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Man with Hat
Dec 26, 2007

Open up your Dethday present
It's a box of fucking nothing

Exciting Lemon
Double Post!

Kivan started talking about bandits and I got freaked out since I was in chapter 1 so bumrushed it here and forgot to take any screenshots. Is it enough to enter the camp to stop him from leaving or do I have to finish the quest?

Edit: Ended up clearing out the bandit camp to be sure but it was scary as hell. Needed to rest mid camp and thought for sure those eight hours would piss Kivan off enough to leave.

Man with Hat fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Jan 26, 2022

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Suspicious
Apr 30, 2005
You know he's the villain, because he's got shifty eyes.
The shadow aspect is one of the critters I haven't figured out how to reliably kill. Karsk is another one (beside the arrow of slaying)

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Suspicious posted:

The shadow aspect is one of the critters I haven't figured out how to reliably kill. Karsk is another one (beside the arrow of slaying)

Glitterdust has saved my butt against the shadow aspect a few tiimes, but I have no idea how reliable it is.

SCS Kahrk, about the only thing you can do if you don't have the arrow of slaying (or if it misses, which, fun fact, can happen) is wait out his buffs. I've gotten it done by distracting him with the wand of summoning til his prot from magic weapons and other bullshit wears off before. This would probably also be a good place to send someone in with a Protection From Magic scroll while everyone else hides out somewhere.

Ginette Reno
Nov 18, 2006

How Doers get more done
Fun Shoe

Suspicious posted:

The shadow aspect is one of the critters I haven't figured out how to reliably kill. Karsk is another one (beside the arrow of slaying)

I'm not sure either. At the very least it seems like you need someone/something with stoneskin + mirror image to tank it. Or a tank with extremely low ac. Minsc got absolutely destroyed when I had him try to tank that thing. My Blade actually tanked it fine upon my reload. My biggest problem on the first attempt was getting confused by the trap.

It doesn't have a very low ac (only minus 1 according to the wiki) so if you can dispel its bullshit it should fall relatively quickly. Truesight/detect illusion etc would be key I suppose. Problem is you need to do all of that quickly or things can get out of hand real fast with its ridiculous backstabs. Honestly it might be best just to tank it with summoned monsters and not move your actual party in until you get rid of its misleads and poo poo.

docbeard posted:

Glitterdust has saved my butt against the shadow aspect a few tiimes, but I have no idea how reliable it is.

SCS Kahrk, about the only thing you can do if you don't have the arrow of slaying (or if it misses, which, fun fact, can happen) is wait out his buffs. I've gotten it done by distracting him with the wand of summoning til his prot from magic weapons and other bullshit wears off before. This would probably also be a good place to send someone in with a Protection From Magic scroll while everyone else hides out somewhere.

The Shadow Aspect has save versus spell of 6 so landing Glitterdust might be tough unless you can debuff it. It doesn't have magic resistance according to the wiki but I don't know if Greater Malison can even hit it while it has its misleads and other bs up. Certainly hitting it with a doom would be near impossible. You could spam Glitterdust and hope for it to land I guess. Brute force it enough and it might land.

I've been playing with SCS on a non Ironman and surprisingly enough have not actually died yet (though I'm sure it's comin'). The Improved Kobolds were a bit harrowing but I grabbed a few levels first before doing the mines so it wasn't too bad. None of the spellcasters have been too bad yet either. I know from the last time I tried SCS years ago that Kahrk is a huge piece of poo poo on it like you said.

Even with a prot from magic scroll I imagine Kahrk can still melee for a lot so even that might not be foolproof unless the person you're sending in is a powerful melee character.

One thing I've done on almost all of my Ironman attempts recently with Kahrk is to use wand of paralyze on him. It goes through his globe of invuln it seems like. I'm not sure why. I guess Wand of Paralyze counts as higher than level 3? So that might work on SCS too unless SCS changes how powerful those wands are

Ginette Reno fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Jan 26, 2022

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

"Distract with summons" is pretty much the answer to everything, at least for a while.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Silas the Half-Orc Cleric/Thief has defeated Davaeorn!

After the Nashkel mines, we spend some time wandering up and down the coast doing epic heroism



Epic. Heroism.



EPIC...eh, never mind.



Our first wandering assassin fight goes well enough.



You know, I've never once tried killing Drizzt. (A pattern we will not be changing today.)



gently caress off, Jaheira



As I mentioned before, Winner Winner No Chicken Dinner



Our second wandering assassin fight hits a bit of a snag in the form of a lucky crit against Imoen.



We take down the bandits



And find our first tome



We also pick up a better (two-handed) axe for Breagar, courtesy of IWDification (I think). Technically he's down one hand at the moment so he shouldn't be able to wield it but if the game doesn't care neither do I!

Then it's off to the Cloakwood where there's an unexpected reunion at Aldeth's lodge.



Littleun's backstory, since I don't think I've talked about her very much, is that she's a halfling who was raised by wild elves after her parents died. So naturally her discovery of her father very much alive comes as a bit of a surprise. He fucks off after the two of them have a bit of an argument, but I'm pretty sure this ain't over.

The fight with Centeol and the spiders is nearly curtains for Silas as he manages to get webbed and poisoned. Jaheira's able to heal him in time with her last healing spell, which means it is curtains for Imoen (for like the third time) when the same thing happens to her.



Pictured: the Cloakwood being its usual charming self while we trudge away to get her raised.

No major incidents til we get to the mines.



No casualties but this fight was pretty tough this time around because I miscalculate a bit with the webs.



Hareishan's lot on the other hand are dead easy (and easily dead). Wand of fear, web, couple wands of fireballs, and a bit of cleanup after there's no wizard to deal with.



And that's how we deal with Mr. Clever Wizard around these parts! The sequence of events here is Imoen connecting with a backstab, and Davaeorn attempting to teleport away just as Silas connects with his.

There's a bug in my mod setup (it's been persistent every time I've fought Davaeorn) where he's not carrying the river plug key so I have to console it in. NBD.



And we find a wisdom tome in his stash.

Ginette Reno
Nov 18, 2006

How Doers get more done
Fun Shoe
I've watched videos of Daevorn on SCS and he seems like a handful there. That must be a harrowing fight for you to attempt on SCS.

Cleric/Thieves are very cool. Once you get Righteous Magic and that sort of stuff you'll be a beast.

FairGame
Jul 24, 2001

Der Kommander

Tch; avenger died in the bandit camp. Got panicked, ran into a web, the archer with poison arrows didn't get webbed, and that was that.

How frustrating.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Ginette Reno posted:

I've watched videos of Daevorn on SCS and he seems like a handful there. That must be a harrowing fight for you to attempt on SCS.

Cleric/Thieves are very cool. Once you get Righteous Magic and that sort of stuff you'll be a beast.

Yeah, I've played them before and they're deceptively (lol) fun. Mostly I have to keep reminding myself that i'm a backstabbing skirmisher and not a front-liner (because Silas is decent at being a frontliner but it's not where he shines). STR 19 also makes slings pretty potent so he's already decent all around even before the high-level buffs are considered.

SCS Davaeorn can get out of hand very fast which is why I always try for backstabbing him right away. Basically in addition to his usual teleporting and spellcasting bullshit, you always get the battle horrors to deal with and you get periodic Iron Throne Guard reinforcements the longer the fight goes on. I usually try to have the Dagger of Venom by this point exactly for this situation, but playing with the item randomizer means I haven't laid eyes on it yet. Having two backstabs available made it a pretty safe bet I could do him in early on, though still a risk.

Fortunately he at least didn't start with Stoneskin precast unlike half the other mages at this point. Small mercies.

I'm also using traps for the first time ever, and I'm not very effective with them yet but they're quite fun! (Sometime I want to try out a bounty hunter, I think.)

Ginette Reno
Nov 18, 2006

How Doers get more done
Fun Shoe

docbeard posted:

SCS Davaeorn can get out of hand very fast which is why I always try for backstabbing him right away.

I guess the backstabbing works because his previously cast protections don't trigger until combat starts? I assume once combat kicks in SCS would typically give him at least Mirror Image + other protective buffs.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Ginette Reno posted:

I guess the backstabbing works because his previously cast protections don't trigger until combat starts? I assume once combat kicks in SCS would typically give him at least Mirror Image + other protective buffs.

He cheats a little and sees you even if you're invisible and non-detectable enough to fire his initial protections, but (at least at Tactical difficulty in this particular phase of the moon) only starts with Shield and Protection from Normal Missiles. I think he probably has other stuff in a sequencer but Imoen hurt him enough with that first backstab that he decided to dimension door away first, just as Silas connected with his backstab.

Unrelated but I'm using the Vhailor soundset from PST for Silas and that YIELD!!! sound when he crits is so drat satisfying.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Silas ate a nasty stun and then a lightning bolt in Shandalar's ice cave.

I may carry on with this playthrough just for fun or I may throw myself into the meat grinder one more time. WE SHALL SEE.

Man with Hat
Dec 26, 2007

Open up your Dethday present
It's a box of fucking nothing

Exciting Lemon
I am so upset right now. What a drat gently caress you of a lightning bolt



Kalam also dead. He was so much fun too, I might continue for a bit with him

Edit: sweet revenge

Man with Hat fucked around with this message at 15:22 on Jan 28, 2022

Ginette Reno
Nov 18, 2006

How Doers get more done
Fun Shoe
drat. Has been rough this year.

I've taken a break from Ironmanning for now. I might try again in a month or something if people are at it still, but I think I needed a break for now. Have had a lot of fun with it though. Currently messing around with a normal playthrough.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

I've decided to take this opportunity to change up my mod loadout a bit (necessitating a full reinstall because house of cards and toothpicks) so back into the meatgrinder it is!

This is one I'll probably take as far as I can as an Iron Man game and then take the rest of the way once I inevitably die because I drat well want to play the full quadrilogy(?) at least once after all this mess.

Not sure exactly what I'm going to do yet but I'm leaning toward a dual-class Kensai for some good old fashioned cheese. (Though I'm particularly leaning toward a Kensai -> Druid because I have an irrational love for that combo even though it's not what anyone would call optimal so maybe not that cheesy!)

Ginette Reno
Nov 18, 2006

How Doers get more done
Fun Shoe

docbeard posted:

I've decided to take this opportunity to change up my mod loadout a bit (necessitating a full reinstall because house of cards and toothpicks) so back into the meatgrinder it is!

This is one I'll probably take as far as I can as an Iron Man game and then take the rest of the way once I inevitably die because I drat well want to play the full quadrilogy(?) at least once after all this mess.

Not sure exactly what I'm going to do yet but I'm leaning toward a dual-class Kensai for some good old fashioned cheese. (Though I'm particularly leaning toward a Kensai -> Druid because I have an irrational love for that combo even though it's not what anyone would call optimal so maybe not that cheesy!)

That's kinda where I'm at right now. I am trying to play my current run like it's an Ironman but if I do eventually die I will reload and keep going because I want to actually play bg2/tob this time. I'm also doing modded with scs/hardcore right now and it has been pretty fun making the game more challenging again. Somehow I haven't died yet but I'm only around level 5 or so. I think I am going to keep playing sort of Ironman style (ie, no savescumming for deaths/bad results from surges etc) and only reload on pc deaths. It will be good practice for whenever I attempt my next actual Ironman run :v:.

One modded thing I have on here that I like which I think was added by scs was the ability to use IWD spells. That really spices up the divine spell list in particular and classes like Druid sorely needed more options at low levels. Sunscorch rules. It does add more power for spellcasters I suppose but the spells are real 2e spells and taken from IWD and I think things are further balanced by all enemies having access to the same spells and things being generally more difficult thanks to SCS ai/improvements anyways. Nimbul nearly killed me in my current run when he landed an Icelance on me which stunned me for 3 rounds.

I gotta say it's also kinda rough when npcs are using sleep on you as well. Shoe isn't so fun when it's on the other foot! I still have my next Ironman run in the back of my head for whenever I get back on the saddle.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Ginette Reno posted:

One modded thing I have on here that I like which I think was added by scs was the ability to use IWD spells. That really spices up the divine spell list in particular and classes like Druid sorely needed more options at low levels. Sunscorch rules. It does add more power for spellcasters I suppose but the spells are real 2e spells and taken from IWD and I think things are further balanced by all enemies having access to the same spells and things being generally more difficult thanks to SCS ai/improvements anyways. Nimbul nearly killed me in my current run when he landed an Icelance on me which stunned me for 3 rounds.

Yeah, the Icewind Dale spells (either from SCS or IWDification) are so good (especially for Druids/Shamans). And yeah, it took eating a few hostile Icelances to see just how good that spell is; it's become part of my essential loadout for my own mages now.

Suspicious
Apr 30, 2005
You know he's the villain, because he's got shifty eyes.
Got bored of my current playthrough, decided to make a new gimmick. No, no, not Joe Average again.



The smartass. Minimum stat roll but redistributed because I'm not feeling that masochistic.

Ginette Reno
Nov 18, 2006

How Doers get more done
Fun Shoe

Suspicious posted:

Got bored of my current playthrough, decided to make a new gimmick. No, no, not Joe Average again.



The smartass. Minimum stat roll but redistributed because I'm not feeling that masochistic.

Interesting weapon selection. Darts do kinda rule in bg1 though.

Nostalgamus
Sep 28, 2010

McIbsen the Illusionist/Thief has fallen to overconfidence.

Slowly working my way through the mines. Kobold commandos hurt, but liberal use of fireballs takes care of that.


Although I may have been a bit bit too liberal with the fireballs.


I pick the dialog option that allows me to walk into Mulahey's room before starting the fight, then attack him without triggering his attack dialog first - this appears to break his AI:



Nimbul meets Web+Scorcher:


It's satisfying to set traps before starting the fight.


Picked the option to let him walk, without realizing the Scorcher was still active.

Oh well, the XP is nice.

Clearing out various assassins I had been ignoring up until now.



At this point I'm feeling pretty confident. With a decent cash reserve, I decide to go buy the Greenstone amulet.
On the way there I bump into an Ankheg. which proceeds to save against two of my sleep spells, and then dodging the other two.
At this point I have attracted the attention of the Ankheg hunter, who is apparently willing to fight any Ankegs she sees, so I figure I should be able to fight it with her help.

I was not.

McIbsen has been killed by an Ankheg's acid spit.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

After a bunch of wrestling with the goddamn stupid mod installer (I seriously need to teach myself how to use Project Infinity because ANYTHING WOULD BE BETTER), a bunch of character waffling, and a really embarrassing false start (fuckin' Karlak), I have decided...to play another Shapeshifter. It was the run out of my most recent that I've had the most fun with.

So, meet Varrek, Half-Elf Shapeshifter



I've installed a few extra mods this time around, including (against my better judgement) Dark Side of the Sword Coast/Northern Tales of the Sword Coast and a few of the other big ones. (The Darkest Day and Shadows over Soubar, which I've not played before). While I am starting this as an Iron Man run I have no real aspirations of finishing it as one, hahaha. Still rocking SCS (at Hardcore difficulty for now, though I'll probably scale it back for BG2), the Item Randomizer, and an assortment of tweaks and stuff. Also added some new kits from Artisan's Kitpack (one of which is in use for one of my new NPCs) so this is probably gonna get ridiculous.

Not really gotten far yet though I've assembled most of my eventual party.



I've been playing this game almost since it's come out and I only just within the last week or so learned about this trick. (If you talk, uh, Nooberishly to Firepants Elvenhat 30 times he'll give you 300 gold). Not that I have much in the way of starting equipment needs for Varrek.



Tymora actually IS smiling on us since this diamond had a 90% chance of being randomized away!




This is Aura, probably the most elaborate NPC mod I have ever seen (at least this side of nightmare territory like Sandrah). She's also a bit buggy; I had to do some NearInfinity surgery to fix some dialogue checks that think I'm already in Siege of Dragonspear. I have the version of her that's an Artificer/Priestess (basically a cleric/thief) installed. She trades backstab ability and a few other things for a bunch of crafting bullshit (and a d4 hit die). She's fun (and overpowered) and generally pretty well-written (by the same person who wrote Drake and I think Sirene, among some others), in spite of being a little bit on the anime side of things.



And this is Emily, an NPC mod I am trying for the first time. I forgot to grab a screenshot of her character sheet but she's a multiclass Arcane Archer/Mage, Arcane Archer being a mod-added Fighter kit (that required a lot of weird finangling to actually enable using the EET Installer nightmare program) that is probably on par with the base Archer kit from what I was able to see. I like what little I've seen of the character so far though the mod's actual text needs a decent editing pass. I have a few other NPC mods by this creator installed right now but she's the only one I'll be using this time around (probably).

My other long-term party prospects are Imoen and Breagar as usual. My final party spot is going to be in flux, because Dark Side of the Sword Coast has some quests that either require or strongly recommend having one of their NPCs in party.

Neera is in that spot now though, at least til she gives us her quest since I'm gonna need that extra Stoneskin scroll.



As you can see things are already going well for her. (Aura nearly bought it too, but she has an item that lets her tank one killing blow per day, and she's fragile enough to need it.)



With Aura around to handle locks and traps, I've started building up Imoen's pickpocket skill to start with, and it's already paying dividends. (She also grabbed like four Potions of Defense from the poor saps we saved from Silke.)



Emily has a bunch of crossmod stuff built in apparently. This is her reaction to seeing Sirene, a Tiefling Paladin NPC. (I'm a little tempted to recruit her, though I have other plans).

Ginette Reno
Nov 18, 2006

How Doers get more done
Fun Shoe
I need to try out Shapeshifter with the SCS stuff. Sounds fun.

I've been playing a Shadowdancer on SCS/hardcore with sort of Ironman-lite rules. I will reload if I die, but not if party members do and I won't reload at all unless I die so lovely scroll results/fight results still count. I actually haven't died yet and I just finished Cloakwood. Maybe I should have been posting updates on this one too since it has somehow worked out surprisingly well despite me having all the tactical challenges installed as well. That Ulcaster wolf very nearly killed me.

I'm reasonably sure the Tostc stuff will kill me on SCS, and if not that, then definitely improved Sarevok. Maybe I'm just better at the game now than I used to be, but I remember struggling a lot more when I last tried this stuff out. Figures that I'd rear end backwards be successful at an Ironman when I'm not even trying that hard to actually do it. Or maybe I'm just warmed up from all the attempts on this recently. I'm quite enjoying SCS. It spices the game up in a reasonable way and it's fun to be using things in bg1 that I normally wouldn't care about like stripping mage protections via spell thrust etc or using more protective spells on my mages because the ai actually does more than just target the nearest opponent. Don't get me wrong I've definitely had some party member deaths and near wipes but I've been managing. We'll see if I still like it in bg2 as I know spellcasters become even more of a pain in the rear end there but I'm gonna try it

SD is actually kinda fun. No backstab until 5th level sucked and thief thaco/apr sucks but now that I can hide in plain sight and backstab it's pretty fun. With the +3staff and the 4 thaco bonus from backstabbing I am still able to hit things well enough out of stealth despite the poo poo thaco.



docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Ginette Reno posted:

SD is actually kinda fun. No backstab until 5th level sucked and thief thaco/apr sucks but now that I can hide in plain sight and backstab it's pretty fun. With the +3staff and the 4 thaco bonus from backstabbing I am still able to hit things well enough out of stealth despite the poo poo thaco.

I'm always taken by surprise by just how much fun shadowdancers are whenever I get around to playing them. Hide in plain sight is just so good.

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Varrek the Half-Elf Shapeshifter has defeated some Red Wizards, cleansed the Nashkel Mines, and recruited a paladin.

Since I didn't capture it last time, here's Emily's sheet:



The Arcane Archer kit doesn't get called shots but it does treat all ammo as magic and adds a few other abilities. The only one Emily has now is Entropic Shield (not to be confused with the IWD Druid spell of the same name) which is basically a souped-up Protection From Normal Missiles (though it's only 1 round/level and tbh I never remember to use it).



Aura can create special ammunition for her unique bow. I think she gets another sort later on but for now it's a bit of extra healing from time to time.

Speaking of healing items, here's something I haven't shown off yet, added by (yet another) mod, Deep Gnomes of the Sword Coast:



These drop from various low-level monsters in the early areas. They can either do a bit of healing, restore a little fatigue, or give someone a (short) regeneration ability. And they never do the one you want.

Deep Gnomes also adds this merchant to Nashkel:



She sells various jams (potions) and magic boots. And she'll pay you for gooseberries though I rarely bother.



This conversation with Emily leads her to eventually confess that she has a sort of compulsion to do good. This, combined with her odd reaction to Tieflings and some things she's said about her heritage (namely that she's a bastard, which is complicating the question of succession in her noble family a bit), makes me suspect just what her Big Secret is, but we don't really get to talk about that yet.



This little easter egg is added by Dark Side of the Sword Coast. Mopap is in fact a talking squirrel, and if you talk to them enough times they give you



We wander around for a while waiting for Neera to drop her quest so we can ditch her help her out with her wild magic issues.



This guy, courtesy of Northern Tales of the Sword Coast, is hanging out in the Fire Leaf Forest, and asks us to retrieve a candle from his home in Baldur's Gate. We obviously won't be able to do that for a while.

We also head up to Ulgoth's Beard to pick up, uh, my Ring of Freedom and also another Northern Tales quest hook which will wait for a bit:





It transpires that Aura has a healthy respect for the bear population. (This isn't just dialogue; her morale will break if she has to fight bears or even has to be around them. It's kind of a pain in the rear end.)



She does, however, have anti-gaze-attack goggles, because of course she does. We aren't basilisk-hunting yet, just trying to find the entrance to Adoy's Enclave because I can never remember how to get there. (From Firewine Bridge, for the record.)



Aura sets a couple traps, including one of her special alchemical ones, for our Red Mage welcoming committee. Her alchemical traps, unlike the regular sort, are AOE traps that are NOT party-friendly, so we have to be a bit careful with placement.

Between the traps and the Cloudkill scroll, everyone but Ekander dies almost immediately. Ekander manages to kill Imoen before we knock him over and Neera is as suitably grateful as ever.

Though she does in fact try to apologize.



(Tempting though it is, I actually select one of the nicer options here. Though I still kick her out of the party for now.)

I know I said I had other plans, but I decide to actually recruit Sirene (instead of Isra), because I'm trying out new characters and I want to see how she and Emily actually interact.



Sirene is a Tiefling paladin of Ilmater, and she comes with a Martyr kit which gives her some self-sacrifice based and healing abilities in exchange for a bit of combat prowess.



She also comes equipped with this rather fun magic sword.



We finally get around to sorting out Mulahey



Imoen hits Nimbul hard enough with a backstab that he actually flees before combat starts.



This conveniently means he's out of range of the trap Aura set before he turns hostile but he still doesn't get far.

Ginette Reno
Nov 18, 2006

How Doers get more done
Fun Shoe

docbeard posted:

I'm always taken by surprise by just how much fun shadowdancers are whenever I get around to playing them. Hide in plain sight is just so good.

It is. Shadowstep is fun too, and I'm looking forward to trying out the special HLAs it gets. I'm almost to Sod now on it. I've been playing SCS/Hardcore with all of the tactical challenges installed. I've been way more successful than I thought I would. I've reloaded a few times so far, but only because of npc party members permanently dying. My pc has not died yet, and even in the fights where I permanently lost people , if I'd really wanted to I probably could have continued on and replaced them.

I think whether SCS or otherwise that Shadowdancer is a great Ironman character. Very hard to kill unless you get caught out in melee and eat a huge critical hit. But you basically have a get out of jail free card every 6 seconds. And if you're really pressed and need to get into stealth before the 6 second stealth cooldown, you can just pop shadowstep and stealth before it ends or run to the edge of a map. Spells are little threat to you unless you're not paying attention or get caught in a huge aoe blast. Anything single targeted at you you can just stealth to break the cast.

It's been way more fun than I ever thought it would be. I thought it would be mediocre at best because of single class Thieves being a bit meh but it's been a really valuable contributor. I still doubt that it approaches the power of a Fighter/Thief multiclass (at least, not by bg2/tob where invis items/spells/potions are so plentiful) but it's still pretty good, and now that I have x3 backstab I don't even feel like I'm missing out on that much by having a smaller multiplier. x4 should be enough given the immense power of being able to backstab every 6 seconds.

SCS Shapeshifters seem pretty fun. I'd like to try one some time. I know that they're pretty powerful, but even with the big boost to them compared to vanilla I doubt they come anywhere near the power still of the standard powergame choices

docbeard
Jul 19, 2011

Ginette Reno posted:

SCS Shapeshifters seem pretty fun. I'd like to try one some time. I know that they're pretty powerful, but even with the big boost to them compared to vanilla I doubt they come anywhere near the power still of the standard powergame choices

Yeah I was really pleasantly surprised. They're definitely powerful but I think on par with a well-equipped and buffed fighter (and since they can't really benefit from many buffs above and beyond what their werewolf form gives them, I think it's reasonable). I'd guess they fall off in effectiveness in the late game (a major complaint about vanilla Shapeshifter even after the EEs improved it is that the greater werewolf form could only hit as a +2 weapon which wasn't going to cut it for a lot of things in later BG2/ToB. The SCS form hits as +3 which I think is going to be a bit better).

Sadly, Varrek just died to Molkar's crew, so the Iron Man portion of this run is done. I'm gonna keep playing her though, because I want to get someone through the entire sequence of games after all this.

Olive Branch
May 26, 2010

There is no wealth like knowledge, no poverty like ignorance.

I totally meant to participate in an ironman run but I think I'll pass on BG this year for other priorities, like Warhammer. Good continued luck to the contestant wards!

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Ginette Reno
Nov 18, 2006

How Doers get more done
Fun Shoe

Olive Branch posted:

I totally meant to participate in an ironman run but I think I'll pass on BG this year for other priorities, like Warhammer. Good continued luck to the contestant wards!

I think it has pretty much wound down at this point. Was a lot of fun though.

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