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Welp, you got me, you jerk. I'm in it again.  Richard, human fighter and soon to dual class into cleric, because I'm boring. But not a ranger, that'd be too boring. I'll do the ranger/cleric Running on Tutu with Core difficulty. Double checked my old tweaks/fixes installation and it qualifies for the purist run, fingers crossed. I'm gonna miss the BG2 stats for Jaheira, Minsc, Edwin, and Viconia though. Also I re-rolled a ton so born hero is right out. Also, another handy link for those participating: an ancient webzone that hosts a bunch of terrible custom portraits for you to use! Relive your favorite fantasy book covers in portrait form! Also at the very bottom are handy links to all the portraits from other Infinity Engine games, so if you want Icewind Dale in BG, or BG in IWD this place is useful. Just remember to save the .bmp file. You gotta click on the image to get to them, the gallery just has jpeg copies that link to them. Another handy tool for those of you participating: try using the snipping tool for all your screenshot needs. It'd be cumbersome if you were doing an actual screenshot LP but it's just about right for the contributions to this thread. Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Jan 6, 2015 |
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Jan 5, 2015 09:00
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That didn't take long. RIP Richard, died to you-know-who. You'd think by now I'd not rush into Tarnesh without full HP. Funny thing was Imoen nailed him with the magic missile wand but it didn't interrupt his casting of Fear at all. That's it for tonight, but tomorrow I'll actually do that ranger/fighter.
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Jan 5, 2015 09:52
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Ok, round 2. Foolio Displasius, human ranger , destined to wreck some merchant guild or another. Still purist, and this time thanks to being a ranger he didn't need to re-roll, so a born hero too.  Kivan is tribute to team. Imoen too, her magic missile interrupted the mirror image casting this time, he didn't even get a chance to cast horror. Foolio just kinda hung back and failed to hit him with a sling. No proficiency yet, gonna save that for when he duals into cleric. But how will Foolio handle all the cleric enemies? I remember getting Held by each and every one in a previous Ironman and somehow surviving. Not pictured this time: the three or four pairs of dire wolves I ran into. The random spawns were not kind this time, blew through a few potions already. Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Jan 6, 2015 |
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Jan 6, 2015 02:44
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Amazingly, I've never had Kivan get impatient on me. I pick him up as early as possible on nearly every run these days. Coran is pretty great too if you get him early with that mod since you can direct his thief points a little more. He absolutely DOES get impatient if you don't slay a wyvern, though, so watch out. Plus BGTutu interpreted his two points of Large Swords as 2 points in two-handed swords annoyingly enough. Sure, it's not like he can use a shield, but he can't backstab with a two-hander either and he comes set up to be a decent backstabber. If I ever drop the purist attempts and grab him early, I'll shadowkeep him back into longswords.Semi-mental posted:Right, I'm giving this a go. Imgur is pretty simple and popular enough that it probably has some app or another to speed along uploading screens from a tablet. There's also LPix, a host Baldurk set up for use in this subforum.
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Jan 6, 2015 03:43
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It's fun to see all the Enhanced Edition ironman runs. Maybe this'll be the year that I buy it and try it. Just a short update for Foolio: Foolio the Fighter has cleared the Gnoll Fortress and formed a full party. I decided not to grab Jaheira and Khalid this run. Usually for fighters its a matter of either needing the bracers of dexterity or gauntlets of ogre strength, but BG1 Jaheira needs both. Usually I love having half my party being diving spellcasters and would grab her anyway, but I may as well play a bit differently. Made my way to Beregost, skipping most of the assassins and such since I had a half-full party.  This Flaming Fist mercenary kindly donated his plate armor to the cause. Kinda forgot to grab bunches of screens after that. I had Imoen scour Beregost for all the valuables not nailed down and/or on fire and was able to afford that +1 composite bow for Kivan. I stole that one cloak from Algernon first to so the CHA boost would help lower the price. After that I bought a Stone to Flesh scroll on the cheap from the temple and made my way to Nashkel. Grabbed Minsc at the crossroads and freed Branwen from her statue form at the carnival. After grabbing the Ankheg Plate from the farmlands I started to deal with the assassins, first up was Neira at the Nashkell Inn. She landed a Rigid Thinking on Minsc but aside from that she was toast. Minsc's sword shattered in the battle so I grabbed a spare at the store. I took the low route to the gnoll stronghold, getting Larry, Darryl, and Darryl's autograph and dealing with Sendai's adventuring party in the process. That studded leather +2 will help Kivan the rare times he has to run into melee. Also grabbed in the same area was that cloudkill scroll, and the Fastest Dart Thrower in the West was no match for Kivan's bow. He got the archery bracers as a prize and is now even more peerless as an archer. Next screen over was pretty boring except for the +1 halberd in that cave, handy for Kivan mostly just because it won't break randomly. Minsc's backup sword, incidentally, broke somewhere around here so he was stuck using a nonproficient magic longsword looted from Sendai. The Gnoll Stronghold went down pretty easy too. Gnarl and Hairtooth didn't get in melee range before dying, and the Gauntlets of Dexterity went straight to Minsc. The very handy boost and recent level up giving him proficiency in bows made him a solid archer with his hand-me-down composite bow. The first of the eight Tomes was liberated from its cave and eventually we rescued Dynaheir. I'll stick with her in the party until Imoen dual classes. After that I might drop her and grab corvan for the thievery.  Also pictured are the remains of the gnoll warband. I should have taken the screen before resting, the corpses despawned afterward. That's it for tonight, I think I'll go find that one magic two-hand sword those half-ogres have before tackling the mines, with my luck Minsc would go through five more nonmagical ones before stopping the iron crisis. Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 13:08 on Jan 6, 2015 |
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Jan 6, 2015 11:54
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Rulebook Heavily posted:RIP in peace Drizzaw Layers, dead by random lightning strike. A couple of other people who were watching me may be along in a bit to attest to the wonder of this moment. I shed a tear every time a solo contender falls, especially the overcoming adversity ones. But why was the parody Drizzt clone struck down by god while the sincere clones walk unharmed? For real, that was a terrific end to the character, just amazing.
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Jan 6, 2015 23:07
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For int, there's a minimum requirement for the all-class protection scrolls like the protection from undead one. Something to keep in mind if you plan on using them. And, of course, it's important to fighters going toe-to-toe with those flayers. Wisdom I don't think affects anything except bonus priest spells, lore, and the Wish spells; pretty safe to dump if you're not a caster. Charisma only affects character reactions and store prices, just get some other party member to be the Face and take the top slot in the lineup if you want the best prizes from quests. There are a few weird exceptions, like Keldorn and Valygar's exclusive armor not actually being exclusive to them if you meet the right stat requirements. Even a monk can wear Keldorn's fullplate if he has the right stats, pretty handy until their innate abilities really take off. Here's a pretty handy resource at the Play It Hardcore wiki for everyone who wants a refresher on what exactly all the different stats do does. Here's the PiH game index for BG2, too, lots of handy info.
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Jan 7, 2015 01:38
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Orrfieldmedic posted:Iron Archer managed to hit level 2 before going into the mines, must be a good sign. Yeah, this run looks like it'll be a breeze. Foolio, on the other hand: Well, this session started off fun.  The Xvart village summoned its protector bear, and then Foolio charmed it into wiping out the village. Then I had the party wander over to that one place northeast of Nashkel to snag that +1 two-hand sword for Minsc. Amazingly he didn't break his backup backup sword along the way. Nearby was a cave with an ettercap and a web trap I idiotically blundered into.  Yup. Every once in a while one person would unfreeze long enough to get a hit in, but Foolio couldn't struggle away to flee! It was down to the last few hits, and...  Double KO! But there are no draws in Ironman. RIP FOOLIO DISPLASIUS, human Ranger, webbed and eviscerated by a lone ettercap. He never got a chance to scour the seven suns clean of doppelgangers (rraagh). Kind of sick of fighter/clerics anyhow. Next run, maybe an arcanist or a single class stalker ranger.
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Jan 7, 2015 05:31
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I don't think anyone will begrudge you using the CLUA console to warp back to the random encounter area and unfreeze your companion. It's a set area, but it's basically impossible to trigger another random encounter in the same one, and it just doesn't make sense in-game that it'd be impossible to find your way back to your lost companion. You'd have to travel back and forth between the same areas you were going between when the random encounter triggered and hope it respawns or another one takes place in the same area. If you want to use the console, I think using Ctrl+G will reveal the area info. Write down the area code, then go buy the scroll you need. After that enter CLUAConsole:MoveToArea("XXXXXX"). Or you can go utterly hardcore and leave them for dead, your choice. Whatever you think is more fun, that's what the thread is all about. If you find yourself always using the same party members, the new addition you use to replace the petrified one might be a pleasant change of pace. Edit: Or you can find the same area in minutes. Way to go! Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Jan 7, 2015 |
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Jan 7, 2015 06:02
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That's a heck of a turnaround, I'd have just started over if that happened to me. Way to go!
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Jan 8, 2015 02:43
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I knew I said I was sick of fighter/clerics but I'm gonna give it one more shot. If this guy croaks I'll start a Stalker ranger or maybe a ranged fighter to dual class into mage... and start using the tweaks that let you recruit different party members earlier. Anyway, Oldman the human Ranger. Purist, Core Rules, but not a born hero this time. Currently scrambling around Candlekeep to re-do the starter quests. They don't take long, I never thought I'd consider using the tutorial skip mods available.
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Jan 8, 2015 03:53
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Good run, one for the ages.
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Jan 8, 2015 04:42
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 WHY DID I THINK ANKHEGS WOULD BE A GOOD THING TO GRIND FOR XP? Made it out alive but I had to leave Adjantis's starter gear behind. So long, Iron Party honor. Oldman the human ranger is hobbling his way back to the FAI, making sure not to get close to the entrance before resurrecting Adjantis. I was just going to snag him before returning to deal with Tarnesh when one of the Ankhegs attacked and it went down pretty easy. The next ones taught me hubris, then that last one showed up when I tried to rest. I hope I have enough gold.
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Jan 8, 2015 07:29
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No really, quote is not edit. Yeah, I think I'll grab Branwen ASAP. I need me some spells.Comstar posted:I'm tossing up who to get as the mage and another fighter or 2nd mage. Yeslick? I already have 2 clerics. Kargin maybe. Minsc and Dynaheir? You can never have enough cleric. Yeslick comes with innate Dispel Magic casts, he's practically a proto Keldorn. Xan... I really want to like Xan. I guess you can slap wands on him for offense and save all his spells for buffs? And that NPC banter mod is pretty terrible, really sophomoric writing. Plus it adds some questionable quests and loot. I remember getting a free suit of elf chainmail once right outside Baldur's Gate.
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Jan 8, 2015 07:34
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RIP Not-Frodo. On brighter news, I finally ended a session without dying. After reviving Ajantis and killing Tarnesh, the party meandered down the map, hitting the usual spots. Karlat was dealt with, Silke was dealt with, Garrick was sent packing, quests were done, and we took a side-path to that one area with the +1 two-hand sword. This time I didn't rush the ettercap and it died quick. Ioin and those other two bandits even died pretty fast, managed to snag a few +1 arrows from them before they fired them all. However, all was not perfect. We lost an important ally.  I couldn't save the cow. Pretty bizarre, I don't think I ever failed this little battle before. Anyway, after that it was to Nashkel. Snagged Branwen as usual, Neira went down without a big fuss (Ajantis and his paladin saves sure are handy), and instead of fooling around I decided I wanted to clear chapter 2 at least. So it was straight to the mines! Well, right after defending the arts.  Feels good to finally have Branwen on the team again. Greywolf only got one hit in. I called it a night before tacking the mine dungeon, so Oldman the Ranger reached Nashkel is poised to solve the Mystery of the Mines. And after that discussion about Xan I decided to leave a slot open for him until Imoen is set to dual class. Things are looking up!
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Jan 8, 2015 12:39
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RIP Pumpkin-Spice, Gargamel, and Tiny. The first few hours are a real meat grinder. Once you get safely within double digit HP then it'll happen less often. And feel five times worse when you do slip up. I do love seeing the original BG1 being played, though! Oldman has been busy!  The mines were a breeze, Mulahey had a brainfart and kept waffling between retreating to his skeletons and closing distance with the archers. The result was a human pincushion that didn't cast a single spell. Xan was recruited and immediately given a sleep scroll.  Which he used to devastating effect on Lamalha and her bunch. Between sleep and Branwen's hold person the group didn't last long.  Speaking of Hold Person, some ghasts took down Branwen. I left the party outside this tomb and baited ghasts out to get pincushioned, but I forgot that Branwen was stuck with melee. A little while earlier I killed the revenant instead of giving back the dagger because I'm greedy for XP and GP. It was immune to normal weapons and only Ajantis and Oldman had +1 stuff so far, so I used her innate spiritual weapon ability to lend a hand. But you can't turn it off, and when I commanded everyone to fire arrows on the ghasts Branwen closed distance and got held immediately. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT: [Img of a summon monster wand missing, dammit]. She was revived ASAP and helped neuter NIMBUL:  Whats-his-face the mage in Beregost went down so easy I didn't take a screenshot. I can see why they gave every mage enemy in BG2 pre-cast spells, they just are no challenge if you know they're coming. I decided to keep on trucking straight toward the bandit camp after buying that shiny suit of full plate armor from the Thunderhammer smithy. The first attempt to sneak into the camp went rough.  Diplomacy has failed! Plus I failed to pull his bandit buddies away from him before he gave his spiel which would have prevented me from looting their scalps, that's easy money. Plus I remembered he had a magic weapon of some kind, more money in the bank. Also there was this jerk:  He ended one of my Ironman runs in a previous thread once with a lucky hold person, I've been wary of him ever since. I recruited a local bear to eat any spells he tried to throw at my MC. The next recruitment opportunity the next forest over went better. I was able to loot his buddies, and he didn't have any magic items worth stealing.  This line is especially funny with all his fellow bandits strewn about like that. I didn't take any screens of the actual camp, though. It went swimmingly, and Kivan seemed to have no problem with just letting Tazok go after meeting face to face. The battle in the tent was a little touch-and-go, I wasn't able to stop the mage from casting fear and Branwen was of course too frightened to cure herself with a courage spell. I really need to start pre-casting that since it also prevents fear from taking hold in the first place. On the way out the party went ahead and cleaned house. Taugosz was successfully Commanded into sleep and happily gave us our second suit of full plate armor, so nice of him. The next step was the cloakwood, but I decided to wait on that until Imoen was set to dual-class into mage so I could swap Xan for Coran and never be without a thief. Instead the party would sweep around the western half of the sword coast and collect all that loot I passed on at first. I love skeletons. Fearless and eternally loyal, they can't be charmed or scared away.  Even poison arrows cannot stop them. Just one cast of Animate Dead was enough to clear out a whole nest of sirens. They are the most superior undead ally.  They can't be diseased or held either. A little fragile, though, the ghasts eventually were able to take down my little boney buddy, but they weren't able to get close to the party before being taken down. Your sacrifice will be remembered, Sg. Scapula. For real, if you find yourself having trouble with all those nasty spells and effects, consider using Animate Dead for your cannon fodder use. Not even the gods can stop you!  NO WAIT I'M SORRY, NOT LIKE THIS, NOT LIKE DRIZZAW! (Oldman is fine) Anyway. from there the party went to the area south of High Hedge, I hosed up the dialogue tree with Bassilus and had fun fending off his army of skeletons (see, he knows what's up, skeletons are great), got his hammer for Branwen, and found a talking chicken.  RIP Melicamp. Has anyone here kept him alive yet? Anyway. that's all for tonight. Feeling pretty good, though, this run might be the one! BG2 is probably impossible for me, but I've managed an Ironling win before and I want to do it again. Edit: Oh right. Oldman the Human Ranger has cleared the Nashkel Mines and wiped the bandit threat from the Sword Coast, and are currently on vacation. Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Jan 9, 2015 |
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Jan 9, 2015 06:26
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I remember the Firewine bridge being a slog of traps and kobolds with fire arrows and no good loot. Just take the shortcut from the halfling village to the end of the maze and slay the ogremage and his cronies. I think they're the only one with worthwhile loot and xp.
Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 07:44 on Jan 9, 2015 |
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Jan 9, 2015 07:41
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Jenner posted:Birchwin shelved, so to speak. I will complete the game with her off screen with cheaty bullshit so I can show you guys the godawful male romance in BG2 Please do. I'm sure the tender side of Anomen is just magical.
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Jan 9, 2015 15:12
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Congrats to Mountaineer and netcat on their ironling wins! Good luck in Amn! And farewell, Nick Fissure. Theater sure is a cut-throat form of the arts.
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Jan 9, 2015 23:40
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Pvt.Scott posted:Is there a mod to force a cooldown on order acknowledgement lines? I don't want to hear my MC's pithy quote all the drat time while traveling. No need for a mod, just go into sound options and then select Character Sounds  Disabling Battle Cries is also a good idea sometimes. "GO FOR THE EYES, BOO!" is classic, but it wears itsself out after the hundredth replay.
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Jan 10, 2015 00:46
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DeathChicken posted:...nope, straight back to Tarnesh and a Magic Missile. RIP Winston Smiter the III. gently caress you, Tarnesh.  Hey, now I'm not the only one to die to Tarnesh. Sure, your death was due to the failure of a sound tactic and my death was because of Dumb, but I still feel a bit better now. I hope you give a cleric kit character another shot.Speaking of clerics, Oldman's run is picking up steam:  I still love skeletons, BTW. These Sirens stand no chance against Sgt. Scapula.  Kivan is being a bit of a disappointment. But I just can't quit him! He's a wizard with that +1 composite bow. Shortly after that Imoen got another level up. Level 7 is usually when I dual class her, so we finally have a real mage. No offense to Xan. However, we drop him and go fetch Coran He's a great archer, nearly as good as Kivan...  But his thieving skills could use some work. There's a ton more I want to grab from the overworld, so I only stick around long enough to grab Coran's wyvern kill.  Sgt Scapula was brought forth again to tangle with the hamadryad that always finds me in this area and does a good job keeping the poisonous claws away from people burdened with the weakness of flesh. With a wyvern bagged we left the Cloakwood and turned in the bounty at Beregost's temple. Then the party explored the area....  Comstar covered these guys before I could, but I still want to state my loathing for these guys. Vampire wolves, immune to normal weapons, hidden away in an otherwise beginner area with nothing but easy hobgoblins and wild dogs, a place you might explore before you even have a single magic weapon. At best, the +1 dagger from candlekeep or Silke's quarterstaff. I think they can even Hold people with their attacks like ghouls and ghasts. I didn't take the chance and had Ajantis with the Spiderbane tangle with them. I hate them so much. Anyway, most of the areas to the west of Beregost and Nashkell were taken care of, so the party started moving down the east side of the map.  The Red Wizards of Thay foolishly wasted their spells on Sgt. Scapula, but he fell during the battle. Not a single bit of their foul magic touched the party, though!  I'm gonna be honest, half this post is going to be about my love of skeletons. Sgt. Scapula was summoned with his pal, Private uh... Pelvis? Sure. Having no eyes, the Basilisk's gaze attacks had no effect, and their puny melee attacks hardly scratched the dusty old bones, full of green dust. Mutamin's Garden was cleared out swiftly and safely, and on the way out the skeletons thrashed Korax. No need for a turncoat ghast. I did get in a random encounter on the way to the next area and I thought I was done for, but luckily it was just kobolds. I had used my last Stone to Flesh scroll on whats-her-name in the garden. I took my own advice and just used the Gullykin shortcut straight to the end of the Firewine bridge maze. The ogre magi was kinda disappointing, but he had a wizard cronie with some nice spell scrolls for Imoen's growing spellbook.  In the south of Gullykin the party encountered one of the last remaining assassins, Molkar and company. Sgt. Scapula successfully absorbed a fear spell, but Oldman was just within range for it to bounce from the skeleton to him. Luckily I finally wised up and pre-cast Courage, so he was still fine... and even if he wasn't, Branwen's Hold Person landed big time. Next stop was Ulcaster's school! Some addled skeleton named Icharyd picked a fight, saying he wanted flesh. So weird! He's finally found a way to live without flesh and now he wants it back? Doesn't make sense. Sgt Scapula stepped forward to teach him the error of his ways.  He actually got a few hits in before being flattened. I was so proud. The return of the book to Ulcaster was enough to push Oldman to level 7, earning him another 1/2 of an attack per round.  But there's no time to enjoy it since he'll be locking it away behind cleric levels until Baldur's Gate 2. I finally have two clerics! Oldman the Ranger has Dual Classed into Cleric! And now I gotta decide if I want to keep my party lineup like this or if I want to swap Branwen for Yeslick. I usually use Yeslick since I love his high-ish hp, fighter Thac0 and attacks per round, and innate dispels, but I think I might keep Branwen this time. I need a tank and she did pretty well for HP this time and doesn't really need the dexterity bracers I gave to Ajantis. Plus that leaves her free to use the gauntlets of ogre strength later on. Given my party lineup of cleric MC, Ajantis, Kivan, Coran, and Imoen as a mage, what do you all think?
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Jan 10, 2015 07:51
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Go for it. Just keep in mind that if you intend to go backstabby, only weapons that thieves can use can backstab folks. When you narrow it down to weapons clerics can use too, the only ones that will work are clubs and quarterstaffs. Just a little more to report before I'm done for the night: I took Mzbundifund's advice and stuck with Branwen. All that was left of the overworld was to clear out the area in the far southeast. Snagged the fire resist ring and scooped up that wounded guy before zooming straight toward the Friendly Arms Inn to turn the guy over to the cleric. Then it was off to the final area of Cloakwood to have some fun with the average mage HP pool.  Well done Coran! PS, I dropped the purist run in favor of him being proficient in a weapon that can backstab. Two-hand swords, really BGTutu? Anyway, Coran immediately skedaddled around the corner and stealthed the moment he broke line of sight. The two bodyguards rushed after but couldn't find anyone to smash.  The perfect crime. Not pictured: Sgt. Scapula rushing in from the southwest to swarm the lone mage. After he was down the melee guys went down easy, and the Boots of Speed were claimed by Coran so he could break line of sight even faster for more backstab fun. The Mines were pretty boring. I remembered many games ending with me having like a zillion unspent wands left over so I had Imoen clear several rooms of hobgoblins with the fireball wand. Coran pretty much opened every big encounter with a backstab. That one mage on Level 3 survived the initial backstab and tried to lightningbolt in retaliation but somehow missed and caused it to ricochet through herself fifty times. Davaeorn's fight was a little weird. He kept doing that script where he teleported away and Coran kept stealthing each time he did. Eventually his mirror images failed and he went down to yet another backstab. Nearly went pear shaped when Davaeorn fired off a dire charm, thank goodness for elf resistances to those types of spells. And that wrapped up the mines and chapter 5. Up next:  Oldman the human Ranger/Cleric takes on the city of Baldur's Gate! I'm excited. Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 12:50 on Jan 10, 2015 |
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Jan 10, 2015 12:28
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Melincamp has had extremely poor luck this thread. So far there has only been one survivor that I've seen.
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Jan 10, 2015 22:46
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Ugh, I was afraid the EE quests would end your run, Mountaineer. Farewell, Lady. Are you going to keep playing on that save for a bit on the side to learn all the EE stuff?
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Jan 11, 2015 04:22
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Sure its possible, and it's a great class for solo runs. In a normal game you might feel your MC is a bit weak since it takes so much XP to level up even once compared to the rest of the party. That problem disappears in BG2, though. There are a few armors that you can cast and thief in in BG2, but for BG1 your best bet will be AC bracers or a Robe of the [your-alignment] Archmagi which is the equivalent of chainmail AC. Edit: It just occurred to me that "either game" meant original BG and BGEE. Haha, sorry! Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 06:40
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I can't see how HULK can lose. You seem to have this one locked down. Oldman and company are cruising along. Baldur's Gate (the city) is just a buncha busy work so here's the short version:  Sgt. Scapula continued to be invaluable. In addition to the basilisk he also distracted the bad guy adventuring party in the Cloak and Helm (even managed to keep the Merry Fools alive through it), ate all the spells the creepy necromancers above the Sorcerous Sundries store, and uh... well, I guess that's it.  Yoink! First wisdom tome get. I made sure to call in Tenya's favor in first so I wouldn't have to come back here after pulling this mean trick.  I'm kinda sad that Foolio didn't make it. A Foolio I made for a previous thread went all the way to BG2, but I guess the luck didn't rub off.  Nothing special happened here, I just love this line. Anyway, I made my first abuse of the Monster Summoning Wand for the Iron Throne tower. Sgt Scapula is willing, but he wouldn't last long against the party up top and they ambush you the moment you get there. Such an annoying fight to try and do on the fly, so I had Imoen invis herself, walk upstairs and around a corner, and plop down like five different groups of monsters for them to blow all their spells on. Eventually is was safe for the rest of the party to follow up and clean house. Candlekeep was a lot easier. I skipped killing Reiltar because Oldman is a good little boy and didn't want to disappoint Tethoril. Or Ulruant. I forget which one is the nice cleric godfather and which is the kinda dickish wizard. The catacombs were fun. Coran was the star of the show at the end, his boots of speed letting him repeatedly dart around corners and re-stealth for more backstabs. But then he walked into a web trap and got skewered by a sword spider. I can't wait to unlock Imoen's thief levels again, I'm at the point where Coran has to chug potions of perception and thievery every time he needs to find a trap. That gets expensive! Snagging the Tomes of Understanding and Body Building from the catacombs brought the total to... 7/8! Just one more tome of understanding to grab from Durlag's tower. Speaking of Durlag's, I'm gonna risk it!  Already the casualties are mounting. So: Oldman the human Ranger/Cleric has dismantled the Iron Throne, routed the doppelgangers from Candlekeep, and is poised to storm Baldur's Gate in pursuit of Sarevok! But first, a vacation in Durlag's Tower. I'm probably going to skip werewolf island, those loup-garou are a drag to fight. Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 10:32
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Dootman posted:I was hoping someone would be brave foolish enough to do Durlag's Tower. Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwelp....  RIP Oldman the human Ranger/Cleric. Checkmated by the wizard chess board. Pro tip to everyone, the range for summoning spells is slightly less than your field of vision. I had Oldman try to summon some skeletons in the middle of the board, he stepped forward a couple more feet and drew just about everyone. Plus he took the dumbest route possible around those pawn statues. Horror landed, people started scrambling about, lightning was flying every which way, Coran got reduced to ash by two consecutive flame strikes... it was bad. And looking back there was like a zillion things I could have done. I was saving every bottle of Absorption potion for this fight but didn't use any, I could have pre-cast Courage ASAP instead of worrying about the duration running out, and so on. Farewell Oldman, and farewell ranger/cleric dual classes. Next run is going to be a stalker because I enjoy those backstab shenanigans I did with Coran.
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Jan 12, 2015 00:22
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I hate that you can never see the battle record after your MC dies. So many deaths leaving me wondering "what!?". I can only assume your poor half-orc got critted. Even with a helmet on averting the extra damage it's still a guaranteed hit. I'm still trying to puzzle out the damage, though. Assuming the ogre had 18/00 strength and the usual morningstar thats 2d4+ 6 damage. Up to 14 damage in a single swing. I guess the monster had specialization for +2 more damage? I'm gonna go start a new game and CTRL+Q it to see what its deal is:  Welcome to the party, ogre friend.  Yup, 18/00 strength, and it's not just specialized, it's mastered spiked weapons. Which doesn't mean much unless you have true grandmastery installed, either way it gets +2 to damage. Looks like the ogre not only rolled a 20 to hit, it got max possible damage, barely enough to one-shot a raging 16 hp half orc. Anywho, throwing my hat in the ring once more:  Delf the elf stalker. Core rules, not purist and definitely not a born hero. HEROES ARE MADE, DAMMIT.
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Jan 12, 2015 04:31
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Holy Toledo, I was just talking about unfortunate crits and max damage rolls, look what happened right in the same area as the belt ogre: That's a level 1 elf ranger, so Delf only had 13 HP. How strong are these undiseased gibberlings, anyhow? Could one have one-shotted me? (He's still alive BTW so don't update the graveyard just yet.)
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Jan 12, 2015 09:51
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I'm taking it slow and easy with Delf the Deft Elf. Tarnesh was fun:  Note this was after Delf's longsword broke. Luckily the bonus to striking from the shadows was enough to overcome nonproficiency penalties after borrowing Imoen's dagger. Plus Tarnesh just has rock bottom AC. Recruited Jaheira, and with her BG2 dex I decided to keep her. After turning in that ring quest, however, Khalid somehow got lost in that tiny room and was removed from the party while everyone else was inside. Unable to initiate his leaving dialogue, Jaheira's "we both go" flag didn't get tripped and she happily remains in the party without him. Oh well! I'm sure he'll turn up in BG2, one way or another. Nashkel had me recruit Minsc (BG2 stats, yay) and Branwen again. I really underestimated how useful a single class cleric can be, so she's in for good. Maybe next playthrough, Yeslick! Also, after the chessboard fiasco I have been really paranoid about buffing against fear effects, and for a good reason:  Yeesh. All five got hit, without Remove Fear pre-cast they'd all be running around like headless chickens while Zordral the Most Confused Mage-Hater peppered them with spells. Next up is the Gnoll Stronghold to settle Minsc down and maybe keep Dynaheir, though its kinda weird to not have anyone desperately need the bracers of dexterity. 17 dex is great on Jaheira, and Minsc and Branwen can get by with 16. I guess Minsc will still get it since he'll be right behind Jaheira in melee. Oh, but speaking of AC, I'm debating whether to really abuse Drizzt's loot. In addition to giving everyone their BG2 stats, I set Jaheira's alignment to NG. Supposedly just so she wouldn't constantly complain about the party not keeping the balance when they reach 20 reputation, but that also means she can use Drizzt's defending scimitar. It's very strong and will also make her AC skyrocket. Do I go down this dark road of minmaxing? (Yes, absolutely, but try to talk me out of it anyway). Anywho, Delf the Elf Stalker reached Nashkel. Hooray, no close calls so far! Aside from that one time a ghoul tagged Delf and he got held. Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Jan 12, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 17:34
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Good effort Orrfieldmedic. Thanks for giving the wildest of party lineups so many shots. And for documenting the experience for our amusement. What are your plans for a safer run (or has the sextuplet of surging spellcasters burnt you out?
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Jan 13, 2015 01:26
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Beat me to it, but yeah, Animate Skeleton is a level 3 cleric spell and invaluable. Early, relatively powerful, they blow the summon monster and animal pal spells out of the water. In BG1 at least. Delf, my elf stalker, is doing OK. Still just clearing the overworld at a leisurely pace. Been having fun with the stalker's backstab, though the reduced multiplier growth rate is starting to make it feel weak.  I saved the cow this time. Melincamp didn't make it. I dual classed Imoen at level 6 thief rather than 7 this time, I'm gonna give those level 4 mage spells a shot. I usually rely on her level 7 thief abilities to disarm her way through Durlag's and just use a scroll to cast Cloudkill on the rare occasions that I want it. Being able to open up with a Chaos spell for some of the harder fights sounds like a ton of fun, though. Grabbed Safana to be a temp thief for the Nashkel mines, but I plan on dropping her immediately afterwards. Hopefully Imoen can unlock her true mage potential before we need thiefy stuff again. Hm, I wonder who I should pick as my sixth party member? Trying to avoid Coran this time around. Maybe Yeslick, just go whole hog on the divine casters. Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Jan 13, 2015 |
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Jan 13, 2015 20:01
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 Lamalha and the Amazons took out Delf and Company. The skeleton got taken down before any of their spellcasters could waste their Hold spells on it, then I got greedy trying to Backstab my way out of a sticky situation when Jaheira got held. She was taken out and then Delf was held in turn. Surprisingly got 2/4 down at the last moment but there was just no stopping Zeela the cleric. Ah well! Next run will be a bit different. I'm getting tired of the good guys, so I think I'll make a neutral something or other and get to recruiting people like Edwin, Kagain, Viconia, and Shar-Teel (who'll become a fighter/thief). That covers the fighter/mage/thief/healer core, so the only thing is to figure out who'll be member number five. I guess Imoen? Or maybe cheat a bit and use a mod to get Tiax or Quayle early, that'd be fun. I kinda wish I had EE, Dorn looks like a blast to use in evil runs. Anyway, RIP Delf the Deft Elf Stalker, Should have known that Lamalha and her Amazons would take more than one skeleton to solve.
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Jan 14, 2015 07:26
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 OK, round... what is this? Four? Five? Archie, the "Arcane Archer". Human fighter, going to dual class into mage eventually. Head of a less-than scrupulous party. Snagged Montaron and Xzar on the way out of Candlekeep, then headed up to the FAI and east to Peldvale to quickly snag Viconia. Montaron and Xzar sadly perished keeping the Flaming Fist dork from targeting Viconia, but it was worth it. Quicky dropped by FAI again to turn in the ring quest and help un-do some of the reputation damage Archie took. I don't plan on being a saint, but I prefer the good-guy special abilities so I want to keep my reputation positive each time a new chapter rolls around. At Beregost I snagged Kagain and the modded early location for Tiax, and let me tell you the little megalomaniac has wormed his way into my heart. After that was Shar-Teel, and boy was I careful to crawl along the westmost screen border in Mutamin's garden up to Shar-Teel. Luckily she didn't die during the duel and she joined the group. Then it was off to the save editor to undo some of the questionable stuff Tutu did. What is it with Tutu and dual-wielding? Shar-Teel I can kinda understand since she's dextrous and stuff and originally just had large and small swords, but Kagain and Khalid? Whatever, I said goodbye to a purist run long ago. Edit: Oh right, I set my Thieving action to the shortcut of K (for Klepto), but it's not working for Tiax unless I already open up the f12 special ability menu. I've done this before for a thief/cleric and I could have sworn that pressing K would let me access the lockpicking/trapspringing ability even when the ability wasn't available on the base menu? Am I doing something wrong or did I just misremember? Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 10:37 on Jan 14, 2015 |
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Jan 14, 2015 10:35
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Yeesh, tough luck. Yeah, sometimes the auto-pause doesn't give your dude enough time to turn around. I'm having Archie the Arcane Archer try something different this time. After killing Dynaheir and sealing Edwin in as my sixth party member I took off for the basilisk garden again. Tiax's ghast served well until partway through Viconia got to level 5 and was able to supply her faster skeletons. The EXP was so good that I wanted more, and the Ankheg farm wasn't far away. The flame wand in the pit is very handy, too. But the EXP wasn't enough! So I decided to go for broke and initiate Operation: This-Is-Hardly-Better-Than-Using-The-Console-To-Give-Myself-EXP:  (thanks, auto-pause) Kagain has fullplate, the dexterity bracers, and a +1 protection ring, and yet he still gets his face punched in half the time. No deaths yet, though, and his 20 CON makes healing a breeze. With three people with magic weapons I think I can manage! I'll see you later when I die or get Shar-Teel and Archie up to dual classing levels, whichever occurs first. Edit: I'm gonna call it quits on the flesh golem slaughter, this is starting to feel too dang cheezy for a hardcore run, even on my overly modded game.  Still, there's nothing like a pile of flesh golem corpses. I think this was the most I got in a row before my rest attempt actually didn't proc a random encounter and cleared the area. Tuxedo Ted fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Jan 14, 2015 |
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Jan 14, 2015 15:55
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Koskinator posted:All right, I've got a notepad file with updated listings through to this post. Thanks for going through all the effort! Maybe "You have read this before, you havve, maybe twice! Baldur's Gate Ironman 2015" I dunno what the character limit is, though.
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Jan 15, 2015 05:57
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Dammit, Ghost of Ulcaster! I went and got your book and when I come back up you disappeared. Why'd they make him the sort of NPC that can wander around, anyhow. So many nooks and crannies in the ruined school, I can't find him anywhere.
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Jan 15, 2015 12:44
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Pvt.Scott posted:Heya, it's me, Ironman!: Baldur's Gate Ironman 2015 Enhanced Edition Yeah, I like this one. Also: It's weird not running with either Coran or Kivan. Or both. Ever since I dual classed my MC to mage and Shar Teel to thief, I have hardly any ranged power outside actual spells. Sure boss battles go down fast but just regular kobolds or war dogs or what have you take ages for Kagain to wear down. I've actually been using fireball wands to just end groups before they move in. Can't wait for Shar-Teel to finish being a thief so I can have her back as a main archer... and so she can rip people to shreds by backstabbing with Varscona.
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Jan 15, 2015 14:14
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Having a blast with Archie. As his mage levels grow I feel less and less in need of his fighter levels. Of course, Edwin pretty much trumps him at every turn. After abusing the flesh golems I went straight for the nashkel mines. Shar-Teel cannot stop critting when backstabbing, resulting in some crazy numbers.  Keep in mind that this was with a dagger. I can't wait to see what happens when she has Varscona again.  Nothing special happened with the Amazons outside the exit.The dagger of venom is incredible for shutting down mages. Buying it bankrupted me, but it was worth every penny.  Oh look, another crit backstab.  That one dork who boasts about being the greatest swordsman ever couldn't beat Kagain singlehanded. The rest of the party watched with AI shut off.  The bandit camp went by fast. Having just gained level 5 I had Archie join in with Edwin on a fireball opener, but there was some collateral damage over on the left there. That hit the reputation pretty hard, but it was getting a little too high for the badguys so it worked out in the end. Still had to pay at the temple to get it above 9 again though, gotta have them good-guy Bhallspawn abilities.  I love this guy. You can Pickpocket Aldeth on three different occasions for the same three items, and I intend to hit him up each time. 1/3 Shapeshifter Slaying swords pilfered. The Cloakwood mines went by pretty swell too. Except for the mage on level 3. She resisted the poison effect of the knife and got off a lightning bolt which bounced across poor Edwin about five times. RIP him. I guess that's one advantage Archie has over him. Davaeorn went down eventually, but Edwin would have to wait to be revived before wearing the hard-earned Evil Archmagi Robes.  Oh, and somewhere along the way Shar-Teel got level 7 in thieves. Just one more to go before becoming a hard-hitting assassin! Archie the Arcane Archer, human fighter/mage, cleared the cloakwood mines and is barreling down baldur's gate.
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Jan 15, 2015 20:00
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enigma74 posted:Enigma the cowardly human Berserker is ready for the iron challenge! Best of luck! Yeah, those Vampiric wolves are killers. Why did they put them in the early areas like that? Watch out, there's another pair you can find early on, two map sections below Beregost. Don't stray from the road in that area too much. docbeard posted:Alas, even the HULK could not triumph always. Farewell~ I was sure that HULK could make it. I'm not going to post any progress updates quite yet, but Shar-Teel just unlocked her fighter levels and ITS FANTASTIC. I'm gonna have to go to Ulgoth's Beard early just for that invis ring. Chain backstab everything. Plus it's just nice to have her regular THAC0 back and a good composite bow in her hands.
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Jan 16, 2015 07:36
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