16384 réponses à ce sujet

[Grond0]

Pelz - half-elf shapeshifter (4th and final update)

 

At Candlekeep my kensais are unable to get either tome without the use of potions.  However, the werewolf's base strength of 19 and their higher level allowing DUHM addition of 3 is just enough to access the wisdom tome.  With that in hand there was nothing else she wanted so she just went invisible to leave.

 

On the way back to Baldur's Gate she stopped off to buy the Claw of Kazgaroth (she can't use the Horn).  Back in the City she went straight after Slythe - he managed to kill one of the 4 nymphs attacking him before being first dominated and then held.

 

At the palace a full complement of 5 nymphs quickly caused havoc among the attacking dopplegangers.  I should really have wasted their domination spells before starting the combat to avoid the possibility of annoying Belt and the Flaming Fist.  However, the continuous damage from the insect plague avoided any such attacks anyway.

 

After going invisibly down to the temple Pelz set off a lightning trap before resting for the final combat. I was planning to pull Sarevok out with a wand magic missile, but then decided to doom him instead.  Unfortunately the range on that (supposed to be visual range) proved to be incorrect and Pelz moved a step forwards - coming into sight of Angelo.  Abandoning her spell she made a run for it - distracting Sarevok as originally planned into attacking a wolf.  Not knowing whether other attackers were coming she made use of a scroll of magic protection while Sarevok was occupied, but couldn't then use dispel magic or an insect plague on him.  

 

With the wolf dead a couple of dogs joined the fray - their presence tempting Tazok to show himself.  However, the casters did not appear after Pelz had run around for a while, so he used the invisibility ring to hide and wait for his magic protection to wear off.  He then produced more summons and renewed the ironskin (dispelled by Angelo on first sight).  The dogs proved pretty much impossible to control though and the 3 dispel magics he had were all cast without any effect at all - other than all his ironskins having been beaten down. 

 

With no more use available from her spells she settled down to running Sarevok round and trying to get Tazok to interfere enough with Sarevok's movement to gain the small extra bit of time required to use the magic missile wand.  She was making progress with that and Sarevok was a little way into injured status when she ran slightly too far north round a pillar and was hit by the lightning trap.  That was fair enough as she was marginally off course, but a very short time later the trap triggered again - this time when it didn't seem that it should have done.  That took her down to 12 HPs, leaving no margin for further error.  She successfully finished off her 2 magic missile wands, added in a couple of Bhaal LMDs and hit Sarevok with a number of darts.  However, he was still a long way from death and the strain was telling on Pelz.  After avoiding being hit during hundreds of circuits around the lower part of the temple she finally took a corner just a fraction too tight and Sarevok's big sword flicked out to intercept her ...

 

[Aasim]

Ay, Grond0..it's a rare occasion you don't finish BG1. Condolences.

[Blackraven]

Ouch Grond0, sorry about that. I was hoping and interested to see your Shapeshifter at work in SoA and ToB.

[corey_russell]

Grond0, sorry to hear of Pelz fall. Just for the sake of posterity, do you think Pelz would have succeeded if you had allowed yourself to use potions? Maybe you should relax that restriction for certain classes (e.g., a sorcerer is far less dependent on potions than other classes).

[Grond0]

A potion of speed would have made the final combat simple.  Without any speed advantage getting enough distance from Sarevok to attack with wands or missiles is always a bit tricky.  However, I think it's a fair challenge - Pelz didn't get the benefit from her spells in that contest that she really should have.

[Matuse73]

In my basic BGT installation triggering the traps sometimes produces skull traps, but sometimes dart traps (which ignore magic protection).

 

The dart traps are triggered from  the trap spots that are on the comma-shaped bits around the main skull feature. If you run a kind of tilted rectangle, you can avoid those while keeping out of range of Sarevok and still hitting the skull trap triggers.

 

I reloaded the auto-save prior to entering the temple and redid the fight a dozen times for practice. Now I can usually pull it off with only taking about 25 points of damage.

 

A minor globe of invulnerability would probably work just as well, if you find pro-magic too cheesey. But it would present a danger from Semaj who likes to throw cloudkill and chaos. Being hit with chaos while all 4 enemies are standing right there would be...suboptimal.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 74 - (update 1)

Lug, dwarf kensai (Grond0) & Slug, dwarf kensai (Gate70)

 

 

After failing on a number of occasions to get a solo dwarf kensai through the game I thought perhaps playing double or quits would help!

 

So far this pair have followed a fairly standard path through Shoal, Beregost, Nashkel and the basilisk area.  Casualties have been relatively light, though both characters can hit hard - as Karlat can testify (or at least his ghost can).

 

The final part of their journeys to date started well with Slug successfully protecting himself against petrification before smacking down a number of on-coming basilisks.  It continued well with Mutamin being paralysed by Korax before he could do anything.  However, it didn't finish so well: Kirian was also quickly paralysed, but Lindin and Baerin soon killed Korax while Lug had a terrible run of thrown axes and failed to hit Baerin at all.  Meanwhile, Korax's death freed Peter to cast his second hold person at Slug and Lindin refused to be diverted from finishing him off.

 

Baerin hit Lug with several arrows as he ran away and Kirian caught just enough of a sight to send out a lightning bolt that took Lug critically low on HPs.  However, he was still able to kill the chasing Lindin and circle round to collect Slug's equipment before returning to the Beregost temple - moving just quickly enough on the way to prevent an ambushing basilisk from focusing its gaze on him.

 

 

 

Stats:

Lug, kensai 5, 61 HPs, 23 kills

Slug, kensai 5, 63 HPs, 16 kills, 1 death

[corey_russell]

Sounds like an interesting duo, Grond0 - I hope you can keep them together.

[Alesia_BH]

That's a shame about Pelz, Grond0.

 

What are your thoughts on relaxing the no potion rule for a druid? Maybe an avenger?

 

Best,

 

A.

[corey_russell]

Corerage III entering Trilogy No-Reload Challenge...

 

{Note from Corey_Russell: I've had my break (some Dragon Age: Origns) and am ready to get back in the saddle. Going to give another go with a half-orc berserker who will be using cursed sword user in BG 1. He will be a two-hand sword user in BG 2 - I think cursed sword in BG 2 would be very unwise, mainly because there are a number of enemies that require very specific weapons to kill (Clay Golems and trolls are good examples of such). Also, Corerage III will be solo in BG 1, but duo in BG 2 - he will duo with Imoen/Yoshimo depending on the chapter. He will also be a RP run of a sort, e.g., as a story, rather than a simple tactical summary. On to the story. I took a similar path as Corerage II, but did some things different, as well as having a lot of luck - read on to find out what.}

 

 

Corerage III's equipment

 

The Story:

 

Gorion says I need to prepare for a journey - but I hear it's somewhat dangerous to travel the roads now-adays. I get angry fairly often, so I welcome a fight actually. I got a basic two-hand sword from Winthrop, but not enough gold for some armor. Fortunately doing some errands in the Keep was just enough to get some splintmail. Surprisingly I found some assassins too - but they were one-shotted by my sword. I really need a much better sword, but the best swords are a king's ransom - but there must be a sword out there to match my rage somewhere....

 

Once equipped, I report to my father - we leave the keep but don't get far but we got ambushed by two ogres, a dangerous looking man who looked both well armored as well as well armed, and perhaps a cleric. My father ordered me to run - if I had better sword and armor, I've sure I could have made a difference, but as it was I wouldn't be able to do much so did as he asked. My father did pretty well, considering he was outnumbered, but the well armored figure was too much for him. This made me very angry, I almost charged the figure immediately - but then I would die as well, and my father would not be avenged. I resolved then that avenging my father is my responsibility, so will do this alone. I just need experience and equipment, then I'm sure I could be a match for the armored figure.

 

I wasn't sure what to do at first, but Imoen found me - she was willing to give me a few things for the road, but she really wouldn't be that much help so I sent her away - she'll be safer that way. There some evil looking man and halfing on the road - assassins maybe? Spies for the killer of my father? The man was a mage, so I took no chances and attacked - the mage died quickly, but the hafling was quite agile and it took quite a while before I connected and slew him. I definitely need a better weapon.

 

For the moment, I decided to take my father's advice and head to the Friendly Arm - I was initially planning to travel the road, but then heard a voice I had never heard before in my head "Go off the road and look in a cranny of a rock" - voices in one's head aren't usually good, but if this can give me an edge vs. my killer, I need to know - so I did as the voice said and found a magical ring! I put it on immediately - however, some direwolves and gibberlings attacked - I'm not ready to take on so many just yet, so ran north - more wolves! But I ran hard and managed to get to the Friendly Arm safely.

 

So then I thought about what happened - yes I got a ring but also was nearly over-whelmed - is this voice to be trusted? But then I heard it again, "Walk east a short ways, and watch for any glint." Hmm, okay why not - wow! A very powerful, seemingly magic ring I found! This will get me a pretty penny I'm sure! But wait a minute, perhaps I shouldn't go the Friendly Arm just yet - there might be assassins, they may have known what my father was up to. So to throw my assassins off my trail, I hope, I headed to Beregost. After selling gems, scrolls and that ring I found, I could afford full plate from the smithy, the only one he had! What luck!

 

But wait there's that voice again - "head south, south, west, west, and you will find me! I will channel your rage." Oh really? The voice has done well so far, so I do indeed travel south. Some ogrillions attacked me, but I enraged and easily destroyed them. Also encountered some gibberlings, kobolds, a hoggoblin, and some gnolls, but thanks to my good armor, I won those pretty easily, despite being outnumbered. Eventually I find a man who doesn't seem all the way there, who had apparently just slaughtered a caravan in rage - I emphasized with him, I get angry like that sometimes too - so I suggested perhaps a temple can help him. In return for taking him, he gave me his sword and a potion. My eyes lit up at the sword - it was clearly magical. As I was putting the sword away, I heard the voice, very distinct this time, as if it was quite close, "You've found me! Together, I will make you the greatest swordsman on the sword coast!" The voice...was as sword? Good, I don't along well with people, I can more easily relate to a weapon. After returning to Nashkel, I wanted to rest at a inn before equipping the sword - but wait found a cleric assassin! I enraged and attacked, the assassin did very poorly. If there's going to be so many assassins, I need a sword that won't break - so will use this {cursed} sword. I want to see what it can do for me.

 

I eventually went to High Hedge - the sword said I needed to invite Kivan, he's needed to get justice. So I did so. We headed west. Kivan stealthed ahead and spotted a neriad. He talked to it, and she kissed him dead! Poor fellow, I'm still not sure how this will help me. I charge forward and had to slay some wolves. I saw the neriad and lost control, the sword channeled my rage - I got a good hit on her and she yielded and I had control! [Corey_Russell thought there was no way not to slay shoal] - she even raised Kivan. I said I would help her. But then an Ogre Mage, Droth appeared - my sword channeled my rage and it slew the Neriad and even Kivan - how many innocents must die - but then I realized, if it allows me to avenge Gorion, then that's acceptable. But right then the ogre mage put me to sleep! Surely my quest ends in vain...

But wait, Droth was content to go invisible and wait to see what I did. When I woke up, I immediately enraged. Droth hurt me a little, and but things he tried failed to my enrage and slew the foul creature. I found a magical helmet - oh, this is a help indeed! The sword and I make a good team...

 

As the days passed, the sword gave me more leads to improve myself. I dealt with Caldo and Krumm, but the nymph was close, so I walked away from her, before letting the sword take control of me - Caldo and Krumm were slain and the nymph was not {note from Corey_Russell: This was an improvement from Corerage II, as Corerage II slew the nymph}. I found some things in the area, as well as some magical gauntlets from some ogres which I sold. The sword then told me to head north - I get to Ulgoth's Beard and buy a cloak which makes me harder to hit, as well as better resist poison and undead. But the sword said a woman named Dushai must die - she has a vital item I need to get revenge of my father - no one must stand in my way! So I kill her quickly, as well as a chicken and calmed down - yes a magical ring, which the sword said will help much to protect against enemy clerics, druids and undead and even mages - excellent. {this too is an improvement over Corerage II, as he slew a commoner and lost rep before calming down}

 

The sword said there was an arrogant man who claimed to be the greatest swordsman, but the sword says that's an outright lie - I am! So I duel this man Melium and yes he dies quickly in 3 hits - he didn't even scratch me. I find gauntlets which helps me be an even more powerful swordsman...

 

Some people in Nashkel say there are demons in the Nashkel Mine - truly? Then that's where I will go next, I should be a much better swordsman if I kill those creatures.

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

I’d hoped to give my retinue a couple of days once we returned to Ulgoth’s Beard. We stopped @ Nashkel, Beregost & the FAI & spent a night @ each on the way back north. Ulgoth’s Beard Inn is not equipped for a party as large as ours, having only one Royal Room & one Peasant Room. I rent the Royal chamber & I’ve worked it out w/the innkeeper that when I rent the Royal Room he throws in the common room he has there too.

 

Unfortunately, the break I had planned for us was interrupted as soon as we marched back into the city w/the dust of Durlag’s Castle on our boots. We were ambushed as we walked into town by a Cult Enforcer, two Cult Guards in Splint Mail w/Bastard Swords, two Cult Assassins w/Studded leather & Short Sword & two Cult Archers w/Longbows & Studded Leather. I didn’t know @ the time but these attackers belonged to the Cult of a Demon. We defeated the Cultists in a prolonged battle but somehow one of them pickpocketed the dagger the Dwarf in the Ulgoth’s Beard Inn had wanted. When I told the Dwarf what had happened, he immediately knew that we were attacked by a Cult that was trying to summon a Demon, named Aec’Letec. I’d read that name in Durlag’s Tower. He asked us to find the Cult before they could summon the Demon. We started investigating Ulgoth’s beard & it wasn’t hard to find another Cult Guard standing in front of a storehouse, obviously blocking the entrance.  Since time was of the essence, I pressed him & in a second there was another group of Cultists, similar to those that ambushed us earlier but this time there were five Cult Guards in Splint Mail w/Bastard Swords &  two Cult Archers w/Longbows & Studded Leather. The Cult Guards were no pushover but we finally defeated them.  After the battle, we weren’t ready to rush the door so we went back to the Inn & rested. In retrospect, I should have had a guard at the door to the Inn to make sure we weren’t ambushed it turned out not to be necessary.

 

After a brief respite, we rushed the storehouse door in our attack ‘V’ formation w/me on point.  Waiting for us just inside the door were a Cult Enforcer; A Cult Mage, A Cult Guard, two more Cult Assassin’s & a Cult Archer. I focused on the Enforcer & the Mage. Imoen blasted the Enforcer w/two Magic Missiles Minsc went into a Rage & picked targets of his choosing as did Ajantis. Branwen used Silence 15’ Radius to try to prevent the Mage & the Enforcer from casting spells. The two Cult Assassins were working the edges dangerously & the Cult Archer was starting to cause problems in the ranks. Defeating the Cult Enforcer left the Cult Mage open & we cut him down easily. Then we worked to bring down the other three, which we did. The Cult Assassins were also a handful. And, so again, I had no choice but to rest as we were beaten up quite a bit. There was a stairway that led down to a lower level. That would be next.

 

Key Event: Knowing we would likely have a fight as soon as we were down the stairs we took the time to cast protection spells, use innate abilities & quaff potions. If there was nothing down there, we’d rather be safe than sorry, we all agreed. But there was: a Cult Priestess & more Cult Guards in hooded habits but still wearing Splint Mail w/Bastard Swords. Each Cult Guard carried a Potion of Heroism. We had no time to react before the Cult Priestess ‘broke the tagger’ & released a rather powerful Chasme.

 

This battle made me appreciate my upbringing & studies in Candlekeep for two reasons. First, because I knew what type of Demon we were dealing with immediately. A Chasme is a large, fly-like Demon w/buzzing wings & six limbs, two of which end in long, thin fingered hands. They are Tanar’ri. Tanar’ri are the dominant sub-type of demon, the other being the Obyriths. By far, the most Demons Lords are Tanar’ri.  Tanar’ri were originally created by the Obyriths as slaves but eventually became so numerous that they revolted & overthrew the Obyriths. The original Prince of Demon’s was, Obox-Ob, an Obyrith, but when the Tanar’ri overthrew the Obyriths, Demogorgon took his place. This Chasme, Aec’Letec, is not a demon lord but Chasme are known to carve out small territories for themselves in the Abyss & other planes. There they act out the role of minor demon lords. That’s what Aec’Letec had done here. The other thing my studies taught me is that Chasme are especially susceptible to the spell Cloudkill. Quayle had one scroll. What I forgot in my haste was that if you kill a demon, if there is another host nearby, they will possess that body if they can. In this case, Aec’Letec died almost as soon as the Cloudkill exploded but suddenly there were five or six duplicates of him, one for each Cult Guard...luckily the Priestess had already been slain. My retinue fought their hearts out but they were dropping one by one. I started parrying the Chasme, working them back through the cloud & sure enough, one by one, they dropped until all were dead. Each time they died, their corpse melted into pools of black, tarlike ichor. Quayle & I were the only survivor’s but Quayle fell after the battle to his own Cloudkill. The battle was won but @ great cost, although all my companions could be raised, & later were by Galena Mirrorshade. This Chasme had grown powerful, using a Death Gaze others don’t have so he’d morphed somewhat from a normal Chasme in his time as a ‘minor demon lord’. Two Demon’s in the span of a week.  Wow!

AEC'LETEC EVERYWHERE!


AEC'LETEC NOWHERE!!

Treasure of Note: (Purse = 252 gold – 4000 GP to raise my companions) Armor/Weapons: Gems/Jewelry/Gold: Fire Opal Ring; 100GP; Potions: Scrolls:

 

Current Disposition: I’ve returned us to Ulgoth’s Beard.

 

Next Steps:   When we were headed to the cult, a mage-like figure blurted out that he wanted help with another task. I plan to see what he is offering. 

 

Level Up: None

 

Current Party: (Reputation: 20 – Heroic)

·         Gawain: Ftr/8; HP91; Full Plate w/Large Shield +2, Cloak of Protection +2, Helm of Defense, Boots of Grounding, Girdle of Bluntness, Rings of Fire Resistance & Free Action; Bastard Sword +1/+3****, Mace +2, (SSS**) (Demon Knight)

·         Imoen: Thief (Charming Rogue/10); HP44; Shadow Armor, Cloak of Non-Detection & Gandolar’s Lucky Ring w/Short Bow*, Short Sword +1* Dagger +1*, (Greater Doppelganger)(Thief Def)

·         Minsc: Fighter (Barbarian/8); HP68; Splint Mai w/Boots of Avoidance, Girdle of Bluntness &Spiders Bane***, Flail 1 x x2/THWS**(Spellcaster Defend)(Davaeorn)

·         Quayle: Mage (Illusionist/9); HP20; Bracers of Defense AC6, Sling* & Dagger +2*, Ring of Energy, Necklace of Missiles, (Chess Queen)(Wizard Defensive)

·         Branwen: Cleric (Priestess of Tempus/8): HP48; Full Plate +1 (Plate of the Dark) w/Large Shield +1, Gauntlet’s of Dexterity, Kiel’s Helmet & Mace +1*; Warhammer*; (SSS*);(Fuernebol)(Cleric Aggressive)

·         Ajantis: Fighter/(Paladin/8); HP47; Full Plate w/Medium Shield, Boots of the North; L/Sword +1** x2, Mace** (SSS**)(Phase Spider) (Paladin )

 

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

 

Blue Font: New information;

Red Font: Monster encounters (first use)

(Best kill)(Current AI)

* Name Levels are ancient, AD&D titles that used to represent each new level in a class

[corey_russell]

Nice job getting through Aec'letec CKT! You would think your party had a few choice words for you after your leadership got them all killed...

[Grond0]

how many innocents must die

How deep is the ocean?  How high is the sky ...

 

Nice job so far Corey - hope your luck holds out.

[Grond0]

What are your thoughts on relaxing the no potion rule for a druid? Maybe an avenger?

I'm not sure it should be necessary.  Apart from the forgivable mistake against Sarevok of trying doom I think attempting to dispel him was not a good idea - too much of a high risk gamble. I would hope to be able to get in 2-3 insect spells on him while summons were active and with 2 stoneskins to work through that should allow him to be taken down by magic missiles and/or darts without requiring unreasonable perfection in movement.

[corey_russell]

Corerage III the berserk, enraged half-orc - Update 2

 

Well journal I did go into the Nashkel Mines - I did not encounter demons, but instead hordes of kobolds. I got a deep satisfaction from this adventure - in a single hit, nearly every kobold would explode into dozen pieces...amazing the power of my sword. At the end I encountered the master of these kobolds, a half-orc cleric. I enraged and let my sword do its thing - it won easily. I did something silly and didn't pay attention to where I was walking and walked into 3 traps all lined up in a row - fortunately, due to my toughness I survived. I used up all but one blue potion once I had defeated Mulahey.

 

After selling the loot, I defended Prism from a bounty hunter who claimed he never failed - he easily fell to my might. I then went north to get a piercing belt my sword told me about - but just before I was about to engage the ogre I headed west, right into a mass of gibberlings and bandits headed by Deke! Hmm, sword what are getting me into?

I took a lot of damage but won the fight - amazing this weapon of mine.

 

I then engaged yet another assassin named Nimbul - my sword advised me to do my shield amulet and enrage - yes this Nimbul falls, and somehow even makes me tougher (level 6, gained 13 HP).

 

Next area was south and west of Beregost. I met 3 hobgoblins who tried to rob me - I hit the leader hard and he was running in fear - but my sword made me chase him, and now a huge lot of enemies are upon me - sword do you know what you are doing?

Apparently it did, because even poisoned I still won the fight with a lot of {HP} to spare! Last challenge for the day was the mad cleric Bassilus - Bassilus had a little problem - I managed to get him to dismiss his own undead, interrupted his first spell, then slew him - he never had gotten a single spell off, though I did enrage just to be safe. This made me full - so I sold my stuff, reported to the Mayor of Beregost the death of Bassilus and rested and preparing my next move west {getting CON tome}

[Alesia_BH]

I'm not sure it should be necessary.  Apart from the forgivable mistake against Sarevok of trying doom I think attempting to dispel him was not a good idea - too much of a high risk gamble. I would hope to be able to get in 2-3 insect spells on him while summons were active and with 2 stoneskins to work through that should allow him to be taken down by magic missiles and/or darts without requiring unreasonable perfection in movement.

 

Necessary, no. And could you get a druid through BG1 without potions: yes, I'm sure you could.

 

I'm thinking of BG2 really, and also wondering whether the potion restriction serves your interest in this case. To the extent that the potion restriction is in place to enhance difficulty, I'm not sure you need it in a shapeshifter playthrough. With a shapeshifter, I suspect that you'd find BG2, and especially ToB, difficult enough without the restriction.

 

Of course, you may just find no potion play more enjoyable. Additionally, you may not be satisfied with a potion aided run. If that's the case, by all means, keep it in place.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Matuse73]

The thing I've never really understood is the need to make things arbitrarily more difficult when you fail almost all the time on default difficulty. What percentage of trilogy no-reloads actually beat Melissan? 5%? 3? Maybe not even that high. I know I've never done it. It's one thing to swear off cloudkill cheese or some other engine failing, but potions are clearly provided to be used.

[Alesia_BH]

I can't speak for Grond0, but I suspect it isn't about difficulty in and of itself.

 

My suspicion is that he enjoys the more streamlined gaming experience that skipping potions can provide.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Blackraven]

Nice progress and writing Corey! Keep it up.
CKT, congrats on Aec'letec. This looks to be your run! I certainly hope so.

As to the restriction of potion use, I've played quite a few Thieves lately, and I like playing them as extremely consequentialist (end justifies all means) types. But Grond0 is a very experienced player, and one of the most successful to boot, if you take a look at the Hall of Heroes. I shouldn't speak for him, but I would understand his drive to experiment with unusual restrictions that require him to tackle specific battles differently than he normally would.

I'm not sure how hard the Shapeshifter needs potions. On the one hand they get lots of spells of course, on the other hand it seems to be one of the weaker kits in the game (because its special feat, the shapeshifting becomes useless in the course of SoA due to the paws' low damage and enchantment), even in vanilla which is Grond0's setup I believe. With or without potions, I'd like Grond0 to give the Shapeshifter another try. 

[corey_russell]

Corerage III the berserk, enraged half-orc - update 3

 

@Blackraven, Grond0 - thanks guys! It's going well so far.

 

Well journal, my quest still continues. It's ambushes like this one that make me glad the sword had me get the free action ring.

 

I ended up joining the bandit camp - it's not my job to kill all these bandits, I just need to know who is trying to kill me, because they are the ones who killed Gorion. I did need to battle in the HQ tent - a single potion of magic blocking was all I needed to destroy these enemies. I found out the ones behind both the iron crisis and my assassins is the iron throne! Ah, finally, now we are getting somewhere.

 

I also went went to deal some sirines - I used a potion of clarity for those. I had my free action ring to protect against the carrion crawlers. While I did use a potion of absorption and girdle of bluntness, they might have been unnecessary, as the flesh golems fell quickly to my might {level 7}. I found a tome that Thalantyr later identified as constitution tome - I can now regenerate! Amazing...

 

Was time to press in the Cloakwood, my enemies are somewhere in here. I did well vs. the wyverns, spiders and ettercap ambushes, always using enrage vs. ettercaps and wyverns if available. I didn't need anything there, so just pressed forward until I found the enemy's mine. I used a protection from magic scroll, haste potion and a few other buffs and destroyed Drassus and his friends. Without looting I quickly pressed into the mine, there are probably more mages so being protected would be good. There were a bunch of enemies and a mage named Heirashan opposing me - they were quickly destroyed, my sword was too much for them, not their lightning bolts hitting themselves helped them any. I paid Rill, why not, I have lots of gold.

 

Pressing to Davaeorn's level was not hard. My buffs were still active,including my haste. I enraged and my sword immediately took over - I was surprised, but the sword quickly destroyed the battle horrors - Davaeorn himself was no problem. Yes, I gave my enemies a big setback - they deserve no less for killing my father.

 

After reporting to Officer Vai, I am now well liked by the people (20 rep). I can now make it to Baldur's Gate. This is where the Iron Throne is, according to the letters. I'm making progress, father.

[Grond0]

The thing I've never really understood is the need to make things arbitrarily more difficult when you fail almost all the time on default difficulty. What percentage of trilogy no-reloads actually beat Melissan? 5%? 3? Maybe not even that high. I know I've never done it. It's one thing to swear off cloudkill cheese or some other engine failing, but potions are clearly provided to be used.

I think the issue is what you consider to be failure.  My primary goal is not to beat Melissan, but to have an enjoyable gaming experience.  It's true that I normally follow a no-reload path, but having completed the trilogy on a number of occasions that doesn't provide that much of an incentive in itself.  

 

With the exception of Draconis, Abazigal, Sendai and Melissan I would expect to be able to able to complete everything else on the main quest path with a minuscule chance of failure using any solo character class - if I was trying to play safely.  However, doing that for very long would make playing the vast bulk of the game boring.  I find that to keep the game interesting to me (after my many hundreds of runs) there has to be a real possibility of failure through much of the run and not just by the time I get to the ToB encounters I'm less confident about.  That chance of failure is achieved through:

(i)  introducing play restrictions.  That can also act to encourage the use of different strategies.  In the past I've used quite a number of different types of restrictions.  The no potions one I agree makes more sense for some characters than others, but it suits me at the moment.  Although none of my dwarf kensai runs to date has completed the trilogy without using potions I've got close enough to say with certainty that it can be done.  That may not be true for all classes, but I think it's unlikely that potions would make the difference between likely success and definite failure for a druid for instance.

(ii) aggressive game tactics.  Even when I start a run saying I will play safely it's pretty much guaranteed that I will start to give the opposition a chance at some point.  For instance I might deliberately attack Sarevok in melee at the end of a battle with him knowing that he could win by getting 2 successive criticals.  There's not much chance of that happening, but there is just enough to make the conclusion exciting rather than mundane - and if Sarevok gets lucky and wins, well there's always next time .

 

I'm pretty sure that just about all experienced players will recognise the same sort of issue about maintaining interest, though they may choose to get round that in different ways.  Some for instance might experiment with lots of modded character classes.  Others might load up on difficulty enhancing mods.  I've done a reasonable amount of both of those, but personally I think I probably prefer the original game.  That's largely I think the result of preferring to play solo in order to see a fast progression.  I think SCS is a great mod for instance, but it has a major drawback that for many solo classes by far the best strategy in a lot of encounters is just to do nothing - not ideal if you're looking to make quick progress .  That's just a reflection though that there are many ways to play the game - and it's all the better for that.

[corey_russell]

Losing interest is definitely an important issue. My personal rule if I notice I"m losing interest (e.g., doing a fight unnecessarily risky), then I stop. I do other things. Eventually I hunger for BG and come back and play carefully. Corarcher is a good example - he took quite a while in real time - by only playing when I had interest, I was able to keep him alive and have him succeed. I really did not connect to the character. He only did a few things: 1) scout 2) fire his firetooth crossbow 3) the occasional call lightning 4) occassional called shot. He was actually pretty boring for me. But by taking breaks when I needed to, he ended up succeeding after all.

[Aasim]

Losing interest is definitely an important issue.

Agreed. I also usually take a break 7-14 days after every game.

[Alesia_BH]

I think the issue is what you consider to be failure.  My primary goal is not to beat Melissan, but to have an enjoyable gaming experience. 

 

Agreed.

[Alesia_BH]

With the exception of Draconis, Abazigal, Sendai and Melissan I would expect to be able to able to complete everything else on the main quest path with a minuscule chance of failure using any solo character class - if I was trying to play safely.  However, doing that for very long would make playing the vast bulk of the game boring.

 

I sympathize. I'm at the point where, with the majority of classes I'd want to play, the only real threats are Abazigal, Mel, and perhaps the first two Pocket Plane challenges. Most of the game consists of chunking or blowing up stuff while effectively invulnerable. I often end up abandoning runs around the Underdark, because I lose interest. I respect the approach you take.

 

I mentioned the potion restriction, because I'd like to see a solo shapeshiter complete the challenge, and think relaxing the potion restriction would increase the odds. I'm guessing others had similar motivations.

 

Of course, if relaxing that restriction would detract from your gaming experience, it isn't worth it. Do what works for you.

 

Best,

 

A.