true solo melee character

prodigal · 11-05-2002, 05:57 PM

I saw that someone on the board had claimed to know someone who had done this earlier, so I just had to give it a try. The experience is awesome - I am level 22 after monastery, arnika, trynton, swamp just for steelhide and am now on my way back from umpani base camp with flag to go through the mine tunnels to Marten's bluff for the first time.

I did take advantage of a couple things to make my life easier: Since my guy was going to have a rough go of it later I knew, I trained stealth for one level as a rogue in the monastery - got it up to 90 [img]smile.gif[/img] .

I fought all fights after that for a while with sling only as much as possible till throwing was up to 75 (have to throw potions and powders later on if I'm to have any shot against magic-users in groups).

Had an easy time so far after stealth was done.

My guy is a hobbit fighter about 200 HP, 100 ST, 100DEX, 99 Speed and 81 Vitality - next is senses.

Artifacts is very important I discovered, playing a solo character. So that's about 70 now, mythology 60 which is ok for now, sword 100, shield 100, power strike 80, reflexion 50, snake speed soon to come...close combat is over 110 now...

he is using bloodlust obviously, for now, which is one of the things that is causing me concern: he needs a better weapon so he can use the doubleshot cross-bow I got off a ratkin sniper. The closest is fang. How the f*&*^ is he going to handle the sorceress/2 death knight/ 6 cultist group in the temple on the moutain? I have my doubts he'll be able to close the distance alive, let alone get the melee out of the way. I'll need a death bomb obviously, but I don't know if it will be enough. His BASE armour class is 27 and he's 38 with armour, but it doesn't seem to help at all against magic damage, nor does stealth seem to help, or reflexion - crush is still crush, 50 or so HP if a high-level caster like a geomancer or cultist casts it. 6 of them casting it is brutal obviously, even if half miss. I have to use a potion of restoration immediately and that means I can't move and close the distance or use a ranged thrown attack. I don't even want to consider the death clouds that are going to be cast - if I use the ring of breezes I'm carrying, that's at least two rounds to get rid of the clouds and again that means I can't move...

Any suggestions for making it through this section? I anticipate the same problem with the psi sharks and the big rynjin battle groups, though the rapax might be ok. Nessie will simply be a question of close quickly to melee and hope I have enough regen potions and that I don't get incapacitated.

I think it might be easier to go with a solo samurai, hobbit again, one level as rogue for stealth. But I'll finish trying this one first.

Thoughts or comments?

Gimli · 11-05-2002, 06:07 PM

Well this might be a bit cheesy, but I've used it for lower level parties to get Fang early on. If you try to "sneak" up to one of the staircases in the temple, and attack from there with surprise, and then run up the stairs once the fight starts (save the game 1st though) - sometimes what will happen is all or most of the monsters in the room will flee the combat after a few rounds because they will not be able to attack you since you're on a different level than they are. They will run right out the temple door. Once the temple clears, go kill the mummies and claim fang. You'll still have to run past them when you leave (maybe a chameleon potion would be useful for that part) - I would have someone set a portal far from the temple and just return to it when I had Fang, but your hobbit can't cast, so he has to make a run for it [img]smile.gif[/img]

Gimli · 11-05-2002, 06:08 PM

PS - your stealth score would also help you get past them unnoticed outside I believe, and get up to the stairs without them seeing you.

Twisted Brother · 11-06-2002, 12:10 AM

When I fought them with 2 chars, I've retreated behind the entrance wall. On the first round all cultists have summoned elementals, so during 4-7 turns I've met them as they approach. Next were cultists, then Queen and, at last, Lords. The very hard moment was DeathWish from Lords (they didn't seen my chars and cast through the wall

), which is rarely works.

Niob · 11-06-2002, 06:28 AM

year the sorcerer queen and her knights are really hard but if you're patient you can do it. Just look around the corner and hide&wait till the knights arrive, if you're lucky you can kill them and the fight cancels. Then you can fight the rest one on one.

it is worth !!

MaskedFrog · 11-06-2002, 10:37 AM

Use an Eye for an Eye potion (at least I think it is a potion). This will bouce the Death spells back and clear out the elementals and some of the cultists. Move behind the door way and they will come to you a few at a time that should be manageable. Your only issue will be if you get unlucky and the death spells get you. I would also recommend a soul shield scroll just to boost you resistance to death magic.

el_kalkylus · 11-06-2002, 12:32 PM

If you want good resistance, be a high level fighter, level 22 will be fine. Then equip with cloak of ... and amulets of healing. I assure you, it is very rare to die from death spells then, and since you have a fighter, it won't take long to kill the deathlords and queen.

Wereboar · 11-06-2002, 12:41 PM

IIRC there are scrolls of magic screen. With it, your resistance should be high enough to survive.

In my experience, player vs monster level is one of the most important things for kill spells. I usually have several deaths with 'normal' parties (expert, for sure). A while ago, i had 13 deaths in this fight (nearly did run out of resurection powerdes) with a quite low level party. With my last party (ironman, expert), i did the fight quite very late (level 22 IIRC). No characters got killed.

I agree with MaskedFrog about the eye for an eye potion. I usually don't kill any elementals or cultist myself - they get killed be reflected spells.

If crush spells cuase you much trouble, you should consider carrying a ring with earth resistance with you, and swap it if you need it.

In general, i very much like the vampire chain in parties like this. You usually don't have to care about healing anymore. But thats far in the future.

bling bling · 11-07-2002, 01:23 PM

Use one round to throw a canned elemental. Having an extra 300-400 hp sink is always nice. I also use Eye for and Eye, as well.

bb

prodigal · 11-15-2002, 04:53 PM

well,

this turned out to be not a worry at all.

I went through marten's bluff first, then mountain wilderness on way to southeast (had to stop by umpani base camp).

I got to that fight about level 25 or 26, and just walked up and killed everything.

I got hit for maybe 100 HP of damage out of 300, no problems. The cultists didn't even summon - wasted their time casting web and stuff.

This is at normal difficulty.

Bottom line, even a solo melee character game is too easy on normal once you survive the very early going. Level 34 monsters now are easy, bitter wings seem to be the worst monster I'm likely to face for a while and it almost seems too easy to go through bayjin and sea caves now, then castle.

I'll finish, but I think next game will be 2 character expert, no training, and see what happens.

11-05-2002, 06:07 PM	#2
Gimli Emerald Dragon Join Date: January 12, 2002 Location: Moria Posts: 912	Well this might be a bit cheesy, but I've used it for lower level parties to get Fang early on. If you try to "sneak" up to one of the staircases in the temple, and attack from there with surprise, and then run up the stairs once the fight starts (save the game 1st though) - sometimes what will happen is all or most of the monsters in the room will flee the combat after a few rounds because they will not be able to attack you since you're on a different level than they are. They will run right out the temple door. Once the temple clears, go kill the mummies and claim fang. You'll still have to run past them when you leave (maybe a chameleon potion would be useful for that part) - I would have someone set a portal far from the temple and just return to it when I had Fang, but your hobbit can't cast, so he has to make a run for it [img]smile.gif[/img] __________________ There\'s one dwarf left in Moria that still draws breath!

11-05-2002, 06:08 PM	#3
Gimli Emerald Dragon Join Date: January 12, 2002 Location: Moria Posts: 912	PS - your stealth score would also help you get past them unnoticed outside I believe, and get up to the stairs without them seeing you. __________________ There\'s one dwarf left in Moria that still draws breath!

11-06-2002, 12:10 AM	#4
Twisted Brother Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: July 21, 2002 Location: WasteLands Age: 50 Posts: 22	When I fought them with 2 chars, I've retreated behind the entrance wall. On the first round all cultists have summoned elementals, so during 4-7 turns I've met them as they approach. Next were cultists, then Queen and, at last, Lords. The very hard moment was DeathWish from Lords (they didn't seen my chars and cast through the wall ), which is rarely works. __________________ ...What you see is what you lost; if I were you, I wouldn\'t try...

11-06-2002, 12:32 PM	#7
el_kalkylus Drizzt Do'Urden Join Date: March 3, 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden, Sweden Age: 45 Posts: 669	If you want good resistance, be a high level fighter, level 22 will be fine. Then equip with cloak of ... and amulets of healing. I assure you, it is very rare to die from death spells then, and since you have a fighter, it won't take long to kill the deathlords and queen. __________________ Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

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11-05-2002, 05:57 PM	#1
prodigal Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: October 7, 2002 Location: toronto, ontario Age: 58 Posts: 12	I saw that someone on the board had claimed to know someone who had done this earlier, so I just had to give it a try. The experience is awesome - I am level 22 after monastery, arnika, trynton, swamp just for steelhide and am now on my way back from umpani base camp with flag to go through the mine tunnels to Marten's bluff for the first time. I did take advantage of a couple things to make my life easier: Since my guy was going to have a rough go of it later I knew, I trained stealth for one level as a rogue in the monastery - got it up to 90 [img]smile.gif[/img] . I fought all fights after that for a while with sling only as much as possible till throwing was up to 75 (have to throw potions and powders later on if I'm to have any shot against magic-users in groups). Had an easy time so far after stealth was done. My guy is a hobbit fighter about 200 HP, 100 ST, 100DEX, 99 Speed and 81 Vitality - next is senses. Artifacts is very important I discovered, playing a solo character. So that's about 70 now, mythology 60 which is ok for now, sword 100, shield 100, power strike 80, reflexion 50, snake speed soon to come...close combat is over 110 now... he is using bloodlust obviously, for now, which is one of the things that is causing me concern: he needs a better weapon so he can use the doubleshot cross-bow I got off a ratkin sniper. The closest is fang. How the f&^ is he going to handle the sorceress/2 death knight/ 6 cultist group in the temple on the moutain? I have my doubts he'll be able to close the distance alive, let alone get the melee out of the way. I'll need a death bomb obviously, but I don't know if it will be enough. His BASE armour class is 27 and he's 38 with armour, but it doesn't seem to help at all against magic damage, nor does stealth seem to help, or reflexion - crush is still crush, 50 or so HP if a high-level caster like a geomancer or cultist casts it. 6 of them casting it is brutal obviously, even if half miss. I have to use a potion of restoration immediately and that means I can't move and close the distance or use a ranged thrown attack. I don't even want to consider the death clouds that are going to be cast - if I use the ring of breezes I'm carrying, that's at least two rounds to get rid of the clouds and again that means I can't move... Any suggestions for making it through this section? I anticipate the same problem with the psi sharks and the big rynjin battle groups, though the rapax might be ok. Nessie will simply be a question of close quickly to melee and hope I have enough regen potions and that I don't get incapacitated. I think it might be easier to go with a solo samurai, hobbit again, one level as rogue for stealth. But I'll finish trying this one first. Thoughts or comments?

11-06-2002, 06:28 AM	#5
Niob The Magister Join Date: February 4, 2002 Location: Rat hole #152 Posts: 137	year the sorcerer queen and her knights are really hard but if you're patient you can do it. Just look around the corner and hide&wait till the knights arrive, if you're lucky you can kill them and the fight cancels. Then you can fight the rest one on one. it is worth !!

11-06-2002, 10:37 AM	#6
MaskedFrog Drow Warrior Join Date: November 28, 2001 Location: Madison, CT Posts: 292	Use an Eye for an Eye potion (at least I think it is a potion). This will bouce the Death spells back and clear out the elementals and some of the cultists. Move behind the door way and they will come to you a few at a time that should be manageable. Your only issue will be if you get unlucky and the death spells get you. I would also recommend a soul shield scroll just to boost you resistance to death magic.

11-06-2002, 12:41 PM	#8
Wereboar Baaz Draconian Join Date: June 6, 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 795	IIRC there are scrolls of magic screen. With it, your resistance should be high enough to survive. In my experience, player vs monster level is one of the most important things for kill spells. I usually have several deaths with 'normal' parties (expert, for sure). A while ago, i had 13 deaths in this fight (nearly did run out of resurection powerdes) with a quite low level party. With my last party (ironman, expert), i did the fight quite very late (level 22 IIRC). No characters got killed. I agree with MaskedFrog about the eye for an eye potion. I usually don't kill any elementals or cultist myself - they get killed be reflected spells. If crush spells cuase you much trouble, you should consider carrying a ring with earth resistance with you, and swap it if you need it. In general, i very much like the vampire chain in parties like this. You usually don't have to care about healing anymore. But thats far in the future.

11-07-2002, 01:23 PM	#9
bling bling Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: June 13, 2002 Location: Stumptown, OR Posts: 36	Use one round to throw a canned elemental. Having an extra 300-400 hp sink is always nice. I also use Eye for and Eye, as well. bb

11-15-2002, 04:53 PM	#10
prodigal Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: October 7, 2002 Location: toronto, ontario Age: 58 Posts: 12	well, this turned out to be not a worry at all. I went through marten's bluff first, then mountain wilderness on way to southeast (had to stop by umpani base camp). I got to that fight about level 25 or 26, and just walked up and killed everything. I got hit for maybe 100 HP of damage out of 300, no problems. The cultists didn't even summon - wasted their time casting web and stuff. This is at normal difficulty. Bottom line, even a solo melee character game is too easy on normal once you survive the very early going. Level 34 monsters now are easy, bitter wings seem to be the worst monster I'm likely to face for a while and it almost seems too easy to go through bayjin and sea caves now, then castle. I'll finish, but I think next game will be 2 character expert, no training, and see what happens.

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