No Level-Up = No Problem

[Midget Gems]

My latest adventure was inspired by Neomi's 'Company of Prince Humperdink', I set out to play from start to finish with a low level party - no level-ups allowed.

Whenever I start a new adventure I am looking for a new twist to make it a different experience. Basically I find BG1 quite an easy game, so mostly I am looking for ways to make it more difficult. As well as role-playing, this may also mean putting restrictions on the make-up of the party or the equipment they can use. There are a lot of powerful items available in the game, but I nornally avoid using them in order to keep the balance of the gameplay at the difficult end of the scale. By using a very weak party I intended to use power-gaming tactics, without spoiling the balance of the game. As it turned out I was not pushed to the absolute limit - sure there were some tough fights with multiple re-loads - but I still didn't use every possible tactic.

I chose to play as a Bard. As a level 1 player she had no fighting skills, just Bardsong and Magic Scrolls to cast from the Quick Slots. I also chose to restrict my Bard to non-damaging spells, so I went mostly for the Charm and Hold type of spells. Her stats at end of game were:

Raven : Level 1 Bard
Str = 16
Dex = 18
Con = 15
Int = 18
Wis = 11
Cha = 18
HP = 7 ( I originally said 10, but it was in fact 7, as it should be.)
XP Gained (but not used) = 54K
Spells learnt = nil
Weapons used = nil
No. of kills = nil
Bardsong = continuous play

Choosing her companions for this adventure was a key decision. After much deliberation I took the Illusionary NPC's and kept them from start to finish. This gave me a balanced party with power in the vital areas, in particular top class characters for both my Fighter and my Thief. On the down side there are no bow users in this party. But I find that bows are so powerful that they make all games feel the same, no matter who is in the party - you see some bad guys, you shoot them and move on to the next fight - so I was happy to use other types of missile instead. One bonus from the party was the performance of Osprey, who is normally thought to be a weak link. As a Cleric/Mage she could use all the Scrolls and Wands while wearing Armour, making her better than a pure class Mage.

As far a game-play goes my plan was to collect as much good equipment as possible and then concentrate on following the plotline. I did check as I went along if the recruitable NPCs I met were better than my companions, but apart from Coran there was nobody else. As I understand it the NPC are set to match my Level, rather than my experience value, so gaining XP is of no consequence. I occationally used the Charm Cloak and quite a few Wands, normally these items are on my 'to avoid' list, since they duplicate things that can be done with 'proper' magic that has to be learned. However I set myself the goal of not using any summoned creatures (I said, I like to make things harder) and I was able to keep to this target right to the end.

The hardest fights were the ones where I was out-numbered and didn't have the firepower to finish the fight quickly. But I also like to spice things up by taking on tough assignments. Even early in the game I picked fights with tough opponents just to see if I could beat them. I had a wander around in Durlag's Tower, but the traps were too difficult so I only did the upstairs section. I had a lot of trouble with the Iron Throne Building and the Coronation Scene - mainly due to not using summoning. Possibly the hardest of all was the battle with the Mercenaries just before the final fight. The guy with the Arrows of Detonation kept wiping out my whole party if he caught sight of me. So eventually I scouted ahead with my Thief then protected my Fighter from Electrical damage and positioned him just beyond there sight range. I then used the Fighter as an aim point for Lighting Bolts, two or three shots, plus rebounds, wiped out the main danger allowing us to move in and finish things off. For the final fight with the 'Big S' I wanted to round things off in style. I had my Bard with the pathetic 7 HP stand out in front, toe to toe with the main man, protected by Resilient Sphere and then Mirror Image. Each time he hit the images I replaced them, from Scrolls, and all the time the rest of my gang were pounding him with Wand shots. He died without ever laying a finger on us. Now that's how to do it in style!

Sorry if this post is a bit long-winded but I wanted to give an insight into this unusual way of playing. Hope that some of you (other than Neomi) found it interesting.

[RoSs_bg2_rox]

Soudns like you had fun!

I like your idea for the last battle, sounds like it would have been quite comical to watch. Did you play the game on Insane? I could imagine the Coronation Scene being hard, as it is quite tough even with a full party.

Well done, and happy advenutring.

[Neomi]

I was looking forward to hearing about this... Nice job, Midget Gems!

A few points/questions:

1. Nice idea using a bard; even at 1st level the bardsong was probably a valuable addition to the team's morale and combat rolls, plus the use of scrolls/wands was helpful I'm sure.

2. You intentionally didn't use any bows???!!! I bow (no pun intended) to your godly tactics, making it through without missiles (or did you just use a lot of darts and slings ).

3. Who and where is this Osprey? I've played BG a number of times and I don't remember coming across her as an NPC. Is she from a mod?

4. How did you get past the skeleton warriors in the maze leading to the undercity? This was by far the most difficult fight of my own no-level-up (NLU) game and one that I ultimately just avoided by sneaking everyone past under the cover of invisibility.

5. It was very clever to use a fighter protected from lightning as a targeting point so that you could safely bounce a lightning bolt through the enemies...

6. Your defeat of Sarevok was indeed quite stylish. I wish I had come up with the idea of using Otiluke's Resilient Sphere -- it gives you the ultimate tank to soak up the damage with.

Great work, my hat is off to you.

[RoSs_bg2_rox]

I think I can answer number 2. for you there Neomi.

To quote MG

"so I was happy to use other types of missile instead."

Sounds as if he used Slings and darts instead.

[Midget Gems]

Thanks for the comments - I am having connection problems, so I will post again soon. M.G.

[Midget Gems]

Finally the Midgets are back online and reporting for duty.

Neomi, here is some more background information:

1) Yes, I used lots of slings and darts, but also throwing knives and axes. My favourite is the Throwing Axe +2, I wish it was available earlier in the game.

2) Sorry if I was a bit vague about the party. I used the 'exploit' to recruit the 5 Illusionary NPC's from the Candlekeep Training Room. They are a well balanced Level 2 party with a few extra skills thrown in for good measure. This gives a powerful group for the first few chapters but I lose out later on by not upgrading to any of the 'better' NPCs. Arkanis and Deder are two examples of NPCs who can truly be classified as 'midget gems'

3) As for the Skeleton Warriors I knew from experience they would not be a problem - the way for a weak party to deal with them has been posted several times on the Forum by me and by several others. When most people see a trap they immediately want to disarm it, what they forget is that it may be useful to set it off and cause damage to a dangerous opponent. This is one such case, if you protect one character from the potential damage and set off the traps, then the result is spectacular. For some (unknown) reason the damage from the traps ignores most of the Magic Resistance of the Skeletons and causes them massive damage. Nice and Cheesy!

4) Looking back what makes this type of adventure possible is the availability of a large quantity of powerful items to use when the situation needs them. There are dozens of Wands, Scrolls, and Potions so there is no shortage of fire-power for a low-level party. I have always maintained that there are far too many Wands and Potions in BG1 (especially in the shops at low prices) and this is something the designers appear to have corrected in BG2 and IWD. I am presently running a No-Level-Up party in IWD and it is so much more difficult due to the lack of resources. I know I can't go further than the first few chapters but it's fun to try, just the same.

[Legolas]

You're a braver midget than me, that's for certain. And you managed, to boot. Sterling effort.