BG3 Honour Mode: strategy & tactics (many spoilers)

[Black Elk]

I figured I'd just start a thread specifically for this, cause even though every honorable death feels like a big emotional moment, I didn't want to spam the screenshot thread too hard lol.

So this is the hardest difficulty setting now, but the big thing that distinguishes it from Tactician is the single save file aspect. This is a pretty major difference from the other difficulty modes, and changes the meta quite a lot. It just has a whole other psychology to it when you can't reload at all.

I've beaten the game a couple times now Tactician, but I can't remember ever feeling too terribly stressed out there, cause a reload might only scrap like 30 minutes of gameplay as opposed to say 30 hours, which changes the sunk cost calculus a fair bit.

As an example, if Shadowheart fails to command Zhalk to drop his Everburning blade in the prologue, you might just start again to get that very nice weapon, but once you've hit the beach and have already been playing for a few hours the little stuff starts to add up. I find some things are more important to me personally than others. I get a little depressed if I can't save the Owlbear Cub and that will kill my motivation a fair bit, whereas if Mirkon gets say nailed by the Harpies, that might be a bummer, but not the end of the world for me lol. I'm not a the best player, so this is just some stuff I've been trying out to help ice it in Act 1.

The first and most important thing would be to "Ungroup" and leave one active party member at a safe distance, just so I can have a failsafe. This way if my murder squad goes down, at least I'll have one person left standing to resurrect the fallen at camp. I can't think of really any situation where I'd rather risk losing the save to TPK, than just being out a couple hundred gold to Withers.

When I ungroup like that, the 4th active party member can keep an eye on the exits in case everything goes sideways and escape to resurrect if needs be. If I keep the 4th person nearby, having them hidden is also good, just in case I get spillover from a combat, so they don't get pulled into initiative unless that's part of the plan. Otherwise they can stay at camp with 200 gp and this will take a lot of pressure off. The challenge of running a 3 person party comp is then offset by not having to fret off a total wipe in some of the tougher encounters.

Recruiting a Zombie from Withers gets revivify scroll and 2 potions along with some equipment that can be sold. It's nice to have someone who can cast the spell Longstrider, since that's a daily. A druid can go around camp and ritually cast that on everyone, then they cast Goodberry, which trades spellslots for heals/camp supplies to start chipping away at that sink.

It cost's 200 gold to recruit and respec Class if I want someone who has the right visual for my taste. Here I had Byrnna come back for that purpose, Although she changed her name to Maddala Deadeye when she went outlaw hehe.

She converted from Rogue Cleric of the Absolute to the Druidic faith hehe. I also like Sunblossom to do the same (I usually make her look like a young Jaheira from BG1). Together they can pretty much handle the camp supplies just from gathering goodberries.

If you need to you can also cycle between party members to conserve spellslots, so instead of just waiting around at camp doing nothing, all the companions can become an actual resource in that way. So like for the pair above, either can sub in with a wildshape to tank for a couple encounters or to clear out the trash mobs.

I found this helpful for the Goblin camp if knocking out Minthara, or for Nere in Grymforge, or any time sensitive type quest where you need to stretch your rests, but can still access your camp.

Having 6 companions means basically two sets for a 3-person-party comp, per long rest. So pretty much double the standard in terms of spellslots, if you can remember to make use of all your companions. You can also have 3 Withers zombies at a time, so triple the spellslots per long rest there, if you hire them on too.

This is not something I'd have considered much in other modes, but it can make a pretty big difference in this one. Might make a low sleep/no sleep run a lot more viable. I'm not sure I'd try for that Nightmare on Elmstreet myself, for me it was more just finding a way to stretch the rest for when you need to run a lot of encounters in succession without long resting.

Inspiration is a more valuable than Approval. This is another big change here for the no-reload mode. In the other modes I'd try to prioritize approval and inspiration was mostly a timesaver, but here it's mission critical. Being able to persuade Lump to smash someone else on your behalf, or not getting got at the Zaithisk, that sort of stuff.

Since a lot will come down to routing or doing stuff in an order that offers the path of least resistance till you hit the power spikes from xp. Or just cause you really want to play a Lute maybe lol

Here was a comically terrible recent playthrough...

In that one Halsin and Minthara both died at the Goblin camp by accident, so we tried for the Mountain pass. Made it to the Last Light but then got slapped around by the hands.

Predictably Marcus screwed us over pretty hard at LvL 4 lol.

In another mode I would have reloaded when the Owlbear cub went down, but because I was already 9 hrs in I kept it going just to see the worst of all possible outcomes.

Isobel fight going south can be pretty rough.

My current run is going much better. The Owlbear cub must live!!!

The Owlbear is alive hehe

Alfira is alive!

Quill we couldn't save, alas, but that's pretty thematic for this run, cause I'm Durge-y like that hehe.

Also at around 9 hours in, but just a much better alternative timeline for the honorable Groundhog day lol.

Halsin is alive though, and Minthara should be alive. Fingers crossed!!!

Back at the Outpost hehe.

Anyone else got cool ideas or tricks to try out for this mode?

 

[Black Elk]

OK so next would be my route, and how I'm handling some of the set piece battles.

For the Owlbear encounter my strategic aim was to save the Owlbear Cub at all costs (including Andric and Brynna if I have to) ideally without disturbing anyone upstairs in Honor Mode.

I just like the idea that Scratch has a pal at camp later on, which supersedes pretty much all my other considerations hehe.

My tactic for this one was to use the spell Silence to keep things quiet and then open with Drow poison and Command, followed by Fog cloud and Shadowheart's bonus action to cast Sanctuary on the Owlbear cub. Then I get in tight on the silence bubble to go after Big Bird, similar to how I handle the Harpies in the Grove. Hit for hit, having access to the Command Spell in the early game is probably my favorite, since it makes many encounters a lot simpler.

Even if we just barely managed to save Shadowheart on the Nautiloid, she kinda pulls her weight just from that spell alone, but sanctuary, silence and hold person too, make her sort of necessary for my comp. If I can pull off the Owlbear, this is when Lae'zel usually steps up for Bae'zel instantly - for all the honor! hehe

Once I get to that point, I feel like we're off to a good start. My route from there is Blighted Village to consult with Lump, where I choose Deception. After Arabella and Scratch, this is my first big use for the Inspiration points, since Lump makes it a lot easier to go save Minthara. Taking on the whole Shattered sanctum after knocking her out in a timely fashion is kinda tough. For that I use Shadowheart to hold Minthara, kill the drum so she'll go temp hostile, and then whoever has Thunder damage with a solid hit chance to take down the scrying eye, so the rest of the Goblin camp won't go full hostile.

Strategic aim at the Goblin camp is to save Minthara and keep her alive for recruitment in the second Act, while also keeping the Tiefs and Halsin on board. Tactic is sub out Shadowheart when she exhausts her spellslots for someone who's fresh.

After the Minthara knock out I free Halsin from the cell, but keep him on standby, then go for Priestess Gut. If I can kill Gut clean then it's pretty straightforward. If Gut saves vs spell or I get in the weeds, my move is to summon Lump and the gang, then send one person to draw agro from the Gobs near Ragzlin to keep the Ogre fight going. Again I'd saved up all my inspiration I could for this, so just in case you can try for the double or nothing on Lump deception. This is pretty reliable, then just kill the Ogres before the combat ends to tie up with a nice red ribbon and the boost to INT hehe.

I tend to go for the Voss encounter right away just to see whether it will be combat or smooth sailing. For that I split the group, cause the encounter can be pretty tough if Lae'zel fails deception. Cost is basically 100 gp to play it straight and see where the chips fall. I think forcing the encounter is more fun, and Shadowheart will be inspired the first time you resurrect somebody at Withers, and the loot is solid when I come back later to finish the job there.

To push the lvl 5 power up, I try for Matriarch first since that requires a little solo with somebody sniping down the eggs to make her more manageable. This fight seems much simpler if you can knock her off in one attempt and get the falling damage from torch web bridges, cause otherwise she'll reposition. I think for these sorts of fights, switching from the 3 person party comp mindset to 3 shots to solo, which is another way of looking at it, but basically trying to catch her after a drop to knock off that first 50 hp, then joining initiative. Seems to work well enough without too much risk.

Then Redcaps and Masks, or Gnolls before risking a return to the Gith crossbows. I can't decide whether its safer to face Ethel first and get the lvl 5 spike there, or vice versa, since the challenge is similar. My Tactic for Ethel is basically magic missile. Similar to Spectator battle in the Underdark, it just makes the fight way easier. I target the cage or a companion if I need the third missile not to deal a deathblow. This time I went Gith encounter first though, cause Bae'zel heheh.

With the double pet - always!

Good times! lol

 

[Black Elk]

This is the best way I found to get Ethel's hair while also saving Mayrina.

Strategic goal is to leave the option open for the Ability boost, but without putting Mayrina in harms way.

Main tactic is again to use Silence. If I fail and Ethel escapes the bubble to pull Mayrina into the heart of the lair, I can still do the cage target thing and sanctuary to make sure she doesn't die, but this is more reliable. Once separated we can tell Mayrina to stay put and long rest.

For the actual fight Silence again and upcast Magic Missile with ranged attacks to bring her down to within striking distance. Then burst the bubble and give her the last slap so you get the dialogue. Here instead of trading the baby, the deal is simply to let Ethel escape.

Shadowheart disapproves, but Lae'zel is a bit more pragmatic hehe.

Now it's on to the Creche!

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

It's always interesting to see how a higher difficulty setting requires a completely different approach to tactics, strategies and resources management.

For example, it never occurred to me to try if you can keep an unlinked party member in camp as resurrection backup. That's a really cool failsafe, but of course at the cost of going into difficult fights with 3 instead of 4 people.

Rotating party members because of spell slots when for whichever reason you can't long rest is something I have been doing as well on Tactician, because there was a time in Act 2 when I was for some reason really short on camp supplies. Not to mention the Grymforge situation with Nere too.

But it seems that you have put yourself into an even more difficult position with Honor Mode plus Durge plus trying to save everyone who can be recruited. Very tricky, and big respect for that.

What I think I personally wouldn't like about that is so often depending on lucky dice rolls, but obviously you had backup plans for failed rolls there as well. Tough thing. As I said, I'm watching in awe. Too difficult and tedious for me, but I have high respect for such approaches.

 

[Black Elk]

Totally!

The nice thing is that once I hit the lvl 5 spike, then I can have a Withers Zombie respec'd into Cleric to always have access to the spell Revivify at no cost. This is very helpful and means that once I hit that power up, the accidental dead are no longer a drain on the party gold. Especially useful here, since often I am led by Bae'zel to do the Creche a bit early.

In my current run Roah got killed by Lump back at the Goblin camp (not sure why she thought she could take him lol) but anyhow, we brought her back to atone for all her thieving ways with a new vocation as a Nature Cleric...

I find the whole notion of zombie hirelings sort of lame, so this is my attempt to make that concept more engaging. Just giving my favorite bit players a highlight and an alias, with a new lease on life. Works for me!

For my early Creche goals, I keep things pretty simple. Priority number 1 for me is simply to acquire the Gloves of Dexterity from Jeera and to get the Zaithisk out of the way. Cat's Grace robes are an easy get, and I tend to swoop those as soon as I've done all the Minthara stuff and had the camp celebration. There's usually somebody that can make good use of the Dex boost, and anyway screw the Society of Brilliance right? haha

But the Dex gloves are key, since it allows me to make Lae'zel into an absolute beast at lvl 6. Like either you can push the ASI through the roof, and still have a couple points left over for Lae'zel the Wise, or you can take one of the badass combat feats, or maybe Alert so she always go first. Either way at least she'll be a lot better with her crossbow, which I always end up using a fair bit more than I'd think. I like to have her looking like so when all is said and done, cause it just makes the Underdark way easier.

To nail Jeera silence again is pretty reliable, but I like to do the Zaithisk first just to see where I'm at. After Lump this one is pretty important for the Inspiration, just cause there are a pair of checks you need to pass so you get the buff instead of the nerf. I go in first, Lae'zel approves, and as long as I have enough inspiration, everyone ends up happy. Maybe even the Doctor if you have enough inspiration left over for one last Persuasion check, so I'll just try to make sure I have like half a dozen points saved up for that one.

From there I like to get the Inquisitor stuff handled. It's not necessary, and I prefer to return later since it's easier to clear that room when approaching from the other side of the bridge. I find that he's pretty tough, so what I like to do is just go in with everyone and then whoever spawns closest to the door they quaff an invisibility potion or cast that spell and then just B line for the exit. This is pretty low risk if I can just stay focused on the great escape instead of trying for the Circlet. I figure it's a lot simpler to return later, and the only real goal is to get Voss to show up afterwards before we transition back to the Underdark.

This route is pretty elective so I'm not sure it's the safest. There's no downside to just running away. If I do take a shot, the only thing to be careful of is that sometimes if a party member is downed by a Temp Hostile they may be ignored and stuck in a stabilized by not quite dead state. This is a pain, here it happened with Astarion. I had to send Gale back to kill Astarion so he could be properly revivified, but otherwise no biggie lol.

Once Lae'zel is in full Slay'zel mode I feel like everything in the Underdark and Gyrmforge becomes a lot easier to handle. I like to stomp the Spectator first with Magic Missile at the ready. Then some light Duergar sniping before I yeet Glut off the cliff to clinch it.

The boat transition is another elective one. It's hard to resist the push heheh. For me the whole Nere fight is a lot simpler if I just pick everyone apart on sight. Like they're all horrid slavers anyway, so it feels like just desserts. Some spider rebellion, all that good stuff. Makes it a lot easier to keep the Gnomes alive and to take Nere's head, without all the chaos of a massive spillover battle there.

My head canon is that after the first visit to the Creche, Bae'zel searches deep inside and decides to train for total power. That way when she returns later on she'll be ready, with all the Strength and Wisdom of an honorable Battle Master!!!

Right around the 20 hr mark - 20 for 20 feels about right! haha

Io Saturnalia and happy gaming!!!

Catch ya next round gang!

ps. Tried for Grym but had to dip at the last moment when he did his stomp move. Not before we got Bae'zel some She-Ra armor that she'll probably only wear for like one weekend lol. I think she rocks it well though!

 

[Black Elk]

Top priorities after hitting the Shadowlands were the Harlequin dye for a different vibe to the threads, and then remembering to Long rest for Long strider, prep the spells and whatnot, before heading upstairs heheh.

Here is my move to keep Isobel alive...

Basically using a combo of Sanctuary and Dimension Door or Invisibility with whoever has highest initiative, then Haste on Lae'zel to just smack Marcus to the floor as quickly as possible. Seems pretty solid long as I can quick shot him.

Body blocking Isobel in a corner seems pretty good as well. For this one the silence bubble doesn't do much good or holding since everyone is undead. Better I thought to just whack whack. Once the chaos at the Last Light was sorted, I be lined to Moonrise to make sure I did the Minthara stuff correctly in Act 1.

To handle Karniss, same basic plan as per usual, with Shadowheart keeping it hush hush hehe.

Big highlight was just managing to keep Minthara around.

This is another one I save up for with like all the inspiration rolls, since Z'rell and the guards may need some convincing. I break her out and cast invisibility immediately, but save the inspiration just in case we get spotted.

After I get her recruited into the party proper we return to bubble up and kill Z'rell on the down low for payback hehe. Basically going room to room but backwards, so they don't see it coming. Bit of a grind to get back in time the midwinter festivities, but still managed well enough...

Home for the Holidays! hehe

And to all a good night! Lol

 

[Zaxares]

I learned about this from a Discord site. I haven't verified if it works myself, but if it does, it might prove very useful for an Honor Mode run if one doesn't mind being a teensy bit exploity.

So, you know that warded Selunite chest in the Owlbear cave? I've been told that if you take that chest and drop it into the middle of a group of intelligent humanoids (say, the Goblin Camp, for instance), the creatures will all wander over to the chest and attempt to open it, triggering the trap (while also failing to open it). They will keep on doing this over and over until they kill themselves, making it an extremely sneaky but useful way of thinning out enemies prior to making your attack.

 

[Cahir]

Very insightful topic, @Black Elk, I really enjoyed reading it! I was never a fan of this kind of difficulty modes, but I did suffer a lot from an urge of reloading saves when then outcome was not what I would like to see, even if I promised to myself, that I accept whatever dice has for me.

I may play Honour mode if/when Larian releases Definitive Edition.

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

I'm a bit slow on picking up wordplay, besides not a native speaker, and you have a way to juggle words very creatively, so I have to ask: Why do you keep calling Lae'zel "Bae'zel" in some situations?

 

[Black Elk]

Yeah I'm a born rambler I guess. I mean honestly too many screens right?! But I tried to remember to take some in the moments of high intensity, just to recall what all I was doing at the various points lol.

Oh so "Bae" is just a colloquial expression of endearment, like if someone was your boyfriend or girlfriend then they'd be Bae. It's like saying Babe. I just took to that one cause the Actor was using it with excellent puns.

So sorta Bae'zel when we're at camp - Slay'zel when we're battling!

She's my go to! I just like how she comes on so strong at the start, but then finishes like a big old softy heheh.

Speaking of, I read this brief article earlier this morning, that totally made me smile. I guess she went super hard out the gate in the recording booth too, with the speed run lines!

The directors said she was so fast, she could have gotten paid more by the hour for foot draggin' the recording sessions, but she sliced it up with a quickness, in classic form!

Lae'zel's voice actor recorded her Baldur's Gate 3 dialogue faster than any other Origin character, which the directors say was "to her detriment"

"She does like to be told that she's the fastest and the best one"

www.gamesradar.com

I thought that was hilarious. Great stuff! The Holiday stream yesterday was epic as well. I had to catch it after hours, cause other side of the planet and all. But that laugh with the villainous cackle! Gith of the century right there...!

I mean how we could we not go Bae'zel? Though Shadowheart is always in the running! Like I really don't trust Sceleritas or Orin, so who knows what might happen. I do try to save some inspiration in the bank though, just in case we need to pull out the stops to make sure Lae'zel crosses the finish line.

I'm definitely of the same mindset usually about difficulty modes. Often I just can't bring myself to self-enforce anything that's mostly mechanical, rather than my own story preferences/quirks. So if the game provides a difficulty mode then I kinda have to take that as is, cause it's just hard to hold myself to certain things, if they leave option on the table for me. In this case using Zombies or doing some respecs for the mains I guess, so their stat blocks are more compelling.

But yeah, I just can't picture myself keeping to a single save or doing anything remotely like this without prompting, if it wasn't baked into the option when I was first launching a new campaign. Like with no backsies and some silly golden dice dangling for the get. I guess that was enough to give it just the right amount of appeal for me. Though I'm sorta surprised by that, cause usually a punishing difficulty setting wouldn't really spin my wheels. I kinda need them to lay it all out for me, or it's hard to get down. So far it's working though. I'm having fun with it.

I think at this point many peeps would find my Act 1 strats are kinda old hat, maybe suboptimal comps, but then who knows. Maybe we pick up some hot tips along the way. Like I had completely forgotten I could just have Korilla save me from Priestess Gut, but I'd been playing as a Drow mostly, so I almost never manage that interlude. I could have made that one a bit simpler on myself lol.

Oh damn, that's clever with the Selunite chest!

Legit if that were to somehow help me one shot Myrkul I'd try it for sure. It's the only battle that really gives me pause, cause it seems to turn on a dime there I can't remember him griefing me so hard before, but I guess he's got some new tricks and resistances. There are ways I saw to cheese it, but those didn't exactly work if trying to save Aylin too, which changes the dynamic for that fight. She has to be freed before he'll take damage, so witch bolt solo outside iniative wouldn't work here. Maybe some kind of chest pounding trick would just what the doctor ordered!

This time I'm just going to grind it out till I hit the lvl 9 power spike and then buy all the elixirs and potions and scrolls! hehe

Hopefully our heart will grow 3 sizes by Xmas! lol

Ps. The Grinch memes are all so good! I swear, probably the most iconic D&D character in some time for me. Doubtless, there will be Lae'zels at the various Comic Cons till the end of time now I bet. She just knocked it out of the park - home run there for sure!

 

[Black Elk]

Got Moonrise all cleared out again! Should be smooth sailing to the roof, once we're ready.

Meantime, back on the grind. We just hit the lvl 8 power spike! I decided to push 20 with pretty much everyone. Made Bae'zel hella tough! For all the hitpoints hehe.

I was willing to leave well enough alone with non lethal damage, but when they came after us in the shadowlands we doubled back to finally deal with the Inquisitor. Took down a couple of the Thorm kids and then did our bit to save Halsin and the land. Had to burn some of the wall of fire scrolls on that one and it was pretty close, like down to 12 hp on the portal.

Amusingly it was Minthara who saved his ass at the last minute to handle a shadow who gave us the slip. Guess he's stoked now, that she didn't get got back at the Goblin camp heheh.

Since Halsin's in the mix at this point and we got the lvl up, the need for goodberries to restore spellslots ha become less pronounced, so Brynna has taken up the cloth with a page out of Shadowhearts book.

I figure a pair of Clerical zombies can take me there - just like a prayer, with a little Warding Bond, Freedom of Movement and Protection from Poison for my main brawlers.

Those are the big non-concentration dailies I think. Then I have Sunblossom Zombie just do Long Strider for everyone. Whoever else is left over, they get the Lover's rings for Warding Bond on each other and it feels solid.

We just dropped the Orthon, but I forgot the ring the bell lol. I figure I'll send big brother to the Library and just let the shadows have him.

Plan is to nail Balthazar in his chambers like last time, instead of flashy fights beyond the veil, cause that was way simpler.

First though taking a detour back to the Underdark to tie up some loose ends. We did a little fish fry vs Boooal and are about to try our luck vs Bernard going 3 deep. Going to see if Lae'zel's pushing attack can get the job done for me, otherwise might have to let that one slide like Grym. Mostly we're still just in it for the robes and the right dyes, but trying to take it slow so I can bank some more potions and scrolls for Myrkul.

Someone told me I should get Scratch in the mix for that fight, since he has the Help action to free Aylin. Seems pretty intense though, I don't know. Maybe if I can get some greater invisibility or something hehe. I didn't realize you could pre-position for that fight! For some reason I thought Ketheric could just see invisibility or anyone who was hiding so I had been misty stepping with a dash to reach her. No wonder I was getting stomped lol.

This time we'll be ready! Lae'zel and Minthara are training nightly! hehe

Style check lol

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

Someone told me I should get Scratch in the mix for that fight, since he has the Help action to free Aylin. Seems pretty intense though, I don't know.

I don't know if they fixed it in one of the patches but apparently Scratch can die permanently, so be careful with that. I thought he's handled like a Familiar but I found his corpse in camp after the Grymforge and couldn't revive him.

 

[Black Elk]

Yeah I thought about it for a few minutes and decided there was just no way. Scratch stays at camp where it's safe hehe.

Instead I'm going to buff through the roof and bring 4 Stone Elementals to warp around and give us an edge, or maybe a slam. I saved up just to grab a few more summon scrolls and potions that will hopefully help me get the drop on em this time.

I'm thinking to one try and one shot the flayer first, but with his charm retort I think I need to have a couple peeps on it. Hopefully I can sneak into position with invisibility cause I got a bunch of those saved up. Now that I know what I'm doing, I've got a plan to come out swinging for Myrkul

Meantime Battle Maneuvers took care of Bernard... hehe

Now we're getting ready to face Balthazar. Hopefully we mop the floor with him. I think I could maybe take Ketheric now, but thought I'd try to stretch things out and see if I can find a few more arrows of undead slaying maybe. I just really want to kick his ass now lol

It took me like a good five minutes just to buff everyone up in the morning. I feel like this should be good for the Flayer Colony though. Going to try Minthara with Heroism so she hopefully can't be frightened and then just wail. Or that's the plan at least. FIngers crossed hehe

I gulped a potion of viciousness by accident when sorting the inventory. Just gonna roll with it. Balthazar won't know what hit him! lol

ps. Nailed him! heheh

That certainly went a whole lot better than my first time out trying to all brazenly take on a million skeletons in the shadow veil. Hopefully foreshadows better luck this time when we go under Moonrise.

 

[Black Elk]

Taste it Myrkul!!! hehe

Goodness! That one was intense! Somehow Lae'zel never got pulled into initiative and she was stuck off in her own dimension, totally unable to join the rest of the crew!

I had her all set up to Slay the flayer with potions to prevent the charm and all hasted up. Then somehow she regrouped and jumped from where she was positioned, and become instantly lethargic. I could move her around, but couldn't take any actions, so she legit just stared down the Lord of Bones with her arms crossed like the entire fight lol.

Thankfully Minthara came like a fucking champ with her Stone Elemental buddies, cause we couldn't regain control of Lae'zel her until we transitioned via the portal. I nearly had a heart attack, but then Shadowheart came with the crackle We just kept on with the thunder and lightning and pinging magic missiles to kill the necromites while Minthara completely saved our bacon.

It was glorious! Definitely a satisfying bout. I burned like 3 grand trying to get the Elemental scrolls, but it was totally worth it. Probably overkill, but wow, that sure the got the blood pumping. That was honestly pretty fantastic. I felt like that one was well earned, after getting my ass handed to me twice. I was totally sleeping on all those dailies before, definitely made a difference.

Now I feel we just gotta make Wyrms Crossing and I can relax and ease back into things again.

Good times!

 

[Black Elk]

Just hit 44 hrs!

At this point I find myself pretty content just to play around with Jaheira's kit and the various green dyes. Invariably this is the part where I wish I had a larger party hehe.

I thought I might a try a somewhat different build for her this time, cause she looked pretty cool with Cat's Grace in sage green.

I can kit her as a Moon druid for the Air Myrmidon form in the endgame, but I figure she's going to be primarily utility for a while, so I might go with something a little bit more scout/sniper for her stat block on that. Maybe revisiting the Cat and Raven forms for sneaky stuff. I'm indecisive, so Withers will probably get me for a couple hundred gold before I figure out what's entertaining.

Basically with Cat's Grace she can bust locks and handle all those traps that she's likely to find, plus with the Archery gloves she can double as a Urban Harper and take some reliable shots from the backfield.

This seemed thematic since I'm pretty sure she killed more monsters with her sling than anything else back in the BG1/2 days lol, so perhaps an amusing upgrade for the ranged option. I have her bonded with Shadowheart currently, who she's taken on as a Ward.

They both have similar comps and kit outs, so I can sub them back and forth.

Minthara totally proved her worth in the fight vs Ketheric, and her AC is absurd now, so she'll probably be sticking around. I'm nervous about who gets left at camp in Act III, but I'll probably keep Jaheira and Bae'zel around at all times, and just hope Orin goes after someone other than Shadowheart if I wait to do the House of Grief till like the very end.

I find that I want to juice Jaheira's abilities and push 20 somewhere, but also that she really needs to be somehow way more badass with bigger numbers than the average Zombie Druid hehe.

You know, like a proper Legendary Honor Jaheira. So I might just let her keep the Headband of Intellect. Even though it's more useful on the party face, it's competing with some other headwear now that's pretty useful for Mages. I have a hard time dumping INT for the Min/Max, like I always want that 10 instead of an 8, so I do enjoy that headband just to make that ability shoot up.

Otherwise I can do the more tanky build and give her the Dex gloves, to juice STR and CON instead, and just have Lae'zel slide into the heavy ass armor, though I do like Lae'zel with the iniative bump there. Not sure. Basically I'm just trying to give everyone some kind of Thunder and Lightning damage flavor, so we can all feel like we're in the eye of the Dragon storm. Electric Blue, ride the lightning, that sort of thing, when we have to face down all Gortash's Robocops.

Anyhow, just thought this was a fun look with the mid drift. She'll probably go attack mode for the Circle of the Land, more like this... least till we're safely into the city. Cause that's a pretty boss block and a lot of spells for caster antics. It's cool to have a couple options there though for the long haul. Like whether we're going toe to toe or claw or claw in big bout, or just doing Harper type stuff to scout around more in exploration.

Either way, she's a keeper!!!

 

[Black Elk]

Ok after tooling around for a bit and burning a couple hundred more gold I think I got a good spread. Lae'zel respec'd to a more standard Battle Master stat block, but we still kept her in the triple digits for HP, just cause that feels so badass. Living to be 103 like jiminy cricket or something lol.

We were pretty low on ready cash after that, but I really wanted the Yuan Ti scale mail for Jaheira so she could stack it with the Dex gloves just to eek out every advantage vs the Gith. Seemed pretty solid bringing her up to 22 AC and had a decent color cause I ran out of sage green lol.

Then we had a quiet conversation with Quartermaster Talli about the best way to put the Mighty Cloth and the fireball staff to the best possible use. In a clear show of wisdom, Jaheira made the shot call there, with her eye on the big picture.

She used dimension door to bring Talli to this position...

Then we cast hold monster to keep it hush, cause didn't want to risk her calling any guards over after that first whack. Figure this is one way to great balance the scales, and anyhow she made off with a ton of our loot on the cheap, so I'm sure when she wakes up it'll be water under the bridge hehe.

Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, cause Karlach can definitely use the STR boost. I haven't brought her out much after Anders and check ups with Dammon, but I'm sure she'll hop in the mix here and there when we get to the city. Meantime she bench warmin' it with Wyll and Halsin. I'd like to have Minthara out on the town a bit more, but I think Jaheira and Shadowheart will be more useful till things come to blows, and they're all threaded up proper. I kept Cat's Grace for myself, just to be handy with the double Dex rolls. Fingers Crossed!

ps. Handled!

We're on the other side now!

Finally, I can see daylight! We just gotta keep it slow and steady I think. I reworked Shadowheart to be a little tankier. Still kept it Tempest domain for some storm clouds, cause I like how that one works.

I think this'll be the A Team for Rivington. I do wish Shadowheart's portrait would update to show her with the new hair color, but I guess it works hehe. I like to see her with the spear when she's just chillin, but she's better with her finesse singing sword and board, unless there's shadow business to be done. Gave Jaheira the Watcher for the porcupine look too, but that's just for flash in her inventory, they both use their finesse weapons andvspells, but I liked the look, so had to do a couple options in the grab bag lol.

Feels like we're ready to hit the town at last!

 

[Black Elk]

Priorities hehe...

Also for Scratch PSA, so I pretty much always kill that one gal if the Persuasion or Intimidation check fails, and I did that in Tactician without any issues, but I remember that sometimes Scratch will become afraid and turn temporarily hostile if you just go after her. Seemed super dangerous, since Lae'zel has Riposte. Way too risky. Instead I had to trust in the Charisma.

I was prepared to burn almost all the inspiration points on this one, and became Half-Illithid so I could take the Illithid Expertise just to make sure we had the crazy bonus to Intimidation/Deception/Persuasion.

Seems like probably the most useful power mechanically overall. I also took Displacer Beast form for the emergency hitpoints, and cause it's just a cool ability hehe. Luck of the Far Realms was pretty useful thus far, but all the second tier powers seem pretty nice.

I don't mind the visual change as much when playing as a dragon. Volo already took my one good eye anyway, so I figured might as well go for broke.

Anyhow, made it out clean with checks.

Scratch is fully adopted now!

Woof!

 

[Black Elk]

This is how I'm handling things now that we're in Act III

Pretty much Halsin's entire job is to cast Longstrider, Protection from Poison, and Freedom of Movement on my mains, then he just farms goodberries, and keeps an eye on the Zombies and the fuzz pals. At lvl 9 Jaheira and Halsin can pretty much keep us fed, so all the Zombies have all joined Shadowheart in converting to Clerical Moon worship.

This allows for 3 party members to be Warded at all times, and then Shadowheart and Jaheira use True Love's Caress to Warding Bond each other, depending on what sort of enemies we're facing down. Like if it's Undead or Magebreaking then might sub in Shadowheart, otherwise Jaheira has the stronger summons.

At this point everyone is at like 20 AC, so that with the warding bond, they're basically like half damage over the long haul. Healing at camp, means short rest can be reserved just re-up on battle maneuvers, if I can remember to just come back for the heals to push the short rest.

All this is fairly tedius, but if I just do it at the beginning of the day when we first wake up I figure it will have an impact over the long haul. Similar to boosting ASI, my thinking is that over time all those little rolls really start to add up, and I tend to enjoy passives since if I forget to activate something least pushing 20 still gives that cushion for the main ability checks. But anyhow, with the Warding Bond, Long Strider etc, everyone is pretty supercharged, even if we get pulled into something we weren't expecting. Like right here the Robocop almost nailed me, when I goofed the convo, so now I'm just going to make sure to always do prep my dailies.

Death Ward seems like it would also be very useful, but that time Astarion refused to die and got stuck in combat with the Inquisitor still gives me pause. Like I totally unequipped the Talisman of the Absolute after that happened. Least not for fights where I might have to keep an escape plan for a party of 3, since rez doesn't cost anything anymore, though there are some fights in Act III that have portal transitions, so maybe for those, but I can kick the can there for a bit hopefully.

I'm not a huge fan of always on spell VFX for buffs, so I didn't use these very often before mainly from that. Like it just reminded me of Stoneskin in BG2, a bit too much for my taste. The icons for the buffs also take up a lot more screen real estate than one would hope. Switching party members for camp management is also tedius, so for all those reasons it makes sense to do when I first start the day and then try to get at least a couple encounters under the belt before doing it again.

For stuff that I know is coming, Twin Haste is still I think the most potent way for my Durge to open. It's not as strong in this mode, but still quite powerful, just from the movement alone. For the action economy it tends to be bonus actions that get tight, cause Astarion is mostly back benching it right now. Same deal for Wyll and Karlach, like I'm sure they'll dive in soon enough, but for now it's sorta big guns super electric at this part. Most fights are over before 10 rounds for sure, so I enjoy entering turn based mode, and blow a round on buffing, then the battle with 9 or maybe 8 rounds Hasted, depending on how many actions I have for things like mirror image and the like. It just makes such a huge difference if I remember to do this stuff. Kinda gamey with Haste, but then also very BG there haha. Similar to Command and Holding for Clerics, it's one of those things where they definitely kinda kept it Baldur's Gate with those spells. When I need every advantage I feel no shame nabbing the extra attacks. It's still a bit of a double edged sword with going lethargic, but usually the opener is decisive, so I think it makes a lot of sense still even with the Haste nerf.

With the Mantle on, Durge only has to kill a weak enemy to go invisible for 2 turns. For that I gotta nail 'em with a spell or bolts and arrows, if keeping non lethal passive turned on. So basically he speeds things up for the heavy hitters and plays dela-gator like that.

Usually a magic missile well placed is enough to maintain invisibility for 2 turns, without needing concentration so that can stay on something else, like usually haste. Basically just need to remember to hang back with him and not get too brazen up front, cause broken concentration can turn it all upside down pretty quickly doing that move. Going lethargic from dropped haste is twice as deadly if it's twinned, so sorta high risk high reward. I'm not sure it'd be all that spectacular without a ready way to go invisible or stay obscured, but seems to work so far.

We continued along the theme freeing what buds we could. Gotta feed this guy for sure! The kitty is tougher, but I have dominate beast with Jaheira and the form, so we'll see. If there's some collateral damage in this battle I can usually let it slide, though I like to see everyone come out clean if we can.

In this case the plan didn't come to fruition, cause although we landed Dominate Beast on Shadow Whiskers somehow it weirded out and she remained hostile even though her double was an Ally. Had to knock her out for a nap.

Detoured to make some trades, since the Robocop was already dropped.

Everyone keeps pushing Spears!

I think she made the strongest case yet lol. We might get someone spec'd up for that eventually

 

[Black Elk]

Also priorities - Lae'zel's school of fashion!

The Psionic ward armor has served her well, and we've been pretty content to knock the robocops around with battle maneuvers, but looking to up the AC here.

We yeeted this one dude off the bridge, persuaded the guards we had no idea what they were talking about lol. Then did it again immediately heheh.

Lvl 10 spike to hit Wyrms rock. I opted to leave Wyll and Karlach on the bench for that, cause I didn't want to chance any antics there.

At this point it seems reasonably safe to just kinda cruise around and try to pick up whatever inspiration we can non combat, maybe knocking off a few robocops while we're at it. I feel like the story beats, and the Durge theme, it makes more sense to go after Gortash first and save Orin for the climax.

Gotta a Duke to rescue first though. Just going to play it smooth for a while till we get Globe of Invulnerability, cause that makes the big boss fights a lot easier.

Resist the Durge highlights so far were watching Minthara get the rapture, and then jamming out with Alfira on the roof, before we get back to business.

Its a nice story break from all the steady drumming through the Shadowlands. We made a quick B line to blow some cash on dyes, which is not particularly strat-actular, but I do like to keep a little color coordination. It's tactically useful for me to still be able to tell whats going on beneath all the spell VFX.

This is Bae'zel's new look...

In my previous run she balked at the Illithid heavy armor, but this time she's a bit more 'bout it. I mean I figure she's got the flayer head mounted by her tent, so she's probably game to fleece her ancient enemies for their badass armor.

Matches the hilt for the Sword of the Astral pretty well, with the Gith accent pieces and a little furnace dye - has her looking pretty fierce. Going to try our hand at a 20,000 leagues prison break, but first we saved the date for some better camp threads hehe.

I think she's got a pretty fit look now for endgame battling!

 

[Black Elk]

Just crossed 60 hrs!

Big relief for me was that Orin snatched Halsin instead of Minthara, cause I was worried she might get tabled like that. At least with Halsin, he's sorta already done his part in saving the Land and lifting the Shadowcurse and all. Clearly we'll try our best to save him again, but if we fail there, he'd still have a hero's send off, whereas Minthara still has work to do! heheh

We worked our way through saving the Duke, basically using a combination of long strider, haste and speed potions, and just having everyone going all breakneck with their ranged weapons to target the door levers. Everyone made it out except Minthara and Me, but luckily I decided to death Ward ourselves that time, so we showed up on the beach with 1 hp hehe.

Jaheira was briefly in charge of the Astral Prism, as Lae'zel piloted everyone back to safety. I wasn't sure what was going to happen there, but looks like Mizora got Ravengard out. This whole part makes me think Mizora definitely has some saving graces up her sleeve. She came pretty clutch on that one.

Then we smashed on Skynet to take down the head Robocop!

I hit the lvl 11 spike half way through that and picked up the Globe just in time, before paying a visit to the Sundries to get Gale in the mix for a change. Shadowheart kept it hush hush there too, then Gale and I just teamed up on him with Magic missiles to knock him off with a quickness.

At this point I reconsidered my own Stat block and decided to repo the Dex gloves for Durge. My thinking was that Jaheira is mainly in her AIr Myrmidon form now, and she's still got absurd AC from the Snake Scale armor and the flare from the Circlet of Intellect, so instead I used the Dex Gloves in combination with the Mighty Cloth to push 20 in STR for myself.

Since my main safety tactic for the boss fights will be Globe of Invulnerability, and the only vulnerability left is stuff like getting randomly knocked around or repositioned from enemy melee maneuvers or force type stuff. Damage isn't an issue, but getting knocked prone or thrown out of the globe can be major problems, since everything is sorta riding on keeping that dome up.

With the Bull's Strength bonus, Durge can't be pushed around, which seemed like exactly what the doctor ordered there for Globe management heheh. Also the Bull's Charge class action allows to maneuver sometimes for that last few inches in a pinch.

Plus we got the Horns, so it all sorta fits I suppose.

The +2 to STR allows me to hit that 20 in a secondary ability, and even though it doesn't matter much for jump when you can fly, still seemed pretty respectable for a Stat block that Lae'zel can appreciate lol.

He's got a nice AC bonus going just from being dragon born, so with the Dex gloves pretty solid there. He remains a bit squishy, but I figure he's mostly invisible and impossible to hit, so it all works out.

Now that we're Hero's feasting and everyone is warded up, the HP starts to scale out and doesn't matter as much, though I'd still push the CON a bit maybe for the saves, but then with the Staff of Dispair and the option to switch up the armor based on the situation I think we should be good.

Cat's Grace I figure Astarion probably gets the most mileage out of, since with that on there's pretty much no lock he can't bust, and he can sorta pull it off, like if I give him a dracula cape or whatever. Karlach I thought might use the MIghty cloth, but her Rage Wear is already better, and she doesn't have any issues hitting the big numbers in STR and CON with that on, so figured just take it to the ceiling with my main.

We'll probably investigate the murders and keep kicking the can. just to see how much inspiration we can pick up with the run around. I think with the Globe we can start chipping away at bosses, but I still feel like the cushion of another level would be best, since we're going for gold and all.

We got Shadowheart back up in the club again, cause her summons are pretty badass at lvl 11!

Now that it's safe to switch out Minthara again, we'll probably do the Storm Lord stuff with Jaheira on board to make good on that promise.

For Moon Druid Jaheira, these are the spells I end up using most...

Healing Word is pretty much my only heal, unless things go terribly, but mostly it's focused on Summons and the High lvl stuff, or non concentration direct damage or CC, since so much competes for concentration. Air Myrmidon form for most battle situations with her, but I still like to level in the sage green armor, cause I dig the portrait that results there haha.

I gave her a couple 10s just so nothing would go negative, with Lumps circlet bringing the INT to 17. I'll probably push her CON a little harder if dropping something else down, though everyone has pretty absurd HP once I do the dailies, still probably nice for the saves.

Anyhow this feels pretty solid for what needs doing, while I hang the mistletoe with a 20 in Draconic STR for my main! lol

Fun times!