Journal of 6.6, Max new stuffs Options

[pekkae]

Welcome. Again.

I decided to change the format of the journal, so that it would be as easy as possible to follow. That's why we are dismissing our previous journa-thread and moving all thoughts to this thread. We'll pretty much post all chapter as their own posts after the initial post (so this one). Then if there are comments / discussion, they are after the actual journal. I hope this makes following the journal a little bit easier.

***

We like our crews themed and the "theme" for the crew isn't to maximize H2H, it's to maximize new stuffs in the game. (there's new stuff in IA as well, right?) So we're going to try the new kits, new stuffs & some new adventures (for us at least).

So we'll take all of the NPC's we don't usually use along with some new kits we haven't played in order to maximize "freshness" (to an extent). We'll also install the Tower of Deception - mod, as it's supposed to work fine with IA. So we have a bunch of new things to try out. We'll do ToD before moving to Spellhold.

Then again, as our most fun thing to do is to develop absurdly OP crews and characters, certain choices rule out other choices, as we don't want to have two characters competing for the same stuffs. They play such a big part in what makes a character useful. Unfortunately some choices will rule out the most OP characters (we think), but we're hoping that we can develop our crew to extremely OP levels nonetheless.

We'll most likely end up with the following:


PC Necro,

As it's still the most OP character. We'll see how OP we can make our PC, as we'll balance the stuffs a little bit. Having a Necro though rules out Cernd. Once you've played with the -5 Cernd, the -4 version is just not going to cut it. We promise to exploit the Necro superpowers to the fullest extent.


Shaman (Minsc)

it's amazingly effective in the early parts of the game. Has unique superpowers from the early game on. Gets spirit shift for casual late fight whacking. But there's a "but". Having a shaman rules out Jaheira though, as in one of the most powerful NPC's out there. That is because we want to make the most diverse & competitive Shaman so it needs to use the most OP equipment. Unfortunately for us, that equipment is normally reserved for Jaheira (/Cernd). We're not sure how useful a Shaman is towards the end of the game. Though it's "competing" for the sport on the team with Jaheira/Cernd, both of whom are not that great in the most difficult fights in the game.

Minsc works nicely for this as the dialogues are exceptional and he's quite nuts. And carries around a guiding spirit animal of his own.

Stats: Str 19, Dex 18, Con 19, Int 9, Wis 15, Cha 7


Hexxat

From our tiny bits of playtesting she looks like she can be developed to "hilariously OP" - levels. Shall get Waters Edge +4 to maximize her potential. So that means we won't take a RB/Kensai with us, as they compete for the same equipment. Insanely effective and as a bonus she has what's like undispellable continuous berserking on steroids.

I can't believe I didn't figure this out before.

Though we'll cheat a little bit and and get her the cloak from v 6.5.

We should be able to drop her effective AC to around -40 after midpoint of the game. She should be quite safe. Not CERND-safe, but safe.


(Kel-)Dorn

The undead hunter. Gets undispellable useful bonuses and gets to cast clerical spells. Especially access to remove paralysis is very welcome addition. So Dorn who gets Keldorn's stats & equipment. Should be play-wise be ike playing with KelDorn 1:1.

So we'll turn Dorn into an undead hunter and give him Keldorn's stuffs. Why? Keldorn's new stuffs are amazing and we've never played with Dorn. So in principle we are playing Keldorn, but with an additional quest and perhaps a little more interesting dialogue. The reason we take a Pally is because we took Hexxat and they compliment each other very well. With this setup we can max our APR's quite effectively. Shall get JD for maximum OP strength later in the game. Pally is the only character that can reach 9 APR without Water's Edge (/Belm) or gauntlets of extraordinary specialization.

it's a little bit of a shame that there isn't an "off hander" weapon, that would compliment the main weapon extremely well. Oh, besides Water's Edge of course. And Belm. FoDW would be amazing, but we have forging restrictions in place. So there's an off-hander. Oh. Well. So. Never mind.


F/I

Custom made gnomish fighter/illusionist. We'll max the stats and use a NPC as a template. Might use Neera for this as we really like her quest in ToB. The one character that keeps us in the game in the early parts. Gets +1 spells per level. Gets fighter Thac0's. Gets fighter HLA's. Gets amazing equipment. Can prebuff & debuff. etc.

Amazing tank + damage disher. Has everything besides high hitpoints. Though we can probably circumvent that a little bit. Shall use the Hammer of Thor & Githzerai blade late game. Oh and most likely the 0.5APR gauntlets so shall have 8 APR under IH. And after midpoint in the game also has nice amount of Critical Strikes.

Stats: Str 18/95, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 18, Wis 11, Cha 9


Priest of Tempus (Rasaad most likely)

We have to calculated and balanced now that we get the actual descriptions, abilities, items & everything. We were pondering for quite the long time between a multiclassed ranger/cleric (with access to druidic spells) and a proper cleric kit.

Why Tempus? For the undispellable holy power & righteous magic. We should do quite well with this character because of them. Even though we're lacking CS's + APR's (we can reach 5 APR with IH). We can drop AC to quite low levels though and we're looking forward to trying out the new spells & etc.

We'll probably use Rasaad here as a Monk & a Cleric are like brothers (or at least distant cousins). Plus we want his extended quest in ToB, as we've never done it.

Stats: Str 18, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 9, Wis 18, Cha 12

Should hover around -26AC ... -29AC mid game with Ok'ish combat utility, though we're a little bit worries that he'll be lacking in power when compared to an R/C (nevermind the avenger). I'm quite unsure how a cleric is able to protect itself in the fights, but ... we'll see how it turns out, in actual action.

***

So our frontline should be quite safe, at least from mid-game onwards. We should have enough APR's (We'll end up with 26 APR // 3 characters + cleric & shaman). We'll be lacking a little bit in Critical Strikes, though F/M & (kel-)Dorn will probably only focus on CS's. Hexxat has 3. It's a little low. We could fix this easily by switching Shaman with Jaheira and Cleric with R/C multiclass or a F/C multiclass. Though we're not sure if the F/C multi has enough to cut it on insane.

***

Changes & The Rules

- Max HP's for NPC's
- We have 92 pts to divide between the custom characters we have
- Forging restrictions in place
- We have tomes from bg1 to spread among the cew
- Console in trinkets for items
- Hexxat's cloak is revered back to the 6.5 version (for the most op version)
- We'll get a club +5, which we otherwise wouldn't have (and possibly 1-2 other items, we'll decide later)
- All spells are learned automatically
- We'll make a few items available for a cleric at later stages. We're just not sure about which ones.
- We'll skip most of the mundane stuff as in spider-fights (etc.) if we've managed to beat a similar squad before. Ditto for some of the golem encounters, even though we have previously been much fond of em.
- Insane all the way

This post has been edited by pekkae: Jan 18 2023, 08:24 PM

[pekkae]

Chapter 3

Return poisoned man (spirit fire + emotion knock down anything)
Prebek's
We death spell

Xzar & Montaron
Find caretaker quest at graveyard

Sleep at copper coronet, Jaheira comes back

Jaheira returns to the Harper Hold part 2
Ployer
We prebuff & spirit shift and whack the mages before they materialize

Wellyn
Free Hendak & the slaves
Beastmaster (goes very smoothly with breach + spirit fire + flame arrow. In the end Shaman spirit Shifts and whacks Tabitha together with Clan Spirit.

Neb (prebuff with true sight, then whack) Cuttpurese has a few minor squencers for sale. We buy 'em.
Finish Sir Sarlers
Fallen Paladins
Solve Skinner murders
Shaman Spirit shifts for the abomination

Find the kidnappers who buried Tirdir
Mook
One of the vampire-encounters is triggered on our way to Mook. How nice. We were expecting to fight vampires. We summon berserker warrior, they go after him so we are free to whack away.
Shaman's spirit shift works wonders here as well.

Clear Sewers below CC

***
Yoshimo is so useless that we decide it's good time get rid of him. So we join Clara to the crew
***

Hexxat & Dragomir
Join Hexxat the Swashbuckler

Riddle in the Sewers (
We buy the Spear of Kuldahar for this. we can drop Nalia's effective AC to -22, it helps quite a alot. Shadow Lover whacks Hexxat though, I thought she couldn't be stunned. Oh well.

Investigate and destroy cult of the eyeless
Drop gauths with spirit fire + emotion combinations. it works tremendously well.

We don't get the cleric stronghold, for some reason.
(the reason is we didn't have multiple strongholds installed )

Slaver Stockade
We go to visit Slavers where we prebuff to the max incl. PfF + free action for Hexxat. Then we just interrupt cleric (MS from Nalia), gm, 2xweb cleric (minor sequencer), Haegan taken down by Nalia (who has -16AC against slashing) + Jaheira + CS. Breach cleric, whack and the rest we just whack away, use some cloudkills and fireballs. The mage we gm + emotion.

Crypt king & queen
For we want enchanced cloak of dragomir. Goes very smoothly even without Spirit Shifting shaman. Crypt queen targets Hexxat at the end and Shamanrescues her. As always.

Guild Contacts
Goes quite smoothly. Shaman rescues us by healing the stunned Hexxat. Buffed up Nalia (Shield of Harmony + flame tongue) with Skeleton Warriors whacks the spawns.

Cernd's Child
We let go of Cernd, pick up Dorn and switch Nalia with our custom made F/I. So now we are almost in final form.

Dorn's bloody path part 1
Mencar Pebblecrusher (takes a few tries for Dorn keeps getting backstabbed)
Hidden refuge quests (partly)
We want to do the "where's wilson" but we'll need to wait until we can drop Jaheira. So, maybe for the dawn ring thingy next?

Hexxat's request
Claw of the black leopard thingy). Whack all the ghost monks for max exp.

Clear Spiders from graveyard
Graveyard lower levels

***
Shaman is probably our MVP at this stage. Even with an avenger in the party. Has oodles of skins, spirit fire is really useful we actually have a working mechanism for healing our creq pre-regeneration. And the Shaman can spirit shift for late-fight hackathon.

***

Dawn Ring
Enter with max prebuffs ofc. We turn the amber into a chicken, then whack Borinali. He's quite tough for we are lacking both IH (we have just 2) capabilities and DPS. Kel-Dorn the undead hunter is in trouble here all the time as he's very vulnerable to backstabs. Hexxat gets whacked. Then we just wait it out for a little bit she's back up. Great. No Water's Edge?!? I was looking forward to supercharging my Swashbuckler. We'll just have to use Belm, once we get it.


***
We're having a little bit of second thoughts about our Kel-Dorn the Undead Hunter. While he'll improve, he's a terrible fighter at this point. And a RB with access to "Pendnt of recovered light" is equally protected almost with perma-NPP but with a lot better AC & phys. resistance. Hmh. It takes a long time for Kel-Dorn to reach his potential
***

De'Arnise Keep
We go to the De'Arnise Keep, but we can't win the Tor'Gal fight. We don't have death spell to insta'kill giant trolls. Shaman can't use arrows of fire to finish the trolls and we're missing weapons +3 as we can't hurt noble trolls without em. So we load up the auto-save before the fight and go searching for additional troll-whacking capabilities elsewhere as in we go to Trademeet and buy Martial Staff +3 (it goes to kel-Dorn).

Luckily, we do know of a fight with oodles of exp available and we're sort of supercharged for it.

So:

Bodhi
The basic vampires are a breeze, muahah! There's nothing they can do against 3 characters with perma-NPP. Tanova causes big headches and 5 reloads. Finally we just summon CS + 4 skeleton warriors. Prebuff to the max incl PfCold. Haste everything then send summons & Jaheira to whack Tanova while the rest take out Vampires one by one. Shaman rescues Hexxat once again with timely healing. The ambush is super easy, ditto for Lassal & Bodhi - just whack away. (max prebuffs & summons though). We get some levels and a +3 weapon for F/I.

Tor'Gal

It's a complete mess. We comprehensively buff our F/I, drop her AC to -20 against crushing, potion of cloud giant strength, with both fireshields and IH etc. Then she takes SI:Abjuration. She's very safe as Tor'Gal doesn't have RRoR and she's safe from dispels. F/I runs to the middle of the pack to take as much aggro as possible. She wins the fight for us. Jaheira + Dorn take the gem. Then we try to separate them trolls much as possible and have complete fits over finishing the Noble Trolls, as they seem to require 2-3 CO's /AA's or so.Takes forever. Dorn gets whacked by the 2nd last noble troll, we raise him & insta heal from Shaman. In the end, it's haste, dispel, haste etc. Once we (= mostly F/I). Just before we're about to get Tor'Gal it turns Hexxat(?). Then we "impervious sanctity of the mind" - her but it doesn't do anything. A few whacks, Tor'Gal drops to "near death" Shaman spirit shifts and Tor'Gal falls. We run around the compound for a little bit for Hexxat to regain her composure.

Windsper Hills
Rukh Conjurer: fully buffed up F/I tanks throughout. First golem ambush is handful. We seprate them, Shaman + CS take coin + gem. Necro takes a coin. The remaining gem + bone golem is whacked by Hexxat, (Kel-)Dorn, F/I and Jaheira. We whack a golem, Jaheira wonderous recalls, whack another, Jaheir wonderous recalls again. Whack the bone golem first, the rest is just mechanics. We are very unsure though how this could be played out without 4 (+1) skinned characters. We're also lacking some weapons +3 and IH capabilities, at this stage. Necro makes a level giving us an additional IH, a very helpful thing. So does the Shaman, who gets wonderous recall. Now he can tank for ages. Also Jaheira makes a level giving CS +3 weapons + additional skills. I'll miss her when she's gone. For Conster we summon invisible stalkers (where Lords spawn), sleep, summons CS & buff it a little bit. Go downstairs, have the talk, prebuff to the max,back upstairs where we have CS + 3 Invisible Stalkers waiting. Conster we 2xRRoR, spirit fire + Gm + hold monster. Then milk all lords. Then whack Conster

Dorn's bloody path part2 (the resurrection tree thingy)
Dorn's quests don't seem to drop our reputation, as they should. We tinker a little bit and find out that since we gave Dorn Keldorn's stats the charisma increase from 16->18 makes a big difference. Haha. Anyway. We don't really like this quest. We get the Visage though, it's nice

***
Then we're at crossroads. We sleep outdoors & Jaheira leaves. As in the most effective fighter we have and the best summoner we have. It's terrifying. We pick up Valygar, open the sphere and drop Valygar ad then pick up Rasaad the Priest of Tempus ... we have no idea how this will turn out.

****



This post has been edited by pekkae: Dec 15 2022, 12:55 PM