Ramblings from a solo Blade (spoily)

[mad=dog]

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_ Heed my
_ warning.
_ Read no
_ further if
_ you like
_ to find the
_ wonders of
_ Fearun on
_ your own.
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Hello everybody from a relative newcomer. I am a seasoned BG1/TotSC player and recently picked up BG2, dropped it again for being too linear and then picked it up again out of curiosity.
I have already drifted through the game and what I reckon is a majority of the sidequests with a BG1 elven diviner.
I noticed that a lot of encounters were significantly more difficult the more heads you had to cover. Area effect spells were a menace and the equipment grew thin as it had to be distributed.
Thus I decided to revive my trusty BG1 bard Ashar Caldaar and send her after Irenicus’ naughty parts free of burdening company reformed as a Blade.
So far so good. She is doing quite well and is allready maxed out in XP in chapter 2. Before I proceed I would like to get some overview on whether I am prepared to proceed or not.

Equipment:
Head: Mask of King Strohm III
:: The only helmet available to Bards. Sadly. Anyhow those 50hp crits from Ad. Golems really hurt without it.
Armour: Melodic Chain +3
:: A wonder. One of the first things I went for (along with the boots). Will last until Bladesinger for sure. Does Jesters Chain allow spellcasting?
Gauntlets: Gauntlets of Weapon Skill
:: This is where I start to wonder is there isn’t something better out there. Darn, I had better ones in BG1.
Ring: Ring of Gaxx
Ring: Ring of Gaxx
:: Yes two of them thanks to my leet Bard pickpocketing skills. Actually I was rather surprised. I picked it from him in case I couldn’t beat him in Demi-Lich form, however I was amazed that when I he finally fell there was yet another ring. With a shrug I reasoned that since it is more difficult to place a ring in the lich’s inventory this must somehow be intended.
Boots: Boot of Speed
:: Ohhhh the joy of not having to listen to ”You must gather your party...”
Main weapon: Celestail Fury +3
:: Very very very nice. One of the first things I picked up after stocking up wands.
Off-hand weapon: Belm +2
:: A smart choice by my reasoning. Especially combined with a spin.
Back-up weapons: Flail of Ages +3, Adjatha +2, Arbane’s +2, Daystar +2
:: All for one purpose or the other. Stupid me sold the Dragon Sword in Trademeet. Should I head back to pick it up?
Cloak: Cloak of the Sewer
:: For AC. Suggestions?
Back-up cloak: Cloak of Non-Detection
:: I continuously haul this with me in the hope I may actually get it to work! It ought to keep me safe from truesight while invisible right? Well it doesn’t. *Sigh*.
Belt: Belt of Inertial Barrier
:: Somehow I doubt there is anything better.
Amulet: Magic Res +5%
:: Suggestions? I reason I’ll use the one from Aran Linvail later..

Apart from that I haul Tuigan Bow, a few containers and some minor things I happen to hang on to. I have found the Staff of Magi (and one hell of a battle!), but alas it is as the name suggests only for mages. Would have been nice with my Diviner though. It’ll make a nice prop in my theatre along with Carsomyr.
I want to get Crom Faeyr somehow. Guess Valygar is out of luck. I also want the bag of holding, cloak of reflection and the mace of disruption +2, however all these are in later chapters only.

One last minor little detail. Errrh, my Diviner ran into a certain drow before a certain vampire encounter. I am pretty sure my Bard left him very very dead in BG1. He came across as an overly arrogant and selfish drow so I killed him. The super bard equipment had NOTHING to do with it. Swear. My question is simple: Will this haunt me in any way? Is he gone or what? I actually hope he made it somehow and has been humbled a bit, but I doubt he will have fond memories about me in that case. Or is he really dead and can I then collect the reward the drows have on his head? I reckon it won’t have any effect. I am just curious and a little bit anxious.

I know this is a very long post with a lot of questions. I just feel it is better to collect them rather than opening 4 or 5 threads.

[Black Baron]

Item, plot, and what not


spoilers.


beware!


The drow ( does his name begins with d?) will not haunt you. You can use his help against Bodhi, but that is it.
Or kill him again if you wish to.

You can also recruit valyagar and dump him as soon as you will open the sphere. Killing him is not a must. It is what i do when playing good without him.

Also you can grab gesen's bow. +4 enchanted, no ammo required. cool.

Leave the dragonsword alone. Useless pice of junk despite what is written in the description. The regeneration and fear immunity can be easily replaced with spell and an ioun stone found in lava room in the ruined temple.

Yes, there are few belts beter than this one.
You might consider switching it for some time with belt from Underdark. Strength bonus is good.

to the D. Drow again-Can you collect the reward? if yes, then how?

Weapon choice is good. There are also bracers that allow you to cast improved haste for 20 seconds. Worth the pain of getting them from that darned prince of kou-toa.

Consider equalizer. Maybe, just maybe it will work once properly.

Also-do you have any mods installed?
There is a certain katana in tactics mod that will make your game much easier.
Beware, however of the "obtaining" part. Tough.
Very tough.

hope thait will help.
[img]tongue.gif[/img]

[bjorn]

Consider equalizer. Maybe, just maybe it will work once properly.

What do you mean? it dosen't work?

[Link]

Better bracers? They'll be on your way soon enough, trust me. Look out for the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise and you'll be one nasty bard for sure.

Your weapon choice is excellent, and will do some hefty damage when using Offensive Spin. Be sure to look out for weaponry in Throne of Bhaal (if you have it). Definitely take the Amulet of Power.
For cloaks: if you're not into the Cloak of Mirroring (did you pass through the Underwater City?) then you could consider the Cloak of Displacement. No AC bonus (IIRC) but it does give you some better saves. The AC bonus will get covered by using certain ioun stones.

[ 04-21-2004, 02:32 PM: Message edited by: Link ]

[Link]

Originally posted by bjorn: quote: Consider equalizer. Maybe, just maybe it will work once properly.

What do you mean? it dosen't work? [/QUOTE]I think he's talking about the damage the Equalizer does or could do. For the things you have to do to get it, the Equalizer should AT LEAST be a powerful weapon, but it isn't really. Not THAT powerful anyway. However, if you design the right character, with a good main-hand (or off-hand, whatever you prefer) weapon, the Equalizer could at last come in useful when dual-wielding.

[mad=dog]

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The drow does indeed start with a D. Nice to know he is the forgiving sort. I know that the Drow have a reward on him and it would be a super cool evil side-quest if it was somehow incorporated in the game. However I am NG for now so I will not attack him this time. Furthermore he is far more friendly and enjoyable in BG2.

Valygar is out of luck if I decide to take "solo" to the letter. So far I have only had a companion the 10 seconds it took to boot out Imoen. Not having her poor voice act through Casa de Irenicus was SO NICE.

Gesen Bow. Noted. Worthwhile since ammo isn't the sort of thing you want to mess up a restricted inventory. Think I have the shaft in the theatre. I seem to remember the string being in spellhold somewhere while I was hunting for tokens to get the "priceless" Jesters Chain. It better be worth it this time.

Equalizer. Never really figured it out. Seems both powerful and worthless at the same time. Regardless I sold the pommel god-knows-where. Prolly at the Mart.

I won't fetch the Dragonsword then. I have not found any Ioun Stones yet, but I fear they might be off limit to Bards. Otherwise they will be worth a trip for sure.
A note here. Fear would not be a problem if it worked like fear. That is you turn around and run away from everything until you are cornered. As it is now "Power Word: Idiot" might be more appropiate, 'cuz the character acts like an utter moron.

The belt. Hhmmm. One of them is used for Crom Faeyr, which is on my shortlist. The other one eludes me, but I think it is in Suldanesselar. As a BG1 character my strength is 19.

Bracers. A 20 second attack burst is definately something I can use at a few places. Especially since it can be combined with defensive spin and offensive spin cannot. Standing my ground with -17 AC and hacking away with 5 att/round will surely come in handy. It's with the Kuo-Toan prince you say. I must have passed this as junk last time and left it.
As for the Weapon Expertise I might need a friendly finger pointing me in the right direction.

Cloak. Mirroring seems nice, but I have to transverse spellhold first. I recollect a Cloak of Displacement in Trademeet, but at a glance it didn't seem too efficient. Parhaps I really should go back there after all.

I have three mods:
Bonus CD merchants
Quicker Intro
Better Looking Robe of Vecna
They are hardly mods at all. I figured I'd try the plain game a few times before I started to mess with it.
I do not have ToB (yet).

I am still in Chapter 2, but I recon I am as ready as can be. I have the Illithium and are ready to blow Bodhi's place apart.

[slimjimosu]

If you don't have ToB then I don't think you can wear ioun stones. i think that is one of the changes they made to the original game when you install ToB

[Jerr Conner]

Equalizer always worked for me. I could do near 45 damage without any strength enhancements with that sword.

[mad=dog]

Sounds like Equalizer is a dandy blade then. Perhaps I should assemble it then and try it out.
I have now gone through Spellhold and truthfully the only thing that really hurts me is greater mummies. Those things must have an insane THAC0. Irenicus was nothing. Go Nishruu.
There is a point to this. I got the *explitive* Jesters Chain again and it does not allow spellcasting. It would have made sense if it did, being designed for a Jester and all, but it doesn't. Crap. Seems like only the elven chains (+1, Melodic, Bladesinger) does.
I just throught I'd let you know for future reference.
Besides that I got the Cloak of Reflection and Gesen Bow String from there. Nothing else I reckon.

[Dundee Slaytern]

The Equaliser is viable as an OFF-HAND weapon when dualwielding( due to the way it implements its damage bonuses).

The Equaliser becomes the Suckaliser if you wield it as a single weapon.

Nobody gets the Jester's Chain, except maybe Barbarians. The standard choice is usually the Boots of Speed plus the Boots of the North.