16394 replies to this topic

[Grond0]

Chimera {2} - human monk (3rd and final update)

 

Ten minutes work on various quests saw Chimera's reputation soar to 20 and he took advantage of the sale prices available to head for Ulgoth's Beard and then High Hedge.  He did have to move a bit quicker than I expected to get to the former though after running from a lucky ankheg.

 

The basilisk area saw the monsters given a kicking and Mutamin paralysed by Korax.  He didn't have any success against Kirian's gang though, so Chimera rested and took them down himself.  His stealth failed while shooting Peter and rather than run away he made a first use of the Greenstone Amulet.

 

The Greenstone Amulet was used again against the sirines, Chimera picking up his last BG1 level there.  He got a minimum 3 HPs and his total 42 at this stage left him vulnerable to a golem critical - so he avoided any risk by shooting them.

 

The amulet got a final use at Durlag's Tower, to get the tome there, before Chimera headed into the City.  He picked up the tomes there.  In the process of that Jalantha was scared before she could cast; Marek failed to complete 2 spells when Chimera disappeared behind a pillar, but did get a lightning bolt away just before dying; Ramazith survived a right hand blow, but couldn't complete a spell before being splattered by the left.  Chimera did have to make use of a green protection from poison scroll when hit by a mustard jelly on the way up the tower (he also used a potion of freedom there to attack the ghasts).

 

At Candlekeep Chimera picked up the tomes.  He left the dopplegangers and Prat alone, but used green scrolls to make the spiders and basilisks easy.

 

Back in the City Slythe died due to a single dart of stunning.  At the palace Chimera potioned up before showing himself; his first Bhaal horror affected 1 doppleganger and the second 2 more.  That allowed him to save both dukes without much trouble - his boosted strength allowing some mighty blows.

 

Chimera took advantage of his existing buffs to clear the maze, but then rested and left the Undercity party alone.  In the temple Sarevok was dragged out with a sling bullet before being led round the pillars.  He did get one attack in for 25 damage (I had forgotten to take off and re-equip boots of speed after using a potion of freedom on Ramazith's ghasts, so he had a speed advantage to start with) - a good job that wasn't a critical as it would have killed Chimera.  Chimera was more careful after that and Sarevok was soon begging for mercy.

 

He made his way safely back to Duke Belt and has now arrived in Athkatla.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Exploring the city, I first came across  Larze:

 

And then Maka:

 

We then helped Aldeth against the doppelgangers:

 

Before joining up with Coran in order to start the Secret of Bonehill:

 

We found a chest which was trapped:

 

And once Coran had recovered we plundered the castle:

 

And gained quite a lot of loot:

 

We did a lot of easy quests until arriving at Stonehill where we met a giant.

 

Which we killed with ranged weapons.

 

Marek tried to poison me, but he was the one that died!

 

We solved all the problems there and returned to the gate where we were attacked by mercenaries who wanted a staff we had found.

 

In the process of trying to help Brialbra we were attacked.

 

We then tried to kill a basilisk which petrified Coran, but I killed it before it could turn on me.

 

We then turned our attention to Durlag's Tower.

[Grimwald the Wise]

We killed a ghost:

 

After tricking Rigglio and getting a reward for so doing, we killed him so that he didn't have to languish there for ever.

 

After clearing all the upper areas, we started on the warders:

 

They fought each other because I went invisible in the middle of a cloudkill spell.

 

Fear died:

 

Love died:

 

As did Pride:

 

And we gained the wardstone to the lower levels. We stashed it there and returned to the Gate where we fought some brawlers.

 

After that we dealt with Degrodel.

 

We continued to candlekeep where we found that Prat wasn't a problem because of True Sight and even the medusae weren't that bad.

 

Upon exiting we found ourselves being whisked off to Restenford and garotten where we discovered that we needed to solve a murder.

 

Whilst doing so we ended up fighting Lizard Men.

 

Some of whom were quite tough.

 

We fought rogues.

 

and their allies.

 

And after solving the problem started the Askavaar quest.

 

Once that was finished we returned to the Gate where we fought Slythe.

 

We then defeated Sarevok at the Ducal Palace.

 

We then headed for ice island.

 

where true sight and dispell magic helped against the mages.

 

We fought our way through.

 

and eventually the quest was finished.

 

Looking for Drizzt we killed some enemies that should already have been dead.

 

One panicked and so was difficult to find.

 

We then returned to Durlag's Tower where we killed Kiel.

 

Doom Guards,

 

Ashirukuru,

 

and fought on the chess board.

 

until at last the King fell.

 

At last we fought and killed the demon knight.

 

We then continued to try and find the stone of Askavaar.

 

Killing those who hindered us, until we found it.

 

Upon trying but failing to find Drizzt, we used the magic of SK and he joined us.+

 

We then fought the Grey Clan.

 

and defeated them.

[Grimwald the Wise]

it was then time to search for Cattie Brie.

 

We fought demonknights and demons.

 

Using stealth to fight the demons.

 

True sight and brute force against slayer shadows.

 

And all our strength against Marilith.

 

until she died.

 

We then headed for the spine of the world.

 

killing baby dragons,

 

tenarii,

 

until at last cattie Brie was rescued.

 

The final battle was however very tight indeed.

 

We then went in search of sarevok and killed some cohorts.

 

including Angelo.

 

Tazok,

 

and of course Sarevok.

 

 

Forgot to mention that I found another moonblade on the way back from rescuing Cattie Brie. To get it was really dangerous. Drizzt was weakened by vampires with no way of restoring him but letting him die. This we did and Gavin raised him. There should be some way of restoring him if vampires are allowed IMO. Minor restoration doesn't work. Time doesn't work.

[Enuhal]

Valeria Karinor, human skald, update 8

 

On Balduran's Island, Valeria fought her way to the shipwreck. Before entering, the party used potions of heroism, strength, dexterity, defense plus haste and bless (and some more potions for individual characters). Bad luck: In the first level, Ajantis got held by a vampire wolf despite his great ac and decent saves. However, he quickly recovered. Upstairs, Imoen got into trouble, so I had her drink an invisibility potion, and she reentered the fight with a backstab. On the final level, the party quickly retreated downstairs to evade an unexpected spell from the female wizard I couldn't stop in time. All of the enemies followed, and, luckily, placed themselves all around Khalid, only attacking him, making it incredibly easy to kill one after the other with some focused attacks.

 

Kaishas fell quickly, and so did Mendas - no useful items at all during the entire quest, except for some potions.

 

Next, I travelled to Baldur's Gate to deal with Degrodel. This fight proved to be tougher than I imagined, because I decided to do it all in one go and without prebuffing with potions - both things a rather bad idea.

 

I entered the house with strength of one, remove fear, bless, haste and defensive harmony. Everything started out fine, and the party only took a little damage. It was when I spoke with Degrodel and provoked him to fight me (I didn't want to risk losing the Helm of Balduran if I'd be incapable of killing him in time) that things started to get worse. The positioning of my party members was rather poor, and at all points, characters other then Khalid (meaning: vulnerable characters) were attacked or chased around by enemies, making them lose hp rather quickly. Since Coran and Khalid were trapped in one of the rooms and Coran, Jaheira and Imoen were almost dead, I had to use multiple invisibility potions to escape, leave the area and rest. Returning with new buffs, it was easy to kill the battle horror who followed the party, reenter the building and slay the remaining enemies. Note that, at this point, I only managed to find one magical longsword, thus, Coran had to use a weapon he wasn't proficient with (Spider's Bane).

 

Now, it was time to go after Sarevok. After leaving the thieve's maze, Jaheira protected Khalid from fire, and he charged the Iron Throne party, making their arrows of detonation and his explosion potions weaken them. However, he did get affected by a hold person spell and was killed. I now think my strategy was just not very good, I should have involved the rest of my party immediately. Anyway, the others quickly took care of the heavily wounded opponents and returned to the upper city, raising Khalid and returning after resting. Important note: Jaheira gained a level to reach fifth level druid spells, making ironskins available for Sarevok!

 

In the Undercity, I also fought four skeleton warriors and Tamoko before entering the temple of Bhaal.

 

Now, the party used all their best potions (cloud giant strength, heroism, power, invulnerability, defense, regeneration, to mention some of them), Jaheira called some forest beings, and Imoen managed to pull Sarevok away from his companions. He started attacking Khalid, while the others used their best magical arrows, bolts and bullets to quickly injure him. Eventually, a nearly dead Khalid was pulled back and exchanged for the ironskinned Jaheira. Seconds later, Sarevok perished.

 

Next, I decided to visit the Ulcaster school ruins. Icharyd was quickly slain, as were a lot of wolves. I was very carefully scouting ahead with Khalid, who had a protection from magic scroll ready, in case I encountered the promised "Hard Times"-encounter; And, sure enough, I eventually stumbled upon a powerful skeleton mage. Of course, protection from magic made this an unfair fight (though he had powerful spells like PFMW, Stoneskin, Sunfire, Symbol: Fear, multiple Shadow Doors and lots of direct damage prepared). Before dying, the skeletal mage called two vampire wolves to assist him, so I had my party join Khalid to defeat them - and I finally found a useful item: The missing long sword +2! The only BG1 item I haven't seen so far and would really, really like to have is propably the gauntlets of dexterity - No idea where they could be. I only skipped very few battles (Shandalar's daughters come to mind).

 

Anyway, next and last on my list of things to do is Durlag's tower! Quite a dangerous place. I hope Valeria can make it.

 

Enuhal

[Grond0]

Forgot to mention that I found another moonblade on the way back from rescuing Cattie Brie. To get it was really dangerous. Drizzt was weakened by vampires with no way of restoring him but letting him die. This we did and Gavin raised him. There should be some way of restoring him if vampires are allowed IMO. Minor restoration doesn't work. Time doesn't work.

Nice to see Sarevok humbled again Wise.  Do the temples offer restoration with your mods?

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

I’ve been thinking about my worldview these last couple of weeks. Something seems to be pulling me toward law or goodness or both. Outside the walls of Candlekeep, this world almost demands that one take a stand for the innocent & hold a healthy respect authority. When I left almost two months ago I really felt no strong need to sacrifice for others or to obey or rebel but then again, wouldn’t intentionally harm anyone either.  I don’t know, I have these strange, disturbing dreams that confuse my thoughts about all of this. I’ll think on this but I have an errand to finish that will only be complete when Gorion’s murderer is defeated & lies dead @ the end of my blade.

 

I was in such a hurry to get after my mission that I neglected to go back to the Bandit Camp & get whatever might be in those various chests & boxes we couldn’t open before. So, instead it was off to the Cloakwood, even though I’d taken us to High Hedge Manor to purchase a Potion of Perception. In High edge we destroyed another two Cave Bears & half dozen skeletons. Then @ Cloakwood we defeated two Dread Wolves, nine Huge Spiders, three Worgs, two wolves & nine Tasloi.

 

Key Event: A meeting w/a man, Aldeth Sashenstar, from Baldur’s Gate provided a secondary mission on behalf of a druid familiar & friendly to Jaheira, Seniyad. Aldeth was there w/some friends @ a hunting lodge they’ve apparently used for years. For whatever reason, this year Seniyad took exception to their being there. Both accused the other of murder & Seniyad was there to kill the man which I couldn’t see as just & tried to find another solution. Seniyad took hostile exception to that until Jaheira intervened & he recognized her. Seniyad agreed to back of his threat to kill the man if we would help him to rescue a couple of his druids, Maretha & Beador, from some far more sinister druids he & Jaheira referred to as Shadow Druids. I might have helped anyway but w/Jaheira’s urging my decision was w/o question. So I agreed.  Aldeth gave me a potion I know to be a Potion of Heroism & invited me to visit him @ the Merchant League in Baldur’s Gate if I’m in that city. 

 

Treasure of Note: Cloak of Non-Detection (Imoen); Pearl Necklace (sold)

 

Current Disposition: After gathering the remaining loot from the Bandit Camp, resting, resupplying, recuperating @ the FAI

GIVING MY COMPANIONS A BRIEF RESPITE 

Next Steps:  Travel deeper in the Cloakwood & assist Seniyad in rescuing his druids while continuing to seek Gorion’s murderer

Level Up: None

 

Current Party: (Reputation: 13 – Popular – defeated bandits & aided Officer Vai)

Gawain: Ftr/4; Full Plate w/Large Shield +1 w/Boots of Grounding, Bastard Sword*** (SSS**) (Osmadi)

Minsc: Barbarian/4 w/Splint Mai w/Boots of Avoidance, Two-Handed Sword***/THWS** (Spellcaster Defend)(Greywolf)

Khalid: Ranger (Archer)/4 w/Stud Leather w/Bracers/Archery, Longbow***, B/Sword* (TWS***)(W/Wolf) (Ranger Ranged)

Imoen: Charming Rogue/5 w/Stud Leather & Cloak of Non-Detection, Short Bow*, Dagger* & Short Sword* (Huge Spider)(Thief Def)

Jaheira: Priestess of Sylvanus/4 w/Stud Leather, Sling*, Club*, Scimitar +1 (Gnoll Veteran)(Druid Off/Def)

Dynahier: Mage (Invoker)/4 w/Bracers of Defense AC8, Sling*, (Teven)(Wizard Defensive

 

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)

 

[corey_russell]

Grats on taking down Sarevok with Chimera(2), Grond0 - hope they can get far in SoA and ToB.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Nice to see Sarevok humbled again Wise.  Do the temples offer restoration with your mods?

 

Possibly, but no temples where it mattered.

Quite annoying that the Moonblade will not see any use.

 

Congrats to Chimera

[Enuhal]

Valeria Karinor, human skald, update 9 (final update)

 

Before travelling to Durlag's tower, I decided to quickly kill Shandalar's daughters, in case they had the gauntlets of dexterity, but no luck. I wonder where they are.

 

Anyway, after dealing with some battle horrors, the party entered the tower. Khalid used a potion of mirrored eyes to slay some basilisks, and I found the final tome, randomised to increase dexterity. Nice!

 

Next, Valeria entered the first level of the actual dungeon. After dealing with some greater doppelgangers, skeleton warriors and flesh golems, it was time to challenge the dwarves guarding the next level. They were quickly decimated.

 

Downstairs, some more greater doppelgangers had to be defeated. The fight against the dwarven doom guards was interesting. It started off relatively normal, but for some reason, the skeleton warriors from the fake stairs joined in, and I had to retreat to the real stairs. That way, it was possible for the party to take out the opponents one by one. Shortly before finishing this level, Imoen disarmed an instant death trap, but for some reason she was killed anyway - soooo, back to Nashkell to raise her.

 

For the next level, the party first dealt with the greater wyvern, and Imoen used a protection from undead scroll to kill the skeleton archers. The other area was cleared as well.

 

For the fire room, everyone used a potion, Khalid also a scroll to gain fire resistance, which turned out to be a good idea. With the boots and a potion, Khalid also was immune to cold for the ice room. Time for chess!

 

Everyone drank a potion of absorption, making it possible to move freely and ignore the lightning bolts. Still, Khalid took a lot of damage, so the party decided to focus on killing the king.

 

For the final level, after defeating some spiders and solving some riddles, Valeria and her group took care of the greater ghouls. I should note that my game crashed at this point, so I had to kill the spiders and some greater ghouls again, but the outcome was exactly the same.

Soon, it was time for the demon knight. While he managed to dispel Khalid's protections, he died a few seconds later.

 

Immediately after arriving in Ulgoth's Beard, Valeria drank an invisibilty potion to avoid being backstabbed to death. Instead, the backstabs were aimed at Ajantis and Coran. However, with the assassins now visible, the enemies were quickly defeated. The party also took care of the other cult group outside before resting and buffing. With every relevant remaining potion and spell, it was easy to enter the cult's base and slay their remaining forces. Now, after drinking mirrored eyes potions, the party went downstairs. While Jaheira got held, the rest of the party ran from cultist to cultist, quickly killing everyone, until Aec'Letec was isolated. With all the attention on him, the demon stood no chance, and finally, he died.

 

Valeria is now a level 11 skald. She reported to Belt and will continue her adventures in Baldur's Gate 2.

 

Some overall thoughts: I think my party was fairly balanced and effective (every party member killed about an equal amount of enemies), though I did miss having a cleric. Valeria herself is fairly fragile, but that will change with BG2 spells. The skald song is reasonably effective, especially early on, but for harder battles, I often would prefer Valeria to actually cast her spells or use scrolls/wands. Also, just standing around and singing is quite boring.

I will keep Imoen as a  thief, I don't want to have too many arcane casters in my BG2 party.

 

As for my gameplay, while I made a lot of mistakes (some of which I can hopefully avoid in the future), aside from the Cloakwood mines and some of the confusion spells affecting mutliple party members, I think none of them were really potentially game ending. Hard Times was reasonably enjoyable, though I don't like not being able to sell potions (and I discovered that I can't sell them in BG2 either). While the Item Randomiser was fun, I'm not sure where some of the items ended up, and it can be frustrating to get the specific magical weapons your party would need only very, very late.

 

Enuhal

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Though time was of the essence but I really wanted us to get back & empty all of the chests that were left unopened in the Bandit Camp. We were able to do so & got some gold & a few potions, even some useful scrolls for Dynahier. Then it was back to the FAI b/c we needed PoH & I wanted us to identify that cloak we found. I gave my companions a couple of hours to unwind, then eight hours & we were back to the Cloakwood.  Venturing deeper, we met a lad whose brother was lost in the forest after having found a sword that was designed to kill spiders. He begged us to try & save his brother which I agreed to readily. Both Jaheira & Minsc warned of traps & Jaheira of spiders & Ettercaps, the danger of their poison & need the for Antidotes to be handy. I set Imoen to one task – find & remove traps & good thing b/c we were not even into the woods before Imoen found one & disarmed it just as we were attacked by six Huge Spiders. We killed them but Minsc required Dynahier’s innate Slow Poison ability & a PoH. From there we found & defeated three Phase Spiders, three Ettercaps, nine Giant Spiders, three more Huge Spiders and then…

 

Key Event: …we found ‘The Nest’ of the Cloakwood Nest.  As I did @ the Bandit Camp before we entered the obvious main tent, here I had my spellcasters prep for our entry into what I expected to be a cave full of spiders.  So Jaheira Blessed us & cast Armor of Faith on herself; Dynahier cast a protection scroll on herself but I can’t remember which one & everyone is asleep now so I can’t ask; Imoen used her innate Charming Rogue abilities of Invisibility & Reflected Image on herself. The plan was to enter &, if possible, Dynahier was to cast a Fireball from a scroll while Minsc & I kept any attacking spiders back while Imoen, Jaheira & Khalid used arrows/stones to effect until Dynahier got the spell off.  She did get the spell off but we were not well organized & Minsc took a tough shot from a Sword Spider. We backed out of the nest to draw the spiders out & did we ever. Before we got out the door many were waiting for us. Both Khalid & Jaheira were caught between the door & spiders w/an Ettercap standing in the door to prevent going back in. Khalid fell there but Jaheira eventually got out bleeding profusely but alive. Minsc was getting hammered by a sword spider, et al, but he finally backed off & reached Dynahier who was standing back & she was able to give him her Antidote as he’d already used his & his PoH. Imoen helped me & eventually she was joined by Jaheira while Minsc waded back in, also badly injured, w/Dynahier providing support from her sling. One by one we knocked our enemies out until, in the end we killed two sword spiders, an Ettercap & three or four Giant Spiders.  

BATTLE OF THE CLOAKWOOD NEST

We were beat up pretty good, so I returned us to FAI where we could rest & identify some enchanted items before returning to mop up our business in Cloakwood nest. We actually had to travel to High Hedge to identify a ring we were sure was a ring of protection…but it was a Ring of Folly.  Following that it was back to FAI for a night & back to Cloakwood where we defeated

eight Ettercaps & nine Huge Spiders before we could call it a day.

 

Treasure of Note: Spiders Bane (Minsc), Bracers of Defense AC8 (sold), Fire Opal Ring (sold), Ring of Folly (sold)

 

Current Disposition: Resting, recuperating, resupplying @ the FAI

Next Steps:  Heading still deeper into the Cloakwood to save the druids if possible & chase down & take revenge on Gorion’s murderer

Level Up:

Jaheira’s deity, Silvanus, granted her the power of an Initiate of the Third Circle (Druid/Priestess of Silvanus//5) & one new 2^nd

                Level Spell & two 3^rd Level Spells

I’ve been selected for & promoted to Swashbuckler (Fighter/5)

Minsc, also, has improved his skills to become a Fighter/Barbarian//5

 

Current Party: (Reputation: 13 – Popular)

Gawain: Ftr/5; Full Plate w/Large Shield +1 w/Boots of Grounding, Bastard Sword*** (SSS**) (Taugasz Khosann))

Minsc: Barbarian/5 w/Splint Mai w/Boots of Avoidance, Two-Handed Sword***/THWS** (Spellcaster Defend)(Sword Spider)

Khalid: Ranger (Archer)/4 w/Stud Leather w/Bracers/Archery, Longbow***, B/Sword* (TWS***)( Sword Spider) (Ranger

                Ranged)

Imoen: Thief (Charming Rogue)/5 w/Stud Leather & Cloak of Non-Detection, Short Bow*, Dagger* & Short Sword* (Huge

                Spider)(Thief Def)

Jaheira: Priestess of Sylvanus/5 w/Stud Leather, Sling*, Club*, Scimitar +1 (Gnoll Veteran)(Druid Off/Def)

Dynahier: Mage (Invoker)/4 w/Bracers of Defense AC8, Sling*, (Phase Spider)(Wizard Defensive)

 

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)

[corey_russell]

Coremonk III entering Trilogy no-reload challenge...

 

Coremonk III, Human, LG, Monk

STR 18 DEX 18 CON 18 (to allow Claw eventually) INT 11 WIS 11 CHA 6

 

Trying a smaller party (4-man) to give him a chance and to speed up his leveling. Currently it's Kagain, Branwen and Imoen (who will eventually dual).

 

Pretty straight-forward so far, but did make one big blunder, that I barely managed to recover from. Without thinking I killed Greywolf and that put my Rep to 19 - Kagain gave his speech that he's had enough - I turned off the AI and ran to Beregost to kill Algernon as soon as I could (dropping rep 10). Once AI turned on Kagain still left the party. But he liked us! So he immediately re-joined when we talked to him. Close call there...

 

I did ran into a rather vicious ambush when returning from the Gnoll Fortress - the two Ogre Mage ambush. Kagain and Imoen were killed, and Coremonk III took a lightning bolt at point blank but managed to dodge the richochets. He was at a sliver of life (out of heal potions at the time), but Branwen with her spiritual hammer and Coremonk III's sling eventually got the job done. These so far are the only deaths of the run.

[SubannisRae]

Luck to Coremonk III, Corey! - strange how everybodies character's have these familiar sounding names :grin -

To any and for any and all, I'll be joining the challenge here shortly, maybe posting something up by end of the week. Caught between 2 or 3 choices: a blackguard (you've damned me if you're reading this CKT, those write-ups from book as black as Bhaals cold heart, I swear), a blast'n'cast sorcerer, or a 3rd option I wanted an opinion on (as many opinions as I can get, actually.

Now, I'm running BG:EE, and I plan to add in SCSv28 + BG2Tweaks ( and any other mpds mentioned that sound cool). I'd already planned on making use of the un-nerfed sorcerer spell progression in Tweaks, which doesn't bother me for the reg sorc, but I'm worried it might imbalance the Dragon Disciple. If I was to go that route, my 3rd option, I would probably want to try a fun-style set up of Alesia_BH's crazy melee hybrid Alastria (sans Tweedlez). A lot of the same spells, maybe some exceptions. So, for those with an opinion, what are you're thoughts on the un-nerfed sorc spell progression? Oh, amd please toss in thoughts on any other mod you think I might want to look at, definitely need a good portrait pack but I'm really picky on style (preferences running towards the IWD style. Thanks!

Oh! If I do run an elf sorc I'll be wanting to switch the avatar for dwarf/gnome. Never beem a fan of all elves being androgynous sticks from 80's anime. Is the EE Keeper what I want for that?

[corey_russell]

Thanks SergeTroy I will take the luck! Something always befalls my monks, hopefully this will be a different. As to your question,l I am afraid I don't know the answer as I don't use mods.

[SubannisRae]

Follow that. I admit that I'm a bit drawn to the sun soul monk of BG:EE, I have my biggest issue as his THAC0 with his fists. If you saw the movie, when the going gets tough with Coremonk III, just think of Kung Fu Hustle. Happy times.

[corey_russell]

Well, most of the time Coremonk III is at range, he'll do a lot more melee in BG 2. He is very vulnerable to criticals, so he has to stay away from hard hitting foes like bears and ogres - he's fine meleeing a kobold in ambush though. : ) I agree his thac0 stinks even with max strength (18 atm), the only saving grace in that with more levels he'll get more attacks, which MIGHT do something...

[SubannisRae]

I think we need a low level version of the horns of valhalla for BG, something that summons a skald for 1 turn or something who only sings & otherwise makes monty python cracks *(Mod Idea!)

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

I lead my worthy companions into the next deeper part of the Cloakwood where the center of Shadow Druids power live.  The woods were not difficult here, surprisingly & we defeated two Dread Wolves & 21 Tasloi w/o any trouble.

 

Key Event:  Travelling deeper into the area controlled by the Cloakwood Druids, we stumbled on two Vampiric Wolves. My first reaction was that w/only Minsc’s Spider’s Bane & Khalid’s Arrows of Ice (which I wasn’t sure would hurt them), that it was best to leave this fight for later but then I decided to let Dynahier cast a Sleep Spell from a scroll & Jaheira cast her newest spell Hold Animal. The latter took effect & we were able to beat them to death w/Imoen’s & Dynahier’s Magic Missile’s, Minsc’s Spiders Bane & Khalid’s Arrows of Ice & Jaheira cast Flame Blade & aided in finishing them off.  A dangerous decision to fight but one masterfully executed by my worthy companions w/o assistance from me.  As we finished a rider from Dynahier’s guild showed up from nowhere, as they do, & informed Dynahier that her guildmaster was granting her more authority w/i the guild hierarchy.  

SLAYING THE VAMPIRIC WOLVES. ALL CREDIT TO MY WORTHY COMPANIONS FOR A VERY GOOD VICTORY!

After that, it was hard not to get cocky & not work our way thru methodically like we’ve come to do in our adventures in an attempt to avoid surprises like traps & ambushes.  We took care of an ornery Black Bear, three Shadow Druids (including their Arch-Druid). The druids were of no trouble @ all, even the Arch-Druid.  I mean, he called himself ‘Archdruid’ (& Jaheira seemed to agree) but all my readings indicate an Archdruid should be 13^th level & they certainly should put up more of a fight than Amarande did. Very disappointing & no challenge whatsoever. After that we finished off a couple of wolves & then headed back to the FAI where we met three Ettercaps & two Wyverns. Jaheira was killed by Minsc in the latter as he lost control under the effects of Barbarian Rage.  He two encounters provided sufficient training to bring promotions for Imoen & Khalid to increase their level of proficiency.

 

Treasure of Note: The Root of the Problem (Jaheira)

 

Current Disposition: At the FAI resting and resupplying

Next Steps:  Deeper part of the Cloakwood where there are supposed to be Wyvern’s, this its name, Cloakwood Wyverns

Level Up:

Dynahier’s guild sent a rider to meet her & inform her that she’s now a Thaumaturgist (Mage/Invoker//5) & can now cast one additional 1^st & two new 3^rd level spells

Imoen also received a courier, to inform her guildmaster is pleased w/her continued improvement & has selected her to be a Filcher (Thief/Charming Rogue//6) & she is now

          skilled @ 100% in Find/Remove Traps & 80% in Pick Locks

Khalid continues to improve his Ranger skills & is now a Tracker (Ranger/Archer//5)

 

Current Party: (Reputation: 13 – Popular)

Gawain: Ftr/5; Full Plate w/Large Shield +1 w/Boots of Grounding, Bastard Sword*** (SSS**) (Taugasz Khosann))

Minsc: Barbarian/5 w/Splint Mai w/Boots of Avoidance, Two-Handed Sword***/THWS** (Spellcaster Defend)(Sword Spider)

Khalid: Ranger (Archer)/5 w/Stud Leather w/Bracers/Archery, Longbow***, B/Sword* (TWS***)( Sword Spider) (Ranger

                Ranged)

Imoen: Thief (Charming Rogue)/6 w/Stud Leather & Cloak of Non-Detection, Short Bow*, Dagger* & Short Sword* (Huge

                Spider)(Thief Def)

Jaheira: Priestess of Sylvanus/5 w/Stud Leather, Sling*, Root of the Problem*, Scimitar +1 (Gnoll Veteran)(Druid Off/Def)

Dynahier: Mage (Invoker)/5 w/Bracers of Defense AC8, Sling*, (Phase Spider)(Wizard Defensive)

 

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)

[ussnorway]

Puk Darkstar returns to the swordcoast.

 

Tutu run update1.1,

Starting stats for Puk and Sarah

These two youngsters couldn't wait to be rid of their school peers and ignored the various people trying to give them petty chores… Gorion dragged Puk away before Sarah could see which path they took with disastrous results.

 

p.s. luckily she court up to him before he reached FAI… dispatching the wizard assassin assigned to lurk at the entrance.

 

 

Mods:

// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods

// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod

// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]

~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #0 // The BG1 NPC Project: Required Modifications: v20

~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #2 // The BG1 NPC Project: Give Edwin his BG2 portrait: v20

~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #3 // The BG1 NPC Project: Give Imoen her BG2 portrait: v20

~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #4 // The BG1 NPC Project: Give Jaheira her BG2 portrait: v20

~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #5 // The BG1 NPC Project: Give Minsc his BG2 portrait: v20

~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #6 // The BG1 NPC Project: Give Viconia her BG2 portrait: v20

~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #7 // The BG1 NPC Project: Kivan's "Kivan and Deheriana Companions" portrait: v20

~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #8 // The BG1 NPC Project: Add Non-Joinable NPC portraits to quests and dialogues: v20

~BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #200 // The BG1 NPC Project: Player-Initiated Dialogues: v20

[Serg BlackStrider]

Nice to see you (and Puk as well) back in action, Ussnorway! All the best and safe travels for your crew.

[corey_russell]

Welcome back, USSNorway! Best of luck/fun for your run.

[Grond0]

Sentiments echoed - have a good one ussnorway.

[corey_russell]

Coremonk III the Human level 5 Monk - Update 2

 

Coremonk III and gang have gotten Imoen to level 5 - i was planning on dualing her but need her thief abilities for the bandit camp - time to do the main story line. The kobolds in the Nashkel Mines were of little trouble, necklace of missiles used on the Commandos. For Mulahey, Kagain stood near the entrance to be the "target" of the enemies. Turned out Mulahey couldn't even get a spell off - we did necklace of missiles which immediately broke his morale (he tried to surrender), and Branwen tried doom and hold person, but Mulahey died before the hold person could even hit...Originally was going to dual Imoen and decided to keep her at a thief forever and instead recruit Xan. We are having to deal with harder encounters now, so having mage power/wand power will be of use. I rarely use Xan anyways so will be something different.

 

We sold/rested at the Carnival. Then dealt with Nimbul. Once again, Nimbul was dead before Branwen could doom/hold person. We had Xan memorize a bunch of spells in Beregost (we were saving up spells for Imoen, gave to Xan instead). As for Tranzig a Melf's and a command were far too much for Tranzig to handle.

 

A few other things we did was help out Samuel, take down Greywolf (doom/hold person), clear out the gnoll fortress and the lake area (the girl and her dead cat), and clear out the wolves/bears near Candlekeep.

 

Working on the ogre area by the Sword Coast, to get the magical sword from the "fairest bandit" for Coremonk III.

[Grond0]

Phantom - human monk (1st and final update)

 

I was thinking of having a little break after Chimera failed.  However, I feel I should try and put the record straight and at least get a monk through SoA.  That should be easy enough if I can avoid getting sucked into attempting difficult fights like the one with Thaxy.

 

Chimera in BG1 was operating under considerable restrictions about item use.  To speed things up Phantom has just gone through this morning with no restrictions (other than avoiding item based healing and antidote potions as with all my characters).  That allowed him to complete the game in about 2.5 hours.

 

He had a good start with 15 HPs from the 2 levels from Shoal, 7 from Meilum and 8 from basilisks (average 6.5).  However, that was undone by the 3 from Mutamin, 5 from sirines and 6 from battle horrors at Durlag's Tower.  That leaves him slightly below average, though not to the same extent as Chimera.

 

Typically I avoid buying anything significant until reputation is at 20 - which is normally not until after the Cloakwood mine in order to get horrors for Bhaal abilities.  However, that's more for RP reasons than gameplay as funds are normally plentiful anyway.  This time I went to buy things much earlier - the wand of heavens and Greenstone Amulet making encounters like the sirines easy straight away.

 

Worrying moments in the run were:

- when fighting Kirian's party it looked like it might be an easy fight when Korax successfully paralysed Kirian, Lindin & Baerin.  However, Peter surprisingly turned away from him and started targeting a spell on Phantom.  By the time it reached him Phantom was out of sight and hidden in the shadows, so there was very little chance of enemies coming to find him - and they didn't.  He used the necklace of missiles to finish that encounter quickly after that.

- at the palace Phantom had just cast horror when one of the dopplegangers hit him with a nasty critical.  There was another one attacking him as well and if it had also got a critical that would have been dangerous.  However, nothing further hit him through his potioned protections and he healed with lay on hands before smacking his way through the dopplegangers.

 

Sarevok was as usual pulled out on his own and led a merry dance round one of the pillars.

 

Here's Phantom's record on arrival in Jon's dungeon.

[corey_russell]

@Grond0 - Congrats once again! Try to be a bit safer in SoA. For a solo monk, the shadow dragon is totally superflous - e.g., you can't use the shadow armor or the Crom Faeyr. And experience is almost meaningless for a solo character, lots to be had. Same for Firkraag too, can't use the fire scale armor or the Carsomyr. So just avoid!

 

Regardless, hope phantom does a lot better than his predecessors.

 

Coremonk III the level 6 Monk - Update 3

Travleing with: Kagain, Branwen, Imoen, Xan

 

Coremonk III and gang have made good progress. Most of the bottom two rows of the map have been cleared. Battles/quests of note:

 

* Borda defeated by shield amulet and resist fear on Kagain. Even with 5 characters attacking him, took forever for him to go down...

 

*Melium easily defeated (doom/blindness/hold person) - bracers went to Coremonk III - his AC is 1 now so Coremonk III is starting to do some melee, when safe enough.

 

* Molkar and his buddies were utterly destroyed. We buffed Korgan to more than 100% fire resist had him charge, and the party unloaded two fireballs and a skull trap and a silence - Molkar's party actually survived all of that, but one more skull trap from Xan finished them. Kagain got confused, so the party ran away to wait that out.

 

* Amazons defeated - once again two fireballs and a skull trap and silence were devastating - one amazon tried to run but a hold person stopped her off-screen.

 

* Narcillus and jellies defeated - darts of wounding/fireball/skull trap brought down Narcillus quick - party then switched to their melee weapons to finish off the jellies.

 

* Firewine Bridge "cleared" - but Xan got targeted by kobolds - he only has 15 HP so out of desperation he tried a fireball - it did kill the kobolds (and the pesky mage throwing lightning bolts around), but Xan killed himself too, so had to raise him.

 

* Difficult fighting by entrance to Ulcaster School - hordes of kobold archers, and 3 ghasts - Xan threw a lot of spells in an effort to save Branwen who got held, but a few seconds short of saving her. Had to rez her after the battle.

 

* Ulcaster School cleared - not much to say, pretty smooth for the party. Xan appreciated the fireball wand, since he can't cast fireball himself...

 

* Got full plate for Kagain - Kagain finally uses his ** two weapon pips and dual wields. Now that Coremonk III gets 2 attacks per round, Coremonk III is also doing melee when safe enough.

 

* Battled Sendai and her archer buddies - this battle went extremely well - Sendai herself was quickly held, and Xan managed to one-shot both archers with a single well placed skull trap. Zal and Vax nearby were also defeated, a skull trap softened them up and Vax was held, Zal didn't last much longer.