Vagrant's journal, Building as OP crew as possible Options

[pekkae]

Welcome.

Playing like it was planned to be played. As I have some time on my hands until the end of January and it's like a lockdown here in Finland, what else am I going to do? ( I could ... read books, finish school or something else but ... oh well)

The rules

- No non-protagonist-related drops (no Necro's stuff etc.).
- Our Custom Characters get 90 points to divide among attributes.
- We have the tomes from bg1 to spread among our crew
- Simplified economy + we'll console in the trinkets we need
- No personal stuff, except for the NPC's we are using
(EDIT: - We learn all spells (so we lower difficulty when scribing scrolls)
(EDIT2: - Forging restrictions in place as well)

The exceptions

- We will most likely give our sorcerer (sorceress) the same bonus spell slots as other mages get. I don't get why sorcerers spell slots are not developing in later levels where as every other arcane caster's slots will. Though this will be at such a late stage that it doesn't probably matter at all.
- We have a few supplementing items we'll use throughout the game (described below).

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Thoughts on the crew

I think I have this figured out.

We are not looking to survive the mod. We are looking to obliterate all opposition and in every and all possible encounters to milk away as many summons as possible to max out our rewards. Our plan is to once again do the demogorgon fight as fast as possible and then just dominate the rest of the way. Demogorgon with my style requires enormous spellcasting capabilities up front while enormous H2H capabilities throughout the fight. We'll try to construct our crew so that every character will be completely and insanely OP once they are fully developed.That's the way we like it. That's the plan. I'm not sure how it will work out. The 2nd thing is that we like characters who can fill out multiple roles, even though in some cases we lose out on some uber-powers.

For Chapters 2-3 we'll just take on rotating crew members so we'll ave as easy time as possible as we want to maximize fun while minimizing endless reloads & trying to figure out tactics. Or our tactic boils down to maximize strengths, enter, obliterate, repeat.

Since we are playing with a Vagrant we won't have a Necro with us. That means we could be somewhat more powerful in chapters 1-5 as plethora of characters are much more powerful than a Necro throughout chapters 1-5 (think: Berserker/Mage, Auramaster, Thief/Mage or even Nalia or especially Edwin). Edwin can easily wipe the floor with a Necro until chapter 6 (+2 spells per level, mirror images, II's). However, since we'll still need 2 spell casters and we absolutely need a sorcerer for early access to all lvl 9 spells, we won't bring Edwin along to spellhold. Most likely. And we want our supporting arcane spellcaster to be able to do something else than just casting, so Edwin won't fill that spot either.

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Composition

We have our "tank" covered in Vagrant, who by chapter 7 will be better at tanking than any other character in the game. So no DD this time around though we will take one for chapters 2-3 but we most likely won't bring a DD around for spellhold so our tanking capabilities there will take a big hit. Gladly warrior HLA's won't be that far away once in chapter 4 but for a few key fights we'll need a way to survive. As the fights in chapters 4&5 are dominable with 2,5 fighters (that means 2 full fighters +a dual classed / multi-classed one), our plan of bringing along 3-4 full fighters (or characters who count as such under buffs) means we should be more than equipped to handle those encounters.

We are quite set on Vagrant obviously. After that it's Jaheira and Neera. Those are the locks. Neera because of the nice extra quest in ToB and also because she has great stats & personal item. Jaheira because we've never played it and we need healer. She's supposed to be great and she can fill out both "healer" spot as well as dish out huge amounts of damage in H2H (while buffed).

Vagrant is the best tank in the game and can deal & absorb an insane amount of damage as well, but we do need some help up front so we'll take either one of the ultimate damage dishers, so either Riskbreaker or a Kensai. I can't wrap my head around why RB is better than a Kensai, but I've had a Kensai / a version of a Kensai with previous runs so I'm really too familiar with it - I've done everything I wanted with it. Riskbreaker would be a nice change. That's the only reason we are leaning towards a RB.

We need a supportive arcane caster, so we'll do a custom thief/mage, who'll join in Spellhold. This character will fill out a number of roles, it can support in h2h and will fill out the role of supportive arcane caster. It can also hide in shadows and backstab. Yay!

Then it's just the last slot. We have 3 fighters already in Vagrant, RB ( or Kensai) and the Avenger (so 3 chars who can critical strike already). We have our arcane spell casting covered in Neera + Thief/Mage. We have "only" Jaheira as a healer so we have quite the doubts about our healing capabilities, as we are lacking a Necro & Cernd. So we would likely be looking into healing as well as H2H capabilities.

Pure Cleric's are out of the question because the dual classed version is superior in every way, even getting a 7th level fighter dualled to cleric pumps the cleric to a whole new level. So our choices boil down to dual-/multiclassed fighter-cleric characters where a character like Dwarven Fighter/Cleric would probably fit perfectly. Normally we would be looking into Fighter/Druid combinations, since it's easily and by far superior to the cleric-combinations but ... we already have that in Jaheira and I don't want two very similar characters. Also various Paladin's (or a blackguard for it has permanen NPP + immunity to fear) would be a possibility but since they are quite terrible as healers and lose out to a regular fighter in H2H, it will most likely be a smoother ride with another type of a character on board. And last but definitely not least is the Ranger/Cleric combination, enabling the OP version (where the char will get druidic spells as well). We don't really see why if druidic spells aren't enabled would anyone play that class, as losing out grand mastery and/or faster level gains hurts. A lot.

We are leaning towards the R/C or the dwarven F/C. The F/C could easily utilize staves until chapter 6 when it gets the warrior HLA's. It won't be any sort of a problem protecting that character unitl then. Also Rasaad could be an option.

So we would end up with the following, where last changes will be made in Spellhold. It would be easier if we postpone the last changes until chapter 6, but that feels a little bit like cheating.

PC: Vagrant
Jaheira the Avenger
Neera the Sorceror
Custom T->M
Custom RB (or a Kensai)

And the last slot (most likely) goes to;

Custom Dwarven F/C
Custom Ranger/Cleric combination
Mazzy Fentan
Blackguard (possibly Dorn)
Rasaad

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Non IA Item's we'll use.

I think compliment IA's items quite nicely while not being OP (with the possible exception of Aegis of Torment)

Tymora's gift (belt +10MR, +3Luck, ch 3)
Black Wolf Talisman (amulet, +10HP, +10Resistance to Cold, +1 AC, ch 2)
Clasp of Bron's Cloak (amulet, +5 phys resistance, ch 3)
Aegis of Torment (amulet, +3AC, +2CON, +15HP, ch 6)
(Edit: we also upgraded the reaching ring to a version that has bonus spells from levels 1-7, instead of levels 5,6 & 7)

+ possibly

Amulet of Ilmater (amulet, +1 AC, +3 Saves, immunity to poison, chapter 6)
Sash of the Black Raven (for a monk, +2 thac0, +2 AC, chapter 6)
Heaven & Earth (mace +4, +2 str, ch 6)
(EDIT: ^We only used amulet of Ilmater)

(EDIT: If anyone is interested the item packs are "Item Pack by Daulmakan 1,8" & "Item upgrade mod pack by Westley Weimer v 4.0". In addition to the items up above they do introduce items that are completely OP, which we do not use & new ways of forging (like rings of protection +2 for 5k), which we do not use either).

This post has been edited by pekkae: Feb 23 2022, 06:55 AM

[pekkae]

Cernd's Child
We let go of Cernd. You should really hang with your kid instead of going on adventuring with a bhaalspawn. I mean what is wrong with you ?

Cleric stronghold part 2

Ruling the De Arnise Keep part 2

Return dawn Ring (we did Borinali already)
Recruit Anomen to replace Cernd. And we want to do his quest. We're 50k exp short of 1,55Mexp & Planar Sphere.

Belm
IH + Fa + all buffs in our books. Fighter move in. Then casters + Anomen. Anomen already gets on everyone's nerves.

Hidden refuge (the red wizard enclave part)
Whack everything for the big fight in the bar. We gm + emotion + horror. And true sight once or twice.

The dueling families of Trademeet (funder of trademeet - thing)
Summon some fodder & whack under oils of speed. We're too good in melee already. Korgan tells Anomen he's full of s**t.

Cleric Part 3

Planar Sphere
Halflings are no problem. We + summons are completely OP for this fight. The Cleric manages to get greater command away but we have the "barad ding's collar bell" so we can wake our crew up. As a side effect it makes our crew deaf. (Deaf! Deaf as in "can't hear anything".. ? That makes me wonder, as I know of one fight where being unable to hear *cough* *wails* would be a great asset. Could it be... hmh... )

Golems in the time machine room> We barricade doorway with Clan Spirit, DD defensive stances & Anomen drops a regeneration on him. It's nice to have regen + "hardiness" in chapter 3.

Lavok fight has 2 gem golems + 4 skeleton lords. How nice. Max prebuffs so PC, DD, Jaheira + Clan Spirit (Under IH) and Anomen, minotaur + aerial servant (under haste) take the Skeleton Lords. Neera, with AoP + 7 Stoneskins tanks the 2 gem golems. A skeleton warrior goes for Lavok. After 2 lords are down (1,5 rounds or so) Clan Spirit goes to help Neera. It can easily tank a gem golem for extended time at this stage. Then we take out the remaining Skeleton Lords. Groups of skeleton lords are always easiest to take down by just storming them so they will concentrate on multiple enemies. Anomen with a staff stays back and mass cures once. Once Skeleton Lords are down, DD moves in to hug a gem + Anomen drops regen on him. He's quite safe. Once gems & skeletons are down we PfME DD & Jaheira (use 1 scroll of PfME), 3xRRoR, Breach & whack. 3 RRoR's left. Vagrant levels up. Great. Now we are even more OP as we can summon a Swanmay.

Then Tolgerias, where we just PfF + IH and use non magical weapons. We forget that we can summon a Swanmay. Maybe for the next fight then.

Lae'Illyl (or whats it's name). Summon Swanmay Clan Spirit, Minotaur + Aerial Servant. Ih on fighters + Clan spirit. Holy power for Anomen + Jaheira. Haste for rest. Draw upon holy might for Vagrant + Jaheira. Enter. Drop 1 maurezhi (or something like that) with ring of the ram temporarily. Fighters take out one enemy at the time while summons go for Lae'Illyn (to try and interrupt). We don't interrupt a single spell, though summons get it to injured. Remove magic's are problematic, since we run out of buffs. DD is frontline of our frontline and we get regeneration away before silence hits us. After that the fight is won, as DD just whack away with everyone using staves behind him So our margin is a little bit thinner than it could have been, but we easily make it.

Engine room requires many a reloads. Exactly the thing we're not supposed to do. As we are planning on overpowering enemies, not make up tactics . Anyway, we forget something dull all the time (like renewing skins). We enter through fire chamber, the western corridor is easy to block. Neera blocks it. DD tanks on the other end with defensive stance + Anomen drops a regen on him. DD can easily take 1 golem under regen + defensive stance but 2 are a bit too much. So we turn one of the frontline golems into chickens, which conveniently blocks a second golem from reaching DD. As long as we keep the chicken alive, we can focus on 1 golem at a time. (Repeat x2). We leave one group in the engine room for later.

** Status **
Party at 1,75Mexp
Gold at 175k
28 Dispel / Remove magic scrolls (Yea!)
0 Barbarian Essences
3 Scrolls of RRoR left.
** /Status **

[Nominar]

Engine room requires many a reloads.

I'm currently doing a Necro playthrough (+Korgan, Barbarian Minsc, RB Haer'Dalis, Valygar and Cernd) and am in Spellhold atm. Did all fights except the super hard ones in Ch3, and this was the single hardest fight. Maybe because I limited myself in 2 ways, no resting and no exiting the room between golem packs. I wonder if it's an oversight, since most other fights have the exits disabled until the encounter is over. Anyway, it was horrendous, probably around 30 reloads and 18 OoR + many other healing potions. I don't remember this room being this difficult in previous runs, but maybe I rested between packs.

[pekkae]

Engine room requires many a reloads.

I'm currently doing a Necro playthrough (+Korgan, Barbarian Minsc, RB Haer'Dalis, Valygar and Cernd) and am in Spellhold atm. Did all fights except the super hard ones in Ch3, and this was the single hardest fight. Maybe because I limited myself in 2 ways, no resting and no exiting the room between golem packs. I wonder if it's an oversight, since most other fights have the exits disabled until the encounter is over. Anyway, it was horrendous, probably around 30 reloads and 18 OoR + many other healing potions. I don't remember this room being this difficult in previous runs, but maybe I rested between packs.

Unless Korgan is a DD I'd imagine you had great difficulties there.

I think you are too hard on yourself. 30 realoads takes the fun out, as you don't have to do it (or at least for me ). You could use the chicken-trick described up above for limiting the damage + blocking the corridor, then it's probably doable. I won't even try though personally. I just do 1-2 packs, get the stuff I need & then out & return later on when I can dominate .


How did you manage with the Crystal Shard kobolds with that crew?

Why are you collecting those? And how did you get so many?

For demon fights later on.

This post has been edited by pekkae: Jan 12 2022, 11:37 AM