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

Alesia_BH · May 22, 2023

Astrid, Halfling Priest of Talos: The Gate

There are two types of Baldur's Gate players: 1) those who started with BG1, love it, and lose interest in BG2; 2) those who started with BG2, love it, and rush through BG1. I am unequivocally a type two player. I simply can't make myself slowdown and enjoy BG1. By the time I get to the big city, the Chateau beckons. I always, always, pick up the dex tome. And I usually, usually grab Nadine's Necklace of Missiles. Aside from that I typically just shop, drop the dopes, and roll.

Astrid did a touch more in the big city than most of my characters, simply because she wanted that third wisdom tome. But first, let's talk about Durlag's Tower. Because a third wisdom tone can't become a third without a first. Does that make sense? Sort of? Whatever. Let's kill some battle horrors.

Battle horrors hate lightning, which means they loathe Astrid. Contrariwise, Astrid loves battle horrors because they're easy XP. It's your typical love/hate relationship, expect with all the love coming from one direction and all the hate coming from the other, kind of like most RL relationships. Thankfully those usually don't end like an Astrid fight, with skeletal chunkings and lightning bolts.

Thanks for the good time, guys. Now I have an errand to run. Wolf form for the carrying capacity here, natch. Note, too, that we consumed our last Greenstone Amulet charge here. That's fine. We don't need it anymore. See you in the Underdark, old friend.

While we're running errands, Ramazith's tower could use a little tidying up. Too many books. One less will help him out. Stealing from him is a favor, really.

That brings us to the poison quest, which I haven't done in ages, even with divine casters. It just feels sketch- like too many things can go wrong. Happily, this time all went well. Killing Umberlants is a bit fraught for a priest of Talos, since Umberlee is Talos's underling and sometimes lover, but these Umberlants don't know their place. Plus they have nice things, and people with nice things get killed. That's just how it works.

Neutral priests are the best priests, because they get Holy Smite and Unholy Blight while enjoying immunity to both. Maybe neutral priests should get their own aligned spell. Wave of Ambivalence, perhaps? Until then we're smiting Umberlants and laughing at their Unholy Blights.

Now for the exciting conclusion of the poison quest line. Since it's been so long, it wasn't sure whether Marek was a caster or not. I used a potion of clarity here, just in case. I'm glad I did.

All that remained was to end those dopes and bully Thaldorn. Nice bolt here, killing one and seriously injuring the other.

And on the second floor we see a first use of Glyphs. These pair well with Storm Shield. I hope to explore the potential of Glyphs and Symbols in this run. I've never really done that.

And with that, we're off to Candlekeep. The endgame is approaching.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 22, 2023

Astrid, Halfling Priest of Talos: The Dukes

The return to Candlekeep was uneventful, handled in my character's standard way. A potion of magic blocking took care of the ogre mage ambush. Violet potion + potion of agility + potion of fortitude shattered the locks, without compromising combat performance. Shield Amulet + 100% fire resistance + 100% electricity resistance + potion of freedom solved the traps. Finally, for the basilisks, a potions of mirror eyes each. It's a lamentably formulaic approach, I suppose, but by the time I get to this stage of the adventure, my thoughts are on the conclusion. Candlekeep just gets in the way.

And so, like my thoughts post-Cloakwood, I propose that we jump forward to the Dukes.

Is it just me, or has Slythe been seriously toned down in this version of SCS? Before my break I remember him quaffing a ton of invisibility potions and posing a serious threat. Now he's an inept pushover, charging into melee when he should be backstabbing. I keep expecting a fight from him, but he disappoints every time.

Astrid's Wand of the Heavens did most of the damage here. I was seriously tempted to unleash some lightning, but Astrid still has some shopping to do. For the record, the buffs here were potion of mind focusing, potion of magic shielding, oil of speed, potion of magic protection, potion of regeneration, Protection from Evil, Chant, Holy Power and DUHM. Astrid could have gone much, much lighter, but the game is almost over and she can't export potions.

I spent sometime pondering how best to attack Krystin, once her ProMW wore off. But after seeing oodles of weapon ineffectives, I figured the skellies could handle it, once their weapons started working. Astrid sat this one out, aside from chucking a few sling bullets.

These days I use what I call the Faith in Liia method at the palace. I hound the doppelgänger mage relentlessly and ignore everything else until he's dead, trusting Liia to defend herself. This turned out to be an excellent test of that method. I'm pleased to say it passed.

This time the doppelgänger mage broke for the side room immediately. Astrid followed in hot pursuit, vacating the main hall entirely. This was a little scary. I had no way of knowing what I'd find when I got back to the hall.

I debated whether to finish the mage with a potion of firebreath or a Wand of the Heavens charge, but when the assassin showed up, the decision became simple. Two birds, and all. They both fell.

Returning to the hall, Astrid found the worst case scenario. Belt was dead, and Liia was surrounded by three greater doppelgängers, with no flaming fist anywhere near her. Nonetheless, Liia kept herself safe, as expected. If the Faith in Liia method worked here, I imagine it very nearly always works.

Only Sarevok remains. Here's Astrid's hype song, heading into the final battle. Wish her luck!

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 22, 2023

Btw, has anyone seen the Star Trek film that inspired the BG2 plot line and Irenicus's character in particular? It's Star Trek: Insurrection, right?

Is it worth watching, as a BG fan who is marginally interested in Star Trek?

Alesia_BH · May 23, 2023

Astrid, Halfling Priest of Talos: Sarevok

At the Temple of Bhaal we were treated to the comedic stylings of Sarevok. You're calling Astrid foolish, and then you proceed to tell her exactly how to kill you? Hilarious.

And now you're attacking the skellies while we nix your acolytes, your purported shields from harm. I'm dying. Actually, they are. And then you are. That's how it works. You said so yourself.

The skellies once again served a dual purpose. This time they were intended to distract Sarevok, while also drawing out Semaj for potion of firebreath targeting. They worked splendidly. The buffs, for the curious, were pro magic, potion of mind focusing, pro fire, potion of fire resistance, oil of speed, potion of regeneration and potion of strength. We added in a pro undead later to ward off the skellies.

I was somewhat surprised when the invisible Angelo was the first to fall. Semaj dropped soon after.

Now Diarmid is the only threat. As per usual, ranged weapon protection items kept him in the crit only range. We're wearing the Cloak of Displacement, the Claw of Kargaroth, and the Girdle of Piercing.

He was no match in a ranged fight, even for a mostly unbuffed cleric. We also used our potions of explosions and oils of fiery burning here to speed things up.

Deploying our lightning was a bit sketch, since the casting time is too long. Casting time hasn't been an issue for Astrid so far but it will become a major concern later on. That's the class's greatest weakness: their spells have long casting times and they're vulnerable to interupts. They're fine as long as Sanctuary works, at least with respect to buffing and such, but against enemies who detect the invisible their effective kit becomes small and underwhelming, particularly in long fights.

Now it's just you, Sarevok. Those skellies won't help you since we're running pro undead.

Never underestimate a halfling with a sling, big man.

Wand of the Heavens for the finish. Astrid is off to Amn, with a solid BG1 run behind her. This is only my third with a single class cleric, and the other two were pretty long ago, fifteen years and ten years respectively. I look forward to seeing how Astrid will do in Amn.

Best,

A.

Xzarloxara · May 23, 2023

Alesia_BH said:
Btw, has anyone seen the Star Trek film that inspired the BG2 plot line and Irenicus's character in particular? It's Star Trek: Insurrection, right?

View attachment 4573

Is it worth watching, as a BG fan who is marginally interested in Star Trek?

I am not familiar with that, but I did recognize that the barfight scene that takes place in the Three Old Kegs in SoD was inspired by an episode in Star Trek's original series.
This is the scene that the SoD scene was based on.

And this is the SoD scene.

Alesia_BH · May 23, 2023

Interesting! Thanks for sharing!

I just watched Star Trek: Insurrection. The similarities are uncanny. Here's a description of the Irenicus like character, from Memory Alpha.

Born Ro'tin of the Ba'ku, Ru'afo became dissatisfied with the simple life that the other inhabitants of the colony endorsed, and led a group in an attempted takeover of the settlement. Ru'afo was eventually foiled, and he and his compatriots were exiled from the planet, becoming the Son'a. Over the course of the next century, the Son'a built up their military forces, and even conquered two primitive races, the Tarlac and the Ellora, integrating them into their society as a labor class.

The Son'a soon found, however, that in the absence of the metaphasic radiation being emitted from the rings of their planet, the aging process began to take its toll, and they became obsessed with recapturing their youth, undergoing numerous medical procedures to rejuvenate themselves and maintain a younger appearance. By the 24th century, Ru'afo initiated a plot to take revenge on those who had banished him, and harvest the metaphasic radiation with which to reinvigorate the Son'a.

And as an fyi, Star Trek: Insurrection was released in 1998, which is about when the writing of BG2 would have commenced.

Alesia_BH · May 24, 2023

Astrid, Halfing Priest of Talos: Chateau Irenicus

Look out, Athkatala. Astrid is here. Equip your Boots of Grounding, and scoop up those potions of insulation. You've been warned.

Thanks to my recent experience in the Chateau, Astrid's passage was a breeze. She benefitted from the aid of Imoen and Yoshi here, but I'm quite confident she could have done it by herself, had I felt the need.

By I now I know this mineral mephit near the Sewage Golem is a regenerating nuisance that needs to be straight up murdered ASAP. Imoen used her MM and COrb for a quick knockout blow. This was a solo mission because we didn't want to fight all the duergars and Astrid was conserving Sanctuaries.

Once the hallway duergars were defeated, Astrid summoned her skellies and marched them into the otyugh's pit. Irenicus's crib is kind of a demented theme park, is it not? I feel like he drew this thing with crayons when he was five, and then, when he got to be a big boy, made it real.

From here Astrid decided to go left, to the library. No need to rest before taking on Ilyich. We have skeletons.

Seriously: We have skeletons, and that's all we need. They dominated this encounter, bulldozing everything. Astrid helped out with her Staff Spear, but she didn't really need to.

After a forgettable fight with the second batch of hallway duergars, we took on the blokes near the portal. We intended to take our rest soon, so we felt free to use some spells, most notably Imoen's Stinking Cloud and Astrid's Lightning Bolts.

We rested near the portal, recovered the key, and then teleported to the next floor. Once again we used Yoshimo as cannon fodder here, sending him off on a solo mission to backstab the radiant mephit portal, knowing that he'd draw all the aggro in the room, whether he succeeded or failed. Astrid was, at least, polite enough to toss him some buffs first. Many of the mephits in this encounter are neutral, but a Pro Evil 10´ Radius cast is kind of like a group hug. Yes, Yoshi: we care. Now go out there and take on all the mephits. We'll be waiting back here, behind the skeletons. We'll keep an eye on you the whole time.

Go on. We're right behind you. You can trust us...

Nice. The radiant mephits are gone. Time for Astrid and Imoen to make the scene.

Whoever coined the phrase "like herding cats" never soloed a cleric with the current scripts. Because if they did they would have said "like herding skeleton warriors." Herding cats sounds easy in comparison to making these damnable things go where you want them to go. They're loyal to a fault, always sticking by their cleric, even when you want them to go ahead.

I mean, it's not like we wanted them to go too far ahead. We didn't want them to help Yoshimo or anything- god forbid. Fumbling aside, the skellies did their job. Yoshimo did too, and as it turns out he didn't even die. Not that we care, ofc. Okay. Nice work. Now get the rock out of here. You're done.

Should I be nicer to Yoshimo? Maybe I should. But Astrid absolutely shouldn't. Even if you aren't in the know he's sus. Besides: Astrid isn't obliged to be polite. She's no Lathanderian, after all. She's a priest of Talos.

And a priest of Talos who just escaped the Chateau, thanks to Animate Dead and Sanctuary. Soon the BG2 circus will truly begin.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 24, 2023

Astrid, Halfling Priest of Talos: Early Adventures in Athkatla

What can I say about Astrid's performance in early BG2? Um, she's awesome? No really: she rocks. I don't want to say she's the most powerful character I've piloted in the post-Chateau phase of the game, but I'm not sure why I don't want to say it. I see no reason. She's absolutely crushing it.

With my other characters I found myself hemming and hawing before each of the early quests. Is she ready? Does she have the tools? With Astrid, I've posed those same questions but there has been little debate. The answer has invariably been an unequivocal, yes, followed by, a post battle: "Huh? That was quick..." A storm is coming, Amn.

Not all of Astrid's fights have been super quick, or super easy. But many have been, and the vast majority have been far easier than with my other recent characters. On insane I sometimes hesitate to take on Kalah straight out of the Chateau. But Astrid has Remove Fear, Free Action, Chaotic Commands, as well as all those delicious clerical strength buffs. What could go wrong? Not much, really.

The peasant fight was a kite-y annoyance, as per usual, simply because I refuse to invest spells in it. Pulling the peasants one at a time made it marginally more pleasant.

Moving on to Kalah, Astrid basically took all the buffs and poked him with her stick. We let Aerie toss in some short duration buffs to maximize full buff time. The total list was Chaotic Commands, Resist Fear, Pro Evil, Armor of Faith, Chant, Holy Power, Draw on Holy Might and Storm Shield.

The Victor, purchased straight out of the Chateau, finished Kalah. Astrid took minimal damage.

Ok. So, tell us your sad story, Kalah. You just wanted to be king? Well did you know that even in chimpanzee populations male dominance rank correlates positively with urinary cortisol excretion and other markers of stress (Mueller and Wrangham, 2004)? Maybe you should have thought about that, Kalah the Grand. Maybe you should have thought about that.

We killed Kalah for the experience, and for the fun of it, but also for the goodies. The Ring of Human Influence, yes. The Girdle of Piercing, absolutely. But the scrolls and gold, too. Astrid is saving up for one last purchase before she leaves the Promenade: the Ring of Air Control. Exchanging her Mail of the Dead for plate armor, and scavenging the loot from the first guild war encounter, got her over the top. Astrid's carrying capacity will be tight in that plate armor, but we'll be swapping it out for something lighter as soon as possible.

So: How can we make as soon as possible in fact soon? How about the slaver quest?

This is where Astrid started to shine. After nixing the winter wolf, Astrid summoned her skeletons, buffed, and then made her way to the beastmaster. She noticed the straight narrow corridor. She noticed the beastmaster at the end of the corridor, right next to a wall. Finally, she noticed all the doors, opening onto that same straight narrow corridor. Suffice to say, she liked what she saw.

The beastmaster tossed some bluster at her, to which Astrid replied: "Umm, are you sure you want to fight a priest of Talos here? Think that through" The beastmaster, brave if not wise, stood firm. "Ok. Suit yourself, tough guy..."

The Beastmaster and Tabitha died instantly, before the animals showed up. Once they did arrive, they caught Astrid's second bolt, which predictably ripped through the corridor, bounced off the wall, and came back through for a second go. It was brutal. Phase one of the slaver quest has never been easier.

Phase two has never been easier either. Skeletons got us through the sewers, and to Lilacor.

After selling off the loot and resting, Astrid made her way to the Love Boat. She used a standard cleric buff list, Resist Fear, Chaotic Commands,Pro Evil, Armor of Faith, Chant, Holy Power, DUHM and Defensive Harmony, topped off with an oil of speed and RoAC II. The oil of speed should have been taken early, not late, but it was a last minute add on. Astrid probably didn't need it, as it turned out, although it did help. We opened with an assault on the cleric. Nice crit. One down.

Those who have been following this run know that when you see that purple cylinder go up, it's time to back the frack off. Sadly for Captain Haegan's crew, they were not in the know.

The first bolt was ok, but the second was a quality double bouncer that blew the fight open. Forward.

And back.

With naught but unskilled lackeys on the field, this was beginning to feel like the wind down phase of bandit camp. Why not play it the same way? Greater Command.

Followed by Holy Smites.

A solid start in Amn for our bringer of storms.

All she needs now is a makeover. She looks dreadful in that plate armor + Helm of Infravision + Staff Spear combo. Absolutely dreadful. Fixing her look is priority one. This is embarrassing.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 25, 2023

Astrid, Halfling Priest of Talos: Suna Seni and Friends

I regret to inform you that I failed in my stated objective. Astrid still looks awful. I blame Cromwell.

I recalled that in EE ankheg plate permits use of magical protection items, making ankheg plate the best choice for our strength impaired Talassan. That's wonderful, but also regrettable. The plan had been to pair studded leather with the Bracers of AC 3 and the RoP + 2, which would have looked great. Now Astrid is better protected, but green forever. And as Kermit sang so soulfully, it's not easy being green. What to do?

I did a little research, and found that in second edition ankhegs come in green, yellow and brown. The right shade of brown would do nicely. Brown projects stability. And Astrid, a stealth Talassan who tries to engender trust, fancies brown. Just look at her portrait. I considered editing the ankheg plate BAM myself, but at the time I was half playing BG, half drinking wine, and half watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. That's too many halves, and so editing the BAM was beyond me.

If anyone out there is skilled in BAM editing, Astrid would appreciate a set of brown ankeg plate. Perhaps this shade. Just don't make her look like a giant turd. I'll acknowledge that's a risk, especially given the contours of ankheg plate.

If brown won't work, maybe a tasteful yellow.

But I feel like brown is the way to go. It's just a matter of getting the details right.

Anyhoo, let's talk about Suna Seni. As you'll see this talk of ankheg plate is moderately timely.

Astrid began her battle with Suna Seni sanctuaried, running Holy Power and Draw on Holy Might. Why, you ask? Because she was transporting her ankheg shell from the Bridge District to the Docks.

Astrid's first move was to run to the edge of the map and drop her shell. She then took her buffs, which did not include a recasting of Holy Power and Draw on Holy Might. She need to keep those spells in her book to finish her mission, and lug Eldarin's plate, too. Fortunately, Astrid doesn't need her spear to thrive in combat. Skeletons and lighting bolts work just fine.

The buffs were Chaotic Commands, Resist Fear, Pro Evil, Armor of Faith, RoAC II, Defensive Harmony and Storm Shield. I've been very inconsistent in my use of Bless, Chant and AoF thus far, and without reason. I should have used Chant in lieu of AoF and reserved the short casting time AoF for in combat use, if the need arose. The trend of sloppy buffing continues, it seems.

I usually use a Potion of Firebreath on the mage in this fight, and arc around the cleric. But with Astrid's clerical specific protections buttressing her RoAC II save buffs, she had the luxury of time. We saved the potion and let the skellies work through the mage's combat protections.

Once the mirror images were gone, Astrid unleashed her lightning. The mage fell to the skellies before the lightning hit her, but the lightning helped nonetheless. Funny thing about lightning bolts: you end up killing people you haven't even met yet. I have no idea who this slaver is or where he is. All I know is that he's dead now.

Astrid's second bolt went straight to Suna Seni. A day will come when lightning bolts won't rule all. But that day is not today, and that day may be farther ahead than some may think, what with Vhailor Simmy + Cloak of Reflection on the horizon.

Just Eldarin now. A textbook Defensive Harmony for the finish.

With the battle over, Astrid re-cast her strength buffs, grabbed her shell and headed to Cromwell's to have her ankheg plate fashioned. On the way back, she purchased the Nymph Cloak. She then went to the promenade to buy the Reflex and the Staff Mace. On her way to the promenade, she triggered the Renfield ambush. Lightning, Greater Command, and Hold Person solved that quickly.

We rounded out the shopping trip by picking up the Boots of Grounding and the Sling of Seeking. Astrid is now reasonably well equipped, if unreasonably unfashionable. Hopefully we'll get that squared. In the meantime, we're off to the Bridge District for some minor questing. Astrid will take on her first major Chapter 2 quest later today.

Best,

A.

OrlonKronsteen · May 25, 2023

Green Viconia is wrong, too. Fashion crime is the price we must pay, sometimes.

Alesia_BH · May 25, 2023

Agreed. I've been browsing ankheg shells online. Viconia would look good in this one.

OrlonKronsteen · May 25, 2023

New mod idea: charisma penalties for unseemly outfits and colour schemes.

Alesia_BH · May 25, 2023

I vote for a multicolored ankhegs mod. Let them come in brown, yellow, classic green and ocean blue-green. You could, like, shop for the right shell in the ankheg lair. Sounds fun.

Call it The Amazing Technicolor Ankheg Mod

Alesia_BH · May 25, 2023

Astrid, Halfing Priest of Talos: Umar Hills

Things are looking up for Astrid, fashion wise.

Accordingly, she has a new temporary -temporary- theme song.

Alas, Astrid can't actually fight in that outfit. She would, however, like to show it off. I propose that we have a Baldur's Gate Fashion Show. Get your favorite character and dress them up in their most stylish digs. Post a photo. We can even have a judging panel, if we'd like to get completely ridiculous. We can do it here or, if there is enough interest, in a new thread. Feedback awaited.

Anyhoo, let's talk about the Umar Hills, and the minor quests that preceded it.

In this session Astrid continued her trend of being better than everyone else. Every quest is easier for her, every fight is easier. This is not to say that she's destined to succeed, of course. Ease in the early game and success in the late game are two very different things. Nonetheless, playing Astrid has been a pleasure so far, and I think it makes sense to celebrate that, as long as it doesn't lead to overconfidence.

I'm going to charge through these minor quests in Athkatla super quick. First, Astrid solved the skinner murder mystery. Next, she caused a little chaos of her own at the Sarak Farrahd estate. This was mostly done with skellies, but we tossed in a few lightning bolts for flavor. Yummy.

Our next stop was the Graveyard District to trigger the kidnapper quest. While we were there we paid Pai Na a visit. A behind the back lateral shot, Astrid? Now you're just showing off.

Pai'Na herself was finished by Astrid's Wand of the Heavens, purchased in the Temple District. I haven't decided whether I'll let Astrid recharge her items in BG2. She did not do so in BG1. I think recharge is reasonably unbalanced in ToB, but not SoA. If leaning towards holding off for now, and allowing her to recharge in ToB, if she gets there. I'll imagine it's something Cespenar, and Cespenar alone, can do for her.

Reti and Camitis were felled with nary a nick, thank to the skellies, but also Astrid's excellent AC. The ankheg plate really is a boon, even if it is ugly as all get out. Lest I forget, Kitthix deserves an assist here for webbing Camitis. You'll be seeing more of Kitthix in this run since Astrid can't use Ras.

With the Bridge District quests complete, Astrid swung by Watcher's Keep, seeking a potion case, and enough gold to afford the RoP+2 and Amulet of Power. The skellies led the way here. RoAC II handled the petrification trap risk. Storm Shield took care of the fire and lightning traps. CC addressed the area's stealth threat, especially worthy of note for a Claw wearer: sleep via Stinking Cloud from the ooze mephit.

After a quick trip back to Athkatla to pick up the RoP + 2 and the Amulet of Power, Astrid was off to the Umar Hills. It broke my heart to sell Ilbratha. That's one of my favorite items for warriors and thieves. Astrid would have benefitted from it too. How awesome would it be if Astrid could use daggers and short swords? She'd love it.

Unlike most of my characters, Astrid complete the temple quest without resting. She picked up a touch of free xp outside the temple, running Santuary with Turn Undead. This is arguable cheesy, but I feel it's permissible in an encounter that's so simple as to not be a threat. It's a convenience here, not a difference maker.

Unsurprisingly, Astrid handled the opening temple battle with ease. She summoned her skeletons, buffed and then chose to provide support Sanctuaried, rather than fighting directly.

Astrid's Turn Undead handled all the shades, leaving our teenaged skeleton warriors with a 5 to 2 advantage against the temple's full grown skellies. Decisive victory for team awkward teenagers.

Time to celebrate.

Did anyone notice the conspicuous absence of lightning in the opening temple battle? Astrid was saving it for the shadow fiends, who are -100% resistant to electricity. Welcome to Electrocution Junction.

So far Astrid is crushing it, right? It gets better. Here we see her standing her ground against two skeleton warriors and a bone golem. RoAC II helped out here, buffing Astrid's AC and scaring away one of the skeleton warriors, who had been hit be Astrid's Blade Barrier while she was invisible.

In addition to scaring away one skeleton warrior, the Blade Barrier did the heavy lifting against the second.

The bone golem, however, was unaffected. Time to buff up that strength. Sanctuary -> Holy Power -> DUHM.

Victory. My other recent characters kited the bone golem. Astrid had no need. She's a rock n' roll star.

That left but one more skeleton warrior and shadow fiend encounter before the Shade Lord. As you can see, Astrid took a little damage here, now that her spells were running low. The shadow fiends were killed with lightning bolts. The skeleton warriors were meleed at the edge of the lava pit, since extra damage never hurts. It was the toughest encounter of the quest, but Astrid prevailed.

As for the Shade Lord, it appears I didn't take any screenshots there. Why I don't know. Maybe I was subconsciously ashamed of using pro unded in that encounter, when Astrid likely had the tools to win the right way. I'm not sure. In any case, Astrid, running ProUndead, nixed the altar with a sunstone bullet and then killed the Shade Lord with the Sling of Seeking's magical bullets. Minor regrets on that front, perhaps, but Astrid moves on, quest complete, and she now has enough gold for another major purchase. Vhailor, maybe? We'll see.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 26, 2023

Astrid, Halfling Priest of Talos: Trademeet

If you can't defeat the green, accessorize it. That anhkeg plate looks semi-ok with the EE Shield of Harmony. In general I loathe the EE's new item appearances -especially the Shield of Harmony and the Reflex- but in this case that green shield kind of works. Using a large shield icon for the Reflex is still unforgivable, though.

Ok. That's enough fashion talk for this post. Let's get to the quest. Like virtually all of my characters, Astrid killed the dao instead of Ihtafeer, seeking to keep Adratha available throughout the game. Astrid used an insta-kill tactic versus the Taquee, employing Harm + The Victor. Simmy Astrid was suppose to deliver the killing stroke via The Victor but a skellie somehow got the kill instead.

I got in the habit of insta-killing Taquee because at one point, many moons ago, he would abscond with the Efreeti Bottle if attacked, making an insta-kill the only way to recover the item, if you couldn't pickpocket. That's no longer necessary, and in this case it might have been preferable to give Taquee a chance at a fair fight. I did, however, want to test Astrid's insta-kill method in a safe environment and Taquee furnished that opportunity. I'm glad I did. Taquee appeared to require more than 1hp of follow up damage, which I did not expect.

Khan Zhara also fell to Harm + The Victor. In this case the mechanic worked as anticipated. The Harm landed, and then Khan fell after the slightest of nudges. I'd like to know more about what -exactly- SCS did to Harm.

We let Cernd handle Faldorn, and left the creatures in the grove for another day.

In the Mantle of Waukeen quest Astrid trotted out her Blade Barrier again. The cleric class's weakness is its low APR. Clerics can, however, boost their effective APR via Blade Barrier, summons and offensive spells. Astrid couldn't drop these skellies as quickly as the Azureedge equipped Alia, but she chewed through them fast. Holy Power + DUHM + Defensive Harmony + RoAC II helped out here but the Blade Barrier did the heavy lifting.

As per usual, the most challenging part of the Trademeet quest was viewing Astrid's statue without triggering that infernal Rasaad dialogue. If you approach from the east, you can avoid him, although you will pull Neeber. That's fine. Neeber is far less irritating that Rasaad.

Returning to Athkatla, Astrid felt ready to take on the Crypt King.

The Blade Barrier did excellent work here. The Storm Shield is up because we hoped to land a double bouncer or two in the tiny crypt. Alas, the Crypt King's magic resistance foiled that plan, stopping two bolts. That was unexpected since, IIRC, his magic resistance is only 25%.

Finally, Astrid helped out Wellyn by recovering Littleman and chunking Llynis. May chaos prevail, but little boys should have their bears. Especially dead little boys. Let them have their illusionary comforts.

I'm not sure what's next for Astrid. I'm leaning toward the Planar Prison, but the De'Arnise Keep is a possibility, too. We'll see.

Best,

A.

mlnevese · May 26, 2023

OrlonKronsteen said:
New mod idea: charisma penalties for unseemly outfits and colour schemes.

Wait.. would this apply if I played a half-orc berserker with pink and purple clothing and blue hair? Just asking for a friend...

Alesia_BH · May 26, 2023

mlnevese said:
Wait.. would this apply if I played a half-orc berserker with pink and purple clothing and blue hair? Just asking for a friend...

Sounds like a prime competitor in a Baldur's Gate Fashion Show

Screen+shot+2010-11-16+at+9.46.34+PM-2230465447.png

Alesia_BH · May 26, 2023

Astrid, Halfling Priest of Talos: Planar Prison Quest, Part 1

Now here's a competitor in a Baldur's Gate Fashion competition, in the in game avatar category. Deep purple, red and white gold: that's a look.

As some of you may have inferred from the screenshot in the Temple District, Astrid chose to undertake the Planar Prison quest. This post covers the lead in to that quest. Astrid will enter the prison this afternoon.

Task one was to defeat Draug Fea and his lovable bunch. I go back and forth with regards to allowing my characters to insta-kill mages. It can be satisfying from an RP perspective if playing, say, a thief, but it does trivialize mage encounters in early to mid SoA. Whether I allow it or not typically comes down to the character. Alia, vicious in combat and uniquely vulnerable to dispel, was permitted to insta-kill mages. Amara, a bold and chivalrous swashbuckler, was not. Astrid, as a roguish, stealthy priest of Talos should be allowed, I think, at least until I tire of it. In any case, Astrid dropped Gaius with Harm and a potion of firebreath follow up. This was about protecting the summons from Death Spell, as much as anything else. As you can see, they weren't allowed to enter the frame until Gaius was dead.

Speaking of summons, Astrid went with five skeleton warriors. Her buffs were Remove Fear, Pro Evil, Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, oil of speed, potion of regeneration, Holy Power, Draw on Holy Might, Blade Barrier and RoAC II. Armor of Faith and Defensive Harmony were reserved for in combat use.

Our skeletons were a little disorganized in this fight. Eventually they settled into a tussle with the clerics while Astrid took on the warriors.

All was going well until an embattled cleric broke Sanctuary with an aerial servant cast. That aerial servant proceeded to nix all of our skeletons warriors. Astrid is looking forward to getting full grown skeleton warriors. These teenagers are unreliable.

Seeking to even the odds, Astrid brought in Mr. Efreeti. He was over matched in this company, but he did run distraction, allowing Astrid to cast Santuary and re-buff.

That was the only edge Astrid needed. After refreshing Holy Power, DUHM and Defensive Harmony, she finished the job.

By the time Astrid entered Mekrath's lair she was low on spells. She did, however, have her lightning bolts left. She had withheld them in the sewers for fear of nixing Roger. Four of the five mephits were killed by this one bolt, a double bouncer on a nice angle.

The lightning mephit, immune to electrical damage, fell to Kitthix

Now exceedingly low on spells, Astrid chose to oblige Mekrath and recover his mirror. Absent her buffs, summons and bolts, Astrid isn't much of a warrior. The lesser earth elemental gave her about as much as she could handle.

Healed, rested, and newly equipped with the Sling of Everard and Mauler's Arm, Astrid is ready for the prison.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 27, 2023

Astrid, Halfling Priest of Talos: Planar Prison Quest, Part 2

I suspected that a time would come when Astrid's early successes would breed overconfidence, threatening her run. That time arrived in the Planar Prison. She survived, but there were three occasions when she could have found herself in trouble.

On the positive side, I noticed a glaring hole in Astrid's approach that had so far eluded me, and I noticed that hole before it put her in danger. There is, however, another problem that remains unresolved. If Astrid could wield short swords I'd like her chances far, far better.

Astrid opened the first battle with a Harm + Victor insta-kill of the bounty hunter mage. Pre-buffs here were Resist Fear, Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Pro Evil, Chant Holy Power, Draw on Holy Might, Blade Barrier and RoAC II.

Blade Barrier enhanced melee did the heavy lifting from that point on.

What surprised me, however, was that the enemies kept coming. Astrid summoned her skeletons, expecting to go on the march, but wave, after wave of enemies rushed at her. Thralls. Summons. Umber hulks. The wyvern. The minotaur. More thralls. It was exhausting for me, and I wasn't even fighting. It must have been super-rough on Astrid.

By the time the umber hulks arrived the Blade Barrier was down. Sorry Taggert, we're firing up the Storm Shield. Astrid may not give a rip, but I hope you'll survive.

Finally the minotaur and the female thrall. They were taken down in straightforward melee, but they did draw out an oil of speed, digging into Astrid's resource base. Thanks to the Mauler's Arm, Astrid now only needs the cheap L2 Draw on Holy Might to be viable in melee. That helps to alleviate the bottleneck at L4 by partially deprecating Holy Power.

Once the last wave fell, there was the seemingly small matter of dropping the thrall mage in the neighboring area. Do you remember when I said there were three points at which Astrid could have found herself in trouble? This was one of them, believe it or not. After the second abduction of Haer'Daelis, Astrid returned to Mekrath's to pick up the Necklace of Form Stability, reasoning that it could prove helpful in the event of a Polymorph Other cast. That contingency arose here. Alas at the end of a long string of battles, I was in lazy mode, and I failed to ID the incoming spell. With her Necklace of Form Stability undeployed, Astrid has a save v polymorph of 3, meaning she could have been squirrelfied. Fortunately, that did not happen. And even if it did, I don't think it would have been fatal. I don't believe the mage had the resources to follow up with a kill on the squirrel. Astrid could have disappeared, snuck off and dispelled the effect. Barring a dispel, she could have rested 126 times to reach the end of the spell's 42 day duration. But even if it didn't turn out to be fatal, it would have been a nuisance- a risk that shouldn't have been incurred. Lesson learned: Even when your foe is weak, incoming spells must be identified, preferably at the incantation stage.

With the first mage thrall down, Astrid decided to take a rest. She then nixed the second thrall mage with Harm + The Victor. Astrid will need to find a new follow up soon, since the The Victor is running low on charges.

The second dicey moment occurred in the Master of Thralls battle. This screw up was a bit like the one in Bergost, during the Landrin's possession quest. I became enamored with the idea of using a particular spell in a particular way, despite the fact that that approach was tactically inferior to alternatives. In Beregost, it was Lightning Bolt. Here is was Astrid's newly acquired Fire Storm. I wanted to send Mr. Efreeti ahead, let him gather enemies, and then cast Fire Storm on him. Mr. Efreeti is immune to fire damage, and with his fire shield up he should draw regen from it. Meanwhile, the Master of Thralls and the air elemental are vulnerable to fire. It seemed fun and vaguely clever. Maybe it was.

The problem was that I had too much confidence in it, and I didn't think through the rest of the battle plan. Like, what if the Master of Thralls TWEs to Astrid? Shouldn't the Blade Barrier be up? Shouldn't we have out melee buffs in place? Shouldn't we be running oil of speed? And what's with the Free Action? We can make the save on SPIN999 and we have the Shield of Harmony. All Free Action can do is slow us down. This was a sloppy clusterF of a battle, from the planning phase, to the buffing phase, through the fight itself. And all because I thought a high level spell was an I win button. Rookie mistake. Astrid was forced to withdraw, heal and rebuff, while the skellies ran distraction.

Once her buffs were in place, Astrid had little trouble finishing the already mortally wounded Master of Thralls. This kill should have taken place in one elegant maneuver, though- not with an improvised on the run re-buff. If the Master of Thralls played his hand smarter, using TWE more aggressively, he could have won.

Humbled, we rested once again heading into the fight with the Warden. This is where I noticed one of the flaws in Astrid's game plan. Check out those incomers: Symbol: Fear and Symbol: Stun.

Now, both of those spells don't have a chance. Astrid is running Resist Fear and RoAC II. But what if they had been preceded by a Remove Magic? Some of you are probably thinking. "Well, Astrid is a L14 halfling priest with a base con of 18. She's wearing the Claw and the RoP+ 2. She has a save v spells of 0. All she'd need to do is quaff a potion of stone form, and she'd be fine." That's just it. I didn't bring potions of stone form. I'm usually super pro-active about building a defensive potion kit in early SoA, gathering a comprehensive set covering all contingencies before I spend on weaponry and such. But in Astrid's case, I had become so confident in her ability to protect herself that I pointlessly stalled on building her potion kit. Does anyone want to guess where she's headed after she escapes the Prison? Straight to Cragmoon. Potions always matter. They mater more for some than others but they always matter.

At this stage Astrid was running oil of speed on top of her Boots of Speed movement rate advantage. All she needed to do was stay ahead of the Warden and wear through his protections. Sneaking in a True Sight cast helped.

Tossing some summons at him helped, too.

Victory was ours, and it took the form of the most delicate of nudges from Everard. Truth be told, though: Astrid got a little lucky here. I'm still not playing as well as I did before my break. Hopefully I'll get my act together sooner rather than later. Astrid's life hangs in the balance.

Best,

A.

Alesia_BH · May 27, 2023

Astrid, Halfling Priest of Talos: The De'Arnise Keep

I maintain that chaos is the future
And beyond it is freedom
Confusion is next and next after that is the truth

-Sonic Youth

One of the great things about playing a priest of Talos is that you don't need to finish your quests. Seriously. What's the point of restoring order to the De'Arnise Keep when you're all about chaos? You can stay as long as it suits you, and when it doesn't suit you, you can bail. And if you've left the place worse off than when you arrived, well, great. Perfect. Why not? Chaos is the future, after all.

Astrid answered Nalia's call, and the keep is worse for it. Astrid doesn't mind. In fact she's tickled. It's not like Nalia was going to pay her anyways.

I'll detail what happened exactly, but first, we have a small matter to attend to.

Bam!

So begins a new streak of posterizing the first dead troll in the De'Arnise Keep. May this streak last 20 years, like the last one.

With that out of the way, let's proceed. My intention here was to complete this quest on two rests: one to start, and another for Torgal. That is fair, I think, and in keeping with the intent of the area.

Astrid let Kitthix run distraction while she beat down the otyugh with Mauler's Arm. What is this thing doing here anyways? Did Torgal bring it, or is it the De'Arnise's? It hangs out with Rex, Rover, Sparky and Spot, and they seem to get along, so I'm really not sure. Add that to my observations about Daleson and the provenance of the meat dogs he's been feeding to the umbers, and the De'Arnise start to seem like epic weirdos.

On the second floor, Astrid summoned her skellies. The tricky part here, of course, was finishing the trolls, since Astrid has limited access to troll finishers. She went with the Flame Blade to start. Excuse me. Pardon me. I need to get in there. Thanks.

The Flame Blade worked fine, for the most part, and it looked sweet in Astrid's hand. It could not, however, finish the spectral trolls. We brought Mr. Efreeti in for that. We had to sacrifice a skellie to make room for him. That's ok. We want on open slot for an aerial servant anyways.

Time for the yuan-ti mage. Astrid took her buffs, summoned her aerial servant, and approached. The yuan-ti mage seemed pretty stumped by Astrid's buffs. But then he said "praeses" and we knew it was time to get the rock out of dodge. That's Teleport Field, and it's a nightmare in this spot. It can drop summons over walls. Astrid made it out with three of her five, but two were swept away.

Ok. we have an A team and a B team now. A team, finish the mage.

Hopefully B team is over by Glaicus. That would be nice. Turned out they were. Alas, only one of them survived to move on to Glaicus. As for A team, they fell to the spawn just prior to the fireplace. It's just Astrid and a single near death skellie now.

With a depleted spell book, and naught in the way of summons, Astrid would need to rely on her lightning. Unfortunately, Glaicus quaffed an oil of speed, and an exceptional strength potion, making it hard to line up a shot. We have three bolts. Shot one was a dud. Single bouncer.

Shot two was a dud, another single bouncer.

How about shot three? Disco!

Quadruple bouncer!

And check the rest of the battle record. See all those subsequent hits on Astrid? Those were the bolt, too. If Glaicus hadn't died, the bolt would have hit him three more times, for total of 7. 70d6. Not bad.

By now we were deep in the book. We're using Holy Smites, with sunstone bullets to finish. The Mauler's Arm does help Astrid stretch her book. It'll see continued use, even after we forge Ages.

With the book near tapped, Astrid decided to use her Sanctuaries to collect the fire head. We bought a pro poison scroll in anticipation of fighting all the golems, but by now it just seems like a hassle. Besides: there's something very Talassan about activating the golems and leaving them there. Have fun with that, De'Arnise Guard.

Finally, Torgal. We allowed ourselves to rest before this. The plan was to take all our buffs, drop a Firestorm and, well, we'll see what happens. No promises. Astrid is level 15. Those yuan ti mages are L14. They have a lot of Removes in their books. If the Firestorm drops them, then we can finish the fight. If the Firestorm doesn't drop them, and they fail to Remove, we can consider finishing the fight. But if they survive the Firestorm, and they successfully remove? Then we roll. Who cares? Certainly not Astrid.

So, what happened? The yuan ti were pretty savvy, and hung out at the edges. They tossed their removes. One of them landed. And we are out of here! We're not risking our skin, or even our oils of speed, for Nalia. Astrid thinks this looks great. Activated golems in the main hall. Yuan ti mage's in Auntie's room.

Torgal over by the tree. And who are you guys? Where did you even come from?

Yes, yes. That will do nicely. We have Ages. We have the Kneecapper. As for Nalia, she has an even bigger nightmare. I'd say we'll come back and finish the job, but to Astrid this is a job well done. Chaos prevail.

Best,

A.

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

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Innkeeper

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Innkeeper

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