hello, i have never go solo before but i would like to know if u are really soloing... do u remove all your npc members? if u do, how r u going to do the quests for each npc? and what difficulty level did you all set? can give me some advice?

The main point of soloing is that u complete the game all by urself with no help from NPCs. When we solo, we all remove the NPCs from our party. And if we want to do the NPC quests we just ask that NPC to join you. After doing the quest, we kick the NPCs out. And about the difficulty, I always set it to Insane withe the SOLA MOD installed, but thats just me, u can always set it to a more easier level.

JI, the way you are doing it is not strictly soloing. Strict soloists like myself do not, under any circumstances, allow a NPC to join us. Imoen forced herself into your party at the start? Kick her out once you are done talking.

The only concession that strict soloists will allow is Valgar. If you are good-aligned and do not wish to kill him, you may take him in and use him to open the door of the Planar Sphere.

NOTE! This is his only role! If you encounter any random encounters, you are supposed to reload and avoid them, because a soloist has to earn all his/her Exp by him/herself. After opening the door, the soloist kicks Valgar out.

On a side note, I usually kill him and just use his body to open the door.

A genuine soloist will also not cheat. That is, no giving oneself equipment at the start.

Oh... and the difficulty level is Insane of course. We are talking about giving oneself a challenge here.

do you set the gameplay to AUTOPAUSING when ur strictly soloing? If yes, I think that's cheating...

Care to explain why?

Hmmm..... learned something today. But dont u think that not doing those NPC side quests is kind of stink? And in the beginning hanging around that dungeon without a thief is gonna have u ended up being blasted to pieces by those traps...

Now I have come up with the same question - do all you soloists take an NPC in sake of their side quests?? NPC, of course, will stay outta fight. Now I do need a lot of XP, and do not want to pass to ch3, and I think the side quest with those Harpers will come in handy, and so are Korgan's Book, and maybe some others. What do you, people, think about this?

Well... rule number one while soloing is that you solo :D This means that you do ALL things (and that means *ALL* things) by yourself. This involves not allowing party members in you party, not even when they're needed (i.e. when you need to have them in the party to get a quest, you take them, go get the quest, and ditch them as soon as possible). As Dundee said; Valygar is the only exception in this principle (AFAIK the other quests [such as de'Arnise Hold] can be entered without taking the NPC with you).
In short: soloing is finishing the game without the help of other party members. No XP must be lost because you have party members.. The only disadvantage, is that you don't get the party member-related quests (such as the quest for Jan Jansen).

Valygar is the only exception to that rule that i allow myself, and yes you do have to play on insane [img]smile.gif[/img]

Usually when you are soloing, you know the game in such depth, that you know where all the traps are. Other possible ways of getting around the traps are: being a mage (most people(me included) take either a mage or multi/dual classed mage) and casting protective spells, or being a fighter so you have enough hp to survive the traps.

[ 09-06-2002, 07:13 AM: Message edited by: White Lancer ]

Here's how i solo
No npc's ever, no game editing, .............. and xp cap removers, that's cause one of my favorite things in games is leveling up so if i dont keep leveling up i get bored and leave :D

To those who said they wanted the Exp from the NPC subquests, you got to be kidding right? I reached the 8,000,000 Exp Cap( ToB installed) in the Underdark... ...

All the best equipment are to be found elsewhere. The only item I can think of, is the Ring of Wizardry. If you do the Jaheira quest, you do not need to sacrifice your apprentices to make the ring. However, this goes against the principle of soloing, so I always chunk up two apprentices to get me Wizardry Ring. ;)

I use em very rarely and within RP limits. For instance, I don't do an NPC quest if my character wouldn't under normal circumstances help that NPC, for instance
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I enlisted Cernd's help in completing the Druid Grove quest. Cernd vs Faldron 1-on-1 is much cooler than me just tanking the druids myself.

If it's good rp I'll do it, but probably 95% of the game so far I've done solo. The three NPC's (Minsc, Cernd, Haer Dalis) I've had in my party at some point have all rutted with my char :D Now I'm thinking of installing the Kelsey mod and starting her a long-term romance. Haven't made up my mind though. I kinda liking not having to drag anyone else around. Nice not having to hear "You must gather your party before venturing forth."

I don't use autopause. Too annoying. I just use the space bar.

As for traps, I have enough hp I just blow right through 'em :D

"Oh... and the difficulty level is Insane of course. We are talking about giving oneself a challenge here."
Wow. Are you kidding? Normal or Core difficulty is plenty challenging for me.

[ 09-06-2002, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: Lharae ]

Ah, get the Kelsey mod-it's really good and Forgotten wars people have just done the ToB part of the romance...

Mild Spoiler
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Not sure what you exactly mean by enlisted, but as you might know, you can get Cernd to challenge Faldorn without asking him to join your party. You just need to tell him( he will be waiting somewhere outside to the right of the entrance to Faldorn's stronghold) that he should settle this by challenging Faldorn.
I used to play on Normal and Core difficulty, but there comes a time when you start feeling the game is getting too easy. This happens because you are very familiar with the game already, and know what to expect, and therefore know how to prepare.

I put him in my party cause I thought I had to then took him after the fight.

After Cernd fights with Faldorn( with you as a spectator), he offers to join you. As a soloist, you decline.

[/qb][/QUOTE]Usually when you are soloing, you know the game in such depth, that you know where all the traps are. Other possible ways of getting around the traps are: being a mage (most people(me included) take either a mage or multi/dual classed mage) and casting protective spells, or being a fighter so you have enough hp to survive the traps.[/QB][/QUOTE]
I do know where all the traps r. But in the dungeon, there r two traps that u cant avoid - the trap on the chest that holds the "portal key" and the trap that is infront of the chest that holds the portal key. And the one that is in the front of the chest has the trap where a spear pokes out doing u lots of damage. And because I play on Insane, the traps do "double" damage. So I'm pretty lucky to have 3 HP left after being poked.(My monk only has 61 HP)

My solo Cavalier took two game weeks to get that darn Portal Key... ... ;) [img]tongue.gif[/img] ;)

Hi im a newbie to bg2 and the forum, I have played several times with a party of NPC's and never got to chapter 4, I disliked a party, so decided to solo.

I have started a monk, he is currently in chapter 4, even though I have the game difficulty on novice, it is still hard, but then again I dont have a clue what comes next, but a good thing about monks is they have detect traps ability, which I currently have at 100, so most of the time a trap is avoidable.

P.S i have almost 20k gold and I dont have a clue what to spend it on, any ideas?

Hmmmm... you might want to buy the Scarlett Ninja-To, for its ability to kill off Trolls. Other Troll-kiiling alternatives include Flame Tongue. Have you bought the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength? It will help you greatly until you find better equipment.

That is about it actually... the best equipment for Monks are all found, not bought.

Thanks Dundee, I know where the belt is, and the flame tongue, but where is the ninja-to?

Also, I have just been using my fists, would a weapon like ninja-to be better? and if so will stunning blow work with a weapon as well as my fists?

The Scarlett Ninja-To is an item sold by Joluv, one of the bonus merchants. You may download him and Deidre here. Joluv came with the pre-ordered copy of the game, while Deidre came with the game when ordered online; or was it the other way round?

As far as I know, stunning blow only works with your fists. The reason for the Scarlett Ninja-To is because it grants an additional attack per round, and can finish off trolls. Very handy for a Monk, especially since a Monk cannot spit acid/poison or breathe out fire.

Oh, and before I forget. Welcome to the Ironworks Forums, Aliyah L'bliss. http://www.plauder-smilies.de/wavey.gif

One tip on the Monk, DONT ever let him use a weapon in combat. He really sucks when using weapons, only use it when necessary (like killing trolls with Flame Tougue after knocking it down). ANother one is try and max out ur Stealth points, for it can become really useful when assasinating someone (like backstabbing).

<font color="lightblue">I disagree. The Scarlet Ninja-to is a Monk only weapon, gives an extra 1/2 attack per round on top of their unarmed attack rate, and deals poison damage (which also kills trolls).
Only problem with it is that there is a save vs. the poison damage; but it is still better than bare hands (even for a monk [img]smile.gif[/img] )
Also, AFAIK Monks don`t have a backstab multiplyer. This doesn`t make stealth entirely useless though (do monks HAVE stealth ?? *flips open manual*), and I agree with you on maxing them out, you get an extra bit of time before having to rely on your MR in multi spellcaster fights [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

[ 09-09-2002, 07:04 AM: Message edited by: LennonCook ]

I dont use bonus merchants, so that's why I dont know anything about that Ninja-to sword. And yes Monks do have the Stealth ability, it's real useful for killing Iron golems. Go stealth, sneak up to golem, hit it, run away, stealth again and so on... I never said anything about Monks having the backstab ability. I said that using the stealth ability tactic is something like using backstab. And also, I prefer to rely the Cloak of Mirrors when fighting mages than relying on my MR. MR is only for blocking away mental spells...

I had no idea there were bonus merchants, thanks for that, i will download it asap [img]smile.gif[/img]

The download doesnt work, its trying to download but hasnt asked me for a location and doesnt know how long left, so im assuming it doesnt work?

[ 09-09-2002, 07:32 AM: Message edited by: Aliyah L'bliss ]

Hmmmm? I just tried downloading it and it works perfectly fine. If you still have trouble trying to download it, right-click on the icon and "Save Target <u>A</u>s...".

Thanks Dundee, it worked doing save as.

[ 09-09-2002, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: Aliyah L'bliss ]

No problem.

I am soloing with a Monk right now. His fighting ability is really great.

The stealth mode is very usefull, specially when your area has many corners where you can hide after hitting your enemy. If your Charisma is high there is a good chance that you will do the first hit after coming out of the shadows.

My level 10 Monk killed the party in the north of the sewers using stealth and a sling when necessary.

I suggest you to spend your money in:
* scarlet ninja-to (I am saving money for this item - Joluv is a bit expensive)
* +5 sling (needs no bullets)
* Amulett sold by Deirdre (I think +5 hit points, charisma and prot. from evil). May be very handy if you have to face a demon.
* Ring of Air Elemental (I can't remember the exact name. Let's you cast enhanced invisibility - good for fightin)
* of course the 19 ST girdle
* Bracers of AC3 (depends on how good your current AC is)
* Potions, many potions ...

I would guess that stunning blow and quivering palm work even if you use a weapon different than fists. I think so because the Assasin's poison weapon even works with Melf's Minute Meteors.

I have a few questions too:

1) Is the +5 sling sold by Joluv a +5 weapon? I mean is it not only Thaco + 5, can you hit e.g. Kangaxx the demi lich?

2) Any idea how to kill him? How to protect from his spells? As far as I know his imprisonment spell ignores MR.

3) Can a Monk use the Wand of Heavens as a cleric can? Where can it be found?

hey.. i finally have the time to start on soloing.. (sorry i was quite busy these few days) i was thinking.. what class should i choose? any advice? did any of you start with a cleric or druid or a wild mage? coz these classes seems interesting.. there are just too many pple playing monks, kensai/mage, sorcerer...

Yes, the bullets from the sling of Everand DOES count as +5 weapons, though they only get +2 to damage IIRC. The sling was made by a god and it's power illustrates this fact nicely. A must have for many soloists.

Wands of the Heavens can be found several places. You can loot one from the temple of Talos and I think you can buy one from another temple too. Wands of the Heavens are supposed to be cleric only items and most people agree that having a monk use them is exploiting a bug and as such minor cheating. If you can't stand the temptation there is a bugfix from Baldurdash.

And besides: You are teh 3vil kung fu fighter and you aren't supposed running around waving wands. Let the enemies taste the dust on your bare feet instead.

[ 09-10-2002, 05:53 AM: Message edited by: Indemaijinj ]

U r quite right on the fact that many people play Monks, I'm one of them, but I just can't say no to my favourite classes. Anyway, advice on the classes for soloing, try a bard, u might like it... just that u might want to know - bards r really hard to play, they r completely useless in other words... Or how about trying a Stalker? I quite like that class...

You can try the Blade kit of a bard. I think this is an interesting character although a Fighter/Mage or Thief/Mage might be stronger. Anyway, as I understand you are looking for something different. The Blade with his offensive and defensive spin I think will give you some fun (and headache) to play.

When I finish soloing the Monk, (if I have time) I am planning to play a Stalker/Cleric (backstab, dual wield, cleric+druid+minor mage spells, turn undead ...)

An other interesting combination could be the Kensai/Druid. Too bad one can't have two kits, I would choose a Kensai/Avenger o Kensai/Shapeshifter. I think you retain your THACO when you shapeshift and get a better AC. Don't know about the damage bonuses ...

ok... i started solo on a half-orc cleric/thief
i m now doing the slaver quests..
just wanted to know as a cleric/thief what weapons do you recommend? and do you recommend i dual-wield?

Cleric/Thieves cannot put more than 1 point into any proficiency so you will get REALLY BAD penalties to your THACO if you dual wield. I recommend the +2 club near the druid grove if you plan to backstab, or just stick to the trusty Flail of Ages.