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[Aasim]

Alche, 1st BG2 update

 

This is the party after BG1 (we had no deaths there, yey!):

 

 

 

 

 

We started by clearing the trash from Circus & Copper Coronet. From there, not following my usual Goverment-Gates-Umar Hills route, we go to Graveyard to get some headgear. No problem with that, and Suna ambush was triggered on the way back. Mage there usually has a better set of prebuffs than this time around, and it was very short-lasting for them.

 

Next, Thieves' quests. When traveling to Temple Dist another ambush triggered. Here we witnessed a very ugly bug SCS has in latest version - low-level clerics have (and use) Finger of Death. This is both illegal (the guy here has but 4th level spells) and very disturbing.  I'm not sure what to make of it, other than keeping Death Ward on Alche whenever priests of any level are around. This time, Gragu fell; and it was the first death of the run.

 

A bit of luck in Talos temple nets us ADHW scroll.

 

Killed Edwin, and went to fight Mae'var. Alche got backstabbed twice (40-46 damage) and had to heal a bit. Berserker took his Remove magic, while we focused down the cleric and any assassins nearby.

 

I didn't bother myself with removing Mae'var's spell protections - Alche removed his illusion buffs and the battle became a target practice for my archer.

 

Next, Harpers, following them Mencar Peeblecruchusher (Entangle, Summon Shadows, 2x Ice Storm + Skull trap dealt with casters, the others managed to slip through but were killied quickly).

 

Following that, Temple Sewers gang. We opened up with 2x Cone of Cold on Gaius from invisibility. Stoneskin doesn't prevent freezing, and he dies instantly.

 

It kind of got ugly soon, berserker took massive damage quickly, and we repositioned ourselves a bit.

 

With archer gaining distance andvantage, breach landing on a priest, they were done for. Cost a bit of potions.

 

 

Rakshasa was slain there as well, we were still buffed and he failed to dispel us.

 

We're now at level 11 (cleric/mage is 9/9) and should be clearing out Slaver's boat next.

[Aasim]

Alche, 2nd BG2 update

 

Rather short; since I doubt I'll have any time to play until evening, so to keep up with progress:

- payed 14K to thieves

- did Slaver Boat & Lirarcor (made sure the cleric there never gets a spell off since I don't like odds vs Finger)

 

 

Next, Goverment- Umar (did quests there) - WK level 1. Had Vampirics spawn, but we were confident enough. Finished the level w/o much trouble, apart one Acid Fog we ran away from.

 

 

Level 2 should be next.

[Golden28]

question Aasim,

 

how do you always deal with those mage-statues on watchers keep 1st level so early? I find them a huge pain in the ass. You always cover gaethras and mekrath and tolgerias and so on but never those mages, arent they way deadlier??

 

Cheers!

[Golden28]

Eren the Powerful, BG2, Episode 1.

 

Changed Erens name and appearance. Here we go!

 

Yoshimo got stunned and killed very quickly. Thank god that wasnt Eren :S

 

Gethras eluded us because Yoshimo failed to lay 5 out of his 6 traps.. dude u suck..

 

Suna was killed with relative ease.

 

Free pirate's gold, I like..

 

Eren's got no time for this.. If the paladins want to get fallen, thats their choice..

 

Instacast hold person. Good thing Eren's a berserker. Had so many close calls averted by rage.

 

Still tough...

 

Insect plagues still good vs prebek. 

 

Next is Darnise keep for the FOA!!!

 

Glacius got stunned by nalias darts and then held also.

 

Got Torgal.

 

Then Eren's nightmare happened. We couldnt find the door out and spirit trolls got us stuck!

 

In a rather filmish retreat we managed to get out, only to trigger the non-warrior option (for being a cleric for the time being), banning us forever from the keep (secret entrance gets made unavailable and the roenalls close the front gate). 

 

That means the FOA, the weapon ive been levelling up to all that time is now unavailable! DAMN!

 

I checked with cromwell but he didnt want to make it. I considered reloading on account of the unrealism of the secret entrance suddenly being closed, but then reasoned it could have actually been closed by the trolls. Besides, game designers obviously had a reason for it being closed so It does not excuse a reload in this no-reload-challenge...

 

So now Im stuck with these:

 

Checked internet, theres nothing I can do it seems. Damn, gotto get Crom Faer then or some other high tier cleric weapon . Problem is I have 4 pips in flails and only one in other weapons. Probably go for the defender of easthaven when I'm rich, or the wyverns tail from Draug Fea for the time being. Such a downgrade from the FOA though . Ohwell, thats this challenge

 

Cheers!

[Blackraven]

Ah man Golden, really annoying. You might want to try to get Cromwell upgrade the FoA once you have one of the other Flail heads (the Watcher's Keep one comes to mind), though I wouldn't count on it.

[Aasim]

question Aasim,

 

how do you always deal with those mage-statues on watchers keep 1st level so early? I find them a huge pain in the ass. You always cover gaethras and mekrath and tolgerias and so on but never those mages, arent they way deadlier??

If you go to WK early enough, no mage statues will spawn. The good side of this is that the battle is easilly doable - the bad side is that (with Item Revisions) you loose out on Staff of Rynn (arguably the best staff in the game for mages - it makes one immune to symbol spells).

[Aasim]

Alche, 3rd BG2 update 

 

Finished WK level 2 with no trouble, ran away succesfully from Chromatic after inserting the keys. Everybody leveled up, and we're now level 12, cleric/mage 11/11.

Now I decided to go finish Umar for good. I generally avoid Thaxy until later unless I have an Archer on board. SCS Dragons have very nice AC protection, but Archers (especially buffed properly and with +3 arrows) punch through that, so I was fairly confident about it. What arcjers have vs dragons is range, so they're not likely to get tossed away by buffets, making them fairly reliable DPS.

Mance takes his Remove harmlessly and breaches his PfMW. Attack!

 

Dipel illusions if neccecary...

 

Slap and done. We wave the dragon good night

 

, pick up his wonderful loot (Girdle of strenght is on him - it and Crom Fayr scroll swap places with IR) and, still buffed with Pro Neg Energy, climb up to tackle the Shade Lord. I check my spellbook - no Death Ward, but I have both Secret Word and a Breach for him ready. I decide to risk it anyway - if all goes as planned, he'll be dead in no time. 

And indeed he was. Alche removes his images, Secret word his Deflection, Breach his PfMW, done.

 

I return to city, do first two thieves' quests (Lassal had no  rats! Hooray!) and visit the Planar Prison. This can be one of the hardest quests, but I was feeling very confident about it. No Yuan-ti mages spawned in the middle, probably due to our low levels, which was good. All was pretty smooth until the big guy himself. I triggered the fight with stealthed archer. Warden doesn't really care about stealth, but it allowed her to check wether he has Yuan-ti mages for backup (he didn't, only Salamanders). We summon some crap to hold him if he decides to use Time Stop. The moment he casts his BBoD, run; and don't look back.

 

The original plan was to survive his TS with him being focused on summons, debuff him, and kill him with arrows. Turns out, he didn't even use a Time Stop. He did have a defensive sequencer with Spell Shield/Deflection - we couldn't get through that, so I waited it out. He was also keen on PW:Silence usage; having no less than 3 and 3 Mordy Swords (SR makes them "killable" by weapons, but they take very little damage that way)

Kittix/Shadows/Skeletons stood their ground bravely here.

 

With his PfMW expired, Called Shot time. Trip slows him down to half, and we juke him around

 

Until he falls to the ground.

 

This is all nice; but I completely forgot to pick up much loot from the first encounter there (one with Yuan-ti mage). Bad, bad - selling those items would net me about 7-8K gold. Guess I'll have to find the money somewhere else.

Where could that be? Traveling to Temple District gave me the answer - Slavers! Yea, let the assault commence! (I'm feeling lucky today, Koshi be damned).

One of the "bad" things when you pick katana proficiency is the temptation to do this very early, since Celestial Fury is so powerful.

Anyhow, we enter the floor invisible, disarm traps, and pray for no Divinations.

 

There was one, but it's late for that - our position is secured. Sion casting Oracle means he's not a Conjurer- this is good actually. SR summons are usually much more powerful than vanilla variants, and can be both annoying (locking up my archer in melee is bad) or deadly, depending on what gets summoned. Be that as it may, I take a deep breath and get to the plan.

 

The plan is:

- summon Shadows

- summon Skeleton Warriors

These both being Undead, grants them two precious immunites - Cold & Poison (in addition to being immune to Koshi's stunning attacks and having 50% slashing resist). 

- send them in front, toss Cloudkills (I got the wand from Mekrath) and Ice Storms. Cleric will potentially disperse Cloudkill, but it will definitely mess up their positioning.

- bring enemies low enough (they won't stand in the clouds for long) so archer/berserker can dunk them with mage backup

- keep Alche away from Sion

Well - let's get to it then!

Phase one - summons + Cloud/Ice Storm

 

Phase two - our summons are dead. Nvm, enemies are slowed from Ice Storm, archer gets to work, downs Koshi & Olaf. A skull trap is thrown for good measure. Sion is fully buffed and approaching.

 

Phase three - pay attention to Ketta. Backstab with a +4 bonus to damage for ranged weapon equiped means a possible chunk. Invis potion at ready.

 

Phase four - kill what's left with magic. Stalman freezes to Cone of Cold.

 

Phase five

Drop Ketta. She's too dangerous if Sion debuffs mages. Alche uses his Detect Illusions skill here, reveals her, and Deb is merciless with her Tugian.

 

With that done, only Sion is left. And the Minotaur, but's he's nothing.

Sion dispels both mages somehow.

 

We kill the minotaur at range, Sion enters Time Stop, throws Dragon's Breath at Gragu (used Potion of Fire resistance to nullify the damage somewhat + helm of Rock is equipped), casts True Seeing and just as that was done, flaps a Comet. Deb dies instantly to the blow, but she's not chunked.

 

Next, he starts to cast Bigby's. A lot of Bigby's. these spells are fairly useless in vanilla (with level 8 variant being actually better than level 9 ) but with SR, these are well worth their slot. They go off constantly, round after round, and hurt immensly. Larkin died to them after failing 2 saves in a row.

 

In the end, after expending his entire spellbook (he was down to Chromatic Orbs), he finally dies.

 

I pick up the loot, raise the dead with Rod of Ressurect, equip Celestial Fury on Alche and feel really, really good.   

[corey_russell]

@Grond0: Sorry to hear the demise of Alac and Evan. It's interesting you died to the incendiary trap, as one of my characters have died to it as well. Now, though, I remember the tip Alesia gave where she said pro fire and death ward is all you need for those traps. In a party, that's what I do - of course a bit tougher if solo...

[Grond0]

Multiplayer is host-friendly in that regard;

- You quite often see a client hit twice then a host hit in the same round. Host damage gets applied first and the client damage is ignored.

- When a client drops from the game their kills since the last save can be lost. Dogdancing crashes most; at least once per session, usually more. Same for XP - Carthus was some way ahead of Wewa with xp and is now behind her after a crash which must have been during an area with plenty to do.

 

That's not to say Grond0 wouldn't be ahead anyway, and we haven't looked to see if the total kills is also reset (consistent) or correct.

I think the big lead in kills largely reflects tactics in BG1 - Static had both the best ranged attack and quite often sneaked ahead of the others to rack up backstab victims.  In BG2 the monks are starting to come into their own and I think kills have been fairly even between Carthus, Avenger and Static in recent sessions.

[Grond0]

@ Aasim. Looks like an impressive start - just don't get too cocky now ...

[Aasim]

don't get too cocky now ...

I'll try..

Anyhow, Alche, 4th update

 

Three important things:

1) I think Grond0's no-headgear swashbuckler is properly avenged. Upon traveling to De'Arnise, we triggered a nasty ambush. I wanted to run away  , but Melf's were faster.

 

Screw that. We fight. Having almost no defensive buffs (Death Ward being the prime example - I now have *3* memorized), I rage my berserker and send him in front to tackle the mages. He'll be taking massive damage with his almost non-existent AC, but he won't be disabled so easilly. Thieves are close to us, backstabing Larkin. One lands, I move him away as Alche starts his Detection routine. Archer is left alone - big mistake by the thieves.

Apperantly, there are no less than four of those. 

 

We crap them all up.

 

2nd, De'Arnise. Only Torgal somewhat worth a mention - apperantly using summons here triggers Yuan-ti routine instantly. Fine by me. Nalia is taken with us for two reasons - 10K gold and to make a photoshoot of Torgal's demise.

We open with a Remove, one Yuan-ti dispelled, 2nd not. Deb, the archer, focuses the debuffed one.

 

He dies within a round. Torgal, Umber and one troll are still busy with the golem.

 

Golem dies, and Torgal rushes to us. Umber is also dead.

 

Unfortunately, here Torgal doesn't really have a soft target. A raged KR berserker gains save vs Death bonus, so has a fair chance of avoiding strenght drain. Alche has an AC of about -15 here. He dies quickly to focus melee fire, while Deb keeps the mage pinned down with arrows.

 

A questionably-timed Remove magic and a contingencied stoneskin were Yuan-ti's last efforts to make a difference. 

 

 

(btw, if you see a Gibberling on these screens, it's MSI spell.  )

 

3rd and final, Trademeet is done, balance is restored, and we have our statues made. Rakshasa failed to save vs CF's stunning effect and died before his buffs kicked in.

 

We're now level 13, and probably will do Beholder lair next.

[Grond0]

1) I think Grond0's no-headgear swashbuckler is properly avenged. 

[Golden28]

Nice progress Aasim

Cheers!

[Aasim]

Nice progress Aasim

Cheers!

Tnx.

 

Alche, 5th BG2 update

 

Windspear Hills started horribly. First NPP expired on berserker. He got drained to level 4 very quickly and had to be away from the battle the whole time.

Nobody other than him had NPP. Alche has Shadow Dragon scales which provide it.

 

I try to pull by berserker away and close the door since he was getting chased, but Vampires can apperantly open them. Even worse, now my casters were in sight range of an Elder Vampire!

 

Everybody gets level drained, as some of the vamps finally start to fall.

 

They also seem to have backstab. I haven't really noticed this before, but it's ugly. Oddly enough, they drained no CON on anybody. 

 

Some time later, with a lot of maneuvering in between, they die. Archer got drained to level 8, cleric/mage 6/6, berserker 4, and invoker 6. We return to Trademeet temple to fix that, rewrite spellbooks and go back to Windspear.

 

Samia's group was fairly straightforward, the only bad thing happening was that Legodril used Harm and hit my berserker with it. It deals a flat 90 damage, some quick heling was in order, but other than that they died relatively fast.

 

Kaol dispelled us just as we dispelled him, and that was it.

 

Given that I have an archer, I was fairly sure about Firkraag here. We're level 13. Mass anti-fire damage prebuff, two skeletons, and we're off.

 

I kept Alche away from this battle. He doesn't have the HP to whistand a possible Breach/Remove + Breath combo. Gragu is to tank, Deb to DPS.

Gragu got tossed away in a corner and couldn't move for a while, I used Ilbratha's images to buy him a round of safety as my arcanists used Breach to remove his stoneskins. Deb was free to use her bow the whole battle. Skeletons died instantly to breath attack.

 

He failed to dispel Deb. Saves some potions, but it didn't matter much.

 

 

With his death, I don't even buff properly for Conster. Alche dispells his Illusions, 2xSecret Word, Breach, done.

He tried to cast some Necromantic spell but died before he could finish it.

 

Ilithid sewers will be our next stop.

[Aasim]

Alche, final BG2 update

 

I've finished the game, Irenicus is dead at my feet. 

 

Right...

Anyhow, we did both Ilithids and Unseeing

 

And went to Planar Sphere (level 14 we were).  From some unknown reason, Kayardi summoned Pit Fiends. These aren't aTweaks ones, but they're annoying enough. Did them anyway. Lavok, otoh, was far more deady. I couldn't debuff him for some odd reason, and ran out of debuff spells. That allowed him to go on a rampage (he had 3 summoned Bone Fiends, they have a nasty Fear aura and Cone of Cold every few rounds.)

Three died there, archer and both casters, but Lavok was downed as well. This isn't bad per se, BUT - I cannot raise my dead. With IR, Ressurection staff has but two charges, and I've spent them both on Temple Slavers battle (yea, I'm lazy to go to temples). With my priest being dead, I couldn't raise anyone.

 

Bah, we try to do Tolgerias (I did kill Nabassu on demon plane). One chance I had was Celestial Fury stunning effect, but it failed. Following that, the sucker summoned a Planetar who chunk-vorpalizes Gragu in a single shot.

 

Remove-Breach-summon Pit Fiend-done.

[Serg BlackStrider]

"Ouch! That hurts!"... 

Sad to see, Tolgerias claimed another victim, Aasim...

[Blackraven]

Ay Aasim, that went south very fast, and very unexpectedly... 
My commiserations.

[Aasim]

Ay Aasim, that went south very fast, and very unexpectedly... 

Somehow it always does...especially the "very fast" part.

[Golden28]

Damn Aasim.. the hell? Why didnt you just sneak past Tolgerias or is that impossible?

 

 

Eren the Powerful, BG2, Episode 2

 

The damn genies got Cernd, not Eren though

 

After stone to flesh, Faldorn was killed by Cern easily.

 

Finally returned to and killed Gethras with clouds.

 

Killed some thieves and Maevar with cloudkills and skeletons. 

 

This happened in the bridge district. What the hell is this nonsense!..... (notice Eren is sanctuaried).

 

Eren almost died there to backstabs and traps to get the freaking gesen bow piece..

 

He did got up to his berserker levels again, which is nice. 

 

Killed a random party there as well. Who the hell are these guys? One of them, the female, gave us 12000 XP!

 

Did some Neera's quest for the shield of Fyrus Khal, a complete beast of a shield!

We killed some red mages. Couldnt save the blue elf though (he got shot!).. Hayes said it was a 'waste of time', pompous sod.

 

Next we killed Draug fea and now Eren has a decent flail, the wyverns tail. 

 

Paid the shadow thieves. 

Next are the main quests and probably temple district for the beholder XP. 

 

Cheers!

[Grond0]

@Aasim - what did I say ?

 

This happened in the bridge district. What the hell is this nonsense!..... (notice Eren is sanctuaried).

The Rune Assassins see through invisibility.  I know you might think from the spell description that sanctuary should operate to prevent attacks even by opponents that can see the cleric - but it doesn't .

[Aasim]

@Aasim - what did I say ?

[Aasim]

 Why didnt you just sneak past Tolgerias or is that impossible?

I don't think it's impossible, but I generally avoid it. Call me crazy, but I believe a berserker doesn't really use stealth. They're supposed to be nutcases which enjoy combat. And Tolgerias is an a** anyway.

[Golden28]

Eren the Powerful Episode 3 BG2

 

Next are the beholders. 

Gotto love them clouds.

 

With some trouble, we got there. Aerial servants were key here doing massive damage to the tyrants.

 

Gaal got slain. "Unseeying One, preserve me".. I mean I have respect for the blind priests faith and power, being a cleric myself, but.. seriously dude :/

 

We did Bodhi without any trouble. Tanova was dispelled by keldorn and then hacked to pieces. Body was stomped (non-improved vampires).

 

Pebblecrusher got crushed.

 

Then I decided the epic quest for Crom Faeyr had to begin. 

I need that hammer now that I missed out on the Flail of ages. This is my true sub-quest! So first we do the umar hills.

 

The undead forces seem more resilient this time, more than last time. We got there with summons and crits from improved mace of disruption.

 

Thaxxylsillia got, simply said, slain. We did minor damage by eating through stoneskins all the while trying a spell or two. Then Eren connects with a flamestrike. Twice. For massive damage. Plus a hit from an aerial servant here, a little acid damage there, and he falls. 

 

 

Unfortunately brave Mazzy got instachunked by his breath, she was the ONLY non NPP'ed npc so Thaxxy obviously targetted her... Yeah, drained, blinded, drained, drained, blinded, petrified..... Death...

 

First Instakill the altar. Never seen that before

 

 

Then disaster!..

 

Keldorn dispells protections, Shadowlord cast BBoD and starts to kill off the efreeti and aerial servant. 

 

Then this happened, literally from the feedback window: 

 

Jaheira- Cast call lightning: Shade Lord

Jaheira did 28 damage to Shade Lord

Shade Lord: Save vs Spell

Jaheira: Death

...

 

Only half a round later, this happens:

 

Nalia casts magic missle: Shade Lord

Shade Lord: Magic resistance

Shade Lord: Magic resistance

Nalia did 2 damage to Shade Lord

Nalia did 2 damage to Shade Lord

Nalia: Death

...

 

So 2 chunks of npcs dealing damage to the SL, in half a round. I checked BBoD, didn't do it. I checked the SL abilities, I know dead npcs turn into shades but then I have no idea how they died. Maybe chromatic orb- fail save, but there were no castings of chromatic orb. 

 

So what happened, anyone know? ... appreciate it.

 

Cheers!

[Grond0]

The Shade Lord's aura can kill if you're too close.  In your case though I suspect it was the result of using summons against him.  I think that the script to turn dead enemies into shadows mis-fires if an enemy is chunked and targets someone else.  If a summons is chunked by the BBoD that means that someone in the party is going to disappear ...

 

For a bit of background to the bug have a look here.

[Aasim]

The Shade Lord's aura can kill if you're too close.  In your case though I suspect it was the result of using summons against him.  I think that the script to turn dead enemies into shadows mis-fires if an enemy is chunked and targets someone else.  If a summons is chunked by the BBoD that means that someone in the party is going to disappear ...

 

For a bit of background to the bug have a look here.

That's about right, but it has nothing to do with the distance you're taking from him (unless he level drains you to oblivion). Here's more about it. Unfortunately, DavidW isn't around and if this is a bug or an intended feature remains to be seen.