16394 replies to this topic

[Blackraven]

Aasim, very impressive, to me this is the first time that I'm keeping a journal and I notice that I spend more time keeping this journal and thinking how to make this a credible roleplaying experience, than with actual action....
Ring of Gaxx in BG1 is outrageous. As to the tomes, maybe I'll only allow myself to use one of STR tomes (give the other one to another character that I've yet to recruit). It's a shame there's no Shar-Teel BG2 mod (otherwise she would be my Bonnie, my Krystin for the trilogy).
Kit revisions looks interesting. Surely something I'd like to try out one time.

[Serg BlackStrider]

I'm bit hesitant with generalized biffing because of its permanent character. 

Why do you think so? You could uninstall it at any time, make desirable changes in your setup and then re-biff. It's pretty safe -  I've done so many times without any issues.

 

@Aasim: Impressive stuff indeed, congratulations! Looking forward to follow the SoA part eagerly.

[Aasim]

Thnx Serg & Blackraven

 

+1 for Serg's advice. Always biff, especailly with such big amount of mods. It's desirable even if you have hyped up playing machine.

[Grond0]

Well done Aasim - impressive to get through that lot without anyone being chunked.

[Aasim]

Well done Aasim - impressive to get through that lot without anyone being chunked.

Don't let Quayle be forgotten! In BG2, I'll adopt Aerie instead.

[Blackraven]

Thanks for your advice. I'm not very well versed in the technical part: installation orders, interpreting error messages, biffing etc. Mostly a process or trial and error.
So far the game has been running relatively smoothly, but I'll do a biff anyway.

[Blackraven]

The fact that it was "luck" that helped me survive my last two encounters, has made a profound impact on me. Here I was hesitating between buying the fancy Weary Cudgel +1 and saving more money to get the dagger of venom, without even considering protecting myself better against pesky spellcasters. At Thalantyr's I bought a special ring of free action that protects me against both natural and magical movement hampering effects, without cancelling the speed effect of my cheetah boots.



The ring cost me dearly, 23000 gold, leaving me with a meagre 500 gold in my pocket. A fancy greenstone amulet that potects against mind control, which is sold by the greedy innkeep in Ulgoth's Beard, shall have to wait for now. I really ought to make a lot more gold, so that I can equip myself in the best possible way because the road has treated me harshly so far.
Maybe I can trace that murdering guard captain Brage from Nashkell (supposing he is no caster) and take the bounty on his head.... Having no idea of Brage's whereabouts I toss a coin to decide whether to go east or west from Nashkell in search of the murderous commander. West it is. Cyric guide me.
...
And so his Holiness did. I reached the South Sword Coast and had two interesting encounters there. The first one with a archaeologist named Charleston Nib, the second one with my bounty, Brage.
Nib asked me to protect him from bandits while he was to enter a ruined tomb to look for any remnants of an ancient cult, this in exchange for a small reward. I agreed. A bit later one of Nib's colleagues, Gallop, made me a more lucrative offer: 900 gold if I kill the members of the expedition. I accepted that offer as well, telling him I needed little excuse to partake in bloodshed. What I didn't tell him, was that I considered it more opportune to simply take him out instead of the miners for his 900 gold. Inside the air was thick with the spirit of some ancient force. It had all the diggers go hostile on me, so I had to kill them anyway. Nib was grateful however for my assistance. He gave me a scroll that allows access to a number of hidden rooms in the Firewine bridge, and then he left. I picked up a statutette in the tomb and went outside, where I saw Gallop still waiting for me. I made a lacklustre pickpocket attempt which had Gallop go hostile on me. With my trusty old club I backsmacked him to death, only to find a mere 23 gold coins on his body. That crook deserved death.
More spectacular was my confrontation with a Doomsayer (a manifestation or merely a lackey of the ancient spirit?) that spoke to me in an unintelligible tongue. But the magic missile he cast on me, made suficiently clear what kind of business he meant. I retreated to heal and summon three skeletons that I sent forward to attack the Doomsayer.



I tried to keep a distance myself so that I would be able launch the occasional dart and have a quick start in case things got ugly. Interestingly the Doomsayer's hostility was directed toward me rather than the skeletons that were pounding at him. He kept teleporting toward me, so I had to run and kite a lot, keeping the skeletons between him and me at all times. He cast various magic missiles on me, making me quaff two healing potions and use my innate heal ability to alleviate my injuries. Soon I didn't even see the chance to throw my dart anymore, so insistent was he in his pursuit of me, but finally he fell to a hit by one of my uninjured skeletons.



On his remains I found a Flaming Fist helmet and a crossbow he had also used once or twice..
...
With my skeletal companions I continued my trek through the area. Soon I came upon a spot where a carriage including horses and what seems to be a family of three had been laid to waste. I was wondering whose work this had been, when a priestess begged me to leave. Brage was there and it was as if he was possessed by a foul soul. I told her that if that was true, and he was responsible for the carnage, it'd be better to rid the world of this evil. She disagreed and started csting a Hold Person on me. Little did she know that I had my newly purchased ring of free action on. I poisoned my frost dart and hit and poisoned her various times. Her wounds soon proved to be fatal.



But at that point I had someone else to worry about: a clearly hostile Brage, carrying a huge greatsword, was coming after me. I immediately started throwing my still poisoned dart at him, which slowed him down a bit. I lured him toward my skeletons, but that wasn't necessary. The poison did him in.



[Note: I was surprised that he was hostile. Isn't he normally neutral, until he's talked to you? Maybe this was an unintentionally cheesy kill, as Brage hadn't yet had his dialogue with me. On the other hand, I would have used the same strategy after the dialogue, no doubt with the same outcome.]

Time to head back to Nashkell and receive my bounty...

[Aasim]

Afaik Brage goes hostile if you kill the priestess nearby. He only initiates dialogue if you speak softly to her beforehand.

[Blackraven]

Ah yes, that makes sense. I don't usually play evil, so I wasn't aware...

[corey_russell]

Sounds odd, in vanilla, regardless of how you answer the priestess, Brage starts out hostile, but goes blue circle if you answer this riddle correctly. I know for certain I've killed the priestess and took Brage to the Temple (alive). Doesn't sound like you let him get into talking range. Mods or BG EE may change this behavior, I couldn't say.

[Blackraven]

True, I just saw him being hostile, and took advantage of the distance, to start pelting him. Maybe he would have come up to me to speak anyway.

[Blackraven]

Hi everyone, a quick question. I've downloaded generalized biffing and am in the process of installing it. Do you recommend me to biff only wav&tis&bam files or to biff all files?

EDIT: ok I biffed all files, and so far the game is indeed running much smoother in the coastal areas (where I used to have issues). Thanks for the suggestion.

[polytope]

Don't let Quayle be forgotten! In BG2, I'll adopt Aerie instead.

Hope to see you there soon, it's been said before but that was an outstanding run - I'd like to try the new stratagems in BG1 after I finish my current game, some of it looked pretty intense.

[Blackraven]

In Nashkell I received a 250 gold bounty for bringing Brage's body to the bounty handler Oublek. As I had not much else to do in Nashkell I decided to rest and travel once again to the coast to see if there was more treasure hunting to be done down there.
North of the area I'd visited before, the land was replete with hobgoblins, tasloi, and worgs. Making it difficult to stealth. The most interesting creatures I encountered were the enticing sirines. For some reson they were downright hostile toward me, and displayed a wide arsenal of tricks in their attempt to best me: they had their emplematic dire charm, poisonous arrows, a greenish gas that irritates the eyes and blinds anyone entering, and the ability to shapshift in a slime that emits toxic vapors.



I had three summoned skeletons at my disposal plus a potion of clarity I had acquiered in Candlekeep before I set out with Gorion. The sirines moved a lot, which was both a curse and a blessing. My soldiers had difficulty hitting their moving targets, but with the sirines separated I could take one on myself. She was already badly wounded and three darts of wounding finished her off (the poison worked on the slime form as well). My skeletons took one of the others down, and I bested the third with my poisoned frost dart. I found a pearl on each of them.
Farther down the coastline I spotted three more sirines, but unsure as to how long the potion of clarity would last, I sneaked past them into a cave. The cave was guarded by three flesh golems, whose resilience against my posion I would have gladly tested were it nor fot the fact that I didn't have any poison left after the fight with the sirines. Hidden in the shadows I carefully explores the cave. In an pool I found some treasure: a magical tome, two magical cloaks, and various potions among other things. My snatching the loot betrayed my presence to one of the golems, but I sped past him and hid myself again in order to safely leave the cave, and the area, northward. Until I reached an area inhabited by ogres and half-ogres. As I don't stand a chance against such creatures (in spite of my Stalwart Defender buckler giving me a +2 AC bonus against giant humanoids), I outran them. I stumbled upon a shipwreck with more loot, amongst which a ring that I returned to its rightful gnomish owner.
At one point I saw a nereid, but I was afraid to approach her, fearful of falling for her charm. I'm heading back to Beregost to see if I can trade some of that loot I've gathered...

Upon identification the magical tome I found in the cave on the coast turned out to be a manual of bodily health. I read it with interest [maximizing Teyl's saving shorty throw bonuses at 18 CON]. Other treasure included nn insanely powerful longsword (the bards-only Deceiver's blade that grants 1 extra apr, plus a DEX and AC bonus), a cloak of the wolf and a cloak of protection usable, again, only by bards. I sold all three items plus some minor loot, and am now again in the position to invest in some useful weaponry/equipment, in this case the weary cudgel club +1 (with a 25% chance to fatigue sentient craetures). I've a few thousand left for future purchases such as the greenstone amulet.

My plan is now to go and investigate the Nashkell mines, though I'm pondering over the question whether or not to recruit an extra pair of hands, and eyes. I'll see if any competent can be found.

[Aasim]

Hope to see you there soon, it's been said before but that was an outstanding run - I'd like to try the new stratagems in BG1 after I finish my current game, some of it looked pretty intense.

Thank you - I was kind of hoping you'd try BG1 so you can tweak some enemies there as well...

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Every morning I make myself a cup of coffee, light a cigar and spend marvelous time reading your posts. 

Now there's a dude who's got his daily priorities straight! A premium cigar, a cup of coffee & some Bioware BG Forum reviews to start the day! I like it.  

 

Although, I warn you, my posts are NOT the ones to read. I've never even come close to a No Reload run. I just bring PCs here to sacrifice for everyone's enjoyment...kinda like the Gladiators were to the Romans... lol

 

CKT

[Aasim]

Now there's a dude who's got his daily priorities straight! A premium cigar, a cup of coffee & some Bioware BG Forum reviews to start the day! I like it.  

 

Although, I warn you, my posts are NOT the ones to read. I've never even come close to a No Reload run. I just bring PCs here to sacrifice for everyone's enjoyment...kinda like the Gladiators were to the Romans... lol

 

CKT

   

[corey_russell]

@CKT: If you keep at it, I think you might surprise yourself. You will eventually learn what things you can and can't do at various levels, learn when to fight and when to run and when to range. It may take 10, 20 or 30 runs, but I have to believe you would find a success. I had a lot of spectacular failures in my no-reload runs when I first started doing them, often dying fairly early in the story, but each time I made to sure to learn what I did wrong, and then the success came.

[Alesia_BH]

Hi all. I'm glad to see so much activity. The thread is vibrant these days. That's a good thing.

 

Alora is alive and well, but she still hasn't left the Elfsong. Sadly, she may end up stranded there. My next RL adventure is but days away now, and it seems unlikely that I'll re-immerse in the Realms before leaving. If I find time to pilot Alora through the Sarevok fight, I'll let you know.

 

Once I leave, I'll be separated from my computer for four to six months. Shortly after that, I'll be returning to South America, where I will again be computer-less. If you've inferred that I'll be out of action for a long time, you're correct: it may be a year before I start another run. Regardless, I'll almost certainly continue to read and post.

 

Anyhoo. Congrats on your BG1 victory Aasim, and happy trails to all the continuing challengers. Good hunting!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Blackraven]

South America? That's where I'm at. Though as you notice not without a computer...

[Blackraven]

On my way to Nashkel I met a formidable rogue warrioress [Berserker 3 -> Thief] who challenged me to duel her. I would owe her 20 gold if she won, and she would aid me in my cause if I won. Just when I was uncertain whether to go and investigate those mines by myself or in the company of soemone else. Blessed Cyric must have arranged for us to meet. I won the duel, but not because she was a weakling. I actually (and somehow embarrassingly) had to resort to displaying her my skill with my frost dart in order to make her surrender. Her prowess with a simple unenchanted greatsword made me wonder how she would fare with commander Brage's enchanted but cursed sword of berserking I still had in my bag of holding. We went to pay Thalantyr a visit. He once mentioned his capability of enchanting items. So I showed him the sword. In exchange for two remove curse spells, two horror spells and 3000 gold he removed the curse and enchanted the sword with an enrage ability for its wielder as well as a 10% chance of instilling fear in the heart of those unfortunate enough to get hit by it.



Things are getting better every day. Cyric, my Lord of Three Crowns is with me. After we left the High Hedge and set up camp, much to my surprise, Shar-Teel laid her self beside me and we had some good fun together. In the morning she feigned indifference, but I'm confident there's more to come.
...
Sad news for a change. We enter the mines and don't see anything out of the ordinary until we venture deeper. This place is infested with kobolds. Boy do I hate these cowardly buggers. We take on some of them, and find some vials of a mysterious liquid, apparently a poison of some sort. Most of the time Shar-Teel and I agree to proceed under the cover of stealth. At the third level we cross a trapped bridge and although we're hidden, we get surrounded, overwhelmed by the vermin. I'm speaking not five or ten, but rather 30 or 50 or more for all I know. Initially we manage to bring down one after the other without us getting hurt. But their numbers dont seem to decrease. We're stuck in this horde of kobolds, and to make things worse, their archers are beginning to score hits. First me, than Shar-Teel. So I tell Shar-Teel we need to hack and slash one straight way out the horde, and we manage... or at least I do. I run and hide and take two healing potions to recover as my injuries were severe. I see how the kobolds close in on Shar-Teel again. I have three potions of explosions but I can't throw one at the vermin, not with her in their midst. She keeps on slashing, fearlessly, until she frees herself. Observing all this, my admiration for her grows. I watch her approach, encourage her to hurry. But the regrouped archers bring her down with a couple of critical hits in a row.



I rush toward her, and pick her up. Apparently I've got to do this by myself, but once this is over, I'm going to try and raise her in a temple. I find a quiet corner, take three more healing potions and notice how my health is now almost fully restored.
...
I continue my way deeper down the mines, hidden in shadows and bypassing many more kobolds, until I encounter what from the outside seems to be the den of some kind of beast. I enter the lair, ever hidden, and find more kobolds but also indications of some humanoid presence: a numbr of boxes, some furniture. This must be the hideout of whoever's behind this kobold infestation. It consists of three "chambers". The first chamber has four kobold commandos with fire arrows. I kill 'm off, all four of them, though not without difficulty. The fire arrows hurt and I use a sanctuary to take anoter healing potion and find a place to hide in shadows so that I can kill one of directly with a backsmash.
When I try to enter the second room, still hidden, in order to kill off the four kobold elite I hear footsteps of someone approaching. I retreat back to the first chamber and cast a sanctuary followed by a DUHM on myself. A half-orc priest (another Cyricist!?), visibly on good terms with the kobold rabble, is my target. I don't care for proper introductions. Instead I poison my weapon and attack the half-orc from behind. A good hit, with my precious poison doing its work.



I distance myself in order to hit the orc with my poisoned frost dart. The orc calls for aid, and out of nowhere he has three kobolds and four skeletons surrounding me. Cursing myself for not having summoned any skeletons myself, I continue to focus on the orc until he falls.



I take an oil of fiery burning which finishes off all the summoned critters except two sturdier kobolds, who fall to my frost dart. When I want to investigate the priest's chamber, hidden, always hidden, I encounter yet another group of seven kobolds blocking my way. I retreat and set one poison darts trap and two missile traps. I manage to lure five kobolds to my traps, three of them fall. Two kobold elite require a pelting with my frost dart before they fall. The final two I finish off in melee combat.
One of the chests contains a number of letters to the orc - who indeed was a fellow Strifeleader, the second one I've slain - by an apparent superior. I shall look into this more closely another, more opportune time.
I leave the place with an elven mage who was captured by the half-orc. When we reach the surface, we get accosted by two female assassins with as it turns out very powerful equipment. They almost manage to kill Xan the mage, but together we triumph over the assassins.
All in all, it has been a profitable venture. I now own a piece of shadow armor (a nice upgrade from my apprentice shadow armor) and a helm of glory. Interestingly I have no clue of my whereabouts. I shall scout out the area, and make my way back to Nashkel.

NOTE:
I'm a bit unsure with regard to some of the gear I came across. To be more specific: gauntlets of the faithful warrior (which grant priests a +3 to thac0 and damage) and armor of deep night +4 (which is +1 AC better than shadow armor). Do you guys think this is OP gear for mid-BG1? The gauntlets seem quite powerful...

[Aasim]

NOTE:
I'm a bit unsure with regard to some of the gear I came across. To be more specific: gauntlets of the faithful warrior (which grant priests a +3 to thac0 and damage) and armor of deep night +4 (which is +1 AC better than shadow armor). Do you guys think this is OP gear for mid-BG1? The gauntlets seem quite powerful...

I'd say it's your call. Besides, you'll find much better equipment with your mods - especially for druids, but even a cleric/thief will have plenty to choose from. In short, do as you see fit.

[corey_russell]

Assim is correct, since mods are allowed, it's your call, Blackraven. Even with OP gear, there's still many ways to die (held by enemy cleric/ghast, basilisk gaze, traps). And if you are doing a trilogy run, still have BG 2 and ToB to make it through...

 

CoreTalos Team has made it past Davaeorn is in Chapter 5. We have bought the last of the chapter 4 blue potions at Gullykin and Ulgoth's Beard. We need 110,000 experience to level CoreTalos, so we did what few areas we haven't gone to yet before visiting the City of Baldur's Gate. Those Cloakwood ambushes were nerve wracking for the team, glad to be done with them.

[Blackraven]

@Corey + Aasim

I think I'm going to keep both the armour and the gauntlets. The armor gives a mere +1AC advantage over the shadow armor, and since my character has only 14 STR, the gauntlets aren't going to make a huge difference either. I won't be using the really OP gear (e.g. a belt of frost giant strength I expect to come across outside the Cloakwood mine entrance). I think l'll also pass up on the Chainmail of the Firewine, a beautiful suit of chainmail that allows spellcasting, but too OP at AC1 and 30% electricity resistance. On the other hand it's superdifficult to acquire it.

***

Having some difficulty orienting myself in the mine exit area I approached a mage to ask him the way to Nashkel. Instead of simply answering my question he started bragging about a spell he wrote that allows the caster to control jellies and slimes. Interested I asked him if he could write that spell down for me as it might come in handy some time. He seemed to consider the spell his intellectual property and was gravely offended by my request, so much as to conjure two green jellies out of nowhere and attack me. When the unbuffed wizard started casting I quickly poisoned my dart and with it I sucessfully interrupted his spellcasting. It took only one or two more hits to finish him off. The green jellies took a bit longer. At ranged distance, their spit hurt a bit, but in melee range they didn't manage to do anymore damge. It seems they only used a ranged (spit) attack against me [at a significant panalty in melee].
The area also contained three burial mounds, guarded by relatively harmless undead I easily dispatched. One exception was a revenant with either supernatural resilience or fast regeneration or both. It took multiple backstabs, three of which even critical and hugely damaging, to lay that one down permanently.



When I finally figured out where I was, I travelled back to Nashkell to bring the news of what had transpired in the Nashkell mines. The mayor was thankful and rewarded me with 900 gold. Just in front of the inn (where else?), another assassin made an attempt on my life. This was a very versatile and respectable opponent, talented both in the arcane arts and in the art of assassination, with his backstab ability. He came well equipped with various potions of invisibility. When he started casting, I ran around the corner, hid myself and summoned a skeleton to my cause. I had barely erected my skeletal minion, when the rogue mage came charging in. So again I retreated, leaving him with my skeleton. One of the Amnish soldiers saw my predicament and started shooting arrows at the assassin, who had however protected himself with a mirror image and stoneskin. The soldier then engaged in melee combat with the assassin, without much success.



Since my opponnt was so difficult to hit, I decided to summon another skeleton. When I sent it in, my first skeleton just got annihilated by the assassin. The latter showed some cunning when he took a potion of invisibility, which made the Amnish soldier lose interest and leave. To be sure I summoned a third skeleton and send that one in as well. When the mage's stoneskin was consumed by my skeletons' hits, I hid, positioned myself behind my target, poisoned my cudgel and... missed.



A second attempt failed as well, but as my nemesis had apparently run out of spells, and was surrounded by Amnish soldiers and by my skeletons who unlike me were hitting him, I decided to stay and attack as well. In the end, it was one of my skeletons who finished him off. Embarassingly I didn't even hit him once, neither in melee nor ranged. My ranged problems were explained by a pair of Boots of Avoidance I found on his body.





 

[Grond0]

I didn't have much work to do today, so found myself at a loose end after finishing Krak's BGT run.  So I made the obvious choice and started a new one.

 

Rifft - dwarven swashbuckler (update 1 - learning the ropes)

 

I'm going to try and keep on a roll by playing this one carefully.  So far things are looking good

- he got an excellent starting roll quickly

- he's avoided taking any damage so far (and I will be aiming to keep that up as long as possible)

- HPs are slightly above average

 

He's recently completed the Nashkel mine (stealthed through and stealth-shot Mulahey).  The last encounter was with Nimbul, who would also have been stealth-shot if Bardolan had not beaten Rifft to it.

 

He's collected 5 invisibility potions on his travels and has only just used the first of these to escape an archer ambush to avoid the danger of being hit.  

The remaining 4 will, with luck, see him through until he gets around to buying the ring of invisibility.

 

In order to stay safe the vast majority of his work so far has been done with his crossbow (used just over 400 bolts so far), though he's used a few fireballs as well (on Kirian's party and the amazons) and just the occasional stealth attack with his long sword.