3 replies to this topic

[Esteban]

Never loved a game so much that I actually wanted to talk about it with strangers on the internet, but who else can I have this conversation with? I've been playing on and off since the initial release.

 

I created a custom party for SoA/ToB with SCS installed and a few other flavorful mods, none of the huge ones. 

 

Some of these characters may seem cliche to the community, may even seem overdone and old, but with the insane strategy mod installed, I wanted to powergame this playthrough and avoid cheese as much as possible.  Which was not possible with Kangaxx when he had HLA's and spellcasting as a demilich. So sad.  Anyway, its about the combination of characters, not each one individually.  I never played through with a custom party so it's new and exciting to me at least.

 

I'm in chapter 6 right now. 

 

Protaganist is human Kensai dual-classed at 9th level into mage.  I know, so overedone.  Taking her through BG1 gave her a lot of stat boosts, and with a 93 point roll to begin with Kara is probably the most powerful character in the party.  She has 5 stars in axes, obviously so she can throw them.  Very low charisma, about 6 to start then 7 after BG1.  Ring of human influence fixes that.

 

Next is Xavier, a human Berserker dual-classed at 9th level into cleric.  Again, so overdone.  5 stars in flails, obviously for Flai of the Ages. I know, how boring.  Kept his dexterity low and went for gauntlets to make it 18 so I'd have other points for high wisdom, strength, and constitution. He can also use warhammers, maces, and slings.  Uses sling of seeking.  Attacks are only 3 every 2 rounds, but its enough.

 

Then we have Sylvia, a human Fighter dual-classed at 9th level to thief.  I debated on wizard slayer but decided against it.  UAI is too far off to negate the penalties of wizard slayer and she'd only ever see 9% MR.  I could have started her as a thief but wanted a character to have plenty of thief HLAs for the epic traps and assassination with a fighter's attacks.  Also, I think greater whirlwind is overrated.  I yawn when people worship it. Short duration and improved haste does the same thing Even a solo character without mage spells can use the Ring of Gaxx to cast improved haste 3 times a day.  She uses katanas and crossbows.  Katanas are great for backstabbing and I love Celestial Fury.  Lot of good bolts in the game too.  Like Celestrial Fury, Kua-Toa bolts also stun.  Bolts of bighting and lightning are great as well. 

 

Next is Gorn, a half-orc Barbarian.  I know there's controversy around barbarians.  The rage isn't as good as Berserker's. But I wanted the fighter HLA's.  Does Hardiness stack with barbarian resistances?  Don't know yet.  He uses halberds, two-handed swords, longbows, and flails. Defender of Easthaven plus shield if I need to.  He just recently got 19th level, giving him 20% resistances.  With sentinel shield and Defender of Easthaven (along with girdle of glory thanks to itemupgrades), as well ring of elemental mastery and helm of balduraan cloak fo the sewers, etc., this guy has an AC of -15 and 40% resistances to all physical attacks.  I took off helm of balduran for helm of brillaince though. Hardiness (if it stacks) and critical strikes will be my HLAs of choice.  He uses a +3 splint mail that I think has the same name as a spell, Armor of Faith?  I have also used his backstab immunity to put him out front against thieves and their invisibility potions. 

 

I neglected to use an Archer.  It was very tempting, granted, but with arrows being limited to +2 enhancement (except for a limited supply of +3 ones) I didn't want him taking the back seat against monsters that require greater enhancements to hit.  Also, what good is Hardiness if you're sitting in the back shooting arrows? Arrows aren't as good as bolts.  We primarily use missile weapons against weaker opponents or anyone who can be taken down with a barrage before getting close to the party.  I like to use summoned creatures to make bottlenecks while we shoot at them.

 

Then we have my utility man.  I originally created him to fill the gaps while I waited for my Berserker and Fighter to dual-class, but he has since become my favorite character.  I know there's two steps between me and disarming traps and pickpocketing now, but Jack (using Jack Nicholson voiceset), the gnome cleric/thief has become my favortie character in the party.  Sanctuary + detect traps to dispel iilusions with impunity.  Staff of Striking + Righteous Magic + backstab, holy crap.  Glyphs of warding + regular traps.  Stealing.  Ribald's ring of regeneration, pickpocketed right after Chateau Irenicus. Had loads of ammo before doing any quests and all +2 armor and +1 weapons.  Used potions of mastery thievery to steal, didn't add to pickpockets until everything else was set.  Set traps.  Using a lot of thief-boosting items.  Combined ring of danger sense, lockpicks and gauntlets of pickpocketing thanks to itemupgrades.  Combined boots of stealth with boots of speed.  Mercykiller ring. Combined gnasher and that acid club I stole from trademeet.  Killed the dao as my first quest just so I could steal all the goodies from that merchant. What a game-changer.  Plenty of rings of invisibility and potions of invisibility for multiple backstabs.  Or just have someone else cast invisibility on him, like my last character, which is:

 

Raya.  Elf Sorcerer.  She filled the mage role while Kara was still working on dual-classing.  Sorceror didn't have to learn from scrolls so Kara could kick everyone out while reading all the scrolls she could to level up to 10th.  I try to pick the spells that won't become obsolete.  I think I'm doing good with that.  Skull trap and DBL are great.  She is also usually the one doing the breaching and just got pierce shield too.  So she takes down enemy defenses and helps the thieves set traps.   Also has horrid wilting, chain lightning, and flame arrow for damage midbattle. Firetooth dagger seems to be the best for ranged attacks.  She has darts, but its hard for her to hit with them.  Boomerang dagger was pickpocketed very early on from Dennis. Had it before starting any quests.

 

So I'm realizing right now its a waste to put together any of the artifacts.  Don't need equalizer or gesen bow.  Crom Faeyr would require Sylvia giving up gauntlets of ogre power, Xavier giving up girdle of Frost giant strength, etc. Plus he wouldn't be able to use his dragon shield if he uses the hammer and right now he's got cloak of reflection, dragon shield, dragon helm,  red dragon armor, and boots of the north. He can't be hurt by fire, cold, or electricity.  I know spells can do that for him and AC doesn't matter later in the game, but it might still matter right now. Plus everytime I use those spells they get dispelled by the dragon I'm fighting. Don't need the wave halberd or silver sword, Gorn already has +4 Soulreaver and +4 Dragonbreath.  I did make shadow dragon and red dragon armor earlier in the game though.  But the major ones you have to go through chapter 4, 5, and 6 to complete? I find that at this stage in the game, its not worth it.  Kara has 5 stars in axes, 2 in single weapon style, and 3 in two-weapon style. I wonder when I'll get another proficiency point?  She is level 17 as a mage and 9 as a fighter.  I just need one more profiency for warhammers then she can use Crom Faeyr and Xavier can keep using his shield or use defender of easthaven as a shield or possibly storm star if Gorn wants to flail it up.

 

Upgraded Jack's shield of harmony (thanks again to itemupgrades). That took a lot of components!  Then the Aegir's hide +3 or whatever it's called was upgraded.  Had to use protection from elements scroll to make it though.  We'll see if that matters, what with enemies dispelling resistances gained from spells anyway.  Made human flesh armor but its AC is lower and Jack already has really good saves.  20% MR is meh.  I'd rather have the higher AC and elemental resistances right now.  He has -8 AC, but +6 penalty against missiles and +2 against piercing.  Used girl of piercing to make Gorn's girdle of glory and Jack is using girdle of hill giant strength.  I'd get boots of avoidance but I'd have to increase his stealth first and besides I already combined both boots of speed.  Sylvia uses the other one that was combined with boots of grounding. 

 

Amulet of Ilmater sucks right now because its AC bonus won't stack with ring/cloak of protection or enchanted armor, so I didn't make it.

 

I didn't do the steal, sell, re-steal cheese.  If I sold something sometimes I would steal it back to either use it or sell it to my fence in the thief guild who pays a little higher but you can't steal back from.  There's a merchant in the docks that I sell the stuff I want held for me.  I steal it back if I need it.  Like excess scrolls, gems for crafting things, etc.  I have four scroll cases and four or five gem bags, all full.  I'm greedy with gems and jewellry, I like to hoard them.  With all the crafting I still have 25k gp left. 

 

Next I will go back to planar sphere (have the mod installed) where I will look into crafting more things.  I think there's armor that adds 18% to physical resistances that I can make, but I need to steel back full plate mail.  Too bad only Xavier can use it.  Now that I think of it.  Defender of Easthaven, plus that snazzy armor, plus armor of faith spell hmmm.... Maybe. Planar sphere mod spells are amazing too.  But I found out to get the staff from the last boss I have to turn the difficulty all the way up!  Pretty sure I'm not doing that.  Turning up difficulty past core rules means the computer is cheating to make the game harder.  That was always a big pet peeve for me.  I always hated that games with higher difficulty settings didn't necessarily play smarter, they just cheated. So on insanity monsters do double damage and have double hit points right? Maybe it gives people a sense of accomplishment to beat the game on insanity, but I would probably have an annurism or a stroke in the process. 

 

Anyway, if anyone cares and has questions, I will be happy to talk about my amazing party that I'm having an awesome time with.  Sort of taking a breather from the game right now and just looking things over.  SCS made some battles very frustrating but I am still very happy with my team and the way everything is working out.  Gonna go make a staff of elemental mastery.

Edited by Esteban, 29 October 2014 - 11:05 AM.

[The Imp]

Hardiness (if it stacks) and critical strikes will be my HLAs of choice. 

It does, at least usually. Also if you put on an armor, the right helm, and drink a potions that adds the resistance, you can get Hit points from being hit by your enemy or your friends... (when your resistance exceeds the 100% res, so there's a possible cheese cake of the year). The Refinements has a "fix for this", as it restricts the res to 75% and barbarians to 85%.

Now is that the most powerful party... nope, but it sounds nice. And they are multi in single player made... With a few cheats(to up stat points, or down, to those that your made in multiplayer chars have) and Level 1 NPC mods NPC components, you can have the in games NPC content with the power party of the year and have all the fun.

Example: Make Minsc have a mage kit and no understanding on how to learn more spells, well he can learn with a ~50% chance by default, but use the Divine Wizard kit, for a good choice ... yep, a kit made by me that allows a few wizard spells and a compilation of converted cleric spells to be used as mage, that can't learn more spells, unless you add Intelligence up from the default 8. Which is not intended of course.

 

And when you run out of things to do in BG2, I recommend that you try the Classic Adventure total conversion mod(and the patch). It was never completed unfortunately, but it has quite lot of content that's not directly related to the original game, but it's a lots fun.

Edited by The Imp, 29 October 2014 - 11:47 AM.

[Esteban]

Hardiness (if it stacks) and critical strikes will be my HLAs of choice. 

It does, at least usually. Also if you put on an armor, the right helm, and drink a potions that adds the resistance, you can get Hit points from being hit by your enemy or your friends... (when your resistance exceeds the 100% res, so there's a possible cheese cake of the year). The Refinements has a "fix for this", as it restricts the res to 75% and barbarians to 85%.

 

Good to know! Thanks.

Now is that the most powerful party... nope, but it sounds nice. And they are multi in single player made... With a few cheats(to up stat points, or down, to those that your made in multiplayer chars have) and Level 1 NPC mods NPC components, you can have the in games NPC content with the power party of the year and have all the fun.

 

Example: Make Minsc have a mage kit and no understanding on how to learn more spells, well he can learn with a ~50% chance by default, but use the Divine Wizard kit, for a good choice ... yep, a kit made by me that allows a few wizard spells and a compilation of converted cleric spells to be used as mage, that can't learn more spells, unless you add Intelligence up from the default 8. Which is not intended of course.

 

Again, thanks for the information on Hardiness.  As to modifying NPCs, there is merit in that. Never done it, and it sounds interesting, although Minsc as a mage would clash with his voice set wouldn't it?  "Swords, not words!" 

 

But I wouldn't mind picking his proficiences from level 1 and making him an actual Berserker instead of a ranger. 

 

Let's see, Jaheira as a ranger/cleric would be sweet too.  Would have to do the druid grove differently, but that's okay.  She can think of herself as a druid all she wants, its still in her character.  Never cared for scimitars anyway.  

 

Anomen as a fighter that you could turn into a paladin later in the game when he completes his trials would be interesting.  His proficiencies never made sense anyway, I would at least want to change that. 

 

Is there a mod to allow kits for multi-classes?  Or where you can have two kits with a dual class? One for the first and second class?

 

Aerie shouldn't be able to be a cleric/mage as an elf, that never made sense.  Maybe she could be one of your divine mages or whatever. 

 

Nalia, ugh.  Cheap imitation Imoen.  I liked her as a person, but her build was suspect at best. Maybe just have her start as a thief and dual class her myself later? Maybe into a figher instead?

 

Yoshimo the Kensai/Thief maybe?

 

Edwin. I like him, but his amulet is a bit overpowered.  +2 spells/level? He already gets +1 for being a conjurer at the expense of divination spells.  Still, I admit to using him anyway.  He has low dexterity, is that supposed to be the counter balance?

 

Korgan, woudn't change him for the world.  Possibly one of my favorite NPCs.  His high constitution and the save vs spells bonus that goes with it are very sweet. 

 

Oh, anyway, you said my party wouldn't be the most powerful possible.  That may be, but its the best I came up with considering my knowledge of the game, which I think is pretty expansive.  Also, I wanted to use certain weapons.  I wanted two people using robes, two people using leather armor, two people using metal armor.  I wanted two people using shields.  I wanted someone using longbows and someone using crossbows.  I wanted a lot of variety I guess.  Maybe I designed my characters around what I thought were the best items in the game, or at least ones I liked personally.  I had a plan mapped out of what items I would get in what order, and the order I would finish quests. 

 

I guess technically the most powerful party would be 6 mages, or some variety of dual-classed and multi-classed mages.

[The Imp]

Is there a mod to allow kits for multi-classes?  Or where you can have two kits with a dual class? One for the first and second class?

Well yes, the Multiclass Multikit Builder Mod. It's fun to combine with the Level 1 NPC mod, make Jaheira a Dark Ranger/Priest of Talos, Sarevok as a Kensai/Assassin. .. you'll figure the rest...

Edwin....He has low dexterity, is that supposed to be the counter balance?

In BG1 the counter balance was he couldn't cast Invocation spells(aka Fireball), but the BG2 changed that... it was enough for me to never actually consider him, and I still won't.

Edited by The Imp, 29 October 2014 - 12:11 PM.