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Congrats man. Glad to see we both made it through. I'm gonna be starting TOB tonight I think.
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Jan 9, 2019 23:03
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cheesetriangles posted:Congrats man. Glad to see we both made it through. I'm gonna be starting TOB tonight I think. Yeah, same to you, Lizzy is doing great. I've just cleared Illasera and the first challenge. I'll go to Watcher's Keep at the first possible chance, but dunno if it's worth it, I've lost too many characters there.
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Jan 9, 2019 23:06
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Congratulations to you folks hitting endgame! Rayvek...is making progress. Before we go muck about in the Cloakwood, we decide to fight some basilisks for fun and profit.  Branwen is not what you would call stoked to return to Petrification Central.  Shar-Teel on the other hand, seems perfectly at home. A backstab with the Dagger of Venom does for Mutamin; it doesn't kill him outright but the poison keeps him from casting anything til it finishes him off. Shar-Teel does admittedly spend a bit of time in a rather statuesque pose; I thought she'd have time to run off while the basilisks focused on the protected-from-petrification Isra. I was mistaken. (I'm choosing not to think of this as a character death, so one stone to flesh scroll later and she's back with the gang.) Some number of dead basilisks (and some mouthy adventurers) later, and we're off to the Cloakwood.  Another Ascalon-added sidequest, this one pretty straightforward. She'd like us to find her son, Perwell, who's been kidnapped by bandits.  If you have Jaheira in the party (and the BG1 NPC Project installed) there's a peaceful solution available to this confrontation between Huntly McGee and the Druid Vengeance Squad, but we don't have Jaheira in the party. Also Rayvek is like three levels from going druid. Also gently caress this guy. We pass through the rest of the Cloakwood areas without much incident, see the sights, murder the Shadow Archdruid (hey, Rayvek ain't a druid yet), kill some wyverns, the usual.  These four are more a speedbump than a challenge at this point, what with my new tactic of throwing wave after wave of summoned critters at anything that can cast spells and then locking down the entire area with webs and such. Rayvek now has some shiny new boots.  Perwell is in the cells on the second floor of the mines. I think if we're eeeeeeevil, we can ransom back to his mum ourselves, but we're not, so we tell him to wait for us outside.  The fight with Hareishan and a million billion guards is made slightly more challenging by SCS but it's not a big deal in the end. (This screenshot is a bit after the fact, as you can tell from the high-larious guard dialogue.) We did open with the old summons-and-web trick and dealt with stragglers as they appeared. The biggest issue was a confused Shar-Teel doing her damnedest to kill Baeloth. (At least we think she was confused.)  I love this dialogue. So. On to Davaeorn. SCS enhances this encounter too, mostly by making the Battle Horrors show up whether you trigger the traps or not and having some reinforcements pile into the basement at an opportune moment. For some reason Davaeorn doesn't throw quite as many spells around though he does still teleport around like an rear end in a top hat.  In any event, Isra nails him with a crit. He dies. We flood the mines and meet up with Perwell outside. He agrees to follow us back to the Friendly Arms Inn, which should be a straight shot...  A straight shot through...  gently caress you, Cloakwood. We get there in the end, though. And now Rayvek and Company Are Off To Baldur's Gate.
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Jan 10, 2019 03:08
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Matt Stryker has accomplished all his murdering goals for this session. To be fair, they were pretty modest, and there weren't many challenges in the way. The south-eastern portion of the map, if you exclude Durlag's Tower and Neera's area, are a breeze as long as you have magical weapons, which by this point I do. The biggest threat is Hold Person from Vampiric Wolves and Ghasts, and the stray ogre mage. We start out by jumping some people who were trying to jump us outside of a halfling village. This time I forgot to cast Remove Fear, but I turned out to not need it. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/361579157 (4:23) With them gone I step into the Firewine Ruins, where some people were clearly not expecting me. We bumrush the ogre mage at the end, then drop some AoE spells on the mage waiting to throw some lighting bolts up our way and wipe the party.  Ajantis is a good hand at ranged thanks to the Gauntlets of Dexterity and the Elven Court Bow, and I just have him walk behind Imoen and one-shot most kobolds throughout the ruins. We come out the other side, jumped up and high on our own success, and decide to challenge a different, more powerful ogre mage. Ajantis's death is his penance for breaking a total of five swords since he joined the party. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/361579158 (7:31) A little more plundering and the Ulcaster Ruins behind us, we get to the Valley of Tombs, which I just learned is the name of this area. I skipped it earlier because I didn't feel confident about being able to handle it right after the Nashkel Mines, since Ajantis didn't have a magical weapon and I would have been completely reliant on Branwen's hammer for damage against Mustard Jellies and the Revenant. Some more people are trying to kill us, of course, but without an arcane spellcaster I don't even break a sweat. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/361579156 (2:53) Also at some point we save this cow.  So that's the SE portion, but what about the SW? Well, that's next! Tune in tomorrow, when Matt Stryker tackles sirines and continues powering up before the Cloakwood!
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Jan 10, 2019 04:48
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Godspeed to all ye solo nuts.  After Vitus died to my carelessness I've been rolling and rerolling a few characters that never left Candlekeep, but that didn't happen to this edgelord:  Khonsu the Dark Moon Monk set out to punch (or chuck daggers from a safe distance for a while) his way to godhood.  And it seems the EE comes with a nice custom biography too. On the road, time to ditch Imoen and join a pair of shady fellas ahead.  Microing with a tablet on a bus ride? What could go wrong?  Teamwork! Anyway, in every run I try to get that belt ASAP because of this poo poo:    I don't know how that happened. I have Elves' Bane equipped but no helmet and that was clearly a crit, but where does the damage reduction come from? I had to double check to verify that I was really playing on core rules. Anyway, I plan to semi-RP this run so we make a small detour and grab a sister in faith, dragging Xzar's corpse for a while:  But after yet another ambush I decide to ditch him. Montaron didn't like him and this game does have an assortment of evil wizards anyway.  South away, Kagain is recruited and we see a bit of new dialogue from the latest patch I think:  Vitus the Dark Moon Monk has arrived in Nashkel and is laying on some hard truths on the unfaithful.  You tell him, Vic!  I actually had to repeat the arrival at Nashkel because the game crashed after talking to Rasaad but it was worth it to watch him again punch poor farmer for 10 gold. Way to "enlighten" people, baldy. 
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Jan 10, 2019 12:52
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Celeste the solo Blade has cleared the Nashkel Mines and hunted down some bounty hunters. The mines got a little scary at one point, 9HP is never a good place to be, although it never got any worse than this. I've got plenty of healing potions.   Mulahey was merely a speedbump, as expected. He was nice enough to keep a scroll of Web in his chest, and his ring is worth a nice 5,000 gold. Pretty profitable, all told.  Into Chapter 3, and Tranzig was no issue at all. I didn't get a screenshot though.   Nimbul died quickly to the power of the Wand of Fire. Scorcher is great for single targets or more cramped spaces. You don't often kill quick enough to get all the potions that an enemy has with SCS, so this was a very nice haul to get. After this, I recharged the Wand of Fire at High Hedge. 14,000 gold is a lot to spend on one thing, but for 50 casts of both spells it's worth the money, I reckon.   Since SCS moves these 2 groups of assassins to ambush areas, I decided to hunt them down on my own terms, both to get them out of the way and to avoid running into them at a bad time. I simply travelled back and forth between Nashkel and various wilderness areas until I found them. It didn't take long for Lamalha's group to show up. My battle strategy was simple, immediately buff with Ghost Armour, then run to a corner and use Defensive Spin. Then use Scorcher until one or more were dead, and then mop up the rest with Offensive Spin and Magic Missile.   Molkar's group showed up soon after and went pretty much the same way. They lasted a little longer, and did a little more damage, but they still died. Got some decent loot out of it as well, including the Mail of the Dead, which is pretty much the best armour Celeste can get in BG1 unless I can kill Drizz't for his set. That won't be for a while, though. Next up is the rest of the wilderness. biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Jan 11, 2019 |
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Jan 11, 2019 00:32
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Matt Stryker has finished clearing the wilderness zones. We happened upon an ogre who was eating dinner, then he wanted to make US dinner, and we simply couldn't oblige him.  I also finally figured out the most efficient way to deal with sirines after 21 years.  And there's this cool book in a cave!   We take a firm stance against slavery.  It turns out, not everyone on the Sword Coast is all that bad. So tomorrow, now that everything's done, Matt Stryker is heading to the Cloakwood, finally. ...but what's this?  A solo project! The Midwich Maniac is in contention now! He's only been around for about an hour, but he's done a full clear of basilisks and gotten Melicamp killed.   I'll be playing the Midwich Maniac when I get bored of a full party and keep him around as a back-up in case Matt Stryker does the impossible and dies.
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Jan 11, 2019 05:19
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I haven't got screenshots handy at the moment but after my session tonight Ba'ik Toree has made it to the catacombs under Candlekeep. e: found a couple of my screenshots! To be brief, the order of events went: After ganking Shandalar we picked up Shar'teel, who I will forever and always think of as Shart Eel. Plowed through Cloakwood, killing everything in sight.  These guys didn't do any damage to me at all. Tbf we were seriously overlevelled by this point. Davaeorn died to a couple of skeleton summons while the party cowered in the far corner.  Not losing anyone to that fireball this time! In Baldur's Gate we've cleared most of the worthwhile content - Degrodel's quest for the Helm/Cloak of Balduran, the gauntlets of strength, the wisdom tome, and a bunch of other quests along the way. The iron throne battle was probably the scariest moment of the run, Xzar and Viconia ended the fight with 1 and 3 HP left respectively. Xzar has had good luck scribing scrolls and has both Stoneskin and Melf's Minute Meteors in his spell book. I murdered the gently caress out of Rieltar et al. And that's it. I'm currently sitting in the catacombs having picked up the strength and wisdom tome there. Most of the group are level 7. voiceless anal fricative fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Jan 11, 2019 |
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Jan 11, 2019 11:12
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Looks like Softface and I are in about the same stage of the game! Rayvek has also been clearing up wilderness areas. Among other things. We do start with a shopping trip to Baldur's Gate to pick up some equipment, spells...  and the Dexterity tome.  Stuff like this is why I ultimately can't hate the BG1 NPC project. (The gift she gives you is basically a reskinned Amulet of Protection +1.)  We then take a side trip to Iceland, courtesy of ShandalAir. We deal with most of the mage battles with the one-two punch of Shar-Teel backstabbing them and Baeloth throwing wave after wave of summoned cannon fodder at them.  It's a bit hard to tell since it all happens offscreen, but if you check the combat log here, you can basically piece together what happened: Cuchol cast a Skull Trap point blank at a skeleton warrior that Branwen had summoned earlier and killed himself. We don't get any XP for this death but I was laughing too hard to care.  poo poo. I forgot to disable this. So, one of the things that the Unfinished Business mod can "restore" is a completely unnecessary second level for the Ice Island caverns. It's mostly empty aside from a few traps and some winter wolves, no treasure to speak of, an absolute waste of time. But it's not a big deal, and it does make the final fight against Dezkiel a little more interesting, with his pair of snow golems. They, and he, aren't much of a threat though, and I pick up the Stoneskin scroll for Imoen.  gently caress you, old man. I'd feel worse about being ripped off if I weren't gonna rob him blind later.  One of the big reasons I like Isra is her writing just after the Cloakwood mines, where this kid who's had a romantic idea of fighting monsters and righting wrongs her whole life comes face to face with a more institutional form of brutality, and it really shakes her. The writing here does a good job of taking everything seriously without just turning maudlin or grim.  Not every mod is as well-written though, as we'll see as we get further into the Stone of Askavar quest, which this little encounter kicks off. The stone golem here is the only real threat.  We pick up this clue, which sends us to Nashkel. We'll get there soon enough.  Baeloth apparently loves the smell of spell components in the morning.  Here's Cearwin, the main questgiver for the Stone of Askavar. The story is simple. There's this Stone. Of, one presumes, Askavar. It's some sort of powerful magical artifact that Banite cultists are searching for. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to track down five missing talismans which will in turn allow you to find the Stone, ideally before the forces of evil get their hands on it. It's possible that this will also restore the world's missing commas. After this, we get on with the aforementioned deck-clearing in the western wilderness areas. At this point in the game, nothing much in these areas is a real threat to us, though sirines are annoying and the SCS-enhanced ogre berserkers (who get the actual berserk ability) pack a mean punch. I didn't bother screenshotting most of this...  ...though Branwen's reaction to meeting the Doomsayer was, I thought, worthy of documentation.  We end this update as we began it, with a tome.
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Jan 11, 2019 11:27
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The Pebble starts Throne of Bhaal. Crushes Illasera.  The Pebble turbo murders a lot of people in Saradush.  The Pebble is now The Rock.  Gromnir Il-Khan bites the dust. Now to Watcher’s Keep to get the final items. Firt, the teleport maze.  Fighting for the first gem.  The Pebble suddenly dies.  Who knew that stupid random demon had vorpal attacks. Bugger me, what a way to end a great run. Also, let me quote myself: Angry Lobster posted:I've just cleared Illasera and the first challenge. I'll go to Watcher's Keep at the first possible chance, but dunno if it's worth it, I've lost too many characters there. Another corprse. RIP The Pebble, the solo barbarian, good night, sweet prince
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Jan 11, 2019 15:45
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Angry Lobster posted:The Pebble starts Throne of Bhaal. So sad to see you go, and so late in the game! But now you get to do the journey again 
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Jan 11, 2019 23:58
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Softface posted:So sad to see you go, and so late in the game! I'm sad. As much as I don't really care for solo runs, I really wanted you to go the distance and I'm worried that nobody will finish the marathon this year. biscuits and crazy posted:the best armour Celeste can get in BG1 unless I can kill Drizz't for his set. My last game of BG1 was with a non-solo Blade, and I was gutted when I managed to kill Drizzt and my MC couldn't cast spells in his armour. For some reason, I just assumed that he would be able.
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Jan 12, 2019 04:23
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Lizzy is still alive and well and in Saradush I'm just taking a few days break from the game after having spent a solid 2 weeks grinding it out. Sorry to see you go that way angry lobster thats really rough. Really thought you were gonna make it.
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Jan 12, 2019 06:52
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JustJeff88 posted:I'm sad. As much as I don't really care for solo runs, I really wanted you to go the distance and I'm worried that nobody will finish the marathon this year. It's really unfortunate, I've never seen this guy do a vorpal effect nor I've seen it documented. Still I have faith Cheesetriangle will be able to go the distance. cheesetriangles posted:Lizzy is still alive and well and in Saradush I'm just taking a few days break from the game after having spent a solid 2 weeks grinding it out. It's always sad to lose a run so near the end line, I suppose I've just need to start again with a stronger character. I hope you will be able to win this. Angry Lobster fucked around with this message at 12:06 on Jan 12, 2019 |
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Jan 12, 2019 10:17
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Angry Lobster posted:It's really unfortunate, I've never seen this guy do a vorpal effect nor I've seen it documented. Still I have fight Cheesetriangle will be able to go the distance. Even with the way it ended, getting into ToB with a solo barbarian is no mean feat.
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Jan 12, 2019 11:20
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Shame about The Pebble, I was hoping he'd go all the way.JustJeff88 posted:My last game of BG1 was with a non-solo Blade, and I was gutted when I managed to kill Drizzt and my MC couldn't cast spells in his armour. For some reason, I just assumed that he would be able. Yeah, I figured that would be the case. Still, it could be useful if I'm out of spells in a dungeon, like say I'm halfway through Durlag's and I just need some extra protection on my way out to rest and restock or something.
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Jan 12, 2019 14:30
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Meanwhile... Rayvek has finished up her wilderness gallivanting and, er, retired another companion. (Spoilers: It's Branwen.) Having mopped up the eastern Sword Coast we still had a few areas in the west to deal with. Starting with the ruins of Ulcaster.  That's a lot of kobolds-  Great, now everything's going to smell like charred kobold for a week, thanks Baeloth  SCS makes this otherwise unremarkable fight a bit more of a challenge, giving him a bit of rejuvenation when he's about to die. It also 'advances time' after the fight is over, though I'm not sure what the point of it is.  You may recall a gnome in the Friendly Arms Inn who wanted us to track down a lost spellbook. It's here, just past the ranting revenant.  The vampiric wolf at the end of Ulcaster gets buffed quite a bit, getting a lot more hit points and a few spells, including a fear-inducing howl (fortunately Isra can cast Remove Fear a thousand times a day at this point) and the ability to summon a bunch of undead. Not a big deal at our level though. (Pretty much everyone's at, er, if there were a level cap we'd be at it.) On to Firewine, and what may be the single scariest encounter in the game...  If you don't have an arrow of slaying. (Though you need to be careful; I'm not sure if this is one of SCS's new 'features' but Kahrk is sometimes immune to the arrow. I think this is down to one of the thirty-eight trillion buffs he gets to precast, and it seems to be Protection from Magic Weapons that does it. We threw wand fodder at him til that wore off, and only then fired the arrow, and that seemed to do work just fine.)  Then it's down into the Firewine Dungeon, or as I like to call it, A Lot Of Free Fire Arrows. As an aside, imagine if you will, the Firewine Dungeon with its respawning bullshit, except instead of kobolds you get a bunch of drow and high-level orc spellcasters. Who, again, respawn. There's a reason I don't have Dark Side of the Sword Coast installed.  We don't have another arrow of slaying for this ogre mage, but Shar-Teel makes do. Now, you might be asking, why didn't you just pop in from the Gullykin secret passage, kill the ogre mage and the other wizard, and call it a day? Yeah, about that...  gently caress you, SCS. Normally there'd just be the Spider Woods (and Durlag's Tower) to sort out yet, but the Stone of Askavar mod adds a couple of overland areas, one of which we're going to visit next. This is probably the most dangerous part of the mod aside from the final battle, for a couple of reasons.  First, it's full of the mod's signature enemies: Teldorn Fighters (who are basically just mid-level fighters, not a big deal), Teldorn Archers (who are essentially Black Talon Elites, but still pretty manageable since it usually only throws one or two of them at you at a time), and Stone Golems (who will murder the poo poo out of you). Second, see those pillars? They throw lightning bolts around, so you need to stay on your toes. Third, there are a few other random monsters here, including:  Fortunately, just the two. Thankfully most of the enemies are scattered enough that giving Shar-Teel the boots of speed and having her run around like a backstabbing fiend proves a viable strategy.  This tower at the center of the map is the reason we're here. Inside we find...  A fight! Shar-Teel suckerpunches the wizard while the rest of us deal with the stone golems.  And we recover our first talisman. The talismans are ring slot items, so if you were looking for an extra ring of protection or elemental resistance, you're in luck! The treasure in this mod in general is decent, about what you'd expect at this point in the game anyway. (It does like to hand out Robes of the Evil Archmagi like candy though.) The second talisman is in another new wilderness area at the south end of the map. It's a basically empty forest, a few spiders (and web traps), but nothing much to speak of except for this encounter:  These guys are adventurers in the level 6 or 7 range I reckon, so not exactly pushovers but also not exactly a big deal at this point.  Talisman #2  The third talisman is in a previously unavailable cave in the area just north of Nashkel. Inside, it's mostly high level spiders (phase, wraith, and sword), and a lone wizard:  He ain't all that.  Talisman #3. For the last two talismans, we go to Beregost.  One is obtained without any fighting at all by talking to a beggar near the Jovial Juggler, answering his riddle, and then trading him an expensive ruby (available at Feldepost).  This one's actually very nice. To get the last one, in one of the houses in Beregost, we find out that a young lady's sister has been kidnapped and taken just past the Temple of Lathander, right in that little cul-de-sac where the petrified adventurer is.  As usual, the stone golems are the only real threat here.  And a Now that we have all five, we go back to the Nashkel Carnival, talk to Cearwin, and he points us in the direction of the final battle. This battle is a bit of a challenge, and I mean just to find.  It's here, in the Bandit Camp. There are some well-hidden stairs down in the ruins.  Three wizards, two well-equipped fighters, two archers, and a stone golem. We come in buffed, but it's still not an easy fight. But we prevail...  ...and Branwen gets a warrior's death. We recover the goddamn Stone of Askavar. Hopefully we get paid in emergency backup clerics.
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Jan 12, 2019 16:04
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Elves' Bane or not, there is a limit to just how many arrows can you dogde: Khonsu the Dark Moon Monk was turned into a pincushion by what I like to imagine were the same group of bandits he ran away from. Time for something less micro intensive:  Kondor the Dwarven Defender flies away from Candlekeep! Attempts to recruit Neera...  Facetanks both an Acid AND a Fire Arrow:  Breaks his lovely axe on some dwarf on dwarf action:  And fails to save fellow feathered Melicamp:  Kondor the Dwarven Defender is onward to Nashkel with a shiny new hammer in hand.
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Jan 12, 2019 22:33
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Wizard Styles posted:I hope you weren't planning on using Kivan.  Now look what you're done!
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Jan 12, 2019 22:36
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Arwa the Berserker continues berserking throughout the Sword Coast. Dynaheir is liberated! Edwin runs off in a huff.  Kivan and Viconia come to blows!   Because both of their ACs are so high, and both decide to use their ranged weapons while in melee range, the fight takes around five minutes, each relying on critical hits to do their damage. Kivan has the advantage, given his higher amount of attacks per round.  I do some shopping in the meantime. Finally, as dusk descends upon Nashkel, Kivan comes out as the victor, which I found disappointing. I replace Viconia with Branwen.  Bassilus gets Horror'd and gets trapped in a cliff?  Melicamp lives.  I soon unexpectedly run into some basilisks. gently caress gently caress gently caress. I'll have to remember where Mutamin's Garden is for next time. I keep thinking that it's an area much more south than it actually is. 
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Jan 12, 2019 23:51
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Rayvek the Kensai has completed (most of) her business in Baldur's Gate. So, with Branwen sent to whatever the Forgotten Realms equivalent of Valhalla is, we welcome Yeslick to the party, and tell him not to worry just how much blood is on the standard waiver of liability that we make him sign. He's a bit lower-level than the rest of the party (5/5 Fighter/Cleric while everyone else is somewhere between 7 and 9) but we can work with that. Before we go to Baldur's Gate, there's one last piece of business to attend to. We return the Great Karlini's spellbook to the gnome who hired us, and he asks us to join him back at the stone circles for a demonstration of the "great formula". This doesn't seem like the wisest idea, but for science, we're willing to try, and it might even give us some insight into what happened to Karlini in the first place.  We, uh, think we know what happened to Karlini. We can either let the Balor that our idiot patron just summoned have him (naah), fight the Balor (lol), or offer him our soul instead, in the name of science. This is not as idiotically suicidal as it sounds, as the Balor has been putting up with Karlini rambling on about science for centuries now and he's sick of it. So, after a couple of trivia questions to assure that you're telling the truth about your scientific mindset, he fucks off, and we even get a shiny new shield as a reward.  See? Shiny. We head into Baldur's Gate and blow through the usual sidequests.  Shar-Teel fails to understand the fundamental premise behind picking someone's pocket. But maybe she'll get it right next time.  Nope.  We also make some progress on the Serpents of Abbathor sidequest. If you'll recall, the Serpents came to our attention when we found a dead messenger among Mulahey's belongings, with an offer to join forces. We then killed their agent, witnessed an assassination, and collected a diary indicating a meeting at the Temple of Helm in Baldur's Gate. This one. We're directed to the sewers, where some dwarves who are hunting the Abbathor cult are, er, hunting the Abbathor cult.  But before we can get to that, there's plenty to do topside, including fighting alongside Gorpel Hind's band of Blithering Idiots.  Oh no, a basilisk! Why if only some dashing young dwarf had a reflective shield, perhaps one wrested from a devil's clutches.  Shar-Teel: I HAVE PICKED HIS POCKET FOR HIS BOOK OF CURSES. It was necessary to make him explode first. She's getting better, I think.   We pick up the usual tomes in the usual ways, get ourselves poisoned, get ourselves unpoisoned, murder some doppelgangers, and head down into the sewers and also the Undercellar.  Isra is not really a fan of the Undercellar.  These are the dwarves we've come all this way to meet. They send us to kill their opposite number (and the quest-giver for the evil path of the Serpents quest, I think). I don't know if it's actually possible to kill him at this stage, but it certainly isn't if Shar-Teel critical fumbles her, uh, pickpocketing attempt. We deliver the bad news and are told that the Serpents are here to get hold of an artifact called the Gundmagtor, and if you're not really following this plot thread, me either. They send us to a hotel...  Only to find we've been beaten to the punch. Once we dispatch these cultists, we find a note pointing us to their headquarters, one of the warehouses in the southern part of the city.  Not pictured, the five or so more cultists at the opposite end of the building. This ends up being a tough fight, but we prevail, and finally get a clear picture of their actual plans...  Eh, sort of. Next time: Werewolf Isle, Durlag's Tower, and a return to the Nashkel Mines.
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Jan 13, 2019 04:52
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Angry Lobster posted:
 15% chance for a vorpal attack with no save as it turns out. That's the regular Balor attack as well, so all Balors should have that, not just Tahazzar. I never knew about that. Vichan posted:
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Jan 13, 2019 10:36
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Ba'ik Toree has gone all the way! And managed to keep everyone alive while doing so. The demon knight in Durlags veeeeery nearly killed Viconia, leaving her with only 1HP:  But he proved to be a chump anyway. By this stage the whole party were level capped and Shar'Teel and Montaron were both at 4APR while hasted so all I had to do is draw out his dispel and then run the meat grinder on him:  The cult assassins nearly ended the run when I got back to Ulgoth's Beard. The mess of wand summons saved things:  Aec'Letec went down like a chump. By this stage I had amassed a convenient 6 potions of mirrored eyes to block his lovely eye beams.  The bloody goblet thing from Durlags is stupidly overpowered when paired with the helm with fear immunity. Unless something can do more damage than Kagain's 107 HP in a single round, he has nearly bottomless instant full heals. Turns out the combination of Sarevok, Tazok and Angelo can do just that until I dispelled their haste, so there were a few tense moments of kiting when I first initiated this fight. They went down in the end though:  After which the big man himself was no threat:  I'll kick into BG2 next time! MVPs were obviously Kagain, Shar'Teel and Montaron. Viconia was mostly dead weight tbh, as Ba'ik Toree was a more than capable heal bot. Single class clerics just don't enough attacks per round to contribute meaningfully on the front lines, even with a full compliment of buffs. As for the shaman class itself, the mid BG1 levels are a real low point - early on the endless summons are great, but there's a point at which they become redundant (due to wand of summoning) but also before you get access to any decent druid spells. That starts to change when you unlock level 4 spells at 8th level, so I'm looking forward to getting much stronger through BG2~ Anyways, honours earned: Ironling, purist, librarian, trap dodger, honourable trader, iron party, battlemaster, roleplayer. No dishonnours.
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Jan 13, 2019 11:19
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Matt Stryker continues his journey, sometimes only avoiding death by the skin of his teeth. His first stop is at Neera's behest, to help her get her wild magic under control.   Some bad wizards show up, but they are no match for a taste of their own medicine. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/363454093 (4:25) For the first time ever I have problems with the druids that are trying to kill Aldeth. The main one gets a spell off and Neera fails her save, killing her instantly. Luckily she doesn't get blown to bits. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/363469095 (1:52)  Luckily I do not have problems with the wyvern cave. I always forget the Shadow Druid area exists, because there's really nothing there. It's a waste of an area. We finally arrive at the Cloakwood Mines, where we find a welcome party waiting for us.   We were also waiting for them. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/363469094 (2:58) The mines don't pose any big challenges, except for this wizard who leaves her ambush location and comes down a tunnel after us unexpectedly.  But we make a new friend, too.  Davaeorn goes bust, and we are the heroes.   The entire mine clearing https://www.twitch.tv/videos/363469091 (37:37) Knocking Davaeorn's teeth in https://www.twitch.tv/videos/363469092 (3:56) From there we go to the big city, and hit all the high points. Tome of Dexterity  Stopping a break-in  Tome of Intelligence (I had this running concurrently with the Lothander's Geas quest and nearly had a heart attack when I thought I used the one for that quest).  Gorpel Hind's Murderous Barfight  Wizard Island  https://www.twitch.tv/videos/363489575 (21:42) Ogre Mages  And finally, we fight our way to the top of the Iron Throne. I tried to do something different by only sending up wizards and having them barrage the group, and though it didn't have the results I hoped for I think it worked out okay. Two enemies got left upstairs, and nobody died.   https://www.twitch.tv/videos/363489576 (7:37) At some point while checking XP to next level I discovered that Neera craves a communist revolution. The rep is low because while we were going for the Gauntlets of Ogre Power Yeslick got hit with Confusion and murdered a bystander, which prompted me to keep Otiluke's Resilient Sphere memorized for these situations.  But everything is back to where it started, and Matt Stryker has returned to Candlekeep.
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Jan 13, 2019 21:58
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Celeste, the Solo Blade has cleared the wilderness and the Bandit Camp. Celeste crossed Greywolf and lived. Quite easily, as it happens. And then nothing, no matter how many times I talked to him, Prism never died so that quest will remain unfinished forever, I suppose.   loving hell, Flamestrike really hurts when you fail your save. Fortunately, Bassilus was already badly injured and didn't last too long after that.  Borda and the Doomsayer were very straightforward. It was a relief to have a couple of easy fights after the close call with Bassilus, I was expecting more difficulty to be honest.   Despite taking extra damage from fire attacks, the Revenant proved to be a lot tougher than the mustard jelly wizard, who has less than 30 HP.  4 Red Wizards became 4 dead wizards, although it wasn't easy by any means. I had some good luck here, the sequencers the wizards used were all 2x Magic Missile, which I was immune to with Shield. Had I got one or more sequencers with 2x Melf's instead, I likely would have died here.   Moving back west, I picked up Eldoth to deal with the Shoal the Nereid encounter. Neither Eldoth or Shoal survived an "accident" with a not at all deliberate badly aimed Fireball, what a pity.  I hit the XP cap after beating this group of sirines in the same area. This group, and the first group on the way to the cave with the Con tome were vulnerable to sleep, it turned out.  This group, were not, unfortunately. Luckily, they didn't use charm anywhere as much as they could have and died quite quickly.  2 out of 8 Tomes found. I used Invisibility twice to sneak in and out of the cave and grabbed the loot, the real prize being a useful Wand of Paralyzation. I don't think Celeste can beat 3 flesh golems in melee combat.  This encounter with the druids went better than expected. I got a lot of timely spell interrupts here.   For the SCS version of the Bandit Camp, buffing then loads of AoE is the absolute best way to go. Getting arguably the two biggest threats with the same fireball proved to be the difference, and I killed the last enemy soon after. This was actually quite close, at one point I got to single figure HP again, but I have 2 healing spells and dozens of healing potions from buying all the stock at temples so I pulled through.   Some great loot, and several new spells too. Not sure I'll ever need to memorise Fireball, mind you, but its nice to have at least.  Into Chapter 4, and I headed to Ulcaster and Firewine, the final areas to clear.  I'm not sure why the Wolf of Ulcaster ended up all the way over here, but he died nonetheless. AoE was once again the go to strategy, it summons a lot of dread wolves to aid it.   Firewine went very smoothly, full cleared the entire ruins before my buffs ran out. Lendarn here failed his save vs paralysis, he didn't survive long. I got a second set of gauntlets from the dude outside near the bridge, and another copy of Cloudkill to go with the one you can get south of Nashkel. I wonder if Aec'Letec is still vulnerable to it, might have to check that out should I get that far. Next up is the Cloakwood Forest.
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Jan 14, 2019 01:20
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Updated to here. Sorry about reading about The Pebble dying so soon after clearing SOA, but good on Lizzy for beating Irenicus! As for all our other hopefuls, both the living and dead, good luck on your own quests. Remember, overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.
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Jan 14, 2019 01:47
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Rayvek has defeated the Serpents of Abbathor, the Werewolfweres of Wolfwerewolf Island, Durlag's Tower, the game-crashing Cultists Of Whosits, and , oh yeah, Whosits. I thought I'd gotten some screenshots of the beginning of the visit to the new Nashkel Mines area but apparently not. But basically the entire area has been reset, and the area outside the mine is covered in traps. We meet up with a fallen Wostek (our good quest-giver) on the way in, and he asks for a warrior's death. We oblige. He also tells us that the Serpents have used the Gungathingie to summon a bunch of dwarven shadows, which sure does bode well for our future. Emerson and the surviving miners have holed up in the side cabin (where you normally can fight some war dogs early on), and he fills you in a little more on what's going on, to the extent that it ever becomes clear what's going on. (This mod is translated from German, but even if it weren't, I think this questline would still be needlessly opaque.) Into the mines themselves. The first level has some more of the same cultists we fought back at the warehouse. Not pushovers, but we usually encounter them in groups of two or three so not really a big deal either. The second level...  Has this bullshit. Those skeletons all have bows with fire arrows, and they'll rapid-fire target someone in your party the instant you spawn in. No one died this time, but I almost needed to dig into the Cleric Reserve List, if you know what I mean. There are a couple more groups of these archers, but this is the largest, and most dangerous one, and after they're cleared out it's pretty smooth sailing.  Once we hit level 3, we meet up with the shadows they were talking about. Fortunately these aren't the undead strength-draining variety of shadow. I think they may be illusions of some kind (though nothing much seemed to dispel them). They're decent melee fighters, but honestly, after all the buildup they got, they're not really much of a threat at all.  There's also some sleeping umber hulks. We elect to allow them to remain sleeping. On to the last level and the little alcove where you normally fight Mulahey, but instead you fight the Big Boss himself, Lugosch. A name I'm not sure we've heard before.  Buddy, if we went into all the things about this that we don't understand... A certain amount of necessary violence later, and...  The quest is solved! The Serpents of Abbathor, Part 1, ladies and gentlemen. (As far as I know, there was never a Part 2.) Moving on. We're in search of a little R&R, and Mendas's proposal for a salvage cruise is, eh, close enough.  Negotiations break down with the Merchant's League. (I can never remember the right option to walk in peacefully.) But we get the seacharts, and soon we're off and...wait, why does this boat have "SHANDALAR CRUISE LINES" written on the side?  Goddammit. So, blah blah blah, we're the peaceful islanders, go kill the bad beasts for us, we're probably not werewolves, etc. We deal with some transparent ruses, I forget to get a screenshot of the Karoug fight but we've all seen this before. We win, lick our wounds, return to town, and...  THIS IS A LOCAL ISLAND, FOR LOCAL WEREWOLVES! THERE'S NOTHING FOR YOU HERE!  We escape, try to talk Kashias down, and end up standing on a pile of bodies insisting that there should have been a better way.  This, right here, gets to the heart of why I don't really like this questline. Like, sure, there's no getting around that it feels very half-assed and thrown together at the last minute, but I hate poo poo like this where the entire conflict could have been avoided with a five minute conversation. Had Mendas shared the plan with us, even keeping the werewolf thing close to the chest, there would have been a reasonable justification to go along with it when we found out the truth. There actually should have been a better way, in other words. Anyway, we murder him. Off to Durlag's Tower next. This is my favorite dungeon in the game, and a strong contender for my favorite RPG dungeon ever, mostly because everything feels like it's placed there with a narrative purpose, and not just "gently caress you, you get respawning kobolds and traps for an hour". We go in, loot the top levels  Including this all-important Wisdom tome that makes Rayvek eligible to dual-class to druid (about which more later), and then head downstairs. The fight with the Prides is easier than I expect, although I get dangerously close to a Game Over when Rayvek gets down to about 12 hp fighting (the power of) Love.  Still, we prevail. The next level's not that tough, though the battle against the five(?) doppelgangers in the bridge room's a bit touch and go. We pick up the insanely good heal item, which both Shar-Teel (who has the anti-fear helmet) and Isra (who has the Cavalier kit and is thus immune to fear anyway) can (and do) use. Next level.  I love this guy. We send the statue warriors up against the wyverns, while the rest of the party (save Isra) hangs back. We send Isra in ahead because she's immune to poison, and also because she can't use ranged weapons. I skip the other two paths down here, because there's nothing I really want from them and gently caress dealing with those backstabbing critters in the hedge maze. Somewhere along the way, Rayvek hits level 9. I was originally planning on dualing her then, but this feels like a really bad part of the game for my strongest melee fighter to become useless for a while, and so I think I'm gonna stick it out til level 13 (knock on wood). I clear out the elemental tunnels and-  HOLY SHITBALLS THEY FIXED THE SCS BUG THAT KEEPS THE TELEPORT FROM WORKING  We're pretty sure this is how chess works.  We hit the last level, and Yeslick really lightens the mood. Monsters are fought, and traps are disarmed. And...  Hello, beautiful.  The Demon Knight goes down like a punk. I've been forewarned about the ways that SCS buffs the cultist fights back in Ulgoth's Beard, so I send everyone in invisible, and kite the assholes around town for the first ambush, and then hit them with something like five fireballs in immediate succession (2 wands, 2 necklaces of missiles, and an arrow of detonation) in the upstairs fight. Along the way I run into some kind of crazy bug where the cultists spam Minor Spell Turning over and over and over in some infinite loop until the game seizes up and crashes. This happens twice. I despair of finishing.  I finish. (Comedy moment: Aec falls, and I start to think it's over, which is good since like half the party is in single-digit HP at this point. Then I see a cultist I missed hanging out in the corner all "'sup?" Fortunately I can mob him with summons til the healing potions kick in.) Next: Endgame, one way or another.
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Jan 14, 2019 02:59
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Alright after feeling a bit more motivated after a vacation I've continued Mi-guk's adventures. After losing Rasaad to hobgoblins within 2 minutes of starting the game I picked up Minsc and went to the Gnoll Fortress, after which I backtracked through the northern area and ended up in a bit of a mess, but I managed to bravely run away in the face of danger:  With Dynaheir dead I picked up Edwin and continued exploring the same area I just ran away from, with a less than tense ambush from an ogre mage along the way:  Ended up losing Minsc to Javik (?) the named bandit who packs a stronger punch than I initially thought. That lovely noble who runs away from the bear didn't even give me his boots so that area was pretty brutal. I went on a detour to grab Ajantis so I had another meatshield, then went to the area underneath High Hedge. I found a bird most fowl and completed his quest. Melicamp lived  After that I went an showed Bassileus who's boss. Had a couple of hairy moments when he hit Mi-guk with a hold spell but luckily he just cut down Edwin instead. I resurrected Edwin since I was heading to the temple anyway.  After that I finally identified a book I found in a cave below the Gnoll Fort. Mi-guk is slightly less of a bore after reading it.  Feeling safer having leveled a little, I went south of Nashkel and helped Prism out:  And am now finally going to move the plot along.  Mi-guk has cleared a few side-quests and is heading down the Nashkel mines
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Jan 14, 2019 15:54
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Celeste the solo Blade has flooded the Cloakwood Mines and reached Baldur's Gate. Decided to side with Seniyad for once and killed Aldeth. Could have gone better, I suppose.   The spider area was smooth sailing in comparison, Centeol died without doing a single thing. I also picked up this +2 Scimitar at the far south of the area. It's a nice upgrade for Celeste. The druid grove was skipped completely, there's nothing of interest there.  These wyverns were dealt with surprisingly easily.   Drasus's party at the mine entrance were not as big of an issue as I expected. Drasus did the vast majority of the damage and is by far the most dangerous enemy here, so I took advantage of his speed to separate him from the rest. Once he was gone, the other 3 were taken out without issue, and it was just a matter of waiting for his potion of magic shielding to wear off for a faster kill.   If you ever need proof that Wands of Paralyzation are awesome.   Davaeorn is a motherfucker. His 2 Battle Horrors were dispatched very easily with Scorchers, they have no fire resistance. Then it was just a matter of very slowly picking away at Davaeorn and his flunkies, fortunately he's a dick and has absolutely no problem with hitting his own allies with AoE spells. Eventually he died, he's no threat once he's out of spells but it was quite tedious chasing him around his lair. Into Chapter 5, and I made a quick detour to the roof of Durlag's Tower for the 2nd Rashad's Talon.  Much better than Drizz't.   3 out of 8 Tomes found. Next up is sidequests in the big city. biscuits and crazy fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Jan 15, 2019 |
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Jan 15, 2019 01:38
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Rayvek the Kensai has defeated Sarevok and the Iron Throne and completed Baldur's Gate Mostly no mod stuff til the very end. Upon our return to Baldur's Gate from lands far, wide, and annoying, we decide it's high time we infiltrated the Iron Throne, doing a bit of subtle detective work to quietly discover the truth behind their machinations.  Or, you know, murder our way to the top floor. One of those. (This is actually the only time we're seriously challenged on our way upstairs. The funny thing is that Emissary Tar shows up mid-battle to ask for directions. We're...somehow not surprised the doppelgangers got the better of her.)  I mean, we did just kill a demon and then that demon's big brother, but yeah, I'm sure you're the real danger here.  I think SCS adds an extra warm body or two to this fight, but at our level, it's really not a problem. We find out that the Iron Throne head honchos are off to Candlekeep, and Rieltar's son, Sarevok, has apparently told dear old dad that he's already killed us. We return to give Duke Eltan the good news, he teleports us to Candlekeep, all according to the usual-  So, you know how there's an Ogre Mage ambush in one of the houses in Baldur's Gate normally? And you know how SCS likes to move the assassin encounters around? Yeah. We later realize that we didn't actually kill all of them before heading into Candlekeep proper. I think I got a screenshot of the lone invisible ogre mage's buffs all wearing off while he cools his jets outside.  Heh, yep. Poor poor ogre mage. Anyway, moving on.  ...come on, man, have some respect, if not for me then for yourself.  The horrifying truth that daddy was a snakelike alien living inside someone and pretending to be a god is revealed. Or am I mixing my franchises up?  I normally don't bother killing Rieltar and Co. because I tend to just want to get on with things at this point, but I figure Yeslick deserves some payback. We get arrested, but I'm sure that with an even remotely impartial judge it will become clear that we had no choice.  Welp.  Imoen with the keen insights.  Wisdom Tome  Strength Tome, and that's the set.  "Hey, nice work taking out that doppelganger, Shar-Teel." "He was a doppelganger?" (Fun fact, if you kill them before they change, they drop whatever equipment their 'human' form was wearing instead of doppelganger treasure. Not that treasure really matters at this point of the game.)  I love that the doppelgangers just sort of quit trying after a certain point. We make our way outside and head back to Baldur's Gate.  Isra with a bit of editorializing. (She's still not thrilled with the idea that evil can be messy and political and not romantic in the slightest.)  We get arrested by the Flaming Fist, only to find that Rayvek isn't the only person hereabouts with a monster for a dad. Angelo cuts us loose, and we get on with things.  First we kill some mercenaries and rescue Duke Eltan   Then we hunt down Sarevok's remaining allies  And then we crash a party. I can picture it now, this group of armed-to-the-teeth adventurers, whose faces are probably on every wanted poster in the city, show up with an invitation that is probably at this point drenched in blood. "So can we go in or what?"  If you say so, bro.  We wander through the Thieves Maze, because what's one more pointless speedbump. (Incidentally, you can apparently backstab green slimes. Not other jellies though.)  Baeloth lightens the mood.  After Shar-Teel does a bit of invisible stalking, we deal with these fools with the tried-and true technique of fireproof Isra + about 8 fireballs. And then...it's time. We buff up and head on in. I'm not sure of all the details of what SCS does here, but from Sarevok's dialogue it sounds like he's more or less invulnerable til his allies are dead.  Guess not, buddy.  Sarevok Falls! And...scene. ...and...scene? We get a message to go back to the Ducal Palace, because there's a mod I forgot I had installed. It adds a bit of a transition between BG1 and Siege of Dragonspear, and also makes Tamoko a joinable NPC. Basically you get to loot the Sword of Chaos and hang onto it for all of five minutes before you're ambushed via cutscene and robbed, which gives you a hook to go after Korlasz, which prompts the Dukes to send you back underground without Imoen, which conveniently frees up space in your party. I decline to recruit Tamoko, mostly because she's a level 14 cleric (and even my overleveled party is mostly level 10 or thereabouts) and that's a bit much cheese even for me. Also her voice acting is annoying. And so we head back down, and a cutscene or two later, and Rayvek is off to start the Siege of Dragonspear. Honors: Ironling, Strategist, Librarian, Trap Dodger, Honorable Trader, Iron Party.
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Jan 15, 2019 03:02
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Arnaldo the Shaman has gone back to exploring the wilderness after killing Mulahey. I'm a little scared of Nimbul, although I think recent versions of SCS have toned him down a little. Anyway, I opt to delay meeting him for a bit just to get Xan some spells. So Arnaldo goes off into the wilderness, finds a Flaming Fist deserter among some Gibblerlings, and delivers him to the Friendly Arm:  We also deliver a giant spider corpse that we've been carrying around for the last two weeks or so. We take a trip to High Hedge where we sell enough random gear to get a Robe of the Neutral Archmagi for Neera and some scrolls for Xan and some more scrolls for Xan and even more scrolls for Xan because he's unfortunately borderline illiterate and fails to transcribe almost all of them. Such is the beauty of Specialist Mages. We also kill a lot of skeletons to farm throwing daggers for Arnaldo; it's riveting. Back in Beregost, Xan shows that he deserves his place in the group because having him around means Neera, the competent Mage in the group, is free to cast spells because Xan can at least use wands.  Apart from Tranzig, the party also kills a bounty hunter and Silke, both of which I didn't feel like taking on earlier. Back in Nashkel, Nimbul turns out to be less of a threat than I thought, and a good target for Xan's wand as well.  All Web and Entangle really achieved here was to ensure the kill wasn't stolen by one of the soldiers - or Rasaad, which would have been the ultimate embarrassment. Nimbul himself made all his saves, not that it got him very far. Arnaldo reports Mulahey's actions and death to the mayor, and the party disappears into the wilderness again to possibly get another level before taking on the SCS-enhanced bandit camp. It would do almost nothing for Arnaldo, but Neera isn't far behind him in XP and would get two Skull Traps.  The first thing we find is the tougher of the two bounty hunter groups.  The fight goes super well! So what happened before this is that Neera, instead of casting Web, got a surge doubling her HP instead, which was great for her but not the best thing to happen from a tactical point of view. (She never got hit.) It also wasted Arnaldo's Writhing Fog almost entirely. Everyone else was on kill the Gnome Fighter/Illusionist duty. Everyone else failed as well. Xan rolled close to minimum wand damage. And so the Gnome got a Sleep off which hit Arnaldo and Khalid. Having the main character fall asleep during probably the toughest fight yet was interesting at least. Jaheira did her best to tank but ultimately went down. At this point, it was Neera, Imoen and Xan against Molkar - who was badly injured - and Morvin the Dwarf. And of course those two could always just decide to kill Arnaldo. I was considering having Imoen unleash the Necklace of Missiles (which would have killed Khalid) but went for a Hail Mary Charm Person against Morvin first. And it landed. Morvin quickly dispatched Molkar, unfortunately without taking that much damage himself. So when the Charm wore off, I had to kite him around between Imoen, Neera and Xan all while hitting him with all they had to offer and making sure he never went for Arnaldo. At some point I slipped up, Morvin got an attack in against Xan and killed him instantly. In response, Neera calmly retrieved the Wand of Frost from the dead Elf's body and finally put the Dwarf down. After the return trip to Nashkel to raise Jaheira and Xan, things go more smoothly:  Sendai and her friends die in a blaze of low level combat glory. So does the fastest dart thrower that has ever walked the Sword Coast.   In other events, Pixie the cat is returned to be raised from the dead, a Dryad's tree is saved (Jaheira gets a Club +1 out of this), a lot of Gnolls are killed, Dex gloves and the first stat tome found, and more Gnolls die as their fortress falls:  Next up: More random adventuring, maybe Neera's quest, definitely the bandit camp. Wizard Styles fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Jan 15, 2019 |
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Jan 15, 2019 03:12
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Lizzy rides again! I took a few days break irl from the game because I had been playing it so much and needed some time away. Tonight I got a little back into it and finished Saradush. For this party there was never any challenge to any of it and the difficulty of TOB hasn't really ramped up yet.  I spent 3x as long buffing for the fight as it actually took.
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Jan 15, 2019 06:33
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Ugh, Ba'ik Toree has died early in BG2 to the Myconic King in the slums sewers. Or more specifically she and Korgan got hit with his confusion and Korgan tore her to loving bits while Viconia desperately tried to keep her alive. Serves me right for not popping his Berserk before I entered the room. That's gonna be my last one because I'm starting work again and don't have any free time left. It was fun!
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Jan 15, 2019 07:21
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Been thinking about joining in on the fun/frustration. After following Iron Man threads for a long time I can finally participate in one. So, what would you guys recommend for someone who's never tried this challenge before and never actually beat BG1 (played it a decent way in, but never beat it; I have beaten BG2, though).  I'm basically looking for what Class/Race combos and strategies you'd recommend to an Iron Man newbie.
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Jan 15, 2019 08:04
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Half elf fighter mage is probably my pick for a newbie. Stays strong during the entire series and is a powerhouse later on. I would start off bg1 by wearing armor instead of relying on spells. Maybe take find familiar and put it into your bag at the start. It would put you around 16 hp at level 1. Maybe 18? Pump str, dex, con, int, dump wis keep cha in the middle if you can. Also if you are playing on core rules theres a chance to fail to learn spells depending on your intelligence. Pickup some potions of genius and potions of mind focusing and drink 1 of each before scribing spells to pretty much guarantee you learn them. This also lets you learn more spells per level than normally allowed. Get a long bow and stay at range and try to take the easiest xp quests until you get some levels.
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Jan 15, 2019 08:37
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Rosemont posted:I'm basically looking for what Class/Race combos and strategies you'd recommend to an Iron Man newbie. Something that doesn't fight in melee. Charging into the thick of battle wielding a sword is a good way to get killed in early BG1. Whether it's a Ranger gunning people down with a longbow, or a Mage hiding behind the fighters while plinking away with darts and the occasional magic missile, staying at range is a great way to stay alive in BG1. I'm fond of the Cleric for an easier start, though their ranged options are rather poor. They get two amazing spells right from level 1: Command and Remove Fear. Command puts low-level enemies to sleep for a single round, not long but often long enough to be fatal. Remove Fear makes you immune to the Horror spell, which enemy mages love to use in this game. Some early game threats like Tarnesh or Nimbul are basically neutered if you're immune to fear. At higher levels Clerics can summon skeletons, which make great minions because they can ignore a bunch of spells and effects that would be debilitating for a living creature. For a sturdier but slower-levelling character you could make a Half-Orc Fighter/Cleric. Slings can do pretty good damage with 19 Strength! cheesetriangles posted:Half elf fighter mage is probably my pick for a newbie. Stays strong during the entire series and is a powerhouse later on. I would start off bg1 by wearing armor instead of relying on spells. Maybe take find familiar and put it into your bag at the start. It would put you around 16 hp at level 1. Maybe 18? Not a bad choice either. Fighter/Mage and Fighter/Cleric are both so well-rounded. I would add that as a mage of any kind (except Invoker I guess) it's a good idea to take Sleep as one of your starting spells. Sleep can put down whole groups of low-level enemies for several rounds. It's a real life-saver when you're facing some unexpected hobgoblin archers or there's a horde of gibberlings beelining for your vulnerable mage. Protip: even if you're not a mage, almost any character with 8 or more intelligence can use a Wand of Sleep. Mountaineer fucked around with this message at 08:57 on Jan 15, 2019 |
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Jan 15, 2019 08:42
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Gnome Fighter/Illusionist: Early on that character has 2 Sleep spells and a bow, which at that point means absolute power over life and death. Later on the Fighter/Mage class combination turns into the best tank in the game. Has a few dips in power along the way - in BG1 you get to a point where levels come a bit slowly and HP don't progress that much while buff spells are still not going to last for too long, and in BG2 the wait for level 6 spells is a long one. Dwarf Fighter/Cleric: Less micromanagement, smoother power progression, lower power ceiling. Dwarf Berserker or Human Berserker->Mage dual-class: Gets to say no to a lot of potentially lethal effects you may not remember if you haven't played the game for a while, which is especially relevant in BG2. In BG1 it's always at least a slightly better Fighter, and Berserker Rage temporarily doubles your HP at level 1. Dual-classing can be annoying but the Berserker->Mage is mostly painless since you can dual at any point between Berserker level 7 and 9. In general, be a Dwarf, Gnome or Halfling if you can to get saving throw bonuses.
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Jan 15, 2019 09:12
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Wizard Styles posted:Dwarf Berserker or Human Berserker->Mage dual-class: Gets to say no to a lot of potentially lethal effects you may not remember if you haven't played the game for a while, which is especially relevant in BG2. In BG1 it's always at least a slightly better Fighter, and Berserker Rage temporarily doubles your HP at level 1. Dual-classing can be annoying but the Berserker->Mage is mostly painless since you can dual at any point between Berserker level 7 and 9. Berserker->Druid dual-class is pretty painless too since you're going to get your fighter levels back relatively quickly.
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Jan 15, 2019 09:17
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Mountaineer posted:Berserker->Druid dual-class is pretty painless too since you're going to get your fighter levels back relatively quickly. The biggest pain point for any sort of fighter->druid dual class is the godawful stat requirements. It's otherwise a very nice combination. Speaking of, Rayvek is getting the band back together. Well, a band. So after a brief interlude where we hunt down the last of Sarevok's lackeys (who surrenders to us almost immediately after we put up anything like a real fight)...  They all lived happily ever after. The end. Sure. Right. Everyone goes their separate ways, as Rayvek and Imoen chill at the Ducal Palace for a while.  Oh, well if the Ducal Treasurer says my money's safe, it's probably fine.  It's probably rats.  Very artistic rats.  And by 'called upon to defend the city' you mean 'falsely* accused of murder and left to fend for myself against a murderous nightmare man? Eh, that probably won't happen to me twice. (*ish)  So remember how Korlasz totally surrendered? I guess it didn't take. Rayvek beats her to death with sticks all on her lonesome.  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make do with my small fortune in gems and hoarded magic items from the last game. Rayvek sets off into an abbreviated version of the city to recruit some allies and get some stuff and do some sidequests, you know, hero stuff.  DRAKE! Buddy! You're here! And, y'know, alive! (That's not feigned surprise, I honestly didn't realize he had any Siege content.) We also pick up Minsc and Dynaheir.  And Boo, yes.  Verr'sza is here too, and apparently the mod didn't plan for the idea that I wouldn't have recruited or even encountered him at all. Because who would install an NPC mod and then completely ignore it? (He's in the Elfsong. We tell him thanks but no thanks, this time around.)  I love how none of at least this original slate of trusted boon companions in Siege are people that Rayvek has had more than a passing acquaintance with. I don't think she even met Safana. As for the actual roll call from my BG1 party, Baeloth will be available later, Isra, Yeslick and Imoen won't, and Shar-Teel wouldn't except I have a mod installed (of course) that enables her. I think something with it might be broken, or I didn't go through the recruitment sequence the right way, or something, so we'll see if I can actually have her in the party. I'd much rather have her than Safana, though.  Here's another NPC mod, though at least this one has the courtesy to assume that I might never have met the character in BG1. Sirene is a tiefling paladin of Ilmater (with a unique kit to go along with her, though I have her as an Undead Hunter here). I never recruited her because I had Isra in BG1, but she might be an option here.  Mr. Warner, it's such a pleasure to meet you, I am such a fan!  I mean, as long as you aren't an elf who got kicked out of elfland and is now after my soul in order to, um, do something elfy, we cool.  Oh yeah, Skie Silvershield joined the Flaming Fist. I'm sure that won't come back to haunt me or anything.  HE'S A DOPPELGANGER! GET HIM! And we're on our way to Dragonspear Castle.
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Jan 16, 2019 03:16
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| # ? Jun 14, 2024 15:39 |
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Matt Stryker has not been resting on his laurels since visiting his old stomping grounds. Though he still has time for old friends  And I figure if you're going to do the time, you might as well do the crime, too.  A couple of fancy books in the Superjail   And some ambushers got ambushed, avoiding the mistakes of my previous ill-fated journey though.  A strange man wants us to get him some paper.  Another series of mistakes by my past self averted.  And a big bad wolf is brought down.  https://www.twitch.tv/videos/364660158 (3:57) The paper boy was not happy to see us again.  With the werewolves dealt with, it's time to go tackle Durlag's Tower, where we find another cool book!  I healed before getting a screenshot, but a random encounter nearly ended my run with a crit here  It's been a while since I played, but I'm pretty sure this isn't how chess works.  The Demon Knight is hardly a challenge with a squad of skeletons and an anti-magic scroll.  https://www.twitch.tv/videos/364664496 (3:31) Aec'Letec goes down easily, too!  Oh. Huh.  Aec'Letec goes down easily, too!  https://www.twitch.tv/videos/364664495 (7:48) After saving the Sword Coast, it's time to go save the Sword Coast. And it all starts with dragging this guy as far away from his girlfriend as possible.  Then we add a couple Chaos spells.  Talk someone out of Suicide by Bhaalspawn.  And it's time for the final, climactic battle! Nah, gently caress that, this stream is called "Getting Revenge on Sarevok for 60 Hours of My Life" for a reason.  Taking no risks with this rear end in a top hat, I have Ajantis hit him with a Dispel arrow as soon as he Dimension Doors in my face.      Fittingly, it's Angelo who finishes him off with an Arrow of Explosions, but I had a firing squad ready to go just in case. Matt Stryker's journey isn't over yet, though. He has another villain to bring to justice.  A robbery to thwart.  And finally he heads out to Dragonspear Castle, with hopes and prayers to back him up.  Honors: Ironling, Purist, Librarian, Trap Dodger, Honorable Trader, Battlemaster, Roleplayer I feel like there should be a Dishonor of some sort for how I handled Sarevok.
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Jan 16, 2019 04:59
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