The Journal of the Insane Kensai, Playing a Kensai on Insane, spoilers and whatnot. Options

[pekkae]

Welcome. Again.

So we succumbed into "Insane".

We are looking to obliterate, again.

Our last crew with Vagrant spearheaded by Riskbreaker & Kensai was quite OP, except for the most difficult fight(s) as in the demogorgon-fight, which was extremely difficult. In the end H2H rules in almost all fights. However we botched our approach as in we didn't read the rules clear enough, so we managed to inflict quite a lot of pain for ourselves in the early parts of the game most notably in chapters 4-5, but we wanted to "play by the rules". In the end we obliterated though. That was the plan and it worked for some (most) parts at least. But in the end we weren't completely happy with our crew though.

However, we managed to dig a hole for ourselves forcing to re-think strategies and to survive, with very, very sub-optimal setup for good parts of the game. Managing to do this though, we think we have enough not to play on Core anymore - we can do it and do it easily. So we will up the difficulty. However, we think that with increased difficulty comes slightly different challenges. For example we think in we can't really tank with anything else than skinned characters, besides the DD ofc since it has about 50% physical resistance quite early. In that way it's about similar to tanking with a regular fighter on core rules, the result should be about the same. And since we did that already, we think we should be quite Ok tanking with a DD (with quite the increased divine spellcasting power that is)

But everyone else we need to protect we think. And we really need CS's, in the few difficult fights. So how do we construct a crew that has max skins, CS's, extreme spell casting capabilities together with great H2H (APR's & Thac0's)?

We think we have this solved. Ahem. Again.

The Rules

- No non-protagonist related drops & forging, though ...
- We get to forge MotA (as we don't get to forge anything else and it actually isn't even a drop, as we'll get the required items)
- We have 91 pts to distribute with the custom character we have
- We have the tomes from bg1 to spread among the crew
- Protector of the Woods is fixed to be usable by a Druid as well (it also fits the lore and it would be a shame to let it unused, since it's such a great item for a druid)
- Max HP's for NPC's
- We'll bend the rules just a little bit regarding a specific item later on in the game, but we are a bit hesitant to call it "cheating", since we can actually do it within the game's rules & it fits the lore as well. We won't abuse it though.
- A few (2-3) non-IA bonus items, to supplement item classes that don't have a lot of choices (two amulets & a belt).
- Rotating crew of party members in early chapters, as usual

***

Voilá our crew, we'll end up with:

Kensai (PC), the best damage dealer in the game we think. Needs to be protected, as otherwise will be toast immediately. Kensai gets the nod over Riskbreaker because it can use staves, so we can actually protect it in the early chapters, when RB is limited to dual wielding without range thus being subject of constant near-death experiences (due to myself being not that good of a player perhaps). Will get JD for dual wielding purposes later in the game for game breaking damage dishing. Will have skins in the end through JD. Gets the PC slot for early game superpowers. Played as Half-Orc with maxed stats from the beginning: (STR 19, DEX 18, CON 19, INT 9, WIS 18, CHA 9)

Korgan the Dwarven Defender. The only character that can tank in the game throughout all of the chapters, sort of. Is able to get about 40-50% physical resistance quite early in the game though abilities + innate physical resistance. This type of resistance also cannot be dispelled nor breached - a major, major bonus over any other type of (phys. resistance) tank. Combines very low AC with up-to 70% resistance to physical damage, which should keep him quite safe until the very end. That and 250-300 HP's with 100% fire resistance and so on. And ofc some timely healing from Cernd. Would play Korgan, but we don't like him so we take Minsc with Korgan's stats. So essentially we're playing a Korgan, who's nice and who carries a miniature giant space hamster around. We'd love to see that hamster in a fight one of these days.

Jaheira the Avenger. The best early game (H)2H damage disher. Amazing complimentary items and abilities, able to get to 6 APR with staffs / spears in chapter 2/3. Gets to summon the Clan Spirit. Gets Critical Strikes. Plays like a fighter, but with superpowers in the early game. Can tank in almost all fights and the one where she really can't, we have a plan for that fight. Gets the Golem Slayer, for... well, golem slaying purposes.

Imoen the Sorceress. Our archmage for top-notch arcane spellcasting superpowers. Will get MotA. A Necromancer gets +1 spells per level through levels 1-7 somewhere around level 30 or so we are thinking about giving her the same bonus spells. Can be silenced, so that's a big minus. Early access to amazing difficulty breaking spells though. We'll use them fully!

Cernd the Auramaster as the ultimate divine spell caster for prebuffing, debuffing & tanking golems and for summoning greater elementals, anacondas and the Smilodon. Will dominate encounters especially in chapters 4 & 5. An amazing healer & lich-killer. Insane amount spell slots. In later stages it will be Cernd's job to disable enemy casters and keep the crew alive with heals, regenerations & natural restorals. Especially those regen's will be in high demand, we think. Also, by the end he will be arguably the most powerful spellcaster in the realms, on par with a Necromancer, a lot better in a number of encounters, as powerful as a demi-god so a very worthy companion for a realms-roaming bhaalspawn.

Up to this point the crew is quite "conventional", as in nothing special besides the choice for the PC & the double-druid perhaps, though very, very powerful and almost solely NPC's with their original (IA) classes. What we are still lacking is H2H capabilities together with casting capabilities. We think there's only one character that we can use for this. Gets to cast everything besides ADHW, which it wouldn't cast anyway. Gets +1 spells per level. Gets critical strikes. Gets fighter Thac0's. Gets amazing equipment. Doesn't have great hit points but it's offset by being able to tank with skins & pfmw's & mirror images. Can also chain contigency properly & use triggers. We think she'll be great! Doesn't get IA but then again, without minuses in casting time IA is almost useless. Can also breach and tank enemies like a boss and is able to summon powerful allies for help. So a custom made gnomish Fighter/Illusionist, welcome! We think she'll be great! (STR 13, DEX 18, CON 18, INT 17, WIS 12, CHA 13).

So in the end ...

=> 5/6 are able to skin up (6/7 if we count the Clan Spirit).
=> The one that can't skin up has the best physical resistance & about the best AC in the game
=> 4/6 can go about critical striking awee'
=> 2/6 can clense auras with tremendous casting time bonuses (aura clensing without casting time bonuses is well, pointless)
=> We have the best casting ability both arcane & divine in the game
=> Effective use of the most powerful gear in the game

We think we'll break it, even on insane!

****

A few abbreviations we use in this Journal

Spells:

MS Minor Sequencer
SS Spell Sequencer
ST Spell Trigger
MS7 Monster Summoning 7 (7th level spell)
MS8 Monster Summoning 8 (8th level spell, troll)
MS9 Monster Summoning 9 (9 the level spell, greater yaun-ti)
CS Clan Spirit, Jaheira's summon
CC Chain Contigency (9th level arcane spell) / Chaotic Commands (5th level divine spell)
PfMW Protection from Magic Weapons
PfME Protection from Magic Energy
PftE Protection from the Elements
PfE PRotection from Energy
PfF Protection from Fire
PFL Protection from Lightning
PfC Protection from Cold
PfA Protection from Acid
GOi Globe of Invulnerability
ST Spell Truning
PO Polyomorph Other
IH Improved Haste
GM Greater Malision
DUHM Draw Upon Holy Might (Bhaalspawn ability / 2nd level divine spell)
IA Improved Alacrity (the 9th level arcane spell)
RRoR Ruby Ry of Reversal (the level arcane spell)
ADHW Abu Dalzim's Horrid Wilting (8th level arcane spell)
CoC Cone of Cold (5th level arcane spell)
AA Acid Arrow (2nd level arcane spell)
MM Magic Missile (1st level arcne spell)
SoA Shield of Archons


Stuffs & other's

AoP Amulet of Power
CF Crom Fayer
DoE Defender of Easthaven
CotW Circlet of the Woods
CotGF Citclet of the Golden Flowers
MotA Memory of the Apprenti
CS Critical Strike (Warrior HLA (high level ability))
F/M Fighter Mage, our custom made gnomish fighter/Illusionist
F/I our F/M
DD Dwarven Defender
OoR Oil of Resurgenrece

This post has been edited by pekkae: May 19 2022, 08:03 AM

[pekkae]

Ancient Dragon

***
1st try We lose the first try because for some reason Imoen didn't have PfF and she gets hit completely accidentally, as in the Dragon wing-buffets a troll away and then sends an improved fireball away.

The 2nd try we blow for Drake doesn't silence F/M, we start whacking Nishruu and ofc the Dragon moves in and then silences F/M and the silence hits our whole frontline.

The 3rd try goes awry as nishruu punches through F/M's skins and then Cernd occidentally heals the Nishruu.

The 4th try ends when a potion of magic shielding doesn't work. We get the "shield" - icon but still DD gets chaos'd (they probably hit exactly the same time or so)

The 5th try when the Nishruu targets Cernd (it changes it's mind after targetting F/M)...

The 6th try we play for 3 hours or so. In the end the time IRL is midnight and I have to get up the next morning very early so we start taking risks. The dragon is at it's last or second last PfMW we think, our risk taking goes south as DD with -100 in fire resistance takes a full force of an improved fireball and gets whacked.

And so on ...
***

Margins are very, very, very much too thin here. Maybe 15-20 tries or so, marginal improvements all the way and every second try lasts for 1+ hours. Essentially this is a fight between taking down the Dragon before it can lower our fire resistances into oblivion and whacking us with improved Fireballs. So we take some risks. It's sort of annoying that we have to take the risk after quite the time of micromanaging the fight.

DD enters the fight with Red Dragon Scale + improved dragon helm giving him 95% fire resistance. We also take a potion of barbarian essence for him, so he starts with undispellable 40%-50% physical resistance.

Lure elite nishruu to target F/M. Then whack Nishruu (with Kensai, DD, Jaheira (CS'ing)+ Clan Sprit). Lure Noble Efreeti away from Ancient Dragon, for Imoen to drop it with CC: 3xLR ("see enemy"), RRoR & 12-15 acid arrows. Salamander Prince with skins & PfF is a piece of cake. Then it's just the dragon. It gets tanked by Sunnis (from Noble staff of earth) & another greater elemental (from summon a greater elemental), they are great for they don't get blown away when the dragon wing buffets + some random summons (trolls, anacondas & bears mostly)

Imoen renews her CC (Breach+LR+LR) & we renew triggers (our game sometimes crashes when casting spell trigger, so that's superbly annoying ) with breach+lr+something. Move into dragon's sight with Imoen when it's casting fire storms / true sights / lower resistances / death spells or so. F/M has trigger with Breach+LR+LR. She launches it but gets greater silence. Then for some time we just send in summons and summons while DD moves in to give the dragon whacks. After greater silence is done she casts CC from a scroll, another breach + 2xAA's (we forgot the we could have also taken ST with Breach + LR + Hold Monster). Drop regen's for Smilodons and just flat our run away when they take too much damage. Breach as many PFMW's as possible. In the end it's tanked by a few Anacondas and the greater djinn. Imoen moves in and (we wish:rest before) and drops 15 CO's & 15 AA's on the dragon & all of her Flame Arrows she has, ditto for Cernd. We forgot that we could have also used Nature's Fists & Chain Lightnings (probably). It doesn't matter in the end. Frontline moves in and starts whacking. DD gets whacked, so does F/M. Luckily not permanently. Kensai keeps up Critical Strike & is standing in front of the Dragon and in the end the dragon falls to Kensai (Peridan main hand + belm off-hand). It's oh so very close we think.

****
A few things we didn't try:

- Once the dragon starts taking damage from spells, it might be worth while to drop lightning bolts instead of flame arrows
- chain lightnings & implosions
- Hold monster's (we could use these in a trigger as well sa F/I has it)
- Miscast magic's from Cernd (after GM + doom)
- Nature's fists from Cernd

****

Simple "Dragon Killing Guide", Voilá:

Non-Necro tactics for the fight

SPOILER!

#1. Summon-tactic:

Whack the entourage, summon, summon, summon. Smilodons are great, ditto for Clan Spirit. Arcane summons in trolls & Yuan-Ti's work great as well. Drop regenerations & PfF's for bigger summons (we always buff the CS). Use a tank (I used the DD ofc.) to whack it every now and then. When all PFMW's are exhausted, re-buff your crew, enter & anhilate the dragon. Without protections it doesn't last for long. The problem with this tactic is that it looks like the dragon has an (unending?) pool of "lower fire resistances" so after some time the dragon will lower your tank's fire protections & dispel, then you have to re-up with PfF, Res. F&C, PftE, PfE + rings and even that won't get you to proper fire resistance level so in the end your tank will be very, very vulnerable to improved fireballs. Then again, once it's out of PFMW's with a competent frontline one can easily afford not to aggro with the char that took majority of the lower fire resistances.

#2. Trigger-tactic:.

Whack the entourage. Summon for distractions. Use triggers for instant breaches when the dragon is busy casting something else, so walk in - release trigger - walk out of sight. Effective ways of doing this include at least casting a mirror image (or imp. invisibility), so Dragon will cast true sight, quaffing a potion of magic protection (or cast magic resistance with Cernd for example), so it will cast LR or tanking with summons and using a missile weapon so the dragon will fire storm to the character using the missile weapon (we used dwarven thrower). Once PFMW's are out, buff up fire resistances, enter & obliterate.

#3. Power-tactic:

Whack the entourage. Dispel spell protections. When the Dragon starts taking damage from spells (most likely after entourage is done). distract, enter dragon's sight with aura clensing's & IA's and drop as much damage via spells to the Dragon as possible. So CO's, AA's, Flame Arrows (lightning bolt is probably better, COC's and chain lightnings (should work)). And should you have Cernd also implosions & nature's fists should work. Two competent casters with maxed casting time should do the trick, especially if it's supported by triggers, sequencers & Chain Contigencies and competent frontline whacking away under IH & CS (as the dragon will need to renew protections).

#4. Dispel-tactic:

Relies on specific characters in the party / high enough levels. There's a few possibilities for dispelling (/breaching) the Dragon without Necro. A high-level enough Cernd can (read: should) be able to dispel the Dragon and he's unsilenceable. This also works with Jaheira, if you have her "perform ritual" active. The other options include dispelling with inquisitor with it's innate ability. And if you have a thief (pure class / dual class with Use Any Item), you can cast "breach" from a scroll. Last but least one could use a cleric here, as they have faster level progression. And you can cast dispel from off-screen, so without visibility. The Dragon moving all the time makes this difficult though.