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

[Borco]

Edric, human bounty hunter: Part 5

Alright, the bandit camp! This started as an infiltration and ended up in an open warfare - much to the dismay of the local junta. But let's not jump the gun and cover the events step by step.

Upon arriving to the camp with Raiken, Edric took some time to deploy several traps on the site, targeting a few hot spots with the highest traffic. All in line with the bounty hunter playbook so far.

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Our plan was to strike the main tent at night and so we rested and waited until the activity in the camp subsided.

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Edric's pre-buffs comprised fire and cold immunity (via the corresponding green scrolls + potions), green ProElectricity scroll (just in case we'd need to trip the lightning trap during the fight with the Boots of Grounding), Potion of Mind Focusing, Potion of Defense, Shield Amulet, Oil of Speed, Potion of Regeneration, and Greenstone Amulet. In terms of AC, we relied on the missile AC adjustments provided by the Shadow Armor, the Cloak of Displacement, the Claw, the Girdle of Piercing, the Boots of Avoidance to dodge all ranged fire but critical hits. Additionally, wearing the Ring of Fire Resistance would provide us with additional regeneration via fire damage.

We opened by eliminating Venkt with Edric's backstab + Firebreath combo.

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This classic move allowed us to remove the dispel threat and significantly thin out the enemy ranks in the first two rounds of the combat.

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By the time our fire scorcher dried up, only Hakt, Britik, and Raemon remained. Sorry Hakt, but you're really not going to make that shot with a -22 adjustment to your roll, not even with your fancy bow.

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Britik had an active strength potion, so we decided to play it safe and stopped him with our Darts of Stunning.

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Hakt kept running around in panic and that made him an easy target for Edric's quick blade.

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We noted that Raemon quaffed his strength potion as well. I mean what was he thinking? Edric is a helmet-less rogue and there was precisely zero chance that we'd be willing to offer him a fair duel. Enter Darts of Stunning.

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Conveniently, we got our level-up to L9 before moving outside to deal with the rest of the camp, which meant more hit points, better THAC0 and saving throws, as well as an increased backstab multiplier of x4. Edric also invested his first 20 points into Detect Illusion, which will become increasingly relevant going forward.

With the commanders dead, Taurgosz remained to be the only individual enemy that posed any danger. Over time, I've personally settled on charm and Wand of Paralysation as the preferred tools for dealing with him. Since Edric didn't have access to either (Algeron's Cloak is off-limits to my characters), we'd have to do this the old-fashioned way.

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Our opening backstab failed, but we were pleased to see that at least our traps did make an impact, slowing or killing a few individuals here and there.

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Edric still had a full day's worth of snares at his disposal and, seeing an opening to the north, he pulled back to place one into the open-space and re-entered stealth.

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The contest for the chunkiest backstab was on. Edric's first entry wasn't that bad at all. Note that the high damage output is coming mainly from the +4 bonus when backstabbing a ranged enemy.

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Using our speed advantage, we settled into a hit-and-run pattern, taking out individual enemies one at a time. In the meantime, we also prepared our second normal snare.

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Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

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Fireworks, please.

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With the crowd still going strong, we decided to layer our remaining special traps in between the backstabs and Necklace of Missile charges.

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Even though this finisher on Taurgosz came too late to enter the contest, it still deserves to be included in the honorable mentions, being performed on a melee fighter and all.

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Final cleanup with the Whistling Sword and throwing knives.

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My characters are often struggling here with accumulated damage from criticals, but unless I'm mistaken, Edric had not suffered a single point of damage here. Which is fairly surprising given that we did not exactly stay out of the archers' range all the time, though I won't complain.

Edric's off to Cloakwood.

Regards,

B.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Nice work, Borco!

 

[Borco]

Edric, human bounty hunter: Part 6

Guess who's got a new weapon!

And a new cloak as well.

The timing for acquiring the Dagger of Venom couldn't have been better. We were about to face hordes of spiders in the Cloakwood Forest and there are few more satisfying ways of dealing with them than by using their own medicine.

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Edric was running green ProPoison scroll here and wearing the obligatory Girdle of Piercing + Ring of Free Action combo. Since he was stuck at 1 APR and extremely vulnerable to criticals, Edric's spider hunting strategy was to apply poison and pull back every round, since staying engaged in combat would mean overexposure to the incoming APR. In other words, the whole thing was a major kiting event. Still, the Dagger of Venom's 0 speed factor helped, and so did our ability to slow down the sword spiders with special traps.

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Out of superstition, we hadn't returned the bowl to Tenya earlier on. And so when the storm started to rage (the screenshot below is indeed taken at night), I was hoping that Edric would be spared Talos' wrath and avoid the first Ava's fate. And lo, there were exactly zero lightning strikes!

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Yet more kiting action and poisoning of Centeol.

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Our last targets in the area were the three phase spiders to the southwest.

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From the spider forest we proceeded straight to the mines. What surprised me at the time was that we had not yet encountered either of the ambush groups. Apparently, we ought to be expecting to run into them on our return journey. But never mind that, we now had more pressing concerns on our minds, in particular Drasus & Co.

When Edric arrived to the palisade, the sun was still high up. This was not ideal, since the execution of our plan required reliable stealth - we thought it prudent to find a secluded spot and wait until the dark. But first, there were preparations to be made, starting with the removal of the two guards at the gate.

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Wearing his Cloak of Non-Detection, Edric then quietly passed the enemy lines and eliminated the lone guard in the storage room. No one likes shared office space and we needed a quiet place to make the final touches to our traps.

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Maintaining a safe distance, we tossed a special snare towards Kysus and one other snare was placed round the corner of the storehouse.

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Edric then retraced his steps towards the gate, landed another special trap at Drasus' feet, and wrapped up the layout with two fallback traps at the bridge.

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The stables seemed like the most promising spot to enjoy an undisturbed rest until nightfall.

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After snoozing the alarm clock a couple of times, we finally pushed ourselves to act. Buffed with Shield and Greenstone Amulet charges, Edric positioned himself behind Kysus and was poised to strike with his Dagger of Venom, adrenalin pumping. Bam!

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Oopsie. Time for plan B. Or rather stage 2 of our initial plan A. Whatever, just bring it the Firebreath, quick.

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Our traps sprang simultaneously. Kysus dropped dead, Genthore was slowed. Even Drasus got slowed before he could quaff his Potion of Magic Shielding.

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Time to tighten the noose with a scorcher loop.

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In other circumstances, I would be strongly incentivised to run an Oil of Speed here. Once you have Drasus' boots, Davaeorn can be outmanoeuvred without having to rely on other haste sources, but in this fight it can be a crucial factor. With Edric, we concluded that his special traps should hopefully give us sufficient head start and kept the potion in reserve, even though we had an extra stockpile of Oils of Speed from the Durlag's Tower. Overall, solo bounty hunters have excellent resource management in early BG - not only can they access some extra consumables and sellable loot from chests or via pickpocketing as any other thieves, their special traps also alleviate the need to rely on AoE items such as the Wand of Sleep or the Necklace of Missiles. Normally, my other solo characters are down to less than 10 Wand of Sleep charges at this stage of the game, Edric had 19.

Anyway, back to the action. Rezdan now had his buffs up. He even managed to pull off a Chaos cast, although Edric was safely sitting behind his Greenstone Amulet. The second tick of our Firebreath was too hot to handle for him.

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We dashed behind the corner to hide, reappeared with a backstab on Drasus, and lured them both towards the traps at the bridge.

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While waiting for his enemies to crawl towards him, Edric switched his belt (Piercing to Bluntness) and cloak (Non-Detection to Displacement), quaffed a Potion of Absorption, and hit the shadows. Oops, again.

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Drasus chugged a strength potion and was now back at full speed. With no helmet to cushion a potential critical hit, we decided to avoid direct confrontation and rushed towards our hiding place to re-stealth.

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Edric popped his head outside and saw that both fighters were now standing in that narrow corridor, which gave us the opportunity to place fresh traps into the courtyard.

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Eventually, Drasus was killed by a tossed snare and Genthore got murdered with a backstab.

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[Borco]

Edric, human bounty hunter: Part 6 - continued

Now that the place was relatively clear, we took another rest in the stables after which we raided the guardhouse. Potion of Master Thievery + Mind Focusing allowed us to pick the lock on the chest containing a Potion of Magic Shielding.

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Our jog through the mines all the way down to Davaeorn's lair was relatively uneventful - we avoided all the enemies under stealth and only stopped to say hi to Ril.

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After taking down the bouncer with backstabs and removing the traps in the corridor, Edric moved into one of the side-rooms and pre-buffed with Shield and Greenstone Amulet charges.

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He saw two battle horrors leaving their posts at Davaeorn's side, which meant that the mage would now hopefully be alone and exposed. The key question was whether he already had his Stoneskin that would foil our backstab opener. He didn't.

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Since scoring a quick win with a single strike would trivialize the encounter, we were sort of glad that Davaeorn survived and teleported away, triggering his buffs in the meantime.

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We tried to finish him with an Arrow of Detonation from Durlag's, hoping to bypass his Mirror Images and Stoneskins, but the damage was just too underwhelming to complete the job.

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To change our approach, we switched to acid arrows and challenged him to a duel. Not knowing what to expect, Edric kept in aura clear for counters. What's this? A Lightning Bolt? Boots of Grounding + Potion of Insulation. Next.

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Fireball? Ring of Fire Resistance + Potion of Fire Resistance. We can do this all day, you know?!

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At the same time, we were conscious of the incoming reinforcements and needed to move faster. Enter our two Arrows of Dispelling that we had also acquired among the treasure in the Durlag's Tower. Even though we need both of them, Davaeorn eventually got stripped of his buffs.

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He countered with his own dispel, but our buffs remained intact.

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Seeing Davaeorn quaff more healing potions, we decided to change gear by tossing a special snare into the room.

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He was finished with our remaining Arrow of Detonation.

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Edric's on his way to the Gate!

Regards,

B.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Inspiring, Borco!

This is the best BG1 human bounty hunter run I've seen, including mine. Major kudos, my friend!

Cheers,

A.

 

[Alesia_BH]

And, btw, Ava is alive and well. She's just so far ahead of her updates that I'll need to set aside an afternoon to catch up.

IIRC, her posts are pre-bandit camp. As for where she actually is...

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So, yeah: there's a gap. Not sure when I'll get a chance to update. Hopefully soon. In the interim, good hunting, everyone!

Cheers,

A.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

I will continue the above game later, but I would first like to see if I can finish a non-violent thief game in EE. I managed it in Tutu, but I think that it could now be more difficult.

Algernon's cloak can now only be used once between sleeps. A significant difference!

In Candlekeep I was attacked by two assassins, but for once the watchers earned their pay.

In Beregost I acquired Algernon's Cloak and had it identified by the bard Morwen in The Jovial Juggler. I used it for charming an ogrillon to the south after which he and his crony got in a fight. At High Hedge a gnoll whom I charmed was also charmed. I returned a sword found on its body to the owner.

In Nashkel I found some high quality ankheg armour but I am sadly unable to use it.

To the south I charmed the assassin Zargos Flintblade who attacked me. That was a relief as he was well armed. We were attacked by Greywolf who killed Zargos. Greywolf in turn was killed by Amnish Guards at the mine.

Progress so far. Clearly she has learned something from Gorion about kindness. Time for bed.

 

[Borco]

Inspiring, Borco!

This is the best BG1 human bounty hunter run I've seen, including mine. Major kudos, my friend!

Cheers,

A.

Oh my, that's kind of you to say so. Though it should be mentioned that the first few chapters of BG1 are pleasantly straightforward with a BH, while the real challenges will come at a later stage. Anyway, I don't think I've ever properly studied Alesia's old run(s) - I might need to dive into the old forums for some inspiration and guidance, like I did with Arkona when I ran my off-the-thread barbarian.

IIRC, her posts are pre-bandit camp. As for where she actually is...

That's a solid progress indeed and congratulations on another Kachiko kill! As for the backlog, I know how it feels...

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[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Ffion

I returned Joia's ring after delivering Samuel to the FAI. After charming a guard he took on and defeated Tarnesh.

Now a fully fledged hero.

The ogre with the belt fetish was killed by wolves after I charmed him.

I then helped Eltolth get back into shape.

 

[WiseGrimwald]

Journal of Ffion

I used up most of my healing potions getting as far as Mulahey.
I charmed him and he killed the kobolds and skeletons.
I left and lured those outside to be killed by Mulahey.
I then lured the ghoul inside and he held Mulahey before killing him.
I was thankful that I was able rest pacefully and as a result had been able to help Mulahey by charming some kobolds.
I then sneaked out for my reward reaching level 5 in the process.

Sneaked my way to Davaeorn. He saved against Algernon's cloak and sent a lightning bolt my way.

END OF RUN

If I try this run again, note to self. Protect against electricity! Also use cloak against an enemy who doesn't have magical resistance.

EDIT
In Tutu Davaeorn could be charmed easily. Not sure if it is the change to the cloak or a change o Davaeorn that made the difference.

 

[Finarfin]

Luke, Halfling Fighter: Introduction

Summer holiday is over, and I thought about trying a new no-reload char. I wanted to do something fun and not very serious, so I decided to go for a dart thrower. Will also try to make it a more role play wise writing, thought with my writing skills I don’t except much

Self imposed rule - as long as it’s possible (and not too ridiculous) Luke will always use darts, at least in BG1. If I make it to BG2/ToB, I might eventually have to switch a bit. We’ll see if he makes it and how it will go. (might make an exception for Sarevok and an arrow of dispel)

Proficiencies: Darts, Flails

Mods: SCS v34 (every component except for Improved Vampires and Shade Lord), Tweaks (bigger ammo/potion stacks, extra bag of holding at Adventure’s Mart, faster run outside of combat in BG1 until boots of speed),

Difficulty: Insane (No double damage, max HP on level up). Will probably go down to Hardcode in BG2

Backstory:

Luke was just a small halfling when Gorion first took him beyond the gates of Candlekeep. Their destination: the great city of Baldur’s Gate. It was meant to be a simple errand, but fate had other plans. They lodged at the Elfsong Tavern, and as luck would have it, a regional darts tournament was in full swing.

Luke was captivated.

He watched wide-eyed as legends of the game took to the oaken boards—Snakebite, Zal the Silver Hand, and even a grim priest of Helm wielding a crimson dart that returned to his hand like it had a will of its own. The crowd roared, the ale flowed, and darts flew like arrows in a war of precision. Luke didn’t understand all the rules, but he understood one thing: this was what he wanted to do.

Right then and there, Luke swore to become the greatest dart thrower on the Sword Coast.

Back at Candlekeep, the other children laughed. “You're a halfling,” they’d sneer. “You can’t even see the dartboard without a chair!” But Luke was undeterred. He trained relentlessly—first perched on a stool, then standing on tiptoe, learning to hit the bullseye from every angle imaginable.

Before long, Luke's skill became legendary within the keep. Winthrop, ever the opportunist, began hosting friendly tournaments just to show off Luke’s talent to travelers and monks alike. He could dual-wield darts like a duelist, launching two at once and landing both exactly where he intended. The name "Luke the Dart Thrower" began to carry weight, and Luke dreamed of one day returning to Baldur’s Gate—not as a wide-eyed child, but as a champion.

Luke’s charm only added to his fame. He was charismatic, quick-witted, and always had a clever joke or two in his pocket. People adored him—not just for his skills, but for the sheer joy he brought to every room he entered.

But not all was golden.

Luke had another talent: drinking. He was a functional alcoholic even at a young age. While most would struggle to read after a night of heavy drinking, Luke could still decipher ancient scrolls or scrub floors with hangover-induced grace. In fact, he got so used to it that he could uncork and down a bottle of ale in under a second—though he never thought much of it.

Little did he know, that ridiculous party trick might someday save his life—when the bottle in his hand isn’t beer, but an essential potion.

Theme Song:

 

[WiseGrimwald]

As I had lost track of my run Balduran of Karatur the Dwarven Inquisitor and also because I discovered that my drow thief was overpowered, I have started a new different but similar one. It is Balduran of Karatur the Dwarven Cavalier with a Dwarven Swashbuckler Companion.

Journal of Balduran of Karatur

I and Carlo are two young dwarves who are the survivors of an elven raid on our village. I was brought up hearing stories of the Great Balduran, and it was always my desire to outshine him. Thus when Gorion asked me about my ambitions in life I told him that what I would really like to become a Cavalier despite my race being dwarf. To my surprise he was able to make my dream possible. He also arranged training for friend Carlo to become a swashbuckler. Why Carlo had such an ambition I have no idea, However, being of the same race and of similar ages, it is hardly surprising that we became firm friends.

View attachment 18003View attachment 18005

 

[Finarfin]

Luke, halfling fighter: Part 1

When Gorion told Luke they’d be leaving Candlekeep to travel the Sword Coast for dart tournaments, Luke could barely contain himself. Finally—his chance to see the world and prove himself on the grand stage!

Naturally, he threw a farewell party.

He invited everyone he knew, and things escalated quickly—as they always did with Luke. Ale flowed like rivers, songs echoed down the halls, and there were far more hugs than usual for a place like Candlekeep. On his way out, Luke stopped by Winthrop’s shop to stock up on travel supplies. Unfortunately, most of his coin had already been converted into empty bottles.

Armor? Gorion had insisted on it. But Luke figured: how bad could it be? Besides, with the leftover money, he managed to buy a few extra bottles “for the road.”

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Say one thing about Luke, say he knows how to throw a goodbye party.

Gorion was, understandably, not impressed when Luke showed up slurring his farewells. Still, there was no time to argue—they had to leave. As they hurried into the night, Luke kept sneaking sips from his bottle whenever Gorion wasn’t looking.

The next thing Luke remembered was waking up in a tavern bed, head pounding like a dwarven war drum. Imoen stood by the wall, arms crossed, face equal parts worried and annoyed.

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“Well you’ve done it now, big brother,” she sighed. “What happened? Where’s Gorion? I snuck out after you two left… found you passed out halfway down the road. No sign of him.”

Luke rubbed his temples. “I… don’t know. I remember the party, then Winthrop’s, and that’s about it. Gorion always said—if we got separated, we should head to the Friendly Arm Inn. Maybe he’s there? Can you go ahead? I… need a moment.”

Once alone, guilt set in like a hangover that reached the soul. Hoping for answers, he wandered outside and passed a tavern. No drinking today, he promised himself. But at the entrance, a burly man named Marl was shouting and ready to pick a fight.

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Luke, ever the charmer, defused the tension with a few dart tricks. Moments later, Marl bought the first round. Then someone else bought another. Then came the impromptu arm wrestling. Pushups. Dart challenges. Cheers. Laughter.

The last thing Luke remembered was the crowd chanting his name.

He woke up again in a stranger’s home. Apparently, he’d made a new friend—possibly many—and someone had carried him home to sleep it off. Outside, the locals waved and greeted him like a returning hero. Word had spread quickly: Luke the Charismatic Dart Thrower had arrived and his reputation grew.

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His purse was empty. Again. But worth it? Definitely. Still no armor:

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In need of fresh air—and maybe reflection—Luke wandered into the forest. That’s when he ran into two ogre-like brutes. Ogrillons, if memory served. They wanted to eat him. He wanted to live. Through fear and reflex alone, he let his darts fly. Even after two days of drinking, he managed to land a bullseye—a critical hit!

(For 6 damage!!!)

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Eventually, both ogrillons dropped, but Luke dropped to his knees and vomited violently. Whether it was the killing or the drinking, he didn’t know—but something inside him shifted. He wasn’t proud. He wasn’t ready. And he wasn’t about to face Gorion or Imoen just yet.

He wandered westward, following hazy memories of a tavern tale: “Beware the sirens on the coast! They carry great treasure… but one gaze and you’re theirs.”

Treasure sounded good. Luke’s coin pouch was a void.

He found a siren—and kept his distance, throwing darts while running in frantic circles. It wasn’t elegant, but it worked. She dropped dead with a shriek… leaving behind a single pearl:

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So much for treasure.

Then he remembered something else: a tavern barkeep had drunkenly confessed to hiding a magic ring under a rock “just in case.” Luke found it. Took it. He told himself he’d return it someday. Maybe. Or at least buy the man a drink:

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Farther inland, a wolf ambushed him. He won, eventually, by unloading every dart he had—but not before it bit deep into his leg. Blood everywhere. He screamed like he was dying:

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And then… a chicken spoke to him.

“Just a scratch,” it said in perfect Common.

Turns out, the chicken was an unfortunate soul caught in a wizard’s polymorph experiment. Luke carried the talking bird back to its master, who, impressed by Luke’s kindness (and probably his hangover resilience), sold him a set of magical explosive darts:

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Luke tested one immediately.

It exploded beautifully:

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He smiled. He could get used to this.

Say one thing about Luke, say he always bounces back.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Ava, Halfling Swashbuckler: Bandit Camp

As Ava readied herself to open the final seals at Watcher's Keep, she requested a side bar. The seals were dangerous. Her death may be imminent. And what would happen if she did fall? Surely she'd be forgotten, as most failed challengers are. Shouldn't the world at least know that she made it through Bandit Camp?

It was hard to disagree. And so I've decided catch up on Ava coverage before I run off and get her killed. Our halfling lass deserves that much.

Our resumed coverage begins here, in Tazok's tent.

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I've been admiring Edric BG1 run, both for its tactical acumen and attention to detail. Edric hasn't just been getting it done. He's been getting it done right, and with style. I've historically prided myself on taking a similar approach. These days, with my skill set dulled by neglect, I don't always have the bandwidth to execute as I once did. I instead more-or-less kill the creatures, and move on. It's less satisfying, and I'd suggest that it's the distinction between competence and mastery. I, at present, am a competent BG1 player. If you're seeking mastery I suggest you look elsewhere.

Ava's jaunt through the tent was a conventional good enough romp. She gave Venkt a little sticky-sticky with the Dagger of Venom, hoping to poison him. She then raced off to the lightning trap, hoping for a free kill or two. That gambit succeeded, if and only if you count Ender Sai. Oh, well.

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Aside from conserving a Potion of Firebreath, the advantage of this approach is that it allows first round offensive action, while keeping one's aura clear. And so when Ava was tagged with Slow, she was ready and able to quaff a PoI, waiting out the inconvenience.

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Once the slow effect waned, Ava launched into action, unleashing her wolf form on the now debuffed Venkt. A fire ball of some kind helped tip the scales.

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That fireball was followed by others, and before long the tent was secured. Hooray, hoorah.

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Out we go, into the wilds. A dart of stunning got the party started.

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For those who may recall, Ava has two tactical modes, ranged fighting with tactical ammo and melee fighting in wolf form. More rogue that warrior, she prefers an unfair fight. She typically does her wolf form munching on already disabled foes. In this case, it was Taurgosz's second stint in Stunville that brought out Ava's beastly side. Munch, munch.

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With the big baddy popped like a birthday piñata, Ava braved the hordes in wolf form, leveraging her remaining wand of sleep charges. And that is, more or less, how it ended. Not as elegant as Edric's run, but in the end there was an equivalent pile of dead bodies. Ava may have even come out on top there, again, if you count Ender Sai.

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Best,

A.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Ava, Halfling Swashbuckler: The Cloakwood

I'm trying to think if I've ever fallen this far behind on coverage before. The answer is yes, I think, but I don't think I've ever actually caught up after falling this far behind. In the interest of breaking new ground, achieving the to date unachievable, I'll be covering all of the Cloakwood -including the mines and their master- in a single post. This will either be elegantly concise, or abortively brief, depending on your point of view. In the end, I'm not sure it matters. I used the pro poison and pro magic, so we all know how this will go.

So, let's cover that pro poison part first.

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This was so long ago that I'm not 100% sure how we did this. Judging from the icons and position of the ettercaps, we were both invisible and running potion of freedom. I'm not sure why that made sense to me. Whatever. We tripped the traps and then got to work.

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Pro poison evidently came later, after we retrieved the second Rashad's Talon. Not sure why there are two of those, but ok.

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Ava's build is an experiment in the power of AC. And if you're thinking, "Good luck with that in ToB *snort*" Consider the possibility that you haven't thought that all the way through. Por ejemplo.

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A base AC of -27 is no joke. Next, stack the various adjustments atop that. Finally, consider what those two weapons, Soul Reaver and Spectral Brand, could do in unison. Armor Piercing Strike ->Soul Reaver Whirlwind x 2->Spectral Brand Whirlwind x X. Ava's enemies will be doing a whole lot of whiffing and a whole lot of ouching. The Answerer will be part of the equation too.

In BG1, though, Ava still needs to fade and fire from time to time. Her effective AC is respectable for a rogue, but not game changing. Her bow is still her go too, despite the occasional wolf form dalliances.

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Ok, but what about when the bow won't do? In tight quarters, with multiple enemies? That's easy. Don't fight. My last swashbuckler, Amara, was valiant and chivalrous. Ava is anything but.

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Ava's lack of chivalry means she has no qualms about using traps either. They'll be a major part of her game plan from now until the end. On most occasions, high level enemies won't even get the sporting chance of facing a Soul Reaver Armor Piercing Strike before confronting Ava's -27 AC. Instead they'll catch a Time Trap and when time resumes they'll find their THACO far too low to connect. So, yes, something wicked is on the horizon for the careless of foot. For now, we'll satisfy ourselves by dropping mooks with conventional snares.

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In the Drasus encounter we opted for the preemptive checkmate of pro magic. Drasus, being fleet of foot and all that, was the only legitimate threat. Naturally, he was dispatched first. Traps, followed by ranged fire.

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BG1 elemental arrows are nasty, especially the acid ones, since exactly no one runs Protection from Acid.

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Since Kysus has Remove at his disposal, and we wanted to leverage our oil of speed to get us to Davaeorn before pro magic expired, we tapped the dart of stunning supply here. Wolf form finish.

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Next, we nixed the bros in the shed, clearing the way to our potion of magic shielding. We stashed our loot in the shed too, including Genthore's armor. I thought I'd mention that, because Genthore didn't even appear in a screenshot, and it felt uber-cold to skip him entirely, weak link though he may be.

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Right. So, we stealthed down to Davy's hidden-hole, still running pro magic. The opening guard caught dart of stunning -> melee. We skipped the wolf for flip because it fell gratuitous.

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The fight with Davy was a bit trickier than it will seem in these screenshots. Davy DDoored to an awkward spot in the foyer. For a moment it felt like the other Davy, DavidW, had figured something out to make this irksome, if not tough.

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Thankfully Davy DDoored somewhere else after a few rounds. At his new post he was easily punked. For those who'd like to know why, exactly, that first position was awkward, all I can say is that it was. I don't remember why. That was long, long ago.

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And, so, yeah: that brings us to the end of the Cloakwoow...

Oh! Except for this, the obligatory wyvern hunt. It sucks that Kelddath won't buy these things unless you recruit Coran. What's up with that, anyways?

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Best,

A.

 

[Alesia_BH]

Ava, Halfling Swashbuckler: The Gate and Back Again

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Eager to find ways to economize, as I bridge the gap from the Sword Coast to Tethyr, I happened to notice that I had exactly 26 screenshots left from BG1. 26 is less than 30, so why not get it all done in one post? Why not indeed.

This is screenshot 1. It's me instructing Ava to pickpocket yet another pro magic scroll. I'm sharing this to make it abundantly clear that I'm grossly exploiting the most OP item in BG1. No pride, no shame, no regrets. It is what it is.

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Next, we picked up the golden girdle, because Ava's crystal ball (ie- me) told her that there were slashing weapons in her future. This is probably out of sequencer because I usually do this after Candlekeep, but whatever. I'm not even summarizing the fight, so why should anyone care whether it's in order or not.

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The next screenshot is this one, at the Flaming Fist headquarters, with Duke Eltan on the brink. This clearly -clearly- is out of sequence so instead of just following the screenshots in the order they loaded, I'll jump ahead to the right one.

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Ok, yeah. This looks right. Seven Sun. I'm sure Nadine's quest was in there too, but I didn't take any pictures of that so we're zeroing in here. Pillar shade is useful, even when you can't backstab.

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We did most of this in wolf form. Not sure how the wolf sets traps with its paws, but whatever.

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Then we had our little chit-chat with Laola. Since we're still in wolf form, the transcript seems off to me. It probably sounded more like "Woof, woof! Woof, woof, woof, woof! Awhooo!"

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For most of my BG career I avoided the Marek poison quest, for fear of something funky happening with the timer. These days I'm less afraid of it. As a rogue we didn't need the third wisdom tome, so we just handed it off.

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And then we punked Marek with our standard tactics, dart of stunning -> acid arrows-> wolf form.

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The Candlekeep Catacombs were mostly a stealth mission. We did fight the phase spiders, though, because pro poison made them easy pickings.

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The basilisks, on the other hand, seemed sketch, since we only had a single potion of mirror eyes. In retrospect, we could have used a potion of magic shielding- especially since we have one more pro magic scrolls than usual, thanks to the aforementioned pickpocket mission.

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Back to the gate then...Duke Eltan is first, but since I already went all non-linear narrative on that bloke I have nothing to talk about here. So we flash forward to Slythe. Pro magic, traps, potion of firebreath got that job done. It's a good thing fire doesn't burn letters and such, right?

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Krystin honey was left to morn or whatever because she cast ProMW and we ain't got time for that.

So, we're off to the Duchal Palace.

The Duchal Palace is perpetually sketch, although the reasons for the sketchiness vary with the years. These days the sketchiness mostly revolves around Winski's arrival and departure. The combat itself is pretty straightforward, though- especially if you're a wolf under violet potion. If you're not sure why, review those first two screenshots. 4APR, main hand THACO 3, off-hand THACO 1, -12 AC is kind of insane in BG1.

To the fight itself, then.

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This was a simple matter of chunking punks in our fuzzy-furry form. We even landed a nice crit on big brother.

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Thanks for doing your job, Winski. NGL, you always make me nervous.

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Onto the big showdown, Sarevok vs. Ava. Kudos to the Eagle Bow for helping us land that all important dispelling arrow on Sarevok.

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From here on out it was smooth sailing. Since Diarmid is the biggest threat to a rogue under pro magic, running oil of speed, wearing the boots of speed, we took full precautions, potion of magic shielding, pro acid.

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Angelo fell first.

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Then Diarmid.

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Then Mr. Peek-a-Boo, Semaj. Hiding while fighting a solo rogue under pro magic makes sense. It's still annoying, though.

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Finally, Tazok and big brother. Acid arrows did the heavy lifting in this fight, although we did use some arrows of detonation, mostly for Semaj, since her kept hiding.

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I thought about switching to wolf form for the finish, but 67HP and no helm doesn't offer much margin for error. Plink, plink seemed smarter than growl, growl, and so that's the way it went.

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Fin!

Best,

A.

 

[Finarfin]

A base AC of -27 is no joke. Next, stack the various adjustments atop that. Finally, consider what those two weapons, Soul Reaver and Spectral Brand, could do in unison. Armor Piercing Strike ->Soul Reaver Whirlwind x 2->Spectral Brand Whirlwind x X. Ava's enemies will be doing a whole lot of whiffing and a whole lot of ouching. The Answerer will be part of the equation too.

This sounds like a great and fun build, congratz on getting that far! I was thinking of doing an AC tank build one day myself, it will be fun to follow Ava's progress and take some inspiration.

I've never used Soul Reaver, but it was my main choice for Luke when I created him in those cases when FoA for slow won't work (like dragons). So I can use Soul Reaver-GWW-Darts. But that's a huge IF as it's still very far away.

 

[Finarfin]

Luke, halfling fighter: Part 2

Luke was starting to enjoy the wilderness.

The air was fresh, the roads were unpredictable, and his new magical darts gave him the confidence of a half-drunk god. So when he stumbled across a group of adventurers having a heated discussion around a campfire, he swaggered up to say hello—maybe show off a trick shot or two.

Then one of them began casting.

Luke had seen sleight-of-hand before—cheap conjurer nonsense back in Candlekeep—but this wasn’t rabbits-in-hats. This was lightning. The moment he saw the crackling energy in the mage’s hands, he turned and bolted. Too late. The bolt arced through the air and zapped him square in the back. Singed hair, blackened cloak, and a newfound respect for spellcasters. Luke made a promise to himself right there and then:

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No more messing with mages.

Still smoking slightly, he fled into the woods and came upon a dig site. The foreman, desperate for help, asked Luke to stand guard while they excavated some “minor ancient ruin.” Luke, always ready to look helpful (and do minimal work), agreed.

Things went sideways. Fast.

The workers were possessed by something nasty underground. Fortunately, darts worked just as well on possessed diggers as they did on bottles of ale. Luke cleared them out with barely a scratch. (Mechanically, first time in this quest I didn’t have to retreat from the cave —dart build with high THAC0 and APR worked beautifully.):

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Not long after, he remembered another drunken tip from one of his “fans.” He followed a half-remembered trail to a field, dug around, and lo and behold—he found armor. He finally had his armor. Better late than never, he thought. Gorion would’ve been proud:

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Well… as proud as anyone could be of Luke being Luke.

Continuing his journey, he came across something unexpected: a talking ghoul. Friendly, even. Luke, never one to judge based on appearances (or rot), welcomed the creature—Korax—into his party. Together, they confronted a local menace: a 'basilisk-wielding' mage named Mutamin:

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To be fair, Korax did most of the work. The undead powerhouse stunned the mage and tanked. Luke just did what he does best—threw darts and looked cool.

Each day, his aim got sharper. Moving targets? No problem:

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At a shady trader’s camp, he picked up a new type of dart—Darts of Stunning—and couldn’t wait to test them. His first subject: a bounty hunter named Greywolf. The dart landed clean, and Greywolf froze in place. Luke unloaded dart after dart… until Greywolf shrugged off the stun and started swinging. Hard.

A second stun dart fixed that:

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With a taste for victory and a belt full of darts, Luke continued north and crossed a massive bridge. There, he found another test subject for his stun darts. (And passed with flying colors this time:

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Eventually, he made his way to a quiet little village called Ulgoth’s Beard. After a few celebratory drinks at the local tavern, someone let slip that a gnome named Dushai outside the inn was sitting on valuable treasure. Luke filed the info away, came up with a plan, and figured it was time to head back to the Friendly Arm Inn—for a long-overdue talk with Imoen… and Gorion.

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Unfortunately, someone was waiting.

A mage, ambushing him just outside the inn gates. Luke panicked. For the first time, he activated his super-secret technique: uncorking and downing a potion in the middle of combat. (It was a Potion of Magic Shielding. In hindsight, a Greenstone Amulet before combat would’ve worked better. Totally forgot it protects against fear as well. But hey—one month without playing and forgetting old tactics happens. Not to mention my last two chars being Blackguard and Cavalier, both being immune to fear)

The potion did the trick. The mage didn’t stand a chance:

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But Gorion… wasn’t there. Imoen told him he never arrived.

Luke swallowed the guilt and tried to push it down. Maybe Gorion was just delayed. He always had a way of disappearing for longer than expected. Luke convinced Imoen to join him for a bit of light larceny back in Ulgoth’s Beard—specifically, that gnome’s treasure. She was reluctant, but the split was fair, and they parted ways with a hug and a vague promise: “Call me if you find any leads.”:

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On his way out of the village, Luke was ambushed by an Ankheg. He ran into a nearby house, hoping to escape… but the creature demolished it, walls and all. In desperation, Luke hurled a Dart of Stunning—and it worked. The monster dropped like a rock:

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Luke figured it was time to hit the big leagues. He set off for Baldur’s Gate, ready to enter the grand tournament and finally earn the title of Greatest Dart Thrower on the Sword Coast.

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There was only one problem.

The guards at the city gates told him all dart tournaments had been cancelled… because of the iron crisis.

Luke blinked. Seriously?

If solving the iron crisis was what it took to restart the tournaments, then so be it. Luke adjusted his belt, counted his darts, and set a new goal: fix the crisis, save the tournaments, become a legend.

Say one thing for Luke—say he’ll go through hell itself if it means becoming the best dart thrower the Sword Coast has ever seen.

He headed for Nashkel, taking the longer route along the coast. The sirines were no longer a threat—not with a Helm of Charm Protection and a scroll of poison resistance. He took out six of them and three mean-looking golems in one night, finally uncovering the treasure the folks in Beregost had whispered about:

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[Finarfin]

Luke, Halfling Fighter: Part 3 – The Nashkel Mines & Bandit Camp

Luke never liked tight spaces, and the Nashkel Mines were a claustrophobic nightmare. So, true to form, he popped a potion of invisibility and snuck through the dark, twisting tunnels until he finally found the source of the region’s troubles: a shady priest named Mulahey, surrounded by enough kobolds to start a small war.

Luke tried diplomacy first, but Mulahey wasn’t having it. One well-aimed dart of stunning later, Mulahey froze mid-threat. Unfortunately, Luke’s timing wasn’t perfect—the priest had already summoned his skeletal backup and a mob of shrieking kobolds:

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(Side note: I once managed to stun-lock Mulahey while still invisible on one run, before he summoned anything—but it felt too cheesy. So I always try to talk to him. Also, I don’t like using Protection from Undead scrolls, so those skeletons feel like a threat.)

Thinking fast, Luke whipped out his Wand of Sleep, knocking out a decent chunk of the kobolds. But the skeletons kept coming, their bony hands swinging wildly. Luke knew Mulahey had to go down fast before the stun effect disappeared. Since he was throwing darts, he was an easy target for all those melee enemies around him. So he switched to his newly-acquired darts of wounding—venom-tipped beauties—and landed a few poisoned hits before retreating to lob another sleep spell:

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That gave him enough time to focus. His explosive darts tore through the undead, their bones clattering to the stone floor in pieces. Then, with a few precise throws, he cleaned up the rest of the groggy kobolds and grabbed the treasure before heading back topside:

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Outside the mines, Luke met a curious man named Hafiz, who handed him a powerful magic scroll. Luke, unsure why, nodded politely and stashed it (thanks for the tip about this @Borco ):

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Back in Nashkel, he barely made it to the tavern before a wizard named Nimbul ambushed him. A quick flick of the Greenstone Amulet blocked the spellcaster’s tricks, and Luke stood his ground. Say what you will about Nimbul—he had guts, casting spells in front of a crowd of guards and Rashad the Archdemon—but guts don’t stop darts. Nimbul went down fast:

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But Luke's real prize, the Grand Tournament, was still postponed thanks to the damn iron crisis. So he headed for the Bandit Camp to fix the problem himself. As Gorion once told him: “You can never have too many darts, Luke.” And Luke took that to heart—packing enough ammo to start a revolution and finally donning the armor he should’ve bought weeks ago, he was ready:

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Before heading in, he chugged a cocktail of potions: heroism, speed (luckily he took of Ring of Freedom before this), regeneration. He activated his Shield Amulet, then made contact with the gate guard. The guy wasn’t big on conversation, so the fighting began.

It was chaos. Arrows rained, darts flew, and every few seconds Luke hurled a fireball into the melee from his magical amulet. Then, out of the smoke, charged Taurgosz Khosann—part man, part mountain, greased up on his own oil of speed:

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Luke ran. Taurgosz followed. Behind him, the entire camp surged forward like an avalanche. Luke spun, landed a dart of stunning—Taurgosz froze. He unloaded every dart he had, but the brute wouldn’t drop. Just as the rest of the camp caught up, Luke let loose a well-placed fireball. Taurgosz went up in flames, and a few of his bandit friends with him.

Then came the mage. A Spook spell almost hit Luke, but his Potion of Magic Shielding was long gone. With no better option, he downed a Potion of Magic Blocking, stripping his buffs but saving his mind:

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(Note to self: next time use the Greenstone Amulet first when you see the mage, you amateur.)

After two more fireballs and a blizzard of darts, the Bandit Camp finally fell:

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(I always clear the camp from outside—way easier to kite and retreat if things go sideways. Only class I’d probably infiltrate with is a thief.

I wish I had more screenshots to document this a bit better, but compared to Fusrodah who had exactly 0 of them, this is already a huge improvement)

With the camp cleared and loot in hand, Luke set his sights on Cloakwood Forest. But before heading out, he made the most expensive purchase of his life—a ring with a few invisibility charges. Cost a fortune. Still, Luke figured it’d pay off eventually:

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Say one thing for Luke—he might drink too much, talk too loud, and throw too many darts... but when he sets his mind to something, he gets it done.

 

[Alesia_BH]

This sounds like a great and fun build, congratz on getting that far! I was thinking of doing an AC tank build one day myself, it will be fun to follow Ava's progress and take some inspiration.

I've never used Soul Reaver, but it was my main choice for Luke when I created him in those cases when FoA for slow won't work (like dragons). So I can use Soul Reaver-GWW-Darts. But that's a huge IF as it's still very far away.

Thanks! I'm enjoying Ava, for sure. Her progress isn't exactly a surprise, though.

Sometime ago I ran another swashbuckler, Amara. I lost her to a maze in Suldanessellar, but she had coasted through SoA prior to that, and appeared to have an easy ride to Abazigal at least. Swashies are sub-optimal in BG1, but once they reach UAI, they're filthy. Once they get a few Time Traps they're filthier.

I'm looking forward to following your progress with Luke, and I'm glad to see you flexing your creative muscles. That is, to a significant extent, what this thread is about, even if we (I) have arched away from that direction.

Sometime ago I ran a similar character. Mine was a halfling slinger, rather than a dart tosser, but the concept, was similar, leaning heavily on an unassuming ranged weapon, partly for comedic value. Sadly, my character died in ToB, killed by her own Smite. She had chucked a Smite enhanced bullet at a cleric who had erected Physical Mirror just in time. Aware of the danger, I had equipped the Reflection Shield (Reflex). Unfortunately, I failed to realize that I'd need to keep the Reflex equipped for the entire duration of Physical Mirror. The bullet kept bouncing between the two surfaces and when I unequipped the Reflex 5 rounds or so later, the bullet landed, smiting my character, and our shared aspirations.

One of the advantages of using a slinger as opposed to a dart tosser is that sling bullets go up to +4, +5 counting Everard. The +3 ceiling on darts is an onion in the ointment. I see two solutions to that problem: 1) we can allow Cespenar or even Cromwell to upgrade the Crimson Dart to +4; 2) we could extend the expiration date on the Cloak of the Stars darts, allowing Luke to make larger piles. Naturally, you can feel free to skip either of these approaches, but I thought I'd make them available, in the interest of allowing you to see through your character concept. In that vein, it might also be fun to modify the effect of drunkeness on Luke, like, for example, inverting the Luck bonus and capping it at 1. This would give him an incentive to enter combat drunk at every opportunity, without it being totally OP.

Best wishes, and good hunting!

A.