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Man, thats unfortunate. I was hoping Cheeseburger would make it. Anyway, Celeste the solo Blade has dealt with the schemes of the Drow and made her way back to Athkatla.  SCS barely touches the Sahaugin city, it was a complete walkover as a result. The only real thing it does is move the Cloak of Mirroring to ToB, I believe its somewhere in Watcher's Keep in V31.  Moving swiftly on to Chapter 5. I skipped the Beholder hive and Illithid city for now, I'll attempt them in Chapter 6.  Clearing out the portals for a bit later for that quest with the imprisoned mage. He has a Time Stop scroll if you kill him. Which I got of course, I'll almost certainly need it at some point.  Single demons, even powerful ones like Balors, are not an issue anymore. If only the same could be said for Planetars.   After looting the Drow party here for their amazing armour, I dealt with the crystal prison thing. Its nice to have a suit of elven chain that isn't a complete liability against physical attacks, even if it's only usable in the Underdark. Hopefully I'll get a usable set for Celeste fairly soon.  Improved Haste, Tenser's and Death Spell dealt with the Phaere rescue easily enough.  Bit rude, this.  Surprisingly, the fight with the slime cult was actually the hardest one in the city. Nothing too dangerous, but they actually got through Celeste's Stoneskins and did a decent amount of damage, which is more than I can say for the other fights.  Case in point. The Jae'llat's were particularly disappointing, I think they're just too spread out to ever be a problem. After finishing of the Ust Natha quests, as well as leaving quite a large power vacuum in the city, I left for the Underdark exit. I did not stick around to fight the Drow defenders, I've never even attempted the SCS version of that in a non-ironman playthrough.  Since I've not yet decided whether I'm going to kill Adalon or not, I had to get through this group of defenders alone. It went better than expected, mainly because I killed the HLA capable mage surprisingly early. I think the Balor's were summoned by the Glabrezu, thanks to aTweaks.  After fighting the last few stragglers, I finally reached the surface and Chapter 6.   Such slander cannot go unpunished. Celeste has a reputation to maintain, you know.  Stay dead this time, dickhead.Next up is what few sidequests are left, and then Bodhi.
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Feb 23, 2019 01:19
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Bloody hell, how did you end with a (temporary) max HP of 328/348?
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Feb 23, 2019 01:26
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Tenser's Transformation doubles HP from 164 to 328, and for the Balor fight, I also used the Avoid Death HLA, which added a flat 20 HP on top of that.
biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Feb 23, 2019 |
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Feb 23, 2019 01:39
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biscuits and crazy posted:Tenser's Transformation doubles HP from 164 to 328, and for the Balor fight, I also used the Avoid Death HLA, which added a flat 20 HP on top of that. I had forgotten about T'sT; that must be fantastic for bards.
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Feb 23, 2019 05:18
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I forgot at this point, was Celeste the one that used the accidental vision aggro bug so that he died to the gnolls?
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Feb 23, 2019 07:57
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I commend Celeste's consistently proper approach to the Drizzt problem.
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Feb 23, 2019 11:50
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Let’s try this again. BigMac, the dwarven defender starts his journey This is going to be a full group evil playthrough, I want to play with some of the new EE npcs.  The first thing BigMac does is kill Watchers in Candlekeep. *cue training montage*  A lot of them. By the time he has enough money to buy enough reputation back to not be hunted by the Flaming Fist, he’s nearly level 3. The most obvious immediate benefit is that all npcs will join at level 2, at a minimum, like dear Imoen. Goodbye pesky level 1 AD&D combat. The first priority is to get some tough goons for our party.  Imoen and BigMac reach the Friendly Arms inn and deal with Tarnesh without any issue. Then they sprint to Nashkel.  Once there, Edwin is recruited for our glorious evil cause. Let’s recruit Dorn.  This encounter is bad, is super easy for Dorn to be killed before we have a chance to recruit him. Color spray works wonderfully though. Next stop, Larswood.  Get in here, Vicky. Our party is complete for now, the final member will join up later.  I clear the gnoll stronghold and kill Dynaheir so Edwin will shut up and stop bitching. What do you do with a group of level 2/3 who need a quick powerboost? You guessed right. *cue another training montage*   I love this little buggers. After cleaning up Mutamin, BigMac has reached 10k xp, so it’s time to recruit our final mate.  Hello gorgeous. At this point in the game he’s so OP it makes me cry tears of joy. With our team assembled, our next objective is to acquire currency, items and experience.  Bassileus is a good start and is a rather easy fight if you disable his skeleyfriends through dialogue. Did some more questing and decided to do the Nashkel mines next.   Mulahey goes down.  MELICAMP DIES.  At some point I grab the wand of monster summoning, clear the pirate cave for the manual and the wand of paralization and dive in the ankheg nest for the wand of fire. I even considered going after Drizzt, but finally decided not to because he’s he biggest Mary Sue ever and if I slip up my party is going to get wrecked, not worth it at all. Next: the bandit camp.
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Feb 25, 2019 12:28
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JustJeff88 posted:I had forgotten about T'sT; that must be fantastic for bards. It really is, the extra THAC0 and double HP is fantastic, and the downside of not being able to cast spells is eliminated by casting it last in a pre-buff, and just putting on some full plate. Keldulas posted:I forgot at this point, was Celeste the one that used the accidental vision aggro bug so that he died to the gnolls? Yeah, it was. I probably could have won without his gear in BG1, as powerful as it is, but can't complain with how things worked out. Its nice to see another Angry Lobster run too, The Pebble and Cheeseburger were entertaining reads.
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Feb 25, 2019 16:23
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Arnaldo the Shaman has danced with the devil. Arnaldo awakens to the sound of his stalker ranting about the sheeple. We very quickly move on to the army camp, which has a bit of a plague problem:  Rats, you say?  Our first attempt at rodent interrogation goes somewhat poorly:    We don't die and try again:   Apart from healing mold, we also find the last item needed for Neera's quest in the forest. I'll skip all the other side quests in the camp and around Castle Dragonspear and get straight to the main dungeon.   I completely underestimate the fight at the entrance. I remembered that some enemies would teleport in, but not how many. At some point I have to fall back and regroup, which is when Dynaheir, whose Stoneskins are nearly gone by then, falls victim to poor pathfinding. And dies.  Neera's romance is going places.   Arnaldo gets to show off in dialogue.  Those packs are some of the most fun generic enemy spawns across all BG games to me. There's some good variety, status effects and damage resistances to consider, but nothing in there just straight up fucks you over.  It turns out a fight against a cabal of evil Mages is not exactly something to fear with two Shamans that both know Insect Plague in the party.  Neera's quest ends.  So does this Lich's existence.  And also M'Khiin's series of vignettes.  And lastly Glint finds the last of his relatives in the area, not that I've shown any of the others off.  Hephernaan gets his first taste of the power of gnats. And with that, it's time to negotiate with Caelar and for the Shine On Caelar mod to kick in. (After replacing M'Khiin with Voghiln, because Voghiln will be tanking an archdevil soon.)  So, that's essentially it. You get the usual dialogue but with an option to just go with Caelar's plan.  In Castle Dragonspear, you can convince Caelar that Hephernaan is not to be trusted, and from then on the game is back to the regular proceedings.  Somewhat strangely, that includes the original scene in the basement with crusaders lying in ambush and dialogue indicating Caelar is not exactly on our side.  Also, Dragonspear has been stormed by coalition troops in the five minutes we've been inside. I realize rewriting all that and redoing the cutscenes etc. would be a lot of effort, but...hm. Anyway, time for Avernus.  I don't think I've managed to save any of those crusaders before, so this is nice.  Arnaldo is not a gambling man, so Thrix foolishly decides to attack him.  It's nice to get an extra dialogue option acknowledging that we allied with Caelar here. My plan for the fight is to essentially do what I did with Rina the Berserker/Mage during last year's ironman. That is, have an Abjuration-immune arcane caster tank Belhifet and absorb the initial Dispel. Everybody else falls back, dispatches the first wave of devils, then comes back to finish Belhifet while summons distract the other devils that keep coming in. Except I don't have Rina, so Voghiln will have to do as a tank. The plan doesn't work. It doesn't fail completely, either, but I realize pretty quickly that I may have made a mistake by having everyone drink Potions of Freedom instead of Oils of Speed during the elevator ride up. Khalid's +3 weapon is also the Voidsword, which is good but doesn't get a Strength bonus to damage. The result is that we do gently caress all damage to Belhifet. I resort to Neera casting Lower Resistance a couple of times before she and Voghiln unleash a storm of Melf's Minute Meteors and Magic Missiles. Meanwhile, Arnaldo puts fear in the heart of the assembled devils by calling in Insect Plague after Insect Plague.  In the end, Neera gets him with a Magic Missile. It's a fairly safe method of beating Belhifet, but slow, and unfortunately way, way too slow to keep an AI-controlled Caelar alive.  Sorry, dude, really should have hasted the party.   Still a pretty good story, until the whole murder of Skie bit.  Oh well. Onwards to BG2. e: Oh yeah. SoD honors and dishonors. Honors: Siege Breaker, Honorable Trader. Technically also Strategist but I don't think SCS does anything in SoD. Dishonors: Scroll of Wuss. Not shown in any updates but I really didn't feel like dealing with that one young vampire in a basement. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Feb 25, 2019 |
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Feb 25, 2019 16:42
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biscuits and crazy posted:It really is, the extra THAC0 and double HP is fantastic, and the downside of not being able to cast spells is eliminated by casting it last in a pre-buff, and just putting on some full plate. Agreed, Tenser's is amazing for bards, and moreso for blades. I really look forward to see what kind of shenanigans Celeste pulls off in ToB, can't imagine how annoying SCS will be in the expansion. Wizard Styles posted:
Congratulations  Keep it up.
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Feb 25, 2019 19:02
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I probably won't get around to setting up the BG2 installation before the weekend but I'm looking forward to Fire Elementals and Arnaldo getting a mod stronghold. For now Cordelia the Blade and five other adventurers have started their Icewind Dale adventure.  So here we are in the frozen north. Like I mentioned earlier I won't assume that people are familiar with the game at all, so I'll cover important story moments and some sidequests in greater depth than usual. Difficulty settings:  And here is the party:  Fighter/Mages have always been incredibly strong in IWD. I had a Fighter/Mage/Thief in the party (of a full 6 people) for my last EE playthrough and he did very well, too. Bards get a bunch of special dialogue options in IWD. It's generally just some extra flavor instead of completely different quest solutions but you do get XP for those dialogue choices. IWD also ends before the Blade kit runs out of steam and falls too far behind the Fighter/Mage. So by all means, a Blade should be very good in IWD, but I've never put that to the test. Stat-wise, 15 Charisma is enough for all dialogue checks in IWD as far as I remember. Cordelia's lovely Wisdom isn't ideal since it means she won't identify much just by looking at it, but I went without autorollers or EEKeeper here so sacrifices had to be made.  Randomly got a monstrous stat roll on this one. I've never played a Dwarven Defender before at all but it's safe to say Bertram will be very good at standing in the way and not dying. I should probably have made him a Berserker anyway because there are some brutal things later on that would be easier with one, including multiple Beholders if they make it to the expansion. But we'll deal with that when we get there, and although he has no relevant immunities Bertram should be able to get his saving throws below 0 in due time.  Somebody's gotta cover Thief skills, and Brianna is that somebody. To be fair, with 3E Sneak Attack enabled, Fighter/Thieves are actually pretty good. And as a Gnome, Brianna will have access to the best helmet in the game as soon as we can afford it, which will give her respectable AC even in lighter armor.  It's a Cleric. Some Cleric buffs work better on characters of the same alignment, so Rodolf's presence in the party is one reason for everyone being True Neutral. The other reason is that it makes everyone immune to Unholy Word and similar spells.  I'm curious to see what Cordelia the Blade can do but Galene is the main reason why I'm doing this. For a few reasons, I think Shamans might be at their best in IWD: First, Icewind Dale doesn't give you as many consumables supplying you with summons and AoE damage as BG1, so some of the good Shaman spells you get at low to mid levels will be more relevant. Second, IWD's encounter design also makes summons and persistent AoEs very strong. It'll be a while until Galene actually gets strong fighting summons but she'll have strong AoE spells relatively soon. Third, IWD gets you past the low levels a bit faster than BG1. Which is great for Shamans because level 2 and 3 Druid spells are not the best. Fourth, IWD actually gets to a point where Shamans catch up with Druids in terms of leveling. (For reference, Jaheira could cast a level 6 spell by the end of Siege of Dragonspear while Arnaldo had more spell slots than her but was stuck at level 5 spells.) Fifth, something I didn't really remember, but the IWD Druid spell list has a bit more to offer than BG does even with the IWDification mod. For example, Galene will be able to take Remove Fear as a first level spell, which Arnaldo couldn't. So, yeah, looking forward to continuing my ongoing Shaman experiment in a game that caters to the class a bit more. For now, Galene knows Cure Light Wounds and Sunscorch in addition to the automatically learned Spirit Ward.  Sorcerers are great(er than usual) in IWD because the scroll itemization certainly isn't. Flavia will get a themed spell list with a focus on Enchantment, Necromancy and Illusion. Within limits; she won't pick up Larloch's Minor Drain just because it's on brand. I don't know how many spells of those schools she'll take in the end but, basically, if I'm ever in doubt I'll take a spell of those schools. Right now, she knows Shield and Chromatic Orb, neither of which belongs to any of the mentioned schools.  No Sleep because it becomes useless in IWD way faster than in BG1 since the first real dungeon is full of Undead. She'll learn Spook as one of her level 1 spells, though. Next up, actual adventuring.
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Feb 26, 2019 05:19
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So the IWD remake stuff has BG2 kits to use in it? That.... honestly might be enough to get me to play the game again. Nostalgia from literally the first Isometric CRPG for me as well as the BG2 niceties.
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Feb 26, 2019 06:20
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Sorry for not getting to it sooner, but OP updated to here! Man, that's another close-to-godhood Bhaalspawn dead... Celeste, we're all looking to you now!
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Feb 26, 2019 08:42
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Keldulas posted:So the IWD remake stuff has BG2 kits to use in it? The only major difference I can think of right now is that IWD has different spell lists for all casters. Generally speaking, everything that was in BG2 has been added to the other EE games, but spells that were exclusive to IWD haven't been ported over to the BG games. You can use the IWDification mod to get most IWD-exclusive spells in the BG series, but some spells will still behave differently or be available to different classes. For instance, Chromatic Orb has somewhat weaker effects but doesn't give the target a +6 bonus to its save in IWD. And Druids and Shamans get Remove Fear, as I just found out yesterday. Also, a few spells that are party-friendly in BG aren't in IWD. For example, I found out that Chain Lightning jumps to party members when I put an Avenger into my first IWDEE party. Specialist Mages are also more restricted and generally have two opposed schools in IWD.
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Feb 26, 2019 12:56
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Keldulas posted:So the IWD remake stuff has BG2 kits to use in it? Yeah, and kits are really strong in IWD. In my last run, I had an archer and she was a monster. Also, good luck Wizard Styles in your IWD run. Angry Lobster fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Feb 26, 2019 |
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Feb 26, 2019 14:32
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drat, now I'm really tempted to get the IWD EEs on the next Steam sale, despite only remembering the originals were hard as hell.
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Feb 26, 2019 14:36
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I got bored with Ottokar so I abandoned him around Baldur's Gate... I think Fabriano's X-Com style death left me an itch I need to scratch so, back to the front lines it is: Barnabus the Barbarian was born with killer stats (and in less than 2 or 3 minutes of rerolling to boot):  Carbos has a taste of hat sweet sweet 18/00:  And so does Tarnesh, after reminding him once more to mind his own drat business:   Oof!  Neera's encounter wasn't so bad this time. Wait, what did you do to my clothes?!:  We break axes with Karlat (the traditional dwarven greeting) and put Neera to do something useful with those scrolls we've been picking:  I don't like my initial health rolls being so similar to Imoen's but there's plenty to do in and around Beregost for stout dwarf to grow, er... stoutier. Plus, the forecast is clear, with a chance of gibberling:  Melicamp is saved! (First time for me this year, I think)  And now, let's start the count, first one is pretty innocuous:  That's a hell of a first kiss. Luckily for Barnabus, the EE saves his sorry rear end.  Shoal is not so lucky since I recently discovered she's worth a few xp:  Feeling refreshed after a nice stranger heals our wounds, we play ball with a bunch of ogres:  And also sample a taste of that sweet sweet 18/00. Oof indeed:  I don't intend to end like Carbos so we bail out:  We deliver all deliverables and then proceed to ruin Silke's day:  After that, we go to Mutamin's Garden and dine with a friendly ghoul. Dine on basilisk corpses that is.   Yep, time to go to Nashkel I think. But not before we deal with these jerks:  Barnabus the Barbarian is brazenly boasting a shiny new belt around Beregost! Hmm. Larswood was available in Chapter 1 right?
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Feb 27, 2019 06:22
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Oof!Ulvino posted:Hmm. Larswood was available in Chapter 1 right?
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Feb 27, 2019 06:27
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You can't get to Nashkel in Chapter 1 either.
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Feb 27, 2019 07:39
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Time to start exploring the Icewind Dale. This update will just cover the starting village of Easthaven and some prologue quests. Which will include talking to some relevant and semi-relevant NPCs, so    We start our adventures by pissing off the only man selling arms and armor in town. Brianna also proceeds to rob his home, which among other things yields a Sleep scroll for Cordelia. We also visit Hrothgar, semi-retired adventurer, who recruits us for an expedition to Kuldahar:  Brianna involuntarily starts whistling and studying the ceiling when he mentions Pomab's rapidly thinning stock, but...  ...he actually just wants us to go out of town and see if we find any signs of the caravan. Before we do that, we take care of the sidequests in town.   Jhonen's is the most involved of them and also presents a first opportunity for Cordelia to show off.  And here is the sea spirit responsible for Jhonen's dreams. Cordelia talking to her through song earns the party 1200 XP, which is as much as any of the other prologue quests earn us.  Cordelia agrees to deliver the sword of Jhonen's dragon-slaying ancestor to him in exchange for Elisia teaching her her song. As far as I know this doesn't have any unique mechanical advantages but it earns us another 1200 XP.   Doing so is worth another 1200 XP and a pearl. There are two other NPCs I wanted to show off because they'll appear again later in the game but the game doesn't seem to have taken all the screenshots I wanted it to during the first session. So here's an imported level 23 Bard talking to Erevard, priest of Tempus (Rodolf didn't get any special dialogue here that I could find) and the elf Erevain, Evereskan explorer:    Back to Cordelia and friends, who make their way out of town to look for that caravan. On the way, they put down a small tribe of Goblins (no screenshot again) who had the audacity to steal a little boy's fish.  The glorious battle for a half-eaten fish pleases Tempus and Rodolf levels up. Cordelia is already at level 2 (and can cast Sleep now as a result) as well. As I level Rodolf and go over his spells I notice a bug, which is that he doesn't get Holy Power as an innate ability, which a Priest of Tempus should, but can instead cast it as a level 1 spell. Which would be crazy good later on. Apparently that bug has been known for a few months but there's no official fix yet. So I'll fix/mod this at some point. Right now Holy Power isn't all that useful because of its 1 round/level duration so for the moment I'm not bothered about it either way.  We find some empty caravan carts and an Orc in front of a cave.  More Orcs await inside. This fight's a pretty good first indicator of Icewind Dale encounter design. Fair amount of enemies, often a mix of melee and ranged, sometimes positioned to surround/flank the party, with a caster who is a priority target but not necessarily the most dangerous opponent present.  Behold, the first enchanted random loot item. A lot of drops in Icewind Dale are picked from a list of usually around 5 options. Among other things, we could have gotten a belt that permanently Blesses the wearer here, which would have been great. Or we could have gotten some boots giving a whole +7% to Move Silently, which, yeah. What we get is a ring giving +2 to Saving Throws vs. Spells. I'm very okay with this since it'll help get Bertram's or Brianna's saves into the negatives at some point. Even now Bertram can already get down to an 8 vs. Spells with the ring and Defensive Stance, and anything better than a coin flip is amazing for a level 1 character.  The big battle in this cave and a first taste of Insane difficulty spawns. On Core, you get one Ogre here iirc, but we have to deal with four and some Orc Elite Archers. But Bertram manages to tank the Ogres all by himself, although it does take a healing potion or two. Our ranged firepower takes care of the rest. Brianna and especially Galene with her 19 Half-Orc Strength deal a lot of damage with their slings, easily killing Orcs with one hit. And Cordelia can take 3 shots per round doing 10 damage each after popping Offensive Spin, which is crazy good.   One of the Ogres drops a caravan contract that we can deliver to the father of the kid whose fish we ferociously fought for earlier. After we report the caravan's fate to Hrothgar as well, he sends us to Pomab with a supply list, which gives us an opportunity to sell a few Winter Wolf pelts the Ogres dropped and other assorted loot for about 1500. One of the nicer aspects of Insane difficulty together with faster leveling, although not that many enemies really drop noteworthy loot. Anyway, with that, we're done with the prologue.  Next up, the road to Kuldahar. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 08:27 on Feb 27, 2019 |
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Feb 27, 2019 08:23
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sweet geek swag posted:You can't get to Nashkel in Chapter 1 either.
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Feb 27, 2019 08:25
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Wizard Styles posted:Stat-wise, 15 Charisma is enough for all dialogue checks in IWD as far as I remember. Preposterous. The only good (true) bard is the 18 Charisma supermodel with "Friends" spell, who shops all my expensive crap at Conlan's hardware store for massive discounts.
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Feb 27, 2019 17:24
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Wow, I had no idea there were special solutions for bards. I mean, it is a joke class...
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Feb 27, 2019 17:49
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anilEhilated posted:Wow, I had no idea there were special solutions for bards. I mean, it is a joke class... One of the design goals was to make Bards not pointless.
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Feb 27, 2019 18:00
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Easthaven, lovely place, they make good flails there.
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Feb 27, 2019 18:11
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anilEhilated posted:Wow, I had no idea there were special solutions for bards. I mean, it is a joke class... Now that is just rude. Even non-Blade Bards make some good utility chars in the Infinity engine games. Good ranged attackers with their longbow proficiency on low levels and their fast level-up table makes them quite able with spells which require a good amount of levels under your belt (magic dispel, spook, prismatic orb). And lets not forget IWD bard songs.
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Feb 27, 2019 20:22
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Skwirl posted:One of the design goals was to make Bards not pointless. Apart from extra dialogue options and some instrument items they can unlock up to level 8 spells eventually and unkitted Bards get the special songs OutofSight mentioned:  That doesn't make them one of the best classes but definitely better than they are in BG. Of course, IWD has some issues with item distribution and that affects Bards in two ways. First, there is only one scroll of a lot of spells, including important ones like Stoneskin. That's less of an issue in the EE since you can just roll a Sorcerer now, but you need to think about who's going to need which scrolls in advance. Also, in an ironman, Potion of Genius availability is a concern. I don't think you can buy them anywhere. Second, there are two suits of Elven Chainmail in the game and both are random loot that you have one chance to get.
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Feb 27, 2019 22:18
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An absolutely wizard character in IWD2 is Rogue (1)/Bard (everything else). I always make him a male Drow in homage to a former tablemate, but the combo is important, not the race. By wizard I mean great, not that he's an actual wizard... but he sort of is, being a bard, but not really. I will say that I am not a fan of the randomised loot in IWD. I'm okay for having things be in different spots randomly to add variety, but not "if the dice don't roll well, you'll never get a key item" - that's bollocks. It's like playing Claire in the original RE2 and getting the bowgun twice.
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Feb 27, 2019 23:06
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Time for more IWD adventures. After leaving for Kuldahar we're treated to a cutscene the game is determined to not let me screenshot whether I use Print Screen, GOG's screenshot hotkey or an external screenshot program. So here's what happens: everything goes to poo poo. Frost Giants ambush the expedition in a mountain pass and cause an avalanche by throwing rocks down the cliffs. Everybody dies except our party.  This semi-helpful hermit warns us about Goblins that have overrun the valley on our path to Kuldahar, but questions our desire to go there instead of finding a nice cave to spend our lives in isolation.  He's not lying about the Goblins. I gently caress up here and pull two groups at once, but at least the resulting fight gives Galene a chance to use the Shamanic Dance to some good effect. Enjoy it while it lasts, girl.   The two newly arrived occupants of the valley that don't want to kill us on sight both say that they have been called here involuntarily by some sort of voice that is slowly but surely driving them insane.   We could have successfully intimidated the Orcs here to let us pass but they've got loot to drop which seals their fate. Could have gotten a first instrument for Cordelia here (The Merry Shorthorn, casts Bless 1/day). What we get is Glimglam's Cloak, which is a named Cloak of Protection +1. Maybe not the best option in the long run but definitely great to have now, and Cordelia gets that all-important Blur scroll as a consolation.  Don't get eaten by the Goblin on your way out, kid. Well, time to leave the now mostly Goblin-free valley behind and be on our way to Kuldahar. It's home to important NPCs and will be our hub town for a long time, so again, be prepared for . In Kuldahar, we are immediately sent to Arundel, local archdruid (old guy that knows a lot about plants to most locals).    So we have our next destination, the Vale of Shadows, the first really expansive dungeon area of the game. Arundel can also tell us about all the troubles Kuldahar is facing right now: apart from the monster infestation we have witnessed, the weather is unnaturally hostile, and people have been disappearing, seemingly getting picked off in the night and disappearing without a trace. There's something else Arundel can do right now besides giving us the next main quest and information:   Before we leave for the Vale of Shadows, we explore Kuldahar a bit to rest up and buy some scrolls and potions.    We also get a couple levels and sidequest.  We visit the local mage and his, well, let's be nice and say apprentice.   Another sidequest, and an opportunity to buy some scrolls. We get Identify, Mirror Image and Web for Cordelia, although she doesn't learn them (or the previously found Blur) right now because we have no Potions of Genius. Failing to learn Web or Identify would be really annoying but something we could ultimately live with, but a Blade without Mirror Image and Blur would be a bit too far from ideal. We also get one scroll for Flavia, who proceeds to use it to make Weenog jealous:   After that, the party goes to the local tavern to chat with the barmaids for information:   Lysan doesn't like trees of unusual size, while Amelia is actually helpful:    Not one to ignore an obvious quest hook, Brianna thoroughly searches the Evening Shade inn and finds evidence of foul play.  We confront Aldwin with Eidan's analphabetism and the ring. In the end, it turns out that Aldwin just found Eidan dead in the inn when he arrived one night. And decided to settle down, so he forged the will and took over. We convince him to come clean to the village elders and rent a room to finally get some rest.  One last thing to do in Kuldahar for now is to visit the local temple, which as it turns out is currently without a leader as both the regular head priestess, Mother Egenia, and the visiting Revered Brother Poquelin aren't present. The temple still offers the regular services, at least. And with that, we're finally ready to move out. Next up, the Vale of Shadows. e: super late edit but JustJeff88 posted:An absolutely wizard character in IWD2 is Rogue (1)/Bard (everything else). I always make him a male Drow in homage to a former tablemate, but the combo is important, not the race. By wizard I mean great, not that he's an actual wizard... but he sort of is, being a bard, but not really. And IWD2 is the game to play an all caster party in to me. Tanky Cleric, utility Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Bard, Wizard (with one of the last two starting out with one level of Rogue). If you don't hate that level of micromanagement it's a lot of fun. It's a shame the IWD2 source code can't be found anywhere. When it's at its strongest it has some of the best encounter design of the IE games but it could really benefit from an Enhanced Editiion. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 11:24 on Feb 28, 2019 |
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Feb 28, 2019 09:15
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The IWD playthrough is interesting so far, I've owned IWD:EE for a while but I've not played it yet for whatever reason. I need to get around to it sometime. Anyway, here's an update. Celeste the solo Blade has finished everything available to a solo run in SoA, that isn't the main quest.* *Except Watcher's Keep, I always save that for ToB.   First things first, the Liches guarding Kangaxx's bones. Thanks to Whirlwind Attack, they died immediately to the Mace of Disruption. If that fails, I just resort to leaving the room repeatedly to run them out of spells, like in Spellhold.  While she was in the sewers, Celeste dropped in on some Mind Flayers. I'm not sure whether to be annoyed at this blatant gimmick infringement or not, although it did remind me to redo Celeste's sequencers.  A Tenser's buffed Alhoon should be quite dangerous, however the fight was no trouble at all. I think the sudden inability to cast spells broke its AI, and it just started walking around aimlessly.  The City Gates Lich died immediately, fortunately for me. SCS blocks the exit, and I can't imagine surviving both a Lich and a Planetar (Not to mention assorted devils from Gate etc) in such a confined space.  Kangaxx's Lich form was dealt with shortly after I used the door cheese to run him out of his many conjuration spells, he's immune to the death effect of the mace for obvious reasons.  The Demilich isn't though. True power indeed.   After preparing my anti-dragon sequencers, (2x Lower Resist + Malison in the trigger, 2 sequencers filled with Acid Arrow) and fully buffing, the Shadow Dragon was an easy kill.   Firkraag lasted a little longer, mainly because I missed his Spell Deflection and lost some Acid Arrows to it. He wasn't difficult to kill though.  Horrid Wilting is awesome.  Adalon also casts Spell Deflection, unfortunately for her I learned from my previous error and dispelled it first.  Moving onto the beholder hive. I had to leave and return about halfway through to rest and restore spells, but I got through it eventually. The 1st order of business was to kill everything that can see through invisibility, starting with this trio of Mind Flayers. I did not plan on the 2 Death Tyrants getting involved, but this was the worst it got. SCS changes this place a little bit, adding a Hive Mother and a few extra beholders I think.  After inadvertently luring a group of beholders away from the large group in the centre of the hive, the next task was dealing with the Hive Mother, which is the only other thing that can see through invisibility. After luring it away from the centre while invisible, it died after a long, but relatively safe fight by usual beholder standards.  Now that Celeste had the run of the place, and more importantly the luxury of fighting on her terms, it was fairly simple to kill the rest of the hive a few at a time, then escape while invisible. After a few repeats of this strategy, every beholder was dead.   The mind flayer city was very easy in comparison, they're very spread out in small groups. Between the Greenstone Amulet and PFMW, they couldn't do a thing to Celeste.  I don't know why this pathetic group of enemies in the North Forest has a scroll of Time Stop, but I need it, so they had to die.    The Twisted Rune was a walkover. I'm not sure why the beholder didn't use Anti-Magic Ray at any point, but I'm definitely not complaining. 4 Cloudkills dealt with Layene easily.  I don't think I'll use the Human Flesh armour much, but you never know. +4 to saves and 20% MR is massive.  With Sion unable to cast his high level magic under Cloudkills, the rest of the Guarded Compound were thrashed easily. Sion himself died shortly afterward. Next up is Bodhi, and Chapter 7. biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Feb 28, 2019 |
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Feb 28, 2019 20:11
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Nice, Celeste is doing work. A question out of curiosity, I know nothing about SCS, how are you casting horrid wilting with a blade? Scrolls?
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Feb 28, 2019 20:44
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I'm using Rogue Rebalancing, one of the components gives Bards more spells per day, and lets them use up to level 8 spells. Celeste has 7 spells at levels 1-6, 6 at level 7 and 2 at level 8. I'm limited to what few level 9 scrolls I find or buy, though. I can also use the scribe scrolls HLA to get more scrolls, with RR its a lot more powerful. I can get a scroll of any memorised spell of levels 1-8, but it costs gold (Increases by spell level, as low as 50 gold for level 1, while level 8 is 2,500 gold per scroll for example) every time I use it.
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Feb 28, 2019 22:03
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biscuits and crazy posted:Rogue Rebalancing
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Mar 1, 2019 01:18
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Wizard Styles posted:It's a shame the IWD2 source code can't be found anywhere. When it's at its strongest it has some of the best encounter design of the IE games but it could really benefit from an Enhanced Editiion.
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Mar 1, 2019 10:46
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Wizard Styles posted:Did you install the Chosen of Cyric encounter? Yeah, I did. Since I'm playing as a rogue, some of the equipment should be useful if I win so I'm going to attempt fighting it. I think I've got a workable strategy for it, anyway.
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Mar 1, 2019 11:44
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Cordelia the Blade and her party of novice heroes continue adventuring in the Icewind Dale. The first common enemy type in the Vale of Shadows are Yetis, which occur in such small groups that they amount to free XP.  This is the large Yeti that we got a quest to kill and retrieve a family heirloom from. He also drops a +1 weapon, which kind it is again being decided randomly. Nobody in the party uses Short Swords, unfortunately.  The only tough Yeti fight awaits in the cave behind the Yeti Chieftain we just dispatched fairly unceremoniously. We find a Mace +1 for Cordelia here. Lucky, since this was again random loot.  It's especially nice because there are a few crypts we need to visit that are largely populated by uncooperative skeletons that her arrows wouldn't do too much against.  Of course, sending a low level Blade into melee is not without its risks, and the game gently reminds me that Bards can't wear helmets and don't have the most impressive saves as Cordelia eats a max damage crit from a Ghast that holds her in place for the next minute. Luckily, Bertram instantly responds with an equally devastating crit.  The smaller crypts in the Vale of Shadows hide a few keys needed for the main dungeon of the area as well as some other assorted random treasure, some of which can be +1 weaponry. I also find two Potions of Genius in total, so at some point Cordelia finally sits down and learns all the spells we have picked up.  I keep mentioning +1 weapons because there are a couple of enemies in the Vale of Shadows that are immune to normal weapons, including, unsurprisingly, Shadows. And for whatever reason, the smithy in Kuldahar specializes in overpriced +3 weapons that cost about twenty times as much gold as the party currently has. If you're unlucky it's entirely possible that you never see a +1 weapon any of your characters are proficient in before running into enemies that can only be hit by them. I at least get that Mace +1 before I run into the first Shadow. And I have a couple of spellcasters that don't care about weapon immunity, of course. One spell in particular bears mentioning here because it's in the running for overall worst spell in Baldur's Gate but really helpful here:  For reference, the BG version just does 1d4 damage, making it a lovely Magic Missile that doesn't scale.  Anyway, time for the main dungeon. At first, it confronts the party with mostly same enemies already encountered in the smaller crypts, which means Skeleton varieties, Lesser and regular Shadows, Ghouls and Ghasts. Later on, it adds tougher and tougher Undead.   Also this guy who sadly can't be reasoned with.  I start memorizing Remove Paralysis after this fight because the game does like Hold and Stun effects a lot, which got Bertram into some trouble. Luckily for him he has a silly amount of HP and Sneak Attack does a lot of damage even when half of it is resisted. Brianna just found a Longsword +1 as well and has enough HP now to get into melee more often, so I'm gradually moving her away from sling duty. Also, you may notice that one of the two spirits the Shamanic Dance summoned is just standing around doing nothing. This is something I've noticed with Arnaldo as well. The spirits have a limited radius of action (which may be the Shaman's sight range), so this behavior is partially intentional. But sometimes they glitch out and just stand around or run back and forth next to an enemy without attacking. So apart from not being great summons in the first place they sometimes just don't do anything.   I'm springing a trap for the loot and Bertram fails another save. In the end, this fight costs him half his HP and the party a lot of spells but we do find a Haste scroll here.  I gently caress up and this time it's Bertram bailing everyone out instead of everyone bailing out Bertram. (Although Galene is also woken up by a Skeleton stabbing her a few seconds after this screenshot is taken and lends spell support.) What happened here is that I remembered that the Skeleton Mage has a Stinking Cloud, so I baited that out and then let the duration run out while hanging back and picking off a few enemies that came into view. Then I rushed everyone forward to quickly get rid of the Mage. Then I found out that I didn't remember the Mage also has a Color Spray, which sent everyone to sleep. Another note about random loot here: the sarcophagus here can contain a shield granting +20% Slashing Resistance, which would have been hilarious on Bertram. Sadly, we only find a lovely Warhammer that's not even enchanted. There are more shields like that in IWD, though, and one day Bertram will have one.  As we get deeper into the dungeon, Mummies and Wights (including Imbued Wights that shoot Magic Missiles before going for melee) become fairly common enemies. The Wights here only drain Luck instead of levels, at least, and at this point Cordelia, Brianna and Bertram all have a +1 weapon to deal with them.  Finally, we meet the man this tomb was built for, Kresselack the Black Wolf. His backstory:  And what he has to say about Kuldahar's problems:   We find the Aurilite in the Yeti cave. It's one of the barmaids from Kuldahar and she really doesn't like that tree:   The fight is easy as long as you keep interrupting Lysan's spells. I decide to go for a bit of flair here and send Cordelia in to thaw the priestess of the frost goddess with Burning Hands while tanking her Yetis.  Maybe if Lysan had called those Shadows in for support as well she could have been a challenge. Well, job done.  Oh Kresselack, you scamp. Next up, we return to Kuldahar to report that we found a ghost who didn't do nothing. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 07:55 on Mar 2, 2019 |
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Mar 1, 2019 18:24
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anilEhilated posted:It seems to have happened with all the good PC renditions of 3E DnD; Neverwinter Nights 2 is nowhere to be found, IWD2 is lost to the ages, and all we get is the godawful NWN1 and I guess… Temple of Elemental Evil? biscuits and crazy posted:Yeah, I did. Since I'm playing as a rogue, some of the equipment should be useful if I win so I'm going to attempt fighting it. I think I've got a workable strategy for it, anyway. I never managed to beat them without multiple losses. Also, just in case anyone cares, I managed to fix the bug with Priests of Tempus. As mentioned before, the should get Holy Power as an ability, but don't and can instead cast it as a level 1 spell. The whole problem is that the relevant spell/ability is flagged as a Priest spell instead of an Innate ability, so fixing the bug requires nothing but changing that: 
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Mar 1, 2019 18:31
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Wizard Styles posted:Wait, was there a NWN2EE planned at some point?
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Mar 1, 2019 22:15
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Wizard Styles posted:Well, good luck. Thanks, I beat them a little earlier. I slightly over prepared if anything, but better safe than sorry I suppose. Celeste the solo Blade has killed Bodhi and the Chosen of Cyric and reached Suldanessalar.  Improved Bodhi didn't install for some reason, so I had to make do with the vanilla version. As you might expect, she was a complete pushover at this point. Knowing that the Chosen of Cyric fight was next, I adapted a successful full party strategy I've used before and prepared the following contingency, sequencers and scrolls: - Contingency; Improved Haste, cast upon seeing an enemy. Minor Sequencer; 2x Blindness, to be used on the barbarian. He saved against both, as it happens. Spell Sequencer; 3x Remove Magic, aimed to hit at least both of the mages, I think I hit everyone though. Spell Trigger; True Sight, Immunity:Abjuration and Spell Shield, to dispel illusions and block Breach. Scrolls; 5 each of Improved Mantle (Buffed by SCS to protect against +4 weapons or less), PFMW, and Power Words:Stun and Blind. The group consists of a dual-wielding barbarian, a cleric who mainly provides support for his allies, a halfling with a bow and arrows of dispelling, a sorceress, a fighter/mage/thief with a wand of spell striking, and the assassin Venduris. Both the sorceress and the f/m/t have less than 90 HP and are vulnerable to PW:Stun. Immediately after leaving the Graveyard, you are taken to the City Gates, treated to a short cutscene, and then confronted by the group. You can talk your way past them, but I chose to fight them. I wanted a few bits of their gear, to upgrade Celeste's equipment a little bit.  Immediately after combat began, I cast Improved Mantle, then used the Spell Trigger, and finally the Spell Sequencer as soon as I was able. The sorceress was stunned by Celestial Fury and killed immediately, then the halfling suffered the same fate shortly afterwards.  The f/m/t was then hit by PW:Stun so I could kill the cleric more easily. After easily killing the cleric and blinding the barbarian with a PW:Blind, I quickly killed the f/m/t and focused on dealing with Venduris.  While his x7 backstabs are brutal, with Improved Mantle up (He will switch to a normal weapon if you use PFMW) and with no mage support he is completely ineffective and he died shortly after being stunned. He's the only enemy with a +4 weapon here, so I switched to using PFMW for the barbarian.  Alone, the barbarian is not much of a threat as long as you have PFMW up, or he's blinded. It took a long time to kill him though, he has a lot of HP, a decent amount of damage resistance and plenty of extra healing potions. Still, it was just delaying the inevitable at this point. Next up is Chapter 7. biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Mar 2, 2019 |
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Mar 2, 2019 01:55
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The Assassin and Barbarian have always managed to gang up and kill someone when I fought these guys. If I remember correctly at least one of the Barbarian's weapons has a Hold effect that doesn't allow a save, so that's a little annoying. I kinda wanted to install them for Arnaldo's run anyway but ultimately I think Arnaldo himself would be the weakest link here; I don't know how I'd protect a Shaman from everything that's going on in this fight. There's the Spirit Form HLA but everything else has a fairly long casting time.
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Mar 2, 2019 08:25
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