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]

Solamnic Knights

Cleric stronghold part 3

Cleric stronghold part 4 (storm the temple)

Ashideena Guardians

Guild Contact (so Aran's task #2)
Ahh. We've waited for this for quite the time!

We prepare to max out vampire bride spawns so we 1st drop the guild contact unconscious and then turn it into a chicken. Then we start to milk the spawns. Vagrant with AoP & IH whacks the first 3, then Jaheira summons the Clan Spirit which we IH, then it casts shield of archons ... and wait...and wait.... and wait... but there's no more spawns :/, all of our preparations wasted (we were planning on milking 20 or so spawns). Anyway the chicken wakes up & immediately activates power attack and goes for DD. it does 2 point of slashing damage per hit.

Cool.

Temple Ruins
Shadows> Anomen walks in & activates "turn undead" and they die.

Liches. Liches are terrible. We don't have any weapons against them. Or so we though. Then we find out that an improved hasted clan spirit under PfF is very efficient as lich will focus on it. How nice. So we take care of the rubble, then leave CS whacking the lich while DD uses the throwing axe +2. Once its PfMW's run out, Jaheira Holy Power's, Neera IH's & PfME's her and she draws upon holy might. And moves in to whack. And the lich is gone.

Thaxll'ssilyia Summon CS, Swanmay, Anaconda & Minotaur (<= that's op for this). IH on fighters, skins, mirror images + haste on summons. Neera & Nalia take on opposing sides. DD moves in to whack, Anomen moves in to cast righteous magic & then gets the first greater silence (I wish I could greater silence Anomen). We then Secret word x 2 from Nalia, as Neera loses a round for she has to quaff potion of magic shielding to dodge the 3xFoD. Then it's just 2xbreach per round from opposing sides, once a breach hits another side starts a breach. That and whack. And we're good. Maybe 1 heal for dragon or so. Anaconda & minotaur initiate their best application to the "Darwin-awards list" as they run into a death fog and anhilate themselves. It's too much trouble babysitting those two. We find blade of the roses. Great. Now we can have 21 Charisma.

*After the fight Anomen starts complaining about how "these pathetic skirmishes of ours aren't worth the time I spend cleaning my weapons" ... Like wtf are you talking about? We just killed a dragon. LIKE JUST A MINUTE AGO?!? Jaheira turns around to try and cast raise dead on the Dragon. We want to see if it could be nice enough to cast greater silence again on Anomen. Unfortunately our raise dead doesn't work on the dragon. We then use the Barad Ding's collar to make everyone else in the party deaf. Peace at least. We can see the lips moving and silently thank Barad Ding for putting together this marvellous item.

With our crew & summons Shade Lord is a breeze. Prebuff, enter, summon a swanmay, clan spirit, minotaur & aerial servant. Fighters take our shadow patrick first. Anomen drops regeneration on DD & goes to stand near the shadow altar and activates turn undead (so shadows die in one round). After shadow patrick falls DD goes for a skeleton lord together with the remaining summon in clan spirit. Mages first 2xRRoR shade lord, then secret word & breach, then 4xLR, doom + GM + hold monster and the first one sticks.o. After that we PfME Vagrant who whacks. Fortress shield as a drop, we already had the sentinel so it's not that big of a difference.

Summoned to the Harper Hold
Jaheira leaves. We go to pick her up.

Ranger-Protector part 1 (lord Tombhelten)
They attack for we didn't want to to give away the medallion less than 2k gp. We make almost 4k + we have the medallion still. We return it to the container where we found it.

Paladin-Stronghold duties, part 1
We'll be running into umar hills any way, in order to do the ranger-quests so we might as well do these while we're at it.

Jaheira's quests final battle

Ranger-Protector part 2 (Madaulf inna cave one)

Paladin-Stronghold duties, part 2

Running the five flagons playhouse part 2.
Vagrant levels up. Great. We have about 200k worth of quests we can do before Brynnlaw. Sheesh. Only Bodhi is 60k / per character (IIRC). I'm hoping to fit screaming statue in as well.

Paladin-Stronghold duties part 3

Bodhi
We are completely OP for this. Clan Spirit has "shield of archons" and so does Anomen. Vagrant can wear AoP. So we have 3 fighters with undispellable NPP and 2 (Korgan + Jaheira) with dispellable. IH on everyone. Storm in. Obliterate. Exactly like we planned. For once we do not milk everything that we can on the Lassal fight. We're too short on NPP's so we cant.

** Status **
Party at 2Mexp
Gold at 215k (we forged some boots of speed)
26 Dispel / Remove magic scrolls (Yea!)
0 Barbarian Essences
2 Scrolls of RRoR left.

We are actually running out of room to grow, instead of running out of things to do. Well, better this way.
** /Status **

This post has been edited by pekkae: Jan 12 2022, 01:52 PM