16394 replies to this topic

[Grond0]

polytope wrote...

Alesia_BH wrote...

Grond0 wrote...
 Presumably though the benefit would be limited to equipping items rather than drinking potions (as the surge follows on from a spell being cast and I don't think there is that much of a delay).

That's my guess as well. Between the window duration and the Aura issues it probably won't work and that's primarily why I didn't get around to testing it.

It might work if you're casting through Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, iirc, that's one of the spells (CC is another) that doesn't cloud your aura for that round. I don't know if it's intentional, but it's certainly overpowered.

Just tested it.  On my installation anyway the aura is clouded even with NRD so that it would not be possible to use a potion or another item immediately after casting the spell.  The unique bit of NRD seems to be not that it doesn't cloud the aura, but that it ignores clouding.  Therefore it is possible to cast multiple NRDs in one round, although the spell
cast through NRD takes its normal amount of time and I don't think even a casting time 1 spell would beat a fireball.  In BG2 with Vecna and amulet of power there would be much more flexibility, e.g. to put a fireshield up at casting time 0.

I can confirm it is certainly possible to cast another spell before being hit with a cow kill!

Here the cow is on the way, but shield has already been cast as a follow-up to that wild surge (itself causing a fireball).  The test wild mage is level 9 and survived the fireball, but the cow squashed him for good.

Edit: just saw Alesia's comment.  That is quite correct - I did plan with a wild mage some time ago to explore cheesy options in BG2, but she didn't survive long enough to get round to it.

Edited by Grond0, 11 November 2011 - 11:27 AM.

[Grond0]

I had briefly started a random fighter / druid, but after experimenting with wild mages thought I would revert to trying one of them.  Only this time he's not wild - he's furious.

[Alesia_BH]

What type of damage does a Falling Cow do anyways? And what Spell School is a Falling Cow?

Will Stoneskins stop it? Spell Immunity: Ungulation?

[ussnorway]

PUKUD2;

@Alesia_BH... You need a pair of the rare and expensive ‘Gumboots of daisy freshness’ to be completely immune to the effects of bull droppings!

Week 2; With 6 hit points to my name I can’t afford any disagreements with the indigenous wildlife but fortunately I grew up here & know my way around all the back roads, so the first stop was Nashkel where I grabbed a very nice suit of ankheg armour, then I got lucky and found a wand of frost (10 shots) in a tree at the mines. I sold the armour at the fair (green is not my colour) then returned to FAI and recovered a ring… mostly for the good will. I wanted to talk to Tenya without fighting any ankhegs so I diverted through Peldvale but unfortunately Viconia needed me to rescue her from a racist flaming fist. I probably should have just kept walking but waisted 3 frost shots to ensure that she survives… what can I say… I’m a sucker for a Dame in distress.
 


On to Wyrm's Crossing and a long talk with little Tenya (another frost shot convinced her that negotiation was in her best interest) as it turns out a bullie named Sonner was the real villain but a humble ‘blind’ spell helped him to see things my way… on the up side, returning the bowl to Tenya gave me my level 2!

Edited by ussnorway, 11 November 2011 - 12:43 PM.

[Grond0]

Alesia_BH wrote...

What type of damage does a Falling Cow do anyways? And what Spell School is a Falling Cow?

Will Stoneskins stop it? Spell Immunity: Ungulation?

I believe it's 50% missile and 50% crushing - potion of absorption might help a bit.

My original plan was to see whether Arnie could leave Candlekeep devoid of life behind him.  However, there were a few drawbacks to this - such as Tethtoril being immune to all damage and Gorion getting annoyed with Arnie's activities!  I tried seeing if Gorion would talk even while hostile, but couldn't get near him.  Remember how his spells appear slightly odd when fighting Sarevok?  Well they do in Candlekeep as well!  His lightning bolt not only ignores magic resistance, but also the quasit's 100% immunity to electricity.  Sometimes the familiar's death didn't also kill Arnie, but it didn't matter as Gorion was under improved alactrity and got a second bolt off before Arnie could complete the walk up to him.

Looks like I will have to settle for a 'normal' wild mage run.

[The Fred]

Grond0 wrote...
Therefore it is possible to cast multiple NRDs in one round, although the spell cast through NRD takes its normal amount of time and I don't think even a casting time 1 spell would beat a fireball. 

Unless it were a Magic Missile... unlimited MM storm!

ussnorway wrote...
There are several ways to complete [the nymph quest] but I typically set her free (even when playing evil) she rewards you with hair that can be made into a +2 charisma cloak... speak to the wizard in front of the big wizard tower to start it.

You can get the hair anyway, pretty much whatever you do I think (and anyway if you have Algernon's cloak, the Nymph cloak is not so useful). Certainly if you take her to Ramazith you can then realise what he's planning and free her subsequently (it makes little difference), I just tend to kill both the wizards for their loot (and XP).

Anyway, I've unfortunately had internet problems recently so I've missed out on all these exciting happening. However, it did prompt me to play some of my own game.

Armazraphel the Avenger carried on killing various beasties until he hit L5. He had one or two close run encounters, but only had to glug one or two healing potions. He then headed to the FAI where Summon Insects made short work of Tarnesh (I simply cast it then fled around a corner - I got the XP too since I think Tarnesh's Mirror Images were still protecting him from the guards).

The plan had been to pick up Imoen (modded to a Sorcerer) at this point but I went right for Khalid and Jaheira. Thanks to L1 NPCs, they are a slightly illegal Figher/Invoker and Cleric/Stalker respectively. At the moment, Khalid's kit seems to be a bit more powerful than it ought since he has those extra spells for little penalty, whereas Jaheira's appears if anything to be weaker, since she has to deal with the extra equipment restrictions. The stealth is useful, though. I imagine at later levels, though, Khalid's inability to cast those higher-level Enchantment spells will leave him with far fewer options.

We then completed a variety of minor quests, including killing Bjornin's Half-Ogres and the Half-Ogres to the east (Arghain's band), killing Ursa the bear, killing Neira, collecting Gurke's cloak, retrieving Joia's ring and returning Unshey's girdle. I made one or two minor mistakes, though, including accepting Landrin's quest whilst my reputation was still at 8 - no free antidotes for me (that main reason I took the quest).

I then headed over to Mutamin's area. Thanks to Korax, we were able to take on the bassilisks with little bother. Jaheira's Stealth helped too. Mutamin himself was Webbed and Stinking Clouded, and hit with Summon Insects. In theory I could have done this solo, but I would have needed a potion because Khalid got unlucky and hit by a gaze even with Korax tanking. That meant all that lovely XP was shared between only Jaheira and myself, but Jaheira reached L5 Cleric and this got Animate Dead. When we returned with a scoll for Khalid, this made clearing the remained of the area easy. We also took on the Waterdhavian adventurers; these guys were trickier, but we had enough disabling spells to keep them in check.

The party as it stands now:
Arzamraphel, True Neutral Half-Elven Male Avenger L6
HP: 35, AC: 2
Profs: Missile Weapons *, Large Swords *, Small Swords *
Favourite Spell: Chromatic Orb

Jaheira, Neutral Good Half-Elven Female Cleric 5/Stalker 4
HP: 38, AC: 4
Profs: Missile Weapons **, Blunt Weapons **, Sword and Shield *, Two-Weapon **
Favourite Spell: Command

Khalid, Neutral Good Half-Elven Male Fighter 5/Invoker 5
HP: 32 AC: 4
Profs: Small Sword **, Large Sword **, Two-Handed *
Favourite Spell: Shield

[Easymask]

Good luck with your brand new Wild Mage Grond0! Going to be fun following that journey - for sure!

I've been quite busy latley. I pondered for a while, seeing how I have led so many characters to their end recently - that now I would at the very least make it to Baldurs Gate! Before posting anything at least!

And now, I have finally made my way solo to Baldurs Gate - with none other than:

Loken II!


And here the charming fellow is, having just entered the City - and feeling *quite* good about himself.


I didn't want to enter with a completely different class than what Asmodai I & II where - so I decided to walk the path of the Berserker before I went Thief. It went really well, and I cleared almost everything(except TotSC content) before heading to Cloakwood. I had to pay attention to the Berserker's experience points along the way, and was forced to go Thief after clearing the Bandit Camp.

I had saved every quest return for when I reached this point of the game - as I did not want to go fighting Sirines or Ogres with 19 Thac0. Loken II made his way across the lands collecting his payment for his many deeds(5 in Beregost, 2 in FAI, Symbol of Bassilus & Mulahey, Saving Brage and assisting the gravediggers, 4 in Nashkel, failing to save Melicamp, defeating Krumm & returning a cat - then killing Shoal, returning Brun's son & Returning the Priestess bowl). At this point, he had reached level 5 or 6 - so I decided to go hunt some Basilisks. It went very well(have had a lot of practice doing it latley!) - thus allowing Loken II to reach level 7.

So, with Loken now being a 7/7 Berserker/Thief - I wasn't quite sure what I would do. I considered hunting Ankhegs - but figured that it would take quite some time to get to 8 doing this. Instead - I decided to kill spiders, Aldeth Sashenstar and getting the cloak from Cloakwood(I did not enter the Spider's Den, as I used my last haste potion to kill the Sword Spider & friends outside). With about 5-6000 experience to go - I put on my grownups pants, tilted my hat forward and rolled up my sleeves. I would kill Davaeorn with only my thieving skills! And I did!(and my second scroll of Protection from Magic - the first one went when I slew the Bounty Hunters outside).



Seeing as Davaeorn loves to teleport around, I used that to my advantage and stealthed everytime he did. Thus he could not hit me with his spells, and I slowly backstabbed him to oblivion.

I can't wait to explore Baldurs Gate on my lonesome for the very first time!

I'll also add some screenshots of Loken II's personal "achievements" so far:

Ogre hunting at level 1(using Imoen's bow and her 40 arrows)


Killing Golems while picking up the Tome


Laying waste to the Bandit Camp leaders
[img]http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/5161/baldr214.png[img]

And defeating the Bounty Hunters outside the Cloakwood Mines
[img]http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/8539/baldr216.png[/img]

I would also like to thank Alesia for taking down Hareisham in Loken's name! Great movie, I really enjoyed watching it!(I quietly stealthed past with Loken II, as I didn't want him to end up like the first!)

Edited by Easymask, 11 November 2011 - 05:15 PM.

[The Fred]

Wow, didn't meant to write so much. A shorter update this time.

I had planned on heading down to the Nashkel mines, finally. The mines themselves should be pretty doable now, and even the assassin parties afterwards oughn't pose that much of a threat, given our recent success in Mutamin's garden. However, I instead headed over to the Lighthouse area. The first lot of Sirene's were annoying, Charming Jaheira despite her skeletons (a bit annoyed, since J had suggested we use them in the first place - also she called them "summons" which I would have thought of as an out-of-game slang term). However, both they and later Sil and her pair fell to Stinking Cloud (J threw a Silence at the last lot for good measure).

All this earned Jaheira her 5th Stalker level, and Arzamraphel his L7 - another great breakpoint (Druids are a bit lame until L4, then L4, L5 and L7 are all pretty awesome). Not only has he got cool L4 Druid spells like Call Woodland Beings and Defensive Harmony, as an Avenger he also gets Improved Invisibility and some awesome shapeshifting forms. I'm wondering now if any of these will let me take on the Flesh Golems, since I have no magical weapons. I think my best bet will probably be just to memorize two IIs and grab the tome and other stuff without fighting.

[After5CST]

BBMorti wrote...
Alayna died to the bounty hunter in Beregost at the red sheaf

Grond0 wrote...
Solar's day in the sun has ended.... [she] found herself on the wrong end of a backstab.

My condolances.

UPDATE: Jill F H Swashbuckler 3

DAY 12 (approximately):

Imoen and I continued our adventures as we continued our trek towards Beregost.  We discovered an Ogre with some magic belts that Imoen managed to sneak up behind, but her aim was poor and the Ogre was furious.  It followed her cursing, while I shot arrow after arrow at it.  We ultimately prevailed, and the rest of the trip to Beregost was without incident.

In Beregost, we managed to pacify a local drunk, and stumbled into Firebead who was too lazy to walk across the street and buy a book.  Reluctantly, I did so for the coin, as we were in need of cash.  Thankfully, selling some of the items we had acquired during our travels gave us enough cash to travel to High Hedge, where there supposedly a mage willing to barter in magic goods.

What the locals had neglected to tell us was that the path to the mage's house was not well-traveled territory. To begin with, we managed to survive an initial skeleton attack, but while resting were attacked by a ghast, an undead we were careful to stay away from while we pelted it with arrows.


Jill Reaches Level 3 on Flickr

We then stumbled into a pack of flinds and gnolls, and soon after war dogs and skeletons joined as well.  I then penned the first of my rules of combat:

1) Dying is bad
2) Use any resource necessary to survive
3) Strategic retreat (running away) is one resource


Jill Ran Away 2 on Flickr

We fled S of Beregost into the wilds, losing our foes in the process.  Once there, we killed a lone wolf and stumbled into a talking chicken.  With his guidance we were able to approach High Hedge from the S with better success.  Thalantyr was not too happy with the Chicken-Man's return, but agreed to help.  Alas, it was not enough, and the poor chicken exploded.


Jill and Melicamp on Flickr

After browsing Thalantyr's wares and finding them all too expensive, we avenged ourselves on the gnoll pack (finding a short sword in the process), and returned to Beregost. Stalking that group more smartly, I added some more rules:

4) Engage as few enemies as possible
5) Make enemies come to you
6) Keep yourself rested and combat ready

As we returned to Beregost, a local recognized the sword and directed us to a certain Perdue at a local inn. As we approached, though, an assassin named Karlat discovered us as well and we were in a fight. Using rules #4 and #5, we engaged in a running battle, retreating from position to position and pelted him with arrows along the way. In the end, he had his last stand just outside the inn where he intended us to be the victim.


Jill and Karlat on Flickr (note Silke wanted to be in the pic as well)

We returned the short sword to Purdue, but the assassination attempt had rattled me, and I decided we should continue towards Amn. South of Beregost we encountered our first Ogrillons, and Imoen heavily wounded one with a back stab and then I killed with an arrow. The other was a little more trouble to deal with, but Imoen danced around a local landmark while I finished it off, as well.


Purpose for landmarks on Flickr

Encouraged by this success, we wandered from the road a bit, when Imoen broke Rule 1.  She  successfully stealthed up behind a pair of monsters, a gibberling and another Ghast. Her idea (as she explained it later) was to backstab the gibberling (probably killing it), and then we could use arrows to down the ghast. Sadly, a mental error had her draw her bow instead, both missing the gibblerling and alerting the ghast. Before she could take a step, the ghast paralyzed and then slew her.

I ended up in a running battle with the gibberling and ghast, retreating as I fought (Rule 5) and eventually downing the gibberling in scimitar-to-gibberling combat and then using arrows on the ghast. Gathering Imoen's things, I then retreated to Beregost's temple and added another rule:

7) Always keep a cash reserve for emergencies

The high priest at the temple laughed at my small sack of coins (over 100 gp, which to me was a fortune just a week ago), and suggested I should be much more generous with the temple if I expected the temple to be generous to me. In the end, I sold most of the precious stones we had gathered, plus some of the hobgoblin swords I was carrying, in order to raise the 400 gp "donation".  I declined the offer of attending their sunrise service, Imoen was too wounded and I too grumpy to listen to the praises of Lathandar.

Imoen and I rested at the local inn, hearing stories of magic boots on a hobgoblin. She was quite interested, so we made another attempt towards Amn, while keeping an eye out for hobgoblins. As luck would have it, she sneaked ahead and found the magic boots and a squad of hobgoblins. We drew the hobgoblins in small groups away (Rules 4 and 5), slew them, and ultimately managed to claim the boots.

Next, we plan to continue towards Nashkel, in Amn.

Edited by After5CST, 11 November 2011 - 06:26 PM.

[Vaclavc]

Great run and wise rules, After5CST.



Adventures of human diviner Morveduin on Werewolf Island:
Morveduin easily completed all quests given by villagers. In the outside, his superior mobility due to boots of speed and haste enabled him to kill all wolfweres from the distance, using Magic missiles and Chromatic orbs.
In the ship, the things were more complicated. At the maximum difficulty, single hit from werebeast means certain death. Therefore, vampiric touch and mirror image are even more important than usually. With gauntlets of dexterity, blur, protection from evil, golden girdle and robe of neutral archmagi, his AC versus the beasts was -9. It is enough to withstand several rounds of melee (yes, even mage must sometimes resort to melee) against one or more wolfweres.
With spells Strength, DUHM and with silver dagger his THAC0 against them was 11 – enough to consistently hit for about 15HP.
Therefore, using combination of spells and melee Morveduin killed the beasts one by one. He used his higher movement rate to run from remaining beasts. In Dradeel’s hut, he replenished his spells and the fight continued.


In the fight with Karoug himself, Morveduin used Greater Malison and Wand of Paralyzation to immobilize him, than hit him several times with bounced lightning bolt and finished him off with magic missiles.


Kaishas Gan is susceptible to Lightning bolts as well, so she died quite easily.


However, the exactly same fate awaited Morveduin in the fight with Mendas and Baresh. Mendas was already dead, when Morveduin used another lightning bolt to kill Baresh. Exactly at that time his Minor globe of invulnerability vanished and I did not react fast enough to save him from bounced hit. He died at the same time as second Loup Garou.

Nevertheless, this game gave me insight on what a powerful wizard really can do and it was great fun. I think I will come back with another mage character soon.

V

[Easymask]

I am at a loss of words Vaclavc. It is truly sad to see such a magnificent character fall in such a fashion. I will be waiting in great anticipation for your next character! Well done none the less!

After completing most of the quests found in Baldurs Gate, Loken II decided to venture off to unknown lands - places he had never been, with treasures of great power ripe for the taking!

Crossing the sea, he made it to an island infested with foul beasts - and it almost was the end of the mighty(and sneaky!) Berserker/Thief.

Having dominated Doom Guards and Invisible Stalkers, Loken II felt confident indeed when he reached the new land. He had not researched much on what was awaiting him in the shadows, and rather decided to take the task at hand. All went well untill he reached Karoug, a monster that could not be harmed by Loken II's Long Sword +2. Chugging potions to stay alive, he equipped a dagger he had found(though he did not know how to use it - with no points in daggers) and a shield in hopes of lasting long enough to take the beast down. Failing in doing so, he gulped a potion of invisibility and returned to Dradeel's hut to rest and think of a new plan.

Loken II then decided to find out what was in the Captain's Room inside the ship, perhaps a weapon there could be of use against the Greater Werewolf? Hiding in the shadows, he ate two or three traps before he managed to open it. T'was there he found what he had been looking for! A sword! He quickly equipped it, alongside a pair of bracers he was certain would be suitable for this particular battle - but alas, they where cursed. Damnation! He chugged a few potions, and one of heroism to counter the effect - thus managing to take down the beasts one by one(I was out of healing potions at this point, so it was all or nothing!).



Escaping the island, he ended up fighting not one, but two Loup Garou! Cleverly using the same tactic he had used in a long lost ship, only moments before - he fought off one before having to retreat. Managing to heal up with a few spells(I had no more potions left) - he managed to avenge the death of Morveduin(though I am only on core difficulty)!



Now having more gold and loot than ever before, Loken II will purchase tons of potions, as he does not want to run out again!

Edited by Easymask, 11 November 2011 - 10:19 PM.

[Easymask]

And so the great Sarevok falls to Loken II's hand. Having lured the villain behind a pillar, then chugging a potion of invisibility(being already pre-buffed with DUHM, Oil of Speed & Scroll of Protection from Magic). He then used his signature ability, namely the Berserker Rage he had learned so long ago. On the 99th day, after slaying hordes of both evil and good opponents - he managed to destroy his brother with about four grand swings of his blade(the first one hitting Sarevok for 51 or 57). The first must have shattered a part of Sarevok's armor, for every strike there after would be a direct hit.

This character was a POWERHOUSE in battle - at least it felt like it. I buffed up with potions and scrolls only two or three times - he handled the rest with his berserker rage. Sarevok could easily have killed Loken II, if I had been unlucky with my to-hit rolls, as I used the only Invisibility potion I had left(out of 4 or 5 I had collected). Seems like Loken II really wanted to make it to Amn!

Loken II wore Tamoko's Plate(Unidentified), her Shield(also Unidentified), two rings of Protection from Fire, boots of speed, the Longsword+2 Varscona, the Werewolf Amulet, Cloak of Balduran, Helm of Balduran, the girdle of bluntness and the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise in the final battle.

I might do one last playthrough in Baldurs Gate 1 before heading to Amn with either Aximand's group or Loken II - haven't decided yet!

Good luck out there all!

Edited by Easymask, 12 November 2011 - 12:52 AM.

[The Fred]

Khalid, Jaheira and I travelled around killing a few more things, though first Arzamraphel used Improved Invisibility to raid Black Alric's treasure. The CON tome went to Khalid, who gained 3 hp from it. A bit measly, and if I'd been sure of picking up a fighter-type (Minsc or AJ probably) I might have kept it for them, but as it is I felt I'll get more use if Khalid is a bit hardier.

We then rescued a boy from Worgs, killed skeletons around High Hedge for daggers, took on some bandits (Tengyan, Jemby and the hobgoblin dude, whatever their names were) and tracked down Bassilus (his undead army collapsed, though again it took a little of my own with it, which is kinda weird).

In his heavy armour, the latter wasn't much of a threat alone - we were interrupting his spells with ranged weapons and our own spells (Chromatic Orbs and Magic Missiles mostly). Besides, Khalid had -5 AC thanks to Blur and Defensive Harmony, he got Blinded by a COrb and in the end Jaheira hit him with Hold Person anyway. The main upshot of this was that J now has Ashideena, which is pretty cool. With the various items dished out to me by the item randomiser, I now have a nice selection of loot (Ring of Holiness and Warhammer for J, Bracers of Armour AC 8 for Khalid, Shield Amulet, Girdle of Bluntness etc).

Also, Khalid is now L5/4 and Jaheria L5/5.

Incidentally, it seems you can't backstab with a Warhammer. I have some backstab tweaks installed but I think I might still be stuck with quarterstaves for back"stabbing", right? I'm thinking I might have to get the staff-mace or staff-spear from Durlag's Tower.

[Alesia_BH]

@V- Condolences. It was a fine run nonetheless. Hats off!

@Easymark- Congrats on your first BG1 Solo No Reload. Hope to see you in Amn!

@After5CST- It looks like the pieces are starting to fall into place with Jill's run. Good luck!

[ussnorway]

PUKUD3;

Week 3; killing some gibs & delivering a letter to Mirianne gave me level 3 (15 hit points) then I contracted myself out to fumigate a house of its araneae infection before setting off into the aptly named Valley of the Tombs. I arrived whilst invisible & therefore decided to visit the ghast tomb first… loot graves, cast ‘invisible’ (my last one) & run. I was debating cutting my losses but that’s not what the heroes of song ever do, so I walked into the Revenant tomb instead… cast ‘shield’ & ‘strength’ (doesn’t break invis) then hit him with ‘blind’…  AVANDRA smiled on me & the ‘blind’ worked but I still gulped down a potion of freedom from the nearby grave before cutting into him. Once Mr Revenant is again, fully dead I hit level 4 (20 hit points) & ran back to the fair to rest/ celebrate!


p.s. I stopped just long enough to talk Hentold into handing over the +2 dagger… thinking of wielding it in my off hand for kicks… can mages put any points into two weapon style?

Edited by ussnorway, 12 November 2011 - 05:07 AM.

[Grond0]

@Easymask. Congratulations. You might want to remember for the future that those pillars you hid behind are also handy for using thieves stealth abilities. It's not difficult to hide even when Sarevok is faster than you, but with boots of speed on it's even easier!

@ussnorway. Mages don't have access to any of the weapon styles (though there are various mods available that change this).

[Grond0]

Quick update for Arnie, wild mage.

He's had a fairly quiet time so far by and large.  Just coming up to 5th level and will probably go into the Nashkel mines then.  No real problems with enemies, but I thought I had to share this wild surge with you:


A single spell resulted in eight different wild surges - luckily none of them proved fatal.  Arnie went on to see Oublek, who failed to see anything changed about him her (I've noted the same thing before with the gender bender belt).

Edited by Grond0, 12 November 2011 - 07:44 AM.

[Gate70]

4 4 2 (football team) of rolls, good stuff. That auto-pause is worth it just to note the effects each time - speaking from experience when I missed what surge proved fatal.

[Grond0]

Gaaah - all that work wasted. Arnie was another victim of the familiar curse. He/she completed the mines without difficulty and watched invisible while the guards took out Nimbul for him. He then went off to clear the valley of the tombs.

A skull trap did most of the work on the ghast tomb and the nearby mage was in trouble - nearly out of spells, while invisible Arnie watched the quasit taunt him. However, the mustard jellies were interfering and the quasit starting leading them out of range. He had just done that and was supposed to circle back round to the mage when I mis-clicked and he moved back towards the jellies instead. A single shot - a single hit - and bye-bye quasit. On max difficulty Arnie would have needed 37 HP to survive a familar death - he had 35.

[ussnorway]

PUKUD4;

Week 4; I needed one more level before hitting the mines so went for a stress-free stroll along the western seaside… 5.5k for killing a shoal, 330 for giving a mad man back his ring, walking invisible pass the Flesh Golems & Sirines to collect my Manual of Bodily Health (priceless!), talked Brage into surrendering without fighting: 1000 exp, Reputation +1, Cursed Two Handed Sword of Berserking +3 & 1000gp… I’m now level 5 (only 23 hit points).


 I procured a wand of fire & got stuck into Denak for a Ring of Energy, Mage Robe of (each) Electrical, Fire, Cold Resistance & the all-important 'find familiar'. I had to use the swap scroll & potion trick to get my ferret… yes it’s cheating. :innocent:

Edited by ussnorway, 12 November 2011 - 10:47 AM.

[BBMorti]

Anatole's blood runs thick, something Gorion and a few of his close harper friends spotted early on..


I wanted to give the story about the young woman who had been trained as a Paladin and inductrinated the lawfull thinking of such from a young age one more try. To make it fit better I have given her starting profiences in staves and two weapon fighting considering she had been trained in candlekeep.

I prepared a starting route and desided to first port her if she got through that.. it went as follows.
Pick up a diamond in a three, pick up a ring of protection in the next area.. before continuing to the friendly arm in peek south to reveal high hedge, then friendly arms in. Pick up mage ring, sell it, place a poisoned 'ahem' staff in the back of mage on stairs there.

Then north, by stealth, all the way up to pick up a staff +3, then south again and by stealth visit the mage in high hedge to pickup a scroll of protection from undead. To the east into beregost.
note: does it ever take time to get success on stealth at low levels..


Picked up potions from Imoen and the other potential party members on the way, too. Helped firebeard find a book and calmed a man down in a bar. Sneaked south to pickup boots of stealth, then north west to assassinate bassilus, opened on him with a poisened backstab, then he started conversation, his skellies died and he miscast all his hold spells while I shot at him with bow.. used a potion of speed to finish him off.


Then I went south, by stealth, to the carnival and picked up necklase of missiles and a scroll of protection from petrification, which was afforted by the 5000 gold bounty from killing the mad cleric. Before I left the area I backstabbed Zordral the mage with a poisoned staff, ran out of the tent, and finished him off.. actually the poison did it before I even landed a hit on him.


Then south east I went and cast the protection from undead scroll and went to clear two crypths and collected the items in them, with no danger then killed a few skellies in the area and made my way north from there to an area with a huge bridge.. where I collected some bracers to help me never miss important backstabs.


Further north I went after that until I reached the basil area where I went through the basils with a ghoul friend before feeding him to some gnolls.. then finished the rest off myself with a mixture of backstabs and bow usage. Killed the mad mage too with her amazing Venefirous



Then south and stealthed through the mines.. at the end a cleric fell victim of Anatole's toxicology finished off with a shot from her neck of missiles as he ran away which took him and his assistants down in one massive explotion.

Back to deliver the news to the mayer and sneaked past an odd looking guy to rest at the inn.. she heard him mumble her name as she passed and after a good nights rest she conjured up a hand made Pharmakon and delivered it to him by her staff!


Finaly she made it back to beregost again and after a short.. dispute, with a woman outside the place she had picked to sleep she went in and rented the best bed she could find. (It felt good to get revenge over a certain bounty hunter in there, too btw)

I am having a lot of fun with her, as I hope can be seen.. hope you guys are having a great weekend!
Anatole is level 7 currently for the curious. Forgot to take a screen but I think I went over my quota of screen posting anyways by now, sowwy for that.

Edited by BBMorti, 12 November 2011 - 01:13 PM.

[Easymask]

Well done BBMorti, Anatole looks great so far! (by the way, when I played Loken II through solo - I did some reading up on Hide in Shadows. Turns out you get major penalties for standing out in the open, so sactually standing in shadows/night helps a ton! You probably already know this though!)

Very sad to hear about how Arnie fell Grond0, good luck with your next character!

Also nice to see Puk still going strong Ussnorway - well done!

[Alesia_BH]

Glad to see everyone making progress!

So you know, I'm about to start up a session with Alessandra. I intend to take her through Candlekeep this evening. And when she returns to The Gate, that's when things will get interesting.

In my install and with the restrictions I use, it basically all comes down to Slythe and the Duchal Palace. Those encounters are by far the riskiest for my characters and of those 2, the Duchal Palace fight is ten, twenty times dicier.

I'll post again when Alessandra leaves Candlekeep for the last time.

Best,

A.


Btw. I'm sorry to hear that your Wild Mage died Grond0. Sounds like you had some fun though. And it would have been absolutely awesome if you had countered the Sex Change by equipping the Girdle of Opposite Gender before it could take effect...

Edited by Alesia_BH, 12 November 2011 - 02:51 PM.

[Easymask]

Best of luck Alesia - those fights can be quite the pain, even for me on core!

How exactly are the encounteres different from standard BGTuTu? I attempted to install the newest SCS mod, but I got a patch version error so decided to leave it be. Would be fun to get that mod though, as I would love for the Cloak effect to not show up on my character!

I've decided to enter one last character into this competition. It's the first character I beat Baldurs Gate 2 with, years ago - and remade him from thought. He played in a 6-man party at that time, but my fondest memory of him, is when he single-handedly defeated Irenicus.

Please allow me to introduce; Malevorn



At the time I created him, years ago - my favorite character was Edwin. Seeing as I did not like being evil as a child, I made my own version - a good-natured half-elf. This time around though, I'm enjoying the darker aspects of my characters, thus giving most of them either an evil or semi-evil alignement. Thus making Malevorn a mix between Neutral Good and Neutral Evil. I picked Neutral Good, as the rest of my characters making it to Amn have been Evil. He will be roleplayed as though he was both.

Having just claimed the bounty on Bassilus, Malevorn will probably venture into the mines very soon.

[Alesia_BH]

Easymask wrote...

Best of luck Alesia - those fights can be quite the pain, even for me on core!

How exactly are the encounteres different from standard BGTuTu?

When it comes to those encounters, the differences are "significant".

In SCS Slythe, will chug invisibility potions and backstab constantly. He'll also break off and use the doorways to Hide In Shadows. He can be nasty for a solo warrior, though he can be tamed.

As for the Duchal Palace fight...That can get really crazy. 

If you are willing to use the doorways (and thus effectively cast Time Stop repeatedly) then it isn't so bad. However, without that trick it can be a real mess.

The Great Dopplegangers cast Horror. They also run Haste along with illusonary protections and have a melee weapon that causes Confusion on hit. It probably isn't hard to imagine how all that would make things dicey. Killing them: that's easy enough. But keeping the Dukes alive when they are Confused, Paniced, and getting wailed on by Hasted Great Dopplegangers? And with the Confused Flaming Fist possible beating on them as well? It can get totally out of control.

Anyhoo. Good luck with Malevorn! It's always fun to play an old fav!

Best,

A.
 
Btw. You should definitely give SCS a try sometime Easymask. I personally wouldn't consider playing without it. Presumably someone can assist with your installation issues. 

Edited by Alesia_BH, 12 November 2011 - 04:18 PM.