My Tactics solo attempt

[JayS]

I created a Lawful Neutral blade (bard kit) named Desmond to play through Tactics solo while waiting for the release of Refinements 2.0. With Rogue Rebalancing installed, I automatically got 3 stars in duel-wielding.

I gave him 1 star in katanas, scimitars, war hammers, and short bows. My plan, if I ever get around to it, is to have him duel-wield Cfury +5 and Crom Faeyr.

I rolled him stats of 18 str, 18 dex, 16 con, 18 int, 8 wis, and 15 cha. I then modified his stats based on a Baldur's Gate I game, so he had 19 str, 19 dex, 17 con, 19 int, 11 wis, 16 cha, and 161000 exp.

I also hacked myself a bag of holding.

I managed to eliminate all the enemies in Irenicus' Dungeon, though it took me quite a few reloads because of my use of dire charm and blindness, which need the enemy to fail their save vs. spells in order to function.

I quickly became annoyed at how horrible of a fighter my bard was when it took him +10 swings just to kill that mephit in the lighting room.

After killing the ogre mage, I progressed along the corridor and was surprised to find no enemies. I ducked into the room with the sewage golem to loot the place, and after exiting I discovered 2 duergar mages and 2 proleteriats waiting outside for me! I moved into the sight of one of the duergar mages, dire charmed him, and quickly ran him out of there. Then I ordered him to summon spiders, and I got 2 giant spiders. I then ordered him back in there to cast web along with the two spiders. The remaining mage also cast web at his feet, and the two prols were helplessly entangled in the layered webs. I cast melf's acid arrow at the enemy mage to keep him from spellcasting, went into off spin, and then killed all the enemies with my bow along with my spider allies, who poisoned the mages past their stoneskins.

I preempted the lesser clay golems by casting mirror-image and def spin and then attacking them.

The next batch of duergars, 3 fighters and a mage, where in the corridor near Rielev's room. I lured out the 3 fighters, dire charmed one, and ordered him to block the doorway between the gray area and the lighted area. The two other fighters were helpless at this development, and we finished off one fighter before the duergar's dire charm wore off. Luckily, I had ordered the previously-charmed duergar to attack his other friend before the charm spell wore off, so he killed that one for me too. Then, thanks to the horrible AI of the prols, I attacked and defeated the remaining fighter without him attacking me. I then went to the mage, blinded him, and finished him off.

One remaining group of duergar, consisting of 3 fighters and 1 mage, was still in that area, along with 3 or 4 war dogs. I lured them out one by one and with a combination of my remaining spells and abilities, slew them all.

After sleeping and disposing of the 2 duergar that popped up in front of me (very unrealistic) I went to find the Greater Otugyh. I cast Horror and he ran into a corner where I killed him and actually remembered to pick up the frost key he dropped. I then defeated remaining groups of duergar on that level (except for one mage in the library) before resting. Suprisingly, I wasn't confronted this time by two duergars.

I went into the library and saw Illyich, who I Dire Charmed. He finished off Zhivago before dying. I then ran away and let the remainder of Ilyich's crew disperse before running back in to obtain the acorns and Ilyich's nice weapons. The mage there began casting a spell at me when I returned, but after looting Ilyich's body I fired off a Magic Missile to interrupt his casting.

I stuffed his acorns into my bag and pulled them out again to have them recharged, as they were already drained for some reason. I then lured out the clay golem and killed him with the help of def spin.

I summoned two dryads and the moose with the help of the acorns, killed the remaining mage, and ambushed Karamazov and Rasputin as they were heading out the doorway. The moose attracted the attention of the duergars while the two nymphs and I cast our charms spells at Karamazov and one of them got through. Karamazov nearly killed Rasputin before being eliminated by the combined efforts of him and the Glabrezu, who had been attracted by the fighting. I fired off a melf's acid arrow at Rasputin and ran. After 3 rounds he was dead.

I returned to blind the Glabrezu, and chased after him until I attracted his attention. I went into def spin and killed the last member of Ilyich's crew.

I killed the cambion with the help of off spin, and then completed the sword quest after resting.

In the mephit portal room, I cast DUHM, Mirror Image, and MMM before and ran through the room after casting horror destroying each of the portals.

I blinded the clone to win an easy victory.

Against the vampire, I cast acid arrow and rushed into melee combat after activating off spin. I managed to kill her before she killed the mage, whom turned hostile on me afterwards.

In the boiler room, I blinded the duergar mage and used acid arrow on her, and then fireballed the duergar in the room above her.

I def spun against Frennedan.

Against my final opponents, a group of 3 assassins, I dire charmed their leader and went into off spin to finish them off.

A few questions: Why do duergar mages, as part of their prebuffing sequence, get mirror image, prot from normal missiles, and prot from normal weapons (which are all temporary so I can wait them off) and prot from normal weapons (which is outside their casting range)?

[ 12-11-2004, 09:39 PM: Message edited by: JayS ]

[Leslie]

Whew! Blades rock!

Oh, with Tactics you'll encounter many more strange spell Triggers and Contingencies. But there is always a way ...