Upon traveling to Bridge district for 2nd thieves' quest we ran in a (very) ugly ambush.
My first urge was "run away, screw the 10K XP and few gold pieces". Then I remembered Grond0's demise here.
See the ugly thieves? Two of them....if I had the resources (spells) to make them suffer, I swear I would. Something like Polymorph/Imprisonment and similar.
Thanks Aasim, though it wasn't the two thieves to blame, but the third son-of-a-b lurking in the shadows ...
). That allowed the vampire to be led out of the room into some pre-laid traps.
Thanks Aasim, though it wasn't the two thieves to blame, but the third son-of-a-b lurking in the shadows ...
Hm. I guess I'll have to trigger the 2nd such ambush then! Polymorph, Feeblemind and Disintegarte stand ready
Shaleen, 5th BG2 update
To Nalia's keep.
En route we had a nasty ambush, which allows no prebuffs - cost as a death, nothing permanent however.
Keep was uneventful mostly. Torgal himself is always challenging, with his slow/strenght drain effects. Kittix and Barbarian enter first.
Note, I took Nalia. I need the gold. She slammed a Cludkill, Diviner a Remove (both mages affected). We hold the line in front of our casters.
Mages are not allowed to breahte - barbarian is on one constantly (he got breached, but he's a brave little guy); the second one is desperately trying to run from the posionus cloud. Torgal dies - Shaleen, buffed up the wazoo, brings him down with berseker's help, and Nalia delivers the killing blow. No strenght drain
Berserker dunks the final mage, and we're out. I declined the keep manager position - even when I take it, I don't really bother with it. (And I'd like Shaleen to have a clerical career as well).
To Windspear hills we go. I was kind of worried (a bit) for vampyre ambush there. The it occured to me - who's the one who should be afraid? Rape train coming to do some extermination.....
Not a single vampire escaped our wrath. Con drained - 2 points on Shaleed. Barbarian never took a hit, berserker is 2nd row.
The rats/dogs were a joke.
Samia's mage was very summon-oriented. This screen shows about half of the stuff he summoned (the other half is dead). Hilarious, but hardly a danger.
Anyhow, we splat our way to the Dragon.
We won't fight him yet, but Conster isn't as lucky. He did kill Kitthix, lasted a long while (def.trigger with Deflection/PfMW/Spell shield is more than my mages can remove), but eventually PfMW expires, and he dies.
Now, Trademeet. Very easy at this stage - Ihtafeer died before he even triggered his buffs (Diviner was ready with Remove in any case).
We help Cern vs Faldorn (buffed Cernd is a stuff for the legends, especially if Faldorn can't target him under imp.invisibility) and are very happy with the loot we got from Trademeet.
Finally, we do some WK stuff. L1 had no Wraiths (not that I was worried about them anyway)
We met our first Kuo-Toas at L2 - Remove got them all.
Invisibility does them no good.
We end the session by inserting scepter keys and getting out of there, rich and happy.
Now it's either Planar Sphere, Bodhi or Thaxy.
Shaleen, 6th BG2 update
Thaxy is dead. Diviner took his Remove (unlike other casters, dragons don't really care about SI:Abj), the time he spent invisible, we spent healing
And it was done fairly quickly. More than planned potions used, but it's done.
Following that, I forged MoD +4, and finished Skinner quest. There was a nasty instance when Shaleen got Held by a Ghast (she had never experienced that in my whole run), but she wasn't alone down there.
Next, Vamps. Tanova was dealt with a single shot from invisibility, saving quite a few resources.
As for Bodhi, I decided to try to actually fight the damn thing in melee. I completely forgot about her Fireshield, but that's not the problem here...
This is. 3(!) hits and Shaleen is down to 4 CON and 52 HP max. 2 hits more she's dead. I retreat her from Bodhi who we got to "badly injured" status.
Then she uses Touch of Death or something.
RUUUN!!!
Risse didn't make it. 
One more Touch, and she had enough. Phew. It's gonna be hard tackling her in Chapter 6...
Be that as it may, I've dissolved Valygar's body and entered the Sphere. Xena died to Symbol:Death vs Halflings.
Risse and Barathum had a close encounter vs 3xSkull sequencer...
And that was all halflings had. Sling got him.
Since it's work time, I'll continue this evening with Planar Sphere (it's not like I can exit anymore anyway )
@Aasim. I'm loving this run so far Aasim! I especially appreciated the Torgal fight. Keep it up!
@Grond0. I'm glad to see Dyna swashing her way through Amn. And I'm glad she has an ioun stone now. Give those bandits a taste of steel!
Best,
A.
Re Cernd vs Faldorn: this is what happens on my install as well if I don't take him in party; the difference being he dies before he gets through Faldorn's skins.... 
Shaleen, 7th BG2 update
A short report on Planar Sphere - unlike some of my other attempts (especially those with aTweaks demon gating and Tolgerias summoning Planetars and Pit Fiends), this was quite straight-forward. I must say my Diviner's forbidance of Evocations brings some less-used spells to really shine; exampe Larloch's drain. With SR, it does a flat 10 damage at higher levels (starts at 2) and, more importantly, bypasses Shield spell. My Diviner Xena can't cast Ice Storms and Lightings, but this little spell brought so many oponnents down.
First "big" battle was Lavok. Alacrity, Time Stop, debuff, AdHW on berserker, silence on Xena.
Np - I used Wand of spell striking from WK to bring his defences down, and beaten him with sling shots.
Tolgerias - Diviner has level 14. Smack once, PW:Stun (a special note for this spell - with SR it causes 1 round stun, no save - meaning it can be used to permastun a single oponnent. Since I find this spell very very good even in it's vanilla version, I use non-SR version of it.
If you're wondering how a Diviner can cast it since it's Conjuration in vanilla - it's Enchantment in SR; all PW spells are.), smack, smack, smack, done.
His pet didn't last long for Breach to get cast.
Demon Plane was quite a turnoff from aTweaks version. I killed just the one Nabassu and left.
Sold a lot of loot, bought several scrolls and I guess it's time to go to Spellhold or do Unseeing Eye quest.
Another small update of Impish Face & Co in Ust Natha.
Pretty little was done but there were quite a number of thrilling moments which I want to share while they are still fresh in my memory...
After her rescue Phaere gave us some free time to rest and entertain ourselves a little. On the local arena some kind of famed champion named Lasaonar have fought the four warriors at once. He soaked like several hundreds hp worth of damage while dealing 3-5 (12 on critical) points of damage in return. *Does he that cool so he play a *cat-n-mouse* with them wielding some kind of toothpick, or what?* - we wonder. So Impish Face challenged him to sate our curiosity what a mysterious badass weapon he has. Soon enough we wonder no more and got an all-mighty Pixie ******!
After the fight Chalinthra, who was quite displeased with such outcome (lost some money on bet, hmm?), demanded a satisfaction... and she got it - Impish Face is not a person who denies women.
We didn’t fought on that arena any further (no loot and exp is not worthy the risk) but instead dealt with some monsters on the another one. Nabassu doesn’t gated anything but went ethereal so gave us free time to bring summons:
Sahuagin Prince fell swiftly while Beholder immediately opened with Antimagic Ray to put down Impish Face’s Spell Shield (from one of Alesia’s recent posts I thought I’m safe with that approach but, seems, I’m not…) but didn’t live long enough to bring any further inconveniences:
Phaere then enlisted us to deal with yet another Beholder. Again he first removed my Spell Shield and Death Spell-ed Fire Elemental (at least aTweak-ed Skelly Warrior no longer susceptible to that (he went hostile after the fight nonetheless…):
Got some free time again to obtain Qilue’s brain for some fishy creature. She fell easy enough (dropped Scroll of Magic Protection and Wave Blade) but her servants proved to be troublesome.
One of those went into the side room and hit Jaheira right through the wall with Flame Arrow x3 sequencer. Her saves, PW: Autopause, Hit and free aura allowed her to drink Potion of Healing in a split of a second after first arrow strike so she ended alive although with 11 hp left. Nonetheless soon enough she and Viconia ended being Stunned while Nalia and Imoen were Chaos-ed. And Imoen began to cut Viconia’s hp worrisome quickly so Impish Face was forced to distract from his slaughter work to cast Invisibility on her. In the end we all were victorious and alive:
We then swiftly obtained a Swirfneblin’s helmet and Solaufein’s Cloak and were introduced to Matron Ardulace. She enlisted us to gain some Blood of one of the "noble races" but even though we already have the Kuo-Toan’s one we had some business to finish.
The first one was Deirex the Lich and Jarlaxle the Mercenary. We enter the Lich’ Tower and before he even speak to us unloaded the full salvo of missiles on him (Nalia even managed to stun him with Kou-Toa bolt!). Even though that brought him to badly wounded our return from Jarlaxle’s Pocket Dimension was not pleasant at all. His pre-buffs ADHW hurt Jaheira, he then stripped our buffs with Remove Magic/Slow/Greater Malison sequencer (with all those tedious buffing routine I completely missed SI:A…!) and Wished Improved Alacrity/Double Length Time Stop during which he fired several Horrors, double Skull Traps, Cloudkill and ADHW...
Impish Face, Nalia and Mazzy were horrified and moreover Nalia ended with one single HP left! Viconia removed their fear and tried to Heal Nalia but her Spell Shield stopped that. Meanwhile Imoen hit with Ruby Ray (vs Spell Shield) followed by Death Fog, Impish Face added Cloudkill and ran to the east while Mazzy to the north to spread out a bit. Lich was busy with girls at the entrance hitting them with Web/Stinking Cloud Minor Sequencer:
Nalia quaffed a Potion of Healing and hit with another RRR (vs Spell Turning) while Impish Face add another Cloudkill. Lich forced Jaheira to panic with MMM but failed to cast more spells and eventually fell due to Cloudkills/Death Fog (cheap, I know, but I was pretty desperate…).
We loot him of Cloak of Mirroring and Crom Fayer Scroll in his treasure.
Then we hunt down some Slime God followers (Fire Storm, Incendiary Cloud, Insect Plague, Death Fog/Death Spell for numerous Aerial Servants, Horn of Silence), freed human slaves and with rep again at 20 bought all valuable potions from merchant.
The only task remained is to deal with House Jae'llat. I know there are some high-rank randomised items there and I’m quite nervous as last time (during Avatar’s run) I was completely overwhelmed and forced to flee from there... And as it’s one-time ticket I need to prepare and develop some battle plan.
to be continued...
Shaleen, 8th BG2 update
I decided to finish the unfisnished business in the sewers.
2nd battle here was a bit rough. For some odd reason (either Berserker got breached before or I didn't use CC on him at all) he got stunned. Worse yet, Shaleen got INT drained. This is not awful per se, but she's locked in place since berserker can't move.
They eat zerk's brain, but now Shaleen gains some space, and goes for sling shooting. An Umber is on top of her and is doing rather large damage with +4 adjustment due to ranged weapon equiped, but she takes it as she gains her INT back. Barbarian is unhittable by non-criticals.
With no more casualties, they die, I ressurect Barathum and we rest (unneeded, since he can Rage to avoid stun from Alhoon; I forgot).
As for Alhoon, Barathum goes in first. I was late to use his rage however; and he's stunned again. At least he ate the double-Remove sequencer.
We manage to rescue him this time, however, and his Rage is now cast. Alhoon will hit him almost regulary now due to pathetic AC, but at least he's operational.
My Diviner starts debuffing Alhoon, while he summons and attacks from time to time. We all get hit by Remove magic, now Shaleen and barbarian (he's expendable however, ALhoon's attacks won't chunk) are vulnerable to his blast attacks. He gates in a demon, but we kill it very quickly.
Shaleen takes distance, and a Breach lands on Alhoon. This had no affect apperantly (I think he's coded as a Lich), but his next spell is disrupted - meaning no stoneskins recast for 6 seconds.
6 seconds is a lot in this game, and Alhoon does not get to live another round.
Now, Beholders. The group guarding the bridge I wanted to kill by few Ice Storms + Invisibility 10' radius after. Didn't really work. As soon as the 1st was cast, they float over to greet us.
Ray-hell flies towards us. Saves are made vs the deadliest ones (Petrify and Death), but Barbarian is held, zerker is slowed, shadows appear and start draining strenght from them. At least Beholders are getting smacked by icy boulders. I use Wand of Lightning to kill the big one.
The lesser ones die to ice and one more Wand charge, Remove Paralysis is cast and we finish the shadows.
In their lair, I noticed a fairly ugly behavior they have - Anti-Magic ray is used very often. Both barbarian and Shaleen got hit by it by a single beholder in few seconds. NOT cool. This should have a higher cooldown since it's so insane. On a good side, being hit by it prevents any magic from working for a round, so at least you'll live 6 more seconds.
It wasn't untill I prebuffed for Unseeing that I remembered that the Rod must be returned.....that'd be a very sad way to finish this run. 
Unseeing himself - we hit him with all anti-magic we had + the Rod (gets him to badly injured it seems). He still uses his CC with two Tyrants.
Dies in a moment's notice.
Here I was afraid Risse is permanently gone. His portrait dissapearing was the first thing I noticed (in battles like this feedback is spammed with messages, so some important things like "petrification" can slip unseen.....).
We didn't give the tyrants a chance to chunk him, and he gladly rejoined us.
The reward: 7k gold, stronghold (not gonna do it, I'm lazy, and the only clerical stronghold I really like is Talos); and Saving Grace. This is an anti-undead shield, but is kind of neat overall (whoever tries to attack you can get blinded for a round, attack doesn't need to be succesfull).
There's little left to do now. It's either Planar Prison (could be doable, but I'd have to somehow cheese the Warden's possible TS/BBoD on summons), Firkraag (Shaleen would love that armor) or Spellhold. I don't feel like sailing, so I think I'll take my chances vs Firky.
Aasim, you0re doing really well so far. Hardly any scary moments I think.
Looks very promising. Hope ytou can keep it up 
Serg, are you still playing with SCS v21 (as your signature suggests)? If so, then I too would be surprised with Spell Shield's ineffectiveness...
Aasim, you0re doing really well so far. Hardly any scary moments I think.
It's scary when you see a portrait dissapear.
I can't afford permanent deaths. Everybody in my party has a specific role to do - and barbarian's is to tank. W/o him, I'd have to put Shaleen in No.1 position and she's still vulnerable to Breach due to lack of 7th level Archons shield.
I'd also have to rely on summons/damage spells, and Diviner has virtually only Necromancy spells for that (Evocation & Conjuration ban).
I do keep my protagonist behind the two core fighters (she does melee if I feel it's safe and she's really good at it, but she doesn't rush to battles).
Likewise, I'm making a habit out of few things, such as keeping Death Ward + Free Action on her constantly (she has Harmony, so Charm/Confusion are covered).
Serg, are you still playing with SCS v21 (as your signature suggests)? If so, then I too would be surprised with Spell Shield's ineffectiveness...
According to Aasim, SCS versions 28-30 have the spell tweak which causes anti-magic ray to take down Spell Shield. Previously, it did not.
I've never seen an Anti-Magic Ray take down a Spell Shield and I've used it many times. In my v30 install, I expect that it will.
Best,
A.
Serg, are you still playing with SCS v21 (as your signature suggests)? If so, then I too would be surprised with Spell Shield's ineffectiveness...
Aye, still on v.21 (signature is current). With Alesia's post in mind I tried that approach (something new vs my usual Mustard Jelly routine) and was somewhat...discouraged. It was put down immediately twice in a row so hardly a coincidence.
Aye, still on v.21 (signature is current). With Alesia's post in mind I tried that approach (something new vs my usual Mustard Jelly approach) and was somewhat...discouraged. It was put down twice in a row so hardly a coincidence.
Could one of your other mods have introduced the tweak?
Best,
A.
I've never seen an Anti-Magic Ray take down a Spell Shield
Here, take a peek.
Could one of your other mods have introduced the tweak?
I can't think of one... 
At least neither aTweaks' nor Polytweak's readme have mentioned of such a possibility (others are nearly just cosmetic).
I can't think of one...
We should get confirmation on the SCS version that introduced the tweak for everyone's reference.
In any event, I'd advise you not to rely on Spell Shield against Anti-Magic Ray in your install, although I'm certain you've figured that out already.
Best,
A.
Here, take a peek.
I meant I've never seen it in my installs. I'm well aware that the Spell Shield has been twealed in recent versions of SCS and in IR.
The questions at issue are: 1) which versions of SCS -exactly- have the tweak? 2) If SCS v21 does not typically include the tweak, then what explains the behavior of Spell Shield in Serg's install?
Best,
A.
Alesia, what SCS version did you use for Arcadia's run? Wasn't that v21 as well? If so, we could rule out SCS as the cause of the nasty surprise that Impish Face deftly dealt with, suggesting some kind of bug, or aTweaks (which I consider unlikely) or Polytweaks (which I don't know) was the cause.
Afaik SCS v28 was the first SCS versioin to change Spell Shield vis-a-vis Beholders.
I'm kind of working at the moment, but when I have a moment, I'll test it myself with Scintilla (whom I played with SCS v21).
Afaik SCS v28 was the first SCS versioin to change Spell Shield vis-a-vis Beholders.
That's my understanding as well, based on Aasim's report. We should get confirmation.
Best,
A.
Ariel, Halfling F/T: BG2 Introduction Post
Ok. Ariel has arrived in Amn. Here she is:
Mods: Ascension, Fixpack v10, SCS v30 (Full Pre-Bufs, 50% Potion Breakage, All Tactical Challenge except Weimar Tactics Irenicus and the Sendai/Abazigal Enclave Enhancements)
Proficiencies: Two Weapon Style x 3, Scimitar/Wakizashi/Ninja-to x 2, Shortbow x 1
Thieving Skills: Open Locks: 40, Find Traps: 26, Pick Pockets: 40, Move Silently: 100, Hide in Shadows: 95, Detect Illusions: 50, Set Traps: 65
Gaming Notes: (NW: Re-posted from BG1 introduction post): I should begin with a confession: I have no idea what I'm doing. I said that prior to Arcadia's run, but this time I mean it.
That may sound strange. I'm familiar with rogues, and I'm familiar with Baldur's Gate. And having successfully completing a BG1 SCS v 30 run with a variant of Ariel, while also having gotten a peak at BG2 v30 with Aria, I'm even somewhat familiar with SCS v 30. But new versions bring new challenges. I'm sure I'll encounter something unexpected. And it's the expected that frightens me even more.
When I first built Ariel, I configured her with my standard rogue proficiency assignments: Quarterstaves and Two-Handed Weapon Style for a range 2, speed factor zero weapon; a Short Bow for Dispelling Arrows; and Darts for Darts of Stunning. The idea being to evade melee altogether: to hit and to run, to dispel and to stun. Not for Ariel. I need a change of pace. I need to get out of my comfort zone. This time I'll be trying something different- something I've never tried before.
Ariel will be a melee duelist, who opens with a backstab and then stands her ground whenever possible. She'll prefer melee as much as my other thieves have disfavored it. That's fitting for a fighter/thief, I think. And fitting for me, at this stage. Again, I need a change of pace.
It's hard to abandon something that works for something that you have every reason to believe won't work as well. But I think I'll learn something from the attempt even if Ariel doesn't make the Throne. I expect to have fun, if not victory. Hopefully, Ariel will have both.
Ariel should start adventuring this evening. Wish her luck!
Best,
A.
NW: I'm going to use my GoG install in full screen mode. This will mean a smoother and more enjoyable gaming experience at the expense of fewer screenshots. I'm hoping to find a solution to the full screen screenshot issue. In the meantime, I apologize in advance for the dearth of visual coverage in the early stages of Ariel's run.
I downloaded the old v21. It does have a Spell Shield fix. Can't say if it works or not; but the code is there;
scsii/spell/spell.tph - it should patch all spells from this list
to dispel Spell Shield. As I said, I can't say if it works. Casting SS and trying to remove it with any of the spells from the list should test it out (cast Ruby on yourself).
If a message is displayed ("Spell Shield dispelled" or similar) and the shield goes down; it's working.
I downloaded the old v21. It does have a Spell Shield fix. Can't say if it works or not; but the code is there
Ok. That explains it. Arcadia played in v19.
Our assumption that the fix first appeared in v28 was incorrect, apparently.
I'm glad we've got that squared.
Best,
A.
Back to top
