Solo Swashbuckler in Improved Anvil (full of SPOILERS), (and some screenshots) Options

[thetruth]

Well I wanted to solo IA (or at least try) and I have been thinking to make the attempt with a F/M, but recently I finished BG1 with a solo Swashbuckler and decided to import him in BG2 and give it a try.

My Swashbuckler soloed BG1 with Easytutu and some mods (among them the Grey Clan Episode 1 and Sword Coast Stratagems both very challenging and well made mods) and is currently in chapter 2 of SoA.


Some things about him:

STATS (rolled an impressive 94 and after the tomes from BG1):

STR: 19
DEX: 19
CON: 19
INT: 17
WIS: 9
CHA: 19

He is human, chaotic good and started BG2 specialized in Long Swords, 2* in Two Weapons style and 120+ score in Hide in Shadows (Stealth is useful even for a character who can’t backstab).

Mods:

- Improved Anvil of course,
- Multiple strongholds component from EoU (for the improved stronghold battles of IA) and True GM (not for my Swashie anyway)
- Tower of Deception

I decided to start BG2 on insane. Not the best idea for a mod like IA, but since my Swashbuckler soloed BG1 on insane I didn’t want to lower the difficulty. Also I will try to not use any weapons/items out of the original game.

Note: I know very well that probably I don’t have any chance to defeat the ToB tougher enemies with him, but I will try at least to finish the SoA part of the game (if possible).


About my progress so far:

After Irenicus’ dungeon I did the Circus, went to the Slums for Gaelan (without entering the C.Coronet – didn’t want to take any quests I would not be able to complete any time soon) and then went at the Docks to start my stronghold’s quest.

Here I made a big mistake. I forgot at all about the improved Suna Seni encounter (wasn’t improved yet when I had tested the mod ) and so I was ambushed by her everytime I tried to leave the Docks district. Unfortunately I couldn’t leave Athkatla (hadn’t visited the Gates yet and had overwritten my saved game) and so I was “trapped” in the Docks and the only way to “escape” was to fight her.

Fortunately I could find some gems and easy money in MaeVar’s guild and with the money I bought the only useful item I could find at the Docks, the Nymph’s cloak (charm once/day) from MaeVar’s guild.

So I hide is Shadows and then left the docks. Was still invisible when I was ambushed and immediately I ran to the northern part of the area. Only the Mage followed my invisible character and while the Cleric was casting True Seeing, I have managed to charm her with the cloak. The cleric followed (fortunately the rest of them stayed at the centre of the area) and with the help from the charmed Mage I have managed to kill him.

Then sent the Mage to kill herself and my Swashie hasted and with backstabs (with x1 multiplier ) managed to kill Suna Seni and the others (most difficult was their Assassin – but I had divided him from the rest of the group and fought only himself after the others were dead).


This was the first challenging fight of the game. After that I did mostly quests from the original game which Sikret didn’t improve like:

- Viconia and Jan from the Government District
- Minor quests in Umar Hills (Ibratha sh.sword)
- Trademeet and Druid grove (and the only +4 enhanced weapon of early game – Flame Tongue)
- Murders in the Bridge district (Ibratha + Berserker warrior + oil of speed helped a lot against Rune Assassins)
- Graveyard quests
- Harpers
- Thieves quests and MaeVar (Rings of Air control and Ring of Energy help a lot against unimproved Mages)


I will update for any further progress (if anyone is interested of course ).

[Raven]

Thetruth this thread looks great - I'm looking forward to reading about how your character gets on!

I'm glad you're writing about soloing IA since soloing is my favourite way to play BG and I find playing with a single character far more interesting and rewarding than playing with a party.

I reckon the SOA part of the game may well be doable by your Swashbuckler - I have recently completed this part of the mod (plus WK) with a solo Barbarian, although admittedly only on Core difficulty, and with using lots of IA items I would have thought the Swashy's flexibility would make things easier for you though.


Btw, with the Suna Seni encounter, I remember Suna's Mage protecting herself with SI: Enchantment and Minor Globe. So shouldn't these spells have blocked a charm effect? I guess maybe the Nymph's Cloak doesn't count as a regular charm spell?

This post has been edited by Raven: Jun 17 2007, 07:30 PM

[thetruth]

I reckon the SOA part of the game may well be doable by your Swashbuckler - I have recently completed this part of the mod (plus WK) with a solo Barbarian, although admittedly only on Core difficulty, and with using lots of IA items I would have thought the Swashy's flexibility would make things easier for you though.

My main concern are enemies with very low AC, ph.resistance and high regeneration (like the Elemental golems and others).
I am not sure if a Swashbuckler can kill them especially with other enemies around.
He can have 10 ApR with WWs but at the same time he gets a -4 penalty to THACO and dmg with WW active.
I will see how it goes against the El.golem in the G.Compound.

Btw congratulations for your Barbarian . Which was the most difficult fight?

Btw, with the Suna Seni encounter, I remember Suna's Mage protecting herself with SI: Enchantment and Minor Globe. So shouldn't these spells have blocked a charm effect? I guess maybe the Nymph's Cloak doesn't count as a regular charm spell?

Yes you are right. Some spells from items/weapons are not treated like normal spells and go through protection spells.

[Raven]

Btw congratulations for your Barbarian . Which was the most difficult fight?

Overall the most difficult fight was probably the Chromatic Demon - I only could really think of one weapon that dealt enough elemental damage to defeat it, and this relied on it being in fire element form, so this fight took many reloads!

The main problem was that I had to kill an Amber Golem before the Demon since I wanted to forge Hammer of Thor and didn't know whether there were any more amber chunks later in the game Summons like Noble Spider and Greater Djinni were really essential for me in fights like this .

With my Barbarian I took no WW or GWW, using instead Boots of Greater Agility and dual-wielding Belm/Cutthroat +5 to get 9 attacks so I could spend all my HLA on Critical Strike. In SOA this worked well, but in the harder fights later e.g. demon prince of Judgement Day I ran out of CS and then my THAC0 was not really good enough to hit the demon consistently.