BG3 Honour Mode: strategy & tactics (many spoilers)

[Black Elk]

Got him!

Shadowheart used the Glyph of Warding Sleep to put Raphael to bed, then we destroyed all the Pillars before he could transform. Hope banished banished the haters and we were on.

I dropped the globe and Raphael woke up, so we immediately tried for the Majestic Command Halt. This succeeded, but then one his Cambion minions broke my concentration with a melee attack! Fortunately the Air Myrmidon managed a stun. Bought us another round, just to be ridiculous. We decided on Otto's for the closer! Kept it irresistible hehe

Shadowheart whipped out the flute while Minthara hit the lights goodnight!

Somehow we knocked him out upright and mid dance move, just to ice it lol

 

[Black Elk]

I figured out how to hit 24 in CHA using the pointy Birthright cap!

I had been reluctant to respec my main again, because it's such a chore to re-pick all the Bard spells, but I think this is optimal itemization for the Bard with a Wizard dip. Just so that we're not over reliant on the Circlet of Intellect or the DEX gloves.

The way it seems to work, since I have the +1 CHA from Ethel's Hair the +1 from the Patriar's memory, and the +2 from the Mirror secret, that means I only actually need one point from the ASI feat to hit the 24 in Charisma if I'm wearing the Birthright cap which also grants a +2 to CHA

This allowed me to take a pair of 15s in DEX and INT initially so my first feat evens those to 16s for the +3. I think this is the best I'm going to get since 17s don't actually do me much good in terms of more Wizards spells prepared or any extra movement or saves coming from the odd numbers in DEX. We can't push a second stat any higher than a 16 to start anyway, and so it's either an uneven split at the end with a 17 or 15 somewhere, or I can take one of those feats that just adds a +1. I debated here, because there aren't a lot of options. For Intelligence I can take the feat Resilience which would grant proficiency for INT saves. For DEX there are things like Athlete. I can split the ASI to CHA to choose one of those, but instead I decided to become an Actor lol.

It's RP motivated, but doubling my performance and deception seemed like might be fun! Also it's always good to have a fallback plan. We've been doing some modelling work on the side already anyway, and if we ever make it back to the Circus maybe we can persuade our way towards a statue after all?

Here you can see that at lvl 1 respec, Glaive is already hitting 23 CHA, just from her initial 17 in that Attribute plus all those bonuses. So it's a fair bit of work just to get that extra +1 in CHA, but it allows us to re-itemize all the rest of our equipment so that my main Character can get the most out of it all. Dumping CON seems ill advised, but the Amulet of Health has us ready for whatever infusions might be needed there, plus we're always feasting these days. Jaheira finally started making good on all those free lunches, we take extra goodberries in the smoothies now, and it's a pretty decent spread most nights.

I think at this late stage in our career, it's best to build around the Amulet and Gauntlets from Hell, also the pointy hat, since those can't be knocked out of hands with stuff like fear or sunbeam. I did that whole epic battle vs Raphael without my hand crossbows. They were just laying on the floor at the Elfsong Tavern! Our tussle up with Elminster a few nights back, with even more headaches. This gave me pause when I finally realized, like 'damn, good thing it was just the crossbows and not the Dragonstaff!' lol

Doing all that reworking meant giving up my duel wielding feat for a Staff in the off hand, but then we pick up a pretty nice boost to AC if I grab one of those shields +3. Nobody else is going to make better use of Raphael's armor, so I think it makes sense and also from a costuming and stage presence standpoint standpoint.

This side of the Camp is super chill. Everyone just sorta reading and taking notes, practicing for the big time heheh

Minthara keeps trying to work in the Spider lyre and 13 tone dissonance matrices from the Menzo school. A lot of experimentation and underground vibes. Everyone is pretty high in spirits, and pretty high in STR. My favorite thing is to leave off and save/exit while everyone is still playing their instruments, that way when I log back in it's like instantly into a grove. Good times!

I've been working on a new technique called the Electric Lute, for Les Paulina. Basically we use the crackling lightning of Kereska's to create an even more intense sound with a lot of crazy distortion and surprising environmental effects. I'm pretty sure no one has ever heard anything like it before!

 

[Black Elk]

So it's not particular to BG3 or Honour Mode, so much as it is D&D 5th edition, but I find the whole choice between ASI (+1/+2 to ability scores) or an extra feat vs Multi-Class to be pretty underwhelming. In my view there just aren't enough levels in D&D to justify making us wait 4 lvls for stuff like that, having us skip around with dead levels sandwiched inbetween, or levels where we don't hit any major power spikes, or making us choose between ASI and something more interesting for a feat. Also I don't like how there's no difference between a 12 and 13 mechanically for anything, other than what, carrying capacity? Like I get that everything is different now but didn't Drizzt rep a 13 STR for years and years? I mean I guess he just didn't know how to shore up his bonuses hehe.

Also it's a bit frustrating how all the nuance is back loaded at lvl 12 here, where we can't see or mess with most of these options until the game is half over anyway. Like there's really no incentive to struggle through playing out a Multi-class nerf on the front end. The level progression to 12 is replaced by the respec at 12, and base stats are eclipsed by stat bonuses from itemization or special quest interactions during the campaign, and also (mainly) because Withers exists. I understand his inclusion and the rationale to be forgiving there and allow people to retool, or not turn the game into a minmax prognostication slog, but for the game's hardest difficulty mode, it makes zero sense to me.

I also don't think I can be trusted to ignore things that the game is throwing in my face for the obvious optimization paths. The whole idea that a player would ignore merchants or not drink potions, not steal the gold, not explode the barrels etc. but then the game doesn't bother to award anything for doing things the hard way, so why would we? It's all very BG I guess, in the sense that it mostly comes down to whatever the endgame equipment or Attribute Tomes might make possible, but still, it seems like they could have accounted for this a bit more when establishing the various options for the game modes or custom launch settings.

Part of me wants to buck the rules, take the 11 or 13 just because, basically a flavor nerf as a kind of flex, since the equipment is all so powerful anyway. On the flipside, if just doing the normal standard thing, it almost doesn't matter what we wear or which items we equip. Like I can jump through all these hoops, taking random feats skills or levels in a multi to unlock some item that gives the +1 to whatever. But usually at the end of the day it's like did I actually even need the +1? Is there really enough difference between a +6 and a +7 at the high end to justify all this busywork? I mean I'm here, so I guess that answers the question, but I think this sort of minmax pre-plotting is immediately undermined by other stuff like potions and gloves which just blow it all to pieces. Advantage sorta pancakes everything anyway, so in the end it all feels very cosmetic somehow.

If it's mostly cosmetic, or RP oriented, then I just wish they'd have made ASI part of the standard level progression and not framed as a feat that needs to be taken in place of other feats. Or they could have made the splits more workable. For example, Player gets +1 to ASI automatically every 4 lvls in their chosen Attribute, and then have more Flavor Feats that give a +1 to Attributes along with something else. Right now I think the feats that offer a +1 and some sort of combat advantage are pretty hard to ignore, so basically feats like Heavy Armor that gives the +1 STR, or Tavern Brawler that gives a +1 to STR or CON, seems like each attribute could have had at least 1 feat that made it seem special. Resilience feels weird, because I'm already going to be proficient from my Class choices anyway. There are basically too many traps here I think, and I think a newer player would struggle to piece it all together. The game doesn't really teach us much in this regard. Like someone chooses Dungeon Delver thinking it will probably save their life at least once vs a pit-trap, but of course it never does. Meanwhile something like an Alert to initiative for every single encounter, or a +1 to attack/save roles that we'll make like 1,000 times before the campaign concludes. It's just super uneven there.

Actor does not make much sense as a feat, like almost anything would be better probably. It'll probably never be useful, except for when it is... hehe

Busker!



That's a good name for a Forgotten Realms dog. I would pay 10,000 Gp for a statue of all the dogs together, basically a giant fountain for the Rivington Dog park. Our plan is to take over the kennels and the Circus of Last Days, and just do like we've got Betty Davis eyes. All the hounds invited to the party! Our hair, like our dice, is hollow gold, but we play a mean flute!

Achievement achieved! lol

 

[OrlonKronsteen]

Great observations. It seems like pure laziness that they only made the even numbers matter. I understand that +1 at every increment would lead to insane bonuses by 18, but in this day and age - when you could use a phone app for rolling even in table top - there's no reason to stay with d20.

The exploding barrels and all that... yeah, I don't use any of that. And I must say, I've never observed such of a min-max culture as I have with this game.

 

[Black Elk]

One of the things that's particularly frustrating about BG3 not receiving a sequel or expansion, is that I think they missed a real chance to do more party vs party antics. I don't mean like a pvp for a Multiplayer mode, although that would have been a cool option, but more like when the Party encounters another adventuring party of NPCs. NPCs who are all equipped and kitted out in Player Character fashion and using those standard abilities for whatever class or level. As opposed to monsters or some special boss who has access to special spells or abilities, I just would like to see more goon squads using the same moves that a solid party of PCs might use.

All my favorite encounters in BG1 were when we get interrupted by another party of bounty hunter or goons of that sort, facing off against another team of 'humans' basically, or where maybe they have one half orc or half ogre, but you know what I mean right? Sorta the best we get for that in the whole game is when we're forced to defeat ourselves in the Gauntlet of Shar, but that's just a one off here.

I think part of learning how to play a game like this would maybe be something more like that, where we learn how to do it by having it done to us. Or basically we mirror what the opposing party does, or learn about how to counter certain tactics that way. I feel like after the lvl 5 power spike, we almost never encounter an enemy who will use best in class abilities against us. For example, the magic spells which are used against the party, these seem to totally plateau midway through Act II. After we get to stuff like Hypnotic Pattern or Fireball, the enemies we face just don't really use any higher level spells against the party. If they do it's always framed as some sort of legendary or monstrous ability, with like a different name or different mechanics applying. But I just mean the more standard stuff, like say an enemy Wizard who casts something like Ice Storm against us or Disintegrate, or an enemy Cleric who casts Spirit Guardians to start running around and nailing all our summons, that sort of thing. We end up fighting Myrmidons and such, but not like a Moon Druid in Myrmidon form. We fight an enemy who casts Chain lightning, but it has to be an Undead Dragon with puzzler gimmicks to avoid getting nailed by it.

I've probably cast Firewall and the Globe of Invulnerability like a thousand times, but when was it ever used against us? That fight vs Elminster at the Elfsong might have been the first time I ever got hit by a Sunbeam, or at least by one that I didn't accidentally cast vs myself lol. During the first Act and to a lesser extent Act II, things are paced out pretty well, and we do fight monsters or enemies that follow the formula of trying to balance the party vs what is effectively a party of Gobs. You know they'll be the Warlock Goblin, and the Goblin Priest, the Fighter Goblin or the Archer etc, but then by the time we get to Act III, the various Guards we end up battling all feel pretty similar to the Absolute Cultists we face at Moonrise. You'll get your Smite heavy hitters, and then your ranged Spellcasters and usually it's sorta 2 notes there for the types of tricks they'll try using.

One of the things that got me a little bit excited about the new subclasses was the idea that we might have to face down an Arcane Archer or a Drunken Monk or whatever as an enemy. I thought maybe we'd get waylaid a couple more times for flare, but it's just not set up that way. I also would like to have seen a way into the base campaign where it doesn't feel like I'm leaving half the story on the table, if I don't recruit literally all of the Origin characters into the camp/party.

I decided to roll an Arcane Archer myself all the same, since it was sorta the least interesting to me, I think I've played most of the others in some fashion by now, just reclasses the Origin Companions in whatever run. I don't feel like it fits Lae'zel super well, like I don't know, ever since she could hold a blade she dreamed of trading it in for a longbow? lol. I find it annoying that all the Bows in this game are just default weaker in every way than a similarly scaled Crossbow. Light Crossbow is better than a Shortbow, Heavy Crossbow is better than a Longbow, just a baseline +2 to damage with no downside in terms of speed or range or whatever. Every ranged weapon has the same range, 18 meters, like OK. Guess the only reason to use a Bow is for the specials.

This is Brigandine, my boiler plate human Archer...

She's super committed to rocking that standard issue Ringmail and Warpick we found in the Dank Crypt. Or at least until we can find something better. I did consider playing the Lae'zel origin, since she's clearly my favorite character and there is probably some couple hidden lines that would be cool to hear. But I just find the whole experience weirdly dead and offputting. Like where the dialogue Responses and the various standard or [Githyanki] options just never feel like something she would actually do or say. Even when slamming the spacebar through every dialogue, I miss her running banter and her camp tent. I noticed that if playing as Lae'zel, we get a Longbow immediately from Losiir. Also in her Origin run the 2 Tieflings by the cage are already dead, and also have slightly better loot, which I thought was interesting. Shadowheart's reaction to Lae'zel is pretty different if running her as an origin as well, so it just feels very odd somehow. I couldn't get into it. Like my Tav Arcane Archer is essentially just Brynna with a better hair stylist, but at least when Brigandine is totally mute for most the game I don't really notice. If it's Lae'zel going all tight lipped, I definitely notice hehe. Without Lae'zel just feels like only half a game to me.

For that one Shadowheart igmissed both commands, so no Flaming Sword. I took that as probably a sign that we should stay focused on our ranged attacks lol

 

[Black Elk]

Arcane Archer has actually been pretty entertaining thus far!

I went with Exploding Arrow which does a pretty wide AoE radius similar to fireball, Piercing Arrow which also does an AoE but in a line like lightning, then seeking arrow in case the target is hiding around a corner. Not sure if they're the best arrows, but seemed pretty decent.

I immediately had to go back to camp and rework my Abilities at Withers, since being an Archer seemed to recommend a higher Dex. I flipped my 17 and dropped a hitpoint for a decent STR. I just feel like being a fighter with low STR is weird, even if crazy potions exist. 16 Felt realistic anyway, since all that tension and being able to manage a decent draw.

I blew straight past Gale, and so decided to allow Astarion to pursue Arcane Trickster, mainly so he could get some use of the Spellthief Longbow and just so we'd have somebody else to be a pretend Wizard. I wanted to pick up some snacks before bringing Gale on board. I did the Harpies right away just to get a feel for things, sorta walking right into it. Explosive arrows were pretty reliable. Then I went to grab Scratch and Karlach. I figured Lae'zel would need a passing Greatsword and we didn't have the Everburning Blade so went after the Paladins and Gnolls before the Gobs. The Exploding Piercing Arrow combo was pretty badass, basically like getting off 2 or 3 shots per attack. It feels similar to Battlemaster in that I have a couple choices to make per attack, but nothing too heady.

So far so fun! Still wish there was another area with more goon squads roaming around. I took Andric's armor for an upgrade, but still rocking the Hunters Bow. I figured it would be good for Shadowheart eventually. Probably the Electrobow for myself, when we get to Waukeens. I'm pretty sure I'll need Astarion to have a shot at something better, if gus fast hands are fast enough for the task hehe.

Aiming for the full Errol Flynn, that Titanstring bow, so we can really let loose!

 

[Black Elk]

I actually ended up giving the Electro bow to Astarion as well. I don't like the glow effect they put on all these Magical bows, and how they all seem to clip into my shoulder.

It's just another instance of like 'why highlight and call attention to the things that look janky like that?' I probably wouldn't even notice if it wasn't glowing purple or green, or if every longbow except for the mundane regular longbow didn't have a bunch of random spiky bits. The super longbows are all these giant composite monstrosities, whereas the shortbow seems like a bow that would actually work and get the job done.

The shortbow just has a better and more iconic look to me, and doesn't seem as out proportion when worn on my back. I think they should have called it a warbow, just to make it sound cooler hehe. I don't particularly like how Hand Crossbows are so powerful. I got spoiled a bit with playing the Bard. Even though the visual there looks even more uncomfortable on the back hehe. It would probably still make more sense to be a Two Weapon fighter as opposed to an Archer, just so I could equip a Hand Crossbow in my offhand for an extra ranged weapon attack per turn. You know like all those punk Githyanki crossbowers at the Creche. Getting an extra shot off for the cost of a bonus action is pretty crazy. It's harder to compete with that just using the regular bows.

Seems like they could have made the extra bonus action shot more of a standard thing for the regular bows, if they wanted crossbows to hit harder that there could be a trade off in the speed of bow attacks. Instead the way it seems to work, when using the normal 2 handed ranged weapons like bows the benefit is mostly just to accuracy. So landing more attacks generally, but with less dmg over the long haul unless I go into the arrow tedium.

Unlike other weapon types where the damage scales a lot more as I grab better enchanted versions of the weapon, say a +1 or +2, for an Archer this requires juggling a lot more stuff. More inventory type tedium to make sure that my ranged attacks are being enhanced somehow, whether by using the Dip action, or coating, or specialty shots like going for the hamstrings. Or of course just using enchanted arrows for like every attack.

This last can be a little frustrating because the types of enchanted arrows we get are typically an AoE type arrow that creates a surface like the Acid Arrow or a cloud like the Darkness Arrow. For precision the barbed arrow and arrow of many targets seem a lot better, like if I have another character in the melee nearby. I find myself missing stuff like just a generic arrow +1 or +2 that does slightly more damage consistently without requiring other flare. Otherwise to make effective use of my ranged attack perks it sorta becomes necessary for everyone in the party to focus primarily on ranged weapon attacks in the opening salvo. That's rarely the burstiest thing we could do, like having Lae'zel pop off a crossbow bolt or an arrow is usually not going to do anywhere near the dmg she can lay down if I send her into the thick of it with her greatsword. It feels a bit strange to me to use things like misty step to move away from the enemy rather than towards them lol.

I thought about using the regular Hand Axe and Shield because it seemed like the sort of weapon that would make sense. Like it seemed potentially useful for fletching maybe, and also the bonus to AC to manage the many counter shots from ranged enemy attackers I'm likely to endure. From BG1 I'm all used to the archetype where it would make more sense to just have a spear or a polearm or maybe a longsword with more reach. Though I would probably rather have a sword. I feel like a Fighter, even with a focus on Archery, is still going to be mostly a regular Fighter who uses a melee weapon in the melee. Why I was reluctant to dump STR, and also because jumping is pretty important to get the high ground extra range and such. Overall I think the verticality and things like that in BG3 don't really recommend Archery as a primary tactic, just cause targeting and cam control can be really annoying, also the weird arcs and strange sightlines, railing that can't be shot around or doors that can't be shot through. I had a few camera stutters where I ended up aiming at the ground or some random object hehe.

 

[Black Elk]

A couple screens, showing the bows I mean...

You can see comparing those Longbows that Lae'zel and Astarion are sporting vs the Shortbows that Shadowheart and Brigandine have equipped.

Astarion's is doing the shoulder/head clip here, which I think would be harder to see if the drawstring wasn't glowing lol.

Hunter's Mark from the Shortbow was giving me better dmg that I would have received from the longbow with higher base dmg, just cause of the piercing bonus and since it's relatively easy to keep that one up in combat. Basically I pickup the ranger type bonus, since that's one of their better long haul abilities. I think it's the best we can do short of the Titanstring which is pretty expensive at this point. I could try to steal it, but I remembered last time regretting not grabbing some other stuff from Brem before making that attempt, so I think I will just rock it. Usually I would say it's a bit annoying if they throw such a nice weapon at me immediately for a pretty low cost, but in this case I like the visual and the perk, so no complaints there really.

I think for the Longbows Lae'zel can definitely pull it off, though if anyone is primed to Crossbow it's probably her. Lae'zel ended up with the Electro bow for now. I keep passing it around hehe. Maybe I could take Crossbow expert and make that sort of Lae'zel's thing, or just GWF while I do the more trickshot stuff. Building around a pair of fighters is sorta tough, though I feel like Lae'zel would appreciate our moves so I like having her around. I still haven't rescued Gale from the Netherese portal, so Astarion is having to do a lot of trickster stuff to keep pace. I had a hard time deciding there whether fogcloud or jump would be better, ended up taking jump, but I'm not sure if we'll be keeping him around this run. He puts up solid ranged dmg at the start but then sorta flames out. I think I'd rather have Shadowheart pretend to be the rogue, so we can slot in Gale now that I have a few items to feed his arcane hunger. I'm just trying to make it a point to burn through my arrows almost as soon as I pick them up, rather than saving them like I usually do. Seems like I always end up with way more arrows than I can use in most runs, so it's kinda fun to just blow through them all, and unleash on random Goblins to try and one shot them.

Takes a lot of getting used to for me. The targeting scheme is something I struggle with anytime I way over or below the horizon line. Even if my settings inverted for Y Axis the game like to throw stuff at me that suddenly feels like I'm driving a boat when aiming, though I mostly used to it by now that's still a bit rough. I think maybe Banishing arrow would have been a better choice than the seeking arrow which I've only used a few times. Exploding arrow is my go to since it seems to put up the most damage for an opening shot.

 

[Black Elk]

Good plan! lol

Took a smokepowder grenade straight to the grill. Not quite sure how I managed it, but somehow we intimidated the Windmill Gobs into pretending to leave but then instantly restarting the combat again. Got nailed pretty hard by surprise.

Astarion's bite night was super ill timed. I didn't even intend to stake him, but my health was so low after that, just kept spamming space bar to get through the convo and oh ouch.

I mean I get that he was probably on death's door following that encounter, but then so was I, so I mean honestly what did he expect? The entire party was already exsanguinated, like just put a straw the floor dude. Instead he went for my neck, and got insta stuck. He's basically taking a nap in his new coffin now, the camp chest. Bit of a bust, since I hadn't even stolen anything yet!

Even though it was an accident, Lae'zel at least had the good sense to back us up I suppose. The game does have a way of making me regret and feel depressed about my choices in the moment. Like just seeing the empty spot where the tent would be, and the certain knowledge that nobody is ever going to come looking for him. As if his existence was entirely pointless and completely inconsequential. It'd be different if there was some follow up encounter with Gandrel or whoever, maybe Cazador sends some minions or something? I think the camp arrangement should have been more dynamic where we set the locations of the characters/tents. That way I could fill in whatever gaps with zombies or something. Instead the impression I get is just that the place feels more empty. Like maybe some hay bales so I could take some practice shots without being afraid the dog is going to run right past me. As it stands the camp is the last place I would test my explosive arrows, ever since the Elminster thing last run.

 

[Black Elk]

She aimed just a bit too high...

Trying to get a Githyanki greatsword early was probably ill advised.

We failed deception vs Voss and then got just nailed. I summoned the Ogres and drank an invisibility potion, but the Ogres got killed and then Sarth Baretha spotted us. About as quickly as shot our exploding arrows could explode it was up in smoke. Arcane archer was more amusing than I expected, though I think my desire to set up trick shots and open combats with the bursting bolts may have gotten me into trouble. I probably should have opened with an arrow rather than a conversation but I thought Lae'zel might turn against us. By the time we got to our feet everyone was dead, and we should couldn't dash that extra mile. Fitting probably, if I'd kept the vamp he might have had the extra bonus action to save us all, but Wyll didn't even get off a single spell lol.

Too bad we couldn't convince Ellyka to join the team. Seems like something they could have made possible. I mean Karlach was just some random Tief initially. Should have been like half a dozen Tiefs and they just give us a grab bag generic set of barks for all of them? Alas

Undone by 'detect presence' would have been better to drink then jet, I did the opposite but she ran right over. Spotted me for her gang then drank an invisibility potion herself as if to taunt us! lol. Better luck next time I suppose

 

[Black Elk]

With each new honorable death, a new Nautiloid meta! hehe

This time the Chest Stall...

So here the plan was to use one of the cartilaginous treasure chests as a barricade to delay the Cambions. Idea is that the one Cambion gets angry and stops to stab the chest, so they're both grouped together and we have an extra turn to escape before they get into firebolt range. I'm not sure if it's better to load up and use all 4 Nautiloid tanks at once, or to save one or maybe two tanks to just throw once the whole tunnel is on fire? This time I just brought everything I could carry including a couple corpses to make like a scary scarecrow.

In order to grab the tanks on the Bridge I first use Shadowheart to cast command (she will run to the shortest distance to cast) then I jump from that position to the single pod, and pull it close enough for me to pickup and send either to Lae'zel or my main. Then I use Lae'zel's mage hand to grab the other 2 pods and shift them towards a character who can grab them.

The stall worked, but I goofed my dip into the fire, so I didn't have a way to ignite my carefully set up trap! Go figure lol.

Going to try again probably since it seems like it should work in principle. I think it might be more consistent than lining up the tanks for the daisy chain like I had been doing. This way at least I can get both Cambions right next to each other to hopefully do the max damage.

 

[Black Elk]

The Ballad of Harvard Willoughby!

So after getting the recklessness and a few honorable deaths out of my system, I returned to the bards. We left off just after the Busker. I felt like this would be tough to top and that we'd probably need all the help we could get to bring sound vs Gortash. More cowbell! Or something along those lines.

The battle at the Inn was actually pretty tough, mainly cause I didn't prepare at all and was trying to avoid getting too many civilians involved. Just sorta winging it and feeling out the crowd like we tend to do.

Anyhow, this was the move to get the mysterious egg, and then the super Sheep...

Bah!

 

[Black Elk]

So this guy has to be the most powerful summon in the game right? Just for being able to cast the 6th level spell Wall of Thorns. It's one of those awkward higher level Wall spells that just doesn't seem to be super useful when compared with Wall of Fire or an upcasted Wall of Fire. I mean Wall of Stone/Ice/Thorns etc, those spells are all outclassed by other spells at the same level in my view, but since 'Nature's Vengeance' is a summoned Pet with nothing better to cast, it's pretty useful to have in the arsenal.

His HP is a little lowball, but like all the other summons, can be feasted to boost that a bit. The Sheep already has immunity to Fire (except for when he blows himself up I guess), so with the other resistances from Heroes Feast added on top he's pretty hard for the enemy to hit.

Harvard Willoughby is also a pretty clear example of Larian's bizarro approach to some of these things. The Sheep is not part of any questline. There are no clues or guesses that would naturally lead the player to doing the things that have to be done in sequence to unlock him. First you have to kill the random dude, then ring both bells (the one in the City and the Rivingting temple) and then return to the pet pen where the Owlbear Cub and Scratch like to hang out for the egg to appear. It feels like an inside joke included by the developers, more than something that was intended to be experienced even by the most completionist of players. It's effectively a meme and the only way one would know it existed at all is from some ecnountering some meme or a datamined leak or whatever. Still it's pretty Epic, even for all that.

I suppose one of the things that reminded me of Street Fighter II, or at least Street Fighter II in the States, is that when that game came out it had no rulebook or manual, and no guide to making the various special moves. To learn how to do them you'd have to like learn from some other random kid, or read about it in a magazine I guess. This is a bit like that, the Handcuff or maybe or the blue fireball. The only difference between this guy and the other OP summons is that, in order to resummon Harvard, you have to go all the way back to Rivington again and do the mysterious egg again.

Here he is enthroned in his chthonic aspect- All hail!

Bah!

 

[Black Elk]

Our Fiery Friend

The Ballad of Harvard Willoughby ended much like it began, with a bang lol

The Black Hand of Bane nearly knocked us out of the running TPK, when Gortash's specter of Tyranny managed to Dominate Glaive. Dark Glaive dropped the Dome and then drew the most deadly Opportunity Attack of All, the one which causes Harvard Willoughby to forget his immunity to fire and explode. Nailed a lvl 6 necroslap and an OOA bonus slap but the sound check was brutal!

I thought all was lost, but then remembered Shadowheart's divine intervention. The most opulent of all!
As if fully rested I was able to restore the Globe, and we had just enough juice to press the fight. Jaheira was in the far room and so unable to benefit from the heal, but she Transformed into the Owlbear for the HP cushion and we kept fighting. Minthara was busy landing the critical smites. She fully died in the process, but it was enough to push us over the edge. Air Elemental with the killshot, then we held steady in the Globe for 2 more rounds for all the bombs to go off, and for the Bane magic to wear off.

Sadly the Sheep gave it everything he had MVP! It was scapegoat escape, but pretty worth it. He did manage to pull of that Thorn wall, which set us up by pinning Gortash for just long enough so that the Djinni could do his whirlwind trap. I ended up dropping the Thornwall to have Harvard focus on Lightning strikes vs the furniture, but he was only around for a couple turns before the whole Dominance and dueling Globes fiasco.

Immortalized in song, joining the pantheon of honorable legends. Harvard Willoughby will never rise again, it seems, after the explosive finale, but it was fun while it lasted lol

 

[Black Elk]

This was pretty interesting, during the Dragon trials everyone back at camp decided to join the combat somehow?

I think Us got caught in the vines left over from the Woodland being while we were transitioning from camp back to the Dragon's den, and so remained stuck back at camp. But then when Minthara lifted the torch Us pulled the whole Rivington camp into the fray.

They really pumped up the jam there, and kept running towards what I can only assume is some invisible wall connecting the Rivington camp area to the secret Dragon sanctum. Basically casting Bardic inspiration and such on each other. It was encouraging to see Mizora and Ravengard and everybody get all amped up with buffs, while I kept clicking end turn and hoping it wouldn't turn into another Elminster type situation hehe. I mean I almost had a heart attack at first, like 'wait what?'

The Globe held, everything returned to normal after, but I swear those entangling vines that get left over every time the Woodland Being is unsummoned! lol Just stumming along hitting the beats now.

I think the game would have benefited from more banter and barks, just about everything else gets the spacebar slam, but quality banter that just sorta happens on the fly makes it feel real. More zots on that would have been solid I think. It went a bit quiet for a while, but then picked up again when I cycled the party around to level. I think it would have been cool to see more combat barks, and barks mid encounter, similar to the barks we got back on the Nautiloid, but themed towards whatever was happening. Running commentary barks based not so much on the party comp as things like which enemy is being faced, or perhaps in response to move or spell that was just cast. That would have been a nice touch, mostly I just have to pretend on that, and whatever banter we get happens while running around at random intervals hehe.

 

[Black Elk]

"The honourable adventurer fights with more mettle than most, but they die like any other"

Of course it would be the Dragon to burst our bubble! lol

We fought hard for recovery, and almost got back to our feet and the safety of a globe scroll, but the Dragon was too fast and did a big stomp to launch us all outside of the protective dome. I tossed all the super health potions and in an act of desperation the Flask! At first it seemed things might turn our way Dragon vs Beholder, but alas we were unable to remain hidden in the corner and got got. It was the top of the pops! But even with a bunch of critical hits under our belt, we still got took!

Blowing all that cash on all that flash, instead of another globe scroll, it really came back to shock us in the end! hehe

oh no!!!

Although we got blasted into the next plane of existence that time, merging with the sound and the electricity, at least we kept it glam on the way down lol. One for the Spectators!

 

[OrlonKronsteen]

Sorry about your run, Black Elk! It must sting to make it that far.

 

[Black Elk]

Another run with a very similar trajectory...

Cyan eye'd Din got thoroughly caught up in his torch romance with Karlach, and just made a terrible decision running on impulse lol

We had it all lined up, the main Runepowder kaboom from Wulbren, something like 30 smoke powder grenades, a backup Kaboom from Philomeen etc. Enough to really light it up at the coronation, but alas we forgot the 2 most important things! To drink a potion of vigilance and remembering to have Karlach 'Hide' after casting improved invisibility on her! Getting that close again must have been too much, and she just couldn't resist a last word! hehe Gortash then proceeded to run the other direction, while we got immediately maimed and then detonated by the Robocops before we could peel away

Many Dins have seen their destinies unravel just from the desire to punk Gortash in the Throne room. I mean honestly what do they expect us to do with these insane munitions presented to us immediately beforehand. But then of course things get hectic pretty quick and Ravengard is hostile. I chose the Attack option from the dialogue menu which I figured would give us the element of surprise. Trying to switch characters mid line didn't give us control over anyone else, like to quaff a potion or whatever, we were basically locked in, just hoping not to get screwed by the initiative order, which of course had us our trigger Tief downed, and then my main, and then a Robot decided he was going to light the fuse himself?! Ouch!

The Attack was Reckless, to be sure lol

Seems like every time I try to get her Karlach in on the Bane action, things just go horribly awry. Too bad cause I blasted straight through Rivington just going straight for the jugular and making excellent time, well before the timer when 'click' and we had to eat all that force damage.

This is why it's good to have a couple backup Dins, or an extra witch angling to make it into Act II, just so it doesn't feel like too much of a kick to the grill. I think it's up to Cadillac Din now for getting Nimbus over the line, but he still has to defeat the Colony below moonrise. Bit of a bust honestly. It's probably because we're not wearing enough black, my guess, but every mod needs to be updated it seems, so I'm still running it all vanilla. I ran into some kinks with Alfira, they seem to be pretty determined to make it very difficult to keep her around in the Durgey runs. It still works if the goal is just to have her appear in Act II/III which I was able to pull off using Hold Person and Non Lethal. Lot of work just for Potent robes that I didn't even end up wearing. I think the robes Araj sells look cooler anyway, even if I lose +1 to AC going that route, had the nicer lookin' Green to me.

I guess that won't be a problem for Pink Din since he has the snake armor from the dip into Death Cleric. For that one Shadowheart reclassed to the Life Domain, so we wouldn't be all stepping on each other's toes.

 

[Black Elk]

Back on track!

This time we're not going to get caught slippin' at Wyrm's Rock!

I traded out the Pink Adamantine armor for the Yuan-Ti Scale Mail. Immediately dyed it Black, or as close as we could get... lol

Fingers crossed! hehe

 

[Black Elk]

Reflecting on my dips

So I think I have a kind of tier list for the various Multi-Classed Dins, based mostly on my spellcaster playstyle.

I still think Wizard Dip is tough to top here. No other dip is going to give us the option for casting spells at the Character lvl right on the power curve. I thought I wouldn't be able to write lvl 6 spells, but that wasn't the case for my 1/11 Bard. Instead I think earlier I was playing as a D'wizard and trying to do a 2/10 split there which may have thrown me off. Pretty sure in order to write a Globe or Chain Lightning, it needs to be the 1/11 split just to hit the lvl 6 spellslot with a known spell, at which point a Wizard could write something down using their prepared list at that level.

I still find the spellslot progression in BG3/5e pretty confusing. Full Caster, Half Caster, Quarter Caster, Non Caster (unless they pick a subclass like EK or Trickster) then Pact Magic for the Warlock, which is like the most confusing lol. I think Warlock Combos seem fine as long as we're dipping into it, not out of it, and also not taking it as the last lvl at 12. Just because it doesn't combine with the other spellslots to give anything extra on top. Warlock seems like mainly would be just for the Blast to scale with char lvl, and then one flavor spell like Hex or whatever. Hexblade has alright options since that has the weapon perk at lvl 1, everything else feels like you gotta go 2 lvls for the extra warlock slot and agonizing/repelling blast, but then sorta defeats the purpose at the high end. I think that's what I did there as well when I tried to mix warlock into things, like a 2/10 Warlock Wizard split when I tried Necromancy. In any case I think the 1/11 split is probably better. Reason is because we don't get a second lvl 6 spellslot anyway. It's capped at a single cast at that the max, instead we get another lower lvl spellslot when we hit Char lvl 12.

Would have been nice if they'd just picked a word other than 'level' for char level and spell level, since it's always been confusing hehe.

At Char Level 12, Spells are

Level 1: 4 slots
Level 2: 4 slots
Level 3: 3 slots
Level 4: 3 slots
Level 5: 2 slots
Level 6: 1 slot

Then from Halycon couple years back

Caster Level 1: 2 Level 1 Slots
Caster Level 2: 3 Level 1 Slots
Caster Level 3: 4 Level 1 Slots, 2 Level 2 Slots
Caster Level 4: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots
Caster Level 5: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 2 Level 3 Slots
Caster Level 6: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots
Caster Level 7: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots, 1 Level 4 Slot
Caster Level 8: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots, 2 Level 4 Slots
Caster Level 9: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots, 3 Level 4 Slots, 1 Level 5 Slot
Caster Level 10: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots, 3 Level 4 Slots, 2 Level 5 Slot
Caster Level 11: 4 Level 1 Slots, 3 Level 2 Slots, 3 Level 3 Slots, 3 Level 4 Slots, 2 Level 5 Slot, 1 Level 6 Slot
Caster Level 12: (No Change)

So working backward from there the best split for me would seem to be the Full caster splits, basically 1/11 if trying to get the most out of it, like eating a feat at lvl 12 but not really losing out on anything in terms of the spellslots, and while still having a known lvl 6 spell.

I have trouble deciding. With Cleric we get the best overall Weapons and Armor proficiencies, also the best spell in the game, Sanctuary hehe. Plus we get to pray to Tiamat which is a nice touch. We get a lot in terms of itemization for the lvl 1 dip there, and Wisdom is a pretty importance save. The Domain list for Clerics has some pretty nice flavor options, even if they all sorta follow the same rubric at lvl 1. Druid feels like it would be the next best, mainly for their flashy cantrips and lvl 1 support spells like for rituals, but they don't get to pick a god from the list and they lack a ranged weapon by default which is a bit of a bust. Sorcerer is awkward mainly because I need to get two Prime attributes working, and there's no Circlet of Wisdom to make that convenient. I think Meta Magic from Sorcerer is more powerful than anything a Wizard can do, mainly because of Distant spell. Ideally we would somehow combine Sorcerery with Cleric of Tiamat and Wizardry for the freebies but it puts off a slot at the top end, since we need to know a lvl 6 spell to write one as Wizard, and there we'd cap out at lvl 5s. I'd still have the slot to upcast something, but not to write the Globe or Chain Lightning. Not that it really matters when one can just sorta steal scrolls, but it doesn't comport with my sense of class fantasy, or multiclass fantasy absurdity I guess lol.

Din just wants to do it all I guess. Currently Cadillac Din is definitely pretty broke as we enter Act III. I think he must have blown past large sections of the early game and skipped over some items. The helmet from the top of the Monastery would have been nice, but pretty sure we skipped that one. The Gloves of the Belligerent Skies are somewhere, I think maybe Gale's inventory? It can be tough when juggling many Dins at once to remember what's what. I think one of the strengths of the game is also a main pitfall, namely how itemization supersedes class fantasy and most other considerations, since there's like always some way to use itemization to go pretty far beyond what would be possible with just the standard class abilities and mundane equipment. With the right scrolls, the right potions, the right gloves, you can essentially transform class on the fly. Unless I choose to get myself arrested where we are temporarily stripped of items, there's really no extended point in the game where the player is forced to rely only on what comes over just from their class and base attributes.

Without taking consumables and enchanted equipment into consideration I think the most powerful or versatile multiclass combos would be pretty different. Also the short resting between encounters rather than long resting is almost entirely elective here, I mean except for a few main set pieces where we are stuck in a hostile environment and have to stretch the rest, but for the most part it's up to the player. Ethel's lair, beneath the Creche, the Colony beneath Moonrise etc. anywhere the minimap glows red. There are more in Act III but even most of these still allow for a Long Rest either by just backtracking or via some sort of restoration pod, fountain, whatever. Plus potions of Angelic slumber or Divine Intervention etc, there's almost always some way to recharge. Classes that focus on Short Rest or pushing on without rest are just not as useful overall when compared to their burstier counterparts the way I seem to do things. I think this gives an incentive to make the already hybrid type Classes even more hybridized, with more multiclasses than would otherwise make sense, or at least sans items or scrolls to prop them up. Here we just sleep in the hallways right outside the door, like the same we would in BG1. All our Wizards and Sorcerers and S'wizard whatevers, they can all sleep standing up lol.

Unfortunately for Philomeen, I didn't have enough gold make the trade this time. Mostly on account of buying a kushigo hood and some other random stuff from Quartermaster Talli, that nobody will ever wear lol. I just feel like we should get some sort of extra special bonus if I somehow blast Gortash. But then I also worry that we don't have enough minions or money at lvl 9. I'm not sure if it's possible to chip him down completely, unless maybe we take the Alert feat instead of trying to showboat with an 18 in Wisdom. But then I also want to use the Dragon Staff. For some reason I always blow the Mithril on Armor thinking I'll sell it, when probably the shield would have been more useful hehe. In case Karlach goes full Veronica on us again