16377 réponses à ce sujet

[Alesia_BH]

 

Ephraim has fallen to a mere goblin

 

That's a bummer, Epsil0. What's next?

 

Best,

 

A.

[Blackraven]

Will catch up with Alesia and Crevs later today.
Best of luck Epsil0 (we all have embarassing Charname deaths in our track records I think  ), and also to BlindVisionary! 


Glorydd, Dwarven FIghter/Thief, 6th update

 

Glorydd traveled from the Bandit Camp to the Friendly Arm Inn, where she spent the night. However, just like a few nights before, she did not get much rest. The indignant voice returned to her in her dreams, and its words would stick in her mind, as she got up the next day.

 

"Such pride undeserved, great conqueror, when your whole being is borrowed. Credit where it is due, and dues where payment is demanded. You were made as you are, and you can also be broken."

 

What had she borrowed, and what payment was she due? And to whom? She had many questions, but no idea where to look for answers. Glorydd decided to leave those questions for future dreams, and focus on the waking world where her main concern was the Iron Throne. The Dwarf traveled from the inn into the vast and densely vegetated Cloakwood in search of their hidden base. Most Dwarves would think twice about venturing into that seemingly infinite forest, but Glorydd was a topsider, and one attuned to the wilds. The woods were safe for the most part, but danger - mostly in the form of Spiders - was never far away, so Glorydd forced herself to try and remain vigilant at all times.

A full day had passed when she met a first demihuman: Aldeth Sashenstar, a human noble from Baldur's Gate. He asked her for protection against a group of Druids that were out for his head. Glorydd agreed to protect the man, but when the Druids came and explained to her that Aldeth had slain a Druid for no good reason and Aldeth started hurling insults at the Druids, she told the men that she would no longer involve herself in their quarrel. Aldeth didn't take this well; he attacked her. Strangely the Druids did nothing to stop Aldeth, so the Dwarf had to deal with the nobleman herself. She walked off, saddened by the unnecessary bloodshed, until she was attacked by a pack of Tasloi she hadn't spotted in het absentmindedness. It reminded her that the woods weren't the place to let her thoughts wander off. Fortunately Tasloi were no threat to Glorydd at this stage. She slew the evil creatures, and saw one of them drop a beautiful cloak. The Dwarf knew it could well be enchanted, so she kept it for future identification.

 

Deeper in the woods she reached an area colonized by Spiders. At the outer reaches of it, Glorydd met a young man, Tiber. He begged her to find his brother Chelak who had wandered off looking for the fabled greatsword Spiders' Bane. The Dwarf wasn't very enthusiastic about a thorough exploration of "spider country", but moved as always by the plights of the common folk, she promised to find Chelak. She quaffed a potion of freedom (and kept more of those potions at hand) and she cast protection from poison on herself, from a green scroll. The potion allowed her to wade through several web traps as if they weren't there, and the protection from poison helped a great deal in her encounters with the Spiders, especially the Phase Spider variants which she knew have a very potent venom. Even with those protections, prevalence over three Phase Spiders was hard-fought. The creatures' fast and incessant attacks left her bruised and scarred. The Sword Spiders were even worse. Her first encounter with a single Sword Spider was almost as taxing as her previous dealings with the three Phase Spiders, though she did prevail. Glorydd proceeded to slay a pack of Ettercaps, with less difficulty as she could rely on stealth and backstabs, but when she was done, she was exhausted. Low on healing potions and unwilling to waste them all, she decided to use one charge of a ring of invisibility and allow herself to rest and heal for a full day. 

 

The next day she found the spiders' nest. No longer protected from poison, Glorydd was hesitant to enter it, but she realized she might find Chelak there, or whatever remained of him. She swigged another potion of freedom, found the den inhabited by a morbidly obese, naked female, and many spiders and Ettercaps. Neither the female nor the spiders appreciated the Dwarf's visit, so the latter hastily retreated. The spiders and Ettercaps followed her outside. Remembering how three Phase Spiders or one Sword Spider had proven to be barely manageable for her, Glorydd knew she had no way of dealing in melee combat with two Phase Spiders, two Giant Spiders, two Ettercaps, and two Sword Spiders at the same time. Instead, she opted for stealth and surprise attacks. She made generous use of her stock of arrows of biting (purchased before from Taerom Fuiruim), especially against the otherwise lighting fast Sword Spiders. Once her minions were out of the equation, the fat woman changed her tune. She told Glorydd she was once a beautiful Elf; her transformation was the result of a curse by one Jon Irenicus. She begged the Dwarf to end her suffering, and Glorydd, knowing the female might never change her evil ways, obliged. Glorydd found Chelak's dead body and Spiders' Bane, and returned them to Tiber.

 

Glorydd had roamed the forest for three more days, staying hidden most of the time, and come close to giving up the search for the Iron Throne base, when she spotted two mercenaries, snuck up to them, and listened in on their conversation. They appeared to be guards, and they were speaking ill of Davaeorn. This Davaeorn was a name she had encountered in Tazok's correspondence. Completely unaware of her presence the men guided her to the hidden Iron Throne base. From the outside it consisted of a number of plain wooden structures, nothing impressive.

Upon arrival she charmed one of the guards with Lord Foreshadow's ring, and together they slew the other guard. The two then walked to the entrance of the main building, but were accosted by a party of two wizards and two warriors. Their spokesman told the Dwarf they had been hired to get rid of her. Again, and this worried her more than the imminent battle, her enemy had somehow been aware of her movements.

She first dealt with the mages. The charmed guard soaked up a number of spells for her, before he got himself killed, and Glorydd made herself the target of their magics as well but only after she'd applied an oil of speed and swigged a potion of magic shielding to keep herself safe from their most dangerous spells. It soon resulted in two dead mages.

Glorydd respected the warriors for their skill. The leader in particular, a hasted Berserker whom she saw quaff a potion of frost giant strength, she was hesitant to engage in melee combat. He was defenseless against her arrows of biting and her acid arrows though. She took a pair of Boots of Speed from the warrior's corpse and put them on, and then slew the second warrior with little difficulty, because he simply failed to keep up with the hasted Dwarf.

 

The wooden structures proved to be nothing but the proverbial tip of the iceberg. The core of the Iron Throne base was underground: a mine. Unlike Nashkel's mine it was fully operational, and the iron it produced was of good quality. It dawned on her that the Iron Throne knew no scruples when it came to their commercial pursuits. They had monopolized the Sword Coast's iron trade by corrupting the iron produced by their competitors. Nonetheless she still couldn't explain the attempts on her life, which had started in Candlekeep, a long time before she'd had crossed the Iron Throne. 

 

Inside the mine, Glorydd kept to the shadows, only to reveal herself to one miner who was standing next to a large plug keeping a river from flooding it. If they removed the plug, he told her, they could inundate the mine and deprive the Iron Throne of their business. Glorydd would have to retrieve the key to the plug from Davaeorn though, at the lowest level, and the miner was willing to flood the mine only if Glorydd found a way to ensure the safety of the other miners.

On the second level she made sure again to remain hidden to those she didn't want to notice her, but she spoke with a miner named Rill who had been imprisoned for mutiny. With 100 GP he would be able to bribe some of the guards and lead the miners to safety. Glorydd gave him the gold without hesitation. She also met a fellow Dwarf, Yeslick, a warrior priest of Clangeddin and the last of the Orothair clan that had operated the mine for centuries. He wanted to help her against Davaeorn, and even travel with her. Glorydd loved the idea, but she also knew (and confessed to him) that she had many battles awaiting her, challenges that weren't his. His challenge was to restore the Cloakwood Mine to its old glory. Yeslick agreed to the flooding of the mine and told her he would leave with the other miners and return in the future with more clanless and outsider Dwarves to drain the flooded mine, and make it a Dwarven stronghold again. Glorydd promised Yeslick to spread the word on his noble pursuit, and the priest advised the lass to protect herself against magic when confronting Davaeorn, for he was a skilled wizard.

 

She descended two more levels, unnoticed, to reach Davaeorn's lair. There, a single guard tried to stop her. He would pay for it with his life. She then took Yeslick's advice and used one of three scrolls of Protection from Magic on herself to make sure Davaeorn's spells wouldn't affect her. While venturing deeper into the lair, she triggered various magical traps that would have rendered her helpless or maybe even killed her outright had she not been protected against their effects. Davaeorn himself had two Battle Horrors defending him, plus summons that he would later dispatch with his own elemental magics. Like most wizards, Davaeorn had lacked the martial training to defend himself whenever his magic was failing, so all he could do was defend himself with protective spells, and heal with potions. But Glorydd patiently pelted him with acid arrows and arrows of biting until he fell. The Battle Horrors, whose attacks she had tried to evade with moderate success, disintegrated immediately after that.

 

Glorydd rummaged through Davaeorn's belongings, took what valuables she could carry, as well as correspondence mentioning an Iron Throne headquarters in the city of Baldur's Gate and the key to the river plug. Back on the first level of the mine she found the miners all gone, except for the one who would flood the mine for her. She hastily left the premises and set out to Baldur's Gate, hoping she would be welcome there this time around.

[corey_russell]

@Blackraven: Nice attention to detail in your write-up, even writing exact quotes from the dream in-game.

@Crevsdaak: Exciting fight with Silke, glad your character pulled through.

@Alesia_BH: Seems like you are taking an original take on your bhaalspawn, or is she a cat-spawn? Maybe 1/8th cat? : )

[Alesia_BH]

@Alesia_BH: Seems like you are taking an original take on your bhaalspawn, or is she a cat-spawn? Maybe 1/8th cat? : )

 

Nah. Arcadia isn't part cat. I will, however, acknowledge the possibility that she and Captain Swarmi are somehow related.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Blackraven]

Nah. Arcadia isn't part cat. I will, however, acknowledge the possibility that she and Captain Swarmi are somehow related.

 

Best,

 

A.

If only she had a cat's 9 lives... on the other hand wouldn't be much of a challenge then would it?

Thanks btw Corey, I enjoy both the roleplaying and the writing every once in while

[Epsil0]

That's a bummer, Epsil0. What's next?

 

Best,

 

A.

I've rolled up a new wild mage with the same concept and idea; I'd like to at least get to the Thief dual-class before writing this off.

[CrevsDaak]

So Glîncúwen's party entered the Mines, cleared off the first two levels, Kivan got killed in the third one so we got back, carrying the stuff as we could, raised him just so he could get killed by a Kobold Chieftain accompanied by a I got Quayle fight a Ghoul (dunno what happened on the screenshot ) but since he wasn't that good, Kivan and Ajantis helped him out.

We entered Mulahey's Lair and Kivan used stealth to pass Mulahey, he recruited Xan (screenshot's after the Mines) and even if the party was divided, we slept. We started the fight, Quayle casted Sleep over the Kobolds while Ajantis and Garrick focused on the Skeletons. My PC, Kivan and Xan were attacking Mulahey. Kivan got Held by one of the Half-Orc's spells, but Xan and Glîncúwen could heal him so he didn't die (this time). After the Skeletons were done, Ajantis and Garrick also focused on Mulahey, with some Magic Missiles and Sunscorches from Xan, he didn't last for too long.

Back in the Surface, we decided to explore the area a bit, and we met with a rather large group of Kobolds. Quayle used Grease (IMO it's the most underrated spell. It's very useful for a ranged-heavy party like ours) and it got a bit easier, but him, Ajantis, Glîncúwen and Garrick got a bit hurt in the end. (We also slaughtered a bunch of skellies.)

Back in Nashkel, we were rewarded for clearing the Mines and told that we should give Thalantyr and Taerom the contaminated Iron Ore we had and the Vial of Mysterious Liquid, hence why we left so fast we even avoided Nimbul (actually I just went other path). In Beregost, Gurke told us that we could keep his cloak (in other words...), we gave Taerom the contaminated iron ore, bought ammunition, a sling (for Xan) and sold an Ankheg shell. In our way to Thalantyr, some brainless skeletons (it's not and insult—it's a fact! ) tried to block our way, but they were slain as all the enemies we've come across (save for those whom we've escaped from,, heh).

Thalantyr identified the Gauntlets of Dexterity for us (now Garrick has them, Ajantis might use them too eventually), and Xan surprises me with a line that fits to any no-reloader...


Back in Beregost, we fought Karlat (but not after giving Ajantis a Potion of Defense and the Gauntlets of Dexterity ) and easily killed him since Xan's Hold was pretty effective against him (even if he (Karlat) had taken a Potion of Magic Resistance). We gave back Purdue his sword and headed to some Wilderness to get moar XP.

We went to the Cloudpeaks. I regret this a lot. We got swarmed in seconds, since when we entered the area we ran onto Vax and Zal *AND* one of those giant groups of Kobolds (more than 20 for sure). It didn't help that we tried to kite Vax. We ran into Xvarts and Kivan went down first. We continued running, Xan got killed by several Kobold Commandos (and other Kobolds-with-Bows) and so did Quayle.

We got Vax to near Death, killed him and... I thought we were saved... Well, nope. We got swarmed by Kobolds, Skeletons (dunno where they joined the fight, lol) and Xvarts (and Skeletons-with-Darts and more Kobolds-with-Bows). In the middle of this disaster, Ajantis gains a level and later Garrick is killed. We run around some more and Ajantis starts to melee when he ran out of throwing axes, but Zal kills him too fast for me to be able to do anything. Oh, the horror. I should have not even come here, or at least ran away before.

I start grabbing all of the Party's stuff. Quayle's, Xan's, Kivan's... All of their stuff secured in the only container of the area (where you normally find a scroll of Cloudkill). I equip what is useful and take there the rest, whilst I continue slaughtering Skeletons, Kobolds and Xvarts. And then I ran into Sendai and her party... I accidentally incite her to fight, and I use an Oil of Speed to get away (this is what I've saving it for!), I get Garrick's stuff, the Oil of Speed runs out... Only Ajantis' left and we can come back with all of them raised and at full health (and no loss of items), but Alexander (an archer in Sendai's party) get's lucky with us and scores two critical hits in a row. Glîncúwen uses all of her Potions and Bhaalspawn innates, and runs into another spawn point, more freaking Kobolds. Delgod, the other archer in Sendai's party rolls a 12 (hit), a 15 (hit) and a 16 (hit)... (I'm checking from a log TobEx generates from the combat log. Very useful for this stuff.)

Next run there's no way I play with more than one PC. NPCs only eat your money by making you spend it on Resurrection and Raise Dead for them. Bloody NPCs. Dying all the time. I suck playing with parties. Too much solo'ing has hurt my brain forever... *sigh*

[corey_russell]

@Crevsdaak: sorry to hear the end of your party - hope your next run is to your liking.

[Alesia_BH]

Arcadia, Half-Elven Fighter/Mage: Entry 4

 

The days and weeks following Arcadia's picnic at the Friendly Arm Inn were a blur. She pushed herself harder than her judgment would permit, harder than reason would allow. And yet somehow, there was a force, a will, that kept her moving forward, ever forward. Her path was erratic, chaotic- seemingly directionless. If it had been anything short of genius it would have to be judged madness. But genius it was. Arcadia navigated the Sword Coast with a command of space and time, with foresight and vision. Any would be foe who watched her in those days -and comprehended the purpose of her movements- could only conclude that she was a force to be reckoned with. And if that would be foe adopted the fantastic belief that there was a mind greater than Arcadia's directing her, he would have to be forgiven. Forgiven, of course, because he would be correct.

 

The path had not been without danger. But Arcadia always knew how to shield her vulnerabilities, how to expose her enemies' weaknesses. The right spell was always in her head, the perfect potion always at hand.

 

There were the basilisks, whose gazes found eternity.

 

The warriors, who fell blinded, helpless, pinning for home.

 

The ankegs, who scroll and shield and cloak and girdle, left weeping in mud.

 

The braggarts, who paralyzed, afraid, regretted their boasts.

 

And the golems, who, poor creatures, couldn't know to run.

 

And now that it is finished, the hour of fulfillment has arrived: the moment when Arcadia will take destiny's hand.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Sorry for your loss, CrevsDaak. Best of luck with your next attempt!

 

A.

[Grond0]

Hard luck CrevsDaak.  Maybe you might want to carry a potion or two of invisibility as well for those little emergencies ...

[Dyara]

After just reading for a while now I think it's about time to bother you with my own no-reload attempt.

 

BG Enhanced Edition (installed mods: unfinished business, rogue rebalancing, romantic encounters, npc project).

Dyara, elven Fighter/Mage/Thief - take 12 ( ... probably my style of playing doesn't really suite no-reload challenges, but I adjust... slowly).

This is a reincarnation of my beloved BG1/BG2 character from around 15 years ago.



I guess I had some luck (and a lot of patience) with the dice rolls (17+19+17+17+12+17=99) ... as starting spells I had chosen 'Find Familiar' and 'Sleep'. Dyara started with 6+3+6=15 hitpoints (and thanks to the magic of EEKeeper with a bag of holding and an amno belt). She's specialized in long sword, proficient in longbow and single weapon fighting. For her thieving abilities she will concentrate on open lock, find trap, hide in shadows, move silently and set trap (usually I would go for detect illusions instead of set traps but I thought that perhaps the traps are usefull in a mostly solo adventure).

Day 0 (1 Mirtul, 1368)

In Candle Keep Dyara did all the things one can do (as a chaotic good char). She found an Armor scroll which she scribed successfully into her spellbook. After saying good-bye to all her friends (and to all the chests in Candlekeep Inn) she was ready to leave. I really don't want to know how she got Hull to give her his sword though.

Day 1 (2 Mirtul, 1368)

In the night Gorion was slain by a large and dark man clad in a spiked armor. Dyara could do nothing but run away. In the morning she met with Imoen. They burried Gorion's remains and decided to go to Friendly Arm Inn as Gorion had suggested.

On their way they met Xzar and Motaron who helped the two young girls as best as they could. Dyara allways knew that Imoen had keen eyes and so she wasn't suprised when Imoen found a diamond inside an knothole but Dyara was really impressed when later Imoen spotted a ring lying on a rock some distance away from the road while Dyara did not even spotted the rock.

Day 2 (3 Mirtul, 1368)

At midnight they arrived at the Friendly Arm Inn. Somehow Dyara had the feeling another attempt to assassinate her might happen here. So Imoen approached the entrance to the inn while Dyara was waiting in the shadows. And as expected, as soon as Imoen was near the entrance a wizard named Tarnesh accused her for being Dyara and attacked. While Imoen tried to disrupt his spellcasting using her wand of missiles Dyara tried to backstab him - they both failed, Tarnesh got his mirror image on and casted horror on Imoen then. She panicked but fortunately Dyara was able to hit Tarnesh hard enough with her third strike to finish him off.

While Imoen still running around screaming Dyara went into the temple to let the priestess identify Gorion's belt and the ring they've found.

Inside the inn they met - as Imoen called them - 'auntie' Jaheira and 'uncle' Khalid. Still not tired Dyara decided to go out on her own and take a walk outside the walls, perhaps looking for Joia's ring.

Just an hour later Dyara had cleared the area around the inn of any hobgoblins. On her way back she stumbled upon another ring lying on the ground. At the temple the priestess told her it was a Ring of Wizardry. While there Dyara bought a potion of genius.

Back in the inn Dyara was invited to a drink by a stranger. I don't know what happened then (she never told me) but when I saw her in the morning there was some happy smile on her face. Imoen stayed with Jaheira and Khalid at the inn while Dyara left for Beregost and arrived there close to midnight. In Feldepost Inn she calmed down Marl, got the book for Firebead Elvenhair and then agreed to help Kagain to find his lost caravan.

Day 3 (4 Mirtul, 1368)

Some miles north of Beregost they've found the remains of the caravan. While Kagain approached the caravan bandits Dyara was waiting in the shadows to cast a sleep spell once the bandits became hostile. All the bandits were easily killed, Kagain was very happy. Therefore he invited Dyara for a drink in the Red Sheaf. On their way there they were begged by a young girl to protect her from some 'vicious magic bandits'.



Once the Thayan wizard and his two bodyguards were dispatched Dyara, Kagain and Neera went to the Red Sheaf. There unfortunately another assassin was waiting for Dyara. While Kagain took all the damage (had to borrow one of Dyara's healing potions) a hidden Dyara made a successful backstab and Neera added some magic missile damage. Karlat panicked but was surrounded so he couldn't get away and was finally killed by Kagain. After they had their drinks Dyara said good-bye to both Neera and Kagain and went to High Hedge to buy some spells.

From Thalantyr Dyara bought the spells Blindness, Friends, Identify, Protection from Petrification, Mirror Image and Resist Fear and with the Potion of Genius she had bought earlier she was able to scribe them all (plus Protection from Evil). While exploring the area around High Hedge Dyara gained her first level-up.

Dyara: 2120 XP, 32 kills, Thayan Wizard, F(1)/M(1)/T(2), 18(18) HP

Day 4 (5 Mirtul, 1368)

South of High Hedge Dyara saved a speaking chicken from being eaten by a wolf. Of course the chicken actually was not a chicken but a transformed wizard who couldn't change back to normal. So Dyara agreed to take him to Thalantyr.

Day 5 (6 Mirtul, 1368)

Thalantyr's attempt to restore Mellicamp was, unfortunately, a failure and Mellicamp died in the process. What a pity, Dyara could have learned a lot from this.

Dyara returned to Beregost with the intention to travel south to Nashkell then. In Beregost Perdue got his shortsword back. On her way south Dyara was attacked by two Ogrillons, then by some ghasts (in some parallel universe an other Dyara got paralyzed and then killed by ghasts so I urged her not to try anything stupid like backstabing or melee fight) and lots of (elite) hobgoblins. That gained her another level-up.

Dyara: 3890 XP, 37 kills, Ghast, F(2)/M(1)/T(2), 22(22) HP (so much luck with the hit dice roll... had to check the difficulty slider but it was set to core rules).

Further south the road was blocked by a group of hobgoblins but Dyara managed to kill them all without any problems.

Day 6 (7 Mirtul, 1368)

Early in the morning Dyara reached Nashkell. After talking to the local autorities she paid the inns a visit to gather some more information about the mine problems. In the Nashkell Inn she was attacked by yet another assassin. She lured Neira outside (good girl, other Dyaras fought Neira inside the inn and felt victim to a hold spell) and then not only the patrolling amnian soldiers but also some monk fought on Dyara's side. Against such a superiority Neira stood no chance and was finally killed by the monk.

[Alesia_BH]

Hard luck CrevsDaak.  Maybe you might want to carry a potion or two of invisibility as well for those little emergencies ...

 

 

Agreed. Range weapons are deadly in BG1. Invisibility provides a safety valve. Early Potions of Invisibility can be found on Jaheira, in the Travenhurst Manor, and in the revenant tomb, amongst other locales.

 

I make a point of equipping my PC with the Girdle of Piercing, which confers an unadvertised -3 against missile weapons, and the Cloak of Displacement, which delivers -4 as promised, ASAP. The Boots of Avoidance and Claw of the Kazgaroth come into play later.

 

I also use the Shield Amulet with almost all of my characters. It's typically my second major purchase, after the Wand of Sleep.

 

It's worth noting that the AC bonuses of Shield are implemented via two effects: set base AC to 4, and bonus to missile AC 2. If you are wearing, say, plate mail, that will override Shield's base AC of 4 effect, but the -2 missile adjustment will remain. In the alternative, if you pair Shield with, say studded leather, Shield's better base AC will take effect and the beneficial adjustments from studded leather will remain, along with the -2 to missile from Shield. Either way, Shield helps.

 

Anyhoo. I hope that helps. And if I'm just prattling: apologies. Good luck with your next run!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Welcome to the challenge, Dyara!

 

 

Best,

 

A.

[Dyara]

Next run there's no way I play with more than one PC. NPCs only eat your money by making you spend it on Resurrection and Raise Dead for them. Bloody NPCs. Dying all the time. I suck playing with parties. Too much solo'ing has hurt my brain forever... *sigh*

 

I can feel the pain ... just had to resurrect Dorn twice only to get the Kryll quest done. And it's not just the money, I think I'm more concerned about the wasted time for going to a temple and walking back .

 

@Alesia_BH: Thank you

[Alesia_BH]

@Alesia_BH: Thank you

 

And thank you for fixing the typo.

 

(I'm usually not at all picky about typos, but that one just didn't sit right. )

 

Best,

 

A.

[Dyara]

... (now you all wonder about the typo )

[Grimwald the Wise]

After just reading for a while now I think it's about time to bother you with my own no-reload attempt.

 

BG Enhanced Edition (installed mods: unfinished business, rogue rebalancing, romantic encounters, npc project).

Dyara, elven Fighter/Mage/Thief - take 12 ( ... probably my style of playing doesn't really suite no-reload challenges, but I adjust... slowly).

This is a reincarnation of my beloved BG1/BG2 character from around 15 years ago.

 

I note that you don't seem to have got the jewel from upstairs in the inn. Wasn't your lock-picking ability good enough, or isn't it there in EE?

With a thief, I always put all my skills in Lock picking up to 65 at the start to get that gem as it means you can buy all sorts of good stuff once you get out of Candlekeep.When I go up in level I put in in pick-pocketting up to 65 so I can get Algernon's Cloak. After that find traps ready for the mines. Of course being a Fighter/Mage/Thief you have to make compromises, and you might have decided to forego the gem in order to be able to do other things.

[Grimwald the Wise]

We gave back Purdue his sword and headed to some Wilderness to get moar XP.

 

Pity about the miss-spelling of Perdue. You miss out on the horrible pun.

 

Sorry about your loss too. Interesting game. I actually prefer parties. True they are harder to play, but with BG1 NPC mod installed, the party interaction is great. I am really glad that I have Tiax in the party. His comments are hilarious. If I had rolled a similar character up, true I could have had a stronger party member, but the game would not have been as much fun.

 

Diary of the Gnasty Gnomes

 

We then went to Durlag's Tower and did everything there was to do, upn to, but not including the giving of the wine bottle to love.

Basically just wanted the tomes. Gave the strength tome to Bloodaxe and the wisdom tome to Little Bully.

 

After that went to the Iron throne and swept through Candlekeep.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Well met and welcome, Dyara! Safe travels for thy alter-ego! 

[Grimwald the Wise]

... (now you all wonder about the typo )

 

I can guess what it was. Probably your name spelled a little differently. Or is it that I have a twisted mind?

[Dyara]

@Grimwald: I was able to open all but one chest. In one of them was a gem I sold for 500 gold. That gem however might be related to the romantic encounter mod ( ). If you're looking for the gold, it (and the 300 gold from Firebead) got spended for lots of healing potions.

 

As for my F/M/T I don't spend any points on pick-pocket and not too many on open lock (perhaps 10/15 at start and 5 at earlier level-ups). As you've said I have to make compromises and hide/move silently and find traps is far more important.

 

Since I have some sort of hearty dislike for the cloak (cheater item ) I don't really miss pick-pocketting. There's one ocasion later in the game where I usually need (or better: want) to pick-pocket something and then there's potent thief not far away.

[Grimwald the Wise]

In my set-up, you get 1000 gp for the gem.

 

I tend to only use the cloak to kill people whilst avoiding the reputation loss. (Charming Oublek for example and getting him to fight enemies). easy enough to kill, but the rep loss is prohibative.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Diary of the Gnasty Gnomes

Having beaten the section, the rest of the game became ridiculously easy.

 

 

However, Amn could prove to be a different story altogether.

[Dyara]

Congratulations and good luck in Amn