16394 replies to this topic

[Alesia_BH]

bgee run update 1.3, the rangers;

 

 

Awesome. I was hoping this would happen. Welcome back!

 

When did this run start, USSNorway? How did I miss it?

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

@Potty1. Are you out there? Are you ready for a run?

 

It would be great to see the old Avatars players posting on the forums together again.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Oh. And while the Avatars are on my mind...

 

I'd like to give a shoutout to GrimJim, a lurker here, who recently reported the Sphere of Chaos disintegration/magic resistance issue to the G3 Fixpack team for consideration. 

 

If it's determined to be a bug, and integrated, I will officially dub it the Cassia Memorial Bugfix. 

 

Thanks GrimJim! And feel free to join us. You're most welcome here.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Yay! Yay! Yay! Oh how I hope this run is a success! 

So am I! May a Deep Brother smile upon Glorydd!

 

@Corey: have fun in Durlag's! 

 

@ussnorway: glad to see you back!

[Grond0]

Wrecking Crew {13} - dwarf fighters (11th and final update)

 

On arrival at Ulgoth's Beard they were greeted by a War Cry HLA from a Cult Enforcer - resulting in Carlo running away, while Baby Face was immediately killed by a backstab.  

Spoiler

There were more backstabs before Mad Dog was dominated, but I'd made sure he was separated enough from the others that he chased Carlo rather than coming back to them.

Spoiler

 

The assassins were down, but Bugsy was nearly dead and Carlo had led Mad Dog back to the others.  Al finished off an Enforcer after using a couple of dispelling arrows on him, while Bugsy was hanging on at near death and Vito was suffering from archers and trying to shake off Mad Dog.

Spoiler

 

Vito finally manages to transfer Mad Dog back to Carlo and come to take the pressure off Al.  His arrows of biting have helped kill one of the archers, while Bugsy has used darts of wounding on the guard chasing him.

Spoiler

 

Mad Dog and Carlo finally come back under control just in time to help finish off.  

Spoiler

After picking up equipment they then went to a temple to raise Baby Face (his death means only Al has remained alive throughout his gang's adventures).

 

Without any special abilities, the guards on the temple were virtually helpless.  The gang rested to be fully healed before going inside the temple.  A round of fireballs and arrows of detonation cleared much of the opposition

Spoiler

and the remaining Enforcer and a couple of Assassins didn't cause much trouble.

Spoiler

 

After resting, everyone used an invisibility potion before going downstairs.  They slaughtered the guards before showing themselves to Tracea Carrol.  She was hit with a dispelling arrow and killed and Aec'Letec only lasted a few seconds longer.

Spoiler

 

With everything else except Sarevok already done the gang moved straight through the maze to the temple.  Carlo activated Sarevok while invisible and the others then enticed Angelo out.  I expected him to be able to get one spell off, but unfortunately he managed to confuse Bugsy with that.  

Spoiler

He did a bit of follow-up damage in melee before being shot down.  

Spoiler

After the follow-up skeleton warrior was killed the others quickly got out of eyesight to try and get Bugsy to stay where he was.  He did wander slightly, but luckily away from Sarevok and he used a potion of regeneration once he was sane again.

Spoiler

 

A couple of rounds of exploding arrows killed Diarmid;

Spoiler

he managed to poison Mad Dog in between those, but Al used slow poison on him.  Semaj just managed to survive the initial assault, but a single arrow on Diarmid's skeleton warrior was too much for him.  

Spoiler

While finishing that skeleton off I saw that Sarevok was giving another speech - and going to look at the dais demonstrated that I must have missed Tazok getting burned up earlier.

Spoiler

 

More exploding arrows were mixed in with Al successfully dispelling Sarevok 

Spoiler

and within a short time the big man was the last enemy standing.

Spoiler

 

A few rounds of missile fire took the sting out of him before the gang converged to give him a big dwarven send-off.

 

Some final resting to heal up and the gang reported into Duke Belt.  He seemed disgruntled at how long it had taken to chase down Sarevok (up to day 384 on their adventures!) and sentenced the gang to a spell in the Athkatla dungeons with the option of early release for good behaviour if they agree to do community service (or die  ).

 

Al - L8, 89 HPs, 631 kills, ***** longbow / * long sword

Carlo - L8, 100 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 623 kills, 2 deaths, **** flail / ** sling

Baby Face - L8, 65 HPs (-14 from Claw), 619 kills, 1 death, **** 2-handed sword / ** crossbow

Bugsy - L8, 88 HPs, 328 kills, 2 deaths, **** katana / ** dart

Vito - L8, 84 HPs, 550 kills, 1 death, **** halberd / ** shortbow

Mad Dog - L8, 79 HPs, 416 kills, 1 death, ***** axe / * 2-weapon

[corey_russell]

Hope your crew can go far in Amn, Grond0!

[Alesia_BH]

Woe to thee, Athkatlan City Guard. Your job just got a whole lot harder: The Wrecking Crew is coming to town.

 

Nice work Grond0! Good hunting!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Great job indeed, Grond0! Keep it on in Amn!

[Grimwald the Wise]

Well done Grond0.

 

All the best.

[ussnorway]

 Looks like a good day to be a dwarf... well done Grond0!

 

Awesome. I was hoping this would happen. Welcome back!

 

When did this run start, USSNorway? How did I miss it?

 

Best,

 

A.

Yes it was ways back and I don't expect people to go digging for it so I'll repost

 

bgee run update1.1,
I’m re-entering the challenge with Puk again… Sarah is sitting this one out.

Starting stats for Puk and Imoen
 

Spoiler

Mods: the bgee game files have been adjusted to allow the following
// Puk is a Gnome crusader paladin
// Imoen had her thief stuff removed and is an Avenger… I also subtracted 2 points of str and con from her in keeping with the kit description.

 

bgee run update 1.2,

 

Hear text as mp3,

A 10 days’ worth of adventuring; by Puk,

My first job was to loot my father’s corpse… a dagger for Imoen and a belt for me. With the grim task still vivid in my thoughts we headed south to throw the assassins off our trail and followed the old deer trek to High Hedge where we recruited a kindrid Ranger named Kivan and agreed to help him hunt bandits… he too has lost someone dear but seems reluctant to discuss it yet.

Imoen needed something to throw at these would be bandits so as to avoid melee and Beregost boasts a well-stocked armoury however as soon as we arrived a desperate damsel named Neera begged for our help against some spell casting bandits… I don’t trust arcane users normally and prefer not to travel with them if I can avoid it but the girls need seamed genuine and Kivan was keen to fight any bandits, especially ones that like to bully females so we helped the lass out of her predicament and even escorted her safely back to the friendly arm inn where we parted ways with her and collected my father’s two friends.

Spoiler

 

After collecting another Paladin (also out hunting bandits) we turned south to Nashkel where my fathers old friends; Khalid and Jaheira needed to investigate but after fighting off another assassin at the inn, I had a strange dream which seemed to be my dead father saying “head into the woods”… so I said goodbye to Khalid and Jaheira, leaving them to investigate the towns troubles whilst I try to figure out which woods it is that my father’s ghost needs me to travel?

[corey_russell]

Phase One Complete - Upper levels of Durlag's Tower have been secured by Yeenter the Dwarf. Of course, that's the easy part, since I've cleared the upper levels many times in my play throughs. Tonight I will atttempt the much harder (for me) lower levels of Durlag's Tower. Wisdom tome given to Viconia, since Yeenter really doesn't get any benefit with his WIS currently at 3.

 

EDIT: I should mention that the Spider's Bane (Minsc's weapon) has been vital, to deal with the many ghasts in the tower.

[Blackraven]

Bravo Grond0! Keep it up in Amn

Nice to see you back in action USSNorway!

Corey, careful down there

[corey_russell]

Bravo Grond0! Keep it up in Amn

Nice to see you back in action USSNorway!

Corey, careful down there

I'll be careful as I can - but that won't prepare me for the unknown. With Dogdancing, I have been on the lower levels before, but never the chessboard or beyond. But like I said earlier, there's no time like the present to learn. 

[corey_russell]

@USSNorway - Good to see you in action! By the way, you know you didn't have to re-post your 1st post? Much simpler is to click the number in the upper right of your post - this will show you a link which you can copy - for example using this, This is Magicken's starting post.. The link takes you directly to whatever post the link came from. That's all you have to do next time.

[Grond0]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement for the Wrecking Crew - I suspect they're going to need all the luck they can muster in Amn ...

[Alesia_BH]

Luck?

 

Who needs luck when you have long bows and flails, two-handers and katanas, halberds and axes.

 

Go bash some heads. 

 

Best,

 

A.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 83 - (update 3)

Pasha, half-elf druid (Grond0) & Rholfre, half-elf dragon disciple (Gate70)

 

A short session today saw this pairing continue to defy the odds to stay alive.

 

Having just finished the basilisk area last session they started off by travelling to the Cloud Peaks.  The first significant encounter there was Zal and Vax.  Vax was blinded and started running around everywhere, which made him hard to finish off.  To protect against Zal doing the same he found himself both blinded and in a grease field and couldn't get out.  The EE targeting is annoying - being both hard to lock on originally and liable to lose lock the instant an enemy steps out of sight.  Getting tired of playing that game Pasha instead started a call lightning spell - unlike with weapons that targeting persists even after the enemy moves out of sight.

Spoiler

 

After a trip back to Nashkel to refill Rholfre's pockets with daggers the duo moved deeper into the mountains.  Caldo & Krumm were both incapacitated by glitterdust and didn't last long, but there was a dangerous moment during an ambush on the way to the Gnoll Stronghold.  Facing 4 gnolls Rholfre told Pasha to run.  Her immediate reaction was that the gnolls were not that much of a threat, but the dragon disciple's breath weapon that hit her moments later was a different matter - fortunately she saved for half damage!

 

The duo finished off in the mountains by making a mountain bear a target.  Rholfre has been making regular use of both glitterdust and grease and those spells combined nicely to catch the bear.  It did manage to save against an entangle, but was near dead by the time it had moved the wrong way to go back through the grease and Pasha ensured that it came to a shocking end.  

Spoiler

 

The duo decided to get a lift back to Nashkel with Brage.  However, first they agreed to take on the Doomsayer.  Rholfre's 5 MMs were only sufficient to take that to badly damaged and Pasha had carelessly stocked up with lightning (to which the Doomsayer was immune) rather than insects.  Rholfre had a frost wand, but had not identified that (note to self - remind Gate70 to do that next time while we're sitting in a temple ), so the only way to kill it (without wimping out and running away) was to use the Necklace of Missiles.  Using that repeatedly on a chasing enemy is tricky and Rholfre added to the risk by refusing to heal (meaning that being caught in a blast would almost certainly have been fatal).  However, he proved to be up to the task!

Spoiler

 

Stats:

Pasha, druid 6, 28 HPs, 77 kills

Rholfre, dragon disciple 5, 26 HPs, 59 kills, 0 deaths

[Blackraven]

 

ps: as a thief, Glorydd is very carefull, no? 

 

She's only part Thief

(Honestly, I'll try to be careful with her... though I've said such things before.)

 

Glorydd (take 2), TN Dwarven Fighter/Thief, 2nd & final BG1 update

The Cloakwood had little treasure that Glorydd coveted. She limited herself to securing the Cloak of Non-Detection, slaying Aldeth for his valuables Seniyad, killing a couple of Spiders in order to procure Spiders' Bane and travel the woods more safely, and receiving a potion of invulnerability from Laskal. 

You know you're playing too much Baldur's Gate when you know exactly which Tasloi to slay for the Cloak of Non-Detection.

Spoiler

Glorydd was ruthless with the Cloakwood Mine assassins. The Dwarf buffed with invulnerability, absorption (for Drasus' morningstar), cloud giant strength and speed. Both Kysus and Rezdan were insta-gibbed. (Immediate swigging of a potion of invisibility after Kysus was down kept Rezdan unbuffed and blue-circled, and thus very backstabbable.)

Spoiler

Drasus and Genthore she butchered in melee combat.

Spoiler

Glorydd put on the Boots of Speed and hasted invisibly through the mines (barely stopping to arrange the slaves' liberation), to Davaeorn.

She slew his guard, protected herself with two potions of magic protection, and attacked. She quaffed potions of fire resistance in the process. I don't love leaving places to escape spell effects, but SCS mages' invariable Remove Magics can be a bit annoying, especially considering the fact that a rogue like Glorydd can't really do anything against that spell yet. (Dagny could have cast a MGoI.)
Glorydd quickly left the premises when the spell was cast at her, and returned right after that. She finished the Battle Horrors with backstabs, Davaeorn with acid arrows and arrows of biting,

Spoiler

and a Mustard Jelly with Spiders' Bane as her short swords were useless against the slime.

Having reached the XP cap already, Glorydd did few quests in Baldur's Gate. She focused on procuring items: stat tomes (the WIS tome was pickpocketed), Rogue Rebalancing's Sparkburst shortbow, arrows of dispelling and other enchanted arrows, Helm of Balduran, and potions. The only extra quests she did were the Ogre Mage in the sewers for the gold, and the thieves guild quests as part of the roleplaying exerience. With the Expanded Thieves Stronghold mod installed for BG2, Glorydd hopes to meet Narlen Darkwalk and Black Lily again, further down the road.
Glorydd fought the Ogre Mage with a cheap potion of stone form as her anti-magic defense, but saw herself forced to drink a potion of magic shielding when her enemy cast a Confusion at her before she could finish him.

Spoiler

A misclick made Ragefast angry,

Spoiler

so Glorydd left the dangerous wizard (he has a wand of paralyzation), to tell Ramazith what she had gotten herself into. Ramazith was not amused, but an arrow of dispelling and a few strikes later, that didn't matter anymore.

Spoiler

The rogue snuck past Iron Throne acolytes to deal directly with Thaldorn. He pointed her to Candlekeep, and that's where she went with a tome from Duke Eltan to get in. (Note that after some deliberation on my part Glorydd availed herself of bardic reputation management to lower her rep to 9, and get the Divine Wrath Bhaalpowers that I've become quite fond of, instead of Duhms.) Not a drop of blood was spilt in or below Candlekeep, at least not by Glorydd. The Dwarf did pick up all the nice loot in the chests in the catacombs though.

Back in the city, she tracked down two assassins that had murdered one of the Dukes and that were intent on killing the other Dukes as well. Before engaging the assassins, Glorydd buffed with cloud giant strength, heroism, speed, and magic shielding. She managed to lure hasted Slythe toward the exit to the sewers where the two came to blows. Damage was inevitable, especially with Slythe's backstabs, but Glorydd never got into trouble as she kept healing herself. (Her 50 Detect Illusions skill wasn't doing much to reveal Slythe whenever he went invisible.) She killed her foe just when Krystin arrived to cast, guess what, Remove Magic

Spoiler

Glorydd left the Undercellars for the sewers and returned to finish the woman with acid arrows.

Spoiler

The Dwarf rushed to the Ducal Palace, where at the curious hour of 4 AM, Sarevok's inauguration was about to begin. Rather than quaffing the violet potion from the Nashkel Carnival, Glorydd refreshed her speed, strength and AC buffs, drank two potions of magic protection, and added potions of mind focusing mainly to improve her marksmanship and to raise her barely developed Set Traps skill to 80. It sufficed to successfully place two snares behind the unsuspecting audience. Hasted, Glorydd enjoyed 4 APR with her shortbow. Within a round and a half she would slow down all the hasted Greater Doppelgangers with her arrows of dispelling, which she had poisoned for good measure (using one of five Rogue Rebalancing phials of poison). Victory was soon secured, with both of the Dukes surviving the dust-up.

Spoiler

In a rare bout of honorability, Glorydd decided to play 'fair' at Sarevok's hall, i.e. engaging Sarevok (and thus provoking the others) from the beginning with an arrow of dispelling, and no green scroll of PfMagic. This meant seeing her potion buffs removed first by Angelo, later by Semaj, and after that once or twice by a Skeleton Warrior with arrows of dispelling. Disabers were never a threat thanks to invisibility and magic shielding potions, but Glorydd did suffer quite a bit of magical damage (triggered magic missiles, lightning bolts etc) in addition to Diarmid's missile damage. She chose to drink several of her extra healing potions to keep herself in good health.

Spoiler

The first few rounds were clearly for Sarevok and co. But when she was rebuffed after Angelo's and Semaj's debuffs, it was Glorydd's turn to deliver.

She poisoned her dispelling arrows with another of her phials and was soon done with both wizards.

Spoiler

Diarmid (ranged) and Tazok (melee), who was a bit slow in showing himself, also fell to poisons.

Spoiler

(Are these poison phials overpowered? Maybe, but they only become available in BG city, and in this fight they only expedited the inevitable. It's not like they saved Glorydd's life. I've no idea whether not using poisons would have resulted in a different outcome at the Ducal Palace.)

Glorydd slew three remaining Skeleton Warriors as they were injuring her, and also to see how a melee duel with Sarevok would pan out. Given the fact that unlike Sarevok, Glorydd was buffed and had healing potions, Sarevok was clearly the better fighter. But as it was, Glorydd prevailed.

Spoiler

She reported back to Amn, accepted a commission for Belt to travel to Athkatla, and has just been woken by Imoen in a weird dungeon.

[corey_russell]

Very nice work, Blackraven! Keep it up in Amn/ToB. When my Yeenter run finishes, am seriously thinking of restarting my solo fighter/thief Picenon - he almost made it to Melissan on his last attempt, and really, I think I have my best chances for a solo success (none yet for me) with that character.

[Grond0]

Well done Blackraven - good to see another character added to the ever more crowded city of Athkatla .

[Blackraven]

Very nice work, Blackraven! Keep it up in Amn/ToB. When my Yeenter run finishes, am seriously thinking of restarting my solo fighter/thief Picenon - he almost made it to Melissan on his last attempt, and really, I think I have my best chances for a solo success (none yet for me) with that character.

Thank you Corey!
Hopefully Picenon will have to wait for a bit, due to Yeenter being successful Btw don't you think a solo F/M/T would even be more likely to succeed? They're about as good at fighting as F/Ts (a bit slower), they should get by with their thieving skills, and they get spells. Buffs like Blur, MI, MGoI, Haste, Stoneskin etc could actually make a F/M/T a better fighter than a F/T. And debuffs like Secret Word, Breach should also be superhelpful. For Glorydd I intend to assemble all the arrows of dispelling and to get the Staff of the Magi, to make her a good dispeller throughout SoA and ToB.

 

Well done Blackraven - good to see another character added to the ever more crowded city of Athkatla .

Thank you Grond0! I agree it's always fun if there's a lot going on in Amn

[corey_russell]

Thank you Corey!
Hopefully Picenon will have to wait for a bit, due to Yeenter being successful Btw don't you think a solo F/M/T would even be more likely to succeed? They're about as good at fighting as F/Ts (a bit slower), they should get by with their thieving skills, and they get spells. Buffs like Blur, MI, MGoI, Haste, Stoneskin etc could actually make a F/M/T a better fighter than a F/T. And debuffs like Secret Word, Breach should also be superhelpful. For Glorydd I intend to assemble all the arrows of dispelling and to get the Staff of the Magi, to make her a good dispeller throughout SoA and ToB.

 

Thank you Grond0! I agree it's always fun if there's a lot going on in Amn

Thanks for the suggestion - but a fighter/thief is plenty powerful. Spike traps alone can win many ToB fights, for example (and in fact they did for Picenon). Don't forget with UAI a F/T can do spells like blur, stoneskin, etc. from scrolls, and wands too. I'm sure Picenon can get the job done - question is, can he do it if I'm controlling him? : )

[Alesia_BH]

Nice work, Blackraven!

 

Here's to Gloryydd proving Yoshimo wrong: Let her find redemption in her second chance. 

 

Good hunting in Amn!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

 

 

You know you're playing too much Baldur's Gate when you know exactly which Tasloi to slay for the Cloak of Non-Detection.

 

 

Yes. For us that's like the easiest shell game in the world. 

 

Best,

 

A.