Start: Burning Hands, Friends
Level 3: Reflected Image
Level 4: Ghoul Touch
Level 5: Identify, Detect Evil

[corey_russell]

Just a reminder Jianson, there are loads of throwing daggers from skeletons at high hedge - throw a fireball or skulltrap and a full inventory of throwing daggers are yours. The skeletons re-spawn too, even in hard times. I'm having to do that myself with my random party as the mages have dagger profs.

[Blackraven]

At Thalantyr's Gylliane also bought a Deep Red Ioun stone, which grants +1 Dex and protects against critical hits. She then paid a second visit to the Lighthouse Area where she intended to kill golems and sirines in order to level up Mage6/Swashbuckler 7 before tackling te Nashkel mines. This was easier said than done however. The golems were reached first, through stealth, and had no answer to Gylliane's hit and fade tactics. Of the sirines and (mod-added) nereids on the other hand she only slew three before she decided to leave. The sirines' arrows of biting and their charms posed too much of a risk in Gylliane's eyes. (The charges of the Greenstone Amulet last only a turn.)
 

Spoiler

Gylliane travelled southeast, to Nashkel, and from there, the Nashkel mines. Greywolf was webbed and subsequently slain (with no help from Isra, who was also caugh tin Gylliane's web), helping Gylliane to level up just in time before she'd enter the mines. The first and second levels gave her no difficulty. She mostly sneaked past the kobolds (though she killed a few to get her hands on a mysterious liquid which she would later give to Thalantyr for XP). The third level was harder due to its traps and the hordes of kobolds that blocked Gylliane's way toward the area that led to the exit. Since they were so many (and quite tough in their SCS form), Gylliane used a scroll of Monster Summoning II (a random drop) to summon a dire wolf to lure the kobolds away. Besides she didn't want to waste her memorized Webs on he critters.
 

Spoiler

She intended to exit the level unnoticed but when she disarmed one trap and triggered another she somehow became visible right away, causing the kobolds to follow her down to the next level. This created a somewhat messy situation in front of Mulahey's lair. Fortunately the kobolds moved a lot and they didn't block any path, so that Gylliane decided to enter Mulahey's lair and try to leave unnoticed when she would be done with the Orc.
 

Spoiler

In Mulahey's lair she first took down six kobolds before she revealed her presence to the priest. His call for help caused (I think) about 12-15 kobolds to appear and 3-4 skeletons. They blocked the path to the exit. She webbed the lot and took down Mulahey first. Having difficulty to hit him she used Flame Arrows (her only level 3 spell at the time) along with her sword attacks to take him down. She looted Mulahey's body and his chest, cast a second Web, recruited and dismissed (Xan (to give him his Moonblade back) and then she slew a number of Mulahey's minions, enough to pave herself a way to the exit. There she cast Invisibility on herself, and escaped toward the Mine exit. On the surface she killed one of two bounty hunters and Narcillius . She looted the tombs and killed the ghoul and the ghasts, but not the Revenant who somehow managed to injure her from a distance. Then she found a place to rest and made her way back to Nashkel, where she webbed Nimbul and saw how an Amnish soldier slew the assassin for her.
 

Spoiler

Gylliane travelled to Beregost. At Feldepost's Inn she got blinded by Tranzig after he had saved thrice against the same spell cast by her. She used a charge of her wand of paralyzation to kill the mage. Outside Feldepost's Inn she had a run-in with Lamalha and her fellow amazons. Gylliane used two Webs but didn't have enough time to slay them all. The clerics weren't that dangerous since Gylliane was protected with Free Action, but the thieves were quite nasty with their darts of wounding. She had to quaff a few healing potions before she could finish off all four of them.
When she was done Gylliane took a number of side-trips hoping this would trigger the Molkar encounter. She helped Drizzt slay a group of gnolls, or more accuratey put: she killed a group for Drizzt, who did nothing himself. She quaffed three potions of master thievery and rewarded herself with Drizzt's fancy Frostbrand. [To be honest, he doesn't drop the weapons for some reason, but I used the potions of master thievery, pickpocketed a number of potions form him, and then when it said 'target has no items', I shadowkeepered Frostbrand into my inventory. I wouldn't have done so in case of a failed pickpocket attempt though.]
She then travelled to the Temple of Lathander area where she killed various vampiric wolves, dreadwolves, worgs, a sword spider, a wraith spider and an astral phase spider, taing advantage of the dusk for hit and fade attacks. This helped her reach 120k XP, good for another level-up as a mage: level 7. With her newly gained access to level 4 spells she travelled to Larswood, where she bartered with Haeball for scrolls. She first bought a Stoneskin (circa 1400 gold), quaffed a potion of genius and nevertheless failed to scribe it. She quaffed a potion of mind focusing to get her INT to 25 and bought and succesfully copied a second Stoneskin as well as scrolls of Haste, Skulltrap and Polyorh Self to her spellbook. To get her final level up (Swashbuckler 8), and with it another pip she would place in two weapon fighting, she went ankheg hunting. Stoneskin, Web, Blindness and Haste were the spells she used (at different moments) to help her prevail and gain the desired level. She then started dualwielding her scimitars (Frostbrand with a Scimitar +1).
 

Spoiler

Gylliane then travelled to the Larswood where she saved a gnome slave from his goblin captors, slew Teven and his bandit friends and ignored the druids. From Haeball she bought a second Wand of Paralyzation.
 

Spoiler

In the Peldvale area she slew a few more bandits and infiltrated within their ranks to enter the Bandit Camp. Tazok was taunted, paralyzed with her wand and slain before he could slay Gylliane (the game seems to award Tazok with an insta-kill power Gylliane didn't wanty to fall victim to). From his wrists she removed the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise. After that she proceeded to loot the entire camp (most notable loot a couple of new spells, including Slow, and the Shield Amulet), until she reached the main tent. Before entering she cast Stoneskin, drank an oil of speed and then cast Mirror Image on herself. Inside, when the battle began, she paralyzed the mage with her wand, and cast Web to contain the warriors. She first killed the wizard and then some of the bandits, before the Web spell wore off and her foes' attacks started to deal damage. She quaffed a potion of invisibililty, healed herself, cast Stoneskin, and then Web to allow herself to take down the remaining foes without too much difficulty.
 

Spoiler

She didn't find any loot of real interest except the Longbow of Marksmanship. This was somewhat disappointing to her. Outside she tried to fight Taugosz, but he had to many allies, including archers with arrows of biting, so she decided to flee the camp. She wandered for a number of days: she went to see Thalantyr to get some loot identified, she sold 25 bandit scalps to Officer Vai in Beregost, she met Elminster at the FAI. All this in the hopes of running into Molkar and his buddies, but they never appeared. This is quite incovenient for Gylliane, because Molkar wields a Cutlass +2 that gives a bonus APR, a weapon that seems to have been made for her...

Anyway she's exploring the Cloakwoods at the moment. In the first area she ignored Aldeth (would be out of character for her to pick sides, non-intervention is her adagium), but hooked up with Coran, who started flirting with her before I could even change his portrait.
 

Spoiler

Coran is a Fighter/Sharpshooter. The Sharpshooter is a thief kit from the Song & Silence mod, its advantages/disadvantages are:

- Can attain Grand Mastery in any missile weapon a thief can use.
- May coat missile weapon in poison once per day per 4 levels. Attacks made with the weapon in the next round will inject the poison into the target, dealing out 1 damage per second for 24 seconds (3 damage for the first 6 seconds). A saving throw vs. poison limits damage to 12 total.
- No backstab multiplier.

Gylliane and Coran moved on to the second Cloakwood area. Upon arrival two phase spiders teleported in. The duo killed them but Coran got poisoned more than once, and was saved by Gylliane's Slow Poison ability when he was at one hitpoint! He healed and stayed where he was while Gylliane went to retrieve Chelak's body and Spiders' Bane. Gylliane didn't kill a single spider; she just ran. Coran and Gylliane then sneaked toward the area exit, toward Cloakwood 3.

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

@CKT - the anti paladin in all shapes and forms is by far my most favored class. I hate to see a fellow knight fall in battle, I hope you reroll another and tell us the tale of his dark path.

 

Well, you talked me into it.  I was getting ready to go back to my typical various Paladin types and/or LG Fighter.  Even thought about doing a Samurai saince I have a kit for that but...

 

...working on a character & a back story now.  Gotta put it all together & make one last run.  I really had to change my strategy last time when Montaron & Xzar walked on me for not getting to Nashkel in time,  I thought the four mage thing was working but they're generally easy to kill & I was w/o a thief type.  

 

Will introduce my new knight as soon as I can finish putting him together.  Thanks Mr G!

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Question for the group.  Is there a way to change a PCs alignment mid-game, e.g., one of the mods allows Jaheira to change from TN to NG which makes some sense if she fights alongside a Paladin or other holy PC type...you know, it rubs off and she changes for the better,  

 

I'd like the option of playing a PC who starts out bad, comes face to face w/his evil & sin, & changes direction and becomes good to atone for his sins later in the game. Anyway to do that?  CKT

[corey_russell]

As far as I am aware, you would need to use Shadowkeeper to make that kind of change to the PC, CKT. It's easy to do.

[Blackraven]

@CKT, like Mr_Goldbeard I thoroughly enjoyed your dark knight, and would love to read about a similar character. I think it had to more with your storytelling though and with Asmodeus, than with his class/kit. I suppose you could just as easily pull of an assassin type or a necromancer (storywise at least).
As to changing alignments other than at the ennd of SoA, I don't think that's possible through a mod. Afaik Jaheira's alignment doesn't "change", you just set it to NG so that she's NG the entire game, unless you're talking of a mod I'm not aware of. Anyway, what you could do, is use Shadowkeeper to have you charname change alignment at a decisive moment in the game. If you could create such a turning point in charname's character development, then why not do so? Note that I'm uite liberal with Shadowkeeper: I use it to create my own story/game. Hence an elven mage/swashbuckler and hence I pretended today I pickpocketed one of Drizzt's swords even though in my setup his weapons cannot be pickpocketed (due to one of my mods, don't know which), hence my kitting NPCs etc. Another thing IMO would be to cheat in gold, or XP, or to give 999 charges to you wands etc (I actually reduced the number of charges from a wand I bought).

Edit: ah, Corey, you beat me...

[Grond0]

You can change alignment using Shadowkeeper.

 

Edit: beaten to the draw not once, but twice!  Anyone else out there in the middle of their post to make it three times? 

[Aasim]

I'd like the option of playing a PC who starts out bad, comes face to face w/his evil & sin, & changes direction and becomes good to atone for his sins later in the game. Anyway to do that?  CKT

I know of only two which can alter alignment in that way. Dingo's Quest Pack Revised Hell Trials. It requires you to finish most of SoA, naturally, but it allows your alignment to be changed in Hell Trials in way other than Neutral Evil. 

Another mod I know of is Virtue,  that' a bit different, perhaps more to your liking. I haven't tried Virtue.

[corey_russell]

Hanna the Priest of Talos with her random party - update 4

Traveling with: Uriah (fighter), Lily (shapeshifter), Werg (thief), Joshua (sorcerer), Paja (enchanter)

 

We are still trying to make progress. Sometimes, it feels like it's two steps forward, one step back. While we got some good experience south of Beregost, it's still extremely deadly to our level 3/4 party. Apparently I have good reason to run from ghast/ghoul ambushes. We decided to stick it out one battle (3 ghasts/3 ghouls/2 hobgoblin archers) and it was deadly. Hanna only survived by running until Joshua blinded the ghoul chasing her (it took several tries). Fortunately, despite being in the thick of it, Uriah resisted being held - if he fell it would have been chaos, we had to leave some things behind as it was. Werg was a big help with his short bow, as long as he kept his distance. Lily was forced to get into melee to distract the ghouls/ghasts chasing Hanna, and Paja was immobile as was controlling Hanna, trying to find some safety, somewhere, and thus she got held and killed. We still don't have any fireballs or skull traps, which could have helped a ton if we had. Screenie of the carnage:

 

I'm very hesitant to brave the ogre areas, as 1/2 the party could easily be chunked by an ogre hit. Will have to try to find something we can do. Might just try the main story line.

[Epsil0]

Haha, I was in the middle of posting about Shadowkeeper when the text "four new replies" appeared in the middle of my screen, so I would've been the 4th if I hadn't refreshed in time.

Sad to see Mordred's fall, though; I'm actually incredibly impressed that you managed to get so far against SCS with a party. I've tried no less than 10 separate times and not a single one made it past the freaking Bandit Camp. Most of them die beforehand to some upstart mage casting a mass CC spell that everyone manages to fail their saves to. Which is actually why I ended up scrapping SCS for now just to have the satisfaction of getting ANYWHERE with a character, and it turns out... I'm apparently able to complete vanilla BG1 now within a day.

 

So, the surviving mods were Rogue rebalancing, BG1NPC, and Neera's expansion, so basically only the first had any sort of impact on a solo run. Played on Core. Jet the chaotic good human archer, starting stats of 18/08, 18, 18, 10, 14, 10. Ending stats of 18/08 (forgot to buy a 24 STR potion and somehow never got a DuHM before that point), 19, 19, 10, 14, 10. Four stars in short bows, one in crossbows, one in bastard swords. Ended with the incredible 105 HP at level 8; this means I rolled an incredible 55 from 7d10, a good 17 or 18 points above average. Much, much better than my last archer that made it through with barely more than 60 HP.

 

No problems were had early-game as range is indeed king in BG1; Shoal to Beregost to Basilisks gave me a very, very quick level 5 for another proficiency point and other archer bonuses. A couple of quests are completed and Jet even got his level 6 before heading down into the mines. The battle was relatively long as I got myself trapped behind a horde of skeletons, but no huge biggie with Jet's massive health-pool. Ankhegs, Sirines and minor quests give Jet his level 7 and bumps his APR to 3 as well as getting the manual of bodily health for even more health. Bandit camp felt so blessedly easy as I didn't have to fight through 300 bandits at once; potion of magic blocking guaranteed the victory inside the tent, since with the equipment I had, Jet was sporting -4 AC with an additional -13 vs missile... nothing save crits had a chance to hit him.

 

Skipped Cloakwoods for the most part, heading straight for the mine. The boots of Cheetah speed were a huge boon to a character that relies on kiting. Absorption and shield bypass traps, some charges of the necklace of missiles are burnt to burn the guards to death and the mage fell quickly after that. Battle horrors were interesting... Not really. Also burnt to death. Davaeorn's Pro-Normal-missiles is irrelevant vs Arrows of Biting, and the mines are done.

 

Zipped through Baldur's gate, just restocking on potions and dispelling arrows for the most part. Actually battled the Iron Throne, took awhile but after drinking that potion that guarantees saves, it was fairly easy. Candlekeep next; as above, I couldn't break the tomb for the STR tome, so still at 18/09. No biggie, archers shouldn't be using STR too much anyways. Underground party falls as well as both basilisks for Tom's final level with 15 more HP, a max roll. Rested a few times to claim both my DuHMs and went back to BG. Slythe is fought and defeated; interestingly enough, his wife was nowhere to be found.

 

There was a major scare at the palace as the Dopples manage to kill Belt, but Lily (is that even her name?) survived while Jet worked as a turret, picking off the remaining Dopples in one round each. Healed up and went under the city. Scroll of magic protection = immunity to traps, and I also buffed up under its protection... Speed and Power were the two main potions Jet drank. Dispelling arrows hit Sarevok and the teleporting mage; the latter is mopped up quickly. A weird bug happened and Tazok randomly appears behind Sarevok. For the fun of it, I picked off Tazok first abusing my racial enemy bonus; Jet scored a critical hit for 44 damage right off the bat. Sarevok falls quickly after, and Jet will be moving on the SoA (but with a party this time.) I'll probably pick SCS back up after this, win or lose, though the priest precasting is... Kind of silly, if you ask me. No one has those measured-in-rounds types of buffs on them all day long unless they already know there's an enemy to engage...

[Blackraven]

@Corey, could you not use two characters for kiting foes away from your weakest party members and taking using ranged attacks? It's a bit slow I'll admit, but should be a relatively safe way. My solo mages used to do it with their familiars.

@Epsil0: glad you'r enjoying this run, and that you're making good progress. Re: SCS, and the bandit camp, you are aware it's possible to avoid fighting the whole camp? Just speak with Teven or Raiken in Larswood or Peldvale, and offer to join them. They'll accept your offer and the bandit camp won't be hostil until you enter the main tent. Once you're done inside the tent (a battle that's not to be underestimated), you step outside and flee from the bandits, to the nearest area exit. If you can use stealth or invisibility I'd even call it easy. In order to stand against all the bandits one needs ultra low AC.

[Grond0]

Ending stats of 18/08 (forgot to buy a 24 STR potion and somehow never got a DuHM before that point)

 

A weird bug happened and Tazok randomly appears behind Sarevok. For the fun of it, I picked off Tazok first abusing my racial enemy bonus; Jet scored a critical hit for 44 damage right off the bat. Sarevok falls quickly after, and Jet will be moving on the SoA (but with a party this time.) I'll probably pick SCS back up after this, win or lose, though the priest precasting is... Kind of silly, if you ask me. No one has those measured-in-rounds types of buffs on them all day long unless they already know there's an enemy to engage...

You need a minimum of 24 to knock open the tomb with the strength tome - so DUHM would only be of use there to top up a fire or cloud giant strength potion.

 

Tazok starts off the fight invisible and will only appear when he thinks he can attack you.  If you just shoot at Sarevok from distance and immediately retreat Tazok and the others won't notice you and you only have to deal with him anyway.

 

@Epsil0: glad you'r enjoying this run, and that you're making good progress. Re: SCS, and the bandit camp, you are aware it's possible to avoid fighting the whole camp? Just speak with Teven or Raiken in Larswood or Peldvale, and offer to join them. They'll accept your offer and the bandit camp won't be hostil until you enter the main tent. Once you're done inside the tent (a battle that's not to be underestimated), you step outside and flee from the bandits, to the nearest area exit. If you can use stealth or invisibility I'd even call it easy. In order to stand against all the bandits one needs ultra low AC.

Or go one step further and just sneak into the tent, read the letters in the chest and leave without fighting anyone.

[corey_russell]

@Corey, could you not use two characters for kiting foes away from your weakest party members and taking using ranged attacks? It's a bit slow I'll admit, but should be a relatively safe way. My solo mages used to do it with their familiars.

@Epsil0: glad you'r enjoying this run, and that you're making good progress. Re: SCS, and the bandit camp, you are aware it's possible to avoid fighting the whole camp? Just speak with Teven or Raiken in Larswood or Peldvale, and offer to join them. They'll accept your offer and the bandit camp won't be hostil until you enter the main tent. Once you're done inside the tent (a battle that's not to be underestimated), you step outside and flee from the bandits, to the nearest area exit. If you can use stealth or invisibility I'd even call it easy. In order to stand against all the bandits one needs ultra low AC.

I did of course use range attacks with everyone when I could. Part of the problem is the enemies split up their attacks and were changing targets, so no, I couldn't just use two characters. The other issue is that 3 of the 4 range attackers have poor Thac0, so takes quite a while to kill most things, and the only real way to fix that is magic throwing daggers, which there aren't any in BG 1 that I know of. The other issue is that when they run out of throwing daggers, the mage enter melee which of course is no good and causes issues. I would definitely be using slings if it weren't for the massive Thac0 hit mages get when using non-proficient weapons. 

 

Magic missiles would be an excellent help to our damage dealing, but of course our enchanter can't learn that...The sorc will pick that next, if he gets any more level 1 spells, which I'm not sure of (he has 3 right now). Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe Paja should go invisible and pick up the fire wand in the Ankheg nest - she can go invisible the moment she picks it up. An opening fireball won't kill the ghasts, but sure would make them die faster and thus safer. We can't possibly fight Ankhegs yet, we're glass cannons I think is the term.

[Jianson]

and hence I pretended today I pickpocketed one of Drizzt's swords even though in my setup his weapons cannot be pickpocketed (due to one of my mods, don't know which)

Can his swords be pickpocketed in vanilla? I do not remember.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Can his swords be pickpocketed in vanilla? I do not remember.

I don't remember about pure vanilla, but in plain EasyTUTU you can pickpocket one of those swords but not both.

[Blackraven]

I don't remember about pure vanilla, but in plain EasyTUTU you can pickpocket one of those swords but not both.

In vanilla one could pickpocket both of Drizzt's swords. I've never playedEasyTUTU. I'm playing BGT, but I don't know whether it's BGT itself or maybe a mod like Hard Times (which for example replaces the Ring of Wizardry near FAI with a scroll of Find Familiar).
 

I did of course use range attacks with everyone when I could. Part of the problem is the enemies split up their attacks and were changing targets, so no, I couldn't just use two characters. The other issue is that 3 of the 4 range attackers have poor Thac0, so takes quite a while to kill most things, and the only real way to fix that is magic throwing daggers, which there aren't any in BG 1 that I know of. The other issue is that when they run out of throwing daggers, the mage enter melee which of course is no good and causes issues. I would definitely be using slings if it weren't for the massive Thac0 hit mages get when using non-proficient weapons. 

 

Magic missiles would be an excellent help to our damage dealing, but of course our enchanter can't learn that...The sorc will pick that next, if he gets any more level 1 spells, which I'm not sure of (he has 3 right now). Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe Paja should go invisible and pick up the fire wand in the Ankheg nest - she can go invisible the moment she picks it up. An opening fireball won't kill the ghasts, but sure would make them die faster and thus safer. We can't possibly fight Ankhegs yet, we're glass cannons I think is the term.

I understand. I had similar difficulties when I ran an all mages party. If you can't get your enemies to all focus one party member it's going to be difficult. I though maybe the faster werewolf could draw all aggro withou being hit, while the others attack with their missile weapons. As to Fireball, I'm normally quite generous in using potions of explosions (High Hedge) and oils of fiery burning (Mad Arcand, High Hedge as well?). Still, maybe it's better to always flee in these situastions on no-reload runs