Icewind Dale

[JustKneller]

My usual dump spot is the second floor of the inn since I rest there often enough anyway. There's a room with some crates on the second floor that seems appropriate.

I've heard of the glyph of warding bug. I think it's the casting sound/animation that causes the crash. It's hard to fix, especially if the game is installed to a protected folder. If you toggle Open GL 3d animation, that might fix it. But it's one of those fluky things with the game that might need tinkering.

I think money is mostly useless in the game, at least for me. I just treat it as a score indicator. My main must buys are the Helm of the Trusted Defender from Conlan, a handful of spells from Orrick, and the Lyre of Progression from Gerth. Everything else I get from drops.

It sounds like you're having a solid run so far.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Helm of trusted defender can't be used for a dwarf.

I only have about 3000gp and I could do with more potions, but so far, so good.

 

[JustKneller]

Helm of trusted defender can't be used for a dwarf

Yeah, definitely doesn't help for this run. But, all my runs have some kind of halfling tank, just for that helm.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Have just won battle against the first group at the Dragon's Eye. I can now use summons which will make it easier for a while.

Working my way slowly therough hordes of Lizard Men. I can foresee a problem if I don't get a useful drop. The only way that I can make a fire is with the oil that the shamans drop. I'll need to hoard those for the trolls later on.

On the body of an elf I have found a good sword, fire arrows and acid arrows, none of it much use to me.

I need a mace or similar that deals fire damage!

EDIT

So far I killed one troll with one Flaming Oil, then three with two potions.

As I progressed my skill increased somewhat and I started killing three trolls with one potion.

Was it a fluke that I ran out of trolls when I ran out of potions?

I suppose that if there had been any trolls left, I could have gone to Fiddlebender if necessary.

When fighting the Talonite Priests I ignored the trolls leaving them for afterwards. That tactic worked well.

I have now reached the undead area.

I solld my surplus equipment including potions that wouldn't help me and came 1,200gp short of the gold needed for the shimmering sash. That would have been useful.

After killing the undead I did have enough gold for the shimmering sash. I have now returned to the area and am finding that all the doors are locked.

I'll investigate further tomorrow.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Somehow blundered into doing the right thing. Everyone now hostile. I have defeated hordes of lizards, but because of no fire weapon I cannot kill the trolls. I am going to have to return to Fiddlebender to buy large stocks of flaming oil. At least I have thousands of gold to paay for them. It isn't a thief that I am short of. It is a mage or bow user.

For another run my current character plus an illusionist/thief would be optimal.

 

[JustKneller]

I didn't think about that. I recall killing trolls in clusters then using flaming oil economically. I think there's a random drop in the Easthaven Cave of a flaming dagger. Then a random flaming short sword(?) drop in the Vale of Shadows. I think there are also some random phasing swords in the Vale that can finish them off. Still, for a cleric, you have no options aside from oil and Flame Blade. Like, I don't think there are any flaming blunt weapons anywhere.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

I have found the answer. At my level skeleton archers have fire arrows. By ensuring that they didn't use them until needed, I discovered that I only needed three flaming oil potions.

I eventually found the key for opening the doors when I had already defeated the lizards and trolls. In my last game due to having a paladin everything was more straightforward as the released captives did the job of killing the trolls.

The only problem there was getting trapped by one of the released captives.

I returned to Kuldahar to identify loot. The blur deck was no use as I already had blur available. I therefore sold it. I have a club which is OK but nothing special. I dumped surplus gear in Kuldahar and returned to the Dragon's Eye.

Now level 9 Fighter, Level 9 Cleric.

An interesting run. The problems so far have been surmountable.

Nowadays when I summon undead there are fewer of them, but they are much better fighters.

EDIT

I now have flamestrike, my first fire spell.


When I had a little time spare, but not long enough to play, I had a great roll for a paladin which I will use some time in the future.

I afterwards thought that reducing Dex by 1 and increasing Charisma to 18 might have been better.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

At last I recovered the Heartstone. It was as well that I had hoarded plenty of potions as I needed most of them! In the final battle I dealt with the minions first. I did a lot of running around and used all my normal healing potions whilst doing that. Before entering I had checked for traps and discovered that one of them was deadly. I avoided that one like the plague. It was a long battle but I was successful.

Arundal is now dead. I sold his staff and also some excellent armour that would have made the battle easier except that good people cannot use it.

Perhaps I should ensure that in a two man party that I have a Good Character and a Neutral Character, at least one of them being non-lawful.

Of course, the drops could well be different in subsequent runs.

 

[JustKneller]

Perhaps I should ensure that in a two man party that I have a Good Character and a Neutral Character, at least one of them being non-lawful.

You might want to consider, if you have a cleric, a duo of the same alignment. Righteous Wrath of the Faithful gets a much better effect for allies of the same alignment.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Thanks. I knew nothing of that spell. The reason for my choice had been that different alignments can use different equipment.

My current run came to an end due to entangle. Too many archers nearby. If I had previously cast freedom of action I would have been able to flee.
A most enjoyable run. Having a party of two or three would probably have been safer.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

I only just received "Righteous wrath of the faithful" in the closing stages of my game. With a party of two, that will come even later. Just before getting the heartstone I got Baleful Mail, excellent armour that cannot be used by good characters, but which gives protection against charm, confusion, rigid thinking and command. Certainly worth having, but it would have to be worn by a neutral character. There is also a good shield not usable by Lawful characters.

A quick question: If I cast "Righteous wrath of the faithful," and I had previously cast animate undead: firstly, would it work on them?; secondly, what alignment would the undead have? Presumably evil?

 

[JustKneller]

Yeah, you're going to sacrifice something good regardless of alignment. So it goes.

As for your question, it's a good one. I'm not sure. You might have to test it. First, cast summon undead, then holy blight. If it doesn't damage them, they're probably Neutral (or possibly good). After that, you'd probably have to use Dalekeeper to tweak your alignment and then test them in combat (turning on to-hit rolls). It might work on summons.

According to this, it works on summons and Skeletons are Neutral (which I kinda suspected)

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Used animate undead and then Holy smite. Neither zombies nor skeletons were affected. Enemy skeletons in my last run weren't affected by it either: Probably because it would be foolish for your own summons to be affected. Know alignment didn't work either.

Own summons APPEAR to be affected by bless and strength of one.

It would appear that summoned skeletons and zombies are neutral.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

New run starting tomorrow.

 

[JustKneller]

That's a solid party.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Changed one of the portraits to one that I knocked together yesterday. Her background and that of the others come from local photos from my phone. I almost decided not to include the paladin but eventually stuck with it. He's a decent fighter and has good charisma. Having such good strength values came as a bonus. I was pleasantly surprised at my rolls as I don't have an IWD reroller. The drop from the goblin archer was splint armour which gave both Gordon and Greatheart reasonable armour. Gnifty relies on the armour spell. On the way to Kuldahar we got two excellent drops: a girdle that gives the wearer a blessing, and a cloak that gives the wearer +1 armour class.

EDIT

The next drop was a +1 mace. Excellent as I had just chosen * in maces for Greatheart. When fighting skeletons it was VERY effective. A ghoul was more of a problem as Greatheart was paralysed and he was the only one in the party able to counter the spell. Perhaps I ought to have Gordon lead the attack against ghouls. The next drop was a halberd of sparks +1. Nobody in the party has any proficiency in halberds. When resting we were attacked by four yeti. We had to keep fleeing to defeat them. We are currently in the last dungeon in the vale of shadows having just defeated Mytos. We had to rest after that battle!

At last I reached Kresselack. I returned to Kuldehar to sell surplus equipment and buy ammunition. Greatheart equipped Kresseleck's armour and will use his fine +1 sword. Gordon still hasn't got a +1 weapon in which he is profficient. I thought that when he got a +1 morningstar that he had, but unlike Baldur's Gate morningstars are under the mace category not flails. No affordable flails for sale either.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

This I wasn't expecting. Entaglement and other spells brought this run to an end far too quickly. Usually the clerics are extremely fragile. This time they were able to cast spells of disablement.
I have currently started a new Baldur's Gate run posted on the Beamdog forum.

However

I'll be back!