I make mine this guideline from blastermaster:
"please do not comment on how certain strategies or tactics would not work in other types of games"

Started journal some time ago, will add journal content on this first post most likely (find it easier to read)

Install is V6.1 on EE (my second IA run on EE)

Ok, tough it is not my cup of tea, I would like to test the challenge to have a no-reload (or minimum reload if I blatantly fail after some time) insane IA run.

There will be no infinite rehersal with a shadow party to repeat in current run a combination found after 25 or more tries and qualify this no reload. It is IMHO ridiculous to call any such thing a no-reload.
No reload for me is take a party and survive all fights you are involved in straight from start. No attempt allowed to test a tactic or whatever.

I have the prejudice that most important things for insane no-reloading are:
- never ever take any risk, always rest and buff before any serious fight, always take care before moving from one area to another or taking a rest (ambushes!)
- beware chunking as best as you can (AC, protections,...)
- remember your past experiences!

I have always relied on two things in IA: mage power and physical violence (any short lived enemy doesn't have time to torture you)
My (only) previous insane run was with this party: Necro/RB/RB/dual R->C/Cernd/ dual B->M

To capitalize on it I decide to go with:
Necro (of course)
RB/ RB (insta-heal , physical resist and supreme destruction late game, no comment)
Dual R->C (from start, dualed in lab) because this is early to late game a superpower (fight, heals, protects,...)
Barbarian, because physical resist and hp, insta-rage, I lacked such a char in my previous insane run
6 th slot will be :
Early (chapter 1 to 3) a switch between Cernd, Jan, Jaheira, Neera, Valygar depending on whether I do one NPC quest or the type of skills needed (Cernd is tremendous early game against undeads, Jan can disarm, lockpick and offer some magic support, Neera is a sorceress,..)
Long run I did not decide yet between Imoen and Valygar
Valygar would be to have another supreme fighter late game (believe me, his gear and racial combat is something) and his spellls can be quite handy. Maybe a bit risky (because I would only have one mage), but his presence would seriously decrease life duration of many powerful creatures.
Imoen would bring summons, wish, spell inferno or debuff on enemies, she is the reasonnalbke choice for no-reload.


Rolls :
Necro 10 10 16 18 18 18
RB1 18/95 18 16 13 13 3 starts with ++++ flails ++ dual wielding, aim is to give him +++++ in flails, then build +++++ in bastard swords, then +++ in short sword
RB2 18/93 18 16 16 13 3 starts with ++++ hammer ++ dual wielding, aim is to give him +++++ in hammer, then build +++++ in long swords, then +++ in short sword
Barbarian (half-orc) 19 18 19 12 12 3 2H wielder (will max ++ in 3H sword, quaterstaff and hallberd)
Dual R->C 18/79 18 18 14 18 3
add a swash to disarm/lockpick early

What I will do during this game:
- max hp on level-up
- 100% scribe scrolls for unique or important scrolls

- No xp/gold exploit
- no killing passer-by,
- no killing of joinable NPC (apart Edwin and Sarevok because I don't like them)

- If awaken by monsters, have to fight them (usually, I often Ctrl-Y monsters giving no xp or reload if awaken)
- if ambushed during travel, fight monsters (same as above) even if no xp gained

For insane and no-reload purposes, consider form now on:
- never any pickpocketing attempt
- rest as soon as party diminished (less hps, less spells,...)
- Systematic party buff when any risky fight (meaning all apart a lonely goblin, or close from this) according to cleric level and available mage spells as described below

Buffing (when and if spells available)
Divine:
always on party: Bless, chant, prot from evil 15' radius, defensive harmony
always on R->C: stoneskin, DUHM, Righteous magic
according to enemy/situation on one or more party members: prot from fire/elec/acid, Chaotic commands, Free action, NPP
Arcane:
always on party:Haste/IH, remove fear
according to enemy/situation on one or more party members: prot from cold/fire/elec/acid, pfme,


Let's start

Lab
Might be one of the few players still enjoying it after all those years
Ranger dualed on the spot
Jaheira and minsc sent out, Imoen too.
First floor no big problem (my only concern was otyug, did not want poison or disease since I fired Jaheira, 3 lucky blows and otyug no more)
2 swords of chaos found in EE, use just one with barbarian
mephits in djinn room nearly got barbarian hide
Vampire did not resist barbarian
Out of lab, sell loot, buy scrolls for Necro (emotion, GM and hold monster)

Plan is now to exit town getting as much quests as possible without meeting Suna Seni and come back with much more experience for her.

Circus
buy potion case and scroll case in mart
Meet gaelan
First time ic CC, get quests

Fight guards near cells, not the best idea on insane at those levels, first reload was close (RB and swash confused were pulping Necro) emotion saved my day here. Definitly something to do later (and considering experience or loot not worth taking a risk here if aim is to minimize reloads)

Exit city with most secure way to avoid Suna seni (slums/gov/gate)
In gate kill hareishan and thieves, nice to meet them there, provides scroll of contingency

Umar hill (shield of the lost and Ilbratha)
Just beware hulk ambush in cave (barbarian was sent with summons from MS I to "tank" confusion)
Accidentaly kill rangers guarding cabin (wrong dialog option, but strangely no rep penalty), result is good, my first flail +1.

Windspear outdoor (second very bad idea no reload wise), entry ambush not easy at all, second ambush in house was quite close from reducing money a lot (barbarian had 2 hp left).
more caution with werewolves
Ranger class activates, good!

Trademeet, grove. Close issue with fungus (confusion) and Faldorn (I missed interrupting a bear spawn). Do not try Raksasa yet
Get reward for druid
De'Arnise keep (just outdoors, first level and trolls, no serious fight yet of course)
Temple ruins outdoor
I need 40 Kxp more to have R->C reach cleric 9 (would like greater command before going back to city where I will be meeting Suna Seni), so head to grove

Ambushed by Suna Seni!!!!! (never before IIRC did I got this ambush anywhere else than while travelling between city areas). This might be the very early end of no-reload attempt, if it is let's try "minimum reload".

Have to stand up and fight anyway:
One RB does not finish first round (no chunk, happy with that)
Barbarian rages, Necro cowardly but reasonably runs away
Enemy cleric GC downs party apart barbarian and Necro (very bad)
Necro was not followed stops in his track, shots emotion. Good result, only assassin and mage not touched
Since he only has barb in his LOS, mage does not trigger his sequencer (good!)
Barb attacks assassin (good that barbarian do not fear backstab)
Necro summons (MS I) near mage (otherwise mage targets barb and spells hurt a lot!!!, even MM or AA)
Decide to be patient, Necro GM first to maximise odds that further spells will not be wasted, then hold monster on assassin which lands true.
Summons are till fighting mage
Assassin dead, Barbarian whacks eldarin while Necro MMM on cleric (3 loads of MMMM)
Dreadful wait for who will awaken first, Necro distracts mage taking AAs in the chest (barbarian has no more healing potions to drink, all are in sleeping char inventories)
Party did awaken 1 round before Suna, just when her last sleeping acolyt died under barbarian sword
Necro hold monster on suna, she does not save (malisoned and doomed as she was)
Then party finishes mage
aftermath: 800 gp spent in trademeet to raise RB

Docks, start Maevar
Minotaurs (guarding kangaxx) downed barb and one RB
second ambush, harpers
Bridge, skinner, get theater quest
Cemetery (easy tombs,orphan, uncle lester, gravediggers, welin,...)

Dismiss swash (have disarmed and lockpicked all I wanted to at this point)

Join Jaheira (for her quest that brings nice items for a low-level party)
Baron ployer
After quest (fight with harpers and his good loot) leave Jaheira and join Cernd

Report to Aran
First time in temple district, get quests, an amulet for Maevar
Finish fallen paladins quest
Kill rayic geitras (mass attack with normal weapons)
finish maevar (great care for last fights against backstab) and decline guild
finish illithium quest

Leave Cernd, meet Neera
Wilderness, Neera, second mistake on insane, wild magic surges is a no-no (a flame arrow turning into a fireball was something very unpleasant), after (very little) of her quest leave her in wilderness.
Cernd joins
Cernd quest
While Cernd away, enter house in druid grove. Was afraid of it, don't know why. ZoSA and prot from cold/fire from cleric + buffs and summons were enough
Rewards a plenty, help Tiris, buy a prot from cold scroll

Hire Jan, have to do his quest (RL years I did not do it), a +1 cloak gained here.

Start unseeing eye (with Jan to disarm traps)
First yuan-ti ambush saw party finish fight without any riskbreaker, mainly because cleric has no 6th level spells yet (heal or wondrous recall to have more chaotic command would have been more than helpful here)
Other solution to make life easier was to drop Jan and pick Cernd for this fight, but I'm quite fed up travelling here and there and don't remember exactly where Cernd was left last.
Second ambush was mummies (buffed party for nought)
Jan's skull-quarrels do good against gauths (paralyze them often)
Necro is very cautious with beholders and gauths (always stays behind, don't want to risk a ray)

Unseeing eyes end:
buff, jan under II (45 hp!) summon 2 spiders, 2 skeletons and Berserker warrior
Victim of rod-bug (no effect of rod on UE, he is at full health after rod discharged)
Shitty situation
Summons take first ADHW while Necro secret word (to remove ST) and Jan breach from scroll (remove mantle)
Decide to have warriors and R->C punching UE to prevent casting (no chance if some party members take ADHW in the chest
Necro lower magic resistance, Jan GM, R->C doom
Then Jan and Necro rain FA on beholder with uneven results (Jan is level 9 mage, so just one bolt, Necro 11 has 2 and it shows)
MM to finish (pouding was great at interrupting spells even if damage per hit was poor)
No loss, happy with that

Get reward and start temple stronghold
Want to try Lilarcor, so have to find Cernd (he was in wild forest) becaus eI need Free action, chaotic commands.. against undeads and FA against shadow lover.
Back to city, Cernd quest triggers, no comment, will have to wait a bit for Lilarcor
Forge ring +2 and cloak +2
Thinking of it, I am quite short on +3 weapons right now (just short sword of backstabbing and potentially enchanted weapon from Necro), so will change my course to De'Arnise keep.

Yuan-ti mage and whisper spider
Here I fear more spider than mage
summons (bears and skeletons and berserker warrior) and buffs
Barbarian and a RB under CC sent to welcome spider
In courtyard 4 other party members had different missions:
Necro peeled mage, Secret word and breach so that blow lands, another secret word to fire spells
Cernd (under true seeing) emotion* 2 (while Necro peels) just in case
R->C Greater command (just in case too) and Call lightning on troll
RB attacks trolls then mage once mage is peeled
Spider got barbarian, other RB wounded runs downstairs, spider is injured (sh...)
Dowstairs mage is critical under blows and Flame arrows, another greater command leaves him lying down, dead when RB rejoins party
Necro shoots a lower resist on spider, then rain of spells on it (FA, AA, MM, holy smite)
Spider dead

Yuan-ti mage and vengeance trolls
Did lure troll away to party without mage noticing, killed it and finished vengeance ones (true seeing, lower resistance, flame arrows, MM and punches)
then party went for mage (careful not to expose Necro) and killer spider
Barbarian made mage empty his spell stock (insta-rage!) with help from summons renewed by Cernd, Necro and R->C from afar
Then mage was a sitting duck

Glaicas no problem (attacked by R->C under stoneskin joined seconds later by rest of party and summons, Necro times a breach, two rounds and a half for glaicas)

Golems and spiders, forge FOA (for iron golem to come)
Golems for bow
Golems and viper for Axe
Cernd levels
Trademeet to buy a staff+3 for barbarian

Short of 45 000 xp for RB to reach level 11
Another +3 weapons and xp wait for me ic CC
Tabitha and beastmaster
Easy, breach, pound (Cernd FA at lightning speed to interrupt creeping doom)
Beastmaster dead, Minotaur follows, then tabitha

Would like some more xp, Aran first mission completed (also met Tanova and her 2 vampires there, btw this is an ambush I strongly suggest to avoid early if unprepared like I was, fortunately cernd casts NPP fast and I had many +3 weapons)
Life is changed, both RB get IH!

Undeads with buffs (CC/NPP/free action)
Greater crawler and first rats in a row, rest (and ambushes)
Shadow lover (he got one RB)
Rats and sword, Necro reaches level 12 (just on time before fighting for an IH scroll soon)

Ponder whether hiring Cernd (Flame arrows and emotion VERY useful there, mass heal,summons....) or Jan (traps disarming, prismatic spray trap if any...) to fight slavers.
Finally decided to go with Cernd, will be back afterwards with Jan to disarm/lockpicks.

Buffs, drink potion of fortitude for RB (+18hp) and one fire giant strength for RB wieldinfg FOA
True seeing on of course, Necro has contingency fiershield blue on enemy seen
Haste or IH on all 4 warriors
2 RBs and R->C run for haegan who does not last a full round
Barb on cleric while Necro breach and Cernd summons bears
Enenmies are wiped in no time, climb up barb first (trap)
Meet mage in corridor, he is destroyed (all fighters had prot from fire when entering)
second mage and golem down (careful with spray trap, walking as south as possible is "water proof")
collect loot on floor, exit, come back with jan to finish looting
Reward (many nice potions)

Next temple ruins
Shadow jailor, 4 warriors under IH, new spell minor disrupt undead from Cernd and Necro helped a lot agains skeleton lords
Used 2 potions of invulnerability (often have RB chopped to pieces here because they are easily hit on core, so on insane, no risk), may be an expensive price here
First ambush (2 bone golems, a greater mummy and 3 skeleton warriors)
Exit, forge a mace +3

Spiders in catacombs (rest between each group)
Paina nearly stopped no-reload, 2 RBs and barbarian went down, R->C could kill just on time two sword spiders who attacked Necro
Why this mess? Because I just forgot to memorize death spell for sword spiders...(or should have taken Cernd instead of Jan to CL spiders)


Join Cernd and kill chaos (Necro drank oil of resurgence under IH to neutralize chaos' improved creeping doom), needed 11 call lightnings (had 13 between Cernd and R->C)

Druid grove
Maximum buffing, potion of defense for RB, prot from fire on party (so that Necro uses fireballs), cernd memorizes CL
Recover Belm (One RB down though). Necro took care not to kill innocent cow with fireballs (party was protected from fire)


Back to City
Guild contact
Recover Ashideena (easier than belm)
Horrid rak (he was slowed by FoA, helped a lot)

Recover bag of holding
4 warriors under IH get rid of pirates fast, then wait for coord AI and SI:Div to expire (party member take turn absorbing his spells)
No danger there, good loot with bag, gnasher (alas not usable by my warriors, this is a good weapon) and armor for barb

Sewer, lab, Yuan-ti and minotaurs, close issue there (both RB were down)
After fight, switch Cernd for Jan to loot lab

Ingenious imp (mass attack under protection from cold)
Free haer dalis and trigger planar prison

Finish cleric stronghold

Mencar, no problem: on one hand 4 IH fighters, on the other hand Necro and Cernd starting with GM and raining emotions
Forge Ring +2 and cloak+2

Torgal
Problem is that my usual ways of dealing with Torgal are not at all safe noreload-wise on insane,
buffs and free action for warriors, summon bears and aerial servant
4 separate missions:
1- One RB, Barb and R->C lure Gem golem north west in room to destroy it with +3 blunt
2-Necro, after initial breach, fires 4 lower resistance on torgal, then Webs (3 webs, and torgal is caught)
3-Cernd after initial insect plague (which will utterly fail to interrupt torgal spells) renews summon to keep torgal occupied while other missions ongoing
4- Other RB attacks torgal to distract him (and catch remove magic, this failed, Torgal could dispel all party)
Torgal downed one RB, finished webbed, then RB and Barb killed him
Not glorious tactic, but very safe

Eliminate darcin cole and mages in umar hills

Windspear
Undeads (full buff, rest between ambushes)

Rhuk
Patiently wait for is IA (2) to end
Summons (and Rhuk Death spell) is a good way to wait
Very dangereous chunking risk here, after 1 hit from Rhuk, retreating is the only sane course of action
Again, FoA slow was quite welcome!

First golem ambush (clay/coin/gem/bone) saw both RB down after less than 2 rounds (happy not chunked, critical hits from golem are bad)
Will need to buy potions (invulnerability, defense and oils or resurgence) for next golem meetings

Undeads (vampires) easy (buffs...)
Leave dungeon, pick Jan and back to exploring
While killing mask guardian, a lone skeleton lord spawned during rest nearly got party (who was quite drained already) will have to cowardly take care to rest out of dungeon from now on

Finish mask
Will not fight Samia before long I think
Free Garren's child
Mass attack under prot from fire on Conster
potions of defense for RB
For skeleton lords, many summons, Cernd, Necro and R->C tried tanked a lot (minor disrupt undead worked good)

Finish paladin stronghold (apart Sword, of course)

Party level 12-13, 8 scrolls of RRoR (but just one mage if I keep Cernd) is it enough for Planar prison????

EBH needed 2 RRoR
Bunch yuan-ti and minotaurs as usual (buffs, CC, free action, ...)
Warden 3 RRoR, among loot was 5 RRoR scrolls, nice.
When I rested before last bunch, got a web and 4 planar hounds (giving no xp no loot) on party!
Finish quest (all warriors level 13 now), start theater

Forge phosphorous

Founder of trademmeet , no rynn alas...
Easy, after purge RBs IH , barb rage, R->C stoneskin, mass punch on founder (Necro and Cernd summon)

Cemetery
Tanova, forgot remove magic, fortunately she died before CC 3*ADHW (otherwise Cernd and Necro left alone would have been in tremendous trouble)
Just 2 brides with Lassal
Finish bodhi lair

To get some more xp and gold, finish Neera quest (part in Promenade, beware of insane here if you want to fight your way out alone!)

Join Korgan, he leaves before his bloody book is recovered

Join Valygar, open sphere

Before exploring sphere, would like a +3 hammer for RB

So undeads in sewer underground

First wave buffs, haste, IH and fire giant strength potion on Barb, Chaotic command on one RB (FoA/phosphorous) with potion of defense (AC-18!), shield of harmony and AoP on R->C, 5 skeletons

Second wave (all skeletons from previous still alive)
Add IH on RB (innate) Necro IH R->C, Defensive harmony, Cernd ready to renew NPP on RB
2 skeleton lost

3rd wave
Necro renews IH on barb, buffs renewed, other RB joins (IH, potion of cloud giant strength, defense, Chaotic command)
R->C righteous magic
All on master vampire (RB having hammer +2 attacks brides), Necro minor disrupt undead on master vampire then eminent when master died

Not one level drained, no one hurted more than 20% (Master vampire landed one blow)
AC matters! Cernd rules against undead (if only for many CC, many NPP and lightspeed casting)

Forge hammer +3, cloak +2, ring +3 and ring +2, buy potions worth 25 000+ gp

Forgot Crypt King and Queen when I was in cemetery, exterminate them
Protag is 1.63 Mxp
R->C needs some 7000 xp to reach cleric level 14
Loot big house in bridge district, do some stronghold quests, kill a lich in sewer, R->C levels

Kill another lich in bridge district

Enter sphere
First level (apart golem) without rest
Rest and use potion of defense for golems on RBs
one RB has -14 base AC with it (ring+1, ring +2, cloak +2, amulet +1) other -16 base AC (ring+3, ring+2, cloak+2, amulet +1), -20 against blunt (belt of bluntness)
with blurrs and buff, -19 and -21 (-24 with belt against blunt), hard time for golems to land blow!
2 gems, one bone, one coin went down in this order (Necro was stunned by laugh, forgot free action), no danger at all

Lavok, protag is (just) below 1.7 Mxp, I should meet only one gem golem and 2 skeleton lords
Protection from fire and buffs, Cernd ready with death wards, one RB drinks potion of defense (the one who will get close to lords and take their blows)
R->C, barb and bears down Golem, RBs lords
Necro uses 4 scroll of RRoR, a 5th because I wasted one moving Necro by mistake
Then Lavok fell
Clean adjacent rooms

Tolgerias, buffs, prot from cold, normal weapons, mass attack (had pfme on one RB and Barb, other RB had MI from ilbrata in case ADHW
DW on Necro of course who use MMM to remove Tolgerias skins, R->C back to GR in case, cernd ready to DW necro when breach cast
add prot from fire and fire room
ice room

The dreadful engine room
If golem groups join, I am in for reloading, but this joining is very likely (I will not use cheesy tricks to leave/enter room during fight and rest when enemy out of LOS because taking other stair)
First group went ok, 2 coins and 1 gem killed (entered by fire room)
Another gem on the left corridor was lured to party

Now, no choice, I have to enter through Ice room, block golems on the left corridor and kill them. If I don't block them, they will run and other group will join, same if I enter through fire room, will not have time to block group, one golem at least will rally other group running in front of them.
Bad bad thing happens, R->C is stunned by laugh (thought her saves high enough not to cast free action), good thing is that she blocks golems
very close issue, Two RBs were down in the end, R->C awoke just before second RB fell
Summons to distract golems were critical, I even memorized spiders for Necro instead of RoF (4 to 8 spiders do more good than 4 RoF)
Oils of resurgence have decreased a lot (just 4 left, had around 20 when entering sphere, all used in engine room) potions of defense, have no more, but still have 15 potions of invulnerability

Good thing is that now engine room has free space, no fear of too much golems (I already now how much and where they are) so I can prepare fight
Took care to protect R->C this time
Summoned skeletons (immune to laugh), idea was to have golems come to meet stoneskined R->C on narrow corridor, facing north-east (with barb supporting) while summons blocked wide corridor (facing south-east). Usually one golem goes for summon, others "queue up" for party
RBs were taking turns beating golem attacking summons, Necro and Cernd renewed summons
No problem

Demons easy (no potion I mean ;-))

Send solamnic home, start mage stronghold
wandering a bit for strongholds
Sewer party, easy (4 good warriors)
Open door (to illithid compound)

Sphere, get scroll of ADHW (written) and order robe of the apprenti

Amber golem for ring (slashing weapons Lilarcor, long sword from spell and frostreaver)
True seeing important for assassins
Careful check of electrical resist
Give summons to pound on for golem
No danger (will be another story when sometimes I will have to face 3 ambers....)
Protag 1.89 Mxp


Thax
RBs (NPP from Cernd and R->C) and barb under haste attack dragon with bears (3 other summon in the background)
Necro Spellstrike from scroll (not silenced), was silenced after a breach (taking care noone else was silenced)
Cernd and R->C renew NPP, ZoSA when clouds,
Once Thax fires remove magic, RBs trigger IH, adios dragon (after a heal)

Shade lord looks too risky right now. I would like if possible RB reach level 15, problem is they are a little less than 150 000 xp from cap and I don't know where I can gather such experience without too much reload risk

Buy limited wish, use many one-time options
Gong quest
Turnish invasion in theater
Steam elemental Prince (RB under prot from fire and phosphorous, summons aerial servants and fire elemental)
Mystery of the jewel casket
Forge ring +2 and ring +3
Finish vanilla mage stronghold, theater stronghold

Even though not level 15 on fighters, go for shade lord
buffs, pfme
One RB (-24 against slashing goes for lords, R->C starts by aerial servant then goes for lords
Barb shadow patrick
Other RB summons berserker then shadow patrick
Cernd bears near shade lord

One skeleton lords falls, R->C joins, other skeleton lord and shade lord manage in 3 lucky blow in a row to down RB
Necro peeled shade lord
Shadow partrick dead, barb join pounding shade lord

R->C and RB destroy altar

Meanwhile Necro breaches shade lord

End of story

Get reward, start ranger stronghold, talk to squirrel

Forge supreme chain mail

Finish hard nut part 1 (careful to use potion of invulnerability for Riskbreakers here, high chunk risk)
RBs level 15 after that, Necro has 2.06 Mxp

Let's see what could be done next, I mean fights I once won pre-spellhold without exploits/abuse/cheats on core:
- Firkraag, no way
- Windmaster, no way, first because insane, second because too few AA and FA casters
- Kangaxx, won't risk it: barbarian has only 4 rages, + in flails, with 2 more rages I would go (with 1 more I might have tempted too)
- Illithid compound, no way
- Guarded compound in temple district, no way
- Troll mound, not enough +4 weapons (had I made another choice for party, could have forged SoS, and might tempt it), and no-reload wise, not a good idea at all anyway
- Grave lich in gate; could kill it I think, but no-reload, not at all.
- Teshal, skeleton grandlords will just cut through my warriors before I can get rid of them

Two candidates remain
- Umar
- Samia and party


Samia, Greed tells me to try, if only for 50% to find Vecna, but let's consider the way I handle the fight (usually) with no (or few) problems at this moment of the game:
- pounding Kaol and killing him first (before his AI scroll)
- interrupting chak (insects, hits...)
- mage under pfmw blocks warlords from entering corridor where party is
- kill humans
- the kill skeletons

Problem: Kaol may not succumb, and I'm in trouble (a remove magic or a breach means fight is lost for chunk reason if no other), CC*3 ADHW may fire, all my summons lost and my 2 chars not protected from magic energy
Too many "chunk hazards" running around (Akae, Ferric, warlords)
Since I cannot think of a "safe" way to handle this, give up

Umar;
Plan was good, but a small detail nearly made a disaster ot it, while another small detail turned disaster into victory

Plan was, buff (including potions)
2 RBs on Imp to kill it ASAP bashing through stoneskins
RB and R->C taking care of Deva and minotaurs
Necro peeling Umar meanwhile
When Umar naked, bash her to death

Skeletons and Deva could bring barbarian to less than 60 hp, had no time to react when PWKILL landed. Later one RB had to flee battle ground to recover (PWKILL threat), Cernd runs after him to heal. This is the detail that won fight in the end.
Wait for Umar to be critical to avoid CC 3*ADHW (did not use pfme scrolls here, precious ressource that is becoming scarce)
CC triggered on badly wounded, unexpectedly, R->C and RB down, disaster .
Fortunately other RB was away (and now healed)
Otherwise, 99% battle was lost

Protag 2.127 Mxp, would like some more xp before spellhold, but don't know where to find them
Greed lures me to try Kangaxx and Samia, but sanity tells me to take boat (I don't like to go explore WK chapter 3)

Forge 2 rings +2 (don't forge Hades because I want to keep possibility to use AoP with R->C)
Buy scrolls (incendary cloud, to fry enemies while cowardly protected from fire, spell turning)
Buy potions, will leave with 11 potions of invulnerability (During chapter 1-3 bought all potions of invulnerability and defense available, latter used to the last). Will also have some 40 oils of resurgence (loot and bought).

Leave with a party of 5 to increase xp/char slightly
Mad dwarf nearly made a reload (was not at full buff, a bit of arrogance, he hits hard)
Buy belt of bluntness and some oils of resurgence (never enough of these, and they are a precious helper)

No big problem joining Imoen, have 100 Kxp less than usual here (usual means previous run , all on core apart one on insane)
Choose MS V as her first level 7 spell (choice was obvious to me, best summon at this level)
First ambush was a real one, I prepared for spiders and had to fight Yuan-tis and Minotaur
Missed some xp because yuan-ti mage (north bunch in corridor) chose to walk south and was crunched by wall-trap

Close call with golems (I did not drink potions of invulnerability on RB)

Tome, RB (with phosphorous) and Barb went down (coin golem was a ninja)

Lich and skeleton (just 4 skeletons, remembered 5 or 6 here)

First "potion consuming" fight: cat (and librairian)
for buffs, since fight lasts long
- all long lasting buffs at beginning (potion, protections,..)
- short-lived protection (bless, chant, ...) renexwed from time to time
- IH left for last 2 lives of cat (otherwise no more IH running when librairian comes)
- Defensive harmony left for late figh (have 3 of those, no need to "waste" them early

End fight with librarian is a real nightmare on insane, skeleton lords hit hard, lich, well is a lich, with all nasty spells one has to avoid (comet or dragon breath for example) because one hit on a non-immune (protected from fire) char is 99% reload.
Imoen providing salamanders and pfme was precious here. R->C standing in the end was key too (2 scrolls of raise dead gone)

Now one of the two most legitimate cause of reloading (for me), crystal shard (other cause is mithril golem, but it can be skipped, crystal not)

kill minor kobold
R->C and barb take one avatar, each RB another
R->C and Barb (who have prot from cold) then attack witch doctor
Necro RoF (one from sequencer), Imoen summons salamanders
RBs flee whan electrical resist 0 or less
When kobold no more, 3 ambers (just one injured) and 1 salamander
Populate with summons (including rabbits from limited wish)
Nightmarish, even when golem don't hit, hp decrease like Niagara falls thanks to electrical discharges
One golem down, problem is that my 4 warriors have 20-30 hp left and electrical resist between -50 and -100, mages have 5 RoF left
Fight turned to a general flee-for-life run along corridors, aim was to have golems run after some chars while Necro and Imoen (R->C being chased could not) summoned 5 helpers to make a consistant (lasting more than 1 round) fodder for golems.
This (when golem took interest in summons) helped regenerating warriors, then one golem after the other (for last golem, no more buffs, just plain haste from potions

Climb up
after some monsters, Imoen levels, chose Sequencer, IH and animate dead for spells

Coin golem

Mithril golem
One of my dread usually (on core)
Since I started this no-reload attempt, I manage so far by trying to analyze (as far as my little brain can) why some fights are usually reloaded and thinking about what I could do to avoid that.
Why do I (often) reload with Mithril?
- Mithril dispels without hit any kind of protection
- Mithril bleeds party (at a huge rate)
- Mithril kills summons with just one hit
- Mithril hits F... hard (double on insane )
(and I don't have swanmay, precious ally here if any)

Okay, let's buff, no need to drink potions of invulnerability (know from previous run they are useless, Mithril hits anyway)
potions of strength to have 24 or 25 STR for each of the 4 warriors, blunt weapons of course, no need to punch for no result
Necro and Imoen prepare tons of summons (skeletons, spiders, salamanders, rabbits from limited wish, items...), important to always target a spawning spot nearby Mithril; while mithril has a target nearby he hits, since he seldom kills more than 3 summons per round (and rabbits a plenty) they have time to renew stock (spiders come in pair sometimes)
Another important thing with summons, when you retreat a char who took a hit (because another means death or chunk), to avoid golem follow in pursuit, best is to have nearby summon who will take punch
I want R->C to fight, to maximise damage on golem, so no way to rely on GR or heal (bleed prevents that) which anyway won't be a solution here

For "F.. hard mithril hit" and bleed, well, sometimes solution is simple: 6 oils of resurgence in a row for each warriors (4 pre-buff, 2 for first 2 rounds of fight, renew one after 6 rounds), which means when one char takes a hit then another hit, drink superior healing potion (to avoid chunk if third blow, never took a third blow btw), the retreat for a second (time for golem to take interest in nearby summon or another target), and resume fight second after, even with bleeding, hp come back...
Okay, I spent 28 oils, but Mithril did not win!!! (may be less oils were needed, but no reload no test no one knows...)
Bleeding is really insane on insane, aftermath of the fight, with at least one oil still running, barb was taking 10 damage per bleed....

Just 7 oils remain in inventory (and 7 potions of invulnerability)

Whatever happens now, I'm happy with this attempt!
Forge 3 boots, finish level, Necro levels to 16 on exit (good!)

Irenicus, no problem:
potion of invulnerability, buffs, SI:Abj, GOI and ST on Necro + pfmw
1rst round summon salamander, anaconda, berserker, kithrix and Joloon
then pound scouts (R->C staying in the middle, RBs and Barb focus on one scout after the other)
Necro and Imoen rain spells, when clones and scout no more Imoen pfme 2 fighters (one will be dispelled, other will kill Jon when SI:Div wears off)

Back to Brynnlaw, buy oils left (8) in temple

Shark city
Potion of magic shielding, improved mantle (scroll), GOI to start challenge without nasty surprise
RBs get Chain Breaker Stance during shark killing
Prince no problem; one RB on each mage (mages lasted 2 and a half rounds), summons and rest of party against viper, swords and spells, 2 more waves and Prince is dead

Underdark

First drow ambush
Full buff and prot from fire, salamanders, open with 2 inciendiary clouds (Necro) and a Firestorm (R->C) on enemy
Only thing that went wrong, salamanders turned hostile under fire clouds (good to know fo the future) while i thought they would be immune so stay loyal

Balor (village) easy, buffs, prot from fire and from cold
R->C takes remove magic, then all pound
Necro RRoR*2
Balor pfmw (critical and end of second RRoR), Imoen breach, balor dead

Reward, Imoen levels, take MS VI

Second drow ambush
Necro contigency stoneskin on enemy seen, first action after purge drink potion of free action then is hit by chaos (wanders and falls asleep)
One RB climbs stairs, trigger drow, IH then CBS then attack drow upstairs
Other RB attacks drow warrior downstairs, IH then CBS, when under free action from R->C attacks and kill all spiders
R->C stonskins then free action on RB then pound
Barbarian attacks priestess then warrior then mage (all finish pn mage)
Imoen IH barb then IH R->C then salamander

No problemo

Western tunnels
Kuo-toa near tadpoles
Kuo-toa in a corridor
Beholders
Kuo-toa in room before Prince
Prince and his cohort

One RB gets Risk Decrement

Demon Knights or not Demon Knights?
Not yet, one very good reason: if R->C is down (which may happen, I think I can handle fight, but most likely at the price of 1 or 2 warriors down, which ones....???), I have lost (no one can raise dead), will have to wait till Necro can cast Planetar.

Southern tunnels
Beholders, drows, beholders
Only thing worth mentioning, at entry, RRoR from scroll (*2) because one mage will be "miscasted", bad luck for my RRoR scroll stock, it was Necro
second RB got Risk decrement there
Finished beholders, RB, Barb and R->C level

Go for maze
Why this? because I'm (99.99%) sure that if party does not have HLAs, Dracolich has less pfmw and does not cast greater doom as often.

Meet elf
deep shadow
2 bone devils
11 whisper spiders
Ghost and other spiders
Rest in entry room
Skeleton lord
Whisper spider
Othyugs
Rest in empty room (4 attempts interrupted by shadows, painful to kill them all for no xp)
Guardian ghost and shadows, get key
Shadow
Shadows guarding maze sigil (buffs, mage used improved mantle scroll, fight lasted 2 and a half round, 2 ADHW from Necro, 2 CL from Imoen and pouding)
shadow, skeleton, whisper spider, rest before final fight

R->C loaded with Death wards and ZoSA
Enter with giant strength on Barbarian, one RB with scroll of protection from level drain
All is about start
Necro and Imoen IH on barb and RB, others summon from items (all those summons will die soon)
Send RB and Barb against dracolich with half of summons, one of the warrior will be buffed, other has to keep dracolich away from rest of party (silence!!!!)
Second round Imoen (from my unique scroll) and Necro SI:Nec, R->C DW on self
Then summons, DW on all party, wait for pfmw to vanish, hack stoneskins from dragon
Barb and RB (the one who used pfld scroll!! sh...) went down, R->C raised and heal (and DW)
Did not use other pfld scroll because I save those for Orcus meeting later on
In the end summons (mordy, skeletons, salamanders, trolls) did the job
Dragon dead (Rynn!!!!)

Eastern tunnels
All dungeon within a rest apart final fight
Prepare using limited wish CC for Necro (3 mordy on self on enemy seen), contingecy skeleton on Necro
Sequencers loaded with RoF
Buffs + brine potion + protection from energy (*3) + protection from elements on warriors
First round ilithid and hulk eliminated then warriors run north, Imon summons troll, Necro waits
elemental appears, he takes interest with mordy, Imoen takes purge, then warriors (RBs trigger CBS) on golem, mages rain RoF on it (summoned just one coin)
Risk Decrement most precious here (prevents elemental from downing RBS and damages brain golems)

Buy scroll of freedom
Forgot globe machine, do it
Retaliation on githyanki

Enter drow city, quests....
Necro reaches level 18 after deireix tower, Planetar most welcome.
Kill all drows when leaving city
All party HLAs (apart from Imoen) when dragon recovers eggs (Hardiness of course)
Just for the record, the only moment when I thought I could be in trouble (reload because chunk in fact) was skeleton lords in Deireix alcove who cut through RB quite fast, mostly because some arrogance prevented me from clerical buffing (point taken for later)

Demon knights
Bad thing for Demon, planetar ignores invisibility, no problem even if one RB was down

Chapter 6
with 60% physical resist for RB (CBS and hardiness) and Barbarian (innate + hardiness), thing should be fine, for some rounds at least...

Forest areas cleaned (Imoen levels to 18, chose DB and Wish)

Troll mound
Easy, many +4 weapons (Rynn, dragon's breath, soul reaver, phosphorous)
Necro debuffed quenn while warriors pounding king and nobles, Imoen caught storm (which she lead out of rest of party range, but a the cost of being incapacited, because within PWKILL threat) and finally fell from it (from elemental damage I mean)
Improved mantle scroll when vengeance trolls (R->C raised imoen then)
Pfme on Barb and one RB who finish queen

Windspear
Windmaster
On my way to Samia, encounter Tomb mist! (hought it was killed earlier, was not, funny!

Samia and party, no problem there (if any, was prepared)
Habit to kill them before spellhold make it feels easy to beat them with HLAs, plenty of spells, even though on insane
Necro blocks warlords from entering, all party kills humans, then warlords
Imoen with sequences 3*emotion and trigger 3*CL was quite helpful (Necro opened with sequencer malison/slow/emotion, after Imoen Sequencer, 3 humans down!)

For Firkraag, I will wait a bit till I have Hades

Kruin (in forest)
buffs (prot from cold + elements or energy on warriors), potions of invulnerability, 1 oil of resurgence
Elemental golems first (1 more coin, that's all), beware PWKILL (Kruin wasted one thanks to RD)
Imoen wished, got 25 stats, a rest (nice but not key here)
Alone with Kruin, waited his SI out and end for him

Necro levels (take alacrity)

City
Hire allies

Bodhi
1st level, buffs, no big problems
Bodhi's lair, Barb (Rynn) and one RB taking down grandlords with help from Necro under alacrity loaded with minor disrupt undead and DU (including trigger/sequencer)
Other RB and R->C (who opened with 2 sunrays) take down vampires, starting with master
Imoen, touched once by vampire and level drained could not cast level 9 spells (bad, but not critical)
Many summons (trolls and salamanders are quite good)
Main focus: Grandlords hit hard, no risk letting someone with less than 50-60 hp around (even with hardiness on)
Drizzt was alive end of fight (seldom happens to me on core, so here I was pleased)

Lot of xp, RBs and Barb level (take another hardiness)

Sewer, Illithid compound
Fire power shows profit, First room no problem, Risk decrement, CBS,...

Final room
Buffs (don't use potions, purge will waste them)
Greater Elemental (average 50 damage on a RB with Hardiness and CBS!) just gated 2 golems (it was down shortly after purge)
Once golems no more, leave a RB protected from fire and magical energy to kill alhoon
Nice loot (ring of air control, means I will have greater Djinni soon, after Laboratory chamber in WK)

Those two fights (Illithid compound and Bodhi) clearly indicate firepower pays on insane!

Forging of course
Memory of the apprenti
Hades
Cat figurine
Staff +3
Golem slayer
Wave
Crom
Ring +2
(stop because no more money)

Kangaxx
Buffed RBs for Lich
Barb (protected from energy, fire and pfme on top) dual wielding phosphorous/Crom needed 2 rages to kill skull face (with noticeable help from trolls/planetar)

Teshal
Imoen trigger Breach+2*CL first on teshal (which prevents storm) who is then pounded by Barb and RB with Crom
Necro (pfmwed) under alacrity, RB and R->C tank other skeletons, Imoen summons (did not use wish there)
Lich is propelled with ring of the ram first, when she comes back within party LOS, nothing else standing
Risk decrements shine here (as they do in many other circumstances)
When fight over, only missing hps are 27 for Barb (both RB used RD of course)

Thinking about what could be next step in city
- Twisted Rune: no (of course)
- Guarded compound: no (would like a bit more spells, including CC)
- Orcus: no (and cannot yet)
- wait for Limak: no no no! need some more Hlas, critical strikes if any
- fry cowled wizard: no, because want a safe warning when fighting Limak
- hard nut part 2: no, need CC (for Imoen and Necro)
- Grave lich in gate: could be done I guess, safer with CC, no risk means not yet
- Why is it so cold: might be (would be safer with a bit more spells)

Forge girdle of lordly might, ring of djinni summoning and leave docks for some time (some 12-24 hours more and Limak will be there)

Recover ruby of the gods (just prot from electricity)


Wilderness locations to consider:
- Windspear, Firkraag I consider a bit too dangereous (combo doom + fireball really bad on insane, would like a bit more mage power to cope with it)
- Chapter 7 (don't want to, maybe some more gold on theater and keep)

So WK
First level, when golem/skeleton ambush done Imoen levels, chose ADHW, Comet and CC (this one after a long hesitation with MS VII)
Spider queen no big problem (cat figurine free action)

Second level
Elite fire giant dead after 2 rounds (Necro and Imoen loaded with CL and AA after a breach)
Elemental (1 gem) and first golem ambush (no milking, though I could, elemental did not join bunch)
Spiders and chambers (to collect 3 staves)

Second golem bunch, risked a reload because I summoned a moronic planetar who dispelled magic (removing all buffs and protection from warrior) because Necro was stunned by laugh (and risked nothing before dispel magic because pfmw was on)
Steam elemental no problem, finish collecting scepters

Chromatic demon
He will die sure, his helpers are (for me) more threat than demon
Buffs, Imoen and Necro loaded with RoF (Imoen CC 3*ADHW) prot from fire
Helpers eliminated first; Necro and Imoen RoF on AMber, Necro ADHW after RoF (Barb finished Amber), each RB fights a shielded enemy (salamander and efreet IIRC)
Some mist is dispatched too (not a threat this one)
Then time to use an IMO underestimated HLA: power attack. Party have 3 with RBS and Barb, Barb activates PA demon is stunned, dead after 2nd PA from one RB.
Also took implosion on cleric if any hazard (to stun Chromatic), but damage output of this party is not to be taken lightly

Start Maze level
No green wyrm yet
Start cleaning maze, stop at thielflings (and kill them), demon knights are likely to need more buffs than my party has right now (many spells exhausted) and are very dangereous foes on insane (a naughty tendancy to unleash their spell bundles close form each other and party, which has disatrous results)
back to entry room (take south west way in thiefling room, this maze is printed in my brain)

Green wyrm will not be a duel between Necro and Dragon this time (because no CC, not enough levels so spell slots for Necro)
Let's do it bloody!
RBs and Barbarian protected from fire and electricity (R->C), Acid and cold (Necro), they are immuned to storm
Imoen and R->C remain in the backstage (ZoSA and summons)
Necro (buffed with many layers, DW,.. so that dragon uses spells on her) alacrity, spellstrike, breach, trigger 3*lower resist, lower resist, DBs, FAs,...breach (when stoneskin or pfmw from dragon)
Dragon is hacked and burnt in no time (died shortly after alacrity expired)
Loot wonderful (Foebane and short sword of the mask), boots,...

Quick overview of party at this moment:
Necro level 20, 4.70 Mxp, MPV Gem Golem (sigh!)
Imoen level 19, 4.32 Mxp, MPV Windmaster
RB level 22, 4.54 Mxp, MPV Spider Queen
RB level 23, 4.55 Mxp MPV Greater Elemental Golem
R7->C24, 4.59 Mxp, MPV Troll King
Barbarian level 22, 4.54 Mxp MPV Green Wyrm

Leave WK
De'Arnise hold, forge FoA+4, quest, get gold (10 000 gp)

Sphere, collect scrolls

Why is it so cold?
Buffs (prot from cold and free action from cat figurine of course)
Imoen (boots of haste) takes purge, then AI from scroll
Necro rains ROF and HoU on ice pounded by all, Ice dead (one cold and ice storm)
Then elemental (Necro and imoen summon trolls)
No danger, enemies dead (one gem only) Will wait a bit before reporting to Merella, party a bit too "young" xp wise
Imoen levels, take Alacrity and MS VII

Want CC, so limak
Necro kept Limak occupied (layers and renewing them) while SI:div off, helps from trolls and planetar (summoned by Imoen and Necro)
Then Fighters (Barb + RB) buffed (IH, prot elec, pfme, hardiness, CBS) killed F/MC fast (debuff from Necro and Imoen, Imoen triggerd free action from cat not to be stunned)
No danger

Forge ring of greater djinni, noble spider and cloak +3

Firkraag
Delayed because I was a bit afraid, don't know why (yes I know why, I wanted greater Djinni)
Simple, prot from fire on RBs and Barbarian, Necro IH, layers (SI, GOI, ST) and prot from energy + DW + free action
Necro opens spellstrike, breach, trigger 3*lower resist, sequencer 3*AA, minor sequencer 2*AA, after some AA and MM Firkraag critical
Meanwhile warriors destroy warlords
Second wave, Necro renew layers, casts some spells (LB, CL,...)
Imoen from afar summons, R->C ready to GR if threat (in the end R->C did nothing at all, apart keeping aura cleansed)
Third wave did not last long, Wyrm dead shortly after
No danger at all, key here is that while Wyrm takes care of Necro near it, it does not use dreadfull greater doom/lower fire resist/improved fireball on anybody.
This need to be very aggressive, Necro has to be under alacrity that does not last to avoid being peeled, Necro should not retreat from dragon LOS, warlords have to be dispatched fast to trigger nxt wave fast (and get rid of it fast)
Party was perfect for that

Collect reward in city (and 13 000 gp from theater)

Grave lich in gate
Buffs (prot fire and pfme), careful to have Necro under IH ready to renew prot from fire on anybody (stellar gravestones)
R->C rushes with warriors to lich, preventing Imoen from being silenced
Imoen oracle then wish (looking for double-length timestop, allows one lich pfmw to vanish, got 1 out of 5 wishes)
Necro alacrity, RRoR*2, rebuffs or DU (just 5 DU, not enough to kill it), and bigby's hand (2)
Lich is softened, Necro fires Wishes expecting a double TS+alacrity (same motive as Imoen)
After Imoen double timestop (during which she did nothing, had she DU she would have killed lich), lich was destroyed by RBs (Risk decrement and natural pounding)

Guarded compound
All about managing spells
First floor, buff inside (1 hardiness, CBS for RBS), joloon, moondog, salamander, berserker warrior from horn, elite troll
Necro has contigency pfmw on enemy seen
No big problem (Necro with golem slayer is more than helpful cutting golems)
Before climbing up
Necro casts contingency stoneskin on hit, CC pfmw/GOI/ST on hit
Imoen CC 3*Troll on enemy seen
Necro loads trigger (3*RoF) and sequencer (3*Minor DU)
Before climb up activate CBS on RBs, rage on barb, giant strength on barb
After purge, warriors hardiness, R->C tries ram on stalman (fails), Necro summons djinni, Imoen noble spider, storm lands, mage flee in Nort east room
Then djinni pfmw, tanks golems and skeleton lords, warrior pounds, Necro alacrity, IH RBs, end for slavers


Rest in temple
Corridor
Exhautive buffs (protection from energy + electricity, ambers are bad)
Imoen takes purge, then warriors( R->C included) pound greater, mages under alacrity get rid of first summons (a coin and an amber)
Big summons, djinni, spider, planetar, Yuan-tis
Necro protected from electricity attacks 2nd amber
Purge, alacrity used to IH warriors, warriors hardiness at once, R->C GR (damage taken by warriors)
second round RB renew CBS, another coin (weakest summon IMO) Imoen summons trolls
When greater down, 2 coins and 2 ambers left (1 amber and 1 coin critical)
Victory (Necro alone killed 2 ambers and participated actively in other amber and 1 coin demise)

Decided to go for hard nut part 2 (no patience to wait for messengers)

Buffs, all elements (fire/cold/acid/electricity) for Necro and imoen, energy for the others, potion of defense for RBs, 3 layers for Necro, IH for all...
Hardiness before stepping in, 2 oils of resurgence runnig for warriors, IH from cat figurine (implosion!)

"you will be eviscerated fool!"

Necro CC troll/protection from energy/ wish (rabbits), runs east corner
Imoen CC trolls*3 ,she uses scroll of pfmw,
RB on Falaher
RB on prime assassinator
Barb noble spider and prime assassinator
R->C djinni (near mage) and runs for Valeria, she is the only one not protected from elements, so storm follows her, she lands storm north corner, then attacks Valeria

Pitre has to GR very soon (good!)
Necro starts alacrity
Imoen DB

RB kills pitre
Necro RRoR*3 on mage, breach valeria and breach one prime, renew ST (was RRoRed)
Imoen breach on other prime (btw hp of party at full stock!)

Falahar falls, RB turns to planetar
Prime falls, RB turns to other prime (with Barb)
Necro, our of Alacrity, climbs to Valeria spot and summons planetar downstairs
Valeria fall, R->C attacks Exterminator
Second prime and fallen deva dead, one RB on mage, RB and BArb on exterminator with trol, planetar, djinni and spider (all warriors protected from energy)

Mages breach enemies (one for each)
CC 3*ADHW from mage does nothing
End of story
HPs missing: 1 (out of 150) for one RB, 11 (out of 200) for Barbarian

Exit, meet Vanya messenger
Get reward, beautiful ioun stone for one RB
Forge ioun indigo stone for the other

Temple district to get quest from lady V.

Windspear, walk under True seeing to kill sentinels, some healing and casting CC before going down
Buff, pfme or prot from energy on warriors
Necro memorized freedom just in case
Climb down
First round summon djinni (R->C) and spider (Barb), all others rush to slaughter assassins
Both mage CC ADHW, trigger 3*CL
Necro under alacrity unleashes destruction and breach
Two rounds to get rid of humans and one golem
two more rounds to get rid of 2 golems and 2 coordinators (they did not trigger pfmw nor AI, mistake for them)

Stepping out of dungeon messenger from the keep, roenall is out
Rest and replenish triggers and sequencers

Return to city via DE'Arnise lands
Summons and some buffs when exiting keep after majordomo warned Roenall is coming
Steel and magic rain on enemies
Yuan-tis killed Roenall before I could kill coordinator (means lost scrolls worth a nice amount of money)

Warrior level, another proficiency, RBs have +++++ in their primary weapons now, Hammer/longsword for One, Flail/Bastard sword for the other
Chose hardiness for HLA (all warriors had same HLA path; Hardiness/Hardiness/Power Attack/Critical Strike/Hardiness)

Many nice items for forging, sell in Umar hills, 355 Kgp in pockets
Forge Thetruth, Poseidon, talisman of greater protection

Fry cowled enforcers, their bosses (not big problem)

Decide to go for Pasha, even if not sure that Necro will debuff Noble rak (Horrid, IIRC it is ok) , think fighting power is enough to get rid of elemental golem and mariliths fast enough so that I can wait Noble rak pfmw to expire (even at the cost of two other horrid raks)

Before talking to merella some undispellable casts (giant strength on Barb, Shield of Archons and Foreknowledge on R->C)
RBS activate CBS after talk with Pasha
Enemies spawn, RBS activate hardiness, their second move will be IH, Barb hardiness then rage, R->C GR (initial ADHW to recover from) then Stoneskin, Imoen IH BArb, Necro alacrity
Necro could dispel Raks, so no big problem, R->C healed Pasha (was injured, no risk)
RBs Rush to Noble Rak, Barb to elemental golem
Killed enemies in this order:
(from beginning, alaways one warrior pounding elemental)
Noble Rak (nasty nulber 1 here)
Horrid (nasty number 2 here)
Horrid
coin golem (the less enemies around the better)
Abyssal escort
Abyssal escort
Elemental
Noble Marilith

More than pleased to have foreknowledge and MS V for Necro!

Detailled overview of Party at this moment:

Necro level 21, 5.17 Mxp , MPV grave lich (this IS a Necromancer :-) )
weapons: Golem slayer, sling of arvoreen
Gear: scholastic cloak, amulet of Hades, ring of acuity, ring of djinni (or ram sometimes), memory of the apprenti, gauntlets of dexterity
96 HP, AC -7

Riskbreaker level 24, 5.01 Mxp , MPV Limak the Mastermind
weapons: Phosphorous, FoA +4, foebane, cutthroat
Gear: cloak +2, amulet +1, ring +3, ring +2, girdle of lordly might, indigo ioun stone
188 HP, AC -14

Riskbreaker level 24, 4.97 Mxp , MPV Spider Queen
weapons: Crom, short sword of the mask, thetruth
Gear: cloak +2, talisman of greater protection, ring +3, ring of gaxx, girdle of bluntness,crimson ioun stone
153 HP, AC -13

Barbarian level 24, 4.99 Mxp , MPV Green Wyrm
weapons: Poseidon, Rynn, soul reaver
Gear: cloak +2, amulet +1, ring +2, ring +2,helm of balduran, supreme chain mail, gauntlet of weapon expertise
203 HP, AC -13

Dual ranger7->Cleric 25 5.05 Mxp , MPV Troll King
weapons: club + 3
Gear: Darksteel shield, cloak +1, amulet +1, ring +2, holy symbol (or ring +2), dragon helm , pride of the legion, gauntlet of weapon skill, boot of the woodland
150 HP, AC -14 (-16 with ring +2 instead of holy symbol)

Imoen level 20, 4.75 Mxp , MPV Amber golem
weapons: Martial staff +3
Gear: cloak +3, ring +2, ring +2, boots of haste, belt of inertial barrier, bracer AC 4, roba of invocation (10% resist to elements)
65 HP, AC -6

One thing I can say, this party is VERY powerful.
Gear and levels are just "average" at this moment of a run, but power there is!
This to say there is no need to use gold/xp/forging exploits to be competitive.
Since chapter 6 started, the only fight where I think (afterwards) party was at risk (to reload) is Grave Lich in gate district.

Get Lady Vania second mission
Kill snakes (easy) and get garnet gem

Old one
contingency pfmw on sefl on enemy seen
CC ST/GOI/Foreknowledge on enemy seen
Trigger protection form fire/IH/stoneskin (cast on self first round)
Si:Necro
Alacrity, debuff 2 liches (4 RRoR), GOI/ST/ RRoR 3rd lich
Then Let old one destroy liches (IIRC MAze and PWKILL work no more against graves, did not gamble on it), renew Alacrity (took 4) to summon (planetar, trolls) and protect summons from fire, renewa protection (fire and stoneskin very important, pfmw too)

Order potions from Morid (and sleep in sphere for 3 days)

Trigger chapter 7
Imoen (take pfmw), R->C and Necro level (main motive to trigger)

Two golem bunches (buffs and punches, no danger at all with GR under Foreknowledge or RD)

Raksasas guarding temple, lured them to cast ADHW on barbarian who just switched from Rynn to Poseidon, then remove magic a lot, ZoSA twice, game over.
Kill foes in temple, rest there.
Clear north west platforms (easy foes) without any buff
Noble and 2 horrid raks (Noble first, he is dispelled by Necro remove magic that's all)
Raamilat and spiders

Choice for next step:
Nizi
Harpist house
Demon knights in WK
Orcus
Twisted Rune

What is frustrating (and also fun), is that in all those fights RVE would make a huge difference,
And the one where luck (or risk) is involved the more without RVE (IMO) is precisely the one that has to be done before I gain the spell: Demon knights

Two gythianky attack party when climbing out tree on Tethyr forest! (only explanation I have, but however on earth did they not spawn before?) is that it is a "residue" of kruin fight...

Demon knights
Buffs (avoiding stoneskin, hardiness, everything that tease for a breach)
Djinni, spider, joloon summoned first round
Fight was over fast, rain of CC/triggers from demon, two RD and cat figurine (Imoen) ready, R->C retreats close to east portal, start GR, GR saves the day, apart a fallen RB to fire rain and blows from demons
Floor is mine
Aftermath, Barbarian with Poseidon and RB with Gaxx, talisman of greater protection, belt of inertial barrier were enough to overcome those demons, only thing (which wwas taken care of here) is to protect mages from spell tornado

Last room
Undispellable before portal (CBS, shield of Archons, Foreknowledge, rage)
Then pounding while Necro debuff Demon wraith, Imoen IH warriors (apart RB who do it innate) then pfme party
No problem, book is mine!

Gambling, no reload, so take my risk, got scroll of WISH and lost experience (from a RB)

Level 4, exit after a talk with lum

City, Get RVE, forge ring+4, ring +2, rimed club, cloak of arcane immortality
Buy warblade+4

july 2nd update


Orcus
How many barbarian essences? 1 for each RB and Barb, 2 for R->C (5 overall)
I know this is a risk, but I will most likely need barbarian essences later on (Supreme leader, second travel to plane, maybe Oasys or Sendaï) so I want balance to be positive after Orcus encounter.
3 oils of resurgence on 4 warriors, 2 scrolls of pfld used on RBs, Barbarian rages, R->C Foreknowledge and Shield of Archons
Shot 5 RVE before entering Orcus place, no reload, so no rehersal, got 2 mental agility and 3 ... heal party (wish 1 or 2 regen, will have to do without)
Potion of invulnerability for RB (AC-24)
RBs open with RD (2 RD means a lot of damage for 8 grandlords)
RBs (Hardiness/barbarian essence/CBS) take center, R->C takes grandlord on westernmost side, Barbarian on estaernmost, and bone splitting starts
All grandlords were dead before vampires (Remeber I said this party had power!)
Made a mistake, forgot to cast chaotic command on Barb,rage expired and he was charmed, chose to kill it with mm because he was a threat for party
Vampires dead before first lord wave
No big danger, Necro summons and rebuffs (always something to counter CC 3*FoD!)
Silence expired just before 3rd wave
Barbarian raised by R->C
When skeletons no more, long wait for pfmw to end
Imoen took 3*FoD (raised by R->C)
And Orcus fell

Kill illithids and spiders in WK, leave what is left of WK for ToB (most likely I will not try supreme leader in SoA)

Time for Harpist house challenge

Necro spellbook
l4: Stoneskin, Rof*
l5: soul armor animate dead*2, prot from elec*6
l6: pfmw*5 , giant strength, IH*3
l7: limited wish, MS V*2, RoF*6
l8: Foreknowledge, MS VI*3 , Prot from energy*4
l9: RVE*3, Alacrity*2, planetar, AI

Mission for mages is IH party, protection, and highest priority: remove amber golems from stage!

Necro has CC troll, giant strength, IH on self and contingecy pfmw (both on enemmy seen)
Imoen CC 3*MS VI on enemy seen

Non dispellable buffs before entry: CBS, foreknowledge (Necro + R->C), Rage, shield of archons
Shoot 3 RVE (no reload, only try, don't wait for perfect 3*regen ;-)): Mental agility*2 + regen party (good!, much better than with Orcus :-))
Do not use something VERY comfortable here but with which I am ill at ease with (cheese or cheat? opinions welcomed from readers): Cast alacrity before stepping in

First move: Barbarian rushes to Noble Rak, switch to Poseidon when ADHW fire, Hardiness after purge (who spares other party members)
RBs Hardiness, one rushes to golem, other to noble rak
R->C summons Deva
Necro Alacrity (then IH warriors, Remove magic...)
Imoen Djinni

Noble rak went down first
after a coin, greater summons an amber which is dispatched in a blink by Necro (all RoF including triggers and 2 HoU)
Random spawn not that bad after initial coin and amber: only coins (3 if i'm not mistaken) and one Gem
Endured 3 purges, deliberate choice here, I was patiently eroding greater with RBS and summons, keeping R->C away ready to GR (and punching minor golem passing by), not taking any risk with too many party members around golem (Crom range), Barbarian was taking care of raks (wielding Poseidon) on the other side of the room, Imoen and Necro near entry summoning and summoning.

No Wish, just Yuan-tis, good fight!
Necro and Imoen level (chose LB and DU for Imoen)

City, strat time machine, forge and use wooden key
While Morid forges gold key, back to trees (to get bottle of wine)
Fight grandlords
Sell some (to order barbarian essences)
Leave Morid forging a key, back to elven city to fight a dragon


Buffs
Aura of flaming death, foreknowledge and Shield of Archons on R->C
Shot 5 RVE (add physical resist, regen party, mental agility *2, heal party) bad result, wanted 2 or 3 regen
oils of resurgence (1 for each fighters)

Necro and one RB took care of Nizi, rest of party on hardwood with summons. Necro debuffs dragon with spellstrike then breach (spells and scrolls when insects)
when Nizi dead (after a heal), one hardwood down
No big problem, Barb was downed (had 80 Hp, took 81 damage in one blow!, average was 45-60 damage taken by hardwood per hit...)

Open temple and way to tree of life then exit suldanesselar

Get ruby key, order amber one
Empty pockets, sell enough to forge LoU

May be my favourite SoA fight: Twisted rune

Summons, buffs (no potions), true seeing from thetruth and from gem
Necro runs east with Imoen and R->C, Imoen breach shyressa then alacrity, Necro alacrity then peels Layenne, lower resist*2, breach , AAs and FEs, Layenne critical, layenne wish rest, DB, sequencer 3*AA, grigger 3*AA Layenne dead
Imoen under Alacrity has nothing to do (she was there to help kill layenne or orracle if layenne invisible with bad true seeing timing)
R->C GR when western RB loses hp (stellar granit tombstone)
One Rb runs west, starts with RD to propel shangalar westward, then attacks and kills revanek (fisrt twister to fall, just before Layenne), turns to vaxal with summons
Barb and RB pounding shyressa (this RB read a NPP scroll before fight)

Shangalar comes back, remove magic on RB (was expecting that) RB Risk decrement, shangalar propelled again and most important does not have time to follow remove magic by stellar loadstone, naked RB goes east to be buffed (prot from fire, pfme and IH)
VAxhall IA, Shyressa dead for good, Barb and RB go for Beholder

Necro RVE (why not?) got heal party (would have preferred 50%hp, regen or magical rest, but this will do)

One RB on shangalar (who nearly died between two pfmw), Barb and other RB patiently erode Beholder (now out of IA) under critical strikes

Magic user Summons, R->C heals, Necro shot 2 RVE (nothing and heal), pounding, pounding, as soon as no more prot from fire, back east for RBs or Barb to be rebuffed

When Vaxhal fell, Necro was ready to DU shangalar to death, but RB got Lich skin first

Imoen summoned and buff (IH, pfme), R->C GR, healed, summoned a bit (2 anacondas) and buffed (prot from fire), Necro killed Layenne then summoned/buffed, was ready (rebuffed self, IH, prot from fire, energy) to kill grave lich once Vaxhal removed from way


Time to face my dread, second travel to plane
Spend all my money left (some 25 Kgp) on oils of resurgence (not that many to buy in TOB), makes me realize I emptied many temples from those :-)

Overview of party at this moment:
Necro level 23, 5.93 Mxp, MPV Grave Lich
Imoen level 22, 5.44 Mxp, MPV Amber golem
RB level 26, 5.65 Mxp, MPV Spider Queen
RB level 26, 5.63 Mxp MPV Limak the Mastermind
R7->C27, 5.69 Mxp, MPV Hardwood golem
Barbarian level 26, 5.63 Mxp MPV Green Wyrm


Second travel to plane

Buffs, prot from fire and from cold for each fighters
During skeleton lords, Necro Foreknowledge, cast RVE (3) got 1 mental agility (and 2 regen, good pick)
Balors:
Imoen "sacrifice" to collect doom and FoDs (by million) I need Necro to be in Balor LOS and casting debuffs, R->C raised her the round after
Necro Alacrity, then secret word/breach (insta cast) each Balor to remove ST/stoneskin (btw remove magic does not work unless you exploit-cheat levels to have 30 at least), RBs and Barb focus on one Balor after the other before they trigger spell shield/pfmw/stoneskin (killed 2, made a mistake not to trigger CS at the beginning, could have killed 3 at least)
Necro rebuffs (IH) warriors after Balor remove magic (good thing they have no more shields so fire and cold resitance not mandatory yet)
After this wait for pfmw to end (4 balors instead of 6 make a huge difference), R->C and Necro cast protection from fire (Barb went down to fireballs after being dispelled nonetheless)
Patience (important on insane), when only one Balor alive, manage next wave, that is summon a lot, Necro renew Foreknowledge, casts 2 RVE (looking for mental agility, got 1)
Skeleton grandlords literally surrounded Necro (never happened to me before), without pfmw on a blink, reload.
Lesser force, prepare golem wave (summons, summons, buff 2 RBs far from lesser force to avoid remove magic), Barb finish lesser force
First greater bone wave, Necro was stunned (drank a potion of magic shielding, was not enough), R->C was stunned, so warriors had to eliminate golems then wait for mages and R-<C to recover (at the cost of all my good summons)
Second wave, same thing, very long wait till I could finish lesser force (warriors were drained, no summons, needed pfme to finish lesser force) when Imoen and Necro awoke, pfme was enough (with a couple of medium summons) to finish lasser force (under pali haste, no more spells)
Oils of resurgence are again very useful in this kind of fight.
Also used 3 barbarian essences, 1 was lost because Barb fell, RBs had 1 runnig till end of fight (IIRC vanished during second golem wave)
Used 3 Wish from Imoen, got hardiness, pfme (what I was looking for), and got 25 stats.

One reload, horrible but what I would qualify a fair one, end of fight (second greater bone wave), I had necro panicked, Imoen and R->C stunned, fighters and some summons (2 yuan-tis, djinni and troll) fighting bones and lesser force.
2 greater bone golems left, but RB and Barb were in real chunk danger, so fleeing to regenerate (and unable to fight), other RB was battling a golem, far from lesser force.
Lesser force dispatched summons near it, so went for nearest party member, stunned R->C (bad but since I had stoneskin and a pretty good AC on R->C judged this manageable to wait for healthy RB to kill its golem then distract force)
Alsa at the same moment panicked Necro decided to move straight near lesser forced, lesser force attacked helpless (and purged) Necro, RB rushed but lesser force did not change target. Nothing I could do (apart ctrl-R :-) )
One thing that would not happen with Valygar in party....
Anyway, this reload is not as upsetting as the disintegration by wyvern cultist.

Necro wears nice ioun stone, 45% crushing damage resist, with wish-hardiness from Imoen, her 123 hp and golem slayer she can battle golems!

Tree of life
No big problem after all,
Buffs, summons, 1 oil, CBS, hardiness,...R->C with aura of flaming death, foreknowledge, shield of archons, Necro sequencer tenser/giant strength/IH and using scrolls of AI (deals good damage to hardwood)
Necro and R->C were holding north, one (then two) hardwoods attracted
South, one RB took a hardwood, Barb and other RB another (idea was to down them fast)
Summons alas do not last long with hardwoods, Imoen summoned a lot (Necro was fighting)
Took time, Jon did a TS+alacrity wish, downing Imoen, one RB and Barb! (this one I confess is a first time for me in IA, never experienced that before), spells don't chunk.
No Wish, 5 GR (quite precious), planetar used to raise and heal (All party standing when going to hell)

HEll, last fight is not very difficult (Necro under alacrity peeling enemies)
Balor fell first (Barb and one RB), he is not the same species found in second travel to plane (Remove magic hits)
One RB took elemental from beginning to end (One coin)
R->C took death lord, help from one RB to kill it after Balor died
Rb, barb and R->C finished abyssal and Marilith
elemental died just after Marilith, coin lasted a blink
Slayer Irenicus no chance agains RBs and Barb (just one RB under pfme, Barb with Poseidon and other RB with 25% magical and magic damage resist risked nothing

july 7th update


Illasera
One important caution: have true seeing (thetruth and gem, gem is EE specific item btw) on so that no backstab (means chunk)
Necro starts alacrity when enemies appear, breaches Illasera, RBs pound Illasera to death in a round and a half, rest of foes is easy

First challenge, warriors level

Saradush
After Mateo/Kiser business, Imoen levels (take minor disrupt undead and foreknowledge)

Clean sewers (nasty shadows did not spawn??), just careful with mages (at least one uses comet, I'm sure of it), both had no time to cast anything nasty apart initial fallen deva.
Enter catacombs, just great care with final fight (vampires) to protect against charm all warriors. Spell tornado from Necro and Imoen and 2 sunrays from R->C did great here.

Forge foebane +5 (one of the best weapons around IMO)

Gromnir
Fight not to be taken lightly on insane, important to keep gromnir and karun occupied by summons (that is to say using summons as targets) as much as possible
Full buffing downstairs, climb up
First move, summons (Djinni, spider, skeleton) near gromnir, Barb and one RB (protected form energy) attack ancestor, R->C and RB attack guards
Necro and Imoen (who retreated a bit not to be in Karun Los) start alacrity
Imoen then peels guards (breach) and summon some fodder, Necro has the task to keep Karun occupied during his alacrity debuffing necro and not dispelling/ADHW to death all party
Necro also debuffed oyher gromnir mage during alacrity stance
Guards went down first, then mage , then Ancestor
Thought I could stun Gromnir with power attack, was wrong (Smite works on him though, but I did not pick it yet)
RB with foebane went up to 390 hp during fight :-)

Karun last, his spells are exhausted, but suspecting him to have 1 or 2 comet in his pockets, took no risks and buffed against it (fire, stoneskin/hardiness), let summons and one party member wait for SI:DIv to end

North forest, temple,
Marching mountains, Always feel like a rehersal for Yaga fight: how fast can you eliminate elite fire giant?
Good thing is that without any potions or spells, RBS (hardiness and CBS) and Barb (native resist and hardiness) do resist a lot to EFG punching (does not mean of course they can take 4 blows in a row without chunk)
Worst thing IMO with EFG is smite (being propelled away, in a ring corner or near another EFG is bigger risk of chunk that a straight blow)

Before going down to giant lair, sell and forge (Warlord blade with physical resist, DoTC, cloak +2)

Clean dungeon without any problem (Mages spells, AAs, LB, CL do wonder against giants)
Berenn fight, as usual for me on core, I took them all in the same room, Berenn was the first to fell (apart plain fire giant electrified by CLs before)
Opening here with 2 CC 3*CL on nearest enemy and alacrity by 2 mages followed by triggers 3*CL and all electric/acid spells hurts enemy a lot
Confidence grows with my warriors, without any magic help they can dispatch an EFG fast (less than 2 rounds)
Elemental golem just had time to summon a coin
Finish level (Imix) and collect loot and hearts

Skeletons (I like this fight), just managing ressources (hardiness, RD, CBS, heal, GR,..) without relying on wish-rest (anyway better to summon yuan-tis with Imoen) Shot 3 RVE during fight (not to force luck but to have some bonus if good cast, got 1 regen, very good here, a heal but party was at full hp and a mental agility, useless here)
Used no potions (saved oils for later), btw currently have 37 oils of resurgence left in inventory, can buy another 13 in saradush temple, 13 in Amkethran , get some more loot on grandlords to come, but ressource is not infinite...

Give hearts and fight
Necro is level 25, 6.73 Mxp

WK level 4
Elementals golem ambush, 8 minor spawns

Choice between Supreme leader and Yaga is not easy. I am less afraid by Yaga, but that does not mean chunk risk is very high on insane, and right after Yaga, Oasis comes, another very high risk on insane (even on core, consider oasis as one of the toughest fights) Supreme leader opens much more room to gain xp and gear (all dungeon), so reasonnable choice is going for supreme.

Buffs, potions a lot (invulnerability, 2 oils on 4 warriors, barb essence on RBs and Barb, free action from cat (aprat Necro who has layers and drank potion) of course

First attempt, felt bad since the beginning, plan was to rush party in south room, many small details going wrong, delay at each door to clear passage, party spread along, so that when Mlar fell, Imoen had just rebuffed pfmw because she was near Supreme, an anti-inquisitor spawned, tortured her, and she was chunked by supreme. Truth is start was quite poor and even without this chunk I seriously doubt issue could be positive.

Organize a bit more fight
Potions drank and buffs make warriors very resistant, so I can spare time downing enemies.
Let's divide and conquer.
Necro and Imoen keep Giths and supreme in first room with summons
4 other party members rush to golem makers, starting with spammers (one RB crom/short sword of the mask cleans golems meanwhile so that movement is allowed)
to avoid any "jam" use Risk decrement to pass doors without delay.
When giths cleaned in first room, and supreme peeled, Necro and Imoen rush south to other party members (who take care not to finish Mlar or hracknir before mages are in south room), Djinni, skeleton and summons to keep supreme occupied in entry room
Golem makers and their production are dealt with weapons, anti-inquisitor spawn, mages cast (Necro) or use scroll of AI.
Mages electricity did few damage to anti-inquisitors, so party finishes golem and 2 anti-inquisitors by sword.
Once south room is cleaned, time to lure other enemies to it. Lure is a bit pompous, Supreme leader and 2 anti-inquisitors rushed to us as soon as they saw someone.
Necro, victim of tortuous inquisition lost her last alacrity, so both anti-inquisitors had to go down by sword only
When alone with supreme, oils of resurgence, protection from fire, summons, protection from energy/magical energy in the end (did not get CC 3*ADHW), and most important: patience!
No Wish/RVE used at all

Bad to have a third reload here, but good for the spirit, WK opens!

Demilich dead easy, just need Necro to be protected by some layers and memorize freedom just in case.
Due to an EE bug (after imprisonment, RB has twice AC bonus as usual) I reloaded after an imprisonned RB. Fight was won, but I felt bad having this cheaty +8 AC bonus for the rest of the game, so I don't count this reload (but I point it nonetheless)

Usuno blade found, quite good!! forge Thor, improved gaxx, ring +2 and axe of the unyeilding

Saladrex
I always find a very aggressive behaviour with dragons pays a lot:
Buffs are protection from fire and IH (from Necro and Imoen), hardiness, shot RVE (6) for just one regen...
R->C regen on 2 RBS, saves heal, GR, prot from fire for fight
Summon elementals (R->C), djinni, spider, skeleton
RBs and Barb attack dragon, switch to normal weapons as soon as pfmw from Saladrex
Then pounding, and pounding
When a char is doomed and naked, retreat at once to renew prot from fire (eitherwise it is death and most likely chunk), rings of fire control and fire resistance can ensure a safer travel during retreat to entry where mages and R->C wait out of reach
R->C ZoSA once on a cloud, GR thrice, Dragon dead.

Best staff of the game (IMHO) gained (ram) and upgraded at once

WK5
enigma
horde (GM, emotion, PW stun, WISH double TS,...)
Liches/grandlords ambush, Necro time: after 2 mental agility and foreknowledge during buff, Necro starts with alacrity, killed Grave lich with 10 DU (True seeing from thetruth), then 4 wishes, 1 rest, kill other lich, 1 grandlords and terminates two other grandlords already wounded (minor disrupts undead)

Golem ambush (some 10-11 minor golems), 2 purple, 2 reds, 4 blue, 4 green in a row
Some rest (party exhausted, 4th green was risky, not because of chunk, but merely to win), Imoen levels, hesitate a lot and take AI (hesitated to take timestop)
3rd red (Necro killed an ice alone), just caution with purge (no need to have all party debuffed at first, be ready to rebuff, especially hardiness on second, no third purge), shot some RVE before fight, 2 mental agility (very good!) and crap (one or two regen would have been nice)
Elemental spawned just a coin (could have milked, but not my cup of tea)
4rth red, Greater elemental first, same as above, beware purges, summons a lot, necro shot RVEs (7) got 3 agility (what I was looking for) mission for Necro is to get rid of amber golems (casting spells with light speed, easy task, RoF, HoU under prot from electricity and pfmw)
3 ambers and a gem as lesser spawns, 2 and a half amber killed by Necro
All warriors level 30 (RBs got AC bonus!)
3rp purple, 1 round and a half (sunrays, CC 3*ADHW trigger 3*CL
4th purple
Necro has CC 2*RRoR and remove magic on nearest enemy , 2 RroR and DUs as 7th level spells, starts with foreknowledge and 3 mental agility
Necro alacrity, means One lich is naked (taken 2 RRoR), another dead
Meanwhile Imoen Wishes (looking for Double TS or rest) theory is double TS means Imoen kills a lich during TS, after TS no more pfmw on, so Rush from wariors under CS means 1 sure, and likely 2 liches dead
Reality was I got a rest, Necro killed naked lich, debuffed another, who was killed (a remove magic worked, was surprised, Necro is only level 26),
4th lich was dealt by RBs who shamelessly propelled it away around the room like a pinball using Risk decrements, she could basicaly do nothing until pfmw out and death.
scroll harvest (19 RRoR,..)

Overview of Party at this moment:

Necro level 26, 7.42 Mxp , MPV grave lich
weapons: Golem slayer
Gear: scholastic cloak, amulet of Hades, ring of acuity, ring +2 (or ram sometimes), memory of the apprenti, gauntlets of dexterity, carmine ioun stone, belt of inertial barrier
124 HP, AC -10

Riskbreaker level 30, 7.14 Mxp , MPV Limak the Mastermind
weapons: Phosphorous, FoA +4, foebane +5, DoTC, cutthroat
Gear: cloak +2, amulet +1, ring +2, ring +2, girdle of lordly might, indigo ioun stone, boots of grounding
208 HP, AC -15

Riskbreaker level 30, 7.17 Mxp , MPV Spider Queen
weapons: Thor, short sword of the mask, thetruth
Gear: cloak +2, talisman of greater protection, ring +2, improved ring of gaxx, girdle of bluntness, crimson ioun stone
180 HP, AC -16

Barbarian level 30, 7.17 Mxp , MPV Green Wyrm
weapons: Poseidon, Ram +6, Warlord's blade
Gear: cloak +2, amulet +1, ring +2, ring +2,helm of balduran, supreme chain mail, gauntlet of weapon expertise, girdle of stone giant strength
221 HP, AC -13

Dual ranger7->Cleric 32 7.21 Mxp , MPV Ice Golem
weapons: Rimed club (ice star when dual wielding)
Gear: Pride of the legion, ring +2, holy symbol, Dragon helm, boots of the woodlands, cloak +2, gauntlet of weapon skill, girdle of fire giant strength, darksteel shield (or shield of harmony)
164 HP, AC -15

Imoen level 25, 6.99 Mxp , MPV Amber golem
weapons: Rynn
Gear: cloak +1, ring +2, ring of djinni, boots of haste, belt of inertial barrier, bracer AC 4, robe of invocation, circlet of netheril, amulet of the seldarin, boots of the north
80 HP, AC -3

Open first key

Sell, forge noble staff of fire, cloak+2 and improved dragon helm

Yaga or Ancient Dragon?

Feel hatred grow, Ancient dragon!
Aggressivity:
Fight will be won or lost fast!
cast RVE to have a maximum mental agility (5), so that spellbook can go in a blink

Necro spell book:
l1: all lmd
l2:AAs
l3: remove magic and prot from fire ,
l4: stoneskins
l5: 3 SI, 6 breach
l6:2 GOI, 4IH, 4pfmw, giant strength
l7: 2 RRoR, 6ST, 2 limited wish, 2 prot from elements
l8: PFE, foreknowledge, 8*ADHW
l9: Spellstrike, 3 alacrity, AI, 4 RVE

protection from fire on everybody, IH (even on mages, will have enough), Necro takes staff of fire (to occupy dragon thinking about sequence of spell to cast to decrease necro resistance to fire)
hardiness, oils of resurgence (2), CBS on RBs
Climb down, Imoen, Barb and R->C (with phosphorous) stay at entry, summon djinni, spider and anaconda
Necro and RBS run to wyrm
talk
Necro starts alacrity/ AI/spellstrike/trigger breach + 2*lower resist, ADHW*8, RRoR effrit, AAs on effrit, (salamander and effrit dead), then rebuff after wyrm debuffs, renew IH and prot from fiore on RB when wyrm removes magic
Spider guide nishruu meanwhile to Barb and R->C who will kill it some round later (with help from spider and djinni under pfmw)
second alacrity, necro rebuffs self, breach wyrm, renew prot from fire on RBs and self, shots RVE (grandlord, regen, mental agility useless)
Wyrm triggers cure critical wounds, regen
Barb and R->C (don't mind silence at this point) come pounding Wyrm when Necro renews third alacrity (they just stopped to remove Grandlords on their way)
Imoen in the backgound wished, nothing worth came out of it (main success was a pfme on party, useless)

Since Necro always in LOS and keeping Wyrm occupied, no doom, no lower resist, no fireball.
wyrm was dead before end of third alacrity, did not had time to cast heal on self.
Aggressivity rules! (btw this recipe here is quite reliable to kill this wyrm) FoA+4, poseidon and Thor are great weapons against it!

Loot wonderful as usual, write timestop and BBoD on Necro spellbook

open second key, wipe monsters
use skull
open second key, before final turn (and nasty lich) get a rest in Pocketplane

Kill lich without milking (some 6-7 grandlords) Necro used timestop when tide was turning bad (one RB imprisoned, other panicked, Barb alone fighting golems and grandlords)
Open last seal

Kill demogorgon

Party after WK:
Necro level 27, 7.91 Mxp , MPV grave lich
Riskbreaker level 31, 7.59 Mxp , MPV Ancient Dragon
Riskbreaker level 31, 7.60 Mxp , MPV Spider Queen
Barbarian level 31, 7.65 Mxp , MPV Green Wyrm
Dual ranger7->Cleric 34 7.70 Mxp , MPV Ice Golem
Imoen level 26, 7.47 Mxp , MPV Amber golem

Time to meet giants

july 11th update


Empty pockets with saradush merchants (won't see them again)
Forge Great wyrm armor for R->C

Buffs, Mental agility*2, oils and regen
First EFG killed by weapons only, Necro and Imoen Start alacrity just before first wave
Necro RRoR *3 on bodyguard + breach, boidyguard dead seconds later (all warriors on him)
Djinni tanks Yaga under pfmw
GM + emotion down cleric
EFG spawn, Imoen and Necro dispatch it, Necro shoots RVE, got a rest (was looking for regen, rest is quite bad for enemies)
First wave dispatched before second spawn
Second wave spawn just near Necro, bad luck for them, wiped
Third wave did succeed in interrupting Necro alacrity, saved them 1 round of life
Yaga alone, implosion, (DoTC quite good against Yaga btw), dead

challenge in pocketplane,

Oasis

I sincerely wonder (other opinion welcomed) whether, on insane, this fight is not IA-TOB hardest one if done without cheat (buffing/resting in PP after quick pause) or cheese (coming there from east side after being to amkethran from WK)
Always have the feeling that this fight can be lost after 1 or 2 rounds, cannot be said to be won till the end (of Jamis).

Time to go
Necro spellbook
l1: lmd
l2: AA
l3: VT
l4: stoneskin*2, GM*2, RoF*4, emotion*2, fireshield blue
l5: SI*2, larloch interrupter*2, breach*6
l6: GOI, CL*2, IH*4, pfme*4
l7: RRoR*6, MS V*5, ST*2
l8: PFE, foreknowledge, ADHW*3, MS VI*3, maze*2
l9: timestop, alacrity*3, DB*5

Necro wears boots of haste (as does Imoen)
trigger larloch interrupter CL*2
sequencer 3*RoF
minor sequencer 2*AA
CC foreknowledge/MS VI*2 (enemy seen)
Contingency pfmw (enemy seen)

Party AI off, R->C script to none (usually, apart mages, script is attack nearest enemy)

First moves:
Imoen djinni near Jamis, pfmw at once on djinni to distract Jamis at least for two rounds
Barb spider near Jamis
R->C Elemental near Jamis (air and earth)
RBs hardiness
Necro timestop

Second move (all those are shadowed while timestop stance)
RBs CBS
R->C creeping doom
Barbarian hardiness
Imoen Alacrity

Necro stops flow of time, alacrity: IH on RBS, Barb and R->C, stoneskin, fireshield blue, Si:Abj, ST, IH R->C, barb and RBs, pfme on RBs and R->C,
Time flows again, alacrity ends, Necro starts alacrity
RBs attack gems, Barb attacks battlepriest (rams him north)

Barb is north with battlepriest, hostile mordy and a gem, mélée in the middle, Imoen, Necro and R->C at entry spots
Imoen alacrity, trigger 3*CL, sequencer stoneskin/MI/shield on self, pfmw, starts RoF
R->C creeping doom cast, keeps aura cleansed for GR
Party AI on, RBS activate CS, Barb hardiness (was breached)

Then basicaly, each round either R->C is ready to GR, or RBs ready to RD, or cat figurine (not used yet) as emergency heal
RB who is attacked by Jamis drinks a barbarian essence
Necro and Imoen cast offensive spells (AAs, RoF, CL, DB,...)
Second battlepriest does want I wanted to avoid, vengeance storm, Imoen and R->C out of it, Necro is touched and lost third alacrity, very bad
Imoen empties her offensive spells under Alacrity (humans don't like at all), Necro summons, offensive spells remaining for Necro are wasted (low levels, useless if not under alacrity) she is much more needed for summons and breach (battlemage or battle priest)
R->C pauses GR with other casting: creeping doom, stoneskin, heal, mass cure, aerial servant

Some equilibrium in fight, Hack golems, destroy human with spells, oils of resurgence , GR from R->C (had a total of 6 when stepping in)

When alone with Jamis (some other pikemen east for sure, but do not want them around before Jamis is down) Just one GR (left for utter emergency), no more 8th or 9th level spells for mages, still many salamanders to summon
R->C heals RBs or Barb (all on Jamis with slashing of course) who take care to retreat when manadatory: without barb essence I don't want ro use, CBS, take averag 40 damage per hit from Jamis, so chunk risk is there
Once Jamis has no more undispellable Hardiness and takes more than 2 damage per hit, death comes fast

8 pikemen east, dispatched

Amkethran
Find Hexxat in tavern (thought her dead or forgotten), will not talk to her.
All quests done
Sell to smugglers, forge ring +2, 2 rings +3 and a ring +4
RBs "unbuffed" have -16 and -17 AC

Sendai's enclave outdoor
Climb down, spiders, hulk,...
Thelynns and her guards nearly had party, they are quite tough on insane (oasys like)
What saved party was first to be at full health and spells (though no CC, triggers,...) and second to have stay on stairs instead of rushing in so they could crush drows without being attacked from all sides which would have meant failure (99%)
One RB down (was wounded, retreated, but vengeance storm got him)

Derro tunnel, spider tunnel, Imoen levels , chose prot from electricity as spell

First drow ambush
Nice and tense moment when second and third drow ambush party joined

Enter Odamaron's lair, patience but no milking, no coward use of timestop, lich taken down by sword and spell while it could fight back!
When entering, Imoen runs one side (south east), R->C the other (north west) so that one of the twop, RBs and Barb not touched by silence (bad here not to be able to use HLAs)

Ogremoch and Dyata
Oh captain my captain
Illithids
Leave area, Sendaï will wait.

Stop in tavern, lot of selling, forge boots of the woodland, 2 boots of speed, short sword of the mask +5, keep 90+ Kgp for the moment (want to be sure how much money I have before final forgings)

Dragon's lair
Draconis, no need to re-write story of dragon vulnerable to magic and Necro (CC foreknowledge/stoneskin/ST, contingency pfmw)
Just care that first move from necro after teleport is SI:ABJ is CC does not trigger fast enough (which happened), while a RB with hardiness rushes to Draconis human (so takes first breach)
Recover rope
Recover scroll and kill mage
Use scroll and kill dragon

Rest and prepare
R->C did not succeed dispel magic on human ABI, so patience,
Necro casts contingency pfmw on self (on enemy seen) and a foreknowledge when SI:DIV expires on human ABi (to prevent salamander from interrupting Alacrity)
breach from Imoen, buffet, Dragon appears
RBs hardiness, attack dragon (then CBS round after, aim to get resist and avoid chunk)
Necro protected casts alacrity, means end for ABi Dragon: spellstrike, breach, trigger 3*lower resist, lower resist, DB*8 (btw ABI dead before one DB landed), sequencer 3*FA, 13*FA, 11*AA... dragon dead
No danger at all

Forge Hindo doom +4 (GR) and FoA +5
Third pocket challenge

Party at this moment:

Necro level 26, 9.09 Mxp , MPV Draconis (yeah!)
weapons: Golem slayer +5
Gear: scholastic cloak, amulet of Hades, ring of acuity, ring of the ram, memory of the apprenti, gauntlets of dexterity, carmine ioun stone, belt of inertial barrier
127 HP, AC -8

Riskbreaker level 34, 8.68 Mxp , MPV ANcient dragon
weapons: Phosphorous, FoA +5, foebane +5, DoTC, cutthroat
prof: ++ 2Weapon style, +++++ hammer +++++ long sword +++ short sword
HLAs: Power attack, smite, hardiness*5, Critical strike*8
Gear: cloak +2, amulet +1, ring +4, ring +2, girdle of lordly might, indigo ioun stone, boots of grounding
221 HP, AC -17

Riskbreaker level 35, 8.77 Mxp , MPV Spider Queen
weapons: Thor, short sword of the mask, thetruth
prof: ++ 2Weapon style, +++++ flail +++++ bastard sword +++ short sword
HLAs: Power attack, smite, hardiness*5, Critical strike*9
Gear: cloak +2, talisman of greater protection, ring +2, improved ring of gaxx, girdle of bluntness, crimson ioun stone
195 HP, AC -16

Barbarian level 34, 8.749 Mxp , MPV Green Wyrm
weapons: Poseidon, Ram +6, Warlord's blade
prof: ++ 2H Weapon, +++ 2weapon style, ++ axe, ++ flail, ++ quaterstaff, ++ hallberd, ++ 2Hsword
HLAs: Power attack, hardiness*5, Critical strike*9
Gear: cloak +2, amulet +1, ring +2, ring +2,helm of balduran, supreme chain mail, gauntlet of weapon expertise, girdle of fire giant strength, boots of grouding
233 HP, AC -13

Dual ranger7->Cleric 37 8.84 Mxp , MPV Ice Golem
weapons: Rimed club
Gear: Great wyrm armor +5, ring +2, holy symbol, Dragon helm, boots of the ranger lord, cloak +2, gauntlet of weapon skill, girdle of stone giant strength, shield of the order
174 HP, AC -18

Imoen level 29, 8.64 Mxp , MPV Amber golem
weapons: Rynn, noble staff of fire
Gear: cloak +2, ring +2, ring of djinni, boots of haste, bracer AC 4, robe of invocation, circlet of netheril, amulet of the seldarin, boots of haste
84 HP, AC -4

Time to meet Sendai

last update


Prebuff R->C prot from fire, IH, ...
While minor statues, buff, summon, hardiness on RBS, barb essence on RBS and Barb,
SendaI appears, CBS on RBS, RBs and Barb on pet (Barb was delayed, led to an eathshaking roar) with mask, cutthroat+4 and poseidon
Imoen and Necro Wish and RVE (Imoen got one rest)
After pet, Web golems one after the other, Barb with warlord's blade of course, foebane and thetruth for RBs
Was a nightmare in my previous insane run, this time went OK

Mercenaries

4th challenge,
Balthazar

Sell all I will not take to EDE (including short swords, normal weapons, Defender of easthaven, Axe of unyelding)
Forge dragon's lord (of course), boots of haste, 5 rings +2, scarlet ioun stone, 2 rings +3

Last challenge

Misc gear:
potions: 21 barb essences, 29 magic shielding, 3 magic blocking, 2 prot from fire, fortitude, 14 haste, 70 greater healing, 28 oils of resurgence (wish I had more)
scrolls: 4 WISH, MS V, MS VI, MS VII, 2 raise dead (if I need them, situation is bad), 8 AI (usually use 3-4), 10 pfme (will collect some more), IH
Amulet of cheeta speed, hindo doom

100% physical resist on RBs, Barb and R->C, 2 barb essences for Necro
PFE on eveybody (apart Imoen), IH or haste (mages)
R->C has ring of free action
Shoot RVE and WISH under alacrity
1 oil drank by every warrior when pasha joins

Join Prince
Prince has good taste to take care of Djinni northwards, Party rushes south (Necro a little apart because a remove magic flies to her)
Supreme golem is terminated (Pasha, Necro, RBs, Barb, R->C) without gating an elemental! (this Never happened to me before in IA)
One ultra (east) terminated without amber, Pasha and party on it were quite efficient.
North Ultra had time to gate one Amber (terminated by Necro under alacrity)
Prince first AI without Raksasas! (milliseconds before truth to tell!)
Eliminate Raks
Prince second AI (party hits hard, Foebane does wonder against Prince)
Keep on being very aggressive (and cautious with GR, oils, RD, cat figurine, hindo) attacking relentlessly Prince
Prince third AI, taking care to renew prot from fire or energy as best as can be on warriors
Summons (salamanders very nice here, I have many between Necro and Imoen) a lot to keep Prince occupied during AI
Second rak spawn
start using potion of magic shielding
Prince 4th AI
Third rak spawn, stabilize fight in an alcove
Look for (and get) Wish-rest, 15 wish memorized between Necro and Imoen and 4 scrolls, it was bound to come (took 7 Wish attempts).
Prince 5th AI, I think fight is won, Party decreases Prince hps fast, R->C GR from afar, oils, RB, CBS do great to maintain hp (as does retreat ;-) ), Necro and Imoen summons (salamanders and Yuan-tis) do great against Prince
Prince 6th AI
End of Prince
RB, R->C, Imoen and Necro level, supreme scalp for Barbarian


Claim a place among the gods

Necro finished with 9.64 Mxp, a bit less than I usually have here (around 10.4 Mxp IIRC),


Insane is a nice thing to experiment at least once with IA that's sure.
the "no-reload" thing depends a lot of definition ones give to no-reload. Here I tried a run with a party with which I didn't repeat each and every fight, run was not based on some already validated winning combinations (which is for me not fun, bu I don't mind at all if others have fun with that).
I also don't like to abuse running around, switching each and every round gear from one char to the other, I prefer straightforward approch of fights
No xp/gold exploit (my party had less xp and less gear than my usual runs on core, mainly because no milking) used in run. Levels more could help of course, I wish I could have them, but I refused to used exploits to gain them.
In this configuration I just can say no-reload with IA is difficult, I think nearly impossible (at least for me). Here I had 4 reloads overall, some could be avoided for sure if I was to replay, some could still happen (second travel to plane), and some fights that went OK (Oasys, EDE, cristal shard, mithril golem,...) could cause reloads, so...
I will most likely never again play on insane, not my cup of tea, mainly because insane doesn't allow original parties (no full divine with Necro or no 2 thieves party) and you can't take any risk during fights, which is precisely something I like very much.
Tactic definition (in dictionnary) being something like "a plan or action to achieve a goal or a maneuver", I think there is much more room for tactical challenge with some original parties on core (try a run with no unsilencable chars and no Necro/vagrant protag...)
IMO Insane shortens a lot the way one can design a party and win a fight, it is a matter of (huge) resistance to (few) punch while on core there is more room to make use of a char that is not tremendously resistant or tremendously powerful (vagrant NPCs, paladins, swash, Kensaï come to my mind), and on insane it is (IMO) very difficult to take time downing an enemy becasue your party has no tremendous fighting power.

I am surprised with the Riskbreaker and Barbarian choices, but it sounds like it has served you well in the past. I'd have preferred Fighter/Mages (dual or multiclass, maybe one of each). Stoneskin is just so powerful in this mod, especially on Insane since it nullifies the actual Insanity since you never take damage while you have skins left. And on top of that, you can draw away enemies from your more vulnerable characters, for as long as you like.

If I were trying a run like this, I think I'd do:

Necro
Berserker-Mage
Fighter/Mage
Fighter/Mage
R7-Cleric
Cernd

In my previous Insane run, I took a dual Berserker (9 or 13)/M, was quite good early game, but late game I was very disapointed with fighting power and regretted a lot mage level missing.

Tried here a party with punching power, I know I may pay cash being "exposed", but I prefer high THAC0 and APR (and a lot of CS!) to stoneskin or pfmw at the cost of long level-up and less power (for multi F/M)

Increasing AC and using regeneration (spells, oils of resurgence,...) is also very effective to deal with "insanity"

Finally, a serious run. Good luck with it.

I personally think that your party configuration is stable enough.

I didn't know you can get an Improved Haste scroll before the Slavers fight. Probably an EE change, because in the original ToB you cannot get that spell scroll from a closer location. It's a really interesting info if you share where you got that.

You could theoretically avoid being ambushed outside of the city if you make your outside trips always go through Watcher's Keep first. Still, you can be ambushed while travelling from a city area to WK, but the ambush will take place inside the city.

Do not rest inside dungeons, there is almost always a safer place nearby. In Windspear hills, that would be out of the dungeon, everyone invisible. Only orcs can interrupt rest.

Yes, I think in my prior runs with warriors, I've undervalued AC-reducing potions and critical strikes. Still, I'd feel more comfortable with the Fighter-Mage, even if he's only hitting 25% of the time, because he can comfortably last more than 4 times as long :-) Good luck!

RB and Barbarian are good,the only weakness is they can't wear armor,it means they are lack of magical energy resistance(compared to vargrant,berserker and Valygar),so it might take you a little trouble in EDE.



Switch Cernd to another warrior,or switch R7C to R/C multi will make your party more powerful.

FM is less powerful in a 6 member party compared to solo because of his poor thac0 and mage level growth.Anyway,he will eventually become a qualified warrior in late game.

Please, spare me (and other) in the future this kind of sentence. You are no judge, you are no expert, neither am I, no need to have this kind of speech, at least here in this thread. Please respect that.


No IH scroll as far as I know before slavers, I only had IH native from RB



If I ever Reach EDE, I am quite confident I will make it through (RB wearing RIngs +4 or Gaxx have quite decent saves, barbarian with dragon lord, R->C with boots of IH and ring of free action can IMHO get Prince in trouble)



Interesting what you say about R/C multi, because you are not the only one to point that it could compete or be Superior to a dual R->C and I could never manage to use a multi R/C properly..
Maybe style of playing matters a lot as well as party composition.

Cernd is a good healer,so I think no need to bring R7C…If there is no Cernd in party,R7C is no doubt a better choice than R/C multi.

As a healer, I agree Cernd is good (after all, when I had a party of 4 he was the only healer ), but he has (for me) 2 big drawbacks:
- no greater Restoration (this spell is really the best, nearly OP)
- gains Natural restoral very late... and has just 3 max

Updated journal (on first post)

End of chapter 3 is near, so far so good no reload. Closest issues have been Suna Seni ambush, which I did not anticipate at all in wilderness (ambush it was ) and the skeleton lord who spawned during a rest in firkraag dungeon.

Ioun stones protect just fine. If you don't believe me, remove them and re-do the fight again. Average golem damage on Insane is around 120. If you remove the Ioun stones, it will be one hit kill (or maybe even chunk) for the Riskbreakers.

Another good (though rare) potion for the Riskbreakers is potion of Fortitude.

After R-C reaches clerical level of 14+, I prefer casting Aid instead of Bless on fighters. Reasons: Lasts longer, gives a bit of HP boost.

I believe you, it's just that I was (and still are) suprised at the coin/gem golem damage output
(since what I wrote in journal, I put feedback on and saw message "critical hit averted by helmet" when blow landed on RB)
Will edit journal, it might mislead other people.



I agree, I generally use them early, hp boost is significant
Once RB have IH, oils of resurgence are IMHO a very nice (expensive but abundant) potion to use for "damage mitigation", taking care to drink at least two.


Drawback of aid vs bless is that it targets a single creature
I use it (Aid) mostly when I am in a fight where only one or two chars are exposed (and not entire party) and its longer duration shows profit (typical example dracolich, II+SI:Div enemies....)

Six star proficiency? Cheater

You don't plan to swap in our out the enhanced edition npcs. There is some nifty gear and easy xp to be had in those quests; i would consider it (to be brutally honest i am doing that right now in my game?).

Any reason why both riskbreakers will have proficiency points into short sword?

Any resolution on party member six? I might have overlooked it.

I would go for umar next.


Edit: nice going! I think v5 noreload is tougher than v6. The new summons make for a huge improvement. I only managed it once with a vagrant but that was on core only and i skipped some parts that i was not confident about.

Actually, v5 noreload is way easier than a v6 one, since a solo char can do it without too much trouble. V6 enemies have some nasty abilities and also quite a lot of classes and items were nerfed. Still, if we're talking about a Necro PC, you're probably right, it's as easy as a v5 noreload.

As for short sword proficiencies, it's either that or dagger for the Riskbreakers. Daggers not only have lesser damage output, but also shorter range, and often a char with a dagger will make a lot of strange maneuvers in order to be able to reach his target in melee (if able at all).

In that line of thought, melee weapons should be divided (by their reach) in 3 groups: short weapons (daggers), medium-range weapons (all except daggers and polearms, excluding Crom Faeyr/Hammer of Thor, but including Ixil's spear), and long-range weapons (all polearms except for Ixil's spear, and also Crom Faeyr/Hammer of Thor). BTW haven't tested other spears, probably they all will be in the medium-range category, which is strange. Crom main-hand will also give the off-hand weapon long reach (basically, the main hand weapon determines overall weapon reach).

yes I confess! (will correct this sometimes)





I "used" Neera and Rashad quests, could not find Hexxat beginning of game, nor Dorn (this one I never did his quest)



Main reason is Sendai pet



Imoen



I will probably (if I do something), after thinking of it Samia is not at all a good choice (no reload Wise)



Thanks a lot, about V5 noreload, I never did try once (this is my first no reload attempt ever), but your argument is quite valid IMO (summons) to say V5 noreload is harder than V6
I would also add Riskbreaker and Recast Vital energy for V6 being easier to no reload than V5

Ah interesting notes on weapon range. After playing ia for a dozen times i never considered that.

In v6 i have a dedicated summoner and it just adds a lot more versatility than before. Creatures may have new abilities but if you can keep them occupied they matter little. But... truthfully i dont know about insane so maybe you are right krell.

Strong party nicoper. I am curious how you will continue.

Updated first post

Finished chapter 4

So far biggest reload danger has been Crystal shard (amber golems..) by far

For the moment, as I suspected, patience and experience are key to avoid reload.

Edit: One big enemy with EE, very likely to earn me a reload sometime soon: pathfinding!!!! (disastrous)

Ilbratha's Mirror Image helps against Amber Golems, if only for a bit. A good summon against them are Mordy Swords backed up with healing spells (mass cure), those give warriors plenty of time to recuperate. Also, Amber Golems can be Slowed or Webbed after lowering their resistance (bringing scrolls of Lower Resistance is a good idea, because 5th level slots just won't be enough).

More powerful summons buffed with Death Ward won't die from 1 Mithril golem hit. Salamanders, Minotaurs and Anacondas of course. The golem indeed has a script which dispels specific and combat protecions, however this will only dispel party's protections, and not summons'. Mass Invisibility also has its uses for buffing both the party and the summons, then even Invulnerability potions + other protective buffs like Blur and a couple of girdles of Bluntness can be an effective defense against the Mithril golem. Especially if you lower his resistance, doom and slow him down. Also, I didn't try, but probably he can be webbed as well.

For mordy, I know, but I preferred to pick salamanders first (protected some of them from electricity)



This I don't use (consider it cheat), don't mind at all if other use them.



Mass invisibility, for AC and saves bonus is really good, I seriously consider taking it for Imoen
For mithril fight, even if I added mass invisibility, don't think it would make a huge difference, golem seems to have a very low Thac0



Same as before, don't use those methods

I bet this is an intense run nicoper!

I haven't made it to any really tough enemies in EE so I'm eager to see what you're talking about there. I'm about to go to Spell Hold. And I've learned pathfinding does suck in this version. And in my game Remove Magic does not dispel Mirror Image at all! I thought it was just having trouble getting through SI:Div but a mage with no defenses up still doesn't get his MI removed by my RM.

Are you looking forward to Greater Elemental Golems?!?! Stoneskins are so crucial on Insane. But so is damage output, so I guess pick your poison here - RB or F>M. Good luck sir!

Hideous, could you please tell me how does Dispel Magic behave in your game in that regard? I am investigating the issue right now and therefore really curious.

Dispel Magic won't remove MI either. I cast it with my B>C since my 2 Sorcerors only have Remove Magic. And the mage I cast it on had no protections up.

Yes it is!



Pathfinding is hell, and very often party chars get stuck (like if their "circles" were magnetized with each other), Think for the future I will stick to vanilla (until beamdog eventually solves bug). This is really bad since nice items and tweaks made for new NPCs.
Remove magic does not dispel MI, MI does not protect anymore from ADHW (and some other spells)...


Well, I hope hardiness, CBS and RD (and buffs, regen) will help cope with Greater Elemental golems, but my first meeting with an elemental in underdark makes me wonder...
Good point is that my aim to have power to destroy enemies fast seems to come to fullfilment (elemental did big damage, RD saved both my RB, but elemental was dead long before second purge)
Stoneskins I have R->C to stand in front

I will not finish without reloading, that is sure, but (hopefully) I will at least have tried once to make an insane run with as few reloads as possible. My only (small) motivation is to try this without rehearsal with a shadow party.

Insane no-reload is not my greatest enjoyment, I much prefer having a run with a weird party on core and I definitly think (apply this to me, make no claim to convince anyone) it is much harder (and fun) to discover how to win fights with such parties than repeating many attempts to find a perfect way to win on insane (with or without using cheats and cheese).

Updated journal

It is alas a no-reload no more, I had one reload, don't spoil where (will make a sum up of all reloads at the end of this journal when I finish it, with details)
Of course I judge this reload silly and avoidable , but reload it was, only thing I can say (to tease those who are interestd with this uninteresting fact) It has nothing to do with insane (at all!).


good reading

Don't pick pocket items. Stealing is bad m'kay?

Stealing is not that bad (if you have patience), but very limited cash from it (IMO)
I once did a run with 2 thieves (Swash and assassin), one had high pickpocket skills, pickpocketed nearly all I could do and apart from 3-4 good picks (some 300-900 gp IIRC) nothing worth (apart quantity)
Here I don't pickpocket to avoid hostile behaviour

You can still get any item you want. Dominate the one you want to pickpocket, summon something powerful (like an Elite Troll), attack the summon (summon turns hostile), cast Invisibility, watch. The summon will kill the dominated NPC and you will get all of its items, even the non-pickpocketable ones like full plates. There is actually quite a lot of money that can be obtained this way, although naturally you won't get any xp. This tactic is much safer than a pickpocketing attempt, which (if unsuccessful) will turn everyone in the area hostile (not to mention the reputation loss).

There also are non-joinable NPCs that can be killed without any reputation loss for both xp and gold, like all of the clerics and paladins inside the temples in the Temple District.

The only ones which you may want to skip are the harpers from Xzar's quest, since after that Jaheira will turn hostile and her quest will be unavailable.

As far as I remember, in v6 there is almost nothing rare to loot from NPCs save from a couple of Frost and Fire Giant potions, so unless you need money badly, you don't have to do pickpocketing.

Edit: Ribald has a Ring of Regeneration, but it cannot be used as ingredient. Still worth 1200 gp when sold though.

You won't get the ones that are undroppable, though.

Haha. So serious. I was just guessing why he might have reloaded . I know picking pockets can be nice income. I do it often

Did you get hit with a Finger of Death or PW:Kill? I always try to keep Death Ward or SI:Necromancy active but it doesn't always work out that way.

OK I spoil it, you are very close (though for enemies which cast FoD, PWkill or Imprisonment I always take appropriate measures):
R->C was hit by a disintegrate from wyvern cultists in Tethyr forest!
This is a group I not always fight, did not remember this, and paid it cash (with minimum buffing, saves or DW if paranoid, this would never happen)
The horrible thing was that I activated button (EE specific) that shows loot automatically on screen (so that it can be picked without moving around), and during the fight I saw a potion case and a scroll case suddenly appearing in it, and my mind couldn't cope with what it meant.....

I noticed that a lot of mages cast Disintegrate in EE. That sucks, you made it really far though...good work!

The serious fights haven't even begun yet though. And despite what some may think, it's very, very hard to win all improved (and non-improved) fights without losing (chunk) even one NPC on Insane. The slightest mistake may cause a restart, and no offense, but so far nicoper made quite a lot of those (looking at the description of his fights). It was just a matter of time for his luck to fail. The most important thing any no-reload player should to is to eliminate the luck factor included in all fights. If he\she keeps taking unnecessary risks, no matter how small they may seem, then failure is the only logical thing that will happen.

Thanks for hindsight, I mistakenly thought some were even VERY serious . Namely: suna unexpected, shadow dragon, screaming statues, shade lord, Umar chapter 3, Crystal shard, mithril golem, Bodhi chapter 6 (early), Illithid compound, Teshal....
Let me know which fights you consider serious so that I pay attention to record how they went and we can exchange later on on those.




I am not among those who think it's easy not to be chunk on insane, in fact (but you are welcome not to agree with me) I even built a party taking into account I should try my best to mitigate this when picking chars.
Of course, I also tried to take into account the way I am at best ease to handle fights in IA (which may and do differ from other players way, but does not mean IMO one way is better than another)



No offense taken, but apart Suna (and I did not expect her on wilderness) and Umar (one char away when I messed with CC 3*ADHW timing) I don't think luck had a part in it, and I never started a fight relying on luck.
I thought tactic definition also includes the capacity to adapt to fight circumstances, don't you agree?
For the fight where I reloaded, I don't blame luck, I just blame myself for 1) not having respected the principle (written in first post) to never neglect buff before any fight 2) not having systematically fought cultists in my previous runs so that I remembered disintegrate was used there (which as said in some post above is after all a frequent spell used by mages in IA).
I did not kept count of all PWKILL, disintegrate, improsonment, FoD... I escaped unarmed since I begun this run, which adds to frustration for this reload.
Hope next one will be more "glorious"

However, I'm open to discuss about luck. I would just say you cannot blame bad luck for repeated failure, neither can you put repeated success on simple luck factor, don't you agree?

Eliminating 100% luck factor (luck being save results, hit results, spell results,...) can IMO only be achieved only through repeating an already validated sequence for each fight. Already validated does not mean no-reload for me.

Maybe if you (Krell) were starting a no-reload run with a party like mine and make a journal of it, we could better appreciate (myself at least) your comments.

OK, so R-C is disintegrated... why not pick up an NPC and keep going? If you put Cernd in your 6th character slot, you'll have most of your divine spell needs covered. So you have some flexibility in replacing the R-C. If you pick a non-caster, I think you can even ensure you'll never face a Greater Silence against dragons and such. So someone like Korgan might work well. Valygar too could be a nice choice as well. They'll be a bit behind in terms of development, but they'll get most of their offensive capabilities by level 20 anyways.

This is actually a curious idea. In JA2 community (an old-school tactical turn-based strategy which like BG2 still has huge popularity, thanks to devs who at a certain point released the source code to the gamers who've made a whole new experience of it), people like to play no-reload too ("iron man" in game terms). The game presents a huge pool of mercenaries you can hire, and if someone dies, people hire another one and move on. Of course, the game is better suited for that sort of action, but still.

Whenever I run a noreload (no way I will do it on ia), I go through numerous assortments of npc combinations because they keep dying on mee by disintegration, chunking, flying icecubes, imprisonment (with no freedom around) etc. you never know what you are going to get. This is the charm of noreload. Embrace it

Actually, only thing I considered was to keep going on with one less Char (level-up faster do pay a lot, remeber that from my run with party of 4), even my healer. On core, for sure (even no reload Wise) would have done this, on insane, at the moment it happene, considered this impossible.
ButI don't say if I have another reload later I won't do that (all the more if Necro already has RVE )

Cernd would have been ~2 Mxp behind, too much for me to cope with, but your idea (or Valygar as you mentioned) is sound IMO

Twisted Rune, Red Globe Challenges, Supreme Leader, Ancient Dragon, fights against Hardwood golems in chapter 7, Firkraag, Saladrex, Yaga-Shura, the Oasis, and naturally the EDE.

EDE you can not win in a no-reload insane game unless you've tested extensively first. Probably valid for other fights too. Even Draconis, Abazigal and Sendai may cause a reload, if you mess things up even with a single spell.

You actually won some serious fights - all fights vs golems without Hardiness are serious on Insane. Suna Seni, however, is not.




No, I actually don't agree. You had luck quite a lot of times because of poor planning ahead and risked chunking warriors on several occasions. The fact that they died instead of being chunked is a great luck, which you don't appreciate. It was bound for chunking to happen one way or another. BTW you can live without a R/C at present. Other chars will at least level up faster. Still, it would be far better if the (IMO) useless Barbarian died instead. To summarize, first you need extensive planning and a good knowledge of a 100% winning strategy. Thinking on your feet and adapting (a bit) in the combat comes after that.




No-reload challenge means one thing: Run the game from the beginning to the end without reloading because of character death, chunk or unfavorable game conditions (losing a fight). This doesn't say anything for previous test runs, of which you also have quite a lot, so in your own terms, your game wasn't a no-reload either from the very beginning since you had knowledge of IA enemies and you had developed your own relatively successful tactics vs them.



Here is the final fight of an already won successful no-reload attempt several years ago. If you want to, look through the entire topic for more details.
At the moment, I am in the middle of another no-reload with a solo Kensai-Mage, it's possible when I finish it I will pick a party just like yours for a no-reload run, without exploits, but will most likely cut the Barbarian. The easiest possible no-reload run is with a Necro PC and 2 Riskbreakers. It's way harder with another protagonist, even a mighty Vagrant.

Changing your mind?

Twisted Rune, Red Globe Challenges, Firkraag, Saladrex, Yaga-Shura : prejudice I have is those will be OK (at the time I choose to fight them that is)
fights against Hardwood golems in chapter 7: First one (with dragon) I am confident, second with Jon, much less (close quarter and 4 instead of 3 hardwood is bad)
Ancient Dragon: May be I will be shamed, but I think he has no chance at all
Supreme Leader, the Oasis, and naturally the EDE: OK those ones are definitely serious (My personal fear is Supreme Leader)
I would also add Second travel to plane (Balors!!!!) on my personnal list of serious fights, this one can be skipped though (I will not skip it)



Just for your information, I have not been chunked (yet), only disintegrated !
Why do you consider my planning so poor and my luck so great? (OK, had you made a positive comment on this, I would have believed your account at BWL to be hacked )

Don't be mistaken though, most often my chars went down next to "non potentially chunking" attacks (poison, PWKILL, AA, FA, MMM, ADHW, vengeance storm...) the (very few) times 1 char went down next to a blow (which can be chunk case I agree), I honestly think luck was not on my side (comes to mind RB who was downed while figting shade lord and skeleton lords, 3 critical hit from enemy nearly at the same moment, no time to move away or drink a potion, and only solution for enemy to reach my RB, some -24 AC against slashing IIRC...)
This to say, consider it poor planning as you wish, but relying on luck it was not.

(Barbarian is not useless, how can you say that? )

Second travel to the Demon Plane is actually an easy fight, provided you did some serious planning in leveling up beforehand. You simply need an effective Remove Magic. Even if you don't have it, PC should be able to fire several quick Breaches the first round, then it's up to the warriors to finish the job. Naturally, you should also start the fight under Mass Invisibility and Alacrity, and Spell Turning for PC to avoid FoD contingencies. And yeah, that fight is useless since there is no one of worth in your party to be able to use the Scarlet Ioun Stone.

The Barbarian means less xp for everyone else, and he is not essential. Mostly because he has too few APR. Early game can be somewhat useful, but frankly, it's better to have a temporary second R-C if you so want a temporary NPC for the tougher early fights (especially against backstabbers or vampires). Late-game cannot compare to a Riskbreaker, since in almost all important cases RB will have 65% physical resistances compared to only 60% of the Barbarian, also the Barb has far lower damage output. Not a bad char, simply slows down your entire party progression.

Having 3 criticals in a row from an enemy who has a chance of roll 17 or higher to inflict one (as I believe all Skeleton Grandlords do) is not something unexpected, on the contrary, things like that should be planned. If you don't plan for things like 2-3 or even more critical misses or enemy critical hits in a crucial moment, then revise your planning strategy. It may not happen often, but one time is more than enough to end your noreload.

Updated first post

For the moment, really satisfied with this party, it has capacity to resist and a really good capacity to destroy!

Wondering what next:(protag level 21, 4.9 Mxp)

In WK next step is Demon knight room (after thiefling room) for which I have no "waterproof" idea right now
In city:
- fight for Pasha in sphere
- hard nut part 2
- Orcus
- Twisted Rune

In wilderness (when I get Messenger) Lord Roenall fight (this I would choose as next step)
Lady Vania did not show yet (otherwise I would rush to windspear to slaughter assassin then snakes)

Or chapter 7...

I think you have to finish stronghold quests before chapter 7 starts otherwise the messengers won't show up and you will be stuck.

Quite impressive, keep going!

Strongholds before chapter 7. At that point you don't want to turn back but get to tob asap

@bulian and @iroumen: You are right, will finish stronghold first

Updated first post

Trigger chapter 7
End of SOA is near, Remain some big fights (Orcus, Twisted Rune, Nizi, harpist house, second travel to plane and of course tree of life)

Finished SoA

Another reload (described)
put a tag july 2nd in first post before new edit


My protag is just above 6Mxp (level 23 Necro), a bit less than my usual runs, gear is good but not OP (no ring +4 everywhere, if I could I would, but not enough gold, far from it)
Wonder why some use exploits to reach xp caps early in the game or have infinite gold and call insane run a challenge, but that's just me.

That's the main reason why I said that a Barbarian is obsolete. He is:

A) waste of a lot of resources (gold) to equip
not a very essential warrior
C) xp-downfall for the entire party
D) prevents you from getting more gold, items and xp from temporarily-joinable NPCs and completing their NPC quests

At the same time, a Necro can definitely reach level 30 before the Second travel to the Demon Plane fight, by simply draining each and every enemy out of summons (be it Elemental Golem, Greater Elemental Golem, Ghost Spider, Noble Marilith or Noble Rakshasa) and also temporarily killing a few or more party members in order to get more xp from relatively easier fights.

There is also quite a lot of experience from neutral NPCs, many of those can be killed with no reputation loss, but after a certain point (killing all cowled wizards, completing all quests in Athkatla, buying every item you might need from shops) reputation means very little and you can hack&slash anyone still alive you want (who gives xp, otherwise kinda meaningless)

If you did these things and also looted the entire Athkatla in chapter 6 (there are a lot of plates and free xp in the Temple District for example, also those Shadow thieves really deserve a lesson, Drizzt too - twice) you could've equipped everyone with a +4 and +2 ring and at the same time have enough xp for a successful Remove Magic on balors. BTW, Secret Word should not work against them, check again.

At the time you face the Lesser force, if you don't have enough levels for maxed saving throws (I think it was 25, not sure, yours were lower) and optimal items, then the mages have a chance to fail their saves, however if you leveled them properly and equipped them with top gear (that includes SoTM for the sorcerer for 2 additional saves), and have Foreknowledge running on them, then they won't fail a single save the first time, afterwards you simply need to keep them away from the fight and buff their saves a bit (Stone Form potions, Improved Invisibility, etc).

Necro being surrounded and killed by puny Grandlords is another example of poor planning ahead.

Troubles with Jon on the Tree of Life with a OP party like yours is another such example. Divide and conquer tactic is very easy to apply, simply give Jon a couple of powerful summons to play with (Greater Djinni, Skeleton Lord) while you battle his Hardwood golems at a safe distance. Also, it's not Tenser's, Giant Strength or Improved Haste (why that?) on your Necromancer PC which increase his damage, but Polymorph to Spider + Shocking Grasp. The latter actually gives you four (instead of one) APR, which really makes the difference. Also 123 hp and 85% temporary crushing damage against golems? Funny. Even if it was enough by itself (and it's not) you wish your buffs to be dispelled so that Jon can kill your PC with a random damaging spell? It's a miracle no one was chunked in the Tree fight as well.

Krell, I am fed up with your ludicrous patronizing columnist behaviour
I have tried to be patient and civilized, but your only talent I recognize is to have brought that patience to an end.

Here my answer to your (I hope and would like to be respected) last post in this thread:

You should stop writing false information on IA out of your ignorance of the mod, just 3 examples of false informations you have written in this thread:
- you spoke about skeleton grandlords for shade lord fight, it is skeleton lords
- for balors in second travel to plane, they start with GOI/Spell turning/ stoneskin/.., so a secret word removes ST and a breach stoneskin. Later in fight they trigger spell shield/pfmw/... so your comment on this is obsolete and misleading
- you said in some earlier post "no one in my party was worth ioun stone gained from lesser force", since it's a Necro specific stone, that proves the extent of your IA knowledge.

Your type of play if full of cheat/cheese/exploit, mine is not, how can you not print that in your mind once and for all?
Do you realize you are the only one around trying to bend other to his own playstyle? Do you think this is a relevant attitude between adults playing to a game?



No sir, without exploit, make the calculation, no way a 6 party can reach those levels, I don't even comment the levels you should have to milk some of those enemies (even a ghost early game is not easy without first using another exploit before to gain levels)
Your agument does not stand, you just try to hide the many exploits you use and proudly describe in your posts (infinite troll killing,...) behind a false claim to gain those level in a more heroic way like milking an enemy which is a dire threat for party.

Anyway I don't give a damn about this, the only purpose of my run is to test a "IA gameplay as intended by designers" insane minimum reload run (tried no, but no it is no more)
Let people who are interested with this judge and comment.

Necro was not killed, read again my post, I spoke of one reload, it was lesser force that killed Necro.
Grandlords are puny while some post ago they were tremendous foes? some glitch of coherence, again?


Which trouble?
So my party according to the beginning of your post is shit, now it is overpowered? hard to follow your point.
where is the miracle? couldn't you at least try what I did before talking about miracle?

Hey wise guy, what did you think my summons were for?


APR with polymorphing into spider and use a BG2 bug on goul touch (IIRC your previous bragging) that's cheat.
Necro with golem slayer and 2 APR under IH deals damage. Since golem slayer is an IA item dedicated to mage, and an emphasy has been put in IA on Necro, I took the liberty to figure it was something to use in a normal run (and I used it a lot). If you think this risky or idiotic, feel free to, who cares?



So having a barbarian is obsolete, killing passer by, party members, using cheat or exploit is not? you definitely have no coherence of mind at all.

So now, please keep of that thread
If you want to discuss your brilliant ideas with people interested with them and your type of play, please do this somewhere else. Open a thread on your own and stop polluting mine (and others as you did and might do) with your nonsense. I wish you to find there a big audience eager to be taught your precious strategies and tactics and learn proper and decent planning and preparation.

Understand that each time you comment a run from whoever it is (and you do that wherever someone writes about IA) it is to say something negative, and each time you are wrong because players achieve what thay wanted to the way they wanted to.
Instead of proving your skills, what you write in fact prove others have much better skills than you since they can make it using (according to you) poor parties, bad tactics, bad preparation, poor planning...

I don't mind, I don't care in fact whatever negative comments you may make on my way of playing, just do it somewhere else.
Here I just put a journal, I would be pleased to discuss (and have criticism) from anyone but you.

To be fair, the encounter reacts to party level and introduces Skeleton Grandlords if the party is more powerful than expected (i.e., higher than 13th level).


I think it is possible to use the stone by someone with UAI but that hardly qualifies a phrase "no one in my party", indeed.

The rest of what was said by Nico, however, I'll agree upon. I would love to see a complete journal of an insane no-reload run by a six-team party that does not use any infinited XP or gold exploits, or similar garbage, and with tactics that are 100%-foolproof and sound, and could be reproduced by someone with limited tactical skills (me, for example). Otherwise, it's hard to perceive these comments as something other than a report of possible exploits (many of which I don't even intend to fix, because it's sad that someone actually wastes hours of time using those; I won't spend mine on closing them).