Challenges of a solo character

Marty4 · 12-03-2004, 05:48 PM

In the testing solo that I'm doing right now, I've found some interesting differences. Melee characters are extreme pushovers, but magic users are a problem.

My most recent misadventure: Presio
I was all fired up to take out that necromancer, so I put up all my buffs and waded in. Presio's minions swarmed me, and after drawing a stinking cloud and the imbued wight magic missles I cast a quick recitation and retreated from the cloud's range, drawing out undead to pummel. I repeated this trick multiple times, then went in to slay the necromancer. She actually put up a harder fight than I had remembered, and I had to use potions and all my heal spells due to being the sole target of her magic missles, flamestrikes, Beltyn's Burning Blood, and others. Eventually though, I wasted her spells then wasted her.

Hopefully I can recount my campaign to rid the world of Y by the end of tonight. I'm sick, so lotsa time

[ 12-03-2004, 05:48 PM: Message edited by: Marty4 ]

Aerich · 12-03-2004, 06:27 PM

Get well soon.

Interesting about Presio. I've never had a problem with her with a party (and never done a solo that far). Then again, I usually summon and haste some fodder to keep her busy while I take down her protections and shoot/spell her to pieces. I had no idea she had such good offensive spells.

Marty4 · 12-03-2004, 07:59 PM

She doesn't have very good offensive magic, but if its all concentrated on one guy...

My latest misadventure: Yxunomei

Toughie. I used the 5th level ranger spell summon animals II to get 4 cave bears. Once bless, protection from evil, draw upon holy might and defensive unity were up, I charged in. My guy immediately stepped on a trap and got confusion and poison

but my faithful cave bears "beared" the burden of taking hits until I recovered. Course, by that time my bears were dead and all I had to show for it was 3 downed yuan-ti, but I made it out with still around 80 hp left. I held at the door, wacking away at Y. However, the half-strength group of yuan-ti and summoned skeletons started harassing me, so I retreated to the histachii room. The winding walkways made a great chokepoint, and I was able to isolate Y and bash her head in.

Aerich · 12-03-2004, 11:34 PM

Out of curiosity, what's your unbuffed and buffed AC?

I would have thought that Y would at least make you reload ONCE. Good show. [img]smile.gif[/img]

jmsteven · 12-04-2004, 10:15 AM

Strategy and spoilers:
-
-
-

Yes, good show and congratulations, Marty, though I'm not at all surprised by your success. I soloed all of IWD/HOW/ToTL with a single-class human ranger (not quite as good as an elf ranger would have been), and also defeated Presio and Yxunomei quite handily on my first attempts. My strategy was a little different as single-class rangers are differently advantaged than their Cleric/Ranger cousins.

First, it might be important to note that my ranger had returned to Kuldahar after freeing Shemeesh and rescuing Mother Eugenia and the rest of villagers (hoping for rewards). At this point he sold some stuff and purchased the "Rogues Cowl" and "Shimmering Sash" from Orrick which I think gave him a total +5 to AC (+2 from the Cowl & +3 from the Sash). This meant that going into the battle against the cold wights and Presio, he had an AC= -6 wearing studded leather armor (and an effective AC= -7 against some types of attacks).

Ranger Cumulative AC in Light Armor: AC= -6
Studded Leather Armor (AC= 7 w/ +1 against some attacks)
Mantle of the Coming Storm (AC= 6)
Boots of the Fox (AC= 5)
Rogues Cowl (AC= 3)
Shimmering Sash (AC= 0)
+2 Defender Bow or +2 Defender Axe (AC= -2)
Dex=18 (AC= -6)

This is low enough that wights and zombies need a 20 to hit.

For Presio, the key strategy was to use stealth and the fog-of-war to draw out the zombies and wights. He would pop out of the shadows and zip a few arrows, then move out of their line of sight and they would follow. He could usually disrupt the Imbued Wights from casting magic missle, but not always. Then, after all the undead were cleared, he used stealth again and shot Presio with the Acid Arrows he found. It only took 4 or 5 acid arrows to kill her, and it was over so fast that she didn't get to cast any spells.

Shortly after this battle, AC was upgraded to AC -7 (effective -8 against some attacks) after looting the "Braces of Defense, AC 6" off Geelo the librarian mage.

The strategy to defeat Yxunomei involved immediately chugging a potion of invisibility that was looted off Geelo on the previous level; then downing a Potion of Freedom (to avoid getting held), Potion of Invulernability (to lower AC & saves), and an Oil of Speed (to increase # of attacks). At this point, Yxunomei cast Cloudkill in her immediate area, killing off her own Yuan-ti priests and henchmen, though she, herself, seemed immune to the effects. Once the spell finished its course, and most of her henchmen were dead, my ranger became visible by shooting Yxunomei with the +2 arrows and Messenger of Sseth. She fell quickly, and the remaining henchmen were easy enough to kill.

Post battle: After getting struck by lightning trap, my ranger drank all his electricity and fire resistance potions for a cumulative 150% electricity resistance and 135% fire resistance, and actually healed upon activating the subsequent traps as he busted open locked chests with his temporary Frost Giant strength. On his way back to the surface, my ranger cast "find traps" to avoid any missteps.

Overall, this was one of the toughest areas in the game in terms of character level & difficulty balance, but definitely survivable when properly equipped. Having the rogues cowl and shimmering sash made a big difference.

Otto · 12-04-2004, 10:49 AM

I soloed with an elf ranger, and coincidently used a very similar strategy. One of the few differences was that he switched between Kreeslack's Plate for battles and studded leather for stealth.

With Kreelack's Plate Armor, my ranger had AC of -8 (-11 against slashing) going into Level 3 of Dragon's Eye. He switched to studded leather and used stealth for Presio, much as jmsteven, though I didn't have nearly the same luck disrupting Cold Wights.

For Level 5 of Dragon's Eye, I had him first drink one of Geelo's potions of invisibility and cast "Find Traps" (he was 10th level and had 1 2nd level druid spell). This let him scout areas without stepping in any doo-doo. Then, using a pencil and sheet of tracing paper over the computer monitor, I mapped the dungeon and noted precisely where the traps were.

After, I took him back to the beginning, where he could dialogue with the little girl and fight Yuan-Ti, progressing from room to room. Since all the areas were already scouted, I had him avoid the room with the many priests and archers until after the Yxunomei battle.

My Yxunomei strategy was identical to that above, except that my ranger wasn't wearing his Ring of Shadows, and Yxunomei chased him into the room with the Baleful Mail. He killed her easily (+2 arrows & Messenger of Sseth), but her lackeys were quick to follow and the priests defeated his buffs with "Dispel Magic". Luckily, he made his save against "Hold", and their "Strength of One" was no match against his oil of speed, potion of stone giant strength, and Erevain's Sword.

Marty4 · 12-04-2004, 02:45 PM

Unfortunately, I've lost access to the computer that I made this file on, and as I said on a different post I'm probably going to play BG/SoA/ToB again once my own computer is fixed. I probably will play IWD again when I am done with BG1, though, so expect an update from a fresh, new C/R using FLAILS instead of hammers to be fighting then.

My unbuffed AC was about -4, and it got to about -12 with buffs. It would be better if I had access to some of those HoW items.

I didn't actually beat Y on my first try, though I came close. The sole difference in the two fights was that in the first I foolishly summoned undead instead of nature creatures. They worked well, but didn't hold as long as the bears and didn't kill anything. I took about 60 more damage due to this, and couldn't hold off at the door to inflict damage to Y. After a bit of scampering around, I took one to many arrows

About the traps: I just took the damage easily after resting, since I have original IWD with no hp capping.

I see you guys use lots of stealth. Should I have been using stealth as a C/R? I had just been using plate mail...

Aerich · 12-04-2004, 04:03 PM

Yes, use stealth. A C/R, especially solo, has good stealth, and it lets you get in the first shot. If you are speedy (haste potion or boots), you can run around the corner and hide again. Good for getting tough archers.

Otto · 12-04-2004, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Marty4:
I'm probably going to play BG/SoA/ToB again once my own computer is fixed.

About the traps: I just took the damage easily after resting, since I have original IWD with no hp capping.

I see you guys use lots of stealth. Should I have been using stealth as a C/R? I had just been using plate mail...

If you liked IWD, you'll have loads of fun with BG/SOA/ToB. Overall, it's a far superior game.

Regarding HP capping, there is capping in IWD but you still get your CON bonus after 9th level, so you'll get up to 7 HP/level instead of just 3 in HOW.

Yes, stealth, stealth, and more stealth. Early on, there isn't much light armor in the game, especially if you don't have HOW. But, midway through Severed Hand, you should at least have elven chain.

pritchke · 12-06-2004, 11:10 AM

Yes, Presio can be a problem for solo characters. However with a cleric as part of any solo class you should have no problem with magic users. After clearing out the undead use santuary to walk straight up to him. Santuary is the most powerful spell for any solo classed cleric. Use it to its fullest potential. There are other tricks the cleric can use with santuary has well. (Certain spell combos that make a solo classed cleric extremly dangerous and deadly, good for taking out evil spell casters)

12-03-2004, 06:27 PM	#2
Aerich Lord Ao Join Date: May 27, 2004 Location: Canada Age: 42 Posts: 2,061	Get well soon. Interesting about Presio. I've never had a problem with her with a party (and never done a solo that far). Then again, I usually summon and haste some fodder to keep her busy while I take down her protections and shoot/spell her to pieces. I had no idea she had such good offensive spells. __________________ Where there is a great deal of free speech, there is always a certain amount of foolish speech. - Winston S. Churchill

12-03-2004, 11:34 PM	#4
Aerich Lord Ao Join Date: May 27, 2004 Location: Canada Age: 42 Posts: 2,061	Out of curiosity, what's your unbuffed and buffed AC? I would have thought that Y would at least make you reload ONCE. Good show. [img]smile.gif[/img] __________________ Where there is a great deal of free speech, there is always a certain amount of foolish speech. - Winston S. Churchill

12-04-2004, 04:03 PM	#8
Aerich Lord Ao Join Date: May 27, 2004 Location: Canada Age: 42 Posts: 2,061	Yes, use stealth. A C/R, especially solo, has good stealth, and it lets you get in the first shot. If you are speedy (haste potion or boots), you can run around the corner and hide again. Good for getting tough archers. __________________ Where there is a great deal of free speech, there is always a certain amount of foolish speech. - Winston S. Churchill

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12-03-2004, 05:48 PM	#1
Marty4 Symbol of Cyric Join Date: August 31, 2004 Location: VA Age: 33 Posts: 1,127	In the testing solo that I'm doing right now, I've found some interesting differences. Melee characters are extreme pushovers, but magic users are a problem. My most recent misadventure: Presio I was all fired up to take out that necromancer, so I put up all my buffs and waded in. Presio's minions swarmed me, and after drawing a stinking cloud and the imbued wight magic missles I cast a quick recitation and retreated from the cloud's range, drawing out undead to pummel. I repeated this trick multiple times, then went in to slay the necromancer. She actually put up a harder fight than I had remembered, and I had to use potions and all my heal spells due to being the sole target of her magic missles, flamestrikes, Beltyn's Burning Blood, and others. Eventually though, I wasted her spells then wasted her. Hopefully I can recount my campaign to rid the world of Y by the end of tonight. I'm sick, so lotsa time [ 12-03-2004, 05:48 PM: Message edited by: Marty4 ]

12-03-2004, 07:59 PM	#3
Marty4 Symbol of Cyric Join Date: August 31, 2004 Location: VA Age: 33 Posts: 1,127	She doesn't have very good offensive magic, but if its all concentrated on one guy... My latest misadventure: Yxunomei Toughie. I used the 5th level ranger spell summon animals II to get 4 cave bears. Once bless, protection from evil, draw upon holy might and defensive unity were up, I charged in. My guy immediately stepped on a trap and got confusion and poison but my faithful cave bears "beared" the burden of taking hits until I recovered. Course, by that time my bears were dead and all I had to show for it was 3 downed yuan-ti, but I made it out with still around 80 hp left. I held at the door, wacking away at Y. However, the half-strength group of yuan-ti and summoned skeletons started harassing me, so I retreated to the histachii room. The winding walkways made a great chokepoint, and I was able to isolate Y and bash her head in.

12-04-2004, 10:15 AM	#5
jmsteven Dungeon Master Join Date: October 14, 2004 Location: Beregost Age: 36 Posts: 80	Strategy and spoilers: - - - Yes, good show and congratulations, Marty, though I'm not at all surprised by your success. I soloed all of IWD/HOW/ToTL with a single-class human ranger (not quite as good as an elf ranger would have been), and also defeated Presio and Yxunomei quite handily on my first attempts. My strategy was a little different as single-class rangers are differently advantaged than their Cleric/Ranger cousins. First, it might be important to note that my ranger had returned to Kuldahar after freeing Shemeesh and rescuing Mother Eugenia and the rest of villagers (hoping for rewards). At this point he sold some stuff and purchased the "Rogues Cowl" and "Shimmering Sash" from Orrick which I think gave him a total +5 to AC (+2 from the Cowl & +3 from the Sash). This meant that going into the battle against the cold wights and Presio, he had an AC= -6 wearing studded leather armor (and an effective AC= -7 against some types of attacks). Ranger Cumulative AC in Light Armor: AC= -6 Studded Leather Armor (AC= 7 w/ +1 against some attacks) Mantle of the Coming Storm (AC= 6) Boots of the Fox (AC= 5) Rogues Cowl (AC= 3) Shimmering Sash (AC= 0) +2 Defender Bow or +2 Defender Axe (AC= -2) Dex=18 (AC= -6) This is low enough that wights and zombies need a 20 to hit. For Presio, the key strategy was to use stealth and the fog-of-war to draw out the zombies and wights. He would pop out of the shadows and zip a few arrows, then move out of their line of sight and they would follow. He could usually disrupt the Imbued Wights from casting magic missle, but not always. Then, after all the undead were cleared, he used stealth again and shot Presio with the Acid Arrows he found. It only took 4 or 5 acid arrows to kill her, and it was over so fast that she didn't get to cast any spells. Shortly after this battle, AC was upgraded to AC -7 (effective -8 against some attacks) after looting the "Braces of Defense, AC 6" off Geelo the librarian mage. The strategy to defeat Yxunomei involved immediately chugging a potion of invisibility that was looted off Geelo on the previous level; then downing a Potion of Freedom (to avoid getting held), Potion of Invulernability (to lower AC & saves), and an Oil of Speed (to increase # of attacks). At this point, Yxunomei cast Cloudkill in her immediate area, killing off her own Yuan-ti priests and henchmen, though she, herself, seemed immune to the effects. Once the spell finished its course, and most of her henchmen were dead, my ranger became visible by shooting Yxunomei with the +2 arrows and Messenger of Sseth. She fell quickly, and the remaining henchmen were easy enough to kill. Post battle: After getting struck by lightning trap, my ranger drank all his electricity and fire resistance potions for a cumulative 150% electricity resistance and 135% fire resistance, and actually healed upon activating the subsequent traps as he busted open locked chests with his temporary Frost Giant strength. On his way back to the surface, my ranger cast "find traps" to avoid any missteps. Overall, this was one of the toughest areas in the game in terms of character level & difficulty balance, but definitely survivable when properly equipped. Having the rogues cowl and shimmering sash made a big difference.

12-04-2004, 10:49 AM	#6
Otto The Magister Join Date: November 1, 2004 Location: Springfield, KY Age: 43 Posts: 100	I soloed with an elf ranger, and coincidently used a very similar strategy. One of the few differences was that he switched between Kreeslack's Plate for battles and studded leather for stealth. With Kreelack's Plate Armor, my ranger had AC of -8 (-11 against slashing) going into Level 3 of Dragon's Eye. He switched to studded leather and used stealth for Presio, much as jmsteven, though I didn't have nearly the same luck disrupting Cold Wights. For Level 5 of Dragon's Eye, I had him first drink one of Geelo's potions of invisibility and cast "Find Traps" (he was 10th level and had 1 2nd level druid spell). This let him scout areas without stepping in any doo-doo. Then, using a pencil and sheet of tracing paper over the computer monitor, I mapped the dungeon and noted precisely where the traps were. After, I took him back to the beginning, where he could dialogue with the little girl and fight Yuan-Ti, progressing from room to room. Since all the areas were already scouted, I had him avoid the room with the many priests and archers until after the Yxunomei battle. My Yxunomei strategy was identical to that above, except that my ranger wasn't wearing his Ring of Shadows, and Yxunomei chased him into the room with the Baleful Mail. He killed her easily (+2 arrows & Messenger of Sseth), but her lackeys were quick to follow and the priests defeated his buffs with "Dispel Magic". Luckily, he made his save against "Hold", and their "Strength of One" was no match against his oil of speed, potion of stone giant strength, and Erevain's Sword.

12-04-2004, 02:45 PM	#7
Marty4 Symbol of Cyric Join Date: August 31, 2004 Location: VA Age: 33 Posts: 1,127	Unfortunately, I've lost access to the computer that I made this file on, and as I said on a different post I'm probably going to play BG/SoA/ToB again once my own computer is fixed. I probably will play IWD again when I am done with BG1, though, so expect an update from a fresh, new C/R using FLAILS instead of hammers to be fighting then. My unbuffed AC was about -4, and it got to about -12 with buffs. It would be better if I had access to some of those HoW items. I didn't actually beat Y on my first try, though I came close. The sole difference in the two fights was that in the first I foolishly summoned undead instead of nature creatures. They worked well, but didn't hold as long as the bears and didn't kill anything. I took about 60 more damage due to this, and couldn't hold off at the door to inflict damage to Y. After a bit of scampering around, I took one to many arrows About the traps: I just took the damage easily after resting, since I have original IWD with no hp capping. I see you guys use lots of stealth. Should I have been using stealth as a C/R? I had just been using plate mail...

12-06-2004, 11:10 AM	#10
pritchke Bastet - Egyptian Cat Goddess Join Date: September 5, 2001 Location: Calgary, AB Age: 49 Posts: 3,491	Yes, Presio can be a problem for solo characters. However with a cleric as part of any solo class you should have no problem with magic users. After clearing out the undead use santuary to walk straight up to him. Santuary is the most powerful spell for any solo classed cleric. Use it to its fullest potential. There are other tricks the cleric can use with santuary has well. (Certain spell combos that make a solo classed cleric extremly dangerous and deadly, good for taking out evil spell casters)

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