Geh4th's v5.0 game thread, progress, trouble, questions, requests for advice, etc Options

[geh4th]

This thread will document my experiences with my first serious attempt with IA v5.0. This is the first IA version I've played and I'm still fairly new to the mod; comments from others regarding my decisions, progress and problems are welcome.

I did a fairly short initial trial with 5.0 using a Vagrant and all-bioware NPC’s, but decided early on that I’d already seen/heard most of the NPC banter ad nauseum and frankly, it was getting old after many games of BG2. I decided to restart and customize a party to what I wanted to use and just pay attention to the business of campaigning.

As a result, I created 4 characters on multiplayer as the core of my group:

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1) Human Vagrant protagonist
Weapons: 2-wpn combat x3, longsword x2, flail, club, longbow
L9 will be flail again unless I've somehow found a better weapon than the FoA by then. Not bloody likely I figure.

Notes: This is the same protagonist I was using with the previous game; I want to play out the Vagrant to see those new quests. Next game I'll do a mage type.
Ability score note: I legitimately rolled an 18/00 strength with this PC. First time I've ever done that in many years of roleplaying. I nearly fell out of my chair
I took club because based on my earlier experience, those seemed to be a very prevalent decent quality weapon available early. Flail is obviously for the FoA and the late-game goodies that become available. I'm also looking to get at least one * in Axe soon (probably L12, but depends on what weapons I come up with, too.)

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2) Dwarven Fighter/Thief
Weapons: Warhammer x2, Shortsword x2, Axe x2

I wanted a decent thief that continues to level in the profession throughout ToB. His next 3 weapons picks are going to be in dual-wielding.
With a 19 constitution, this PC is a surprisingly good tank, particularly if before the tougher battles I have him don 'real' armor. With the Dwarven Thrower hammer, he's tremendously effective early in the game and I don't expect that to change.

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3) Human Ranger, Dualled to cleric immediately.
Weapons: 2-wpn combat style x3, Flail x2, Club x2, Hammer
As Cleric: Quarterstaff, Sling; mace at L4. Will take Quarterstaff again at L8 (there's some decent +3 staves available early.)
I love this class combination for a PC. Ranger abilities, Cleric spells and Druid Spells. Beats the heck out of Anomen if you ask me, despite the 4* he has in flail. I'm not a fan of going beyond 2* in a weapon anyhow, IMO the return is simply not worth the investment. And while it's not all that relevant for a cleric (who can't use slashing/piercing weapons) I think that it's foolish to over-specialize in one weapon class in a mod that encourages weapon diversity because of monster resistances to damage type.
The reason I dualled right away was to get the extra weapon proficiency at L8 cleric. I'm not sure if this is prudent since I'm 'wasting' about 15,000 xp's, but it seemed a reasonable goal. It also means she will regain her Ranger abilities relatively fast.

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4) Human Beserker
Weapons: 2-handed weapon style x2, 2-handed sword x2, Halberd x2.
My intent is for this PC to dual to mage at level 9. As a mage she'll take Quarterstaff (L1) + Dart (L6), then at L12 Quarterstaff again.
She's my 2-handed weapon specialist, needless to say.

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My last two spots will be BioWare NPC's that will vary initially as I do quests, but I'm a bit undecided on which two to carry into the late game. I'm fascinated by the Auramaster (Cernd, specifically) thanks to the class' incredible number and versatility of spells. Cernd is a bit lacking statistically (If only he had an 18 dex!) but his items upgrades look really cool - not to mention a few other druid-specific items available both from IA and vanilla SoA/ToB.

Imoen will ultimately be my last NPC once I get to her. I've read some game reports and realize that she's very powerful later in the game. Besides, she's been there from the start (of BG1) and I consider her essential to the story. Otherwise, what's the point?

This gives me 4 "tanks" (Vagrant, Fighter/Thief, Beserker/Mage, Ranger/Cleric) and 2 pure spellcasters (Auramaster, Sorcerer.) If this seems out of balance for IA, or if there's any obvious flaws that I'm overlooking, I invite anyone to comment on it. Do I have enough pure fighter firepower (i.e. will they be good enough later in the game)? Do I have enough arcane firepower? Is 2 divine casters too much (despite Cernd's arcane abilities)? If so, who would I replace Cernd with? Valygar? Haer'Dalis? Another custom PC? Someone else?

Thanks in advance for any input. I look forward to sharing my experiences just as others of you already have.


geh4th (maybe I'll invent a cool name for myself someday.)

[geh4th]

Trouble spots or interesting experiences (not necessarily in the order I did them):

Faldorn: a real b*tch of an encounter (sorry for the pun, Faldorn) with a low-level Vagrant, as discussed elsewhere. Based on previous experience, I knew what to expect and planned accordingly. I got it right in only 2 tries (3 charm animals out of 4, yay! Bears, meet Ms. Faldorn...)

Great Druid duel was a joke, with having all your equipment. Quite the anticlimax following Faldorn. I think I heard that this one is on Sikret's v6 drawing board. In my opinion it needs it. Cleric Stronghold needs some serious help too, if you ask me.

Mencar: I know I initially tried this one too early. As I've gained levels and items, I've periodically tried them again. They consistently kick my butt; it might be a lack of luck on my part (I've failed to knock anyone out with the Malison-Emotion attempts; I don't know of any reason why they shouldn't be succeptible to it) but Amon by himself tends to disable and fry my party singlehandedly with his high-level spells. I'm still learning about considering how to improve my own defenses.

Troll Mound: I made the mistake of entering during my first visit to the Druid Grove. About 30 seconds later, my whole group lay dead or dying. Then I, ah, woke up, safe in my bedroll in camp...in a cold sweat... (this is one we'll come back to later. A LOT later. )

I've heard what's in that Ogre Tower and I ain't messin' with that yet. I HATE those things.

Suna Seni: Memo to self: get things that improve your saving throws. I hate getting held/confused/commanded/emotioned. Thank you for free action and chaotic commands. My R/C is especially notorious for failing her saves and getting held or worse. Doctor, heal thyself. Difficult battle thanks to the spells, but certainly not insurmountable. No casualties. Just a taste of things to come.

Glaicas: Tough fight at the point I did it, but I beat him without reloading. I didn't know at the time that Breach would help. I figure I made it harder than it was. His companion was a bit of a surprise when I went around the corner and caused a moment of panic... we were already damaged, but we survived. Did I mention I hate those things? Fortunately it was essentially two separate battles.

Greater Yuan-Ti: this bastard took forever to kill! Probably my most memorable victory to date. At one point, he KO'ed every single party member except the Vagrant with an emotion spell. I figured "game over!" at that point, but kept going to see how long I'd last. The Vagrant spent a good bit of time running circles around him trying not to get hit, while he hosed off spell after spell at me. By some miracle I managed to save vs. any truly bad stuff, all the while taking damage from flame arrows and acid arrows during that time (and drinking lots of healing potions.) Lo and behold, his protections run out and my party wakes up more or less at the same time. We close and hack away, but as a final (insulting) parting shot before he was mashed into goo, the Yuan-Ti used his dying breath to cast a FEEBLEMIND on my Vagrant - and of course, for the first time I fail my save. Duh! (literally). He was dead, but I was brain dead. (drool).

Not having been the victim of this spell before (and not remembering P&P very well) it took me a while to figure out how to get myself out of that situation. I was determined not to have to replay THAT battle.

Torgal: major hack-fest. I figured out that burning hands is a good spell to use on Trolls, especially spellcaster trolls. I also figured out that I don't like SPOILER!

Gem

Golems either. Fortunately, it was my summons that demonstrated that this was a bad thing. Ray of Fragmentation....where are you? (Found a RoF scroll shortly thereafter. I guess I'd better get used to using it.)

Unseeing Eye: I know this one isn't modded (except Theshal, who was another "bad dream". Whew.) However, without the Shield of Balduran, Beholders and their kin take on a new degree of terror, since they're trying to slice you to bits with spells before you can even get to the buggers. The pit was quite an adventure. Thanks to the unholy device, the Eye himself wasn't too bad to deal with (a certain summoned fire elemental might not necessarily agree.)

Copper Coronet/Beastmaster/sewers: I think I did this one later than most people. My R/C had 6th level spells and it turned out to be an easy fight. (yawn). I went on to the sewers...had some fun with the 'companion': someone (forget who) got held, took a beating and got killed. Raised 'em and went on to the riddle. Nice upgrade, annoying little pests! And the shadow lover was a challenge. I figured out what to use on him though; once that revelation set in, it turned a difficult battle into an easy one (relatively speaking.) I'm now the proud owner of a deranged sword...

Gracen: Sometimes I get into a battle that turns out to be very frustrating, and I lose my cool a bit banging my head on incorrect tactics or just plain bad luck. This one certainly frustrated me, but I never could figure out exactly what I did wrong the first few times I faced him. He seemed so FAST... I even asked Sikret about it in my frustration. He assured me that Gracen wasn't doing anything unusual, and the conversation got me to review what I'd been doing. I WAS doing damage but I was shown a lesson in realizing that the bad guys have potions too, and they'll use them. When I went at him again, I had better tactics and defeated him surprisingly easy considering the previous trouble I'd had. Maybe I'll try that Mencar group again soon.

Guardians of King Strom's mask: I'm having trouble - as I'm sure we all have had - with the Improved Invisibility/Spell Immunity: Divination trick. What's worse, I haven't figured out what can actually damage the things even when I do roll high enough to hit them. Oh, eventually they run out of spells and I can outlast them, but while their initial protections are up, I don't score a single point of damage. Ever. Invisible is one thing, but they seem invulnerable. I didn't notice any sort of PfMW or Mantle type spells, so why can't I damage them?

G-