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Time to continue the Shaman experiment and find out what Arnaldo can do in Baldur's Gate 2. I think that's a bit optimistic but I guess we'll see. Before going through the few interesting bits in Chateau Irenicus, here's a list of mods I've installed at least a few components of: Quest mods adding to or altering existing content: Ascension, Ding0's Quest Pack, Unfinished Business, Adalon's Blood. Additional quests: Innershade, Tower of Deception, Back to Brynnlaw, The White Queen, Will of the Wisp. I'll be going into the last three blind. Will of the Wisp is the most relevant to Arnaldo's interests because it adds the Shaman stronghold. Rule changes and tweaks: IWDification, G3 Tweak Anthology, DiffTweak, aTweaks. And Sword Coast Stratagems.  Despite my reservations about the Shaman's potential, Jaheira makes a strong case for the Druid spell list as her Fire Elemental chunks every Goblin it comes across. After killing the two Lesser Clay Golems, which can't touch it. Neither can the Otyugh, for that matter.  The Mephits benefit from an aTweaks component that makes them slightly tougher and allows them to attempt to gate in more of their kind. Overall, Mephits are the toughest enemies we encounter in Chateau Irenicus with one exception.  It's the Cambion, who likewise benefits from aTweaks giving him a bunch of extra abilities. He can Dimension Door and also knows Invisibility, Mirror Image, Haste and Slow. Quite possibly some other stuff I didn't get to see. Minsc actually needed to drink an extra healing potion here, and the fight used up a bunch of our spells.   Good work Jaheira, I do appreciate the overkill. I may have to let Arnaldo learn that as his last level 4 spell eventually; uncapped damage is always nice.  Besides modded Mephits and Fiends, there's nothing else in Chateau Irenicus that's particularly interesting, so here we are after our escape.  We are immediately approached by a gentleman treating us to some restored content. As Jaheira says we go to the slums right after selling off the meager loot we got so far.  And just like that, Arnaldo has become a dancer for money. (It's actually quite possible that he's never gonna dance again.) (Because the Shamanic Dance is not very good, you see.)
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Mar 2, 2019 13:33
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Also, short Icewind Dale update. We return to Kuldahar somewhat less than triumphant.  Before we leave to retrieve the Heartstone Gem, there are a few things to take care of in town.  We found some Gnomish tools in the Yeti cave that the local alchemist/mad scientist trades us a few potions for. This is some content the Enhanced Edition has restored; there's nothing more to it. We also return Mirek's family heirloom that the Yeti Chieftain dropped and get a Sling +1 for our troubles. Then it's time to give all the money we earned so far to Conlan, the local blacksmith. We leave his place with 2 gold pieces left in our pockets but there's something Brianna, our Fighter/Thief that's slowly turning into a melee character, really wants:  She'll never take that thing off again. It can only be worn by Halflings and Gnomes, so our Dwarven Defender Bertram can't use it, and for the time being Brianna can tank at least as well as him. With our business in Kuldahar done, we're off to look for that cult in the mountains.   We're not the first recent visitors.  The cultists prove to be just as uncooperative as the undead guardians in the Vale of Shadows. To be fair, as we search/pillage the temple we find almost half of its inhabitants already dead, so he at least has a reason to be wary.  There's not that much to say about the place; it's a small dungeon. The only two enemy types inside are Acolytes and Verbeeg. The Acolytes are support casters that like to cast Entangle (which Verbeeg are immune to) and Hold Person. Verbeeg are what you'd expect: they don't have the best AC but a fair amount of HP and they hit hard, usually for at least 10 damage. Flavia the Sorceress learned Ray of Enfeeblement as one of her level 2 spells, and it definitely helps here (the other level 2 spell she knows is Web, which Verbeeg are also immune to). Still, Bertram goes through a bunch of healing potions here. In terms of loot, it's possible to find an amulet that casts Emotion: Courage - a great arcane level 4 buff spell - once per day here, but unfortunately we don't.  Well, saw that coming. Apart from dead guardians, there's a dead priest of Talona in this chamber, Talona being the goddess of poison.  Just in case you're wondering what happens if you drink this mysterious liquid you find on the priest, it deals 10 poison damage per second for about a minute. We return to Kuldahar somewhat less than triumphant again and tell Arundel that we're 0 for 2:  Next up, Dragon's Eye.
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Mar 2, 2019 13:37
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biscuits and crazy posted: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. Interesting, I missed that mod. With access to level 8 spells you can do a lot of shenanigans. I imagine you know this already, but unless SCS has changed something in the base game engine, if you are hurting for scrolls, you can do a lot of cheese with the illusion system, having up two simulacrums using quickslot items can really be a boon for a solo caster, including wish resting. Great job on the Chosen of Cyric encounter, seems to be a pretty tough battle. Wizard Styles posted:Time to continue the Shaman experiment and find out what Arnaldo can do in Baldur's Gate 2. You are also using Ascension? Dang, you crazy man, I wish you luck. Both of you are doing great, keep up the great work! My update is not nearly as exciting. Let’s get down to business  Plowing through the bandit camp, although Imoen appears to be a magnet for danger.  The fight with the goons in Tazok’s tent is easy and clean.  After this, I have acquired enough loot to finally recharge the wand of monster summoning, hereby I declare this game already won (famous final words, you smartass). Next stop, Cloakwood forest, god I hate this place.  Of course, I step into a web trap just when giant spiders attack. Dorn bites the dust almost immediately to poison.  Somehow I also managed to aggro another group of enemies in the middle of the fight.  Welp, at least BigMac is alright. The biggest problem is carry all that heavy equipment back to a temple and resurrect everyone. Also, thanks to this glorious mess, I’m pretty much bankrupt.  The hammadryad flanks the group instead of coming from the front, luckily she just charms Dorn, instead of BigMac, so Edwin just dire charms him back to his senses.  The encounter with the super goons outside the mines goes smoothly, just swarm them with minions and bombard them with magic artillery remains a viable strategy.  Remember kiddos, never rest outside the first floor of the mines or you will be ganked by huge groups of teleporting thugs. For Davaeorn, my idea was to sent someone alone protected by a magic blocking potion to exhaust the worst of his spells, it worked well, at first.  Somehow that ricocheting lightning bolt failed to hit anyone, better lucky than good.  I forgot to take into account the duration of the potion, so Dorn gets hold and killed by Savaeorn minions. Oh well, whatever, I kill everyone else fairly quickly after that.  On my way to Baldur’s Gate I do a pit stop and cleared the final battle of Dorn’s quest, pretty easy, and you get some phat loot. I’ve been fairly content with Dorn, his tendency to die like a bitch aside. He’s an invaluable pack mule and has some amusing interactions with the rest of the evil crew. Once I got to Baldur’s Gate, I decided to evaluate my financial situation. I’m fairly poor, but I have accumulated a ton of loot, and I have some rather valuable items, so it’s time to get filthy rich. BigMac loves money, that’s why he’s evil. How do you get incredibly rich I buy eight potions of master thievery and go to Nashkel. Imoen chugs four of them, increasing her pickpocket skill above 200 points. Then I sell all my weapons, armor and accessories to the vendor and then steal them back. After getting everything back, I travel to Gurlag’s tower and sell to the merchant there everything that I do not want, as he’s a fencer. This scheme gets BigMac around 90k gold, a fair amount to set me right for the rest of the game, even after doing some purchases here and there. A rich dwarf is a happy dwarf. I do some quests here and there, but let’s focus on the main quest.  The ogre mage battle does not go as well as I thought, I’m too slow and he gets to confuse my group before I kill him. Luckily, Edwin and Viconia are unaffected by the spell and clear the room of enemies. Everyone recovers and no one dies, still a pretty sloppy battle.  The Iron Throne headquarters battle cleared easily.  Ouch, I forgot that if you speak with Elthan you get teleported to Candlekeep without any alternative option. I wanted to delay the main quest for a bit. BigMac, the dwarven defender returns to Candlekeep
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Mar 2, 2019 18:37
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Wizard Styles posted:The Assassin and Barbarian have always managed to gang up and kill someone when I fought these guys. Yeah, the axe has a 10% per hit to stun for 1 round with no save. I think that works out to be roughly equivalent to Celestial Fury on average, so its really strong. Good luck with Ascension, I didn't know it was EE compatible. I don't have much experience with it myself, I've only used it once and that was years ago. I never actually beat the final battle, the bug with Yaga Shura being literally unkillable made sure of that. Angry Lobster posted:Interesting, I missed that mod. With access to level 8 spells you can do a lot of shenanigans. I imagine you know this already, but unless SCS has changed something in the base game engine, if you are hurting for scrolls, you can do a lot of cheese with the illusion system, having up two simulacrums using quickslot items can really be a boon for a solo caster, including wish resting. SCS has a component that prevents project images/simulacrums from using quick items, which I have installed. Its a big thing to miss, but that nerf applies to enemies too so its not all bad.
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Mar 2, 2019 23:42
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Barnabus was lost to a severe case of Oof! I don't remember my past Barbarians being so squishy buy maybe I was playing too reckless. Anyway, I've been trying to run a Jester since the first Ironman thread I saw, an even if they are no longer able to Invisible-sing I might as well try for a change of pace: Johann Sebastian Mastropiero is actually the reincarnation of a previous self that had way lower rolls but taught me a thing or two (I hope):  Even with the initial +2 penalty of the Jester Song I can't imagine these two guys having very high saves:  And it seems neither do Ogres:  My initial plan, being genuinely scared of Tarnesh, was to detour to Beregost, pick up Kivan and buy a couple of scrolls, including the lone Power Word: Sleep just for the novelty since I thought this might be the only time I could use it. Tarnesh eats it but apparently, unlike the regular Sleep, any damage dealt will wake the target...  Leading to Johann Sebastian Mastropiero running like a chicken as soon as Tarnesh starts casting because this time I forgot to buy Resist Fear:  Anyway, selling Evermemory gives me plenty of funds for raising (and I'm gonna need every last coin since I plan to buy Kazgaroth's Claw ASAP). We pick up Khalid and Jaheira, and buy them nice suits of armor because we're going to dig for Ankhegs. I don't trust Sleep as much as Command for this endeavour and I only have 3 casts (1 memorized and 2 scrolls, one of them randomly dropped) so the goal is to make it as far as to pick up the Wand of Fire, wich we do with mild success:  And it was well worth it:  This time I remember to pickpocket the thugs for their potions before talking to them, but forget to turn the AI off in case they turn hostile. I fail one of the pickpockets, Kivan snipes the poor sod and Garrick thinks we suck (no rep loss though):  I've been learning to love the Agannazar version of the wand since reading about it on this thread (or the IE one?) which is a godsend against Bassilus and his pesky skeletons. Having made enough cash to buy Kazgaroth's Claw we make the trip to the coast to stealth-grab the CON tome:  Jaheira starts getting antsy so we hurry to deliver a few quests before running to Nashkel. For the second time in a row Melicamp lives!  Then I remember I had one of those Ankheg shells made into an armor and have to wait for a bit so we get to loiter around the coast some more and confuse a bug or two:  Sorry about that everyone:  Luckily there is that nice Surgeon guy to patch us up and... what is with you and lightning, Jaheira?  And with a new suit of armor for Khalid and the rest of the party funds spent on healing potions, Johann Sebastian Mastropiero is now running his rear end off to Nashkel. Ulvino fucked around with this message at 07:15 on Mar 3, 2019 |
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Mar 3, 2019 06:49
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Celeste the solo Blade has killed Jon Irenicus and completed BG2. Straight into Chapter 7 after the Chosen of Cyric, not like there's much else to do.  For lack of a better option, I had to fight the adamantite golems in melee combat. Unexpectedly, they can be stunned by Celestial Fury so this was a little easier than I expected.  Demin is a bit daft, and doesn't move out of Cloudkills cast by the Rakshasha. Luckily, Teleport Field moved her out of the AoE (And out of the Teleport Field itself somehow, that spell is loving wierd), so she survived quite easily.  After clearing the rest of the city, and a quick rest, it was time to deal with the black dragon. Its immune to acid, so the acid arrow sequencers were swapped for 2x Magic Missile, and 3x Flame Arrow. The triple Flame Arrows were particularly effective, there's a reason Weimer gave it to literally every mage in Tactics, after all. With an Immunity:Conjuration to block its Creeping Doom and Insect Plague, the dragon was a fairly simple fight.   I decided to fight the temple guards, rather than just having Rillifane smash their poo poo in. They were little trouble with Suneer under a few Cloudkills, and died quickly.  Who else would it be, you whiny little prick?  Weirdly, despite being immune to poison damage Irenicus lost all of his most dangerous spells, and died shortly after running out of Stoneskins.  Moving onto Hell, Quest Pack changes the 5 tests to introduce "neutral" choices, in addition to the usual ones. I went with the good rewards for Greed and Pride (+2 to saves and 20% fire/cold/electric resistance), and neutral for the others. (+2 dex, +2 int, and 30% slashing damage resistance)  After getting the rewards, it was time for the final battle. Slayer Irenicus's big weakness is his inability to see through invisibility, so the plan was to separate him from his demons, and kill them first.  The aTweaks AI was kind enough to do that for me fairly quickly after the first of the Slayer's 2 Time Stops wore off, so that was nice. The Balors were the absolute priority, since they have vorpal attacks.  After a little while, the Slayer finally caught up, and I had to move to a different area to finish the last couple of demons off.  Without support, the Slayer did not last long and Irenicus was finally killed for good.   Here's the final stats for SoA, and the inventory to confirm Legendary Arms. Honours earned: Ironwoman, Tactician, Double Damage, Honourable Trader, Gaxkang's a Wuss, Legendary Arms, A God Among Men. Next up is the start of ToB, up to Gromnir. Hah! Good fun. biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Mar 4, 2019 |
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Mar 4, 2019 20:01
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biscuits and crazy posted:Celeste the solo Blade has killed Jon Irenicus and completed BG2. Congrats! I'm thinking of jumping back into the fray but am wavering between concepts. Started a Wizard Slayer but I'm not really feeling it.
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Mar 4, 2019 21:49
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Congrats biscuits and crazy!Angry Lobster posted:You are also using Ascension? Dang, you crazy man, I wish you luck. quote:Once I got to Baldur’s Gate, I decided to evaluate my financial situation. I’m fairly poor, but I have accumulated a ton of loot, and I have some rather valuable items, so it’s time to get filthy rich. Am I really the only one that compulsively buys every potion or enchanted arrow in the game? Ulvino posted:Barnabus was lost to a severe case of Oof! I don't remember my past Barbarians being so squishy buy maybe I was playing too reckless. I'm looking forward to your Jester run, it's a kit I've never really done anything with. I was considering it for the IWD party but there are so many undead enemies in that game that are immune to the Jester song.
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Mar 5, 2019 00:23
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Arnaldo the Shaman has gathered a party. Minsc picks a fight with some idiots in the Copper Coronet and Nalia calmly walks over and starts stabbing people. I wasn't really planning to recruit her but anybody willing to kill for a random stranger deserves a chance. I came here for Korgan, so we pick him up as well. Later I'll come back for Anomen, too. At the time I wasn't sure if I really wanted a Cleric in addition to Jaheira and Arnaldo. I'm still not entirely certain.  Sure, Korgan, let's party with some Ogres.  I'll take 3,500 XP for killing a defenseless merchant.  A flawless victory for Shank.  Unfinished Business turns this into a potential quest but Arnaldo cares not for these spiders.  After all, insects are obviously superior to arachnids.  Korgan's quest is easy thanks to Fire Elementals.  We're getting some pretty amazing scroll drops, leaving the graveyard with two copies of Power Word, Stun and one of Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting among other things. At this point I want to recruit Neera but decide to do some short quests to get Arnaldo to 750,000 XP so she joins at a higher level. We end up taking care of the slavers, the circus, Wellyn's teddy bear, and Xzar:  Some more Unfinished Business stuff that I have so far forgotten to actually follow up on.  Ding0's Quest Pack lets you betray Xzar (which Arnaldo does), but also double-cross the Harpers later (which he doesn't).  Neera joins, Minsc leaves, and apart from some people that will come in for their quests that is probably going to be the line-up I go with until we free Imoen. Anyway, our sidequesting ventures so far have left us with enough money to pay Gaelan Bayle, so we do just that when we return to Athkatla.  Please, Anomen, the Amulet of Power is worth 15k alone. But if you don't want it I'm sure Jaheira will appreciate it. The real reason I paid the Shadow Thieves this early is the Ring of Lock Picks you can get from one of them, though. I'm fine with casting Knock sometimes but Nalia's 60 Lock Picking was getting annoying.  This is what a lot of fights look like since Arnaldo unlocked level 6 spells. Also, I'm happy I got the Thief before he ran here.  It's the color of Half-Orc skin and therefore Arnaldo's glorious visage, you dense ginger gently caress.  So yeah, Jaheira's and Anomen's quests pop up, ending with dead Harpers and Anomen banished from his father's home, and then it's time to tackle some of the big quests at last.  Acid Fog is an underrated spell. The de'Arnise Keep in general isn't as hard as I expected it to be. Partially that's definitely because the party is already around 800,000 XP, but there are some Troll packs and Yuan-Ti Mages I expect to see that just aren't there. At some point in the past I must have installed at least one mod adding enemies to the place in addition to the SCS component I've also used this time.  Improved TorGal is fairly challenging as he keeps making his saves early on. I have to retreat both Korgan and Anomen at various points. In the end it's the humble Sunscorch that has been with Arnaldo since he started his adventures that manages to blind TorGal. Unfortunately, Arnaldo obviously isn't eligible to take over the Keep, so there's nothing else to be done here than take everything that isn't nailed down so the Roenalls don't get it.   I think we didn't get all the Trolls. Next up, Arnaldo and his party run really fast in an Imnesvale-wards direction.
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Mar 5, 2019 00:24
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What level is Celeste the solo Blade at the end of BG2? I don't think that that was in the screenshots.
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Mar 5, 2019 01:08
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40, she's been at the XP cap since Spellhold.
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Mar 5, 2019 01:26
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OP updated to here! Congratulations on Celeste's solo victory, biscuits! Hopefully she can go all the way, but there's no shame in getting a party to deal with Throne of Bhaal's final fight. We got some new faces too, and the Icewind Dale party keeps on rocking!
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Mar 5, 2019 03:00
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biscuits and crazy posted:40, she's been at the XP cap since Spellhold. Thanks - I remembered the cap experience number for BG2 but not the table for rogues. If I had had to guess, I would have said 36ish. I'm always a little surprised by people keeping the cap in place. I always remove it and assume that everyone else does the same. I've never worried about being overpowered as a result, but then again I don't do solo runs.
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Mar 5, 2019 03:56
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biscuits and crazy posted:SCS has a component that prevents project images/simulacrums from using quick items, which I have installed. Its a big thing to miss, but that nerf applies to enemies too so its not all bad. Dang, I suppose it was to be expected. Also, congratulations on winning Bg2. Wizard Styles posted:90k for the rest of the game? I got a ton of money after completing the main quest and Durlag's tower, my biggest expense really was recharging wands. I got some special arrows and potions here and there but almost never used them. Let’s continue the tale of BigMac.  Candlekeep crypts cleared without much trouble, except for a friendly fire incident as shown in the picture, not that I needed that reputation anyway. Before returning to Baldur’s Gate, I decide to do the ice maze.   Stupid ankhegs.  Iron Throne redux.  The ducal palace fight could have gone very bad fast, luckily only Imoen died. After completing most of the main quest, I decide to let Sarevok rot in the Undercity while I do some more questing to get closer to the level cap. In one of the inns of the city (Helm and the Cloack, I think?) I get into a fight with a group of adventurers and it went south really fast.  Dorn gets hold and killed. I’m starting to notice a trend here. After a while, I decided it’s time to go to Durlag’s tower and vacuum all that sweet sweet xp.   Was a fairly smooth ride during most of the way, except for the second to last level where Imoen died to the infinite fire trap due to messing up the timing, and Dorn died again in the fight with the skeletons and the stinking cloud traps (forgot about taking screenshots). Recovering the bodies and going back to resurrect them were a giant pain in the rear end.  The fight against the demon knight was anticlimactic, BigMac got stunned in the first few seconds of the fight and did nothing else, the rest of the group just pelted the knight with crap and distracted it with summons until it died.  I forgot about this fuckers.  The fight with Ulgoth’s bead demon was a mess. It went south almost immediately when half the party got held by the demon, Dorn and Imoen died shortly after (who else could it be?)  But then, Baeloth jammed his wand of paralyzation into the demon face and stunned him, rendering it defenseless. Baeloth is the loving main man of this run. Let’s skip to the Final boss This fight was a colossal mess. I was in a hurry and got too lazy.  It begun with me screwing up badly and pulling the entire group of baddies. Angelo got there and did what Angelo does best, firing exploding arrows like a machinegun and causing mayhem. Semaj, being the giant rear end in a top hat that he is, teleported in and dispelled buffs, and casted chaos with leisure. BigMac got hit by the chaos spell and gets confused, crap.  Things go even worse, because Dorn dies, again, when focused by Sarevok and Angelo. At least BigMac focuses Sarevok and pummels him hard while confused. But then a miracle happened again, Baeloth, being the swag drow that he is, hits Sarevok with his big, stiff, wand of paralyzation and makes him stare in awe at his sorcerer might.  Sarevok is nearly dead and defenseless, but so is BigMac, and Tazok gets close to BigMac with the intention to peacefully culturally enrich him with his sword. It all boils down to a race of who can kill who first.  I win, by a hair’s breadth. Also, notice stupid Imoen in the right side triggering a battle horror trap while confused and getting pummeled. The true MVP of this run was, without a doubt, Baeloth, what a champ. BigMac, the dwarven defeats Sarevok Honours: Ironling, Purist, Trap Dodger.
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Mar 5, 2019 10:32
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And with all the insipiring success stories on this thread... Johann Sebastian Mastropiero continues his Grand Tour across the Sword Coast! I will try to be more careful with that wand but sometimes being careless means you get half dead bandits right away:  We helped Minsc because, why not? I still think rescuing Dynaheir should give more than just a blurb in the journal but at least we get some nice loot along the way. Then it's time to solve the problem in the mines at I think level 6? Man, rogues level crazy fast. But first we visit this fantastic Carnival and rescue grateful Branwen because I think Chant will be useful to lower the saves of enemies. Not everyone is easily impressed with a silver tongue though:  I think Johann Sebastian Mastropiero has -10 AC against missiles right now but I'm still wary of arrows because when they hit it wil be a crit on his beautiful face. Speaking of arrows I noticed that apparently the Kobold Commando's arrows requiere a save vs. Breath Weapon, and not vs. Spell like the fire arrows they drop afterwards. Those crafty bastards...  Then we return to Nashkel and meet this delightful little feller. Enjoy your time out of the backpack while it lasts buddy:  Back in Beregost, Branwen demands satisfaction from Tranzig and Kivan starts asking "are we there yet?" on our way to the Bandit Camp:   : Then we're off to Spiderland, we meet some of Jaheira's friends:  And deal with some of her enemies. Now, I thought I remembered the Shadow Archdruid to be a pushover like all his brethren there, but he somehow got off an Insect Plague that gave me sweaty palms:  Being all stinged up we try to rest in that nice tree house but the game finds all kinds of excuses to say no:  We reach the dwarven mine and deal with the Iron Throne mercenaries. A confused Drasus ponders if he should just keep running over the bridge:  Davaeron is then humilliated by an elitist Gnoll:  Then we're off to the Big City, but first we make a detour to this perfectly normal fishing village to buy our first musical instrument, along a bunch of other stuff:  Finally at the Gate, we can start splurging on scrolls. We meet some more friends and deal with some more enemies:  I fail to pickpocket the scroll of Geas and, once again, get my rear end saved by the Cloak of Balduran:  Then we "help" Lothander get off his Boots of Speed, with a surprise MVP here:  gently caress yeah Pseudo Dragon! Now you are definitely getting that apple, little guy. Johann Sebastian Mastropiero is asking why is there not an Apple Store in this city? 
Ulvino fucked around with this message at 10:35 on Mar 5, 2019 |
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Mar 5, 2019 10:32
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Angry Lobster posted:I got a ton of money after completing the main quest and Durlag's tower, my biggest expense really was recharging wands. I got some special arrows and potions here and there but almost never used them. And congrats on killing Sarevok. Looks like that d12 hit die did its job there.
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Mar 5, 2019 14:38
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OP updated to here! I requested a week-long probation from Fedule, our benevolent overlord mod, due to failing a Toxx in another LP I'm currently doing (and finishing very, very soon). Keep on updating your stories as you go, and when I return I'll be updating the OP with such pithy wit that it'll make bards everywhere blush! Oh, and give eulogies to the fallen. If there are any.
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Mar 6, 2019 09:22
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Arnaldo the Shaman has acquired a stronghold. After failing to rescue Nalia's father and ultimately running from a horde of Trolls out to avenge TorGal, Arnaldo takes a quest to help the small village of Imnesvale. This is where the Shaman stronghold mod kicks in, so here's a link to its thread over at the Beamdog forums for those interested: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/61754/mod-will-of-the-wisps-shamanic-enhancements It's also hosted at Spellhold Studios but I don't think there's any active discussion of it over there.  These Dark Treants are added by that mod and hit me unprepared. Apart from the essentially always-on Stoneskin/Ironskins and Protection from Evil I don't think I had any buffs up or summons active at the start of the fight and ended up pulling 4 or 5 Treants. I checked their file after the fight and they have 99 HP, 50% physical resistance, a bunch of immunities, 18/00 Strength, the works. Probably most comparable to Golems. Luckily they have no magic support or this could have been bad.  I learn that Shadow Fiends can cast Horror now thanks to aTweaks. As bad as this may look, the only real danger here is somebody having so much Strength drained that they can't move anymore and these Shadows just aren't that good at their job. So ultimately half the party running around panicking leads to nothing more than a slight delay. Nothing particularly noteworthy happens in the temple. We find this item, though, also added by the Will of the Wisps mod:  The Shade Lord goes down within seconds because I didn't install the SCS component making him tougher (since I wanted to get the Shaman stronghold early and easily). Its best move ends up being the forced time skip after the fight, because:  Jaheira's quest advances and we get jumped by Harpers with most of our buffs down. This fight is actually challenging in places and both Nalia and Anomen have some close calls. Luckily, Neera manages to get an instant Hold Person on their Cleric thanks to a lucky surge and Arnaldo's mastery of military entomology takes care of their Mage. I don't know how to get the Shaman stronghold at this point, only that you get it after defeating the Shade Lord, so after turning in the quest in Imnesvale we return to Athkatla for now. In part to get the Robe of Vecna for Neera and the 19 Strength belt for Jaheira, but also for a quest. Right now, Arnaldo has the Circlet of Lost Souls the Kobold Shaman in the Slum sewers drops and another item added by the Will of the Wisps mod:   He also has 20 Strength. He can actually do some decent damage, and it's time to get him a weapon to make the most of this. And that means it's time to use Nahal's Reckless Dweomer.  When Neera is done, we have a quest to retrieve a gong, the Glasses of Identification, Full Plate +2 for Jaheira and some gems.  While looking for the fence in the sewers we quickly take care of those guys. Their leader actually drops the Helmet of Dumathoin that got imported from SoD, so Korgan has 21 Constitution now, which is pretty alright.  It doesn't improve his mood but to be fair, our last experience with Trolls ended with us booking it and running is not something I'd expect Korgan to be fond of, much less running from a fight. I'm kinda just dicking around in the sewers afterwards, doing the early parts of the Unseeing Eye quest, when a Will-o'-wisp appears:  This mod gets wordy, by the way:  To paraphrase, with both the Amaunator followers and the Shade Lord gone we can restore a sanctuary for the spirits in the area of the ruined temple. But for that we must cleanse the place using the ashes of the last Shaman that protected the place. And those ashes were stolen. We find the thief in the inn in Imnesvale:  I can't tell if this is poking fun at RPG quest design in some way. Well, we've got the ashes, so we go to the wolf cave in the temple area, cleanse it, and magically transform it into another, prettier cave. As a reward we get a Naga hide that I assume Cromwell can do something with and...    Not usable by: Beast Master.  We move on to Trademeet to get that gong and take care of the quests there.  Even with SCS improvements Faldorn ultimately falls to IWDification's Moonblade blocking her spellcasting. Jaheira's Fire Elemental wins the second duel going on in there, by the way.  Finally, the recognition Arnaldo's 19 Charisma and his deeds deserve.  Nalia drank 4 or 5 Potions of Master Thievery earlier to steal the Efreeti Bottle from one the Dao before Arnaldo delivered Ihtafeer's head. The effects haven't worn off yet and this shop has some good items, so Honorable Trader is not an honor I'll earn this time around.   Almost as good as a statue. The first Shaman stronghold quest triggered when we entered the Wild Mage camp, but I'll show the entire Stronghold quest chain off in its own post when it's done.  Back in Athkatla, the next steps in Anomen's, Jaheira's and Nalia's quests trigger all at once. First, we go to the funeral of Nalia's father. Afterwards, Anomen is knighted and with the prospect of multiple Anomens running around now slightly more palatable, Arnaldo buys him Vhailor's Helm to celebrate the occasion. And then we finally return the gong:   Using the Boomerang Dagger, Arnaldo now has a THAC0 of 3, 2 attacks per round, and hits for 12-18 damage. Which I'd say is pretty good for a caster. Next up, adventuring in Athkatla. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Mar 7, 2019 |
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Mar 7, 2019 04:04
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Olive Branch posted:OP updated to here! Congratulations on Celeste's solo victory, biscuits! Hopefully she can go all the way, but there's no shame in getting a party to deal with Throne of Bhaal's final fight. We got some new faces too, and the Icewind Dale party keeps on rocking! Honestly, I don't think the final fight is the hardest one in ToB with SCS, though it's not exactly easy to solo. I'd say the hardest fight is Sendai, she's easily the toughest member of the Five with SCS. The SCS version of her Enclave isn't exactly a walkover, either. Of course, I have to get there first, which is easier said than done. Speaking of ToB, I have an update. Celeste the solo Blade has killed Illasera and Gromnir Il-Khan.  Not much to say about this, its the usual ToB start. There's an SCS component that moves the start to Watcher's Keep, but it doesn't work with the EE as of v.31.  I'm not sure how Illasera got a Planetar through multiple Cloudkills, but it made little difference in the end. After her death, I just had to run around for a little bit to wait for the plot to kick in.  It didn't take too long. This might be the first time the Solar has actually intervened and saved one of my characters from a fight they couldn't win, mind you.  You know, it occurred to me after I told Sarevok to jog on that I've never done a run where you just use Imoen and Sarevok. It seems like it would be an interesting challenge, particularly the bits where you have to run solo. Something to keep in mind for a future run.  It's expensive, but the Aslyferund Elven Chain is the best armour for a Blade. There isn't that much that uses +1 weapons in ToB, so it makes the normal/+1 weapon immunity from hell almost completely redundant.  I do wonder about this game sometimes. I am willing to put this down to poor play however, I may have had better results if I had staggered the Cloudkills a bit, rather than casting them asap every time. I was never in any danger of dying though, Planetars aren't around for that long (33 rounds I think, about 200 seconds) and Ultroloths don't actually do much of anything aside from cast Animate Dead a lot.  Friend? I don't believe you.  Maybe Gromnir's army would have a chance if they were equipped with weapons that could actually hurt his enemies? Who knows.  That'll shut him up.  Onto the main event, Gromnir could not be reasoned with and had to die.  Karun the Black was immediately hit with a PW:Stun and killed, removing any chance of HLAs ruining the run. (If the other mage has them, I never saw any.) After quickly cutting down the other warriors and the rogue, I used PW:Blind on Gromnir and dealt with the other mage. He didn't last too long.  Once he was alone, Gromnir was killed easily. He's supposed to use Vhailor's Helm, but he doesn't in SCS v.31. v.32 fixes this apparently, which should make the fight a little more interesting.   As nice as Vhailor's Helm is though, the real prize here is Roranach's Horn in my opinion. It can be an absolute life saver, particularly against golems and some elementals.  Cool, deal with an invincible giant. She doesn't do small tasks, does she? He can wait though, I think I've put Watcher's Keep off long enough. Next up is Watcher's Keep. biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Mar 15, 2019 |
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Mar 8, 2019 18:44
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Arnaldo the Shaman has learned to weaponize handsomeness while sidequesting in Athkatla. I put the Bridge District murders off long enough. Initially I just didn't want to do this fight because Rune Assassins can be problematic, then the party was out in the countryside. By now Arnaldo has a decent Detect Illusion score in addition to Anomen's True Sight and the Assassins have trouble hitting anyone, so the fight is no threat anymore.  These guys were never a threat, I just forgot about them.  Cowled Wizards are definitely still a threat, but manageable. They do like Chain Lightning Spell Triggers and Horrid Wilting, so Nalia and especially Neera tend to stay far away from these fights they cause in the first place.  The Neera romance continues after a productive day of Cowled Wizard murder.  We are rudely interrupted while stealing an amulet for Mae'Var and lose our Thief for 5 minutes.  You're right, actually, we're not going to recruit him anyway. So much like a cat would Arnaldo decides to present Neera Edwin's corpse as a token of love:  Edwin has some backup but apart from that nobody cares about his death and he drops the key to Mae'Var's safe.  Despite his Thief levels and support from his guild Mae'Var plays like a standard SCS Mage fight to a large extent. Which also means he overemphasizes defense and doesn't really do much besides renewing protective spells if you keep removing them.  Anomen has a new shield.    Finally, the spell I've been waiting for since starting BG2. It doesn't break invisibility, by the way; Arnaldo's beauty is so overwhelming he doesn't even need to be seen for his looks to kill. Time to wrap up some odds and ends:  Maybe if your art was more mace-like it wouldn't need to be cheated.  This is what Cromwell can do with the Naga Skin you get for restoring the Shaman stronghold (which any character can do, Shaman or not). It costs 15k to make but it'll serve Nalia and later Imoen well.   Some more Unfinished Business finished.   I'm not entirely sure if this fight warranted Power Words but Neera just reached level 7 spells and needs to show off. Next up, more sidequesting. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Mar 9, 2019 |
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Mar 9, 2019 20:20
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And here's more Icewind Dale. The Dragon's Eye, where Arundel sent us to hopefully retrieve the Heartstone Gem this time, is a big, five floor dungeon with a lot going on inside.  The first floor is home to Lizard Men. They're immune to Web and they come in numbers. Their THAC0 isn't great but they attack twice per round and do decent damage. They're also backed by Shamans (who mechanically are Clerics, not Shamans) that have Strength of One, Hold Person and Dispel Magic in their arsenal. Overall it's not easy for my party to ensure these fights happen on my terms, so we do take a fair amount of damage here. You can also find some of the missing villagers from Kuldahar here:  It's alright, kid, nobody's going to--  Never mind. Sorry for the trauma, but we need some cannon fodder for the boss of this level.  That boss being the Lizard King, still in the fog of war here as we confront him about the captive villagers, some of which may or may not currently fight for us after we reanimated the kitchen waste left by his people.  My approach for this fight is to stop the Lizard Man Shamans from casting using Writhing Fog and using (Cold-immune) summoned Zombies and Skeletons to hold back as many of the enemies as possible while the party holds position in the convenient choke point. That works out fairly well, and the Lizard King dies so quickly I don't get a screenshot of him.  Pictured near the bottom left: the best shot of the Lizard King I got as he lies half buried beneath several of his subjects. Also pictured: significant random loot. We could have gotten a Shield Ring here, which unlike the BG Shield Amulet just gives permanent Shield. That would have been great for Cordelia as the only two suits of armor a Blade can cast spells in are likewise random loot, but it wasn't to be. The robe is very decent, though:   Apart from the now eradicated Lizard Men, this level is home to Sword and Wraith Spiders as well as Bombardier Beetles. Sword Spiders and Bombardier Beetles can do a lot of damage, and Bombardier Beetles can also stun your characters. Wraith Spiders aren't that scary but can still transmit disease. You can easily break these groups up by webbing the Beetles, though.  Bertram still nearly dies to a Sword Spider, and as a further reminder to not underestimate those we find the remains of Erevain, the elf we met back in Easthaven:   His sword isn't all that amazing but it is not random loot and one of the reasons why Long Swords are a safe proficiency option.  The second floor of the Dragon's Eye has more Bombardier Beetles and Sword and Wraith Spiders waiting for us. A few Phase Spiders as well. And Trolls, lots of Trolls. The closest thing to ranged support those groups have are the few teleporting Phase Spiders, though, so choke points and AoE spells help a lot here.  This is what happens when you underestimate Bombardier Beetles and let your characters get hit by their acid farts, by the way, you get your entire frontline stunned and injured. The reward for taking on all these beetles is another notable non-random weapon:  Our Dwarven Defender Bertram will keep this thing in his personal arsenal forever.  More captured villagers. Telling Sheemish it's safe to leave is worth 24,000 XP.  The closest thing this floor has to a boss fight is one against a bunch of Trolls and Talonite Priests. I just rush everybody in here because the Priests worry me more than the Trolls. A different party might want to use the nearby corridor as a choke point. You can split the party and go for a two-pronged assault as well; there are two corridors leading to this area. Anyway, the most dangerous thing that happens here is Cordelia failing a save against Hold Person, and I keep Remove Paralysis memorized at all times. Besides that, I manage to keep interrupting the Priests, most of which make no efforts to leave the Spike Growth AoE anyway.  Mother Egenia is the missing high priestess of the temple of Ilmater in Kuldahar. Freeing her is worth 36,000 XP. Between the 50,000 total quest XP to be earned on this floor alone and regular enemies now often being worth 1,400 or more, levels are coming quickly now. Egenia also offers temple services before she leaves but still charges you for them, the greedy poo poo. Before continuing down the Dragon's Eye, we return to Kuldahar to see if everyone made it back okay.   Conlan the smith is grateful for the rescue of his son, and although the hammer isn't amazing it is useful. Of course, he still charges you for identifying the hammer, the greedy poo poo. Next up, Dragon's Eye floors 3 and 4. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Mar 10, 2019 |
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Mar 10, 2019 21:51
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It's nice to IWD given a workout. It doesn't have the personality of BG or the story of PT, but it does have some strong encounter design and offers a stiff challenge. Having said that... I last played the original IWD yonks ago in the early 2000s and never acquired either expansion. I have IWDEE now and It's been so long that I've genuinely forgotten: When/In what order is the player meant to play HoW and TofL? Is there a specific set of criteria for them and/or a suggested minimum level or point in the main game? I haven't a clue.
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Mar 11, 2019 00:57
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JustJeff88 posted:It's nice to IWD given a workout. It doesn't have the personality of BG or the story of PT, but it does have some strong encounter design and offers a stiff challenge. It's been about as long for me as for you, but my recollection (supported by some vague Googling) is that HoW works best when you're about level 9 or 10 or so, and that Luremaster is basically endgame stuff.
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Mar 11, 2019 01:15
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You need 250,000 XP to access HoW from the main game, although it'll be tough at that point. If you leave to do HoW during the base game you'll be completely overleveled when you return. Especially if you also do Trials of the Luremaster. If you import your final base game save into HoW you're overleveled for the expansion content, although not as much as the other way around. HoW just isn't integrated that well, unfortunately. I think the best way to play it is to just create a new party for it. That'll start everyone at 500,000 XP and with decent gear, although not necessarily with weapons they're proficient in. IWD itemization being what it is you'll need to use EEKeeper for that.
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Mar 11, 2019 01:57
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I found this on the beamdog forums, if anyone is interested. Assuming that this isn't utter rubbish, I'll research where the various "points of no return" are.quote:The ideal order, then, would be:
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Mar 11, 2019 03:05
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The base game's point of no return is entering the area unlocked by placing all the badges in Dorn's Deep. The point of no return in HoW is almost impossible to miss: it's setting sail to the island where you face the expansion's main villain.
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Mar 11, 2019 03:31
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Oh, Dragon's Eye... It's a pain in the rear end in the original and then they me it even more so in the sequel.
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Mar 11, 2019 09:40
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Really looking forward to the boss battle of Dragon's Eye. And about my lack of updates lately, I'm a bit burnt out and giving it a rest. Also, I blame Kenshi
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Mar 11, 2019 15:44
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Wizard Styles posted:The base game's point of no return is entering the area unlocked by placing all the badges in Dorn's Deep. Thank you. I put that little guide into a text file and I will add this bit to it. As I said, it's been nearly two decades since I played any part of IWD.
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Mar 11, 2019 18:18
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More Icewind Dale, more Dragon's Eye. The third floor is full of undead enemies, mainly several large groups of Cold Wights. The first one attacks you right when you enter the floor, too, which makes it the only challenging one. The melee attacks of Cold Wights are 100% cold damage, and that's about the only thing worth noting about them except that they're worth 1,400 XP. Resting for a few weeks in this area to farm Cold Wights is probably the easiest way to quickly gain a few levels if you feel you absolutely need them.  There are also a few Blast Skeletons about, who will explode once damaged. Alone, they're harmless, but if you pull several at once while also fighting Cold Wights they can be annoying.  The boss of this area is Presio, a Yuan-Ti Mage with a room full of undead at her disposal. These include several Imbued Wights, so sending a Shielded character in first to absorb their Magic Missiles isn't the worst idea.  Spellcasters have never really been much of a problem for us thanks to all the sustained damage AoEs Galene brings as a Shaman. Presio's Apprentice joins the fight coming from the side after a few rounds and gets a few spells off, but Presio herself doesn't accomplish anything.  The fourth floor of the Dragon's Eye is a totally legit temple of the goddess of peace.  There are a few ways to expose the Eldathyns as not entirely what they claim to be, such as finding books with titles like "How To Serve Man" in their secret library. I choose the one that would give us some backup for the fight to come.  We find the remaining abducted villagers and get a first look at the enemies we'll be fighting for the rest of the Dragon's Eye. It's all Yuan-Ti from now on.  They're too scattered to be a real problem here, though. For example, there are several Yuan-Ti Mages to take care of, and Cordelia gets Feebleminded by one at some point, but nothing comes of it since there's nobody around to attack her as she stands around drooling for a bit.   The most notable item we find here is the book, which is involved in a quest the Enhanced Edition restored. We do have a Bard, but you also need to buy the Sword of Myrloch Vale in Kuldahar to finish the quest and that thing costs something like 50k, so we're not doing that. The staff is always dropped by a Yuan-Ti that endlessly summons Lizard Men and Trolls until you kill him and will be very useful if I remember to use it, which I won't. As for random loot, you can possibly get the Fast Flail +2, which gives an extra attack per round, but we don't. Next up, the fifth and final floor of the Dragon's Eye.
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Mar 11, 2019 19:44
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Having Styles point out the... let's call them "foibles" of the IWD random loot system has made me wonder: Is there a mod for IWDEE that changes this? Being able to pick which of a number of options one wants is too much to ask, but I'm starting to remember why I haven't played this game in nearly two decades.
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Mar 11, 2019 20:22
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JustJeff88 posted:Having Styles point out the... let's call them "foibles" of the IWD random loot system has made me wonder: Is there a mod for IWDEE that changes this? Being able to pick which of a number of options one wants is too much to ask, but I'm starting to remember why I haven't played this game in nearly two decades. One of the components does exactly that. I think that is definitely too much, though, always getting the best item or just the one you need most is too powerful. What I'd recommend instead is just using the broader original BG1/IWD proficiency system, which is also a component of the tweak pack. That will solve the main issue with the random loot system.
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Mar 11, 2019 20:35
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Wizard Styles posted:https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/tweaks/tweaks/ Thanks a bundle, Styles. I will probably use both. To be fair, I'm not as experienced and gifted in regards to Infinity Engine games as most people in this thread, and I don't think being able to choose my reward will break the experience for me. IWD is known for tougher encounter design and a generally stiffer challenge and, having not touched the game since about 2002, I'll take a "wait and see" approach about what mods might be too generous. Regardless, this is grand and thank you again.
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Mar 11, 2019 22:59
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Time to continue IWD and finish the Dragon's Eye. The last floor of the Dragon's Eye is home to all kinds of Yuan-Ti and a creepy child that appears every now and then to tell you that you are, in fact, doomed. The place is essentially one long, winding - snaking, if you will - main corridor leading straight to the final boss of the dungeon, with several rooms to the side waiting to be depopulated and looted. The first of these rooms is a treasury, so of course there's some random loot in there. And this time, we do get the best item:  Nobody knows how to use Bastard Swords right now but Cordelia will once she gets her next proficiency point.  Next in line are the barracks. This fight can be tough because the Yuan-Ti Elites in there have +1 ammunition and there are quite a few of them, however, Web. One slightly tougher than usual Yuan-Ti in this room is called the High Archer and always drops this:  And this is something Cordelia can use. Needless to say, it goes quite well with Offensive Spin. There are also some Arrows +2 (which are needed to hit the final boss of the Dragon's Eye) and Potions of Extra Healing to find here. Next stop, the torture chambers:   A unique insight into Yuan-Ti culture, but not much of a fight in the end. We do find a returning Throwing Axe +2 for Bertram, which is great because it's impossible to carry regular Throwing Axes in any real quantity.  Maybe some day I'll play IWD without using Web as a challenge run. These are the priests quarters. Slightly tougher than the barracks because the area is slightly more open and almost everyone is tired after a Haste spell, but ultimately only a few Yuan-Ti get through.  The enemy getting gibbed near the center of the screen here is the High Baptist who is mind controlling a few more captive villagers that were presumably set aside to be turned into Histachii, so these villagers start out hostile. Once the High Baptist falls they turn neutral again. If any villagers die during the fight the party loses a point of reputation, but I really don't see how that would happen. It's not exactly a tough fight.  This is more like it. These guys are the last group of Yuan-Ti standing between us and the boss. But first, there's one last side area to explore.  It's the kitchen. Which leads to another, smaller treasury where you can find an enchanted shield. There are two shields you can get here, one is +3 and the other +2 with a special ability of making Water Elementals ignore the wearer. That ability is nearly pointless and can be actively detrimental the one or two times it does come into play if it means some Elemental completely ignores your tank. We get the +2 one but that's good enough, really. And then it's time for the boss. That boss is Yxunomei, who was first mentioned by the Lizard King on the first floor as the goddess of the local Yuan-Ti. Here, she first reprises her role of creepy child to give us some exposition about her vendetta against an ancient enemy that has led her to this plane:  Needless to say, she doesn't feel like handing over the Heartstone Gem, and once the battle starts she reveals herself to be a Marilith:  Yxunomei is pretty tough. She has 70% Magic Resistance, 5 attacks per round, and casts Cloudkill which she herself is specifically immune to in addition to being immune to poison in general. You also need +2 weapons to hit her as mentioned earlier, although that's not a big problem for us at this point. It's generally not the best idea to try and have someone stand up to her in melee. Once the fight starts, three Yuan-Ti Mages also teleport in behind the party. You can layer AoE spells before the fight to take them out of the equation but that will only leave the kitchen to fall back to. I just focus them down quickly while delaying the Yuan-Ti that start next to Yxunomei with Web instead. One of the Mages manages to get an offensive spell off but all it accomplishes is charming one of the Nymphs Galene summoned.  The rest of the fight comes down to delaying Yxunomei with summoned undead (who are immune to her Cloudkill and our Writhing Fog) while Cordelia and Bertram use their +2 ranged weapons to bring her down before she reaches the party. I luck out and get a Slow past Yxunomei's Magic Resistance, so in the end that works out perfectly:  And that is the first major boss fight of the game done. All that's left is loot her throne room and take the Heartstone Gem off her corpse:  Next up, we return to Kuldahar, successful for once.
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Mar 14, 2019 03:20
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It just occurred to me that doing this game Ironman style must be rather easier than BG and PT in the sense that there is no main character whose death immediately ends the game. In IWD, 5 of the 6 PCs can be scythed down and, so long as one is still up, the game still hasn't technically ended.
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Mar 14, 2019 18:23
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JustJeff88 posted:It just occurred to me that doing this game Ironman style must be rather easier than BG and PT in the sense that there is no main character whose death immediately ends the game. In IWD, 5 of the 6 PCs can be scythed down and, so long as one is still up, the game still hasn't technically ended. The nameless one dying in PT does not end the game.
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Mar 14, 2019 18:56
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Celeste the solo Blade has entered Watcher's Keep and reached the Machine of Lum the Mad. After leaving Saradush, and saving a merchant on the road, I headed straight for the Keep. In retrospect, I could have done this in SoA, but I'm quite stubborn when it comes to the route I take for these runs. After all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.    The 1st level was fairly straight-forward, the 1st 4 statues (2 Fighters + 2 Clerics) were quickly killed, high level Clerics aren't much of a threat if you rush them. The others took longer to kill, but I managed to split them into 2 smaller groups and dealt with them fairly easily.  Onto the 2nd level, and the Chromatic Demon. SCS buffs him a little, he's now 100% immune to physical damage and has an ability dependent on what form he's in, but is still vulnerable to weapon effects (Including vorpal, so that's always an option if you lack elemental damage) and has 0 magic resistance.  After clearing the level, it was time for the fight with the demon. Celeste has more than enough buffs to handle its elemental attacks, and wands to handle the offensive side of things, but I needed a way to prevent his physical attacks. Luckily, I had the excellent Soul Reaver 2 handed sword, and its on hit stacking THAC0 penalty.   A ToB boss missing on a roll of 19 is exceedingly rare, and meant that this fight was an absolute walkover. The most difficult thing was remembering to move away when it was vulnerable to lightning, for whatever reason Lightning Bolt has been consistently missing at point blank range during this run, in both games.  Onto the 3rd level, SCS randomly picks one of 3 different configurations for the maze. It just meant finding where each portal led was a bit more work, wasn't really a problem as long as I kept buffs up. Once I found the stone pillar with the Purifier sword, I very briefly recruited Rasaad to claim it. I also took his Gem of True Seeing, more for convenience than anything else, but having an extra, uninterruptible True Sight is always useful.  Eventually, I found my way to Tahazzar. His vorpal attacks are the only true threat here, so he was the immediate priority. He died surprisingly quickly.  The other demons were mopped up with ease, Glabrezu are more annoying than dangerous at this point.  Ka'rashur was dealt with almost as easily as Tahazzar. Luckily, I entered both of these fights from rooms that weren't dead magic zones, would have been a lot trickier otherwise.  I was fortunate enough to win the Wish scroll from the first game with Aesgareth, and he won the way out on the next draw. I'm glad I didn't have to fight him, it's not an easy one to win. It does have the very rare novelty of fighting a mage capable of summoning a "good" planetar, though.  Lastly, the Demon Wraith. As it turned out, his pre-buff did not contain PFMW or SI:Abjuration, so once hit with a Remove Magic he was killed fairly quickly and easily.  With that last fight dealt with, it was a simple matter of returning to the entrance of the level, and making my way to the exit again. (For the sake of completeness, the route to the exit from the compass room was W, S, S, and S again.) Next up is more Watcher's Keep.
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Mar 14, 2019 19:30
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I'd be willing to bet actual money on Celeste going all the way by now, good poo poo.JustJeff88 posted:It just occurred to me that doing this game Ironman style must be rather easier than BG and PT in the sense that there is no main character whose death immediately ends the game. In IWD, 5 of the 6 PCs can be scythed down and, so long as one is still up, the game still hasn't technically ended.
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Mar 14, 2019 19:48
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Celeste the solo Blade has finished Watcher's Keep and killed Demogorgon. The 4th level is mainly populated by Illithid and Gith, amongst a few other things. I started with the Illithid, since they are more dangerous than Gith. SCS increases their numbers somewhat, but it's pretty much a bunch of fights with several distinct groups and they weren't too much trouble, they can't do anything if you have PFMW up.  SCS also changes the Gith a little, at least in theory. The idea is that by opening the doors, each group of Gith can reinforce the group in the first room and it becomes one giant fight. It works to a degree, but its not perfect and you get a large initial fight and a couple of small groups left behind, who are mere speedbumps if you survive the big fight. Another issue with Gith is that they are almost completely ineffective against someone immune to normal weapons, outside of the rare Anti-Paladin.  Moving on, the Demilich is immune to the death effect of the Mace of Disruption, but its still a vanilla Demilich, so SI:Abjuration completely nullifies it. It does have one extra prize than usual, though.  Or 2, apparently. With Spellcasting Demiliches installed, it's quite deadly with the Cloak of Mirroring equipped, but fortunately I didn't have to deal with that.  Skipping Saladrex for the time being, I went after the Crystal Hammer. Despite running out of buff spells, I got cocky and thought I had this fight in the bag regardless. Hopefully this is the last time I let such an error happen. Luckily, I had more than enough potions.  After a quick rest, I returned for Saladrex. With the same sequencers as I prepared for Firkraag, he didn't last too long.  After getting my rewards from the Machine, I moved on to the 5th level. The green dragon lasted a long time, thanks to a couple of Heal spells, but he was otherwise no threat to a buffed Celeste.  The Mind/Wisdom trial was also relatively simple, although the 2 Liches could easily have been more dangerous than they turned out to be, luckily I managed to snipe one with Azure-Edge immediately.  For whatever reason, the Rilmani did basically nothing, and died very quickly.  Next came the group of 6 guardians. My strategy here was simple, lure the Hive Mother away, then the 2 demons, and then finish off the other 3. I can't say why the Hive Mother didn't use Anti-Magic Ray here, but I'm certainly not complaining.  The demons followed shortly after, and died quickly. aTweaks Mariliths aren't too tough, and aTweaks Succubus apparently can't do anything to a female PC, and just walk around uselessly. As it turns out, the Drow Cleric can also see through Invisibility and was lured away from the 2 fighters. She didn't last long.  With no support left, neither did the fighters. This was surprisingly simple, all told. Probably would have been tougher had the Marilith teleported to Celeste while she was dealing with the Hive Mother.   Lastly, Azamantes who in SCS, has the Robe of Vecna. As you can imagine, this makes his early onslaught of spells quite a bit more dangerous, especially with Improved Alacrity. However, he also burns through a lot more spells during his IA, so it also makes him slightly less dangerous in the long run, provided you survive the first few rounds. Basically, the plan here was to simply run around the room at x4 speed, letting him and has Planetar waste as many of their spells as possible, and attempt to hit him with Azure-Edge. Eventually, he died to the axe, and the Planetar was unsummoned shortly afterwards. Quite straight-forward really.  I may be able to get some use out of this, especially if the reduced cast time also applies to scrolls.   After the death of the Lich, the way to the Imprisoned One was finally clear. I briefly considered leaving him alone, but I decided to go for the kill.   As it turns out, he stood no chance against a fully buffed Celeste. After removing his meager defences, he died in about 25 seconds. 7 APR with +5 weapons is quite effective, even against the strongest of demons. Next up is Yaga-Shura. biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Mar 17, 2019 |
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Mar 17, 2019 19:49
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Arnaldo the Shaman has finished his stronghold quests. First things first, I went to Trademeet after solving the Bridge murders, took care of Rejiek once and for all, and when Jaheira left to return to the Harper base temporarily picked up Rasaad and did his quest - trials, freeing Wilson and all.  This fight is cool, much more interesting than Rasaad's underwhelming BG1 quest, but we were a bit overleveled for it. Also, we're pretty much set for potions now. Anyway, the two mods I'll be going over in the next two posts are The White Queen and Will of the Wisps: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/38825/mod-the-white-queen https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/61754/mod-will-of-the-wisps-shamanic-enhancements Both of them made by the same guy, LavaDelVortel, who is probably the most prolific BG2 modder in recent times. I'd say it's safe to say his writing is an acquired taste, and one that I haven't necessarily acquired myself. Usually, there's extensive/long-winded dialogue. Sometimes purple prose, but mainly it's just wordy. Expect pervasive melancholy and some grammar and spelling mistakes. His mods are very well made technically, though, and if you do like his writing his Colours of Infinity series of mods (that the White Queen belongs to) has a lot of stuff for you to explore. In terms of combat, these mods are usually extremely easy, although the White Queen was designed to be an exception to that rule. Anyway, let's start with the Shaman stronghold Arnaldo restored earlier. One nice thing about the stronghold is that you just get a notification that you feel the spirits there need you. No NPCs calling you that can get stuck in the woods or anything. No time pressure either.  The first time this happens you get to decide whether to allow a group of spirits, led by this here Emissary Shy'glegh, into the grotto or not.  Short version of the above: the emissary is full of poo poo.  As evidenced by an unwise attack once Arnaldo tells him he wouldn't allow him entry.  The second time, a fetch quest awaits. All of the items can be found in Imnesvale except for the web; you need to kill a slightly tougher Sword Spider for that.  The next time, it's a spirit merchant stopping by. I mean, why not? He stays for 3 days and sells an Ankheg shell, some decent but not overpowered items, and five human skulls. Also this:  Needless to say, I buy the spider to see whatever hidden quest or bizarrely overpowered endgame loot it would lead to.  I'm assuming we'll find those flies in Spellhold, the Underdark or Bodhi's crypt in Chapter 6. The last one is a boss fight of sorts against a spirit going by the name of Ghastlycleaver ( ) trying to destroy your beautiful cave. The important part here is that he can't get in for now unless you decide to lower the cave's defenses, so you get to prebuff and summon as much as you want.  Ghastlycleaver himself has a chunk of HP and some abilities - Neera takes some inconsequential fire damage, Korgan is silenced - but is still a pushover. He's worth 22,500 XP and drops this:  It's cool, it's an interesting item, but no buff to your spirit summons is worth an HP debuff because the Shamanic Dance is bad and never actually used in the really important fights. And Arnaldo doesn't exactly need more Strength, either. Anyway, this concludes the Shaman stronghold until I find some flies for Arnaldo's new spider buddy. Next up, the White Queen, which I've already finished. Was supposed to go into this update as well but this post is fairly long already and the White Queen is a big enough mod for its own one. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 07:55 on Mar 19, 2019 |
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Mar 19, 2019 07:50
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