I agree they are pretty good archers, but they still needed a critical to hit Wolfred while he was wearing Nimbul's boots and girdle of piercing (which he was) - his new incarnation has just arrived back at the Bandit Camp, giving me the opportunity to double-check on that.
Interesting! So Wolfred must have got hit with many criticals in a row then - ouch! Then just unlucky I suppose.
Bummer. I'm sure you'll work around it though.
What's you plan regarding wisdom and wishing? I've noticed that Ruzzel has a wisdom of 14 and Disabler a wisdom of 15, but the others have low wisdoms. Who will get the wisdom tomes: Ruzzel or Disabler?
Good question. First, an admission - I have never, ever actually cast any wish spell. When I read the description of the spell it sounds like rolling a dice - I don't like rolling dice in a no-reload attempt. Thus know next to nothing on how can it actually help me. The high wisdom of Ruzzel and Disabler are for lore purposes. I might as well as give the WIS tomes to disabler, they can get WIS 18 then.
Good question. First, an admission - I have never, ever actually cast any wish spell. When I read the description of the spell it sounds like rolling a dice - I don't like rolling dice in a no-reload attempt. Thus know next to nothing on how can it actually help me. The high wisdom of Ruzzel and Disabler are for lore purposes. I might as well as give the WIS tomes to disabler, they can get WIS 18 then.
Is Ruzzel taking the good path? If so, I'd give them to Ruzzel.
The desirable Limited Wish options only require a wisdom of 16.
You'll have no need for Wish until ToB, when a tomed good path Ruzzel would have a wisdom of 18
My only concern with giving them to Disabler, is that she may get chunked. Wishing via Projected Images may become an important tactic in ToB. If Disabler gets chunked, that could be a problem.
Best,
A.
(Btw. If you like, we can talk about tactical uses of wish spells when you get to SoA. For now, I'll just note that there's at least one option that I'd definitely encourage you to try with this party: Limited Wish- I wish to make my party invulnerable. That's a recurring wish- no dice roll involved. It will cast Minor Globe of Invulnerability on all your party members, including Berserker. It will let the mages blast away with low level AoE spells simultaneously without worrying about collateral damage.)
That seems like excellent information and advice, Alesia, thanks very much! My cleric/mages never had a chance to do what you outlined, being multi-classed (they never got 7th level arcane and I don't even think they got 6th level arcane), but with 4 pure mages, my party has a real chance to make that happen. Well assuming Ruzzel can stay alive. I had forgotten about the wisdom (rarely relevant for most of my characters) in hell, yeah Ruzzel sounds like a good choice then for the WIS tomes. Usually I only take the evil path if I intend my PC to use Blackrazor or the flesh armor, but obviously those aren't relevant for Ruzzel, so likely good path in Hell.
@Grond0: When you get to the level cap, can you cast barkskin on your humanoid form? I am wondering how much that might help your humanoid AC.
@Everyone else: I had said eariler that I don't remember 5 mage party before - that's not quite true. Irrbloss had a run where his PC was a wild mage and he had 4 other mages and berserker (Minsc who was SK'd) and he made it to BG 2 but failed in the middle of BG 2. He had said difficulty varied - open space encounters like Drassus were easy, but close quarters like the Cloakwood mines were a bit difficult for his party.
Dyara, elven Fighter/Mage/Thief - take 12/13 (update 4)
Day 15 (16 Mirtul) - still at Nashkell Carnival
Because it was still in the deep of the night there wasn't anything to see at the carnival. So Dyara just visited the merchants, yet she bought nothing but a potion of freedom. Not really sure about going to the mines now she decided to go for some sight-seeing further east to the valley of the tombs. On her way she got waylaid by some worgs.
Besides the three tombs there wasn't much to see actually, Dyara practised her backstab capabilities on a ghoul, she returned a dagger to some revenant and protected by a potion of freedom she fought three ghasts. Finally she found what she came here for. There were other tourists exploring the valley but Dyara ignored them all. In some distance to the north Dyara saw a dark castle stretching its only tower almost into the clouds. One day she will go there she said to herself.
Day 16 (17 Mirtul)
Back in Nashkell a wand of monster summoning got identified. After resting in the inn Dyara felt prepared enough to go for the mines. Some hobgoblins tried to keep her from going there but failed.
Day 17 (18 Mirtul)
Dyara entered the mines shortly after midnight and cleansed them from any kobolds, she disarmed all the traps (one way or the other... tried to practise 'search for traps while hidden' a little bit) and finally early in the morning she was about to enter Mulahey's lair.
Dyara set a snare near the entrance to Mulahey's room before she - protected by armor, mirror image and another potion of freedom - approached the half-orc. When he became hostile Dyara used the wand of summoning to keep his minions out of the room. While she wished for the hobgoblin archers the dogs she got did a fairly good job too. Dyara got confused by Mulahey but that didn't stopped her from attacking him and he surrendered quickly. Dyara then, still affected by the confusion spell, wacked some of the minions (both her and his) until the spell wear off finally. Looking for the letters Dyara opened the chest as Mulahey had said. The evil cleric however used her inattention to withdraw his surrender. That however marked the end of the half-orc's life.
After looting the place and resting Dyara, accompanied by the elven mage Xan, left the mines using the shortcut to the valley of the tombs.
The two of them had just adjusted their eyes to the glaring sunlight as they stumbled upon a group of bounty hunters. Not again, Dyara thought to herself. Xan tried to charm one of the clerics but failed miserably (should have used 'charm person' instead of 'dire charm' perhaps), two archers shooting arrows at him his spell got interruptet, he got poisened and killed quickly. Dyara, as usualy hidden in the - not really existing - shadows, tried to backstab the other cleric but failed even more miserably (you cannot backstab with a bow, stupid). Poisened too and slightly injured Dyara made her escape from the battle field, the two archers on her trail and the two clerics casting at her whatever spells they had. Dyara reached some nearby rocks and forced the two archers into melee fight where they stood no chance and were killed quickly. On one of the bodies Dyara found some 'oil of fiery burning' which she threw in the direction of the two remaining foes. It didn't caused much damage though. Again Dyara hid in the shadows, backstabed Zeela, got her near death and finished her with a second strike but not before Zeela got an 'entangle' spell off. While Dyara was able to get away, her last opponent had less luck. Lamalha got entangled and that made her an easy target.
Dyara then looted the bodies, secured Xan's stuff and returned to Nashkell.
Day 18 (19 Mirtul)
In Nashkell Dyara reported to Berrun Ghastkill, she was greeted as a hero, everyone (but Joseph's wife perhaps) was very happy, even Xan - after getting raised that is. A celebration was about to take place at Nashkell Inn so everyone went there. Nimbul, another assassin tried to use the crowd to eliminate Dyara but that proved to be a very bad idea: you shouldn't fight the heroine of Nashkell in front of all her supporters. Nimbul got charmed first, beaten, burned with acid then, pierced with arrows and finally killed.
Now it was time for Dyara to part from Xan. However, she wasn't alone for long, just as she was about to leave Nashkell she met... Boo. Boo was a hamster and was accompanied by Minsc, a berserker warrior from Rashemen, who got seperated from his witch Dynaheir and who was now in search of her. Dyara agreed to help and the trio left Nashkell for rescuing Dynaheir.
Day 19-20 (20-21 Mirtul)
Their quest took them to cloudpeak montains and besides the ordinary adventurer stuff (like fetching dogs or cats, saving dryads or trees, the usual killing as well) the journey was uneventful most of the time. Once they were introduced to the 'fastest dart thrower that ever walked the sword coast', a title that became vacant shortly after. some other time Ludrug, a leader of some gnoll, wanted to challenge their strongest fighter but there was a small misunderstanding unfortunately resulting in the death of all the gnolls as both Dyara and Minsc felt addressed. Ingot, another gnoll, met the same fate when he carelessly made Minsc to go berserk.
Day 21 (22 Mirtul)
Finally they reached the gnoll stronghold. There was no bargaining with Gnarl and Hairtooth because nothing could stop Minsc once he saw the castle where the gnolls kept Dynaheir. And a short time later Minsc, Dynaheir and Boo got reunited and Dyara was rewarded with two more level-ups.
Dyara: 39081 XP, 264 kills, Vampiric Wolf, F(5)/M(5)/T(6) 43(52) HP
Dyara said...(should have used 'charm person' instead of 'dire charm' perhaps)
I don't have the game in front me of me. But as far as I can remember, dire charm applies a -2 penalty on the target's saving throw, so that would definitely be the spell to use 1st. Charm person doesn't give any penalty to the target's saving throw I thought.
You of all people should be able to understand why a fellow veteran like Grond0 applies a no-potions restriction to many of his runs. Why don't you start a nice, challenging trilogy run, with an 'underpowered' character and party, and a couple of difficulty-increasing mods thrown in, and share your progress with us here?
Well, I don't use potions very much in BG1, so using them not at all would have marginal effect at most. Usually I hoard them until I feel like I really might need them...and that never comes up. The difference though is handicapping yourself when your success rate is already not so great vs handicapping yourself when you win all the time.
Do you do Durlag's?
I do the top floors, and usually clear out the first basement level just to cap off XP if I haven't hit the cap yet. Since there aren't any really good items in Durlags and my primary goal is to thump Sarevok. Anything that doesn't further that goal can be skipped.
I don't have the game in front me of me. But as far as I can remember, dire charm applies a -2 penalty on the target's saving throw, so that would definitely be the spell to use 1st. Charm person doesn't give any penalty to the target's saving throw I thought.
Charm Person is +3. Dire Charm is unmodified. Domination is -2.
Best,
A.
That seems like excellent information and advice, Alesia, thanks very much! My cleric/mages never had a chance to do what you outlined, being multi-classed (they never got 7th level arcane and I don't even think they got 6th level arcane), but with 4 pure mages, my party has a real chance to make that happen. Well assuming Ruzzel can stay alive. I had forgotten about the wisdom (rarely relevant for most of my characters) in hell, yeah Ruzzel sounds like a good choice then for the WIS tomes. Usually I only take the evil path if I intend my PC to use Blackrazor or the flesh armor, but obviously those aren't relevant for Ruzzel, so likely good path in Hell.
The Limited Wish baby globes could helpful. One question though: Are you using the Fixpack these days? Originally, MGOI was bugged so that it didn't protect against your own spells. Even if you are using the Fixpack, test the globes in a safe environment to confirm that they'll work as they're supposed to.
You may also want to consider I wish spells that I have cast may be restored, that I might cast them again. That will replenish 4 spells for each party member, distributed over levels 1-4. With five mages, that's a good deal: one spell for twenty.
NW: Getting the baby globes option require a wisdom of 12. Spell restoration requires a wisdom 16.
Best,
A.
Well, barbarains be damned - I decided to roll something I haven't yet tried in a serious No-Reload. a monk. Meet Phoe Gyi.
Game install is same as before, minus Branwen for BG2 since I don't plan to take her along.
You can read about KR Monk here, in shortest lines:
- they start with AC 7 , ending with AC -2
- they start with 2 apr, up to 5 max at level 18
- they gain abilities other than Stunning Fist
- they never gain magic resistance
- they gain magical enchanted fists sooner and fists deal a maximum of 1d12 + enchantment level damage
- they don't get movement speed bonus
- they're kind of awesome 
Anyhow, to game. Phoe Gyi had a powergaming start with killing Shoal with Imoen's Wand which instantly gave him two levels and 13 HP.
This is how Ki Pool works. Something a la Spell Immunity selection screen. Here are Stunning Fist, Ki Dodge and Ki Step. The last was used to run away from wolves 
Darted the spiders.
Excersised patience vs Tarnesh....
Second use of Stunning Fist got him.
He got level 4 (+8 HP) when returning Spider, Boots and the Wine. Jaheira was adopted in party. As a sidenote, with Spell Revisions druids are vastly different from vanilla. Most importantly - they cannot cast heal-type spells. They cast a line of "regenerate x (light, medium, etc.) wounds". Second, they loose access to Chaotic Commands/NPP and quite a few of other spells.
Finally, Insect-type spells bypass Magic Resistance, and are stopped by Fireshield & Mesthil's Acid Sheath protections.
More about druids later (I hope ).
The Limited Wish baby globes could helpful. One question though: Are you using the Fixpack these days? Originally, MGOI was bugged so that it didn't protect against your own spells. Even if you are using the Fixpack, test the globes in a safe environment to confirm that they'll work as they're supposed to.
You may also want to consider I wish spells that I have cast may be restored, that I might cast them again. That will replenish 4 spells for each party member, distributed over levels 1-4. With five mages, that's a good deal: one spell for twenty.
NW: Getting the baby globes option require a wisdom of 12. Spell restoration requires a wisdom 16.
Best,
A.
The fixpack does a number of things I don't agree with, so I don't install it. As for the globes - I do know that my own MGoI does not protect against my own skull traps in my install - I had a no kit solo bard die in Irenicus' dungeon to that before. Maybe doesn't protect against fireballs either I don't know haven't tried. So perhaps asking to be invulnerable may be a waste of time in my install then.
So perhaps asking to be invulnerable may be a waste of time in my install then.
Could be. I'd test extensively before trying it in combat.
Cool character Aasim. I like the name; it means 'old man' in burmese...
Must have been a shock when Armored Figure said: "You'r perceptive for an old man." 
@Grond0: When you get to the level cap, can you cast barkskin on your humanoid form? I am wondering how much that might help your humanoid AC.
In melee the wolf shape is significantly better than humanoid. That wouldn't be true if I were allowing potions as the wolf shape has dexterity fixed at 16 and AC could be improved quite a bit with human form. Barkskin by itself though wouldn't be anywhere near enough.
Could be. I'd test extensively before trying it in combat.
Well I guess it wouldn't really be a waste of time, as it would still protect me from enemy magic missiles, horror, hold persons, rigid thinkings, etc. It just wouldn't be a "I win" button as you described.
Sorry to hear that Grond0 - Sarevok's been on a rampage lately. Hopefully Ruzzel and gang can change that.
Grond0 you still don't have a trilogy paladin success yet - what about an inquisitor next? Or you got something different in mind? Perhaps show me 6 mage party can work? I'd pay good money to see that, if I had any...
Grond0 you still don't have a trilogy paladin success yet - what about an inquisitor next? Or you got something different in mind? Perhaps show me 6 mage party can work? I'd pay good money to see that, if I had any...
Didn't he recently take a Cavalier through the trilogy?
Maybe a Ranger, Bard, or Thief?
Condolences btw Grond0... I hope your next Bhaalspawn will teach Sarevok a lesson.
Didn't he recently take a Cavalier through the trilogy?
Maybe a Ranger, Bard, or Thief?
Condolences btw Grond0... I hope your next Bhaalspawn will teach Sarevok a lesson.
Successfully? No. If he has, he needs to speak up,l because I missed that run, it's not in the hall of heroes.
Successfully? No. If he has, he needs to speak up,l because I missed that run, it's not in the hall of heroes.
I'm farily certain that he did.
Phoe Gyi, 2nd BG1 update
Adopted Viconia. Had to put that annoying Jaheira as a leader, otherwise Viccy would leave (very ungrateful).
Next, finished Ankheg Farm. If things got too dicey, Jaheira would blast the moles with Sunscorch (rather lovely level 1 spell, with fire damage + save or be blinded for one round).
Last two gave Phoe Gyi level 5 and +4 HP.
Finished this rather short session by killing Dushai - this was done very quickly with a single hit, thus the village didn't turn hostile.
Now with Wand of Fire, we shall take in Edwin.
You guys are right - Grond0 did do a paladin not too long ago - but I was right too - it was not a success.
You guys are right - Grond0 did do a paladin not too long ago - but I was right too - it was not a success.
This one was though.
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