[Finished] Icewind Dale no magic items challenge run

[O_Bruce]

The Allmighty Trio and the Wyrm's Tooth

Let's start from the good things about this place: it is pretty cool (no pun intended) vibe/lore wise. The frozen museum, aside from the really neat visuals, has interesting lore tied to a dwarven god and the architect who insisted on building the temple-museum here, instead in the lower Dorn Deep. Also, the Wym's Tooth may or may be not named after a great dragon that died and became part of Joril's caves.*

That's it for the good things. Unfortunately, at this point usually the game starts to become monotonous and repetitive, and with my current challenge room, that repetivenes is joined with pure tedium. Because normally, wast majority of enemy encounters there are uninspired, they are just standing on the map and attack your party when they're in view, and that's it. Nothing interesting for the most part. With my party item limitations, I have 3 characters that are weaker than they should be due to not using any magical items, which they have found plenty useful ones through their career. So, fights are monotonus, repetitive and I have to spend more time on mending wounds between fights with excessive amount of healing potions - because what else can I buy with all the money from magic items that were sold?

So please excuse me, as I will mostly rush describing this part of the game.

1. I fought my way through the area to return to Kuldahar and sell items/restock with potions.
2. I have done everything there was to do within frozen museum, and killed ice salamanders, took a badge from Kerish (turns out the salamanders aren't immune to normal weapons, so I used up Enchanted Weapons for nothing), freed the slaves, informed Vera about it and learned how to fix the destroyed bridge.

Also, what's the point of a warm room in the northern-west corner of the museum? It serves and does nothing to ice salamanders, even if the game directly tells you taht warm places make it impossible for ice salamanders to live in (hence the slaves are safe). I would have expected the room to serve some funciton, maybe to weaken she salamanders, but no. It doesn't even negate their ice auras.

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(There's even a piece of visual storytelling here, with ice salamander lying dead just before the room!)

3. Frost Giants in the cave were mostly dealt with summons serving as a shield, as pre-buffed party takes them out from the distance. Because of an accident, I started ocassionally to take advantage of the bridge outside of caverns, due to tedium I was experiencing. Joril was however defeated in straight-up battle. It wasn't very memorable though. I got his badge, and that's what matters (this sounds like he's a gym leader in Pokemon game or something).

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4. I've also dealt with small wyrms. They were not interesting at all, just another enemies that walk up to you and hit really hard. Functionally, there's not much difference between them and frost giants - they are both powerful up close and require buffs on party, summons to distract them, debuffs on them and plenty of healing for mostly Dabb.

5. Clearing of eastern part of caverns for Gavin went well and I actually liked the initial yeti ambush, since they targeted Lim also, and so needed special attention.

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6. After dealing with yetis and trolls, the last thing to do was Kontik and her knights. This is the only interesting encounter in the whole chapter and most difficult fight at that.

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Despite mix of elemetals and monster summoning as a way of distraction, the buffed up Allmighty Trio only managed to take out one out of 4 or 5 knights. Kontik was hurt, but not slain, and Dabb had several knights attacking him. A bit of a tactical retreat was needed, then distraciton with demi-shadow monsters, so that the party could run away and regroup. Not wanting to just go to rest, I used some "unfair" tactics, like web off screen and ranged attacks, traps, luring out the knights one by one and kiting them. It wasn't pretty, but at that point, I didn't care.

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Kontik was last, she couldn't do much by herself

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7. After looting the place (and finding some level 6 arcane scrolls, like Chain Lightning, as well as pure water), the party went back to the civilization to sell and restock once more, before getting back, preparing themselves for Lower Dorn's Deep.

*Given how huge the skeleton of the wyrm is (is this actually lore-accurate in DnD?), I wonder why Tarrasque is supposed to be an ultimate beast in Dungeon and Dragons, and not an ancient and oversized dragon of sorts - after all, its in my opinion fitting for an actual dragon to be an ultimate challenge for, well, Dungeon and Dragons.

 

[JustKneller]

That's it for the good things. Unfortunately, at this point usually the game starts to become monotonous and repetitive, and with my current challenge room, that repetivenes is joined with pure tedium. Because normally, wast majority of enemy encounters there are uninspired, they are just standing on the map and attack your party when they're in view, and that's it.

I agree with this. Don't get me wrong, IWD is my favorite IE game and the one I've replayed through more than any other, but it can be tough to avoid getting to a point where every party feels like a min-max party and you're not just steamrolling through everything. I was just about to post something similar with my 3d6 down the line party.

 

[O_Bruce]

The Allmighty Trio and the Lower Dorn's Deep

I had a very "smart" and devious plan on how to tackle the beginning of the Lower Dorn's Deep. I wanted to secure the tower, and then rush to liberate the priests deeper in the palace. This way, I could have swift access to safe rest place, easy healing and could get rid of Voice of Durdel Anatha (who will be otherwise a re-spawning nuesance that requires +1 weapon to be hit). To this end, I cast Invisibility on each of the gnomes to sneak towards the tower first. Did it work out?

Of course not. The bronze sentries see through invisibility and require +1 weapons to hit. Not only that, they hit often, quite hard and they also draw out nearby enemies (salamanders). So my initial plan failed multiple times, and I concluded I had no other way to proceed than with difficult battle that required rest afterwards.

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After resting, I have managed to get into a tower, and the clever use of invisibility and debuffing spells earned me an easy victory (slowed archers made for an easy targets) and a place for rest. There will be plenty of resting in Lower Dorn's Deep, as lack of magic items on my party hurts in this place, for most of the time at least.

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(Fengla congratulates me, even though she died from fire salamander's aura before. It's so nice of her to raise from dead just to lift my spirit up)

Resting once again, the party had a skirmish with Seth's thieves (they turn out to not be as much of a big deal as I thought), before heading out into the palace. The Voice of Durdel Anatha was a pain in the arse, but after dealing with it, the Allmighty Trio cleared out the main chamber, before heading out towards priests chambers. There, my first ever use of the spell Repulse Undead happened, to give Dabb and Hina some space to breathe. They were hasted by Lim, and rushed to destroy the artifact used to control both the undead and the priests. Once it was destroyed, the party got access to free heals every time they visit here. And of course, Brother Perdiem gave the gnomes his badge just like every good gym leader should.

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Next, the party decided to tackle the mines. I don't think that was good decision, this area would be much easier, had it was left for last. It doesn't offer the Allmighty Trio any advantages in dealing with the rest of Dorn's Deep, while the other areas do offer something to help. Of course, the very first thing that happened in the mines was facing the leader of fire salamanders. It wasn't exactly a pleasant battle, as the damage from multiple auras stacked up, and I was too stubborn to use resist fire potions. For what reasons, I don't know.

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Thanks to me slayting Shikata, the deep gnomes working in the mine were liberated. The next area consisted of elementals, fire giants, some more fire salamanders, and Maiden Ilmadia. Dabb talked tough to the first giant guard, who somehow was impressed enough to not turn hostile. That enabled the Allmighty Trio to took care of all hostile creatures in the area, before attacking fire giants, thus resulting in a grand battle. And it was a very difficult one at that: with all summons, buffs and debuffs on enemies, as well as some kiting, I was really concerned I will be out of options and will have to reload. Thankfully, due to frantic need of keeping Lim safe from fire giant at some point, I have discovered an unfair and cheesy tactics.

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Lim could just stand, while invisible, in the middle of a bridge and prevent fire giants from crossing it. Which meant a free win for Dabb and Hina, who used ranged weapons. This was result of a challenge run and pure desperation. Ilmadia's badge was ours.

Healed and rested, the party arrived at the second level of the palace next. Dabb's casts of True Sight helped the buffed party in dealing with Seth's thieves. Speaking of thievery, Dabb intimidated the chef in the kitchen and stole a sack of potatoes - once can never tell what's going on in that empty head of his. Anyways, the True Sight wore off at some point, enabling me to register a most shameful backstab I have ever seen in the Infinity Engine game:

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Congratulations of dealing 3 damage! It's as little as it can get with x3 modifier!

It was more-or-less at this point when Dabb received access to level 6 priests spells. Time to fight Marketh and his bodyguards. Hina made sure to lay some traps, while Lim summoned some elementals, and Dabb buffed himself and Hina with free action. This battle usually makes me worry, but it turns out, it is mostly on Insane difficulty. Here, on core, it worked out fine for me.

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Dabb and Hina got rid of Marketh swifly, before Hina retreaded, and Dabb cast Holy Smite on approaching enemies. At the same time, elementals were deling with enemy mage (fire elemental was hitting him through his stone skin). Seth failed to prevent Lim from casting Web, which was crucial for dealing with enemy fighters. Overall, the battle went my way, and with great satisfation I have obtained Marketh's badge.

Being in posession of sack of potatoes, the Allmighty Trio could help out some deep gnomes, gaining access to new areas and facing some Rhino Beetles and Uber Hulks. The quest-related Uber-Hulk encounter required me to use summons and debuffs wisely: namely, I wanted to impede and slow as many Uber Hulks as possible at once, without getting overwhelmed first. I had no idea that in this game, the hulks were immune to effect of a Web. But Dabb's Greater Command worked out just fine.

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I really like how Uber Hulks look like in Icewind Dale, way more badass than round some-things in Baldur's Gate 2.

Dealing with those monsters got me access to the hidden camp. There, Lim purchased some small animals and many scrolls from Nym, the worthless drow bastard that he is, before purchasing 1 uber hulk plate armor from "Dirty Llew", getting other one made from the shell, and also commisisoning a shield made from the rhino beetle. Before deciding to pay Malavon a beating visit, the party went back all the way to the Severed Hand, to restore as much of arboterum as they could (only seeds were missing) for a huge amount of XP, resulting in actual level ups. I figured I'd need as much power as I can have before fighting the drow sorcerer.

I also went back to take a Rhino Beetle shield from Llew. The new plate armors from Uber Hulks were upgrade over normal plate armors in two ways. First, additional +1 AC, and two, the bonus against slashing damage went from 3 to 4. Meaning the armor has a base AC of 2, and -2 against slashing weapons. So, nice. And the Rhino Beetle shield is just a tower shield that is lighter to use.

It is at this point that I realized a mistake I was made with Hina this whole playthrough. She always wore a studded leather armor, which was not needed in every situation. What I should have done was to change her armor between studded leather and plate,depending on the circumstances. When her thievery abillities (aside from search) were needed, she should wear studded leather armor. Otherwise, she would wear a plate armor, because there was no good reason not to do that, aside from role-playing, but that's not focus of this playthrough.

Anyways, Malavon. The party rested, with new spells prepared. With the game ending being closer and closer, I decided to not be stingy with my potions, and buffed my team considerably. With potion of speed, fire giant strength, potions of clarity and some others. And spells, let's not forget spells. This allowed me to clear the Artisian District swiftly. Then, I the party entered Malavon's estate, and while confronting his simulatrum, Lim uttered two words she read from the golem manuals: the two iron golems turned against their master.

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Then, real Malavon appeared and let's not sugar coat it - the battle was disappointing. Dabb had Dispel Magic prepared and immediately cast it in the drow's general direction. This utterly negated his pre-buffed spells, and had that somehow failed, Lim was already casting Summon Nishruu (a spell she bought from Nym). The drow mage didn't last long after that.

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Malavon badge was obtained, the place was looted, more spells were scribbled by Lim (and some, like Chain Contigency, were kept) and seeds that could grow anywhere were relocated to the arboretum in the Severed Hand, gaining the party even more experience points. Before going back to Dorn's Keep to finish their adventure, the Allmighty Trio decided to look at the marvel of restored arboretum for a while:

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[O_Bruce]

Let's wrap up this playthrough!

The preparation to fight Poquelin went in a very similart fashion to Malavon: potions of strength, speed etc, mixed with some support magic from Dabb and Lim. Enchaned Weapon was still in use, since I am not sure if in his human form, Poquelin is immune to normal weapons or not. If someone like Lysan was, then why wouldn't he?

With all of that, the so-called Revered Brother didn't last long, until the Crystal Shard forced his retreat.

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Return to the Easthaven always feels so sad, with its leitmotif now playing slower and more melancholic among the ruins of the small town, as cyclops roam around. Speaking of cyclops, they weren't difficult to deal with for my party, as their extremely slow movement speed made combat at range very efficient and safe. The Allmighty Trio met with Jhonen, found out where the rest of the townsfolk was contained and that they should search for Everard in there. Jhonen also gave the party a newly refroged sword that belonged to his ancestor, to help them in defeating evil of Poquelin. Of course, my group of gnomes can't use this item .

On their way to Everard, the gnomes decided to help out old Jed.

Some more Cyclops later, Everard has shown the Allmighty Trio how to enter the Crystal Tower and I think it has a neat lore detail in there.

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Crossed hands and blood upon the wrists... and it just so happens that when Poquelin's appearance was described by some NPCs earlier in the game, they mentioned a bandaged arms. A small, but a neat thing.

Skipping ahead to the second-to-last combat encounter in the game, it's none other than Pomab, the greedy merchant with delusions of grandeur. What sucked is that my plan A didn't work: Lim used up scroll of Power Word: Die for nothing. Oh well, plan B still worked - the party was protected from electricy anyways, so dealing with Pomab's illussions and lightnings was just a matter of time. Crystal Sentries, who served as Pomab's bodyguards, could be problematic, but with how fast and often my party has moved, they couldn't do any significant harm.

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The party then rested and prepared their potions and spell for the final battle against Belhifet. Preparation consisted of choosing right spell to cast and what potions to drink once battle starts. The only exception to this was Chain Contingency cast by Lim - she choose to summon some creatures as distraction first sighted enemy. Before going into the fight and my strategy for it, let's see Allmighty Trio's character records:

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Let's start the battle! Notice that some of the traps are already highlighted even while in dialogue - this is because Enhanced Edition's controled scrip for a thief enables them to search for traps by themselves when iddle. Quite useful feature. Also, I enjoy telling Belhifet that it is Crystal Shard that's controlling him, not other way around. I have point in there and he knows it!

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At the beginning of the battle, the dispel magic is always cast on party, so pre-buffing is mostly useless in Enhanced Edition (due to potential acces to Spell Immunity: Abjuration), and utterly useless in classic IWD. So, the first thing I wanted to do is to move away from the center area, counting on Lim's Chain Contingency to trigger, which it did. Then, as Belhifet and his two Iron Golems were busy with several summons, began phase two of my battle plan: buffing up my party, while distracting enemies with summons. Potions of Speed, Storm Giant Strength, Heroism, Power, Invincibility, Fire Reist etc.

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Lim was busy between buffing up her allies and summoning some more minions as distraction. The tactic was not without a flaw, as Belhifet could at random teleport towards the party, requiring them to run away, until they done buffing up and be ready for combat. Due to them being much faster in terms of movement than both Belhifet and golems, this was doable. Let's take a look how buffed up Dabb looks like:

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He packs quite a punch, 22 to 25 damage with just a bullet from his sling, at 3 attack per round. Slightly more dps with high quality morningstar, though. Hina was similar stat-wise - a bit less damage per hit and thaco, but 4 attacks per round due to dual wielding two high quality long swords. What's more, both had additional 4 bonus AC against slashing attacks, so Belhifet's main damage source, but it didn't matter much - he was almost always hitting.

In general, Lim was busy summoning more creatures to occupy Belhifet, as both Dabb and Hina were using ranged weaponry. Eventually, Belhifet managed to slay his way towards the party.

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Just as he approached the Allmighty Trio, it was Hina who brought the devil down! High quality long swords, indeed! And just in that time, the game refused to screenshot the dying animation! That's anticlimatic, to say the least! But rest assured that the battle was won - from the above screenshot, you can probably tell I'd need to try really hard to screw up imminent victory.

It was quite fitting: Dabb laid finishing blow on Yxunomei, while Hina slayed Belhifet. And Lim? She still had some badass thing to brag about.

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And with that, the adventure of the Allmighty Trio came to its end, and with it, my challenge run as well. What do I think about it? It was run worth trying, and it was interesting at some points in time. At first, Wights and Shades were serious problem, but even within classic Icewind Dale ruleset, there were plenty of ways to deal with those. In Enhanced Edition, the Enchanted Weapon was later available as an option, which become go-to answer to creatures immune to normal weapon. And speaking of those, I was surprised at how many creatures you can deal with with conventional weaponry. I was also surprised at some enemies who were immune - looking at you, Lysan!

Also, at beginning and up to chapter 4, lack of magic items was not that much of a factor, due to the game's balance around lineart story line. The developers knew what kind of options players would have at their disposal at a time, so lack of magical item here and there wasn't that much. The problems started in Upper Dorn's Deep, particularly in the area with the Drow, and it escalated from here. Wyrm's Tooth was very tedious to get through, as not only the party was visibly underpowered, the combat wasn't particularly interesting. Lower Dorn's Deep managed to regain some of my interest, although the first area was very brutal due to Bronze Sentries.

Let's talk about our gnome trio. To be honest with you all, I made a party of gnomes simply because I don't play them often, and that I wouldn't feel to bad at their failure, since it is my least liked playable race due to certain Jansen. To my surprise, they have prevailed and I got to like those three. I had an expectation of meeting some road block in the way, but nothing managed to keep me from progressing. But I'd say, had I tried to do this playthrough in the classic Icewind Dale, Belhifet would be definitely a wall that most likely couldn't be toppled. Classic Icewind Dale doesn't have Enchanted Weapon, and with the party I would have, Dabb would be only level 12 of the cleric, so one short from having a Spirtual Hamme as +3 weapon, needed to damage Belhifet. One thing that could potentially work is to have summoned elementals deal damage to Belhifet (if their attack counts as +3), while Dabb and Hina tanks the devil. Would that work? I have no idea. Would that be painful and tedious? Most likely.

All in all, I am satisfied.