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 A new decade of ironman looms as the 2020 edition of Something Awful Baldur's Gate Ironman Challenge begins. Once again we will see which Bhaalspawn will go to the distance and which will die to the the first random encounter. Do you have what it takes to claim your fathers throne? How many of Gorion's wards will live to see even Amn? It is time to strike forth. You can buy the Enhanced Edition of the game and its sequels on Steam or on GOG.com. The EE editions are also available for tablets and have modern conveniences like widescreen support and zooming in and out of the game. Some people prefer to play the non-EE editions, but they're harder to come by. The older CD versions can be bought used off Amazon or something. Roll of Heroes Alive, for now Heather, the half-orc Kensai. has defeated Bodhi. Spalding Rockwell, the elven mage-thief has defeated the Nashkel mines. Crick Watson, Human Wizard Slayer has moved onto Athkatla. Montarno, the hobbit fighter/thief is exploring the Cloakwood mines. Isabelle, the Priest of Helm is clearing Tales of the Sword Coast. Sirena the gnome Barbarian has defeated Tarnesh. Verity the half elf half cleric half mage has killed the amazons and cleared the Nashkel mines. Blailey the Dwarven fighter/cleric has made it to the Friendly Arm Inn. George Jetson human berseker/mage is grinding for levels against fire giants. Koveras, elven Fighter/Mage/Thief has woke up in Candlekeep. Maleficarum, the human Fighter/mage is being tested on his way to the Throne of Bhaal. Varisa Stabberton human Swashbuckler. has cleared the bandit camp. Mavok, human priest of talos has made it to the Friendly Arm Inn. Verbeyna, the Half-Elf Fighter/Mage/Thief has arrived in Amn Ellie, the elven mage/thief. is on their way to Nashkel. Camilla the Elf Stalker is heading towards Baldur's Gate Tripp Fisk Priest of Helm has cleared the Nashkel mines. Sully the Half Orc Assassin! has cleared the Nashkel Mines. The Fallen Wards Foolio Displasius. the ranger died to an ogre with a belt fetish. Japhy Whitman, Gnome Fighter/Illusionist Fell to bandits Thog the half orc kensai has his flesh melted. anilEhilated's 4 nameless characters died before they could get a name. Shadowstalker died inside the walls of Candlekeep. Fred Flinstone the human Berserker/Mage die to hubris at the hands of Kangaxx Beelzebubbles the Shaman died to wolves outside the temple in Beregost. Thog 2 the half orc kensai sequel to Thog died facing the Amazons. Ashe, human kensai died facing their half brother. Theo the Ranger! died to a wizard with slime fetish. Scooby Doo the elven Sorcerer died to a call lightning outside Trademeet. Arco Priest of Helm fell to a werewolf. Stormlord Sam died to wolves outside Nashkel. Betty the Half Orc Berserker was slain by Durlag for daring to assault his tower. Cornell the Human Illusionist died to Tranzig's magic. Flint Stonington, the Dwarven Defender was stunned to death by vampires. William the Elf Fighter/Mage didn't have a very fun time at the carnival. Greyta, Gnome Cleric/Thief died to a wolf trying to save a chicken. Benedict the Human Cavalier. died to assassins in a random encounter. Arris, human enchanter. died to cowled wizards. Gertryude, Half-Orc Cleric/Thief died to the flaming fist. Sirena, Gnome Barbarian fell to the Belt Ogre. Ellie the Elf Mage/Thief was felled by a Ghast. Mugsy 2 the human Skald died to Greywolf Theron, the elf sorcerer died to wolves outside Candlekeep. Grasped Victory Fred Flintstone the human berserker divide and conquered Sarevok Honors: Ironling, Purist, Librarian, Honorable Trader Dishonors: None Scooby Doo the elven Sorcerer defeated Sarevok with skull traps. Honors: Ironling, Purist, Librarian, Honorable Trader Dishonors: None Flint Stonington, the dwarven Defender defeated Sarevok Honors: Ironling, Purist, Honorable Trader, Battlemaster, Roleplayer Dishonors: None George Jetson the human berserker got lucky against Sarevok. Honors: Ironling, Purist, Librarian, Honorable Trader, Iron Party Dishonors: None George Jetson human berserker mage reclaimed their divine soul from Irenicus. Honors: Ironman, Purist, Dragon Slayer, Gaxkang's a Wuss, Legendary Arms. Dishonors: OP-ium Addict. Heather, the half-orc Kensai baited Sarevok into a skull trap. Honors: Ironling, Purist, Honorable Trader, Roleplayer. Dishonor: None. Arris, human enchanter got revenge and killed Sarevok. HONORS:Ironling, Purist, Librarian, Trap Dodger, Honorable Trader, Battlemaster DISHONORS: None Maleficarum, the human Fighter slew Sarevok and only lost a depressed elf. Honors: Ironling, Purist, Librarian, Honorable Trader, Battlemaster Dishonors: None. Maleficarum, the human Fighter/Mage stopped the crusade. Honors: Siegebreaker, Purist, Honorable Trader, Roleplayer Dishonors: None. Maleficarum, the human Fighter/Mage has defeated Irenicus and reclaimed their soul. Honors: Ironman, Purist, Honorable Trader, Dragon Slayer, Gaxkang's a Wuss, Legendary Arms, Roleplayer, Leader of the Underdogs. Dishonors: None Verbeyna, the Half-Elf Fighter/Mage/Thief has killed Sarevok. Honors: Ironling, Purist, Librarian, Honorable Trader, Iron Party, Roleplayer, A God Among Men Dishonors: None Isabelle priest of helm killed Sarevok in personal combat. Honors:Ironling, Strategist, Librarian, Trap Dodger, Honourable Trader, Iron Party, Battlemaster, Double Damage. Dishonors:None Isabelle, Priest of Helm, went to Avernus and back. Honors: Siege Breaker, Strategist, Double Damage, Honourable Trader, Iron Party. Dishonors:None Camilla the Elf Stalker paralyzed Sarevok to kill him. Honors: Ironling, Strategist, Purist, Honorable Trader (BG1). Dishonors: Crick Watson, wizard slayer killed Sarevok and all his allies. Honors: Ironling, Strategist, Librarian, Trap Dodger, Honorable Trader. Dishonors: none Crick Watson, Wizard Slayer has returned from Avernus and been caught in a trap. Honors: Siege Breaker Dishonors: None Melicamp the Chicken Counter Melicamp Lived: 11 times Melicamp Died: 7 times FAQ Q: What exactly are the rules for an Ironman run? A: The rules of Ironman runs are simple. No savescumming or reloading games for any purpose other than resuming where you last left off, or in case of a gamebreaking bug or crash. If you are killed, your run is over. If you are unhappy with a dice roll or outcome of a fight and reload, your run is over. You may re-roll your stats and spend as much time as you'd like creating your character, but the moment you venture forth into the game proper, you are bound by the rules... Note that the whole thing runs on the honor system and is just for fun, so if your character dies and you want to keep playing your save file, feel free to, but please accept that for all intents and purposes, you are not Ironmanning anymore! Q: Can I post spoilers or discuss strategies in this thread? A: Absolutely. This is an Ironman thread, and it's assumed that everyone has played the series at least once. There are even people who have done a full Ironman run before! Discussion for approaching hard fights, surviving tough stretches of the game, or just talking about companions is welcomed. Q: How should I be posting or documenting my run? A: Many posters normally post screenshots of important events or fights to show progress, as well as write a few lines saying what they were able to do. Some may forego that and just say what they were able to accomplish, and others write up their runs like a short, simple Let's Play or present their run in a comical lens. Do whatever you'd like, but please don't be obnoxious about it. If you want to stream your run and link it here, feel free to let us know when you'll be going at it, and where you end up each session! Q: Can I use mods or play in a difficulty level other than Core Rules? A: Play your way, but please indicate what mods or difficulty you'll be using if not going for a vanilla core rules run. For fun, we have "honors" and "dishonors" so check those out if you want to get a particular accolade... or razzing! Q: Is this a competition? Is there any verification process? A: Like I said, this is purely for fun and works on the honor system. All we're playing for here is bragging rights and nerd cred, and some sweet, sweet honor badges that you can point to down the line and go, "Hell yeah, I Ironmanned one of the longest trilogies in CRPG history." If you really want to up the ante, like soloing on Insanity with a Shaman or something, that's up to you! Q: What do I get for finishing my run, or dying? A: You finished a run? Great! Look at the list of honors and dishonors below and list what "achievements" you were able to obtain in a well-deserved self-congratulatory post. You died? Boo! Say where and how you died (e.g. "Outside Candlekeep, to that goddamn wolf.") and your death will be memorialized in the Graveyard of Gorion's Wards. You can always try again with the same character or make a new one! Q: Do I have to start in Baldur's Gate 1 and end in Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal? A: No. You can start and end at any point you want. You'll be added to the Throne of Triumph if you succeed through at least one full game, and I'll indicate where you started and ended, as well as what (dis)honors you picked up on! Q: How do I set up custom portraits? A: Thanks to biscuits and crazy for this copy-pasted answer. The measurements for player portraits are 38X60 pixels for the smaller portraits (8-bit color runs faster but it can be up to 24 bit color), and 110X170 pixels for the larger portraits. To use a custom portrait, place it in the Portraits directory (in the install directory for the game) and add an S to the end of the small portrait name and an L to the end of the large portrait - otherwise the two names must be identical. The names must be 1-7 letters long, maximum - so the filename with the S or L added to the end is no longer than 8 total characters. The portrait files must be in BMP format. For example: XXXXXXXS.bmp for small (38x60, 8-bit) XXXXXXXL.bmp for large (110x170, 24-bit) For the Enhanced Editions, the measurements for player portraits are 210x330 pixels. Portraits are automatically resized by the game, so you don't need to make small and large versions of the same portrait. (If downloading a portrait pack with multiple sizes of the same portrait, keep the largest one.) The portrait files must be in BMP format. The Portraits folder must be created in the game directory found in "My Documents." The file name cannot exceed 8 characters. Q: What is this "Melicamp the Chicken" counter? A: There's a sidequest in Baldur's Gate 1 with a chicken who is actually a polymorphed mage named Melicamp. The outcome of the quest has a 50-50 chance of turning him back into a human being or just killing him outright. For fun and as part of the tradition of whim and luck in an ironman world, we keep track of how often he lives or dies. Join in and let us know the fate of the man-chicken in your updates! Other Information hen you've made your character, include the name, class, and a screenshot of the character sheet upon creation (the Print Screen button will take a screenshot and deposit it in your Baldur's Gate folder). Irfanview is also an easy alternative. As the thread winds on we'll have a lot of images, so please use [timg] tags if you're posting large images. If this thread gets going in full it is possible I will occasionally miss posted updates about characters. When posting an update for your character, please include his/her name and class in bold. For example, "Ashar the Assassin completed BG1". Also, if you post updates like "Krug the Barbarian has cleared the Nashkel Mines", I will update your status accordingly. The main Baldur's Gate thread is over here... for now! If you want to check out mods, check out these sites. If you have more sites, let me know! Gibberlings 3 Spellhold Studios Pocket Plane Group Here's a list of mods used before, again courtesy of biscuits and crazy: ToBEx - Hardcode hacks to change things normal mods can't (not compatible with the Enhanced Edition). Assassinations - Extra content in BG2, especially for the Evil characters. BG1 Unfinished Business - Restoring cut content for BG1. Unfinished Business - Restoring cut content for BG2. Almateria's Restoration Project - Goon-made mod to restore even more BG2 cut content. SCS - AI and challenge mod for both BG1 and BG2. Requires hotfixes (Already applied on the download on that page) to work on current versions of the Enhanced Editions of BG1 and BG2. BG2 Tweakpack - Options for changing your game galore. Rogue Rebalancing - Changes Thieves and Bards to be more like in PnP, adds extra items for Rogues, and adds a very challenging and optional encounter to BG2. aTweaks - Tweaks various creatures, including demons and elementals to be more like in PnP. Also has a wide variety of other tweaks not found in other tweak packs. Modmerge - Required to mod the Steam and GOG versions of BG:EE with the Siege of Dragonspear expansion. Feel free to post any mods you think should be added here. Below are the lists of honors and dishonors. Aim for them if you please, but feel free to ignore them if they aren't fun for you.   Ironling: Complete Baldur's Gate 1.Siege Breaker: Complete the Siege of Dragonspear expansion (requires Ironling).  Iron(wo)man: Complete Baldur's Gate 2 (requires Ironling, does not require Siege Breaker). Irongod: Complete Throne of Bhaal (requires Iron(wo)man). Strategist: Complete Baldur's Gate 1 with the Sword Coast Stratagems mod. Tactician: Complete Baldur's Gate 2 with either the Sword Coast Stratagems or the Tactics mod. Born Hero(ine): Do not reroll your stat total during character creation, take the first set given to you. Redistribution of stats is okay. If you choose not to reroll, say so and you'll get an "upgraded" honor! Purist: Do not use any mods that add/modify content (except Tutu, Ascension, SCS, or Tactics), do not create extra characters for your party, and do not modify existing NPCs. Using convenience mods like infinite stacks is okay. Double Damage: Complete the game on Insane difficulty.Legacy of Bhaal: Complete the game on Legacy of Bhaal difficulty.  Overcoming Adversity: Complete the game as a Wizard Slayer, Shapeshifter, Beastmaster, or non-Blade Bard (requires Purist). Librarian: Find every stat tome in Baldur's Gate 1. Trap Dodger: Complete Durlag's Tower. Melee Champion: Complete Baldur's Gate 1 without member of your party ever using any missile weapons. Conan the Bhaalspawn: Complete the game without ever having an arcane or divine spellcaster in the party. Bhaalspawn powers and innate skills are okay. Honorable Trader: Do not steal any wares from merchants. Iron Party: Do not resurrect any dead party members (stone to flesh and freedom allowed) OR never have a party member fall in battle. Exception: Getting killed and revived by Shoal the Nereid does not invalidate this honor. Battlemaster: Kill Sarevok in Baldur's Gate 1 without summoning any creatures or laying any traps. Dragon Slayer: Kill Firkraag, the Shadow Dragon, the Black Dragon at Suldanessellar, the Silver Dragon in the Undertark, and the Dragon in the underworld. Helm's Champion: Kill Saladrex and Demogorgon in Watcher's Keep. Gaxkang's a Wuss: Kill Kangaxx in his demi-lich form. Legendary Arms: Acquire the Equalizer, Crom Faeyr, The Wave, The Silver Sword, and the Short Bow of Gesen. Swiss Valor Award: Complete the game with only neutral aligned characters in the party (lawful, true, or chaotic, must have at least 4 characters, requires Purist). Roleplayer: Do not have a good aligned character and an evil aligned character in the party at the same time (includes the PC's alignment, requires Purist). Leader of the Underdogs: Complete Baldur's Gate 2 or Throne of Bhaal with a full party of six without using Aerie, Keldorn, Edwin, or Haer'Dalis (requires Purist). A God Among Men: Complete the game solo. Do not remove or modify the level cap (requires Purist).  OP-ium Addict: Play as a Kensai/Mage, Kensai/Thief, Berserker/Cleric, Berserker/Mage, or Cleric/Mage. Scroll of Wuss: Use a scroll of Protection from Undead or Magic when fighting a lich, demi-lich or vampire. Don't Hurt Me!: Play the game on a difficulty lower than Core Rules.Note 1: Any honors that restrict choice of party members in any way (class, alignment, or anything else) do not apply inside Irenicus' Dungeon in Baldur's Gate 2. You may use anyone you want while inside it, but will have to boot the appropriate people once you reach Waukeen's Promenade. Note 2: Any honors/dishonors which do not apply to a specific game in the series can apply to any. For example, Double Damage can apply to any game in the series, and you can earn it up to four times if you go all the way from BG1 through BG2:ToB. Thanks to Gutrot for all the wonderful badges. (Parts of this thread shamelessly copied from Olive Branch's excellent thread from last year) cheesetriangles fucked around with this message at 12:37 on Mar 6, 2020 |
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Dec 6, 2019 00:06
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praying to Ilmater to have pity on all you supplicants, can’t wait to see how badly people gently caress up
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Dec 6, 2019 00:15
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Fred Flinstone the human Berserker has set out from Candlekeep. I spent a long time rolling stats  I debated weapons a lot but decided to go with longswords in the end.  First stop was Wyrms Crossing for an easy level up.  Then an easy kill of the first assassin now that I had a little bit of extra hp. Onward to Beregost!
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Dec 6, 2019 03:22
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Welp. I'm down for this.
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Dec 6, 2019 04:22
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Is there a mod that makes the spellcasting UI better? It's been a long time, I just remember hotkeys, a couple favorites, and a really long horizontal list to scroll through.
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Dec 6, 2019 05:37
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Gharbad the Weak posted:Is there a mod that makes the spellcasting UI better? It's been a long time, I just remember hotkeys, a couple favorites, and a really long horizontal list to scroll through. I don't know of any so you might be out of luck. Fred Flintstone has done a few quests and killed a 100 or so Anhkegs.  Early on I did some minor quests like this one. The lost "dog" south of Nashkel, the halfling messenger etc... Silke was not much of a trouble for me but she killed a lot of innocents.  Neera gave me a gem bag. Melicamp lived! I killed a lot of bugs. Reached my max level.Maybe time to get a party? Then the Nashkel mines I think.
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Dec 6, 2019 06:26
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Is it that time already? I haven't even done a clean re-install yet.  For those of us who are I'm using both for my attempts this year, just gotta do that re-install first. SCS v.32 is a massive change from previous versions, and I'm excited to try it out. Good luck to everyone running this year. Hopefully we'll have a few Irongods this year.
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Dec 6, 2019 12:22
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Yeah, let's do this. Meet Japhy Whitman, Gnome Fighter/Illusionist  I'm playing with a few mods, most notably SCS at the Tactical level. (The current SCS version allows for a lot of granular difficulty control, but the UI mod I'm using seems not to make the button that lets you access those options present, so I'll probably have to EEKeep in the special ability that gives you access to them instead if I feel the need to change anything.) These ridiculous stats are courtesy of an autoroller. I regret nothing. (Ignore the lute, he's not a bard, it's just an affectation).  Shank comes down with a nasty case of the on-fires. It's no Sleep, but Burning Hands is a surprisingly credible spell early on. (Not pictured, Carbos coming down with a nasty case of the full-of-arrows).  I also have the BG1 NPC project installed which is, um, a land of contrasts. I've always liked this little touch it adds though, where you can ask that Gorion be buried at Candlekeep.  Rather than head straight into Tarnesh's warm embrace, we skirt across the top of High Hedge (after mugging Xzar and Montaron, of course) and go straight to Beregost, where we get to looting. This can be a bit risky, as it can plop us right into the middle of a run-ending horde of undead, but we lucked out.  These are for sale in Feldepost's Inn, and will be useful later. For now, Japhy Whitman is relieving Beregostians of the burden of their more easily accessible possessions.
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Dec 6, 2019 12:25
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Oh, nice. Extremely in for this!
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Dec 6, 2019 13:37
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That time of the year already? I didn't make it through BG1 last year, hopefully it'll be better this time. e: Any mods to make Druid/Shaman kits better without breaking the game? anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Dec 6, 2019 |
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Dec 6, 2019 14:35
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It’s time. Say hello to Heather, the half-orc Kensai. She’s going to be specializing in throwing weapons. Let’s roll. Heather leaves Candlekeep and follows the road, swindling Xzar and Montaron off their potions on the way to the Friendly Arms Inn.  Imoen pulls Tarnesh out and even before initiating dialogue Heather one shots Tarnesh with a thrown dagger to the face, ohhh yeah!  Heather recruits Khalid and Jaheira. My initial idea was to roll out with the canon party, but I changed my mind and decided to go with something more spicy. After getting all the quests in the area, the party heads north.  Ajantis recruited, get in you dreamy beefy paladin. Now let's head to Beregost.  The group makes a quick stop to kill the belt ogre. Do you notice how Heather blew the ogre’s face with a dagger? I expect this to be the general tone of this playthrough.  Once we arrive at Beregost, I deal with the Red Wizard’s goons instead of murdering Neera in cold blood as I usually do.  Heather welcomes Neera into the party. I’m sure that wild mages are absolutely safe and no hazardous whatsoever for an ironman run and it will not blow on my face. I’m taking bets on how many hostile summoned demons Neera will pull up her rear end. Things to do: -Visit High Hedge. -Get to Nashkel. -Acquire items. -Hunt basilisks.
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Dec 6, 2019 14:59
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Welp, I'm gonna be heartbroken if this goes awry because THAT ROLL
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Dec 7, 2019 02:54
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Japhy Whitman has picked a needless fight with a foreign power, done the artistic world a favor, de-cursed a werewolf, and (Not pictured: Imoen and Japhy's criminal rampage and some quests and grinding and such that get us both to about level 3).  Well technically, the fight with Thay was picked for him. But he was happy to heroically leap into action when given no actual choice in the matter.  I normally like having a bit more Flame Arrow fodder before taking on this fight but eh, what the hell, surely the mage will fall to a well place magic miss...oh, he pre-cast Shield? Well surely my sleep spell will...oh, they all saved. (Yes, Imoen's casting spells this early, because in this timeline she's a multiclass thief/mage, because gently caress da rules.) Finally the wizard fails a save against Japhy's blind spell, but not before drat near killing Imoen and the pre-recruited Neera. Mopping up the rest isn't a big deal and we welcome Neera to a life of adventure. I also decide, for once, to send Imoen off to magic school early because I don't really need three mages in the party and because we're about to recruit another thief. I'm sure I will in no way regret this decision. I head off to the Burning Wizard to patch us up and to recruit a couple more worthy souls, both of whom are mod-NPCs. The first is  Drake, a cleric of Tyr. A very sarcastic and drunk cleric of Tyr.  And Vynd, a drow assassin. Also fairly sarcastic. May or may not be drunk.  Vynd's been cooling his heels inside waiting for someone to hire him. He is not terribly impressed to find that Garrick's been trying to hire mercenaries outside this entire time.  Whereas Drake is just not impressed by Silke at all. If you were intending to side with her, er, change of plans. (We were not intending to side with her.)  Drake gets off a very lucky Hold Person and that's all she wrote.  We head over to High Hedge for a quick shopping trip, and run into this poor woman, courtesy of Ascalon's quest pack. Her husband has come down with a bad case of werewolf, and she's looking for a cure.  This quest has a couple of options, with varying chances of success. The guril berries we picked up in Beregost are one of those. Thalantyr can create a cure with a 50-50 chance of working. You can also take your chances with a potion made out of his wife's blood (with almost no chance of success) or wait forever til you have some belladonna (a 9/10 chance). Or you can just put the poor fellow out of his misery in the name of science. We opt for the berry treatment and head up to the normally-abandoned house. Does the cure work?   Today it does. (If it hadn't, we'd have had to deal with one angry werewolf, and we are not exactly swimming in magic weapons yet.)  Conveniently, a magic weapon is our reward. It's no Flametongue but it will do nicely for now. On our way north to the Friendly Arms Inn, we get jumped by a pack of six wolves, which are in no way trivial at our level. And we're fresh out of sleep spells. Unless...  I'm not sure what the "What was that? Over there!" wild surge actually does but Neera got her sleep spell off and hardly any pit fiends at all. Tarnesh isn't much of a threat if you have someone who can cast both Remove Fear and Command (which is why I waited til I had someone who could do those things before I took him on.) Among his loot, in addition to the usual stuff, is  One of my mods is the aptly-named Weasels mod, which adds a few spells and magic items with a weasel-ish theme. Nothing terribly unbalanced, just a bit of fun. The weasels summoned by this spell can't do lethal damage but they make for a nice distraction in a pinch.  Another Ascalon quest that we'll pursue much later, as it involves a trip to the Ulcaster ruins. We also pick up Jaheira. We have one more person to recruit, but that's for next time.
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Dec 7, 2019 05:11
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Well, I've never dared post in these threads before, so here goes nothing I guess Spalding Rockwell, the elven mage-thief looks forward to a really dumb death. A couple of minutes of rolling gave me this  And since thieves have all the fun, let's start off with some cheese, I mean a pretty pretty gem!  Let's also rob these shmucks blind, they seem... Off, somehow.  The battle against Tarnesh doesn't go all that smoothly, first death!  As per Gorion's instructions, we find some friends inside the Friendly Arm, and set out to find some rings. One for an NPC, and one for me, mine mine all mine yessss   A bit to the east, we find even more friends, though she seems a bit mean, somehow?  First ambush on our way south, god drat dogs nearly got us   One Command from Viconia later, the belt ogre is subdued  and some fancy talkin' gets Marl crying into his pint instead of harassing random bar patrons.  We fetch Firebead some new reading material, and are now pondering our options out on the streets of Beregost.   This is a bit more exciting than I imagined, I was pretty startled at that doggy ambush. I'm guessing Spalding won't make it to the Nashkel mines at this rate 
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Dec 7, 2019 09:11
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Always great to see new faces. Don't feel bad if you die I probably went through at least 6 characters last year.
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Dec 7, 2019 09:29
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I asked in the other thread but did any fighters/barbarians have a spinning melee attack? I could have sworn minsc did but I can't find anything. I used the term whirlwind in the inquiry but from what I gather that's more just a flurry of attacks
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Dec 7, 2019 12:02
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Alan Smithee posted:I asked in the other thread but did any fighters/barbarians have a spinning melee attack? I could have sworn minsc did but I can't find anything. I used the term whirlwind in the inquiry but from what I gather that's more just a flurry of attacks No. I've never seen any kind of spin animation for an attack from anyone in my thousands of hours of playing.
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Dec 7, 2019 12:07
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Alright, an update on the adventures of Ashe, human kensai. No problem with Tarnesh, the spiders, Silke, the hobgoblins outside Friendly Arm, the Belt Ogre. Only thing I haven't fought that most do is the dwarven bounty hunter inside one of the Beregost inns. That guy's a pain and I don't want to deal with him yet. The Nashkel assassin got a lucky rigid thinking off on Khalid, who promptly murdered a patron and also attacked the barkeep. Lowered my reputation quite a bit, and now the Nashkel Inn is unavailable to me the rest of the playthrough. Annoying, since that's where I'll go while I do Durlag's Tower... Khalid and Jaheira were fired for their moral and mental failings, and I recruited Minsc and Rasaad.  On the way to rescue Dynaheir I helped out a dryad and rescued a dead cat. No major problems.  The rescue of Dynaheir (and liberation of the gauntlets of dexterity, as well as the +1 charisma tome) went off without a hitch. Rasaad died a lot because he's really bad, holy crap. Anyway, went back to clear the Nashkel carnival (and get the shield amulet for Ashe). Can never remember the dialogue string that saves the hostage in this encounter. Anyway, he got off a horror spell that basically everyone failed. Was able to bring him down, but Rasaad died again since he couldn't calm any of the fighters down enough to share a healing potion while his acid arrow wound slowly whittled him down to nothing. Recruited Branwen and let Minsc and Dynaheir enjoy the carnival.  Having cleared the carnival and gotten REALLY close to level 3 for Ashe (a big deal, since the +1 proficiency point and kensai multiple-of-3 bonus means that she gets -3 Thac0 at this level, I decided to head to the mines. For once, Dorn didn't die in this encounter! I recruited him, so now I've got all 3 DLC characters.  Dorn seems, uh...really good. Also, Ashe got a lovely +7 HP on her level up to 3 so she only has 33 HP. Not the end of the world, and a kensai should never be your front-liner anyway, but Dorn's pretty brittle. I will probably want to grab Yeslick eventually and swap Branwen for him. Also, Branwen gets some new abilities in this game now that "Cleric of Tempus" is actually a class kit rather than merely her backstory. Neat.  Dorn is just mulching things. Mulahey went down like a chump and never even got to his "beg for his life" threshold.  Not one to be outdone by the half-orc, Ashe gets her own critical hit in vs. NIMBUL who I've never understood why he's capitalized. Anyway, so far, so good. Next stop, Beregost. Then I'll decide whether I want to grab Kivan over in High Hedge (the wand of sleep would be helpful) or head straight for the Bandit Camp. Or maybe I'll roll the dice a bit and rely on Neera's ability to put things to sleep and try and do the ankheg farm.
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Dec 7, 2019 17:26
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Spalding Rockwell was last seen in Beregost trying to decide what to do next, I figure I'll risk it and try taking on Silke. This turns out to have been a good plan, since against three ranged characters she apparently doesn't do so well. I'd even splurged on a +1 sling for Viconia! This gets Jaheira a new hitting stick. I am, however, too scared to try Neera's opening scene or the spider house with level 1 characters, so I just head on southwards to deliver a letter in exchange for a ring, visit a small cave and kill some knobgoblins for a new pair of stylish boots.  Nothing else of note happens on the way, and I actually do make it to Nashkel!   The locals are... Friendly, I suppose?  We rob some poor farmer's family heirloom and outfit Viconia with light-weight armour  And then we're off to the Mines. I debated this for a while, but decided to give Greywolf a try anyway. He hits like a freight truck and has a respectable amount of HP, so magic to the rescue it is; Jaheira DOOMs poor Greywolf and Viconia keeps Commanding him to sleep while everyone else pummels on him. He doesn't last all that long, and Khalid gets a shiny black and surprisingly cold sword out of the exchange. Oh and Prism dies, his life's work finished I suppose?  And then I get a taste of ironmanning. After all those successes, Khalid takes crits from a kobold ambush with fire arrows and bites the dust right at the boss door   One long walk to Nashkel and back, we take on Mulahey. Seeing as how easily Greywolf was put down earlier, I decide to repeat the strategy with our half-orc boss, and it works, sort of. As literally his last deed before dying to someone's arrow, he gets off a hold person and welp. I did manage to keep Khalid alive while two skeletons were punching his incapacitated self, and the kobolds were tranquilized by Spalding's Sleep spells. Everyone made it out alive in the end, and we even found yet another friend! He has a cool sword.   We return to Nashkel to claim our XP and gold for clearing out the mines.  But then there's NIMBUL, and whoo boy this was a clusterfuck. (I was too panicked to take screenshots  ) I, being the idiot that I am, completely forgot he opens the battle with a freaking Horror So that's Viconia and Khalid out of the fight from the get-go, NIMBUL takes Xan out with a single ax, and poor Jaheira sacrifices herself while Spalding and Imoen make a retreat down the street. NIMBUL follows and the Amnish guards finally deign to help us out, and finally Spalding gets in the killing arrow. Phew. Some resurrections later, our new big gang has to decide what to do next. There is that big dude with a hamster down the street who might want to be friends, too...
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Dec 7, 2019 22:01
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Quick update for Fred Flintstone I wanted to get Imoen up to speed since she force joins your party at the start of the game and thus didn't get the free boost to 32,000 xp that everyone else got. So we killed some baskilisks and I realized bringing the whole party was too slow so just had Edwin gaze protection on me and I went and wrapped them all up in about 3 minutes.  After that Imoen was pretty close to level 4 so we swung south to Durlags to get her that level. 
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Dec 8, 2019 00:40
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Ok so first there was Foolio Displasius. I got a pretty lucky roll right off the bat! Then he got splatted by the belt ogre. He'll never scourge the Seven Suns. But who cares, he's CRAP compared to Theo the Ranger!   Theo is basically Foolio redux. The first version died to quick I didn't feel bad about re-rolling the same guy. But if this one bites it, I'll switch it up. This run isn't mod kosher. It's not a fresh install, and I'm not sure what I have running. I certainly have NPC relocation in effect, plus I probably have the stuff to make people complain about reputation. And BG2 stats for Jaheira, Minsc, Viconai, and Edwin probably. Anyway, I usually run neutral to good parties, so for fun I'm gonna pick some folks I normally don't. Coran, because I'm sick of Imoen and more arrows in the air is never a bad thing.  He cleared out all of Tarnesh's mirror images in time for some no-name guard to shank him and steal all the XP. The jerk! Then Yeslick to tank stuff because I wanted to see that 20 con regen in action. Might be important since there isn't a lot of spell healing to go around. Then Quayle, who happened to be in the Nashkel Fair who's going to carry this party. Apparently the Mage/Cleric combo is pretty potent, so there's NO WAY he'll disappoint. And finally Edwin and Dorn, the latter of whom killed the big name enemies in his special recruitment before he actually joined just so he could squander all that XP too, the jerk. Anyway, Theo and Co. made it safely to Nashkel Mines but will probably go do Edwin's thing first so Yeslick can get those sweet dex bracers.
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Dec 8, 2019 01:16
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Yeslick is the really good fighter/cleric dwarf. Kagain is the 20 CON dwarf. Also my game crashed in the Amazon area east of Nashkel and now I have to do it again, that’s a dangerous area! I don’t want to have to do it again!
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Dec 8, 2019 01:25
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Japhy Whitman has engaged in pest control, diplomatically addressed a grieving father's pain, introduced some bandits to his new friend, undertaken an epic hero's quest, and learned a fundamental truth about law enforcement on the Sword Coast. Oh, and we made it to Nashkel. When last we left our heroes, they were in search of a new friend.  Hello, friend. Ankhegs are no joke at our level, so we're not engaging any more than is strictly necessary (which turns out to be four), but they're susceptible to Command, which means two of them are at least pretty trivial.  I really cannot argue with this reasoning.  So, maybe we don't let Vynd handle the moments that require decorum.  Jaheira clearly feels strongly about these bandits...  So Japhy introduces them to his new friend.  Our second wild surge of the game, and by far the most beneficial (though it's not very many gems). Not pictured: We sort out the Spider House. A well-placed sleep spell basically makes this a cakewalk.  Well this is nice and topical.  SPOILER: He does not. We rescue Viconia, but do not recruit her. (She, and a number of other NPCs, have been moved to a more convenient location by...some mod or another, there are a few that do it and I can't remember which I'm using for it this time.)  Another Ascalon quest. I like most of the questpack, even if the translation (from German) isn't always perfect.  I am slightly skeptical about this promise of a reward.  Oh here we go.  AFFAB  We find Jumper in the hands of this ogre, Ugh. He's willing, if not happy, to hand over Jumper if we promise to find him a new pet. We make our way south to Nashkel, and arrive to fight the confusingly-named Neira.  Drake's priorities are in the right place, as ever. She can be a tough fight, but we throw basically every bit of magic we have at her at once and she's toast before she can get a spell off. Neera also has another wild surge, resulting in...her detecting magic. Next time, we'll recruit our final party member for real, and it won't be another wand of fire, probably. Also we'll go beat up some gnolls in their own home, like the noble heroes we are.
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Dec 8, 2019 01:37
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FairGame posted:Yeslick is the really good fighter/cleric dwarf. Kagain is the 20 CON dwarf. I always get those dorks mixed up. Also my condolences. That area is a nightmare when you're still establishing yourself. Sure, compared to later enemy parties they don't pose that much of a threat, but when you reach them there isn't that much to counter all those debilitating spells they sling.
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Dec 8, 2019 02:05
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Tuxedo Ted posted:I always get those dorks mixed up. That's why you use the free scroll of cloudkill to cast it at them from off screen.
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Dec 8, 2019 02:14
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cheesetriangles posted:That's why you use the free scroll of cloudkill to cast it at them from off screen. Yeah, as good a use as any now that it won't instakill Alec'tec.
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Dec 8, 2019 02:42
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The continuing adventurers of Ashe, the human kensai who has done a bunch of stuff, but in terms of critical path, cleared the Bandit Camp. So, uh...this got dicey REAL quick when I went to go fight some Ankhegs. I didn't know you could get this random encounter outside of the Cloakwood. I knew there was a web trap or two on this screen so I bunched up and prayed it'd go ok. It did. Except for poor Neera, but them's the breaks when you're a < 16 con low-level mage. She's back now! Anyway, cleared out the Ankheg nest, Ankheg Farm, and did the priestess of Umberlee quest. Didn't realize how strong Command and Sleep were against those horrible acid beetles! Lots of XP to be had, and most importantly, the wand of fire.  And once back, she immediately had a sleep spell backfire on her while clearing out some trash gibberlings. If Dorn doesn't make his save, that would have been a pretty ignoble way to go.  Then I got the same stupid random encounter on the way back! Poor Dorn.  Melicamp: alive? I don't think that's ever happened to me in an ironman thread.  These amazon jerks died twice thanks to a crash. They really can't compete with Baeloth's fireball, the wand of fire, and Imoen tossing a potion of fiery burning.  I've never actually done any of the DLC character quests before so I didn't know what to expect. But this glitched out and Kryll the necromancer just stood there not firing whatever script she was supposed to do. Figuring it was payback for the glitch I ran into with the amazon map, I just hacked her up and the game was fine with it. Apparently the next trigger for the quest is Kryll's death, not her saying/doing whatever she's supposed to do. Imoen is about 500 xp short of dual classing to mage, so I'm reluctant to head to the Cloakwood now. Maybe I'll go finish Neera's quest so I can ditch her and pick up Coran, who'll handle thief duties. Oh, also I got a wand of monster summoning from the amazon map. And Baeloth seems pretty drat awesome. I don't think you're supposed to have access to haste this early; don't think there's a scroll for it in High Hedge. Will probably go do Neera's quest (fingers crossed it's not too bad) then ditch her and start Cloakwood. There's a nice bastard sword in there for Ashe, too. Also, been having GREAT luck with HP rolls on Dorn. Level 5, and he's got like 45 HP.
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Dec 8, 2019 03:17
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Fred Flintstone has cleared the Nashkel mines. With haste(Edwin starts with haste if you don't recruit him until you are over 32,000 xp) and enrage the next few fights are pretty trivial.    Rasaad kill steals me on the Nimbul fight.
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Dec 8, 2019 10:32
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Fred Flintstone has cleared the cloakwood and reached Baldur's Gate! The bandit camp was pretty straightforward.  So was the outside of the mines. Inside the mines I nearly faced my undoing when on the second level of the mines I sent Fred alone to face the mage and all those guards. I had berserked and thought it would protect me from anything the mage could threaten me with except she got a lightning bolt off and I was down to 9 hp with a bounce heading right for me but I thankfully had paused at the right moment and was able to step to avoid it. I quickly retreated to heal up and went back and finished everyone off. I forgot to screenshot it sadly.  The final fight I opened with some skull traps from off screen and the guy was mostly dead by the time I sent in Fred to finish him off. More scary lightning bolts but the lowest HP I went down to was around 40 or so instead of 9.  Met Elminster again.
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Dec 8, 2019 13:42
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Japhy Whitman has fallen to one of the bandits in Ioin Whatshisface's gang.
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Dec 8, 2019 15:11
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More adventures of Ashe, human kensai, who has cleared the Cloakwood Mines I...don't know what this was about. I went to do Neera's quest, a bunch of goblins attacked me, a different bunch of goblins didn't, and then Ekandor showed up and the fat wild mage guy turned into a squirrel or something. Anyway, pretty easy pickings and now Neera's quest is over. She has only 14 HP and her wild surges are liable to end my run. So I dismissed her.  With some help from Coran and the wand of monster summoning, the head druid never got off a very dangerous Call Lightning. I'll be able to do the relevant quest when I reach Baldur's Gate.  Ashe hits level 6, and gets a max HP roll. Other than a VERY bad 7 HP level up, my level ups have been like 11, 11, 12, 14. Is the HP at level up truly randomized, or is it weighted in favor of the higher numbers? Because my other party members have been getting high rolls also. Anyway, one of my worries was that Ashe would just get 8 level ups of like 8 HP and be a VERY brittle kensai. But that's shaping up not to be the case. I suppose she could still spike the last few levels up with the bonus HP. Took 4* in bastard swords after debating whether or not I wanted to go 3* in 2weapon style. Figured the extra damage (and more importantly, the extra 1/2 attack when I hit level 9) from grand mastery is better than -2 Thac0 on one attack with the off hand. Besides, as a kensai, at level 6 her offhand already is getting a bonus -2 thac0.  The mages that launch lightning bolts in the Cloakwood mines scare the hell out of me because those tight corridors mean a TON of dangerous bounces. So I summoned some monsters into the room with the wand, and then watched as Mage #1 fried herself and her friends.  The fight vs. the Ogre Magi got a little dangerous. He died in short order, but he got a confusion/chaos off on Yeslick and Dorn, who promptly fought one another. And...apparently that's a thing?  Mage #2 fries herself with her own lightning bolt.  Imoen ate a lightning bolt but survived, and a hasted group can rush down Davaeorn pretty easily. I didn't even see who got the killshot before the chapter end screen came up. Had to scroll back to take this screenshot.  On the LONG trip back to the FAI, Yeslick decides "being ambushed by wyverns" is a good time to complain about Dorn. Fortunately, it turns out Yeslick is coded to go back to the FAI. Where I've met him and he...rejoined? Maybe he had a change of heart. Anyway, it seems like I'll be able to finish Dorn's quest momentarily so I'll go do that and then kick him to the curb. He's VERY strong, but I need a cleric more than I need another asskicker. I suppose I should go get Rasaad back too, even though holy poo poo he's useless.
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Dec 8, 2019 19:29
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If you’re playing on Normal, not Core Rules, then hp rolls are half or higher every time.
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Dec 8, 2019 19:47
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In keeping with my continued obsession with using Improvised Star Trek names for characters, meet Crick Watson, Human Wizard Slayer I intend to dual him to thief at some point, for obvious long game reasons. Just starting out so let's see how long it takes me to get completely frustrated with having basically no magical gear ever.
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Dec 8, 2019 19:48
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Arivia posted:If you’re playing on Normal, not Core Rules, then hp rolls are half or higher every time. Playing on core, as evidenced by Ashe getting a 7hp level up. That’s a roll of 3 on a d10. I guess I just take my good luck and feel good about it. Branwen and Rasaad have NOT been lucky and have rubbish HP totals. Coran just cheats. More proficiency, HP, and dex than an elf archer of his level should have.
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Dec 8, 2019 19:58
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Holy cow, maybe it's a good thing the Kryll fight glitched out in Dorn's quest. I finished the quest by beating Simmeon and good lord I was not prepared for it to be as difficult as it was. (Not really that difficult, but something that required a little more thought than "cast haste, win.") At least I got a neat bastard sword out of it. Kicked Dorn to the curb, too; Yeslick can do the tanking for me and isn't a screamingly evil demonguy.
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Dec 8, 2019 22:42
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Fred Flintstone gets cured of poison. Finally goes and grabs the manual of bodily health.  And then kills somewhere around 400 ankhegs after dual classing Imoen in order to get her her thief levels back. 
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Dec 9, 2019 01:17
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Oof, I forgot those two ladies in the Low Lantern have the gauntlets of ogre power. I guess it’s not the end of the world; plenty of giant strength potions. But apparently it’s been long enough since I’ve played this game that Im forgetting things.
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Dec 9, 2019 04:19
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Thog the half orc kensai had the flesh melted off his bones while he was running around in horror in the witchhunter tent on the carnival grounds. Thog 2 has stumbled his way to the Friendly Arms Inn.
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Dec 9, 2019 06:22
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docbeard posted:Japhy Whitman has fallen to one of the bandits in Ioin Whatshisface's gang. Capfalcon posted:Thog the half orc kensai had the flesh melted off his bones while he was running around in horror in the witchhunter tent on the carnival grounds. Ouch!  -I want to introduce Montarno, the hobbit fighter/thief that is NOT Montaron  Fighter/thief is fun but pretty strong, I was able to start with 70 pick locks. Did go with the first roll of a mighty 76, but it doesn't hurt too much. I'm going with katanas, quarterstaff and longbow, kind of a wannabe samurai and using the evil party which is much harder to get to than the good people I have to say. I'm still a little afraid to go get Shar-teel because in a game I was playing before the ironman started I got a loving basilisk random encounter traveling near Mutanim's Garden. Luckily I was able to just run out without getting zapped but still... Montarno got the ogre mage random encounter on the way to the gnoll fortress but again we just ran away. Currently puttering around trying to get everyone to level 2 before the Nashkel mines. Edwin is great but because I am not playing a caster and he can't cast identify, I need to add someone else. I was thinking of getting Garrick but I might just keep Imoen and dual her, Garrick is just too terrible. Cafe Barbarian fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Dec 9, 2019 |
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Dec 9, 2019 09:29
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Heather, the half-orc Kensai, and her party takes some time to screw around and complete quests in Beregost. Here you can see Beregost’s famed giant spider carousel.  After a quick trip to Nashkel to grab some things, the party takes some time to hunt basilisks and get stronger fast.  We got ambushed by some random flinds and Heather nearly got killed by a lucky hit. That was a really close one.  After dealing with the basilisks, Heather travels north and rounds up the menu with some ankhegs and takes the opportunity to snatch the wand of fire.  After a while, the party travels east of Nashkel to grab the wand of monster summoning, unfortunately I accidentally trigger the rear end in a top hat wizard guy and he sends his ooze pets after me. I had literally nothing to deal with them, so I had to run and zone away multiple times, classic Everquest style.  Questing around Nashkel, Heather ambushes and kills Greywolf, sadly he kills Prism so no quest xp.  Travelling south of High Hedge, a random encounter happens and some skeletons instantly murders Neera. Back to the temple I guess.  Melycamp dies! And that’s all for today, next time, Nashkel mines.
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Dec 9, 2019 11:44
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