The Candlekeep Annex: RPed Baldur’s Gate No and Low Reload Adventures

Alesia_BH · May 9, 2023

Anne Jansen, Gnome Illusionist/Thief: Prologue

After a harrowing night, Imoen and Anne are on the road, heading east toward the Friendly Arm Inn. A man dressed in red, and wearing a comically tall hat, approaches.

Elminster: Ho there, wanderer. Stay thy course to indulge an old man.

(Imoen looks at Anne. Anne looks at Imoen. Finally Imoen speaks.)

Imoen: Um...I'm sorry. But who are you? We don't talk to strangers in the woods. Safety and all.

Elminster: That is wise of you, young one. I see that Winthrop has taught you well. I am Elminster...

(Anne yelps with excitement)

Anne: Elminster! THE Elminster.

(Elminster nods and smiles)

Elminster: Yes, young one. I am Elminster: fabled Archmage and adventurer non pareil....

Anne: Ha! I don't know about all that. What I know is that you're the one my Uncle Jan beat in a casting duel!

Elminster: I'm sorry?

Anne: Yeah! I know the whole story! You and my uncle were playing an all night session of Orcian baccarat. You lost everything you had. You got so desperate that you wagered your wife and three of your five children. You lost again. You challenged my uncle to a casting duel, only you didn't know he was the best spellcaster in the realms. He beat you with one hand tied behind his back! Granted, it wasn't his hand: it was a tasoli's. But the tasoli was still attached to the hand, and I think that would be even harder, what with all the screeching and writhing...I once cast Color Spray with a squirrel in my backpack. Filthy animal that squirrel! He was always trying to burrow down to my nuts. But this girl doesn't have any nuts. Never have: never will! Nuts are disgusting!

Elminster: Ahem, well...

Anne: Except for my Uncle Jan's nuts! My uncle has the best nuts! I very much look forward to eating my uncle's nuts!

Elminster: Oh my...

Anne: He has pecans and walnuts and...

Elminster: Excuse me! Anne! May I just say that I'm relieved to hear that your uncle has pecans and walnuts.

Anne: Ha! I bet you are. It means your wife and three of your kids will always have something to eat!

Elminster: stunned silence

Anne: Maybe the rest of your kids have something to eat, too. I mean, if you're doing ok. Are you doing ok, Elminster? Do you have nuts or did my uncle take those from you too?

Elminster: (Flummoxed) I'm sorry, Anne. I can see this wasn't a good idea. I'll be going now...

Anne: Oh, I get it bad memories and all- from the last time you met a Jansen! I understand! It was good meeting you, though. I'm going to see my uncle soon. And when I do, I'll tell your wife and kids you said hi. Who knows? Maybe they miss you? Catch ya later, Elmo!

(And with that, Elminster walked away, Anne smiling and waving as he left. Imoen, again, breaks the silence)

Imoen: I can't believe you spoke to Elminster like that!

Anne: What are you talking about? He'll be back for more. No doubt about it!

Imoen: We are never seeing him again- not after what you said!

Anne: Ha! We'll see him over and over. You can bet on it. Someday you'll learn to trust me, Imoen. Come on! We've got to get to the Friendly Arm Inn! Khalid and Jaheira are waiting for us! I can't wait to talk to them!

Imoen: Ok, but maybe I should talk this time? Just a suggestion...

Anne: Na. I don't think so! What would be the fun in that! Come on, let's go!

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 9, 2023

Alia, Halfling Kensai: Early Adventures in Athkatla

As with all of my characters, Alia's first objective was to lockdown her disabler defenses. For most of my characters this requires a trip to Roger, but Alia, a halfling warrior, wearing the Claw of the Kazgaroth and a RoP +1, had the goal mostly in hand before she left the Promenade. By selling off her excess gear from the Chateau, along with the loot from the first Guild War cutscene, Alia was able to purchase her Ring of Air Control immediately.

With RoAC II active, her save v death is 1, and her save v spells is -2, allowing her to make the saves on any spells she might encounter in the very early game. So long as she manages divination risk and acquires potions of stone form and invulnerability before she encounters Malison, Chaos and or symbol spells, she'll be just fine. Naturally, that's the plan.

First things first: let's free some slaves. Since Alia still did have AC buffs, at this juncture, she proceeded with caution. Peek-a-boo attacks with poisoned daggers finished the Beastmaster.

The animals were mostly taken down in melee, using movement to manage pressure.

We're on our way to Lehtinan now. Check out this joint attack between Alia and Nalia. Teamwork makes the dream work- if the dream is watching chunky bits of slaver fly.

With a kit sufficient to take down Suna Seni, and enough gold to fill out the remainder of her defensive potion kit, Alia was free to move about the city. Playing the meta game, I sent her to the graveyard district first. Here we traded a potion of invisibility for the Pale Green Ioun Stone, a fine deal, since there are plenty of PoIs in the Bridge District, our next stop.

Suna Seni ambushed us en route. RoAC II -> Potion of Firebreath

With the casters down, all Alia had to do was manage weapon pressure while finishing off the warriors. A tactical retreat allowed us to separate Suna Seni.

Eldarin fell to throwing daggers soon after. A pretty clean victory, given Alia's sky high AC.

Playing the meta card once again, we went for Camitis's boots. Now all we need is the Girdle of Piercing, the Boomerang Dagger and a few more potions. The Claw + RoAC + Boots of Avoidance + Girdle of Piercing + Boomerang Dagger + oils of speed + potion based save enhancers + elemental resistance potions is a robust kit in the early mid game.

Of those goals, the Boomerang Dagger would be the hardest to attain. Fortunately, Cragmoon is nearby and a potion buffed Alia is a dangerous thing indeed. RoAC II + oil of speed + potion of invulnerability + potion of frost giant strength + potion of regeneration + Draw of Holy Might. The mage went down first.

Followed by the cleric.

I was expecting a fight here, but Alia straight up murdered them.

She's a force to be reckoned with, so long as she can keep her potion buffs in place. That, really, is the trick to playing a kensai: managing debuff risk.

With her buffs still active, Alia raced to the Circus Tent, seeking the last of her early game durable item goals. Time to put that Boomerang Dagger to use. Alia is fighting at 5 apr here, with 2d4 + 2 in the main-hand and a 1d6 + 2 in the off. Daggers are a respectable melee proficiency in the early game, in addition to being a brutal ranged choice. Alia is going straight to grandmastery before she takes a pip in anything else.

As for Kalah, an early Boomerang Dagger hit broke his morale. The Victor finished him. Now we have the Girdle of Piercing, and the Ring of Human Influence for our potion shopping spree.

Alia is off to see Roger. She's rich now but she'll be poor again soon. She has a long shopping list.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 9, 2023

Alia, Halfling Kensai: The Umar Hills

The potion bill was, as expected, large: potion of magic shielding, potion of clarity, potion of freedom, potion of fire resistance, potion of insulation, potion of invulnerability, potion of stone form, potion of defense- in some cases more than one. With all those potions, and suddenly empty coffers, Watcher's Keep called.

The stone golem fell quickly, thanks to Alia's melee might, and the newly acquired Destroyer of the Hills.

The mephitis died quickly, too. The kensai kit is the stuff of nightmares for a defense oriented player such as myself, but Alia does hit hard. If managing debuff risk is the first key to playing a kensai, playing defense with offense is the second.

The shades were nixed with Azureedge in the main and Arbane in the off, for immunity to Paralyze (109). Alia was ready to sally forth. But to where?

The Umar Hills. Most of my characters do Trademeet first, but in Alia's case I was more excited about Ilbratha than Mr. Efreeti and Ras, so we went to the hills instead.

Some of you may be thinking: Wait a minute, this is an insane SCS run- won't there be liches in the Umar Hills? There would be, but I think the max spawns always component is a little silly, so I skipped it. In this run the spawns are meted to my character's level. And for the record, that was the only tactical component I skipped for SoA: Alia is running with all the other tactical components, as well as the full spectrum of creature upgrades and AI enhancements.

Ok! let's get back to the action. Ilbratha was, naturally, our first target. Azureedge shouldn't have been in the mainhand here, but it wasn't worth the time to switch things up. All that mattered was that we have Arbane in one of the hands, and we were already setup in such away following the shadow fiend encounter. We just went in for the attack, and it worked fine.

Onto the stone golem. I've been limiting resting during quests in Alia's run, which is why she isn't running DUHM here. Usually she'd be running RoAC II and DUHM in this encounter, but since the stone golem focuses on Jermien, and Jermien is stoneskinned, you can roll buff light, especially if you're a warrior.

Time for the temple. We took a potion of defense here, along with all of our renewable buffs: RoAC II, Ilbratha MI and DUHM. I tend to use potions liberally, but even I end up with a huge over supply at the end of the game. Alia will be using them more often than most of my characters, seeking a more optimal balance. The potion of defense was greatly -greatly- appreciated here. It made the temple much smoother.

More Azuredge + Arbane action, with shadow fiends in the mix.

Even with her potion of defense active, Alia had to retreat to manage pressure from time to time. The skeleton warrior, with their range two weapons, were able to attack over the shades. Alia didn't love having that many rolls come in per round. Here we see a tactical retreat to finish the skeleton warriors. Alia drank her first healing potions since Athkatala here. She needed two of them.

The next batch of skeleton warrior went quicker, partly because Alia took out their shade allies with Azuredge before engaging. She fought them at the edge the lava, because why not. Extra damage never hurts.

The bone golem, which is not coded undead, fell to the Boomerang Dagger. No sense in meleeing that thing.

Finally, the Shade Lord. To pro undead or to not pro undead, that is the question. I wrestled with this- I really did. This battle is much, much more satisfying if you don't use pro undead. The problem is that the fight is seriously stacked against a solo kensai, because they can't use the sunstone bullets. That altar has resistances and a lot of HP. By the time you kill it with conventional means, there are a ton of shades on the field- potentially too many. In the end, I went pro undead, and while that was less than ideal, it was the right decision: here's the field by the time the altar fell. Dealing with all those shades, and a full buffed shade lord, would have been too much. Given me five sunstone throwing daggers and I'll do this again without pro undead. Alia would jump at the opportunity.

In any case, Alia's SoA run is gathering steam. She's off to Trademeet next.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 9, 2023

Alia, Halfling Kensai: The Hero of Trademeet

I don't know what possess me to always -always- show a picture of my character's Hero of Trademeet statue. Is it tradition, or is it narcissism? And if it's narcissism, is it narcissism on my behalf or on my character´s behalf? And if it's narcissism on my behalf, how weird is it that that manifests itself as a desire to share my video game character's statue? Troubling questions, to be sure. For now, let's just call it tradition, and then talk about how Alia got there.

Most people who fight the dao rather than the rhakshasas do it because the dao are easier. I fight the dao because Adratha is one of the best potion sellers in the game. She could be a hobgoblin. Or a demi-lich. I wouldn't care. Just keep those bottles of good juice comin'. That's one illusion I don't want to see through.

We went nearly all out on potion buffs for this, using a potion of frost giant strength, a potion of invulnerability and an oil of speed. We also used Draw on Holy Might and, for once, Kai. Some of you are probably wondering why I don't use Kai more. Here's the answer: I don't like it. Since the duration is so short, it's largely an in combat spell, and I prefer to keep my aura clear in combat so I can deploy defensive counters, like potions, at the exact right time. The modest damage benefits of Kai aren't worth the substantial risk of crowding out a counter. Are there exceptions? Sure. Like when you can use it as a pre-buff. In that case it's fine, as long as you wait a bit before you launch your attack.

Some of you may have noted the conspicuous absence of RoAC II in that buff list. That's because we were saving it for Khan. Targetted spell risk was greater with two dao on the field.

Moving on to the grove, we had our rap session with Pauden, and then summoned Mr. Efreeti to cast Invisibility. A subsequent rest, to have an Invisibility cast in reserve, was all we needed to secure that statue. We took a detour to pick up the goodies in the troll mound and, of course, Belm. The real score here is the Spear of the Unicorn, with its +3 bonus to saves v death. We'll always keep that on hand, just in case we get hit with Malison + Symbol Death shortly after a debuff and with a clouded aura. Gotta be ready for those contingencies, fellow no reloaders.

We picked up Belm, cast invisibility again, gave Cernd, scourge purger extraordinaire, a high five, and then headed in to see Faldorn.

Heroism achieved. Alia graciously lobbied for an honorable mention note for Cernd on the statue plaque, but to no avail. Trademeet may not remember, but we do. Great going, Teen Wolf!

More hero stuff. Azuredge one shoted the mantle skelly. The others fell quick, too

Am I the only one who thinks the second Rejiek's encounter could use a spruce up? He was super clever the first time, luring you into traps, and finally a rune assassin ambush. How is he so woefully unprepared the second time? This should be part of an improved minor encounters tactical component, going forward. ToB got one, why not SoA?

With gold in hand and the shops open, Alia picked up the Cloak of Displacement, Ras and the BoIB. It's still early in the adventure, but that inventory is filling out nicely. It's time to secure our stronghold.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 9, 2023

Alia, Halfling Kensai: The Love Boat

Onto Captain Haegan's ship, which I perversely and affectionately call the Love Boat, after my all time favorite TV show.

In keeping with the theme of more potion buffs, less pain, Alia used a potion of defense here, on top of her renewable buffs. What a luxury! And for those of you who are wondering, I'm pretty certain she won't run out at this rate. I've been keeping track of the numbers and it all looks good.

Naturally, the priest was our first target. We had actually used Arbane haste here so we could get to him before he got a divination cast off. It just ran out by the time I took the screenshot.

I used Kai here because there are no casters on the field and no risk of needing to heal. It helped a tiny bit, as Kai does. Talk to me again when I'm running a Kensai->Thief, and or rolling bigger dice. I'll use Kai more then.

When her AC is buffed with a potion of defense and RoAC II, and she's running Ilbratha II, Alia is just devastating. The blokes never even touched her.

With our MIs still active, a DUHM boosted hotpoint total, and no enemies on the field, we deliberately tripped the acid blob trap. Might as well, no need to risk tripping it by accident at a less advantageous time. It hit an image as expected, so all good.

Time to test out our newly acquired troll finisher, Stonefire. Looks good!

We're ready for the De'Arnise Keep.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 9, 2023

Alia, Halfling Kensai: The de'Arnise Keep

Today is a sad day, a tragic day. I have a multi-decade long tradition of sharing a screenshot of the first dead troll in the de'Arnise Keep, captioned, simply "Bam!" Alas, it all comes to an end today. I'm not sure what happened. I know that before I entered the Keep I had been preoccupied with taking advertising photos of the Five Flagons, for another thread. I can't imagine that alone would be enough to distract me. Maybe my mind is going. Maybe it's always been gone. Whatever the cause, the streak has ended. What you get, instead, is this cornucopia of dead trolls, lured out of the ball room- every shape, size and flavor. A potion of defense and a strength potion made this smooth as butter. Stonefire served as our finisher.

Can we talk about the dog stew now? Because I have questions. First, 11500XP? Killing Sarevok was 15000XP. Is cooking up some bosintang really that hard? Second, and more importantly, I understand where I got my dogs from: I murdered the de'Arnise family pets, Rex, Rover, Sparky and Spot. Where has Daleson been getting his dogs from? Four dogs a day, he said. For how long? Do the de'Arnise's have a kennel full of meat dogs somewhere? Seriously: what's up?

Anyhoo, the yuan-ti mage was next. Approaching from the east, his protectors tend to jump the gun and charge, leaving him all by his lonesome. Alia took her renewables, drew out a divination cast and then gave him the cuisinart treatment. This isn't sporting. But it also wasn't sporting of the kit designers to deprive our Halfling lass of dispelling arrows, darts of stunning, dart of wounding, undispellable elemental resistances via the armor, helm, and shield slots and, well, basically anything and everything a warrior would like to have for mage killing. Amara didn't need to do this, because Amara had tools. Alia needs to, else risk getting tooled. Am I overstating the case? Yes. Is this a cop out? Absolutely. Any other questions? Ok. Let's move on then.

What was next? The hardest fight of the quest, actually. Somehow, someway, a group of spirit trolls respawned just after Alia's buffs expired. Since I was reluctant to rebuff just before a planned rest, I had Alia fight it out unbuffed. She's not good at that, of course. Kensais need buffs. Here we see her taking an invisibility cast from Mr. Efreeti before attempting to rest. That's a lot of red. Too much red.

Glaicus is a tough melee fighter, but he's easily punked with ranged weapons, and he was facing a full buffed Alia. He didn't stand a chance here. The Boomerang Dagger took him down to badly injured before he even engaged. He was chunktified soon after.

Care to guess what happened next? More respawning spirit trolls. This time Alia was buffed, though, so they got their butts handed to them. Here, Mr. Spirit Troll. Here is your butt. Take it and go.

And again. Give me a break, will you?

Golem time. We grabbed the Elven Courtbow first, to draw out the clay golem. Since cursed wounds are active in this run, he had to be handled with care. Ras ran distraction while Mr. Efreeti bonked him over the head. Inexplicably, Mr. Efreeti's scimitar qualifies as a magical blunt weapon. No complaints here.

A protection from poison scroll, Azuredge and doorage handled the iron golem.

The rest fell to good old fashion Destroyer of the Hills melee.

After serving up our bosintang, we rested and then buffed for Torgal. The buffs were potion of fire resistance, potion of fire giant strength, oil of speed, potion of invulnerability, potion of regeneration, RoAC II, Ilbratha MI and Draw on Holy Might. We revealed ourselves and then pulled back to the doorway, where we engaged Torgal in melee. Once he was near death, we uncorked our potion of firebreath. Done, and done!

As for the lackeys, the doorway funneled them into the potion of firebreath stream. They were all virtually dead by the time they reached Alia's blades.

With two exception: the yuan ti mages. The mages were slower than everyone else, so they missed the potion of firebreath. Or, rather, the potion of firebreath missed them. That turned out to be a problem because I was in wind down mode, and they were in kick Halfling tuckus mode. Pride made me want to kill them, but intelligence told me to fade. We kept engaging and fading, engaging and fading, until we were on the upper floor, and were suddenly ambushed by a gazillion trolls.

Ok. Let's take stock. We have Ages. Torgal is dead. What -exactly- are we fighting for? The answer is nothing- nothing at all. And so we did the smart thing: chugged a potion of invisibility and rolled out. The de'Arnise Guard can deal with this. I'll even open the drawbridge for them- really this time. In the meantime, our plan is simple. Forge Ages.

Claim the stronghold.

And go back to the Flagons for a drink. Beats infinite trolls any day of the week.

Best,

A.

m7600 · May 9, 2023

I'm loving Alia's tactical run, but Anne's dialogue with Elminster was off the wall!

Never underestimate a Jansen!

Alesia_BH · May 9, 2023

Glad you're enjoying them!

Those runs are an odd couple, but I think the combo works

I'm looking forward to Sadie!

Cheers,

A.

m7600 · May 10, 2023

Sadie, Half-Elf Blade: Prologue

Sadie is reading by the fireplace. Imoen enters the room.

Imoen (smirking): "Another day, another book, huh? Let me guess: it's about sunken boats."

Sadie: "You'll be glad that I did all of this reading once we get rich after finding the Jeanne-Marie."

Imoen: "We? So, you're gonna split the treasure with me?" (she smiles, feeling smug)

Sadie: "Sure. You'll do all the heavy lifting, after all. That's your part. I already did the reading. That was my part."

They both laugh.

Imoen: "Seriously though... I think it's great that you have a hobby, but maybe you'll just end up feeling disappointed? Even if you do manage to find out where this shipwreck is, how are we gonna get the treasure back? I don't know about you, but I wasn't born with gills."

Sadie: "With Potions of Water Breathing! They're a bit expensive, but I'm sure I can borrow some cash from Dad."

Imoen: "I've never heard of those potions. It sounds like you just made that up."

Sadie: "That's because you never read anything, you ignorant donkey!"

Imoen grabs a book and throws it at Sadie, they both laugh again.

Imoen: "Well... I've been skimming through some books on arcane stuff lately. Pretty interesting stuff, actually. Hey, by the way, speaking of Dad, he's looking for you. It seems like it's something important."

A while later, Sadie finds Gorion.

Sadie: "Hey Dad, Imoen said you were looking for me? What's up?

Gorion (worried): "We must leave immediately. I cannot say much, but I fear that your life is in danger. Here, take these coins and buy some essentials at the Inn and come back."

Sadie: "Dad, this isn't much. If we're gonna leave, I need some more money. I need five hundred more."

Gorion: "Five hundred gold? You do not need that much money. Where did you even get that number?"

Sadie: "Well, a Potion of Water Breathing runs about 250 these days, and I need two of them. One for Imoen and one for me."

Gorion (shaking his head): "Listen, Sadie. I will not give you that amount of money. And I do not want to hear any more stories about salvaging pirate treasures. Such endeavors are extremely dangerous even for real, professional treasure hunters. And you are not a real treasure hunter."

Sadie (angry): "Yeah? And you're not my real father!"

Gorion: "No, I am not your real father. But I have done the best I could, to raise you and your sister. Evidently, it was not enough. I fear that I have spoiled you both. Neither of you has ever done an honest day's work, or even cared to. Your sister is always stealing things instead of earning them. And you, you are always fantasizing about becoming rich by finding some long-forgotten treasure. But out there, in the real world, ordinary people have to work for a living."

Sadie: "What are you talking about? I work here every day! I'm always doing some stupid errands! 'Go fetch an antidote for my cow, Sadie', 'Go fetch a quiver of arrows, Sadie'. And for what? Chump change! When I get rich, all of these fools will be doing errands for me! And even you are gonna ask me for money, you old fart!"

Gorion: "That is enough, young lady. I may have spoiled you, but I will not let you speak to me like that. Now pack your things and say goodbye to everyone. We leave in less than an hour."

And with that, Sadie and Gorion left the safety of Candlekeep.

Alesia_BH · May 10, 2023

Anne Jansen, Gnome Illusionist/Thief: Prologue, Part 2

Imoen and Anne make the turn north, toward the Friendly Arm Inn. Anne is oddly quiet. She gets like that under an open sky. Imoen breaks the silence with a question.

Imoen: Can I ask you a question, Anne?

Anne: Sure! Shoot!

Imoen: You've never met your Uncle Jan, right? So how did you know that he has pecans and walnuts?

(Anne pauses for a moment, thinking)

Anne: Ya. I made that part up. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow...That Elminister was way too into himself. He needed to be taken down a peg.

Imoen: (Chuckles) Well, I guess you're right about that.

Anne: The rest was 100% true, though. 100%!

Imoen: (Smiling insincerely) Do you really believe that? I mean, do you really believe all the stuff about your uncle?

Anne: Do I! Of course I do! We've been telling Uncle Jan stories in my branch of the family since I was a little potato! They're like folklore to us, family folklore...And, sure, not all folklore stories, like, actually happened, but the world is a whole lot more interesting when you believe 'em...One thing is for certain: my Uncle Jan is a great man- a great man. You'll see. We're going to meet him and you'll see.

Imoen: Ok! I get it now. So, like with the griffons...

(Anne huffs disapprovingly, glaring at the skies)

Anne: Hold on there, Immy! Griffons are as real as real gets! As real as stone!

Imoen: Uh, huh. But Gorion said...

Anne: Gorion? Gorion was a good man, but he didn't know everything. I loved him, but he was like that damn Elminster: they're old, they're men, they're tall, and they're boring, and so people believe them. But the truth is that most of the time they're as full of horse pucky as the rest of us.

Imoen: Huh...

Anne: Huh is right! Did you know that in the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries griffons were believed to be extinct? And that just before, in the late 2nd century, griffon conflict with the races reached a peak? And did you know that the griffons went away again in the 9th and 10th centuries, just after another conflict peak? Griffon conflict correlates with population size: the more griffons, the more fights. So how is it that the griffons go away just when conflict peaks, when there's a lot of 'em?

Imoen: I don't know...

Anne: That's right, you don't know! And Gorion didn't know either! Gorion didn't even know the history! I spend all day, every day reading about griffons. Meanwhile, Gorion didn't know a damn thing about 'em. And you believed him. Why?

Imoen: I don't know...

Anne: Right again! Ever since the griffons started targetting my family, we Jansens have had our theories about why they only eat us. Fran Jansen the Elder thought it was because we were adventurerous, and so were always in the open. Ma Jainey the Unswallowed thought it was our diet, that it just made us tasty. But you know what I think? I think that griffons are smart. I think they know that if they target one family -and only one family- most people won't make a fuss. And if no one believes that family, then no one will ever bother them. I think they know that you tall folk don't believe us Jansens and that's why they eat us!

Imoen: (Flustered) I don't know what to say...

Anne: That's right! You don't! So maybe think of that the next time you want to talk about griffons! Maybe think of that! Come on. We're almost at the inn. I'm tired. I need to get inside.

Best,

A.

m7600 · May 10, 2023

"Griffon conflict correlates with population size"

Alesia_BH · May 10, 2023

Yup! Don't mess with Anne when it comes to griffons. She knows her stuff, and she doesn't suffer fools, lol

Alesia_BH · May 11, 2023

Quick Note on Alia and AJ:

I'm going to take a brief two day BG sabbatical, since I just learned that season 2 of Sweet Tooth was released, and I love Sweet Tooth. I'll be back to playing and posting again by the weekend.

Best of luck to Sadie, and anyone else who may join!

A.

m7600 · May 12, 2023

On the Road to the Friendly Arm Inn

Sadie and Gorion were ambushed by a sinister figure and his lackeys. Gorion sacrificed his own life so that he could save his daughter. She hid in the bushes near the road until the Sun rose. She was awakened by Imoen, much to her surprise. The sisters cried for a few hours. Sadie felt awful for the harsh things that she said to her father before he died.

Imoen suggested that they investigate the site where Gorion and Sadie were attacked. They found Gorion's lifeless body. Sadie began to dig a grave, and Imoen helped her. They retrieved what little valuables their father had, together with a note signed by "E.", whoever that may be. The young ladies buried their father in the middle of nowhere, in an unmarked graved.

They decided to travel to the Friendly Arm Inn. However, at some point on the road they were intercepted by an odd couple, a human and a halfling, who introduced themselves as Xzar and Montaron, respectively. Xzar offered Sadie a healing potion, as a token of good faith, and asked if the four of them might travel together. But Sadie was in no mood for sweet talking.

Sadie (menacingly): "I don't care who you are, or what you want. I just lost my father to some thugs. For all I know, you could be with them. The fact that you haven't attacked us on sight is the only thing that makes me think otherwise... for now. But if you want us to take you to Nashkel, you gotta make it worth my time. A measly Potion of Healing won't seal any deal. And if you're thinking of attacking us right now, think again. I'll slit your throat and I'll leave your corpse to the wolves."

Montaron: "Hey, you better not talk to us like th-"

Xzar (interrupting): "I think that what my associate here was about to say is that we can certainly offer you a little more. How about a few scrolls?" (Xzar smiles politely)

Sadie: "Imoen, check the scrolls. Do you recognize them? Are they worth anything?"

Imoen: "Eh, nothing fancy, but not too shabby either. Chill Touch and Larloch's Minor Drain. We can get some decent coin for them, but maybe you'd rather keep them for yourself."

Sadie: "Good."

Xzar (still smiling politely): "So, shall we leave, ladies?"

Sadie: "Not so fast." (she looks at Montaron) "What does your associate have?"

Montaron (menacingly): "... You better shut your-"

Xzar (interrupting) "Yes, Monty can chip in with a few things! Isn't that right, Monty?" (Even though Xzar is still smiling, his eyes look like those of a madman)

Montaron (reluctantly, but understanding Xzar's message): "Here. Take this." (He gives Sadie an Oil of Speed and a Potion of Healing).

Sadie: "See? That wasn't so difficult now, was it? Let's go. But before we go to Nashkel, we have to pick up some friends at the Friendly Arm Inn."

Xzar (screaming, with the eyes of a lunatic): "THAT WAS NOT PART OF THE DEAL!"

Now Montaron is the one that has to calm down his associate.

Montaron: "...But we'll be happy to visit the Friendly Arm Inn nonetheless. Yes. Happy. Very happy indeed..." (Despite his choice of words, Montaron gives Sadie a menacing look. His words sound more like a threat than reassurance.)

Xzar (rubbing his hands together): "Yes, yes... we shall do that... yes... Let us meet your friends then. I bet they are quite interesting... yes..."

And with that, the party makes their way to the Friendly Arm Inn.

Alesia_BH · May 13, 2023

Alia, Halfling Kensai: The Planar Prison

My life just got so much better. In another thread I inquired about the voice actors in the Badur's Gate series. Antimatter linked to an old JuliusBorisov post on Beamdog, and from there I learned who all the voice actors were. Surveying the list, I was pretty sure I recognized one of them, Jennifer Darling, from The Love Boat. It turns out I was right: Jennifer Darling was on The Love Boat. And who did Jennifer Darling voice? Shar-Teel.

Shar-Teel was on The Love Boat. That's the best fact ever.

Anyways, I'm fairly certain that exactly no one else on planet Earth cares about both Baldur's Gate and The Love Boat, so I'll move on to something you all do care about, or may care about: our little halfling kensai, Alia.

With the always max spawns component installed, the Planar Prison is best done late, since the triple yuan-ti mage fights can get dangerous. With spawns based on character level, it is best done early, before the yuan ti spawns kick in. Alia was very pleased to be running in a character level based spawn install- almost as pleased as I was to learn that Shar-Teel was on The Love Boat. Why, you ask? Because the Planar Prison holds the keys to Alia's offensive future in SoA. Pixie Prick + Kundane + Boots of Speed will turn her into a monster: a brutal ranged fighter with a movement rate bonus, and a melee fighter who can force unmodified rolls v sleep four times per round. As I said: a monster. Our dagger kensai is getting an upgrade.

So: How did it all go down? We'll begin with Mencar and Co.

If Alia can keep her buffs up, there's no stopping her. Gaius, the only threat to Alia's buffs, was therefore targeted first. Alia hits so hard and gets her attacks out so fast that an assault from her is almost like a backstab. It can nix a mage quick.

The buffs here were potion of defense, potion of frost giant strength, oil of speed, Draw on Holy Might, RoAC II and Ilbratha MI, giving her a strength of 25, 5apr, and an effective AC of -15, plus mirror images. This is steamroller mode, and since Gaius is already in the box these punks are just getting smushed.

It was full on unfair.

Let that be a lesson, dwarves: don't underestimate us halflings. You're not the only shorties who can fight.

Moving on to the prison. Alia followed her standard playbook: nixing the Remove caster first. The Cloak of the Shield is a nice item for a Kensai, too- even if you, like I, don't allow stacking of duplicate effects.

From then on this fight was a breeze. Buffed Alia is just too much.

If only she could cast SI:A, right? And surely that's part of the logic for all the Kensai->Mage fans in the Realms. But if you're dueling at, say, L9, you're only getting a +3 attack bonus and a few uses of Kai. Is that really worth giving up shields, bows, helms and bracers? Not in my book- not even close. I'll never understand why people went gaga over the Kensage build. And, truth be told, I wasn't at all surprised when it underperformed in both the Ascension solo challenge and the No Reload Challenge over the course of two decades. It's the most overrated build in the game, imo. Kensai->thieves, on the other hand, make a bit of sense, although I'd take a halfling F/T over a human K->T anyday.

Back to the action. When Alia gets in trouble, it's because I occasionally get overzealous, largely because she does cut through stuff so quick. Bum rushing this mage had been a bad idea. Alia lost her buffs and was forced to re-apply and pull back.

Attacking and fading managed risk from the incoming umber hulk. The Pixie Prick and Alia's Boots of Speed are already starting to shine.

The Boomerang Dagger nixed the Master of Thralls before he could close. Strength damage stacking range fighting at 4 or 5 apr is a beautiful thing.

On to the Warden. We drew out the umberhulks first. Here we see Mr. Efreeti softening them up before Alia took them down with the Boomerang Dagger.

And there they go.

Time for the Warden. Alia sent in Ras first to draw out ProMW and test for additional lackeys.

The Warden tried slow, but Alia's saves were too low. And even if her saves weren't too low, Alia had the Sword of Arvoreen at the ready. Nice idea, but this move was destined to fail.

Why was it a nice idea? Because unless the Warden tagged Alia with a movement rate penalty he was destined to die by Boomerang Dagger + Boots of Speed + oil of speed. Let that be a lesson, oh villains of the realms: if you're a melee fighter, think twice before you let you lackeys wear Boots of Speed. You may be signing your own death warrant, like the warden here.

Alia is now fully equipped, and ready for anything. Bring it on, SoA!

Best,

A.

alice_ashpool · May 13, 2023

Alesia_BH said:
If only she could cast SI:A, right? And surely that's part of the logic for all the Kensai->Mage fans in the Realms. But if you're dueling at, say, L9, you're only getting a +3 attack bonus and a couple uses of Kai. Is that really worth giving up shields, bows, helms and bracers? Not in my book- not even close. I'll never understood why people went gaga over the Kensage build. And, truth be told, I wasn't at all surprised when it underperformed in both the Ascension solo challenge and the No Reload Challenge over the course of two decades. It's the most overrated build in the game, imo. Kensai->thieves, on the other hand, make a bit of sense, although I'd take a halfling F/T over a human K->T anyday.

Imagine if BG gave the Transformation bonuses of IWD - where you get full extra attacks from fighter levels and grand mastery BBoD as well. Fully buffed Dual wielding Transformed Sorcerer or Mage with BBoD and an offhand dagger in IWD is.... well, it ain't pretty.

Alesia_BH · May 13, 2023

I could imagine that. But of course that strategy would work with any fighter dual, as well as an F/M or an F/I. F/Ms and F/Is are indeed monsters. Fighter duals can be excellent, too- I freely acknowledge that. It's the excessive enthusiasm for kensai kit variant in particular that I take issue with.

I can't comment on IWD, since I've never played it, but in BG the tradeoffs involved are highly questionable. I'd take dispelling arrows, the Reflex and a helm over extra damage any day, and the kensage sacrifices far more than that.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 13, 2023

Alia, Halfling Kensai: Mae'Var's Guild Hall

The thief stronghold quest line was short and sweet for Alia. For Mae'Var it was short and not so sweet. This is partly because I allowed Alia it ambush attack her mages, just as I allowed her to do so against Gaius and others. Is this dirty or does it just make sense for a character that's so vulnerable to Remove? I'm undecided. SCS's high level mages can and do counter this tactic, though, so that makes me feel better about it.

Anyways, Alia nixed the mephitis with her renewable buffs plus a potion of fire resistance and a strength potion. The ice mephitis were killed first, since they were close together and Alia was more vulnerable to their damage type.

Gethras has stone golems, not clay golems, so cursed wounds weren't a concern here. Alia dropped them on the leftover buffs from the mephit fight.

We rebuffed for Rayic and then just rushed him. He fell in half a round. I'm always pleased and disappointed in equal measure when this works.

Onto Mae'Var. He's a Remove caster. Die then: quickly. An opening Pixie Prick nick knocked him unconscious. He died soon after.

As did his potion chugging broskies. The should have drank potions of get-the-rock-out-of-here instead. The buffs here were potion of defense, potion of stone giant strength, oil of speed, potion of regeneration, Draw on Holy Might, RoAC II, Ilbratha MI.

And so it ends. Sorry I couldn't save you, Lin, but we probably wouldn't have gotten along anyways.

Alia ended the quest with a crit. A job well done, if I may say so. We're off to the Windspear Hills next.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 13, 2023

Alia, Halfling Kensai: Windspear Hills

By now Alia was like Madonna: she was into the groove. The denizens of Firkraag's Pleasure Palace were the next to learn.

The Plath Redege fight is another encounter that could use a spruce up. Firkraag knows of the protagonist, and this crew was sent on an assassination mission. Surely they should be more formidable.

In the Ruhk Transmuter encounter I'm fond of using the kamikaze kobolds as weapons. Alia sent Ras up ahead to trigger them, thus giving us a head start on Ruhk.

Ruhk was fast enough on the ProMW trigger to avoid an ignominious half round defeat.

But he -like virtually every mage in BG- had no answer for EE's The Victor. It's set to level 0, allowing it to bypass spell protections and level immunities, while also cutting through mirror images. I think it's silly and I want the old Victor back but I'm also inclined to let Alia rock it, because her kit severely limits her mage fighting tools. The new Pixie Prick is overpowered too, but I'm willing to let Alia milk that for the same reason. I'm not sure whether solo no reloading a kensai is easier in EE or in a classic install. The new Pixie Prick and Victor make mage fighting simpler, but are they better than critical hit protectection via ioun stone? I'm not sure.

Sorry to interrupt the party, y'all, but I need to introduce you to Azuredge + pro undead. You're gonna love it. I promise.

(I alway feel bad about using pro undead here but I'm sorry: that's way too many ancient and elder vampires for a solo character sans NPP)

The downside of using pro undead is that the vamps vanish, spread out and then show up later. They pop in at the worst times too. Alia tried to get them all, drawing them out with her summons, but she missed a few. That affected the quest later on.

The guardian went quietly, as per usual.

Onto Kaol and the Gang. Alia rested before this because these blokes had the potential to cause grief, especially if a vampire or two joined in.

Here we go now. I'll give you something to celebrate, Kaol.

Legdoril runs Physical Mirror so he has to be taken down in melee. I always, alway, always pause to confirm that he's rocking Slay Living rather than Harm. Physical Mirror + Harm is a problem.

With the Remove and Dispel casters off the field, this fight is mostly over. The only threat is Ferric Ironblade and his PoI stack. Thieves cause Alia grief, since she can't cast True Sight. Dragonslayer will help a little, but only a little. As you can see, Alia took a bit of damage before she ended this one. That was mostly because I didn't want to risk drawing an invisible vampire into the fight by running around.

Alia took down Tazok BG1 style, for the sake of nostalgia. She poisoned him and then nixed him with throwing daggers while he was wretching. Was this necessary? No. Was it fun? Yes. Note that Alia was rocking pro undead here, just in case one of those vamps showed up.

Finally, Conster. I had hoped to give Conster a fair shot in the fight, but then one of the vampires showed up. Alia surely couldn't let a Remove caster live with vamps around.

Thanks to the Pixie Prick she didn't have too. This thing is silly but Alia sure does love it. It's her ticket to ToB.

Best,

A.

OrlonKronsteen · May 13, 2023

I thought the Pixie Prick gave the target a +6 bonus to their save? For that reason, I've never used it.

The Candlekeep Annex: RPed Baldur’s Gate No and Low Reload Adventures

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