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Fruits of the sea posted:Huh, that's neat. 
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Dec 27, 2018 03:12
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Arnaldo the Shaman begins his travels. Arnaldo is a perfect physical specimen and the sexiest half-orc alive, which while perhaps not the highest bar to clear is a bar nonetheless. He's also a Shaman, so we'll see how much those godlike stats are worth in the end. Unfortunately, the Big World Setup shat the bed in a million ways before I gave up and lowered myself to install the mods I want manually. That cost me some time so Arnaldo hasn't gone on as many grand adventures as I'd hoped he would yet. The main mods that are important for the run are Sword Coast Stratagems (nearly full installation) and IWDification because IWD spells make Druids and Shamans infinitely more palatable. For example:  A first level spell that's worth casting and spammable.  Behold its awesome power as Arnaldo calls forth the merciless fury of the sun for 7 damage.  Further behold the might of the Shamanic Dance.  Lastly, behold Gorion's burial.
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Dec 31, 2018 14:39
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Also:bike tory posted:RIP Bichael, Cleric of Lathander, struck by lightning. 
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Dec 31, 2018 14:40
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docbeard posted:Something that I reeeeeeealllly hope isn't a furry sex mod. (I've played with this NPC a bit but not too far in, and it wasn't notably terrifying, but, well, we'll see!)
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Jan 2, 2019 12:40
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Arnaldo the Shaman continues his travels. His foster father buried, Arnaldo takes to the road with Imoen and picks up Xzar and Montaron along the way.  An Ogre is no match for the power of the sun itself.  Neither is some mageling a match for Arnaldo's physical perfection. Please ignore Imoen lying on the ground unconscious, somebody had to be bait and she is the party member with the lowest damage potential. Arnaldo loves his little sister but he can make the hard decisions when he needs to. Anyway, when she finally wakes up Imoen does the Manis! Potentis! PAH! bit and Khalid and Jaheira join the party.  We explore the nuances of tactical dancing by having Khalid kite some hobgoblins into summoned spirits. We move on to Beregost.  The game spawns some bandits along the way, Xzar takes an arrow and promptly dies. Nobody really cares overly much and so Arnaldo leaves him where he fell. In Beregost, Arnaldo first recruits Kagain and then indulges in the ironman-within-the-ironman experience of trying to keep an AI-controlled Neera alive through the fight against some Red Wizard underlings before she can join.  It works out pretty well as Neera manages to get a Sleep spell off and the mage's spells are all interrupted by timely arrows and Sunscorches. Neera replaces Montaron, who may not be happy to get kicked out of the group before he can investigate what's going on in Nashkel but probably still appreciates being rid of Xzar. Neera immediately gets to transcribing some scrolls and manages to learn Glitterdust, which is actually a pretty big deal. We explore Beregost and the temple area but stay clear of Silke, the dwarven bounty hunter and the wolf pack for now. Imoen attempts to rob every house in Beregost but usually needs to call in Arnaldo for help so he can break the locks she can't pick yet. The party brings a petrified adventurer back to life who tells us of basilisks to the east and how to turn them into XP, piñatas but it is not yet time for that. Arnaldo gets bitten by a Wild Dog at some point, which leaves him at 3/10 HP. That's the most noteworthy thing that happens in terms of battles. Everything else just folds to Sleep. South of Beregost, some Ogrillons, Hobgoblins and assorted random spawns are killed, and a letter and a family heirloom returned to Beregost for modest rewards. Also:  I really thought this would work or at least give me a second chance to say the right thing but no, the Flaming Fist mercenaries are so thoroughly unimpressed by Arnaldo's 18 Charisma that they attack immediately. The Flaming Fist proves to be fairly ineffective at fighting even low level adventurers, but Imoen still gets one-shot at some point because I didn't realize she was in melee range. Too bad, but ultimately the 3 suits of Plate Mail the mercenaries drop are worth more than the 100 gold it costs to resurrect her and whatever little trauma she may have suffered. Once Imoen is among the living again, the party travels to Nashkel and kills a bounty hunter and an exploding ogre before going in for the true test, Zordral the mage. True test in that he will wipe the floor with most parties in a stand-up fight. Luckily, like most mages he is brought low by the party leaving his area as soon as he starts casting a spell only to enter it again once a new round starts. Eventually, he tires of these cruel games that see all his Sleep spells fizzle and follows the party outside.  He immediately falls victim to the blinding radiance of the sun/Arnaldo's chiseled physique. Since I installed the SCS kobold upgrades I don't want to go to the Nashkel mines just yet. They're doable, but I'd rather have some extra HP on everyone and more Sleep spells. Which is why the party explores some of the surrounding western areas, killing bandits, Taslois, Half-Ogres, thoroughbred Ogres, Xvarts etc. (also watching Drizzt kill a dozen gnolls while the party manages to kill precisely one; they were all very proud).  Good job.  It's not just Ursa that is a little confused. Bassilus' entourage also just kinda stands around instead of leaving their cursed undead existence behind after Bassilus' illusions are shattered. One of the zombies even develops Stockholm syndrome and attacks. In a stunning display of low level swinginess, Bassilus is reduced to a sliver of his HP almost instantly and then...everybody misses or does minimum damage. Bassilus lands a Hold Person on Jaheira followed by a Mental Domination on Kagain. Bassilus dies directly afterwards but Kagain takes down a defenseless Jaheira before Neera can pacify him with a Sleep spell.  The party spends the night with the remaining skeletons and zombies and bids them farewell in the morning.  Undeterred by Jaheira's death, Arnaldo and Neera go on to enlighten more bandits about the awesome power of Sunscorch and Sleep until they find a talking chicken.  All in good fun.  Until Melicamp dies. Well, RIP. While we're here, Neera learns Mirror Image and Protection from Petrification. Jaheira is returned to life and some quests (Bjornin, Perdue, Bassilus) turned in in Beregost. We then return to Nashkel via the excavation map and solving Captain Brage's riddle and continue to grind out some levels east of Nashkel.  Arabelle lives as Neera/the Sleep spell saves the day again.  And Arnaldo reaches level 3 killing some named bandits. He learns Entangle and, at 5,000 XP, is now halfway to level 2 spells.  (Don't look at the level 2 Druid spell list, it's sad.)
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Jan 5, 2019 06:31
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Vichan posted:...I'm going to regret installing this, aren't I? I hope you weren't planning on using Kivan.
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Jan 5, 2019 06:34
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Olive Branch posted:Is there a script or text dump of the mod somewhere out there? Or rather, is there a way to open a mod's text files to read dialogues? I'm curious to read Kagain's lines. You want DLG files called B followed by the first 5 letters of the NPC's name, so BKAGAI.DLG for Kagain. Pick tree view and you can just read through the dialogue:  bike tory posted:People poo poo on Shaman but Ba'ik Toree is going strong. Blasted through the mines and everything along the way with ease thanks to the neverending summons. e: Kiting enemies into summoned spirits usually works, at least, but it can still take a while until two summons have actually appeared. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 15:11 on Jan 5, 2019 |
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Jan 5, 2019 14:23
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Arnaldo the Shaman has killed Mulahey. Arnaldo is at level 3 and I'm more than ready to take on what awaits in Nashkel. But Neera has learned Protection from Petrification and we're in the area, so we go hunt some basilisks.  Everything is going well until the Mutamin fight. I mistime a damage spell casting, which allows Mutamin to get a spell off. This turns out to be Horror, somehow Kagain the dwarf with the maximum shorty bonus manages to roll terribly enough to fail his save, and the tragedy unfolds:  I was saving these guys for later, but thanks to Kagain I have to let them go. That's some good loot I'm not getting. loving Kagain. At least Arnaldo levels and learns another IWD spell:  He also automatically learns Writhing Fog, which is a good persistent AoE damage spell for this level. Neither it nor Alicorn Lance are amazing, at least not in the long run, but they'll do the job for now. And it's Druid spell level 2, there's only so much you can expect from that. We head back to Nashkel and Imoen, aspiring mage that she is after picking up Tarnesh's spellbook, learns her first spell: Fireball.  She's also now good enough at picking locks to rob the potion seller's tent at the Carnivel, which nets the party some good stuff including a Potion of Fire Giant Strength and one of Invulnerability and around 500 gold. Ultimately, though, I'm still heartbroken about the loot I missed out on letting those adventurers in the Basilisk area go, so when I get the chance to replace Kagain en route to the mines I do so without hesitation.  We move on, explore the area around the mines, kill Greywolf and see that Prism actually puts the emeralds into his masterwork's eyes now.  Yikes. Little stary there, Ellesime. Arnaldo, dedicated to natural beauty and feeling a certain kinship as he himself is also of chiseled physique saves her from Prism's lapse of reason and removes the emeralds. The mines are easy after all the levels the party picked up adventuring around Beregost. Neera and Arnaldo experiment with different spell combinations, mixing and matching Sleep, Grease, Stinking Cloud, Entangle and Writhing Fog, high fiving all the way through the mine while immobilized Kobolds freeze to death around them. Dorn is so into watching this sad spectacle that he levels up:  Neera's and Arnaldo's experiments reveal that Entangle is, in fact, a trash tier spell I probably shouldn't have picked as even puny Kobolds are unimpressed by its +3 saving throw bonus.  Fortunately, they stay at range anyway.  Mulahey's Skeleton minions are immune to Writhing Fog and Stinking Cloud but still held back by Grease. The Kobolds fail to do anything. So does Mulahey, who has his only attempted spell interrupted as Jaheira hits him with an Alicorn Lance. Dorn, Khalid and Imoen take care of him quickly afterwards. And so the Nashkel mines are pacified. Next up:  Doom.
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Jan 8, 2019 23:26
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Angry Lobster posted:
 15% chance for a vorpal attack with no save as it turns out. That's the regular Balor attack as well, so all Balors should have that, not just Tahazzar. I never knew about that. Vichan posted:
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Jan 13, 2019 10:36
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Arnaldo the Shaman has gone back to exploring the wilderness after killing Mulahey. I'm a little scared of Nimbul, although I think recent versions of SCS have toned him down a little. Anyway, I opt to delay meeting him for a bit just to get Xan some spells. So Arnaldo goes off into the wilderness, finds a Flaming Fist deserter among some Gibblerlings, and delivers him to the Friendly Arm:  We also deliver a giant spider corpse that we've been carrying around for the last two weeks or so. We take a trip to High Hedge where we sell enough random gear to get a Robe of the Neutral Archmagi for Neera and some scrolls for Xan and some more scrolls for Xan and even more scrolls for Xan because he's unfortunately borderline illiterate and fails to transcribe almost all of them. Such is the beauty of Specialist Mages. We also kill a lot of skeletons to farm throwing daggers for Arnaldo; it's riveting. Back in Beregost, Xan shows that he deserves his place in the group because having him around means Neera, the competent Mage in the group, is free to cast spells because Xan can at least use wands.  Apart from Tranzig, the party also kills a bounty hunter and Silke, both of which I didn't feel like taking on earlier. Back in Nashkel, Nimbul turns out to be less of a threat than I thought, and a good target for Xan's wand as well.  All Web and Entangle really achieved here was to ensure the kill wasn't stolen by one of the soldiers - or Rasaad, which would have been the ultimate embarrassment. Nimbul himself made all his saves, not that it got him very far. Arnaldo reports Mulahey's actions and death to the mayor, and the party disappears into the wilderness again to possibly get another level before taking on the SCS-enhanced bandit camp. It would do almost nothing for Arnaldo, but Neera isn't far behind him in XP and would get two Skull Traps.  The first thing we find is the tougher of the two bounty hunter groups.  The fight goes super well! So what happened before this is that Neera, instead of casting Web, got a surge doubling her HP instead, which was great for her but not the best thing to happen from a tactical point of view. (She never got hit.) It also wasted Arnaldo's Writhing Fog almost entirely. Everyone else was on kill the Gnome Fighter/Illusionist duty. Everyone else failed as well. Xan rolled close to minimum wand damage. And so the Gnome got a Sleep off which hit Arnaldo and Khalid. Having the main character fall asleep during probably the toughest fight yet was interesting at least. Jaheira did her best to tank but ultimately went down. At this point, it was Neera, Imoen and Xan against Molkar - who was badly injured - and Morvin the Dwarf. And of course those two could always just decide to kill Arnaldo. I was considering having Imoen unleash the Necklace of Missiles (which would have killed Khalid) but went for a Hail Mary Charm Person against Morvin first. And it landed. Morvin quickly dispatched Molkar, unfortunately without taking that much damage himself. So when the Charm wore off, I had to kite him around between Imoen, Neera and Xan all while hitting him with all they had to offer and making sure he never went for Arnaldo. At some point I slipped up, Morvin got an attack in against Xan and killed him instantly. In response, Neera calmly retrieved the Wand of Frost from the dead Elf's body and finally put the Dwarf down. After the return trip to Nashkel to raise Jaheira and Xan, things go more smoothly:  Sendai and her friends die in a blaze of low level combat glory. So does the fastest dart thrower that has ever walked the Sword Coast.   In other events, Pixie the cat is returned to be raised from the dead, a Dryad's tree is saved (Jaheira gets a Club +1 out of this), a lot of Gnolls are killed, Dex gloves and the first stat tome found, and more Gnolls die as their fortress falls:  Next up: More random adventuring, maybe Neera's quest, definitely the bandit camp. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Jan 15, 2019 |
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Jan 15, 2019 03:12
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Gnome Fighter/Illusionist: Early on that character has 2 Sleep spells and a bow, which at that point means absolute power over life and death. Later on the Fighter/Mage class combination turns into the best tank in the game. Has a few dips in power along the way - in BG1 you get to a point where levels come a bit slowly and HP don't progress that much while buff spells are still not going to last for too long, and in BG2 the wait for level 6 spells is a long one. Dwarf Fighter/Cleric: Less micromanagement, smoother power progression, lower power ceiling. Dwarf Berserker or Human Berserker->Mage dual-class: Gets to say no to a lot of potentially lethal effects you may not remember if you haven't played the game for a while, which is especially relevant in BG2. In BG1 it's always at least a slightly better Fighter, and Berserker Rage temporarily doubles your HP at level 1. Dual-classing can be annoying but the Berserker->Mage is mostly painless since you can dual at any point between Berserker level 7 and 9. In general, be a Dwarf, Gnome or Halfling if you can to get saving throw bonuses.
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Jan 15, 2019 09:12
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Arnaldo the Shaman has scalped some bandits. After taking care of the Gnoll Fortress, Arnaldo moves on to explore the coastline for a bit. Gibberlings, bears and Neville the fairest of all bandits alike fall before our might.  Neera brings her own Ogre to a fight against two Ogre Berserkers courtesy of a surge.  This is the Lure of the Sirine's Call mod, which adds a little quest to the lighthouse area. It turns out said lighthouse has been taken over by pirates that have antagonized the local Sirine population. We side with the Sirines.  Xan charms the enemy Mage, who proceeds to cast Horror and hits most of his crew with it. Soon after, the second stat tome is ours as a reward for getting rid of the pirates and Arnaldo's ruggedly handsome features are now so rugged they restore themselves as he gains inherent regeneration. Perhaps more importantly for the immediate future, we also get the Wand of Paralyzation.  Khalid kisses a mermaid and it doesn't kill him, which I guess is a 2.5 change (?).  A fight against some random Ogres goes spectacularly wrong but luckily, the Surgeon is nearby. Another detour sees us go west of Nashkel where we pick up some loot including the Wand of Monster Summoning and our two Mages (plus aspiring Mage Imoen) engage in arcane discourse with one Narcillicus Harwilliger Neen.  He drops scrolls of Lightning Bolt, which Neera learns, and Web, which would be great except Neera already knows the spell and Xan can't learn it. We also do Neera's quest.  I'm not sure if this bear is supposed to be hostile or if this is a bug (possibly caused by an SCS component messing with bears) but the Goblins including our guide attack the bear and we have to kill it.  I think it's a little late for that.  I'm playing the fight against Ekandor extremely aggressively to make sure he doesn't get to use his Stoneskin scroll. Xan pays for it with his life, but it does work. (Xan doesn't get the scroll, of course, Neera does.)  Of course those would show up when I'm down a party member. Neera gets backstabbed through Mirror Image, which kills her instantly, but the fight isn't actually that tough. The main challenge is arranging my inventory to make sure I get the gear of my two dead Mages to the nearest temple. What follows is a shopping spree; we buy a Wand of Sleep for Imoen, all the magic Molotovs we can find, and some other things including scrolls.  Xan's literacy remains under question. This was Hold Person, too, which he should get a bonus chance to transcribe. He gets it right when we buy him a second scroll, at least. And then, it's time for the bandit camp. We are about as geared up as we can be and pretty overleveled for it - Jaheira, Neera and Xan can all cast level 3 spells. But I did have some trouble there during last year's ironman run.  Layering Web and persistent AoE damage is still good.   The Sleep spell saves some dogs. This is an Unfinished Business component; you get a scroll of Animal Summoning I as a reward which would be pretty good to have at this point in the game but when I use it in the bandit camp it does nothing.  It's an absolute slaughter anyway. We're not just overleveled, we're also bringing lots of AoE damage so the archers and Raemon the Mage go down quickly. Jaheira and Khalid are both on a Potion of Absorption so Taurgosz Khosann, who is easily the most dangerous individual enemy we've fought so far, can't touch them. We close the chapter by selling 90 scalps to Vai.  Next up: Ulcaster, Gullykin and the Cloakwood. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 09:33 on Jan 21, 2019 |
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Jan 21, 2019 09:17
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docbeard posted:Second, the mod Check The Bodies about which I know very little aside from "it adds stuff", apparently believing that this dungeon wasn't tedious enough, put in an extended reminiscence that is one part extended clip show for the first game and one part "let's make the player navigate babby Bhaalspawn through doing a bunch of chores in Candlekeep." Fortunately an option was included to skip the chores, which I did.  Even with Ctrl + J it was incredibly tedious. I've never installed that mod again. I'm kinda surprised it's still around/was updated for the EE.
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Jan 23, 2019 05:40
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Arnaldo the Shaman has gone to the Cloakwood. After cleaning up the bandit camp, it's time to pay a visit to some of the side areas Arnaldo has mostly ignored so far. The first one up is Ulcaster:  We meet this ghost.   And this other ghost that's added by Unfinished Business.  Also this wolf. SCS gives the Wolf of Ulcaster, who normally is a regular Vampiric Wolf, some special abilities - summoning Ghouls and Dread Wolves, casting Horror, and I think maybe Dispel. No Free Action, though, so RIP. Finally, we meet the Grand Heathen Army of Kobolds:    We don't meet Icharyd the skeleton because SCS makes that fight bullshit. Apart from 50% resistance to all non-crushing weapon damage, Icharyd also has 90% Magic Resistance and when he drops down to low HP he resets the fight (including a full heal for him and dispelling all effects on the party), gets some buffs and starts calling auto-hitting lightning down once per round. He is worth 1200 XP and drops a Flail +1.  We go to Gullykin,  The kobolds are undeterred and have formed an alliance with the wolves.  We find some gauntlets. Kahrk is left for later. And with that, we're off to the Cloakwood.  Where Jaheira's NPC Project quest awaits. We get Seniyad to agree to let the hunters live in return for helping him against the Shadow Druids. We're sent to check on Maretha and another Druid called Beador, who she was meeting with to relay the information she picked up.  Jaheira, we fixed that problem weeks ago. Right after we got Khalid his +2 sword that will never break.  Arnaldo is not a Druid, Jaheira. Jaheira, are you okay?  A fun thing happens as we enter this area: ever Phase Spider immediately recognizes that fresh meat has arrived and teleports on top of the party.  Is that so, Jaheira? And you're sure you're feeling okay, by the way?  Jaheira has trouble concentrating. Arnaldo begins to worry.  Arnaldo was going to give her health and fitness advice but unfortunately she attacks.  Oh yeah, and that happens. We leave for a bit and pick up Coran instead of Xan because Imoen just got her last Thief level and, impressed by Neera's ability to summon a Pit Fiend, dual-classed to Mage. Also Arnaldo leveled up somewhere in that area and is now able to cast level 3 spells. To which I can only say HOLY poo poo loving FINALLY! I haven't played a Sorcerer in BG1 for a while and have never played a Shaman before so I didn't quite anticipate how long that wait would be. Being stuck with Writhing Fog as your best spell for a chapter was not great, especially since the Shamanic Dance has become completely useless by now. Anyway, onwards to Jaheira's quest. We don't find Beador in the Shadow Druid area, but the one afterwards, where he is in the process of being beaten to death by some Shadow Druids, who fall to the might of Web/Writhing Fog/Spike Growth.  He's kind of already lyi--really, Jaheira, we're all worried about you here. Anyway, Beador sends us back to the Shadow Druid area to free Maretha.  Which we do, while also killing all Shadow Druids including their Archdruid. None of the fights are particularly worth showing off. Seniyad gives us this Club as a reward which Jaheira will probably be using for the rest of the game:  We move on to the first of Coran's quests:  And then it's time for the mines. I'll skip straight to Davaeorn because nothing really exciting happens before him. The four named henchmen outside are taken care of by a combination of Fireballs and Potions of Explosions and the only semi-notable enemies inside are two Mages that have no protection from elemental damage or offensive spells either. So, Davaeorn. With the SCS component that makes this chapter end battle harder installed, he calls in reinforcements every couple of rounds. My plan is to have Arnaldo, Imoen (who can already cast Web) and Neera take care of those by layering AoE spells. Jaheira is the one supposed to take care of Davaeorn and gets buffed up to 100% Cold and 90% Fire Resistance, 21 Strength, and gets a Potion of Invulnerability for good measure. And, courtesy of the IWDification mod, she summons a Moonblade, which disables an opponent's spellcasting when it hits. Coran and Khalid get elemental arrows to either mow down Davaeorn's adds or put damage on him through Stoneskin when possible. So that's the plan. This is what happens:  Davaeorn teleports right into the middle of the party and dies.  Arnaldo the Shaman has liberated and then flooded the Cloakwood Mines.  I'll miss you too, Cloakwood. docbeard posted:(Of note: I did not install the SCS components that 'improve' beholders or their areas. And I sure as gently caress did not install the component that removes the admittedly overpowered Shield of Balduran from the game. Because, and I cannot stress this enough, gently caress beholders.) 
Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Feb 2, 2019 |
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Feb 2, 2019 19:11
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Angry Lobster posted:
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Feb 2, 2019 19:30
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Arnaldo the Shaman has thoroughly explored Baldur's Gate. While doing so, he has vanquished rabid chickens, slain the king of the sewers, found two stat tomes etc. Sort-of highlight reel:  I spend about 20,000 on scrolls and Int-boosting potions. I probably won't use half the spells Neera and Imoen end up learning but Jaheira gets a level out of it. Which brings her up to level 4 spells. Which makes Arnaldo feel a little self-conscious until he next beholds his glorious reflection in a ditch outside.   Aw.   Neera did something bad.  So did Coran. We solve Neera's situation by giving Meklin the money she stole. We solve Coran's by murdering a Mage, a popular pastime in Baldur's Gate.  Arnaldo smiles as he tells her about her dead stepson, the rascal.   Since Aldeth survived the Cloakwood thanks to Jaheira negotiating a peaceful solution we get to kill an extra dozen Doppelgangers.  Coran, at 180 Pickpocketing after drinking 4 potions, causes the entire temple of Umberlee to attack us as he fails to steal a corpse. Understandable, perhaps, but I'm still a little mad because it's only a little corpse. Then I see that the high priestess is worth 6,000 XP and am no longer mad. Arnaldo reaches level 4 spells shortly afterwards (while killing a Mage in his home) and can now cast Defensive Harmony and Spirit Fire, two actually legit good spells.  Neera gets her best Wild Surge so far just in time for the fight against Sarevok's acolytes.  Arnaldo tries Spirit Fire for the first time, it's good but slightly overshadowed by Coran trying Arrows of Detonation for the first time. Next up: Tales of the Sword Coast. And, assuming Khalid and Jaheira hit the level cap during this, I might replace them with Dorn and Rasaad for a bit to do their respective quests before returning to Candlekeep. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Feb 4, 2019 |
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Feb 4, 2019 20:46
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anilEhilated posted:I could've sworn this guy showed up much later; possible explanations being two: 1] EE moved him, 2] my attitude to the tweakpack ("install whatever sounds cool at the moment, forget immediately afterward") broke the game. That being said, right now I am not going to look a gift bard in the mouth and there's going to be plenty of opportunities for him to have an accident later on. quote:The Final Fantasy Ogre (because seriously who the gently caress wears two belts) dies thanks to a badly-timed (hence Montaron's health) sleep spell from Urgghak and I decide to stop while I'm ahead although technically I'm ahead only by one screen. Not entirely sure what to do next: my gut tells me to go to FAI to get myself a pair of fighters but the assassin waiting there I recall being a right bastard. Heading south towards Beregost will probably see Urgghak eaten by wildlife within two encounters. Decisions, decisions, ideas?
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Feb 4, 2019 20:54
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Time to continue the adventures of Arnaldo the Shaman. With Sarevok's acolytes dead we've done all we can in Baldur's Gate besides getting sent to Candlekeep, so it's time for a trip to Ulgoth's Beard.  We do the thing where we go to an island and kill the Mages there. Then we go to another island.  The bears on that island are our friends.  But this Sirine isn't.  Neither are the Wolfweres that stole a child which we return slightly burnt.  And also not the Werewolves that try to keep this boat from us. With all that done Khalid and Jaheira are very close to their final level and I'm looking to get that done before going to Durlag's Tower so I can quickly get Dorn and Rasaad in for their personal quests. And there is one more thing to do for some quick XP, a side quest that we picked up some time ago:  The Unfinished Business mod places this guy in the Elfsong Tavern. I think I've never actually done this quest, usally I forget it exists altogether or I pick it up and then forget about it soon after. Anyway, we travel to the Wood of Sharp Teeth, highlighted on the map below:  On the way there, we are actually ambushed by an Ogre Mage:  That one doesn't count, though, so we continue on. In the Wood of Sharp Teeth, we find Ettercaps. Khalid actually gets his last level right there but Jaheira is still a few hundred XP away from hers. What we don't find are Ogre Magi. Since this quest is mod content I do a quick search to see if it's actually there or if there are known bugs. I find a thread on the Pocketplane forums that redirects me to the Bandit Camp. Also, apparently there's only one Ogre Mage.  We find some Chill members that haven't yet realized that their company was forcibly disbanded a few months ago. We find no Ogre Mage. So I search the web again and find some other forum thread somewhere saying the Ogre Mage in question is in the Larswood area. So that is where we go.  Is it a song about the specific whereabouts of a certain Ogre Mage? It's not.  Hello, friend bear. You will be pleased to know that we have recently conquered an island for your noble kind. Now, you wouldn't by chance have come across an Ogre Mage recently?  Have you recently attempted to kick any Ogre Mages in the oh never mind you're already dead.  Yes, you ARE a very good boy but do you know where we can find an Ogre Mage? That would make you the BEST boy. We find no Ogre Mage in the Larswood. That's because the mod that puts it there is Northern Tales of the Sword Coast. Which I haven't installed. I find this information when I search for the location of the Ogre Mage again and find another Pocketplane thread. Which reveals that the Ogre Mage from the Unfinished Business mod was moved from the Bandit Camp to Peldvale - the only forested area in the region I haven't tried at this point - some years ago. Finally. It is time.  Even the combined might of six Gibberlings cannot hold us back. We're coming for that Ogre Mage.  He anticlimactically dies to AoE spam.   At least when we get back to Shilo Chen to turn in the quest she'll surely--  OR I guess he could just bug out and refuse to talk to me. We do what must be done.  Arnaldo the Shaman has spent 8,600 gold to restore his reputation and is no longer welcome in the Elfsong Tavern. (I get Jaheira her last level by killing a spider in the sewers.) Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 03:24 on Feb 11, 2019 |
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Feb 11, 2019 03:15
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biscuits and crazy posted:
gently caress that fight so much.
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Feb 11, 2019 03:23
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Arnaldo the Shaman has continued his vacation from the main plot of BG1. Now that Khalid and Jaheira have reached the level cap, it's time for them to have some time for themselves as the rest of the party solves Dorn's personal vendetta. Rasaad is also added to the party because his quest is triggered after two talks about his brother Gamaz, both of which are timed to be a couple days apart.  Things go ever so slightly wrong during the first fight of Dorn's quest. The Necromancer he's after casts Horror during a cutscene, which I didn't remember since I've only done Dorn's quest once previously so I don't cast Protection from Fear beforehand. Luckily, we have all the explosives we need and the only enemies for our panicked party members to run into are Gibberlings so nothing can go wrong.  Nothing at all.  That's a fairly somber thought to use as a battle cry but whatever floats your boat, dude. Notably, one of the enemies here drops Elven Chainmail, which is completely useless to the party right now but kept around in case I decide to use the Skald companion in SoD or something. And that's it for Dorn. Rasaad's first talk about his brother also triggered so he's sent back to Nashkel to entertain the townsfolk for the time being. Arnaldo picks his legal guardians back up and we're off to Durlag's Tower.  Coran gets really excited about red rectangles on the floor.   About 5 minutes into exploring the Tower, Imoen reaches her personal level cap and gets her Thief levels back. And just like that, Coran's ultimate test ends as Imoen has 100 Find Traps to his 90 so she's back on trapfinding duty. Jaheira gives him a C- and a stern look.     So this fight right here marks one of the points in the game where I routinely question my decision to let SCS install prebuffing Mages, and occasionally my decision to use SCS at all. The Ghost uses his immunities to his benefit by casting Cloudkill and Stinking Cloud centered on himself, which is fair enough. But pair that with a couple Sequencers and it's a little annoying to deal with. And then SCS mages all try to exploit the turn-based but also real time nature of the game by running around constantly trying to get your melee characters to waste attacks. And this guy has Teleport Field. And this place is pathfinding hell. gently caress this guy. It's far from an impossible fight but gently caress him, seriously. I overcome him by using the advanced stratagem of feeding him Hobgoblins until he runs out of spells while the party chills out of sight.  In the first level of the actual dungeon, Jaheira kills Love but with its last breath Love kills Coran. I'm sure they'd both appreciate the slightly tragic humor of this turn of events if they could see the future.  Another case of pathfinding hell: Jaheira gets pushed into a Cloudkill by a Nymph just as she is casting Zone of Sweet Air, turning this fight into a mad dash through three active cloud effects.  The Demon Knight has given me some trouble in the past (and I still remember that he killed Neera with a Power Word, Kill during last year's Ironman) so I'm going in with full force. All the buffs I've got available, a couple of consumables, baiting him into wasting his Dispel on buffed summons, etc. Also definitely keeping Neera out of his sight this time. He does get a Power Word, Blind off on Khalid and Coran at some point which forces me to actually melee him, but at this point he's at very low HP and Jaheira quickly takes care of him. Before taking on Aec'Letec, it's time to tie up some loose ends, so Khalid and Jaheira make room for some temporary party members again.  We've cleared out the fortress months ago but I didn't want to deal with Dynaheir's situation then and wasn't sure if I wanted her and Minsc in the party down the line. So now we finally save her just so meeting these two in SoD makes some sense. Loose end number two is Rasaad's quest. Enough time has passed while the party was exploring Durlag's Tower for Rasaad to tell Arnaldo the whole story about how his brother was killed by Dark Moon Monks but he never got to see the body.  We return to Baldur's Gate and promptly get ambushed by said Dark Moon Monks. Also, we're currently down to 5 party members, but Imoen, returned to the thieving community, finds a new friend:  Alora is quite good IF you get her early-ish, actually, thanks to her Rabbit's Foot giving her a +2 Luck bonus, which makes her a very decent archer and a great backstabber and dart thrower. It also doubles as a Ring of Protection +2 and boosts her Thief skills. At this point, though, she's a level 6 Thief in a mostly level-capped party. That's fine, though, we're going to be fighting Monks, who as we have seen rank barely half a step above the common Gibberling. And I just like Alora.  I'm not quite entirely sure all of these stage directions in banters are completely necessary, though. Anyway, we're in the Cloud Peak Mountains, home of Dark Moon Monks and Trolls with goofy smiles:   I love this dialogue option. Also, as cliché as Rasaad's story is, I do like it, although Gamaz' voice acting doesn't do it any favors. Unfortunately, the quest is way too easy. In part because the enemies are fairly low level for a quest that doesn't unlock until you can access Baldur's Gate. But mainly because Monks.  Case in point, I use the Wand of Monster Summoning to cover the party's back in the fight against Gamaz and the summons easily dispatch two Dark Moon Monks. Also, in her brief time with the party, Alora has killed more enemies and earned 4x as many XP as Rasaad has so far, who was also present for Dorn's quest and a few fights against respawned Gnolls. Monks.  We have given the bears an island, now we have given them a mountain stronghold. Soon the glorious Bear Empire shall rise.  I think Rasaad has a fairly decent reason to be a bit less fun to be around right now but she has a point. Arnaldo buys a couple rounds for everyone. The next day, a hungover Rasaad and Alora are replaced with Khalid and Jaheira again and it's back to Ulgoth's Beard.  This fight is outright unfair with SCS installed due to the combination of high level Mages and backstabbers starting close enough to the party to get a poke in during the first round of combat. But that late in the game you've got so many consumables it barely matters, and it only takes 6 Potions of Invisibility for the party to be able to prebuff in peace and steamroll the cultists.  Not dealing with your bullshit either, sorry. Now, Aec'Letec is pretty tough with SCS installed. His targeting is usually pretty smart and he'll attempt to dispel any protection against gaze attacks you've got. However, I have a cunning plan:  It's kiting him with an archer. I give Coran the Boots of Speed and a Protection from Magic scroll, then buff everybody up to bumrush the Mage accompanying Aec'Letec and maybe a cultist before quickly retreating up the stairs and leaving Coran to his bloody work. Of course, my great plan fails immediately as Arnaldo fails his save against a Hold effect in the first round of the fight. So that was one of the scariest moments of the run right there.  Luckily, this party is capable of dishing out enough damage fast enough to prevent anything really bad from happening. Also, after the initial Hold Person Aec'Letec is merciful and wastes his abilities on summons and Khalid, who is on a Potion of Invulnerability and various other buffs. That definitely could have ended really badly for Arnaldo right there if Aec'Letec had used his death gaze better but I'll take it. Next up, fratricide. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Feb 13, 2019 |
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Feb 13, 2019 03:19
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Olive Branch posted:Some serious near misses with Arnaldo and Rip there, folks. Watch out!
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Feb 13, 2019 12:11
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docbeard posted:But we win the day and are free of the curse. (I've never tested it before, do you actually end up as a werewolf if you just...don't fight Mendas?) There was a Baldur's Gate Trilogy bug that advanced time too much during the boat trip home, causing an instant game over as soon as you reached the Ulgoth's Beard docks.
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Feb 13, 2019 12:47
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Arnaldo the Shaman has...uh? Well, it's time to bring this to an end. Arnaldo returns to Candlekeep and...  ...is greeted by a bunch of Ogre Mages that SCS moves there from some random house somewhere in Baldur's Gate. 6 Potions of Magic Blocking make them a complete pushover. I don't know how you're supposed to beat them without outright magic immunity since they start prebuffed and surrounding the party.  It's good to be home. Until Arnaldo has to kill some doppelgangers that have infiltrated Candlekeep and gets framed for multiple murders that he didn't actually commit soon after finding out his father is the dead god of murder.  I'm not sure if Ulraunt is a doppelganger or just an especially stupid rear end in a top hat.  More doppelgangers...  ...and Phase Spiders teleporting next to the party as soon as we enter an area, a weird AI bug that already happened way back in the Cloakwood.  The only fight really worth mentioning before fighting Sarevok. Krystin gets a Chaos off which forces me to kill my own summons so they don't end up going Jack the Ripper.  I expected special Doppelganger variants here; I remember an Assassin and a Shaman I think? All I get are regular Greater Doppelgangers, though.  Arnaldo continues a day of good deeds. Way too many slimes and skeletons later, we find some nice armor the EE hides in the Undercity:  Coran wears it for the last 20 minutes of the game since he doesn't really have a use for his Thief skills in the final battle.  It is time for The Big Gulp. And then, we at last confront Sarevok. Which is where things go weird.  Sarevok, standing in a Cloudkill Imoen sent his way, hints at the gimmick SCS adds to this fight, which is that he can't be killed as long as his acolytes (Tazok, Semaj, Angelo and the SCS-added Diarmid) are still alive. Then he continues to stand in the Cloudkill, although it doesn't do anything to him because he has remaining acolytes. Semaj also stands in the Cloudkill however, and he is very mortal. Accordingly, Semaj falls down at some point and turns into a Skeleton Warrior, prompting more gloating from Sarevok who however still doesn't bother to fight:  Angelo and Tazok are actively fighting me at this point but get overwhelmed with ease. I have no idea where Diarmid is at the time. It later turns out he's just spawned out of sight to the left of the throne. He stands there until I come over to kill him. It is then that Sarevok also finally deigns to join the fray.  Also, he gets a little upset when we kill Diarmid, his last acolyte.  Khalid gets the killing blow in the least exciting final battle I have ever witnessed.  That's maybe a bit harsh but at the same time, probably not wrong. Oh, and I can look at Khalid's stats because the game doesn't actually end with Sarevok's death. I'm not sure what happened there. I replayed the fight a second time and ran into the same bug, and then I tried to find out if it is a known bug. The only information I could find is an ancient thread about a bug introduced by SCS and a thread on the Beamdog forums that got no useful replies. I'm pretty sure I can blame SCS for this because there have been some other weird moments like the Phase Spiders with infinite detection range. I could probably figure out what the specific issue is. It might even be something discussed in that thread from 2008. But as anticlimactic as it was I'm just gonna say gently caress it and claim this as a successful run because I don't remember ever even having a party member die in the final battle, with or without SCS installed. I've got too many potions and wands for Sarevok and his acolytes to contend with, not to mention Arrows of Dispelling. For now, I have made a save after killing Sarevok and imported it into Siege of Dragonspear.  At least this guy acknowledges Sarevok is dead. Thanks, bro. So, yeah. I guess Arnaldo finished BG1. Hooray?  Honors: Ironling, Strategist, Librarian, Trap Dodger, Honorable Trader. Of course, SCS shat the bed hard during the final battle so the Strategist honor is maybe a bit debatable. Dishonors: None although I should mention that I set HP rolls to always be maximized because I forgot to install a mod that restricts them to the upper half of the range NWN style. Also, I just realized I forgot to kill Kahrk. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 08:31 on Feb 14, 2019 |
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Feb 14, 2019 07:39
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docbeard posted:Ruling out the obvious, but you don't have the mod that makes Tamoko a joinable NPC installed, do you? Because that also adds a bit of interstitial stuff between BG1 and SoD. (Nothing exciting, basically you leave the temple, the Sword of Chaos gets stolen from you, you talk to the Dukes and Imoen leaves the party, and then you go into SoD next time you go back down to the temple. Basically making you play out the SoD Starter Dungeon backstory.) Some SCS components don't seem to have installed properly. So I got omniscient Phase Spiders and a really lazy Sarevok. So lazy he didn't even bother to die properly. The components improving the Gnoll Fortress and Doppelgangers, including the ones in the Ducal Palace, seem to not have been installed at all although I selected them. e: I think Kaishas' Werewolf reinforcements might also not have appeared but that fight didn't last long. I might be able to fix the final fight by reinstalling the SCS component for it but this far into a run I don't want to do that. I mean, Infinity Engine games are fragile. biscuits and crazy posted:I got the same bug in my run. I solved it by using the console to warp to the Undercity and then re-entered the Temple. Anticlimactic as it may have been, Arnaldo's fratricide has at least been acknowledged by the game now. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Feb 14, 2019 |
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Feb 14, 2019 18:14
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Arnaldo the Shaman is on his way to Dragonspear Castle. It is, in fact, full of moldy bones, most of which we fight, some of which we do quests for. The Korlasz family tomb actually isn't that easy for a first dungeon, especially since we're down to 5 party members as Imoen decides to sit this DLC out.  But in the end, nothing can stand against explosives. Korlasz surrenders but sparing her now would just mean we have to fight her again with even less party members, so she dies now.   Some ironic foreshadowing later, Arnaldo takes up residence in the Ducal Palace.  It's still an impenetrable fortress.   Never say that Arnaldo does not appreciate fine art.  I'll leave the rest of the prologue chapter undocumented here because it's just small side quests and recruiting companions but I would like to say that Arnaldo ended BG1 with the grand total of 2,265 gold to his name. Also that he makes 34,700 by selling gems that he has stockpiled since the Cloakwood.  Even though he is a half-orc (also son of Bhaal), Arnaldo is not immune to momentary lapses of reason resulting in accidental racism.  He draws the line at unapologetic racism, though, so Corwin's short time with us is over and I find myself with two Shamans in the party.  While, as established previously, Arnaldo appreciates the arts, he can be somewhat literal-minded.   Also, as much as Arnaldo's looks would lend themselves to be immortalized with a statue, this is not the way to go about these things, and Arnaldo's relationship with the local art scene continues to be complicated. Anyway, this fight and the spiders in the area show me that Minsc alone, even backed by summons and Glint when I can be bothered to buff him, is maybe not quite enough as a frontline.  Help me in my time of madness, but I'm using Rasaad again.  So, Iron Party isn't happening. Still better than traveling with Corwin the racist bitch.   As suboptimal as this party may still be, it's fun to just go balls to the wall with 4 casters.  Semahl lives.  One thing I notice in this dungeon is that the Shamanic Dance isn't canceled upon resting, but completing an uninterrupted rest, so any summoned spirits stick around to watch over the party's sleep. Which is kinda cute and also useful to take care of monsters interrupting the party's rest without losing any more HP. And the Bladed Skeletons in this dungeon are brutal and, together with level-draining enemies, force us to rest a couple of times, so it's appreciated.  There's a mod that converts SoD banters to standard dialogue format which I'll never go without again because a conversation of this length would almost certainly be interrupted by something before it could finish ordinarily.  Junior Lich Coldhearth goes down so fast I don't even get a screenshot of him so here's a hasted fireproof Minsc melting his phylactery down instead.   The fight against the crusaders that aren't blown up by their own Mage that ensues here is a complete shitshow of dice rolls going against me. They make all their saves while Minsc fails his against some stun effect. Not a real problem in the end, but I don't manage to kill any of these guys and miss out on some inconsequential XP and loot. Also, Minsc gets saved by the bell/Caelar showing up to parlay when he's at 18 HP and still stunned.  I've installed the Shine On Caelar mod which will possibly allow Arnaldo to join her later on. So Arnaldo will at least consider his options.  For now, there's the matter of the exploded bridge forcing a detour. A detour that will allow me to recruit additional party members, at least, because drat my damage output dropped when Minsc got stunned and Rasaad was the only warrior (well, sort of) left.    The chapter ends as it began, with the appreciation of fine art depicting Arnaldo's glorious visage, and then Arnaldo the Shaman is on his way to the Troll Claw Woods. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Feb 17, 2019 |
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Feb 17, 2019 18:15
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Also:Angry Lobster posted:The end.  Curse you, Cheeseburger!
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Feb 17, 2019 18:19
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Angry Lobster posted:Also I'm really looking forward to Arnaldo getting to Bg2, I'm interested in shamans and see what can they do in the higher levels. I don't think Arnaldo will make it all the way to the Throne of Bhaal with all the mods I want to install but even if he dies I'll do a non-ironman playthrough of BG2 in the future. So far the Shaman was even worse than I thought early on because it takes ages to get past level 2 and 3 spells, and even with the IWDification mod that's just a whole lot of situational utility, usable but not exactly spectacular single target damage, and straight up garbage. Also, due to how the leveling tables work, Jaheira was a better caster than Arnaldo for most of BG1. When Arnaldo got to level 4 spells he was able to hold his own but a Shaman in BG1 is kind of superfluous because the best spells you get are AoE damage and summons, both of which you probably always have on tap thanks to wands and other consumables. I don't know if that should go into this thread but I think I'll start an IWD ironman soon, maybe even parallel to Arnaldo. I think Shamans should do a bit better there than in BG1. IWD gets you past the early levels fairly quickly and because of its encounter design and the game being slightly less generous with consumables the actual good stuff Shamans got to offer should be more relevant. Arnaldo has been decent in SoD so far and it's fairly close to IWD in design philosophy. Speaking of, short update because a fair amount of relevant stuff happened in the Troll Claw Woods and Analdo the Shaman has reached lofty new heights of shamanic power.  Finally, Jaheira is back. I like Viconia's SoD characterization a lot but I used Safana during my last SoD run so Glint stays with us. And considering Arnaldo and Jaheira both have some overlap with Cleric spells as well Viconia is superfluous now. Rasaad makes way for Voghiln the viking with a German accent who I haven't used before at all. Skalds are alright. His stats are decent. SoD has a ton of good equipment for Bards. So I'll see what he can do, at least until I get Neera back.  Jaheira is no longer used to the rigors of the adventuring life and falls asleep in her first battle. Much more importantly, Arnaldo levels up.  We have reached the promised land and it is full of gnats.  Arnaldo immediately shares his breakthrough with a Troll Shamaness he meets nearby. She does not appreciate it.  So, this cave contains the first of a couple of Enchanted Weapon scrolls you can pick up. Voghiln also starts with the spell. That's potentially necessary because the final battle requires +3 weapons and there aren't any available for a lot of proficiencies. So far, so good as far as slightly questionable design goes. What's really annoying is that Dynaheir, as an Invoker, can't cast the spell. Also, I imagine that somewhere, sometime, someone lost the final battle because they needed Neera to cast it and she lost the spell to a Wild Surge. If not, I might be that someone soon, who knows?  More Flaming Fist racism and Arnaldo is now very strongly considering what Caelar had to say.  We find out that their reason for fighting the Crusade is...about as good as any, really. Considering the Flaming Fist is a mercenary company to begin with and also apparently full of racists, Arnaldo trusts these guys more than most of the troops he's already traveling and supposed to fight with.  The Troll Claw Woods are home to much, much more than just Trolls, as we find out when we try to make camp. About ten times in a row.    On the way out of these overpopulated woods we find some signs of a battle/more foreshadowing and Carsomyr's stupid little brother. Next up, Boareskyr Bridge and the Forest of Wyrms.
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Feb 19, 2019 00:07
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Olive Branch posted:Go for it, I'll even clarify on the OP it's an IWD run. I never finished that game myself. For now, Arnaldo the Shaman has reconnected with his father. It's time to see what can be done about the besieged fort on Arnaldo's way. He tries his luck with open and honest communication:  Arnaldo is shocked but no amount of waving the portrait he collected from one of Caelar's assassins and his golden bust around helps. Oh well. Time to explore the area. Our findings in summary:    There's a lot to fight but thanks to Web, Insect Plague and Cloudkill, we are always in complete control.   I bring M'Khiin to this cave just to see if she has something to say to the Goblins inhabiting it, but she doesn't. We do find a Shaman-specific item, though.  Always in complete control.  Glint gets close a few times in this battle but Rasaad remains the only party member to have died so far.  Voghiln, please. We don't even have that quest yet. We aren't even supposed to know we're about to meet Neera again soon. What kind of Bard spoils things like that? Oh well. Time for the big dungeon of the area, which is overall my favorite area in SoD.  drat it, you useless Gnome, JUMP! So yeah, I forgot Dragons can't be backstabbed. Better now than against Firkraag I guess. It's not a big deal anyway. The party is protected from poison and buffed to such stupid degrees that Morentherene doesn't put up much of a fight. Minsc and Glint lose like 15 HP each.  Should have brought Baeloth along, I'm sure he would have appreciated the cautionary tale of Captured Crusader Keherrem and the Kooky Cultists. Anyway, since Arnaldo is strongly considering joining Caelar, he makes an effort to help them.  Open and honest communication, part two. Results as expected but at least we get some keys to release the prisoners:    The Neothelid gave me some trouble the first time I played SoD, but with enough buffs and Magic Missiles to take care of its Mordenkainen's Swords it's not that much of a threat. Unlike the following fight, the Shadow Aspect. My plan to deal with it is to send a summon in and target that summon with an Insect Plague as it is on its way to at least disable the Shadow Aspect's spellcasting. Also, Jaheira memorizes True Seeing and Dynaheir Detect Invisibility.  I send a lonely Skeleton Warrior into the Shadow Aspect's room but mistime the Insect Plague. The Skeleton Warrior gets destroyed before the gnats can reach it and the spell fizzles out. So that's not great. But, thanks to True Seeing, we manage to interrupt the Shadow Aspect's spellcasting by just hitting her a lot. The second Insect Plague gets her and her summons. However, I had to move Jaheira up further than I would have liked after the failed first Plague, and the Shadow Aspect zeroes in on her. One backstab later and Jaheira is at about half HP. That's again not great, because if our source of True Seeing goes down we might have to cut and run. Luckily, with the help of the Boots of Speed Jaheira manages to discourage the Shadow Aspect from pursuing her further and the fight soon ends:   Arnaldo still has a Greenstone Amulet that he bought all the way back in Ulgoth's Beard, so the first Illithid he fights ends up being a pushover.  The high priestess is appreciative until we attack her. Unfortunately, there's no way of making her see the error of her cult leading ways using the raw power of 19 Charisma.  Pretty cold, Jaheira. Also, we have decimated the local Green Dragon population a fair bit, so to help conserve the species Arnaldo decides to help this one. At last, we can enter Bridgefort:  In the fort, we have a second pair of Boots of Speed made, as well as new armor for Arnaldo (who gets the honor of wearing the first suit of Dragonscale Armor), Jaheira and M'Khiin.  We also find Neera again. And Adoy, kind of. Before we can continue on and help her get rid of Adoy, there's the issue of a rock infused with dark magic being catapulted into the fort to take care of. Also, some necromancy within the fort.   Dynaheir solves the former, violence the latter.  The one time I've completed BG1 with Khalid in the party and gone on to do SoD as well. Here he is, in command of the fort, at a very respectable level 8, and not naked. And Arnaldo goes on to surrender. Sorry, Khalid, but if we want to join Caelar another burned bridge between her and Arnaldo wouldn't do, so killing a camp full of Crusaders isn't happening.  Of course, the Crusaders still attempt to blow the bridge we need to cross next up, but their Mage can't get a spell off thanks to Cloudkill and Insect Plague.  Well. At least it's still standing. Next up, Arnaldo successfully finishes crossing a bridge. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Feb 20, 2019 |
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Feb 20, 2019 05:13
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JustJeff88 posted:Apart from IWDification, which I've heard mentioned several times here, are there any other good mods for improving druid/shaman/bard spell and ability selection? While I prefer BG, IWD, both 1 and 2, did a grand job of making druids and vanilla bards less crap much of the time. I'm aware that IWD2 was based on 3rd edition rules, but the point stands. Shaman look fun, but They seem to be dead weight until about character level 7 or so. But then the slow leveling speed compared to Druids catches up with Shamans and they're stuck on the lower spell levels for way too long. The Dance also goes from annoying to use but occasionally helpful to a waste of time. Also, I wouldn't really want to put the time and effort into an Ironman run that would be required for a Let's Play but since a bunch of people seem to either not have played IWD at all or ages ago I'll make sure I show all the important story events. Angry Lobster posted:He was nearly dead but suddenly I get killed from full health to 0 in less than a second, so I guess some kind of instant death effect (quivering palm?), what a bullshit way to kick the bucket, especially after the hellish fight with Abazigal.
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Feb 22, 2019 07:59
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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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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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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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Oof!Ulvino posted:Hmm. Larswood was available in Chapter 1 right?
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Feb 27, 2019 06:27
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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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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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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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biscuits and crazy posted:Rogue Rebalancing
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Mar 1, 2019 01:18
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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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