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]

Assassins at Windspear Hills

Cernd aura clenses and dispels coordinators, rror's em, dooms everyone, drops 10 insect plagues / emotions / alicorn lances / chain lightnings / nature's fists & implosions while Imoen with max casting time bonuses drops LR's at everyone and then drops GM's & turns the golems into chickens and ADHW's away. It takes perhaps two rounds or so?

Double -5 is complete overkill. As we thought. And frontline with 33 APR's of Critical Strikes, as we thought.

****
Fun level: Much fun

OP level: Game-breaking

Difficulty level: trivial
****


Grandfather of Assasins

We lose on our first try. We forgot the trigger, as usual, so ADHW whacks us into oblivion.

Prebuff. Max casting time bonuses. Initiate. Aura clense & IA. Drop 15 chain lightnings while Imoen LR's + GM's. Drop rest of the spellbook's for surviving enemies. Frontline activates CS's and the whole fight is over before the CS's run out.


GBU

We're not milking, so ... Max prebuffs, max summons, max prebuffs for summons (regen's, ih's, elemental resistances) Cernd goes for Ariel, aura clenses & drops 2x regen on her + heal. Then he goes to whack the golem (with PfL) It takes a few rounds for our H2H crew to take down the two elementals. After Supreme Golem's dispel hits Cernd, we move in & whack the Supreme Golem. Then the elemental. Ariel waves us goodbye and we go to fetch the jewel and the relic, which we have no use of.


Viper Queen

Lasts for a surprisingly long time as in maybe 3 rounds or so. We use only h2h here.


City Gates Lich

Cernd obliterates it with implosions & nature's fists.


****
Amulet of Power

The AoP is such a powerful item that we think it deserves it's own entry. And we think it's wasting its potential somewhat if one turns it into Amulet of Hades / Lord of the Underworld. Especially in chapter 3. There's three distinct benefits, for not going for Necro's amulet, even with a Necro in the party:

#1 NPP is quite difficult to find. Having permanent NPP is very powerful. AoP on a ranger (/paladin) means quite a lot easier time with vampires, mists and the few other level draining foes. AoP on a F/M means you can pretty much buff the character and then solo some of the Vampire encounters - a recipe for domination. One will have these types of encounters throughout the game, so this flexibility will make things a lot easier.

#2 Flexibility with tanking -1 in casting time means you are safe in numerous encounters. Without -1, your character is always subject to interruption meaning most likely an instant or near instant death at more advanced encounters. This is highlighted in the encounters requiring sheer endurance, that take hours even for an experienced mod-dweller types. The best way to use AoP is to circle it around depending on your need - if you are planning on tanking with an Avenger, give it her for the fight. Tanking golems becomes a breeze when you can have 3 characters with at least -1 in casting time through chapters 3-5 (for example Cernd with innate -2, Jaheira with CotW & F/M with AoP, assuming no-Vecna ofc). This becomes crucial at later stages when you need to switch the tank to re-up skins / re-up elemental resistances.

#3 Stacking bonuses: casting time bonuses work non-lineary. A -1 or -2 reduction in casting time can mean immense increases in ability. This is especially true with your premier Arcane spellcaster and is oh'so'nice when one has Cernd with you. For almost all of the best offensive spells with Cernd have a casting time of 5, which is reachable if you don't use AoP for Necromancer's amulet. The difference between -3 and -4 and -5 is immense. In chapters 4-5 having Cernd with -4 is quite game-breaking. It means insect plagues & chain lightnings with casting time of 1, emotions with casting time of 0.

With a bonus of -5, some encounters become almost trivial. My (32nd level) Cernd, with Noble Staff of Earth + 25 Wisdom + Circlet of Golden Flowers + AoP (so -5) can within a fraction of a round drop:

10 Nature's Fists (40d10 crushing damage)
13 Implosions (130d10 fire damage, 130d10 crushing damage)
16 chain lightnings (256d6 of lightning damage)
15 insect plagues (45 damage per rd for 3 rds)
15 poisons* / emotions
15 flame arrows (90d6 piercing damage + 360d6 fire damage)
17 alicorn lances (51d6 piercing damage)

That's in line with a Necro, power wise, we think, depending on the fight might even be a bit further. It's too bad that Cernd doesn't have a usable first level damage dealing spell as burning hands doesn't really work. (Chromtic Orb would).

All that for easier time with Ancient Dragon, we don't really think it's a tradeoff we want to make in most cases. The only exception might be if we're playing a Necro without Cernd & with multiclassed F/M as a supportive arcane caster.

*Currently we though don't know of a single fight where poison would work.

This post has been edited by pekkae: May 27 2022, 04:21 PM