O_Bruce
Habitué
- Messages
- 496
Hello there!
I want to work on idea I had for quite some time now, and that would be playing through basic campaign of Icewind Dale without use of magical items. It sounds like something very hard to pull off and with some problem-solving potential
Restrictions of the playthrough are as follows:
- I cannot equip any magical items. Nothing my characters wear can be enchanted
- Above restricion applies to ranged weapons ammuniton
- Use of the wands is prohibited
- Scrolls of protection are prohibited
Potions are okay to use, as I feel this leeway would be welcome in my first playthrough of this sort. Additionally, spellcasters are allowed to use spell scrolls they would be normally able to. So, mage can still use scroll of magic missile, priest still can use scroll of chant etc. And finally, temporary magical weapons created from spells (like blessed hammer etc.) are allowed.
With above said, I'd like to introduce you to my trio of adventurers, right after equipping themselves at Pomab's shop, starting with Dabb:
This fine specimen of a warrior and cleric will serve as the main frontline fighter of the group. Being partially a cleric, he'll also have acces to healing and support spells, and most importantly of all, he'll be able to conjure an enhanced hammer, which I predict will be main mean of dealing with adversaries immune to non-magical weapons. He is proficient with hammers and sword-and-shield fighiting style. Dabb isn't very intelligent or charismatic, both of traits due to accident with a swing during his youth, but Lim loves him all the same.
Speaking about Lim...
Obviously, she serves as a spellcaster of the group, but also as a negotiator who speaks on behalf of the party. She is trained with using a sling, and among her starting spells are Spook, Sleep and Color Spray.
And finally, last member of Allmighty Trio, Hina:
A fighter/thief specialized in the ranged combat, will most likely end up as the main damage dealer of the party. That and her skills as a thief will prove her to be an extremely valuable asset. I don't suppose she'll end up backstabbing many things, so handling traps and locks aside, she'll focus on using snares when needed.
As you can see, all of above characters are gnomes, so that I wouldn't be sad if the challenge fails. That being said, this is a test run, so I don't quite know what to expect.
Anyways, the beginning of the game in Easthaven is not that different to a normal playthrough. I've dealt with some basic quests, like helping Grisella with her pest problem, helping Johenn with his dreams, getting rid of the wolf inside of Aspel's workshop, convincing an alcoholic to forsake his drunk ways and returning the fish to Damien from small group of goblins (Dabb suffered some damage in the process).
The Allmighty Trio decided borrow some things from Pomab - like scroll of Chromatic Orb - with intend of making up to him after the adventure is over. Let's hope nothing strange happens to Pomab until then. Anyways, Lim took a risk and managed to add Chromatic Orb to her list of known spells.
The orc cave was a bit more involving. Dabb suffered some more minor wounds, cured by a healing potion. Against orcish shamans, interrupting their spellcasting with Command did wonders. There was a random magic treasure inside the chest in the north-western part of the cave: it was ring of lesser resistacne. Of course I cannot make use of it, but it will sell.
The main combat encounter of the cave is in the southern chamber, featuring Ogre as the strongest combatant. Before that, Hina attempted to set a snare and failed in a spectacular fashion, feeling pressure of enemies watching despite there not being any. The girl needs to work on her nerves, that's for sure!
Dabb was used to lure some the enemies to the tight spot, and to draw attacks from orcish archers. With Dabb's sword-and-shield style, large shield, 18 dexterity score and splint mail, his ac against missiles was effectively -5, so no arrow managed to graze him. Lim casted Sleep, renering majoriy of hostile combatant useless, those still standing were dealt with Hina and Dabb. Then, Dabb proceed to wake up sleeping enemies, since his attacks deal the biggest average damage per hit (8.5). That also included ogre, which was woken up by attack and then Spooked by Lim. After that, he was nothing but a target practice.
Afterwards, The Allmighty Trio gave Hrothgar a full report, did some more business with Pomab and then left for an adventrue. Aside an avalanche started by frost giants, the journey to Kuldahar was not that eventul, and certainly it was not much different from the standard playthrough: Dabb's was great at tanking goblins, including archers, the Orc leader in the windmill was put to rest with Command, while his comrades died. The small boy was saved, Lim learned Blur spell, then found out about the ogre's headache problem. Some more goblins died, then even more goblins died, and then some beattles also died. Kuldahar has been reached.
Lim, speaking for the entire party, agreed to help Arundel in finding the source of evil responsible of the strange events around Kuldahar. While at it, she found out how to cure the ogre's headache problem, and after their business with Arundel was done, the Allmighty Trio decided to help the poor creature with its problem.
First real change of the challenge: items normally considered useful in the standard playthrough now are good only for selling. Like this cloak for example:
It enabled Dabb to buy himself a new plate armor and allowed Lim to buy plenty of scrolls from Orrick, bisit Olaf to purchase 10 healing potions and potion of mind focus. Thanks to that, Lim was able to memorize several new spells to her arsenal, including Magic Missile, Cat's Grace, Web, Mirror Images and Identify. She also cast Find Familiar from a scroll, gaining a cat, who's about to get really comfy in the backpack.
Hina helped the local inn owner, Aldwin to confess to his sins about his actual ownership of the place. After getting some rest, the Allmighty Trio spend some time in tavern, having a lively chat with Lysan - such a lovely barsmaid! Afterwards, they headed out into the Vale of Shadow, being able to rescue Mirek from a tundra yeti. They have found out about Mirek's brother, and decided to helpe the poor man while at their main mission.
And so, they arrived in the Vale of Shadows
I want to work on idea I had for quite some time now, and that would be playing through basic campaign of Icewind Dale without use of magical items. It sounds like something very hard to pull off and with some problem-solving potential
Restrictions of the playthrough are as follows:
- I cannot equip any magical items. Nothing my characters wear can be enchanted
- Above restricion applies to ranged weapons ammuniton
- Use of the wands is prohibited
- Scrolls of protection are prohibited
Potions are okay to use, as I feel this leeway would be welcome in my first playthrough of this sort. Additionally, spellcasters are allowed to use spell scrolls they would be normally able to. So, mage can still use scroll of magic missile, priest still can use scroll of chant etc. And finally, temporary magical weapons created from spells (like blessed hammer etc.) are allowed.
With above said, I'd like to introduce you to my trio of adventurers, right after equipping themselves at Pomab's shop, starting with Dabb:
This fine specimen of a warrior and cleric will serve as the main frontline fighter of the group. Being partially a cleric, he'll also have acces to healing and support spells, and most importantly of all, he'll be able to conjure an enhanced hammer, which I predict will be main mean of dealing with adversaries immune to non-magical weapons. He is proficient with hammers and sword-and-shield fighiting style. Dabb isn't very intelligent or charismatic, both of traits due to accident with a swing during his youth, but Lim loves him all the same.
Speaking about Lim...
Obviously, she serves as a spellcaster of the group, but also as a negotiator who speaks on behalf of the party. She is trained with using a sling, and among her starting spells are Spook, Sleep and Color Spray.
And finally, last member of Allmighty Trio, Hina:
A fighter/thief specialized in the ranged combat, will most likely end up as the main damage dealer of the party. That and her skills as a thief will prove her to be an extremely valuable asset. I don't suppose she'll end up backstabbing many things, so handling traps and locks aside, she'll focus on using snares when needed.
As you can see, all of above characters are gnomes, so that I wouldn't be sad if the challenge fails. That being said, this is a test run, so I don't quite know what to expect.
Anyways, the beginning of the game in Easthaven is not that different to a normal playthrough. I've dealt with some basic quests, like helping Grisella with her pest problem, helping Johenn with his dreams, getting rid of the wolf inside of Aspel's workshop, convincing an alcoholic to forsake his drunk ways and returning the fish to Damien from small group of goblins (Dabb suffered some damage in the process).
The Allmighty Trio decided borrow some things from Pomab - like scroll of Chromatic Orb - with intend of making up to him after the adventure is over. Let's hope nothing strange happens to Pomab until then. Anyways, Lim took a risk and managed to add Chromatic Orb to her list of known spells.
The orc cave was a bit more involving. Dabb suffered some more minor wounds, cured by a healing potion. Against orcish shamans, interrupting their spellcasting with Command did wonders. There was a random magic treasure inside the chest in the north-western part of the cave: it was ring of lesser resistacne. Of course I cannot make use of it, but it will sell.
The main combat encounter of the cave is in the southern chamber, featuring Ogre as the strongest combatant. Before that, Hina attempted to set a snare and failed in a spectacular fashion, feeling pressure of enemies watching despite there not being any. The girl needs to work on her nerves, that's for sure!
Dabb was used to lure some the enemies to the tight spot, and to draw attacks from orcish archers. With Dabb's sword-and-shield style, large shield, 18 dexterity score and splint mail, his ac against missiles was effectively -5, so no arrow managed to graze him. Lim casted Sleep, renering majoriy of hostile combatant useless, those still standing were dealt with Hina and Dabb. Then, Dabb proceed to wake up sleeping enemies, since his attacks deal the biggest average damage per hit (8.5). That also included ogre, which was woken up by attack and then Spooked by Lim. After that, he was nothing but a target practice.
Afterwards, The Allmighty Trio gave Hrothgar a full report, did some more business with Pomab and then left for an adventrue. Aside an avalanche started by frost giants, the journey to Kuldahar was not that eventul, and certainly it was not much different from the standard playthrough: Dabb's was great at tanking goblins, including archers, the Orc leader in the windmill was put to rest with Command, while his comrades died. The small boy was saved, Lim learned Blur spell, then found out about the ogre's headache problem. Some more goblins died, then even more goblins died, and then some beattles also died. Kuldahar has been reached.
Lim, speaking for the entire party, agreed to help Arundel in finding the source of evil responsible of the strange events around Kuldahar. While at it, she found out how to cure the ogre's headache problem, and after their business with Arundel was done, the Allmighty Trio decided to help the poor creature with its problem.
First real change of the challenge: items normally considered useful in the standard playthrough now are good only for selling. Like this cloak for example:
It enabled Dabb to buy himself a new plate armor and allowed Lim to buy plenty of scrolls from Orrick, bisit Olaf to purchase 10 healing potions and potion of mind focus. Thanks to that, Lim was able to memorize several new spells to her arsenal, including Magic Missile, Cat's Grace, Web, Mirror Images and Identify. She also cast Find Familiar from a scroll, gaining a cat, who's about to get really comfy in the backpack.
Hina helped the local inn owner, Aldwin to confess to his sins about his actual ownership of the place. After getting some rest, the Allmighty Trio spend some time in tavern, having a lively chat with Lysan - such a lovely barsmaid! Afterwards, they headed out into the Vale of Shadow, being able to rescue Mirek from a tundra yeti. They have found out about Mirek's brother, and decided to helpe the poor man while at their main mission.
And so, they arrived in the Vale of Shadows