16394 replies to this topic

[Grimwald the Wise]

In the Ducal Palace, the wand of sleep is VERY effective. However it is also dangerous in that you have to ensure that ALL the doppelgangers have transformed BEFORE using it.

 

If you put them to sleep beforehand, they don't transform and you can't finish the quest. (You get trapped)

 

However, once they are doppelgangers, sleep is very effective in giving you time (A very valuable commodity). I always cast a lot of summons spells BEFORE the conversations start, (This also gains time) and if you can hasten them as well so much the better.

 

If your character has web casting ability, that is also useful as it stops the dukes throwing themselves at the doppelgangers.

 

If your character has healing spells, it CAN be worthwhile casting them on the dukes. The doppelgangers are not too dangerous against the PC. It is keeping the dukes alive that is the problem.

[biowherewolf]

@Grimwald: I... don't think I have ever actually seen a charisma of 1 before..... she is obviously not visually repulsive, so my mind trips over the ways she must offend. Maybe she should buy some +3 breath mints? 

 

@Borco : congrats on getting Narva to an impressive level. But you don't exactly make me want to drop everything to run Druids. It seems like a really rough class. 

 

@Grond0: Good luck. You are obviously an experienced player who enjoys a challenge. Have you ever considered a hard limit on the magics used? I've been thinking about that. It seems as if any class is almost do-able with the Green Amulet, darts of sunning, and a few potions. That's not a criticism, but I think that's one of the things that makes the Wizard Slayer so rough. Just thinking out loud....

 

--BW 

[realmuzzy]

@bioww Thanks! Also totemic druids are really fun, you have your little army that scales in a balanced and enjoyable way and is well supported by your druid spells like bless, strength of one and roots (they are immune to roots). Plus, having them on the front line opens you up to cast charms, dooms and so on. People underestimate how fun and useful low level druid spells can be in bg1.

 

@grimwald Does wand of sleep work on SCS improved dopplegangers? I started with 4 hasted phase spiders before I entered the room so we're on the same page there. I was afraid to web because I wasn't sure the dopplegangers would aggro on me instead of the webbed dukes, but the more I think about it the better web sounds.

 

@braven Thank you. Good suggestion with animate dead! I tried removing magic on the wizard but it failed. He's at least level 9 since he casts chaos, so dispelling him is chancy. 

 

@borco Great progress for Narva! Is there anything you want from Durlag, or are you just doing it for fun? My non-trap finding chars never go there because I don't know which trap does what by heart so it just ends up being stressful and taking up a lot of resources. Once I have shield of archons, death ward, cc, ironskins, I'm more comfortable with traps

[biowherewolf]

DUNO 

ACT 1 SCENE 3

 

[Curtain opens on Duno and Viconia and Edwin Wandering across (yet another) forest]

 

DUNO : Welcome to the party, Edwin.

EDWIN: Party? I see no streamers or balloons

EDWIN: [In a stage whisper] Although this does look like a group of clowns

 

DUNO: Well.. um.... ok. You realize we can hear you when you do that, right?

 

EDWIN [In a stage whisper] : The morons have ears!

 

DUNO: *Ahem* well.. hey, look, it's a bear. 

 

VICONIA: Vith'ir ... I am not afraid of a ... *ACK*

 

[Viconia is bitten in half by the bear]

Spoiler

 

Bear: Mmmmmm ...yummy... 

 

 

EDWIN [In a stage whisper]: Foolish girl. She will make a better bear meal than she ever did a cleric. Powerful magic users like I am would never get injured by such a lowly... *ACK* 

[Edwin is *almost* bitten in half by the bear while Duno slays it]

Spoiler

 

[Curtain closes]

 

ACT 1 SCENE 4

[Curtain opens on Duno and Viconia and Edwin Wandering across (yet another) forest]

 

DUNO: Wow... that was a long walk back to Nashkel to get you two healed up. Hopefully we won't into another.... Uh oh.... BEAR!

Spoiler

 

DUNO: At least we are getting better at bear hunting

Spoiler

 

DUNO: wow. that was great... Hey Viconia.. have you seen Edwin? Oh, never mind. he's serving dinner to that wolf

Spoiler

 

DUNO: *Whew*... another long walk to get you two healed up again. Now just stay away from wolves and.. BEAR!

Spoiler

 

DUNO: OK, so we're not so great with the woodland creatures. Let's go after the Gnolls at the fortress as we've promised Edwin... How do we get there again?

 

EDWIN: We must pass through this village of Xvarts  [In a stage whisper] you navigational illiterate

 

DUNO: Um.. you know, we can still hear you when you do that ... anyway, how will we ever get through? There are many of them. 

 

EDWIN: Do not fear. I have brought.... Skittles! Taste this rainbow, fools!!!!

Spoiler

 

 

EDWIN:  And with them, we shall.... *ACK* 

[Edwin falls by a quick Xvart who caught him unaware]

 

DUNO: hm. They don't seem to like Skittles. Viconia, let's be a bit less confrontational and get Edwin raised.... *again*

 

VICONIA: Vith'ir

 

DUNO: ...what does that mean, exactly. 

 

VICONIA: You don't want to know. 

 

Spoiler

 

[Curtain closes with Viconia and Duno carrying Edwin's body back to the temple]

 

ACT 1 SCENE 5

[Curtain opens back in the Xvart village ]

 

DUNO: HA HA! This fight is easy... Thank the gods we are fighting Xvarts and not... BEAR!!! 

Spoiler

 

VICONIA: Wait, the bear attacks the Xzarts !

 

DUNO: Heeeeey... that's ... awesome! What say we just back up a little.... Now, where did I put that necklace of missiles... 

 

EDWIN: Around your neck [In a stage whisper] Simpleton

 

Spoiler

 

EDWIN: And I will add ice to your fire

Spoiler

 

 

[Curtain Closes]

 

ACT 1 SCENE 6

[Curtain opens on Duno and Viconia and Edwin Wandering across (yet another) forest]

 

DUNO: Thank the gods we're finally out of that Xvart village and done with the bears for a while.

 

VICONIA: Be mindful! Ogrillons ahead.

 

DUNO: Meh... Ogrillons are child's play -- low level scum... wait... where's Edwin? *sigh*

Spoiler

 

[Curtain closes with Viconia and Duno carrying Edwin's body back to the temple.. again]

 

[Curtain opens to find Edwin, once *again* restored as the group tries to cross a bridge]

 

DUNO: Oh... thank the gods... another bear... what would I do without them.... wait.... where's Edwin.... *again*?

 

VICONIA: The fool surface dweller does not have the power to.. OUCH!  Vith'os!

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

DUNO: OK... let's get Edwin back ..... again... and let's *pleeeaaase* try to avoid bears.

 

[Curtain closes with Viconia and Duno carrying Edwin's body back to the temple .... yet again]

 

--BW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Grimwald the Wise]

@biowherewolf: It is because of a mod that I have Cha 1 in BG1. You can easily get it in BG2. My mod gives one of the assassins a BG2 staff which is +2, panics opponents, but has a chance of reducing charisma available in the Gate District of BG2 (Possession of a lich!). There is the potential of it killing you as Cha=0 equals death.

[Matuse73]

An early visit to High Hedge revealed a hostile flesh golem in Thalantyr's abode, which has been somehow triggered by the presence of enemy Flind (Thalantyr himself was chillin' and seemed indifferent to the mess around).

 

The flesh golems at Thalantyr's are hostile by default. They turn blue circled when you talk to Thalantyr.

[Grond0]

@Borco, fine progress. I second Grond0's advice, should you want to venture deeper down in Durlag's Tower. In addition to the locations he mentioned, the merchant upstairs in the Elfsong Tavern also sells a PfP scroll.

I think that merchant shares the inventory of the merchant in the Nashkel Carnival - so assuming his scroll had been used in the basilisk area it wouldn't also be on sale in Baldur's Gate.

[biowherewolf]

@biowherewolf: It is because of a mod that I have Cha 1 in BG1. You can easily get it in BG2. My mod gives one of the assassins a BG2 staff which is +2, panics opponents, but has a chance of reducing charisma available in the Gate District of BG2 (Possession of a lich!). There is the potential of it killing you as Cha=0 equals death.

Yes, I thought it was related to the staff you mentioned. Thanks for the details.

 

--BW

[Grond0]

@Grond0: Good luck. You are obviously an experienced player who enjoys a challenge. Have you ever considered a hard limit on the magics used? I've been thinking about that. It seems as if any class is almost do-able with the Green Amulet, darts of sunning, and a few potions. That's not a criticism, but I think that's one of the things that makes the Wizard Slayer so rough. Just thinking out loud....

Thanks biowherewolf.  I've experimented with a lot of different restrictions in BG1 (much less so in BG2).  It's a long time since I've made use of it, but it's not that difficult to complete the game with a single magical item (Algernon's Cloak).  I've played with several characters with the restriction of using no magic items other than magic armour and weapons.  That's not too bad in vanilla, but with SCS you need some luck - particularly against improved giant spiders in the Cloakwood and in the fight at the Palace. 

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 90 - (3rd and final update)

Fael, halfling thief (Grond0) & Nock, elf archer Gate70)

 

This duo didn't need much in the city.  They did the poison quest - the only hiccup there was Nock getting confused as Marek died, but fortunately no innocents ventured into range of his bow.

Spoiler

 

They also picked up the other tomes - Ramazith being killed, but the rest of his creatures in the tower were oblivious as the duo stealthed past - and the Helm of Balduran.

 

At the Iron Throne they used the roof to rest while setting 7 traps - they made a large dent in the enemies once triggered.  Nock then shot arrows of biting to make a mess of the remainder.

Spoiler

 

Moving on to Candlekeep they had the luxury of being able to disarm traps while looting the tombs.  Nock made a promising start by shooting down Sakul before he could react, but Fael was hit hard by a couple of arrows before managing to hide and watch as Nock finished off Prat's party with stealth shots before shooting down a pair of basilisks.

Spoiler

 

Back in Baldur's Gate Slythe was drawn out and hit with a dispelling arrow - though he still managed to give a decent account of himself before falling.  Moving on to the palace both characters shot dispelling arrows initially to slow down the dopplegangers and managed to save both dukes.

Spoiler

 

They sneaked through the maze, but did practice with a few arrows of detonation on the Undercity party - the win wasn't quite as clean this time with Gorf surviving the initial assault and needing standard arrows to finish off.

Spoiler

 

In the temple Sarevok was shot with a dispelling arrow.  Semaj's teleport appearance was expected and he didn't last long against dispelling arrows.  

Spoiler

However, Tazok's invisible arrival was not expected and he managed to hurt Fael before being shot down.  

Spoiler

On his own and with a speed disadvantage Sarevok had little chance and failed to get a blow in before becoming the final victim.

Spoiler

 

Stats:

Fael, thief 9, 49 HPs, 68 kills

Nock, archer 7, 87 HPs (+5 from Helm), 196 kills, 0 deaths

[Grimwald the Wise]

Yes, I thought it was related to the staff you mentioned. Thanks for the details.

 

--BW

 

And so long as you don't have ToBex installed, it is possible to get a charisma of 25. With TobEx installed, instead of Cha = 25, you get Cha(racter) = dead.

 

Azure eventually got a charisma of 25, but it took some time.

 

She first headed north towards the FAI. On the way she picked up a ring of protection +1 and fled from 2 dire wolves.

 

At the FAI she found a ring of wizardly and used it to defeat Tarnesh. The crucial spell was blindness. After that she kept her distance casting magic missile to start with. One FAI guard gave some help. However it was her composite long bow that killed him, despite lack of proficiency.

 

Hobgoblins were then killed before heading northwards where a widow was helped against her undead husband. A girl priestess was then helped against some evil fishermen, (or so she said).

 

She then headed for Nashkel, got some healing ability and some defensive equipment. Lord Foreshadow then gave her a ring which subsequently was used to get her charisma to 25.

 

She also used it to get Karlat to kill Algernon. She then used the cloak to encourage her enemies to fight charmed people rather than her. In the process she equipped herself quite well.

[Grond0]

Knockout - melee sorcerer (2nd and final update)

 

Knockout was looking to make much faster progress than Nippy, but paid for that with a lack of concentration.  At the basilisk area I was thinking about the fight against Kirian's party and not monitoring the damage caused by darts on a lesser basilisk - ending up finishing it off without even a critical (thus infringing her rule of only causing casualties with her melee).

Spoiler

 

I'll restart her and try and do better.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Thanks biowherewolf.  I've experimented with a lot of different restrictions in BG1 (much less so in BG2).  It's a long time since I've made use of it, but it's not that difficult to complete the game with a single magical item (Algernon's Cloak).  I've played with several characters with the restriction of using no magic items other than magic armour and weapons.  That's not too bad in vanilla, but with SCS you need some luck - particularly against improved giant spiders in the Cloakwood and in the fight at the Palace. 

 

I too won the game with just Algernon's Cloak with a variety of characters. No weapons! One character I used was a fighter/thief and he didn't kill anyone either. Most similar ones ended up with me killing Sarevok with fists, but on that particular occasion it was either a lightning bolt from a trap or an arrow of explosions that killed him. So much for my character being the Lord of Murder.

 

Sorry to hear about Knockout.

[biowherewolf]

I too won the game with just Algernon's Cloak with a variety of characters. No weapons! One character I used was a fighter/thief and he didn't kill anyone either. Most similar ones ended up with me killing Sarevok with fists, but on that particular occasion it was either a lightning bolt from a trap or an arrow of explosions that killed him. So much for my character being the Lord of Murder.

 

 

 

I remember some of those runs. I think there was a no-XP run. And a pacifist run or two.

 

I always wondered how that worked with Algemon's cloak. I get that it's powerful, but I am always worried about save vs. spells.

I know you can avoid targeting the most powerful enemies. But, for example, Tranzig is .. what 6th level?  That gives him .. what? a 50/50 chance to save? And you only get 1 charm/day?

How do you deal with that?

Charm->fail->run->rest->return->charm->lather->rinse->repeat?

And what if the charmee chases? 

 

I was always confused by that.

--BW

[Blackraven]

I think that merchant shares the inventory of the merchant in the Nashkel Carnival - so assuming his scroll had been used in the basilisk area it wouldn't also be on sale in Baldur's Gate.

I think this is true for BGT. However one or more of my previous BGEE Wizard Slayers found the Elfsong merchant had the same shop inventory as the Carnival Merchant's starting inventory even after having bought most if not all green scrolls at the Carnival.

[Grimwald the Wise]

I remember some of those runs. I think there was a no-XP run. And a pacifist run or two.

 

I always wondered how that worked with Algemon's cloak. I get that it's powerful, but I am always worried about save vs. spells.

I know you can avoid targeting the most powerful enemies. But, for example, Tranzig is .. what 6th level?  That gives him .. what? a 50/50 chance to save? And you only get 1 charm/day?

How do you deal with that?

Charm->fail->run->rest->return->charm->lather->rinse->repeat?

And what if the charmee chases? 

 

I was always confused by that.

--BW

 

Algernon's Cloak gets unlimited charges per day. At least it did in the un-modded versions of the game. Perhaps with EE and SCS it has been nerfed somewhat. That would make more sense as without that limitation it is exceedingly powerful. I limit its use in my games though the game engine doesn't.

 

You don't need to fight Tranzig. In fact, in my pacifist runs I avoided fighting as much as possible. Mulahey had to die to advance the game, therefore I charmed him and let his cohorts kill him (The difficult part was to get his cohorts out of the way so that I could pick up his symbol) . At the bandit camp I used stealth and didn't fight anyone. Against Davaeorn I charmed him and let the guards with the flaming swords kill him. If he saved against charm, I would move out of sight, hide and have another go.

 

Against Kirstin and Slythe one method was to go next to Slythe and wait for the Cloudkill. Wait for Slythe to enter it and use an invisibility potion. Walk away and await results. There were other methods.

 

The Ducal palace was the hardest. I buffed my character to the limit, then used wand of sleep so that the number of doppelgangers attacking at any one time was limited. Then used my fists to weaken the doppelgangers and if necessary used my Bhaal powers to heal the dukes.

 

The guards and the dukes then finished them off.

 

To kill Sarevok I used boots of speed, oil of speed, other buffs to boost protection, strength etc. Then lured him towards the statues where it was easy to hide. Then hide-backstab-hide-backstab-hide-backstab etc.

 

The first time that I played I expected to knock him out and then lure his allies to fire arrows of explosion at me which would then kill Sarevok.

 

It didn't work. I killed him with my fists. That is supposed to be impossible! That was unintentional as I was hoping not to kill anyone. However, on a subsequent game he did get killed by his allies. That only happened once and it was a fluke. My favourite weapon was of course fists.

 

I suppose that a really challenging game would be to have a "No reloads" "Pacifist Game". That would certainly take some doing!

[Grimwald the Wise]

Things haven't been going according to plan. I accidentally killed Shoal so that I didn't get the Helm of Defence. The NPC that I sacrificed was not in my game plan and so was no loss.

 

I was pleased to kill the sirene as I was a bit worried about them. I think that I was playing too risky a game there.

 

What has surprised me is that my reputation has dropped to 9 and I don't know why. Saphire or a previously charmed enemy must have killed an innocent.

 

EDIT

 

Next on the agenda was giving gold to a temple, killing Greywolf, rescuing dogs cats and trees. Now a hero again.

[Matuse73]

So, after a ~6 month absence, I'm trying some no reload attempts again. With the launch of Youtube Gaming, I've decided to stream it all. Youtube automatically archives all of it so there's a permanent record.

 

Currently I'm at the top of the Cloakwood mines ready to head down. While the run has generally gone well, the casualty rate in Durlag's was...excessive, and I massively goofed it with Branwen, losing her forever (and she took Ashideena and the Ring of Holiness with her). Currently with Viconia but will be trading her for Yeslick.

 

https://gaming.youtu...er/Matu5e#tab=1

 

Episodes 1 through 8 are up. Ep 9 will be tomorrow!

[ussnorway]

Welcome back Matuse73.

[biowherewolf]

Algernon's Cloak gets unlimited charges per day. At least it did in the un-modded versions of the game. Perhaps with EE and SCS it has been nerfed somewhat. That would make more sense as without that limitation it is exceedingly powerful. I limit its use in my games though the game engine doesn't.

 

 

I don't think I'd ever noticed that. Of course, I rarely got it when I'd played previously. Mostly, I'd played good parties and stealing the cloak just didn't seem good. 

In EE, yes.. it's limited to once/day. 

 

--BW

[ussnorway]

I think thats a fixpack thing so that's why it's in EE as you have no option to remove it with Beamdog.

[realmuzzy]

My next challenger is Iolo, the gnomish cleric of Baravar Cloakshadow

 

Spoiler

 

i.e. a cleric/thief. The wiki has more information on Baravar, but in short he's the gnomish trickster god with a somewhat vengeful bent.

[realmuzzy]

Iolo is taking the tried adventurer path. He set a mean trap (*bugged really, I hope this doesn't happen again*) for the ogre bandit

 

Spoiler

 

saved a bumbling mage who turned himself into a chicken and played a prank on Shoal. Well, the prank turned a little deadly but she wouldn't play nice with Iolo.

 

Then Iolo payed some money to the local human temple to sing his praises

 

Spoiler

 

because he wants to see the look on people's faces when they meet the inexperienced diminutive "hero". It also helps with shopping. As the hero he equipped himself with the best protective magical items so that he could survive the fear by Tarnesh and retaliate with a silence 

 

Spoiler

 

After some more adventuring the unassuming avenger encountered Basilus. He sanctuaried after tricking the cleric into dismissing his skeleton army and then backstabbed and silenced.

 

Spoiler

 

Unfortunately Baravar wasn't with him that day and he couldn't finish the cleric before the silence expired. After an aerial servant was summoned it was time for Iolo to run and return another day. That day was next day, except this time the cleric was near death once the silence expired so Iolo was able to finish him off by interrupting spell casting with wand of magic missiles.

 

Spoiler

 

As the lesser cleric Neira was down after a backstab + wand of heaven

 

Spoiler

[Grond0]

Phantasmic 6 {14} - monks party (update 1)

 

After Knockout failed to a loss of concentration I decided to switch to another go at the monks before restarting the melee sorcerer - although they also need looking after it's a different sort of gameplay.  

 

This run has started well with no casualties so far.  They did Shoal and then moved on quickly to go and clear the basilisk area, including taking out Kirian's party there with the help of Korax.

Spoiler

 

I'm intending to do another completionist run - including attempting the terrors of Durlag's Tower.  The monks are currently working their way through the Cloud Peak Mountains.  They've had their first ogre mage ambush, but they had time to split up against an opening sleep spell and Phantom saved anyway.  The ogre mage was co-operative about allowing them to spread spell damage out and they had no problem finishing it off with missiles.

Spoiler

 

Five of them successfully steathed in to attack Borda, but he's not easy to hit and saved a couple of times against stunning blows.  I'd given up on a successful stun and already started withdrawing the monks with lower HPs when a final stunning attack by Spectre proved successful.

Spoiler

 

They bought the sleep wand early on, but have only used it once so far - to do a bit of crowd control on the gnolls at the Fortress (a gnoll on the passageway was slept, so the others had no means to get past ).

Spoiler

 

Everyone has just reached level 5.  Overall the party are a bit below average thus far, but with significant ups and downs.  Chimera himself looks particularly vulnerable having thrown an average of 2 on the die roll for his levels thus far.

 

Chimera - L5, 26 HPs, 415 kills

Spectre - L5, 44 HPs, 482 kills, 0 deaths

Phantom - L5, 32 HPs, 324 kills, 0 deaths

Wraith - L5, 31 HPs, 460 kills, 0 deaths

Spook - L5, 42 HPs, 318 kills, 0 deaths

Spirit - L5, 35 HPs, 277 kills, 0 deaths

[Grimwald the Wise]

Saphire made a big mistake. She spent a LOT of gold buying a staff that she does't want. On paper it looks slightly better than the +3 staff at Ulgoth's Beard, but it also has the chance of petrification. That WOULD be good if you didn't lose the possessions of the petrified person.

 

The staff at Ulgoth's would have been better, but now she cannot afford it. She therefore used her sling against the ankhegs and has cleared the area. When getting a bit too seriously injured on one occasion she did use that staff for safety reasons, but if she had had the ordinary +3 staff, she would have beaten them all easily.

 

(Just realised that the staff is probably the reason that Sarevok got killed in the Ducal Palace in my last game. I had panicked when she went into melee mode after her spell Melf's Minute Meteors ran out, but if she petrified him, he wouldn't have been able to initialise conversation. Yet another reason not to buy the staff.)