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

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Ham the Hammer
The battle at the Ducal Palace didn't go perfectly as Liia Jannath got killed despite having summoned skeletons to aid in the battle. She WOULD get involved unnecessarily! Belt survived however so if we wanted to we could go straight to the final battle.
I am however thinking of going to Durlag's Tower and the like. Perhaps courting quite a bit of danger but for little reward. I do like to finish off as many of the quests as I can.

EDIT
Before heading off, we sold most of our surplus equipment and bought enough wands that it will be unnecessary to buy them if we get to SOD. It provided space in our bag of holding in case further room is required.

 

[Borco]

That's quite an achievement, Alesia! And I'm glad to see that leather-clad girl make it all the way from casting Color Sprays at ogrillions to the Throne - well done! No, sorry, what I actually wanted to say is that it's pretty impressive, even for a player of your caliber. After all, we’re talking Transmuters here.

With the caveat that all my knowledge of Ascension comes from your and others' runs, I do find Alastria's winning strategy - while unorthodox - still 100% within the boundaries of that kind of creative play that doesn't overlap with exploits. I wouldn't really discount her success just because of it, although I can imagine that – assuming Alastria would have the means of stopping the dispel arrows - a bolder approach might feel more satisfactory. Never fight fair in an unfair world, as they say.

I had two questions as I was reading through the battle: Where does the DDoor come from? I always assumed that it got removed in the EEs. And secondly, do you think that Wish-rest is a necessary tool for a solo mage/sorcerer here? I’ll share some thoughts on Iona’s book soon enough, although skipping Wish is one of the choices I’m not fully comfortable with.

 

[Borco]

Btw, where did you get Iona's portrait from, Borco?

I've been struggling to find good portraits these days

I source everything that I've been using lately from DeviantArt and the artists there - after a quick search you should be able to find couple of styles / artists that you might like.

 

[Alesia_BH]

That's quite an achievement, Alesia! And I'm glad to see that leather-clad girl make it all the way from casting Color Sprays at ogrillions to the Throne - well done! No, sorry, what I actually wanted to say is that it's pretty impressive, even for a player of your caliber. After all, we’re talking Transmuters here.

With the caveat that all my knowledge of Ascension comes from your and others' runs, I do find Alastria's winning strategy - while unorthodox - still 100% within the boundaries of that kind of creative play that doesn't overlap with exploits. I wouldn't really discount her success just because of it, although I can imagine that – assuming Alastria would have the means of stopping the dispel arrows - a bolder approach might feel more satisfactory. Never fight fair in an unfair world, as they say.

I had two questions as I was reading through the battle: Where does the DDoor come from? I always assumed that it got removed in the EEs. And secondly, do you think that Wish-rest is a necessary tool for a solo mage/sorcerer here? I’ll share some thoughts on Iona’s book soon enough, although skipping Wish is one of the choices I’m not fully comfortable with.

Thanks, Borco!

I have mixed feelings about the use of the pools. For better or worse they’re part of the battle now. Using them feels cheesy, but ignoring them is immersion breaking, in a way. If Alastria and Balthazar found a battlefield anomaly that they could turn to their advantage, surely they wouldn’t ignore it on fair play grounds. A way to defeat Mel is a way to defeat Mel: full stop.

That said, the pools do make the fight much, much easier and I do think Ascension V2 should revert to the original behavior.

One of the reasons why I picked a I/T this time is because I/Ts have what it takes to win without using the pools.

To your questions.

On DDoor. DDoor is an ability you receive at the Throne of Blood, along with Control Demon and Focus, among others.

On Wish Resting: Is it necessary? No, actually. You can Spell Trap loop instead. That’s what Alicia did. Iona is setup to loop, ofc, with Spell Trap + PI + PW:S + PW:K.

That said, Wish over Imprisonment is kind of a no brainer, to my mind. Imprisonment is fun, but it becomes less powerful in the major fights. Wish, in contrast, becomes more powerful. Similarly with Limited Wish over Mordy Sword. Mordy Swords are OP for most of the adventure but they kind of fall flat in the end game. Even if I didn’t use the bunnies or the baby globes I’d take LW for the sole purpose of loading I wish for control over time into a chain on a single occasion.

I kind of hate when players structure their entire build around endgame power, but in the case of a sorcerer SCS-Ascension solo no reload, I do think it’s the right move. The Throne is a huge, huge difficulty spike. You can kind of bully your way through everything else.

Best,

A.

 

[Borco]

I guess the question is whether there’s another way to work Pro Acid into a book without crowding out an offensive spell at 5. In an SCS install with innate Contingencies, Sequencers and Triggers, I think I see an angle. Push LR out and then replace Contingency with Pierce Magic, Sequencer with Protection from the Elements and Trigger with Pierce Shield. That would let you take your MR reduction through 6 and 8, instead of the at times bottlenecked 5. Adding in Pro Elements, along with Pro Acid would really tighten the energy attack defenses, too. With the BoIB equipped, and Pro Energy still at 8, you’d be taking regen off everything.

So far, I've been comfortable skipping Sunfire in Iona’s book. Without the MR bypass, it’s basically a stronger Fireball that goes over MGoI/GoI, but so does Death Fog, which anyway has always been her main tool against casters. That said, having no offensive spells at L4-L5 (I disregard Fireshield) does create a large gap that would be worth closing in the next run.

I’m slightly leaning towards Cone of Cold at L4, as L5 has indeed been the main bottleneck. That said, your suggestion for taking MR reduction and Breach via Pierce Magic / Pierce Shield is something I’ve been considering as well, potentially even without treating the contingencies and sequencers as special abilities (for example I can see some merit in skipping GoI at L6 entirely).

 

[Alesia_BH]

I am however thinking of going to Durlag's Tower and the like. Perhaps courting quite a bit of danger but for little reward. I do like to finish off as many of the quests as I can.

Confession: I have never completed Durlag’s Tower. It always feels like an insane detour and I can never bring myself to do it.

I do think it’s super cool, though. I’d love to see more ToSC content on thread, even if I probably won’t be leading the charge there.

 

[Alesia_BH]

So far, I've been comfortable skipping Sunfire in Iona’s book. Without the MR bypass, it’s basically a stronger Fireball that goes over MGoI/GoI, but so does Death Fog, which anyway has always been her main tool against casters. That said, having no offensive spells at L4-L5 (I disregard Fireshield) does create a large gap that would be worth closing in the next run.

I’m slightly leaning towards Cone of Cold at L4, as L5 has indeed been the main bottleneck. That said, your suggestion for taking MR reduction and Breach via Pierce Magic / Pierce Shield is something I’ve been considering as well, potentially even without treating the contingencies and sequencers as special abilities (for example I can see some merit in skipping GoI at L6 entirely).

I’m all about CoC these days. It didn’t do any heavy lifting in the version of Alastria’s final battle that I posted but I was majorly, majorly impressed with the damage it dealt in other versions. It’s a great way to finish The Five and it kills demons too. It gets the spot over Sunfire these days, imo.

I could see skipping GoI- especially if you take LW at 7. I put it in Alicia’s book because back then it stopped Spell Thrust cold, even protecting Spell Shield. I haven’t examined the current state of play there yet, but if the mechanics have changed it could be a pass.

 

[Borco]

Enter Althea, gnome illusionist/thief.

Interesting! I've had gnome C/T on my mind for some time now, so maybe we could run them in tandem.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Interesting! I've had gnome C/T on my mind for some time now, so maybe we could run them in tandem.

Maybe we should consider a multiplayer run. I feel like I'd be a nightmare to play with, what with all my buffing and such, but it could be worth trying once.

 

[Borco]

Maybe we should consider a multiplayer run. I feel like I'd be a nightmare to play with, what with all my buffing and such, but it could be worth trying once.

Add in the autopause and my constant inventory management issues and it's starting to look like we could have a lot of action packed fun, lol! But yeah, we should totally think about it. And who knows, maybe we could even put together a full party here!

 

[Alesia_BH]

But yeah, we should totally think about it. And who knows, maybe we could even put together a full party here!

I'm open to that- assuming no one in our party has latent suicidal tendencies. I seriously think that sitting around waiting for me to organize my potion case of whatever could push someone over the edge.

 

[Borco]

I could see skipping GoI- especially if you take LW at 7. I put it in Alicia’s book because back then it stopped Spell Thrust cold, even protecting Spell Shield. I haven’t examined the current state of play there yet, but if the mechanics have changed it could be a pass.

It never really occurred to me that GoI could be capable of stopping Spell Thrust. The sole reason why Iona initially picked it as her fifth L6 was to counter Malison, but you prompted me to test it. The result is that, in my install, Spell Thrust gets foiled by GoI, however the globe does not protect Spell Shield.

 

[Alesia_BH]

It never really occurred to me that GoI could be capable of stopping Spell Thrust. The sole reason why Iona initially picked it as her fifth L6 was to counter Malison, but you prompted me to test it. The result is that, in my install, Spell Thrust gets foiled by GoI, however the globe does not protect Spell Shield.

Noted. That behavior makes sense to me. I took issue with the Spell Shield behavior back then. Spell Shield should sit atop all your other spell protections.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Ham the Hammer Continued

Having completed the Ducal Palace, Durlag's Tower so far has been quite easy.
I have just killed the four warders three of which were on the point of death due to judiciously placed skull traps and Glyphs of warding. All of our weaponry is either +2 or +3.

Just discovered that a tactic that I have used in the past no longer works. I used to use the cloudkill set off when the first doppelganger changes no longer works as the doppelganger is now immune. I waited for the spell to be no longer operative and saved. Will continue tomorrow. Will have to work out another tactic. Buffed skeletons is probably a good idea.

 

[Alesia_BH]

You've by now made it further into Durlag's Tower than I ever have. I only tried the warder fight once. That was long, long ago, before I knew how to play. I lost and bailed, never to return.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

You've by now made it further into Durlag's Tower than I ever have. I only tried the warder fight once. That was long, long ago, before I knew how to play. I lost and bailed, never to return.

Before the changes, the warders were easy with the right tactics.Before I learnt to use traps, I would speak to Love with a speed enhanced character. Then head to the centre of the Cloundkill spell, use a potion of invisibility and let the cloudkill hurt the warders. Usually that would kill two or three of them. However the warders are now immune to cloudkill, but I now have the required weaponry to kill them without having to use brainpower. Summoned skeletons buffed with strength of one, bless, and chant are quite powerful.
With the mods installed, leaving traps where the warders arrive can be sufficient to kill them and then you only have Love to kill.
However I don't like leaving traps around that might cause self inflicted wounds, so I don't use overkill.

I used to go to Durlag's Tower early on if my character had thieving ability. I would use a potion of perception, a potion of master-thievery, and oil of speed: then run round the tower removing traps and do as many quests as I could without combat. There was quite a lot of loot available even in the unmodded game! That way I could get a low level thief up to level 5! I would then return with a party to collect the loot.

In the unmodded game I learned to leave the Dwarven Doom Guards alone as I found them too powerful. However, my current party was up to the task.

I( found the Arkushule too difficult so used stealth to get past them.

Web against the winter wolves.

Stealth against the phoenix guards. If they SEE you, they are exceedingly difficult. (The devs left sufficient clues!)

For the air aspect and invisible stalkers use AoE spells from a place where you cannot be seen.

When taking on the oozes, fire was once more the way to victory as per the hint given.

I have discovered that the nerfing of cloudkill has changed it from one of the strongest spells in BG1 to one of the weakest. In the chessboard it did nothing.

However web followed by AoE spells made the battle trivial.

After the battle, we rested.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Ham the Hammer's Last Post
Got killed at Boaresdkyr Bridge, I think by Friendly Fire. We were on the point of winning and didn't notice that my health was low. Such is gaming!
I shouldn't play when tired!!

 

[WiseGrimwald]

I thought that it would make a different game if I played Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri, with same stats which are nothing special, but with their equipment.
Jarlaxle has some decent armour, but nothing over the top. The same with Artemis. Artemis starts with a poisoned weapon which means that there is no need to make him an assassin.

I don't normally play evil characters, but let's see how it goes. Just left Candlekeep. Reputation 10. Artemis is the protagonist. Decided to play this later.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Just changed my mind and have decided to play CúChoinneach instead. Rangers are another class that I rarely play. Unlike the character in the NPC in the game, he doesn't have a wolf sidekick. As that wolf is rather buggy if it gets killed, I didn't even try to emulate it.

Journal of CúChoinneach

After the death of Gorion, Imoen joined me and was killed in an ambush. It took half of my gold to raise her, so I left her at the temple for her own safety. She was none too pleased, but I think that is what Gorion would have wanted.

I returned a letter to Mirianne after killing some ogrillon. She rewarded me with a ring of protection which should help to protect me.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of CúChoinneach

Proceeded to the Nashkel Mines but didn't enter. Killed Greywolf and proceeded westward, reuniting Rufie, helping a dryad and a cat on the way. Killed Ingot and then headed northward where I helped Charlestonian Nib and Brage. Keiera Silverstring supplied me with a fairly good crossbow before leaving the party. unlike a similar small crossbow at the smithy, this one was free. Bought the necklace of missiles. Now poor again. Killed the wolves on the way to the basilisks. Reputation now 20. Level 5.

I used the green scroll to fight the basilisks and medusae and the necklace of missiles against Mutamin and a party of adventurers.

Against the adventurers I was a little concerned as I succumbed to a spell. I think that it was rigid thinking. Fortunately I was only visible to one of them, an archer, at the time and I was able to kill him despite still being under the spell's influence. I then just had to wait for the spell to wear off. I attempted sleep but my rest was interrupted by a gnoll.
Next time I slept through. I used the necklace of missiles whilst being out of sight of the adventurers. They put up no further resistance. Now level 7.

So far, no other major problems.

Now time to recruit a cleric. I chose Tenya who was also level 7 when she joined. I had neglected to buy bullets beforehand, so that is now the top priority though more bolts are also needed.