15228 replies to this topic

[Aasim]

Yuppers. Fwiw, I love one particular v21 component - the one that prohibits AI mages from using Simulacrums. I miss that.

 

A quick note on Shaleen's progress - Firk is dead. 

 

I started the battle with Pierce Magic on him. This was enough to make him hostile and erect his defences, then I brought down his Deflection with Secret

Word. Next, Breaches start to fly. One from him, target - Shaleen.

 

She casts Pro Fire on herself, making Firk's breath moot.

 

We do (and take!) some beating, then he decides it's Remove time. Barbarian has 100% Fire res via items (Dragon Helm, Dragon Shield + Ring of Fire res), but berserker has none. He retreats back to casters and gets Pro Elements (unlike vanilla spell, in SR this gives 100% elemental immunity).

 

Few more rounds, still the same- beat him, he beats on us, we heal with potions, he doesn't. We used Breach vs his contingecied stoneskin. He uses one more on Shaleen (I think he, unlike Thaxy, actually does care about SI:Abj). Xena protects her just in time.

 

And that was it! He died one second later.

 

We pay a visit to Crom. Let's do it!

 

Shaleen's AC goes from -2 to -6, she looses Fear & Disease immunity from her old Darkmail, but gets +50% res to fire and +4 AC. I'm happy.

[Alesia_BH]

Ariel, Halfling F/T: BG2 Update 1- The Chateau

 

 

Ariel has escaped Irenicus's dungeon and has found more suitable accomodations at the Den of Seven Vales. She is currently resting, in anticipation of a busy day of exploration.

 

Ariel had one objective in Irenicus's dungeon: to get out. I can't say I blame her. Were I to find myself in a torture chamber, I'd feel the same way.

 

After stealthing to Rielev, Ariel stealthed back to the Sewage Golem. An opening backstab with the katana failed to nix the radiant mephit, but follow up melee blows with a new-found scimitar succeeded. Stealthing past the otyugh -and then juking the hallway blocking duergars- led Ariel to Ellisime's room. Healing potions and a Slow Poison cast negated trap damage.

 

Spoiler

 

The recovery of the Claw did further damage, which was healed when Ariel took her free rest on floor two. 

 

Upon awakening, Ariel set her two traps near the portal chamber door. When she opened the door, she lured the mephits in. Once the traps triggered, the mephits died, freeing Ariel to hit the shadows. Stealthed, Ariel made her way to the radiant mephit portal. A backstab under DUHM destroyed it.

 

With the radiant mephits out of play, Ariel was free to nix the remaining portals without fear. She did.

 

Spoiler

 

Destroying the portals gave Ariel a thief level up. She allocated the points to Find Traps, and was pleased to see that she could detect and disarm the bridge steam trap. She then stealthed to the RoP before stealthing to the exit. Mission accomplished: Freedom, warm beds and mead await. That beats a dungeon any day- unless you're kinky or masochistic. Ariel is neither.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Shaleen and her crew look outstanding, Aasim. This could be the one.

 

Good hunting!

 

A.

[Aasim]

Shaleen and her crew look outstanding, Aasim. This could be the one.

We'll see. It's WK level 3 that usually does it for me, regardless of how powerful my party is/looks like. I've never got past the 2 demons (Karashur and the other one) battles, aTweaks or SCS demons- I die.  I know it's not even neccecary to go there, but it's so loaded with XP and items (especially Hindo's very valuable since one can melee Balors with it, even if not under Death Ward) that I always *try* to do it. 

Underdark can also be very painful, with quite a bit of chunk possibilities vs Drow. We are fairly high-leveled and are in Asylum currenty (berserker & barby 16th, Diviner 15th, multis 12/12).

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

1422 Kythorn, 1369:  As I pen these lines, the ‘Time of Flowers’ arrived w/the month of Kythorn. In just six days the Summer Solstice arrives. But instead of enjoying the weather & the exquisite starry nights, My retinue & I were fighting my way through the ‘dark forest’ to reach the temple underground ruins.

 

Once in the dark forest, we defeated & killed two Shade Wolves & a Shadow before we were @ the cobwebbed, staircase leading down. Once inside, we found a room to the right & carefully entered, knowing that Yoshimo isn’t very skilled @ Finding Traps like Imoen & Nalia.  In the room, in addition to battling some Shade Wolves, we found the skeleton of a child. As I said before, I’ve learned from Durlag’s Tower to pick up weird things that seem out of place & while the bones didn’t seem ‘out of place’ I told Tyris to put them in her pack. That area contained a prison, some small rooms &a rather larger one w/a Bust of Amuanator, the ancient sun god. Approaching it caused it to speak asking if I was ready to test my knowledge regarding ‘the faith’. We’d found a parchment in another room in this area that annotated the morning ritual. I took a chance & fielded the question which was about that ritual & I nailed it. However, he told me I needed to come back when I’m ready to field another question. We found two large doors that were prison cells where we found the Noble Halving Warrior, Mazzy Fenton.  I didn’t allow her to join us but part of me wants to, especially now that Anomen is Lawful Good. She may yet become a member of my lance.

 

We found a long, rickety, bridge leading down to a room w/a pool of lava dominating the room. We grabbed some minor treasure sitting on some rocks in the pool. Anomen’s 30% resistance to fire gained from the Delryn Family Shield helped him but it was still painful. There was a room on the far side of the pool w/some Shadows/Shadow Fiends.  We grabbed some treasure & then headed the rest of the way around the lava pool into a crypt room where two ghosts that were guarding the tomb that the child’s skeleton belonged to. By bringing the bones to the tomb, we’d done a good thing & reunited her w/her tomb. We were immediately blessed by the child who was a Prophetess of Amuanatorr who’d been killed by the Shade Lord. She gave us a Wardstone of Invisibility to keep us safe from a Shadow Dragon that guards the Shade Lord.

 

In one battle we had a challenging fight against two Skeleton Warrior’s & three Shadow Fiends.  We were packed into a doorway (my mistake for allowing it) & the monsters were of just the right combination to make it very dangerous. Both Skelton Warriors & Shadow Fiends are difficult to hurt & the Shadow Fiends have an improved ability to Hold a foe. In mid battle Auren, Anomen & Yoshimo were Held & were taking shots from the Skeleton Warriors & Shadow Fiends. The remaining three of us who were not Held had to carefully pick our targets to protect the most vulnerable of us. We finally killed the last of them but it was close. 

TOUGH, DANGEROUS FIGHT!

After that, I took us back to rest & heal rather than staying in the underground or even up top.  I wanted to get back to hamlet & get a rest in Marella’s Cabin before coming back here. Before we left, we checked the rest of the hall & it ended @ a door we couldn’t open anyway.  We’ll figure that out later.  On the way back, in the Umar Hills (but on the north side of the river) we were attacked by two Shadow Fiends & seven Shadows which we had a tough time defeating in our weakened state.

 

Key Event: After our break, it was straight back to the under ruins to the bust of Amuanator, so that I/we could try to answer more questions. We’d found two more papers w/clues for the ‘noontide’ & ‘evening’ rituals before we left to rest before.   Having already completed one of the riddles/questions, we were able to get both questions right – although I missed one the first time & got blasted by a Spell Strike.  Anomen took over & finished up & when we got the last one correct, the bust granted us the third of three pieces to Amuantator’s Holy Symbol. Once again, I’d had us collect two of these pieces & as soon as Anomen answered we had Amuantator’s Holy Symbol. Using that we were able to open the door @ the far end of the hallway & descended stairs into an ornate, marble great hall.  We circled the hall staying close to the wall & made it all around until we found stairs leading up – not those we used to descend into the hall. Yoshimo checked the hall a little more closely b/c we didn’t see anything but Yoshimo came back after scouting & said there was, indeed, a Shadow Dragon there. I opted to leave him alone for now. Then we went up the stairs &, ‘blammo’ there was the Shade Lord & three other monsters. They didn’t see us so I had us back out. There Anomen cast Chant, I cast Draw on Holy Might, Minsc Quaffed a Potion of Defense & then used his Barbarians Rage. Auren used her Bust ability, Yoshimo cast Blur & Tyris cast Fire Shield Red & Protection from Fire on herself. Then we stepped back through & I just let my lance go to it. Auren & I headed straight for, & killed the Shade Lord, Anomen & Minsc the Shadow Patrick & Yoshimo found a lone Shadow. Then Minsc & Anomen destroyed the Temple Alter. No one even got a scratch. 

DEFEATING THE SHADE LORD W/NARY A SCRATCH!

By the time we left the underground, in addition to the key event above & those monsters mentioned elsewhere, we’d killed a Bone Golem, five Skeleton Warrior’s, two Shadow Fiends, Shadow Jailor, Shadow Prisoner, 19 Shade Wolves, 15 Shadows & a handful more that were destroyed by the Stained Glass light. 

 

Immediately, the darkness was gone as were the thick vines & scrub in the woods.  We cleared the forest, just in case & killed a Wild Tiger & 2 x Wild Dogs. I had us go back into the great hall, still w/the Wardstone protecting us.  Everything but the Shadow Dragon was gone. He/she’s made this their lair.  As much trouble as we had w/ a single Vampiress I decided to come back for the Dragon later – after all, I know right where the lair is. 

 

I returned us to town & the Mayor was overjoyed, even gave us an great set of armor that had belonged to his grandfather. It’s actually called The Night’s Gift +5 & it really improved Auren’s protection – as an Apprentice she can only wear Studded Leather or lighter & this Night’s Gift +5 is the best you can get. We also found some armor that was really strong & protected against being Held but it was Ghoul’s Skin & I just can’t allow that in my presence…or Anomen’s. 

 

I stopped @ De’Arnise on the way back to Athkatla & collected 1000gp from taxes.  Major Domo said the Captain of the Guard, Cernick, wanted to see me about an important matter. Seems he caught one of my Guards stealing items from around the keep.  Captain Cernick wanted me to execute the man, but after I questioned a bit, I found that the Guard’s wife was ill & he needed gold to have her treated and/or buy her medicines. I let the Guard go this time & paid for his wife’s care. I told him to come to me next time rather than break the law. Captain Cernick will be watching him but I think he’s gonna be even more loyal to me now so I’m not concerned.

 

After all that, it seems we’re still not ready for Vampires.  I returned to Athkatla to stop in the Adventurer’s Mart to try to upgrade as much as I could using the gold we brought back from the temple Ruins. I purchased a Doubly Enchanted Sling (+2), bullets (+2) & a Spear (+2), all of which went to Tyris.  Then I led us back to the Bridge District for the last time @ night. We were assaulted by a Vampiress & two lesser Vampires.  I suddenly became apparent that no one could hurt her, even though we’d been able to hurt Parisa.  Evidently, this Vampiress was even tougher than the one we’d killed even though I’d upgraded everyone’s weapon except mine & Yoshimo. Tyris was so injured that she fell unconscious but the rest of us managed to get away & hide down on the docks.  We waited there until daylight & then we got the rooms in the Five Flagon’s, hopefully for the last time – at least until Vampires are manageable.

 

I’d found a perfect place in the Den of the Seven Vales when we’d first gotten here after escaping Irenicus’ Dungeon.  Problem was there was group of thug adventurer’s there who assaulted us so, @ the time, we were weakened & decided to find another inn which is how we ended up @ The Five Flagon’s. I decided to go back & check that place out again.  The bastards were’ still there & they were aggressive again but this time we were healthy & I had a full retinue. When I saw them I immediately backed us down the stairs where I had us prepare for battle once I made sure they weren’t going to follow.  Then we went back up & baited them & when they attacked, I took us back down the stairs to await their arrival. I wanted to try & separate them & I got a Dwarven Warrior (Mencar Pebblecrusher Ftr/14) & a Human Mage (Sorcerous Amon Mage/10) to come down alone.  Even alone they were tough but the biggest danger was the Mage & he went down quickly. Then the Dwarf was easy enough.  Then back up the stairs, we killed a Half Orc (Smaeluv Orcslicer – Ftr/10) a Human Rogue, (Brennan Risling – Thf 14) & an Imp (Pooky – Sorcerous Amons’ Familiar). Defeating them yielded some useful treasure & gave me a perfect room for my retinue & I when we come here (even though I’m getting kinda spoiled by this Nobility thing). 

 

Speaking of Nobility, Anomen was hailed by Sir Robin Trawl of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart. He was brought before the Prelate there & knighted after which he said his vows. I am lucky that he was allowed to remain me but Sir Robin noted the noble path my lance is upon & allowed him to serve under me.  

ANOMEN KNIGHTED BY THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE RADIANT HEART. WELL DESERVED. 

I’ve been blessed again to have found a companion in Tyris. We are not lovers yet but that is just a matter of time. We are constantly smiling & winking & becoming closer as we get to know one another. I don’t think I’ve written before that Tyris is from a whole other world entirely. How she got here is not clear…she was just suddenly here. For my part, I’m glad to have her beside me. Funny before Tyris joined me, I thought Auren & I were growing slowly closer but she is all business now.  Because of that, she remains my second in command. 

I CAN'T BREATHE!  

Treasure of Note: (Purse = 6,784 gold) Armor/Weapons: Full Plate Mail (Gawain); The Nights Gift +5 (Auren); Namarra +2 (Auren); Shield of the Lost +2 (Anomen);Cloak of the Stars (Yoshimo); Cloak of Reflection (Gawain); Boots of Stealth (Yoshimo); Periapt of Proof Against Poison (Gawain); Halberd +1 (sold); Skin of the Ghoul (sold); Jewelry/Gold: 4,872gp; 250gp; Potions: Three Potions of Extra Healing (General Purpose); Scrolls: Summon Nishru (Tyris); Wands:

 

Current Disposition:  I’ve rented the entire upstairs room of the Den of the Seven Vales for our use. The proprietor is a man-hater but Auren speaks for me anyway, so we have the use of the room whenever we’re here. But, we had to fight like the Nine Hells to get it (see above).  Auren worked out an agreement wherein I pay the Nobles rate & get the entire upstairs for our use. I want us to have a place to ourselves & this is perfect for when we’re here in Athkatla.

 

Next Steps: I want to find Valygar & try to help him if I can. I still can’t complete the task @ the docks until I am sure we can deal w/these Vampiress’. I hated letting Valygar go & I feel I should at least try to help him. But, I looked for him when I got here to Waukeen’s Promennade, thinking he was in one of the Inn’s here. I checked the Copper Coronet also, so I may not have listened well enough.  If I can’t find him, I’ll have to find a secondary mission.

 

Level Up: None

 

Current Party: (Reputation: 13 – Popular; saved Umar Hills)

·         Gawain: Ftr/10, (HP105); Full Plate Mail w/Large Shield, Helm of Balduran, Ring of Protection +2 & Girdle of Bluntness, Cloak of Reflection & Amulet ; Bastard Sword*****, Flail of the Ages Acid (Bone Golem)

·         Auren Aseph: Ftr (Apprentice//10), (HP71  ); The Nights Gift +5 w/Namarra +2***** (SWS**); (Shade Lord)(SCS Ease of Use, Setting 1)

·         Anomen: Ftr/Watcher of Helm//9/9, (HP55); Plate Mail +1 wShield of the Lost +2 (& Delryn Family Shield); Mace +1***,(Warhammer*, SSS**); (Shadow Patrick)(Cleric Aggressive)

·         Yoshimo: Thief (Ninja/12), HP68; Studded Leather +2, Boots of Stealth & Cloak of the Stars w/Katana +1***, Darts +1*;(Del)(Thief Aggressive)

·         Minsc: Fighter (Barbarian/10), HP76; Mail of the Dead +2 w/Two-Handed Sword of Chaos +2***, Mace +1**, THWS**); (Parisa)(SCS Ease of Use, Setting 1)

·         Tyris Flare: Fighter (Amazon/9)//Mage [Fire Only]/10; HP40; Tyris’ Leather Armor, Cloak of the Sewers & Ring of Invisibility; Sling +2**; Spear +2**; (Skeleton Warrior)(Mage Aggressive)

 

Mods Used: BG2 FixPack _v10; Amber_v4; Auren Aseph_v9; Sarah_v4; Haldimir_v2; : Tyris Flare_v6; Gavin_v20 & Hotfix;  scs-v30 (- Tactical Challenges); MegaModKits v1.01L (Anti-Paladin, Charming Rogue, Priest of Sylvanus, Bladesinger, Amazon, Apprentice, Ninja, Samurai); Divine Remix_v8 (Nightcloak of Shar, Holy Strategist of the Red Knight, Batleguard of Tempus, Strifeleader of Cyric, Bowslinger, Forest Runner, Wilderness Runner) ; Rogue Rebalancing; bg2_tweaks-v16; Item Randomizer-v6.8; level1npcs-v1.9

 

Blue Font: New information;

Red Font: Monster encounters (first use)

(Best kill)(Current AI)

* Name Levels are ancient, AD&D titles that used to represent each new level in a class

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

And that was it! He died one second later.

 

 

FANTASTIC!

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Ariel, Halfling F/T: BG2 Update 1- The Chateau

 

 

Destroying the portals gave Ariel a thief level up. She allocated the points to Find Traps, and was pleased to see that she could detect and disarm the bridge steam trap. She then stealthed to the RoP before stealthing to the exit. Mission accomplished: Freedom, warm beds and mead await. That beats a dungeon any day- unless you're kinky or masochistic. Ariel is neither.

 

 

Best,

 

A.

Great Job! Solo?  Are you kidding me?

[Grond0]

Dyna - halfling swashbuckler (3rd and final update)

 

Dyna started the session by going to pay Gaelan Bayle (level 17) and picking up her goodies from Aran Linvail.  With a standard spell save now available for -3 she swapped her armour for standard studded leather along with the RoP +2 and then went to sort out Lassal.  He managed to survive quite a long time, despite being webbed by Kitthix, but switching to bat shape proved an error for him as Dyna no longer needed to worry about being level drained and smacked him down.

 

At the Bridge District, before seeking out the Guild Contact, Dyna thought it was time to call on the Rune Assassins.  She used potions of speed and defence, along with RoAC to protect against ghast paralysation.  She managed to kill one ghast and the bone golem before both Assassins connected with backstabs.  With one of them quaffing potions of invisibility regularly she used a superior healing potion to build HPs back up before carving them up.

 

The Guild Contact and his thief buddies got a few licks in, but Dyna was able to report back to Aran Linvail that the trouble was centred in the Graveyard.  Before going to tackle improved vampires though she decided she needed rather more experience.  

- the Fallen Paladins helped (level 18), despite her reputation taking a bit of a knock from a wandering courtesan.

- the de'Arnise Hold was reasonably straight-forward.  That featured a first use of dispelling arrows on yuan-ti mages.  The iron golem hits hard, so got stealth attacks.  The umber hulks were largely trapped (level 19).  TorGal and his supporters were split up.  TorGal himself caused a bit of a problem with his slow effect and Dyna had to use 3 potions of speed to counteract.  She also had not brought along Blackblood and shooting arrows was not a great way to kill SCS trolls, so she made sure of TorGal with her last potion of explosion.

- used a PfU scroll to put traps under the feet of the City Gates lich (level 20).  He went on to attack the Elemental Lich, but didn't like the look of the Dark Planetar summoned and took a potion of speed to run away.  Once that unsummoned he returned to the lich - and immediately had to use another scroll after the first was removed. Despite that warning he continued to look for opportunities to attack.  That would probably have been a reasonable thing to do if I had been concentrating properly, but lack of sleep had rendered me a bit dozy.  As a result, although I saw the lich had cast dragon's breath I didn't take any defensive action - that proved to be Dyna's final mistake.  At least she got a free cremation out of it. 

[Alesia_BH]

Great Job! Solo?  Are you kidding me?

 

 

I assume you are being sarcastic. Escaping the dungeon with a solo F/T is hardly an accomplishment. I and others have accomplished far more with far less.

 

If your point is that I should have waited untill I had more content before posting, then I sympathize. That said, you may see more brief posts like that one going forward. My new setup makes taking screenshots time consuming and unwieldly. And since I'll have relatively few pictures to cue my memory when composing posts, it makes sense to write up sessions immediately after concluding them while the memories are fresh. If I have a short session, you'll see a short post. I hope that doesn't become annoying.

 

In any event, I'm glad to see Sir Gawain is still going strong. Keep it up!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

 

Despite that warning he continued to look for opportunities to attack.  That would probably have been a reasonable thing to do if I had been concentrating properly, but lack of sleep had rendered me a bit dozy.  As a result, although I saw the lich had cast dragon's breath I didn't take any defensive action - that proved to be Dyna's final mistake.  At least she got a free cremation out of it.

 

Bummer, Grond0. It's a shame to see Ariel's partner in crime go.

 

Sleep deprivation can have a profound effect on cognition. I know it does for me. If I haven't gotten enough sleep, I get stupid- really stupid. I mean stone cold dumb. That could happen to anyone.

 

What's next? Will you be sticking with the SCS/Ascension install? As mentioned earlier, I'd love to see move SCS/Ascension runs from you. And I think it's time: you seem to have vanilla down.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

We'll see.

 

I'm glad you're not taking anything for granted, Aasim. Over confidence is a no reloader's greatest enemies. In the long run, assuming success assures defeat.

 

Anyhoo, Shaleen and her crew look great. Keep it up!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Grond0]

What's next? Will you be sticking with the SCS/Ascension install? As mentioned earlier, I'd love to see move SCS/Ascension runs from you. And I think it's time: you seem to have vanilla down.

I'm not quite sure - I'll probably take a day or two to think about it.  

 

I did attempt completing the trilogy in a 24 hour period quite some time ago and have always intended to try that again, but finding the time to do that without interruptions is difficult.  As it happens there's a possibility I might be free from other duties on Saturday - in which case I might well have another go at that  ...

 

I expect I will have another go at SCS, although I do find playing with it can be a bit irritating.  Although a great mod, one result of it I find is to sharpen the difference between good and bad strategies.  That can lead to a position where, at least in a no-reload context, the sensible thing is to use the same strategy over and over again - which I find can be boring.  That was partly what caused Dyna's downfall - I knew the risk-free strategy was just to use traps to kill the Elemental and Shade liches, but was keen to try something different.  That should have been possible, but required an attention to detail I didn't possess at the time.

 

I've never actually played Ascension in any form, so still feel I should have a go at that - I just need to steel myself to get through SoA first!

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

 

I assume you are being sarcastic. Escaping the dungeon with a solo F/T is hardly an accomplishment. I and others have accomplished far more with far less.

 

If your point is that I should have waited untill I had more content before posting, then I sympathize. That said, you may see more brief posts like that one going forward. My new setup makes taking screenshots time consuming and unwieldly. And since I'll have relatively few pictures to cue my memory when composing posts, it makes sense to write up sessions immediately after concluding them while the memories are fresh. If I have a short session, you'll see a short post. I hope that doesn't become annoying.

 

In any event, I'm glad to see Sir Gawain is still going strong. Keep it up!

 

Best,

 

A.

Nooooo.  Not sarcastic at ALL.  I don't know what others have done since it's rare I play over here.  I was truly impressed. I'd not be sarcastic when I'm still a rookie after five years of playing this game.

 

Please accept my apology if I sounded anything other than impressed.  I love your posts & insight.  CKT

[Epsil0]

Aasim... You're making battles I'm terrified of with parties look easy! Spell revisions or not, those are some pretty nice accomplishments you have.

 

Delta, Human Kensai/Druid, fifth update

Last I left off Delta and company were making their way through Spellhold, just getting the Boots of Speed. The rest of the floor is cleared no problem, making sure I remove the Boots of Speed to avoid the uncontrollable Slayer from chasing my own party down. A rest is taken just for the second Slayer transformation, but it's just for show. A skeleton warrior and Fire elemental deal with the sole Gauth on the level. As with Perth, I really don't feel like dueling against Lonk the Sane, and since there's a completely non-cheesy area transition before I get to see him...

 

II + Harm is really unfair. 

 

However, this leads to the unavoidable high-level Mage fight that I'm worried about: Irenicus. The last time I fought him, I think I lost Haer'Dalis to the Sphere of Chaos Disintegration effect, and even with 5 Death Wards among my team, all my caster levels are low enough that a single Remove or Dispel puts us in dire jeopardy. To put things in perspective, my highest level Cleric spells are 7th level, Druid 6th, and no one in my party can memorize a single arcane spell past level 5. We're not winning a mage fight against someone casting Timestop. The strategy I use is pretty much my go-to for spell casters: evade, distract, and sacrifice as many summons as we can. Having allied spell casters help, but first we have to deal with... ourselves.

 

I manage to remember to remove my weapons from my characters just before they're cloned, so the clone Delta is in wolf form, clone Minsc is punching, and clone Anomen is also punching. We start by clearing all these off: just as we're about to kill the last clone, Aerie, Jon casts the Sphere of Chaos over my characters to the bottom right. We quickly head left, though Minsc is knocked unconscious by the spell first. We're now just spamming summons: Skeleton Warriors are by far the best anti-mage thing we have, just since outside of Death Spell, mages really can't get rid of them that easily. Sadly, Jon has a Death spell, but by then he'd used the majority of his spells. We were about to rush Irenicus when we see this:

 

 

Note the Fire elemental stuck in the container; an aftereffect of the Sphere of Chaos. Glad that didn't happen to Delta! Also note the difference in buffs from this picture from the last picture. Our caster levels are far too low to avoid being Dispelled right now. 

 

Back at Brynnlaw, Jan's seen stealing the horn, but no biggie. What IS a biggie is that after the Sahuagin board the ship, the game did it's whole shaky thing before freezing here:The characters kept doing their passive animations, looking back and forth and so on, but nothing happened. I think this may've been because Delta was confused at the time they boarded, but even after the Confused animations stopped, we still weren't taken to the City. Counting this as a bug, I reload from the quick save: right before we talk to Saemon to take this journey. But this time I decide to rest at the inn to refresh all four castings of Chaotic Commands that I generally use. This time, the Githyanki kill Imoen, but we're finally taken to the city...

 

The battles here were more tedious than anything, though we got the Cloak of Mirroring. I know it's a very overpowering item, and the one restriction I'll put on it is that I can't throw it around in-battle as I've been doing with the AoP vs Vampires to keep the level drain at a minimum. It'll remain on Delta for the time being, though I might give it to Aerie for the Drow mage-fights. Imoen got a ton of scrolls here, by the way, since selling all the useless loot we've acquired gave us 40k gold all told. We kill the King after a drawn out battle involving quite a few healing potions, and after a rest to refresh everything, the Prince. While heading for the Underdark, we met not a single live overgrown fish. 

 

Underdark. Fun. Spell books are altered to have fewer spells that allow SR, which is almost everything we have: my mages are now on summoning and buffing duty against Drow. The first War party is a bit painful after a successful Dispel hits us. We fight through though, no losses, though 2-3 of us were confused with Chaotic Commands being dispelled. Not so for Delta though, his CC managed to be safe, so he soloed the Myconid colonies with a tad of Fireball support from Aerie and Imoen.

 

Now for another fight I've dreaded: the SCS Balor. Looking at the readme, buffs really aren't going to help since the Balor has an at-will Dispel he can cast at caster-level 24, easily dispelling anything it touches. Nevertheless, this is how we go in: And this is how we go out.

It's mainly just whacking at it with Jan Breaching its sole Stoneskin. Aerie waits outside in case Remove Paralysis or Remove Fear is necessary. Drinking potions keeps us healthy. But look at the remaining buffs, or the lack thereof.  After a rest to refresh said buffs, we go release the trapped souls... And it's been so long since I've done this, the first one I pick is the Lich. RUN AWAY!!! Skeleton Warriors and Fire Elementals alike are sacrificed to this beast, which follows me all the way back to the Deep Gnome town, where both ignore the other. In the end, I suspect it's running low on spells so I send out Minsc with the Boots of Speed to go test the waters. A PW:Stun and ADHW, in that order fortunately, prove me wrong. The silly thing can see through invisibility, and does a Dimension Door to Imoen while Minsc heals up. Delta heads into melee; he's hitting on 2s, and the other two fare just as well. At least until they're affected by something called Dragon Fear that the lich seems to be radiating. Delta finished the beast himself, proving again the damage output of even a dualed Kensai.

 

The rest of the fights were considerably easier, though I got a very good laugh as the demented guy tried his very best to not get himself healed:  Anomen started targeting him with Heal, only for him to spell-trigger an II and Immunity: Divination on top of himself, which Jan exposed. Next, he cast a Spell Shield, but Imoen had a Spell Thrust handy, and Anomen finally Healed him and his dementia and we spared his life. Next, Freedom for the portal-guy. All three portals are taken under a single set of buffs, with only Barkskin being constantly reapplied. Second Drow Warparty is taken on with the buffs running out, but the summons and low AC are enough to deal with the low amount of casting the ambush did. We just reported in to Adalon and rested, preparing to head into Ust Natha. Here's to Phaere not dying to Illithids!

 

Stats: Delta, Human 9/13 Kensai/Druid. 124 HP (11 from Ioun stone). 298 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Balor. Favorite weapon: Dagger(Silverblaze). Favorite spell: Barkskin

Minsc, Human 12 Ranger. 107 HP (5 from helmet.) 154 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Greater Wolfwere. Favorite weapon: Two-handed Sword (Lilarcor.) Favorite spell: Cure Light Wounds

Anomen, Human 14/7 Cleric/Fighter. 106 HP. 39 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Bone Golem. Favorite weapon: Flail of Ages +3. Favorite spell: Chaotic Commands

Imoen, Human 12/7 Mage/Thief. 67 HP. 1 death. 12 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Minotaur. Favorite weapon: Bow and Arrow. Favorite spell: Stoneskin

Aerie, Elf 10/11 Cleric/Mage. 48 HP. 1 death. 28 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Sahuagin. Favorite weapon: Sling and bullet. Favorite spell: Cure Light Wounds

Jan, Gnome 11/12 Illusionist Thief. 55 HP. 6 kills. Most Powerful Vanquished: Drow Priestess. Favorite weapon: Crossbow and bolt. Favorite spell: Stoneskin.

 

 

Permanently dead: Jaheira.

[Alesia_BH]

I'm not quite sure - I'll probably take a day or two to think about it.  

 

That sounds like a good idea. At the very least it will let you get some sleep!

 

 

I expect I will have another go at SCS, although I do find playing with it can be a bit irritating.  Although a great mod, one result of it I find is to sharpen the difference between good and bad strategies.  That can lead to a position where, at least in a no-reload context, the sensible thing is to use the same strategy over and over again - which I find can be boring.  That was partly what caused Dyna's downfall - I knew the risk-free strategy was just to use traps to kill the Elemental and Shade liches, but was keen to try something different.  That should have been possible, but required an attention to detail I didn't possess at the time.

 

I find that SCS permits a fairly wide range of strategies. Any mod that increases difficulty will canalize the set of workable strategies to an extent, but I think SCS strikes a good balance between difficulty and degrees of freedom. But you're absolutely right: you have to mind the minutiae. Whatever strategy you execute, you have to execute: you have to get it right. Enemies will capitalize on mistakes. I like that. I find it more realistic and rewarding. And with experience, you'll discover more and more avenues to success. 

 

Also, it's a good idea to take advantage of the easier battles. You can use those to experiment and have fun. Arcadia's opening battle at the Fire Giant Temple is a good example here. Take some time to decompress and fool around when you can.

 

Anyhoo. This sounds lecturey, and I hate being pedantic. I hope it was helpful to you because it was painful for me to read and write.   

 

I'm confident that you can get SCS/Ascension down and I look forward to seeing it happen.

 

I've never actually played Ascension in any form, so still feel I should have a go at that - I just need to steel myself to get through SoA first!

 

You should. I think you're well postioned to excel in Ascension in one sense. Ascension rewards those who focus on movement and damage management. You're quite good at that. At the same time, it punishes inattention. You have to be on your game. If you miss an incantation, or if your timing is off by a few round segments, you're dead. It's unforgiving.

 

It's a great battle though. To me it is the end. I can't imagine playing Baldur's Gate without it. You should defintely give it a try.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Blackraven]

Ah sorry Grond0 about Dyna
Lack of concentration can be quite deadly. I understand your issue with SCS forcing the player to adopt certain strategies. I would nevertheless like to see you play more SCS. Maybe with another class or kit that offers different strategies? Some kind of multiclass perhaps? Cleric/Ranger, Thief/Mage, Cleric/Mage are all very versatile for example. You're one of the better players around (even if you share my knack for game-ending concentration lapses and RL interventions hehe). 

Epsil0, congrats on defeating the dreaded Balor

CKT, you too congrats, on Sir Gawain's successful campaign in the Umar Hills.

[Alesia_BH]

Nooooo.  Not sarcastic at ALL.  I don't know what others have done since it's rare I play over here.  I was truly impressed.

 

In that case, you may want to take the time to peruse the BG2 thread. If you found Ariel's escape from the Chateau impressive, then there are a lot of post that should inspire you. For starters, check out Grond0's dungeon escapes with his swashbucklers. Ariel just did the bare minimum. Rifft took a near completionist approach in the much harder aTweaks enhanced version of the Chateau. Rifft II and Dyna took a completionist approach to the same SCS dungeon that Ariel sneaked through. And those accomplishments -as impressive as they are- are nothing compared to what's been done over the years. There's some good content here. Check it out.

 

It could also be a learning experience. Issac Newton once said that if he had seen further than most it was because he stood on the shoulders of giants. I like that quote. But I think the anthropologist Rob Boyd was on the mark when he said that Newton only had it half right. What Newton should have said, according to Boyd, is that he stood on a pyramid of midgets. The point being that we are at our bests when we learn from our peers. Each individual can only accomplish so much on his or her own. Excellence comes from leveraging the innovations of others: synthesizing and expanding on what has come before. No one gets far by going it alone.

 

95% percent of what I know about the game has come from reading the posts of others. I'm always looking for new ideas. Picasso said that a good artist borrows while a great artist steals. I try to be a master thief. Reading is the way.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Ariel, Halfling F/T: BG2 Update 2- Early Adventures in Athkatla

 

 

Ariel has made herself at home in the City of Coin. She has built an early potion collection, restored the circus, purged the slavers, and smited Suna Seni. She even found time to solve a murder and do some sight seeing in the Graveyard district. She's always on the go.

 

The circus quest is hardly worth mentioning. I'll note though that Ariel failed to land an opening backstab on Kalah since I didn't position her directly behind him. I make that mistake sometimes against side stanced enemies like Kalah and the drow. Hopefully it won't happen again.

 

Spoiler

 

(NW: The clerical buffs were tossed by a grateful Aerie.)

 

After watching a battle between some thieves and a vampire, Ariel gathered what loot she could and went to Ribald's. There she purchased a Potion of Invisibility, an Oil of Speed, a Potion of Fire Resistance, a Potion of Freedom, a Potion of Strength, and two Potions of Firebreath. That gave her a solid start on an early game potion collection.

 

Potions in hand, Ariel made her way to the Copper Coronet. An opening backstab felled the Beastmaster. Tuigan was collected and Hendak was freed.

 

Spoiler

 

The slaver portion of the quest wasn't as clean. Having rushed Ariel straight to the slaver ship without letting her rest, I forced her to engage the slavers without DUHM. And while she had a Potion of Strength -along with a recently purchased Ring of Air Control- she was not well positioned to prevail in the absence of DUHM. When properly equipped and properly buffed, Ariel can be deadly. But with a strength of 18 and basic equipment, she is highly vulnerable. Critical missing on her opening backstab didn't help. Ariel was forced to flee. She went back to the Copper to rest and regroup, even though that meant squandering a strength potion.

 

Leaving the slaver ship had the unintended consequence of separating Haegan and some of his guards from the Priest of Cyric. I wasn't happy about that: I'd prefer to fight everyone together. There was little I could do, however. Ariel re-entered the ship and attempted a backstab on Haegan. Yesterday hadn't been her day. Neither was today.

 

Spoiler

 

Interstingly, Haegan didn't engage Ariel. Instead, he went straight outside to his cleric, which I suppose is a good thing, although it did strand some guards who were then easily dispatched.

 

Spoiler

 

Heading back to the sewers stealthed, Ariel prepared to backstab the Priest of Cyric. Finally -finally- she connected. A follow up melee blow killed him, preserving a Potion of Firebreath.

 

Spoiler

 

Now in the sewers, Ariel took advantage of the shadows. Repeated backstabs accounted for Haegan and his crew.

 

Spoiler

 

After touring a spider's den in the Graveyard District and discovering an ioun stone, Ariel was herself discovered: discovered by Suna Seni that is. Suna thought Ariel would make a good slave. Ariel thought Suna would make a good corpse. Ariel was right.

 

An immediate Potion of Invisibility quaff granted Ariel time to take some simple buffs. She went with RoAC II and DUHM.

 

Spoiler

 

An opening backstab ended the cleric.

 

A follow up Potion of Firebreath, targeted on Suna Seni, took the mage out of the action and wiped out the thief while damaging the others.

 

Suna was finished in toe-to-toe melee.

 

Spoiler

 

Tuigan put the frightened Eldarin out of his misery.

 

Soon, Ariel will head to Trademeet, seeking scimitars and Harmony.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Aasim]

@ CKT - great read as always. Cigar & coffee were ready!

@ Epsil0 - thanks. I'll think the same if  I kill Sendai. The battle there is so insane (if I can I'll do a video coverage of it. The problem is FPS drop when I start Fraps recorder and overheating...we'll see.) that my last attempt took 5 reloads iirc. That's one battle I have to really think in advance how to do. Gratz on Balor...he can be quite dangerous. I should be killing it today as well. The boat sequence can indeed be bugged.

@Grond0 -..... . I kind of agree on the "tactics that work" part. A lot of them do, but No-Reload play probably isn't the best place to try them out.

[Grond0]

In that case, you may want to take the time to peruse the BG2 thread. If you found Ariel's escape from the Chateau impressive, then there are a lot of post that should inspire you. For starters, check out Grond0's dungeon escapes with his swashbucklers. Ariel just did the bare minimum. Rifft took a near completionist approach in the much harder aTweaks enhanced version of the Chateau. Rifft II and Dyna took a completionist approach to the same SCS dungeon that Ariel sneaked through. And those accomplishments -as impressive as they are- are nothing compared to what's been done over the years. There's some good content here. Check it out.

 

It could also be a learning experience. Issac Newton once said that if he had seen further than most it was because he stood on the shoulders of giants. I like that quote. But I think the anthropologist Rob Boyd was on the mark when he said that Newton only had it half right. What Newton should have said, according to Boyd, is that he stood on a pyramid of midgets. The point being that we are at our bests when we learn from our peers. Each individual can only accomplish so much on his or her own. Excellence comes from leveraging the innovations of others: synthesizing and expanding on what has come before. No one gets far by going it alone.

I just thought I should add a word of sympathy / support for CKT.  Having read all his posts (oh the irony ) I'm aware of a discussion we had some time ago about the amount of time different people had to play the game.  Given his other responsibilities CKT does very well to squeeze out enough time to both play and provide the comprehensive coverage given in his posts.  Asking him to read everyone else's (no matter how informative and entertaining that would be ) would no doubt cut into his ability to make and cover his own achievements.  

 

Personally I think CKT has got an appropriate balance for him between learning, playing and informing and I've been very impressed by how much better he's got at the game while still restricting himself to a role-played approach.  I look forward to much more of the same on his journeys towards the Throne of Bhaal!

[Alesia_BH]

Personally I think CKT has got an appropriate balance for him between learning, playing and informing and I've been very impressed by how much better he's got at the game while still restricting himself to a role-played approach.  I look forward to much more of the same on his journeys towards the Throne of Bhaal!

 

I completely agree. And I wasn't critiquing him at all. I too recall his post about time constraints. And I understand if that prevents him from reading old posts.

 

I love CKT's balance between role playing and tactics. I've found it inspiring- even if I haven't emulated it yet.

 

CKT should read as much or as little as he likes, of course. I was merely noting that he might find it interesting, time permitting.

 

Anyhoo. Go Sir Gawain!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Aasim]

Shaleen, 9th BG2 update

 

With Firkraag's death, I set sail to Spellhold. Asylum+Underdark are probably my least favourite parts of the game; but it needs to be done.

I dealt with Perth by quite non-fair tactic of invisibility- slap-PW:Stun-slap. I'll refrain myself from doing so in the future tho.

 

Asylum was farily straight-forward. Lonk asked absurd ammonut of money (10K I guess) so I killed him. That's what you get for beeing greedy.

 

As per Irenicus, I have installed that "improved" version with party copies. The hell was released fairly soon, with Irenicus hiding away after geting debuffed while we had our hands full with killing our copies. All not under SI:Abj got dispelled - Diviner's copy did it.

 

Anyhow, since Irenicus was given room to breath, he was also allowed to do his dirty work. TS No.1 - Planetar + Comet.

 

We heal up in between his pause for TS No.2 in which he threw an ADHW.

 

 

Finally, we land a Breach on him after slaying our copies.

 

It doesn't last long now for him. 

 

Just as he teleported away, a summoned Death Knight decides to toss a Fireball!

 

Idiot. Anyhow, him and Glabrezu kill the thieves since they don't care about visibility. Shaugin city was straightforward, with an oddity - Risse triggered the Disintegrate trap which killed an Imp!

 

I'll post on Underdark later.

[Aasim]

Shaleen, 10th BG2 update

 

I forgot to mention a small mistake I did in the Spellhold - I din't go to coin machine. This cost us Jester Chain and Gesen Bow.

 

Anyhow, about Underdark. 1st Drow ambush was fairly taxing on potions (I'm running farily short on those); but we survived. 

 

Next, Demon Knights. I equip my three fighters with anti-level drain gear (Shadow Dragon hide, MoD+4, Amulet) and fight w/o my mages. Notice the crits Barathum rolls - even without buffs other than his Rage, his damage is sky-high.

 

Balor - no problem. He didn't really bother with barbarian who was sent to tank the initial Remove, so hit most of us with it, but died regardless. I think aTweaks version + SCS HP is much tougher than SCS alone, albeit this can differ.

 

2nd Drow ambush was much harder than 1st, for some reason, even if Xena's Remove was fully succesfull. Risse died really quickly - slowed and bashed to oblivion.

Xena died to Finger of Death.

 

Anyhow, I let my berserker tank them a while with Ilbratha's images, used Physical Mirror and Heal on Shaleen, dropped 2 Holy Smites on them and that was it. One can never be too careful with Drow.

 

 

Now to Ust Natha. Shops there are splendid - I buy Greenstone, 1 Pro Magic scroll, and Mirror Shield. Btw - this is Easthaven with IR.

Not something you'd spend money on, I'm afraid.

 

This, however, is. This little shield negates Ray/Gaze attacks. This isn't limited to Beholders - Vampire's dominating Gaze, Ray of Enfeeblement and similar are completely nullifed as well. 

Shaleen gets it for a long while to come, and hands Harmony to cleric/mage.

 

A very effective tactic vs Beholders (apart Mirror shield) is using some spell protections. Beholder will loose time removing it with Anti-magic Ray, but that is fine - for as long as Death/Petrification aren't used we're fairly safe.

 

I didn't bother myself with Ust Natha quests, but exited after watching Phaere getting burned by the Demon. I manage to remember that I haven't fought Drow near entrance yet!

 

That's better...

 

I haven't really enlisted Adalon's help for a long while; so I was unsure how this would turn out. I prefer a bit more distance from Drow here, she teleports you right on top of them. Ah well - let's try it out.

Both berserker and barbarian are dispelled immidiately. Shaleen took some distance and avoided Remove. Adalon kills everything, Drow, Demons, Golems. 

 

What rabble???? The pile of bodies you left behind? This lasted for 15 seconds.... I can't believe this battle used to give me such troubles before.

 

Be that as it may, Underdark still had some stuff to finish. Beholders & Flayers.

I entered the Beholder lair under invisibility 10' radius. Didn't last long, we get revealed and Elder starts to use her magic vs us. The Beholder on the right side died very quickly, but Barathum is petrified. I pray Elder won't use Sunfire.

 

Next, Risse is Imprisonmented. Note that his portrait is still on screen - with SR, Imprisonment is same as Maze, with an added difference that it's permanent. It does NOT end the game if cast on Player1 (unless solo ofc.). It also doesn't  break romances and similar. The bad thing is that if you don't have Freedom, you're stuck in the area permanently.

 

Few rounds later, m/c dies to sequencered Flame Arrows, and that was it for the Beholders. Shaleen killed few more (not Hive Mother, that's insane and Mirror Shield doesn't protect you vs mage spells she uses).

 

I raise the dead, use one left Freedom scroll I had (I bought 2 in Ust Natha, wrote one in book and wanted to save the other for Vithal, but...) and fight my way through to the surface. Mind Flayer lair was quite uneventful - nobody died.

There were still some nasty moments vs Drow there.

A likely chunk strike prevented by invisibility casting...

 

And just when you think you're done with it - 2 deaths vs 5 Drow.  hate 'em.

 

I used MSV (summons Ogres) to deal with them. 

 

En route back, I enlist Drizzt's help. In the city, I kill Gityanki who want the Silver sword (no way I'll give it away) and enlist more help. Thieves

 

and Paladins. Yup, I'm worried about Bodhi.

 

So here we are. Dressed up, equiped with shiny equpiment, and pondering wether I should tackle Chromatic Demon, pay a visit to Planar Prison, release Vithal from Imprisonment or fight Bodhi now. I lack 300K exp for HLAs on fighters and Diviner.

 

[Alesia_BH]

So here we are. Dressed up, equiped with shiny equpiment, and pondering wether I should tackle Chromatic Demon, pay a visit to Planar Prison, release Vithal from Imprisonment or fight Bodhi now. I lack 300K exp for HLAs on fighters and Diviner.

 

 

Whatever you choose, your crew looks ready. Finish strong!

 

Good hunting!

 

A.

[Epsil0]

Alas, a bit of foolhardiness has ended Delta's run.  A group of Kuo-tou surrounded him, dispelled him and stunned him with one of their bolts; my casters were unable to react in time. I think my next character's going to be a mage or a shorty: being able to get low, more or less undispellable saves sounds like a prime idea.