The abortive end for our previous run meant there was time to make a start on a new adventure yesterday. As usual we randomly selected character classes we haven't previously used in our runs. Gate70 got a fighter and I got ... a fighter.
A pair of dwarven fighters are well-equipped for rapid progress and this couple have done that. As usual they started with Shoal, where Guarh acted as distraction as he didn't have a missile weapon. Tweedle used a composite long bow there (although he has no proficiency in that). Subsequently Guarh attacks with an axe, using a +1 shield supplied by Bjornin. Tweedle is increasingly wielding dual hammers, though still sometimes uses his bow.
They attempted to take on the basilisks early, only to leave again when Tweedle reported that the green scroll of protection from petrification had failed to work on Guarh. Somewhat later they returned to the area after Tweedle found the scroll in his inventory (and mumbled something to the effect that perhaps the earlier use might have been a stone to flesh scroll ). In the meantime they had defeated Meilum and saved Arabelle from xvarts. Guarh boldly decided to confront Silke in the knowledge that his 44 HPs were well above average for a level 3 fighter - they proved just enough to survive as Silke showed the dangers of casting rebounding spells. Shortly after that the only other encounter with a hint of danger was when Tarnesh managed to scare Guarh - but he was already a dead man walking due to an arrow in mid-air.
After the basilisks, Korax helped with Mutamin and then managed to paralyse Kirian. He also kept the attention of the others in the party long enough for Guarh to smack down Peter - with Kirian dead as well the remaining fighters had no chance against the dwarven onslaught. Karlat and Greywolf fared no better and the duo have just completed a tour of the Cloudpeaks.
Stats:
Tweedle, fighter 5, 57 HPs, 49 kills Guarh, fighter 5, 71 HPs, 75 kills, 0 deaths (to date Guarh is only 4 HPs below the potential maximum)
I honestly can't remember where it came from. Judging from the name of the file it's not from a standard portrait location. It's possible I cut it out of a larger portrait on the web (which is how I get most new portraits these days). Alternatively it might have come from Gate70 doing the same thing. Let me know if you want me to send you copies.
@Serg, good to see you back on track. Nice battle against SLythe and Krystin. They're both pretty nasty with SCS (especially Krystin in my experience).Good luck against the Big S. Hope things in RL are getting better for you.
@Corey, excellent progress. I'm still very interested in the Halfling slingam concept. Do you have an idea of his average damage output per hit (or per round)?
@Grond0 and Gate70, love it how you guys (especially Grond0) seem to be able to complete BG1 like 10 times in the time I take for one playthrough.
@Grimwald, your updates are very enjoyable to read. Immersive but not as (overly) extensive as mine sometimes get.
@Corey, excellent progress. I'm still very interested in the Halfling slingam concept. Do you have an idea of his average damage output per hit (or per round)?
No not really. However, I think it's not that impressive, as he has less kills that everyone other than Hanna (whose Thac0 dropped a bunch when she dualed to thief and hasn't regained her fighter abilities yet). He will probably need the sling of seeking to come into his own, so to speak.
Corslinger and his band of fighters - FINAL BG 1 Update!
Corslinger's team negotiated chapter 6 with almost no trouble, thanks to Hanna's great thief work. There was one huge hitch, however - I had forgotten to bring potion of mirror eyes with us! Woops, fortunately Corslinger had a good idea. Hanna moved to a tunnel where she can throw fireballs into the basilisks' area without being seen herself. I knew I was saving these potions of explosions for something...
Chapter 7 was also very smooth, almost no buffs except Duchal Palace, was taking no chances there. Also turned off AI and turned on auto-pause on character gone, to make sure we wasted no action - success, both Dukes were saved. Thieve's maze was no trouble, Hanna went invisible for the traps in front of the skeletal warriors to de-trap them, otherwise basic attacks.
For the Iron Throne party, we gave some buffs to Misty and she distracted the enemies while the party unloaded into them from range, including arrows of detonation from Paja - success, yay!
Time for the Final Battle. Lots of buffs, mostly from potions. Misty used a pro magic scroll plus potion buffs. Our plan was for Misty to charge the dais, with the other party members assisting with ranged attacks including arrows of detonation from Paja - this seemed to be working, not the least because the traps that went off (or contingency from Semaj, not sure) all hit the enemies, including putting Angelo unconscious, awesome!
We did have some issues, Misty was dieing so she moved, but then the party moved as their target (Sarevok) moved and then Paja hit a trap and was duly chaosed (drats). Misty dieing but no where to go and Misty was chunked! Too bad...
Time for plan B. Due to his awesome Thaco, Joshua charged Sarevok with his Spider's Bane. Joshua did kai, did a single hit of 31 damage and that was enough to finish Sarevok!
Whole party except Misty moving to BG 2. For now, only fighters will join, so either Korgan or Mazzy will replace Misty. If 2 more characters get chunked, will consider Anomen since he's part fighter. I will also consider Yoshimo, if necessary, since I can dual him to fighter. He will be a last resort, however, since I can't keep him for the whole game.
Thanks Wise, I hope you can follow me soon too. I was hoping to join Caddy and Xzur in Amn, but they let themselves get eaten by Thaxxy. I certainly understand that though, many of my runs ended to Thaxxy - especially paladin runs...oh, and what do you know? Caddy was a pally! Perhaps instead of Shadow Dragon, we should call Thaxxy the Anti-Paladin Dragon....
By the way, tomorrow some no-reloaders of this board are going to attempt a 4 human players no-reload. It should prove interesting...
Dear fellow-forumites, let me introduce my latest charname: Ocker Trueforge, dwarven Skald. I created Ocker about a month ago. Rolled a ridiculous 98, my highest roll ever (together with one on a Cleric/Ranger years ago). It made me consider actually lowering his stats, but in the end I decided not to. No-Reload has proven to be hard enough for me as it is.
The 19 CON (20 with tome) is very copious I know. Regeneration is nice when resting/travelling, but not fantastic. However I might for the first time equip the Claw of Kazgaroth. At a -2 CON penalty he’d still have full HP and full shorty save bonuses. The Claw combined with the shorty saves would give +1 vs. Death and +8 vs. Wands, Polymorph, Breath, and Spells. Antidotes should cover most failed saves vs death (spiders’ poisons, arrow vs biting).The Claw further grants a +4 bonus AC modifier against BG1’s ubiquitous missile attacks.
Ocker is a Mountain Dwarf (also referred to as Shield Dwarf) whose forebears according to Gorion hail from the great dwarven stronghold of Mithral Hall in the Frost Hills in the Spine of the World. Ocker would love to visit Mithral Hall someday, in order to learn more about his roots, his ancestors, and “his” culture. At the same time, thanks to having grown up in Candlekeep, surrounded by Humans and other humanoids as well as Dwarves, Ocker is comfortable and non-judgmental in his dealings with people regardless of their race or vocation, and quite curious about different cultures and lore in general. The Dwarf has studied many a tome on the history of the Realms, on the different regions, kingdoms, peoples, faiths and, with particular interest, the great battles. In Winthrop’s Inn people often have Ocker recount the stories and accounts he’s read about or heard from visiting scholars. He has even put a number of tales to song and performed them at the inn. The reading, writing, storytelling and singing have Ocker eager to set out and live his own tale although he’d sorely miss the wealth of knowledge the library provides. Ocker is remarkably sociable for a Dwarf, always curious to know new people and their backstories. As an NG Skald, Ocker considers himself an honorable warrior-poet, and is most likely to team up with warrior types of noble heart, although he’ll also want to continue his arcane studies, so the company of at least one Mage would be very welcome. In spite of his alignment his aforementioned curiosity and his non-judgmental nature make him likely to work and travel with companions of all alignments, including evil, as long as they don’t relapse in committing evil actions. He believes in second chances, atonement and redemption rather than punishment.
Ocker hasn’t only studied history and literature at the Candlekeep Library; recently he’s taken an interest in interpreting magic scrolls. He had always understood that Dwarves have no affinity with the arcane arts, until fellow Shield Dwarf Behring of Daggerford, mage and loremaster, visited the Keep a short while ago. Behring’s arcane prowess surprised Ocker as much as Candelkeep’s wizards Gorion, Osprey, Mordaine, Tethoril and Ulraunt. Too little time has passed for Ocker to actually train in the art of spell scribing, but he has already learnt to successfully utter a number of incantations from scrolls. He would have dedicated more time at the library to increase his affinity with arcane magic, if it weren’t for Gorion’s message this morning that Ocker was to leave Candlekeep with him.
I’m playing with the rogue Rebalancing mod, which slightly alters the Skald kit. Description:
Spoiler
Skalds now have a +1 penalty to the casting speed of all spells as an additional disadvantage. Their battlesong has been slightly revised as well. The updated kit description reads as follows:
SKALD: This Nordic bard is also a warrior of great strength, skill and virtue. His songs are inspiring sagas of battle and valor, and the Skald devotes his life to those pursuits. Skalds are honored and respected as great warrior-poets who memorize the feats of each raid and battle, setting them down in the form of poetry. Spells are nearly unknown in the Skald's society and they are viewed with suspicion in any event. Using magic is slightly more difficult for a Skald and requires additional time and effort.
Advantages:
- Gains Skald's Song at first level. This ability further improves at 9th and 18th level
- Gains a +1 bonus to hit and damage with all weapons at first level
Disadvantages:
- Pick pockets ability one-quarter normal
- Suffers a 1 point penalty to spellcasting speed
Skald's Song:
By chanting a war song, a Skald can inspire allies as they go forward into combat. Chanting can elevate spirits, remove concerns about danger, keep men's minds focused on combat and fill friendly forces with a sense of being larger than life. The effects of the song further improve as the Skald gains more levels:
1st: gives allies +2 to hit, +2 to damage, -2 to AC and immunity to Fear
9th: gives allies +3 to hit, +3 to damage, -3 to AC, immunity to Fear and Confusion
18th: gives allies +4 to hit, +4 to damage, -4 to AC, immunity to Fear, Stun and Confusion.
***
Current progress:
Ocker did all chores in Candlekeep except Reevor’s rats and killed both Shank and Carbos while under the effect of Haste (thanks to Deder’s oil of speed). He set out with Gorion, but the latter fell at the hands of a group of bandits led by an imposing warrior that had seemed to know Ocker. He had Imoen join him, and travelled back to Candlekeep with her where he arranged for Gorion’s burial and left Imoen at the gate. The harsh world he had seen himself end up in was no place for innocent little girls such as Imoen. She gave him a Wand of Magic Missiles she had no doubt stolen from someone in Candlekeep.
On Gorion’s body he had found a letter by someone named “E.” advising Gorion to go to the Friendly Arm Inn. Ocker decided to do the opposite, fearful that he hadn’t been the only one to have read that letter. He travelled immediately south, toward the High Hedge hoping he could trade the Wand of Magic Missiles for something he’d find more useful. To get there he had to kill two skeletons whose throwing daggers hurt him more than a bit. He had to quaff two healing potions before he could take care of them. A good helmet would be worthy investment, he inferred. The mage at the High Hedge, Thalantyr, had a dim blue ioun stone for sale, ‘The Fragment of Enlightenment’, that protects against critical hits and gives a +20 lore bonus. Unfortunately it was slightly more expensive than he could afford. Thalantyr asked Ocker if he had seen his apprentice somewhere. According to the sage the young mage, Melicamp, had left a few days ago, to the south, and never returned. Ocker decided to go look for him, hoping that would give him a discount on the Fragment of Enlightenment. He first made a stop in Beregost though, where he calmed Marl, got Firebead a book he was after, retrieved a letter from two Ogrillons for Mirianne and killed four huge spiders that had occupied one of the town’s homes. After that he travelled south and did indeed find Melicamp, transformed into a chicken! Ocker returned with Melicamp to Thalantyr, got the latter a skull he needed, and saw how Thalantyr restored Melicamp to his human form. [Ocker reached level 4 thanks to these exploits.] He sold almost all of his possessions to buy the ioun stone he had so eagerly desired.
Ocker was eager to find some worthy companions, but hadn’t ran into any in Beregost. Therefore he decided to travel further south, hoping he’d have better luck in the next town, Nashkel. His decision proved to be a good one when on the road to Nashkel he met a Barbarian warrioress of great strength who challenged him to a duel. Before she could touch him, he knocked her back with a good hit of his throwing axe. The woman, a bit of a misandrist, was actually impressed and agreed to join Ocker. Not much later, at the northen outskirts of Nashkel, he received a ring that further increased his charisma from a kindly nobleman. In Nashkel they met yet another imposing warrior, a Rashemaan Ranger by the name of Minsc who was on a quest to save his ‘witch’ from a group of gnolls to the west. Ocker agreed to help the Ranger, but told him they first needed to rest. So the three went to the Nashkel Inn where they were attacked by Neira. The bounty hunting priestess managed to hold first Minsc and later Ocker, but not the enraged Shar-Teel who kept the Cleric more than busy until Minsc regained control over his body and dealt the killing blow.
After they rested the party visited the Nashkel Carnival hoping for cheap potions for their trip westward. They met a dwarven crook who wanted to sell them an overly expensive scroll of Stone to Flesh with which they would be able to restore a petrified warrioress to her fleshly form. Rather than buying the scroll from the Dwarf, Ocker decided to sell a Helmet of Infravision they had found on the bounty huntress’s body at the Nashkell Inn and buy a cheaper Stone to Flesh scroll at the Temple of Helm. The woman was depetrified and presented herself as Branwen, a Nordic Warrior Priestess of Tempus. In her thankfulness she offered to join the party, to which the others agreed. They bought her a suit of chain mail, a war hammer and a helmet and then travelled west, to look for Minsc’s witch. On their way they had to kill a Cave Bear. At one point they reached a lake and met a fisherman whom they shared a meal with. The area also housed a number of skeletons.
After their meals the party further explored the area until they were accosted by three bandits: a female Mage, a Fighter, and a hobgoblin archer. What followed was a battle that could have gone either way. In the end Ocker and Shar-Teel were they only ones standing.
Branwen silenced the Priest and the hobgoblin, but not the Mage she had hoped to silence. The latter managed to sleep both Minsc and Ocker, at different times, and to charm both Shar-Teel and Branwen. The Fighter and the archer who seemed to have an unlimited supply of poisoned arrows tried to take down Minsc and Shar-Teel, while the mage proceeded to attack Ocker with her staff. Minsc was the first to fall, but then the charms on both Shar-Teel and Branwen wore off. Shar-Teel went straight after the mage, slaying her before she could take kill Ocker. Branwen, at near death status, and with no healing potions, saw the hobgoblin archer aim his bow at her. She rushed toward him to prevent him from shooting, but came too late. She fell as well. Then Shar-Teel bested the Fighter in melee combat, so that only the hobgoblin, Shar-Teel and Ocker (sound asleep) remained. When Ocker awoke he saw the hobgoblin hit Shar-Teel more than once, bringing her health to dangerously low levels. He started to sing his battlesong to instill hope and more courage into his companion. She cried a battlecry and slew the hobgoblin with a fierce blow of her greatsword.
After the battle, the two decided to rest and then to return to Nashkel to get their fallen comrades raised at the Temple of Helm. When he laid himself down Shar-Teel approached him and suggested they spend the night together. Both were bruised and battered from their battle against the bandits, but his admiration and thankfulness for the strong woman with her wide feminine hips and massive thighs, combined with the adrenaline that both still felt rushing through their bodies were too much for Ocker to even contemplate declining her proposal. He felt a bit awkward as he had never done this before but the absence of both Minsc’s and Branwen’s prying eyes and ears made him feel comfortable enough to give himself over to the moment and forget his worries for a while.
The next day, without discussing the events of the night before, the two travelled further westward until they ran into an enraged Amnish guard captain who had apparently just slain an innocent family. There was clearly something off about this man, as if he was possessed. Ocker managed to prevent a fight, calming the man and taking him to Nalin at the Nashkel Temple of Helm, where it turned out that the cause of the Captain’s behavior had been a cursed greatsword. At the Temple of Helm they got Branwen and Minsc raised, after which the party set out on their second attempt to find Minsc’s witch.
Blackraven, I am wondering if you have come across finnjo's sub-race mod. It works with Tutu and BG" and presumably BGT as well even though it is called the BGII-subrace mod. There are some minor bugs that can be fixed with SK, but it allows you to actually make a dwarf into a shield dwarf, duerger etc. each sub-race having its own quirks. I believe that it is fairly well balanced as any major advantages of a subrace are offset by a 10% or 20% penalty in experience.
It has enabled me to have a drow in my current game and it would enable you to have a shield dwarf in your game.
The shield dwarf is one of the few sub-races with no disadvantages, but the advantages are not great either:
SHIELD DWARF: Shield Dwarves are short stocky humanoids with ruddy cheeks, dark eyes,
and dark hair. Though there are exceptions, they tend to be a dour and taciturn people.
- ADVANTAGES: +1 THAC0 vs. orcs, goblins, and bugbears and +4 to AC vs. giants.
- DISADVANTAGES: None.
We continued towards Baldur's Gate and once there did numerous trivial tasks most of which by themselves brought little reward and little experience, ut which together were significant. Only one of the tasks caused us problems.
We were fighting an ogre-mage and some carrion crawlers. Despite my high magical resistance I was held and then Val was also. She was getting seriously injured, but because we had spider's bane, we were able to defeat them all.
Ajantis eventually became truly courageous and proposed to me, a proposal which I had no hesitation in accepting. A few days later he gave me a necklace which I can use to cast "protection from magic" on myself. (Strangely I can wear it despite being a wizard slayer!?)
Wise: The holding effect is from the Carrion Crawlers; it isn't a magic effect, think of it like some spiders have a paralyzing poison. The best defense is free action, whether by spell, equipment, or a freedom potion. Nowadays, I always put free action on the PC that fight, as multiple carrion crawlers (who get a lot of attacks to boot) should not be under-estimated. Glad you made it nevertheless.
Wise: The holding effect is from the Carrion Crawlers; it isn't a magic effect, think of it like some spiders have a paralyzing poison. The best defense is free action, whether by spell, equipment, or a freedom potion. Nowadays, I always put free action on the PC that fight, as multiple carrion crawlers (who get a lot of attacks to boot) should not be under-estimated. Glad you made it nevertheless.
izard slayers can't use freedom of action potions etc. so clearly if I did a solo run with one, carrion crawlers would have to be dealt with using ranged weapons.
I was at a loose end for an hour or so earlier this morning and decided to start off a wild mage. Unlike recent attempts this one is on a basic BGT installation rather than being tactically modded. That should give her a reasonable chance of success if I maintain concentration and survive the dangerous early period in BG2.
So far she has progressed to level 5. The only time she's been wounded so far was a nasty slice from Meilum when he was able to attack her across some rocks. There was one other dangerous moment when she used the wand of frost on a couple of archers accompanying Sendai. One died immediately and I expected the other to quickly be taken down by darts while the familiar tanked him using mirror images. However, Chic's aim was off and Alexander managed to clear all the mirrors and hit the familiar once (putting it at potential danger from a critical) before eventually dying to the familiar.
izard slayers can't use freedom of action potions etc. so clearly if I did a solo run with one, carrion crawlers would have to be dealt with using ranged weapons.
Wizard Slayers CAN use Spider's Bane which has free action - that would be the real alternative for solo WS. Would be pretty handy against undead too.
@Grond0 - good luck with your wild mage. Hopefully this is the one.
I was at a loose end for an hour or so earlier this morning and decided to start off a wild mage. Unlike recent attempts this one is on a basic BGT installation rather than being tactically modded. That should give her a reasonable chance of success if I maintain concentration and survive the dangerous early period in BG2.
So far she has progressed to level 5. The only time she's been wounded so far was a nasty slice from Meilum when he was able to attack her across some rocks. There was one other dangerous moment when she used the wand of frost on a couple of archers accompanying Sendai. One died immediately and I expected the other to quickly be taken down by darts while the familiar tanked him using mirror images. However, Chic's aim was off and Alexander managed to clear all the mirrors and hit the familiar once (putting it at potential danger from a critical) before eventually dying to the familiar.
I led my subordinates deeper into the Cloakwood after a rest back @ my camp & a stop @ FAI for some additional Elixirs of Health. The next stop in the Cloakwood was full of Spiders which we dealt w/rather easily, although there were so many we were running out of steam. I chose to pressing onward b/c sleeping in a forest full of spiders seemed bound to draw more of them. After some dozen or 15 Giant & Huge Spiders, a couple of Phase Spiders & a Sword Spider we found a cave with a fat, bloated hideous creature surrounded by more spiders of all types & two Ettercaps. We killed the woman, or whatever, that claimed she’d been cursed that way by Jon Irenicus. Whatever it was, I’m guessing she definitely wasn’t Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders.
I backed us out of the cave rather than battle the spiders & Ettercaps in their home where I might get segregated & trapped. Kagain & Eldoth actually went back into the cave, because they’d gotten a scratch, while the others of us fought the battle outside. Slowly we knocked down one spider @ a time, then the Ettercaps until, after a long hard battle, I’d won again. Sometime in there, Kagain & Eldoth reemerged from the cave & helped attack the spiders & Ettercaps from behind.
Key Event:I was trying to get us out of there b/c I’d done what I came to do & wanted to recuperate & sell some loot. We stumbled on a group of four Ettercaps & a web trap released. I now had Spiders Bane so I backed ‘em up & waited on the Ettercaps. However, somewhere in there one of my subordinates stumbled on some more spiders. Everyone was injured after the battle in front of the cave, so we didn’t have many hits to give. I don’t know what happened but Kagain took a hit & suddenly was wandering around dazed or something & stumbled on still more spiders. He never came back & I realized he’d been killed – fine time to go taking a dirt nap. Viconia & Eldoth were back providing ranged support while I was up to my ankles in enemies & Montaron was providing back stab support where he could. The battle got out of hand when spiders ended up all around including back where my ranged support was coming from. I wasn’t landing many blows & before I knew it Montaron & Eldoth were also at surrounding temperature. I decided to get out of there w/Viconia & I did just that. My plan was to get out of there & get back to pickup the equipment my deceased left behind but it was gone when I returned. Not sure I will raise any or all of them yet. Viconia & I killed a pant load of spiders & Ettercaps on return w/o them. (I never slept but actually saved the game overnight, thinking that since I didn’t sleep in the ‘game’ the equipment would be there when I played again but it wasn’t – hmmm).
CUTTIN' MY LOSSES!
Treasure of Note: Spiders Bane (Me)
Current Disposition: Resting w/Viconia @ my Camp.
Next Steps:Original plan was continue deeper into the Cloakwood. I’ll sleep on it.
Level Up:My Malevolent Benefactor increased my power yet again & now I am a BlackGuard (Anti-Paladin (fallen)/5); Kagain too was promoted to Berserker/5 before he bit the dust.
After all experiencing multiplayer duos, this is our first attempt at joining them up for the full quad experience .
The difficulties of juggling time zones makes sessions a bit more troublesome to plan, but we managed to safely negotiate our first attempt this afternoon (or morning depending on your point of view). Early tactics relied heavily on use of missile weapons - meaning Ratic has got more than his share of kills due to the heft of his throwing axes. Over time, disabling spells have come more to the fore and, where combat force is needed, a raging berserker acting as a spearhead is a pretty frightful weapon.
After Candlekeep we went north to the FAI, picking up a couple of belts from the ogre on the way - Wewa getting in touch with her masculine side by donning one of those. Then we went back south via Beregost & Nashkel and moved into the Cloudpeaks. There was a nasty moment there when Iskvael let a dire wolf too close and was lucky that a bite took only 8 of his 9 HPs despite having a missile weapon equipped.
With the odd level having been picked up on the way encounters started getting much easier. Greywolf was doomed and blinded. The basilisks were helpless against Iskvael's protective spells. Mutamin was silenced from out of sight - as were all of Kirian's party. Bassilus could make no impact against Wewa's rage and she took the opportunity to get rid of her belt when taking Bassilus' symbol back to the temple.
Melicamp was successfully revived and Bjornin's gratitude to us for fighting his battles got our reputation to 20. That meant that some full plate for Wewa was easily affordable and she spearheaded a charge through the Nashkel mines before raging Mulahey. Outside, the amazons stood little chance - particularly after 3 of them were blinded and Lamalha silenced!
). In the meantime they had defeated Meilum and saved Arabelle from xvarts. Guarh boldly decided to confront Silke in the knowledge that his 44 HPs were well above average for a level 3 fighter - they proved just enough to survive as Silke showed the dangers of casting rebounding spells. Shortly after that the only other encounter with a hint of danger was when Tarnesh managed to scare Guarh - but he was already a dead man walking due to an arrow in mid-air.
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