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 ).

[Stu]

I enjoyed Tower of Deception, but I don't recommend going there too early if you have IA installed.

I did it on core difficulty with a lvl 8-11 party and it seemed like an absolute walk in the park compared to the IA battles (Beastmaster, Torgal, Mencer pebble crusher, Greater Yaunt Ti, coin golems etc). Just make sure you have a +3 weapon or two -this piece of advice is in the readme file.

And does anybody have any suggestions for any mods to install that add some good early game quests?

Tower of deception was a good one, sorry to second guess you coaster . You should get a bit of cash out of it, a bit of xp and it shouldn't be too difficult if you have a couple of breaches, access to fireball and a few +3 or greater weapons.

@thetruth - WOW. What level is he at and how on earth are you going to take out improved mages/liches without spells like breach and ruby ray? (other than very carefully)

[Raven]

@thetruth - WOW. What level is he at and how on earth are you going to take out improved mages/liches without spells like breach and ruby ray? (other than very carefully)

The best way I have found to take out mages/liches in the early to mid parts of IA is simply overwhelming melee assault - not bothering to use spells at all except for buffing.

Many of these enemies do not use PfMW right at the start of the battle and it is possible to knock down their stoneskins/mirror images in just a couple a rounds even with a single character (especially with improved haste and dual-wielding, or in the Swashbuckler's case WW). Provided you can survive the feedback damage from fireshield and deal enough damage when the stoneskins do come down you can kill liches/mages before they use even a single PfMW. If you are using FOA or another weapon which inflicts elemental damage you will also interrupt the lich's attack spells even if they don't actually take the damage.

This is certainly true of common liches and all the Athkatla ones (Grave etc.) plus many mages.