I'm now levelling everyone up to level 7, and with that a complete respec.
Naeblys took one level of Rogue (for all the starting feats), the one as a Draconic Sorcerer (for the AC bonus). I ditched the Wild Magic for now as I plan on doing another run with only Wild Magic. At level 3 Rogue, I obviously picked Thief.
As for Cantrips I picked:
- Friends: Always useful in dialogue situations
- Minor Illusion: To make NPC look the other way while I pickpocket/backstab them
- Mage Hand: Because I'm sure it could really help with the action economy
- Dancing Lights: Because it's a Concentration cantrip and I can use it to power my +1d4 Psychic damage
As for the feat I wanted to go with Dual Wielder. It will allow me to wear a Rapier in the main hand, and the Knife in the other, and gives me +1AC. But it won't allow me to add my DEX bonus to the off-hand (that's a similarly named feat, but as a Fighting Style for Fighters that does that).
Mobile is also pretty good, as I can move more, and move after having attacked someone without using a Bonus Action: Disengage for it.
I decided to pass on that one because I already have 2 Bonus Actions and can disengage with one of them, so the bonus is small. Also, with that many actions and the Boots of Speed, I'm already pretty mobile. But that would probably be something I'll reevaluate later.
Savage Attacker would be very brutal on the Sneak Attack. I don't know how it will interact with the Reroll from the Knife though.
Finally, I stayed with a classical +2 DEX.
And here the new Naeblys. 21 AC wearing only cloth, he will be able to survive a little big longer in battle. I also hid him as a "normal" Dwarf.
Now, Astarion is a little bit of everything. Warlock 2 (for the CHA bonus on EB), Wizard (for the spellbook) and Sorcerer, because they are the best.
His head slot is obviously the headband that gives INT 17, so he can have 4 Wizard slots
For the armor I'm going with the Protecty Sparkswall that gives +1 Spell Save DC, but also +1 AC and Saves when I have charges (and I will have most of the fights). It's not a very good armor, but I haven't found much good cloth armors yet.
The other contender is the Poisoner's Robe, that adds 1d4 Poison damage on my Poison spells. It needs more testing to see if some AoE spells of Poison could benefit from the added dice.
For the gloves, I'm hesitating between those two.
The Sparkle Hands gives ADV against targets wearing armors, while the Gloves of Dexterity give me +1AC and +1 to hit. I think I'll go with the always-on Gloves of Dexterity.
For the boots I'll take those that have Misty Step because I need to get away from melee if it happens.
For the staff, I need to have the Spellsparkler to gain charges.
I found an Amulet of Branding, that, once every long rest, allow me to make a target vulnerable to Bludgeoning, Slashing and Piercing. This mixed with Luck of the Far Realm (transform a hit into a critical once per long rest), allow for one hell of a Sneak Attack every long rest.
Now I need to test if using it breaks invisibility, and if it cost an action of bonus action.
It's a bonus action, so I can technically still do that and attack in the same round.
Also, the Toxins don't add Poison damage on my hits, but poison the target that will take the poison damage at the end of their turn. This won't help in dealing a large burst of damage, but is useful as a DoT or against casters (to force them to do Concentration checks).
Hmm, so I wanted to use the Hunter's Mark given to me by the Hunting Shortbow, but even if the Hunter's Mark is displayed on the right as a "Recast for free", casting another Concentration spell (like Invisibility) breaks it. So it's very situational, and only once per Long Rest.
I'll try Dual Wielding Hand Crossbows instead, to benefit from the bonus action range attack.
I gave the Bow of the Banshee to Astarion, it is written it gives +1d4 to hit and damage against Frightened creatures. As his Critical Hits can Frighten, I want to see if the bonus also applies to his EB.
I was supposed to take 2 damage by jumping here, but in the end I took none. Not sure if it's because of Slow Fall from Monk, or from my damage reduction from the armor. This needs more testing.
So, no armor and no Slow Fall enabled, I'm supposed to take 4 damage.
Which I did.
With Slow Fall enabled, it's now 2, as displayed.
With the armor on it was supposed to be 4, but I took only 2 because the armor absorbs 2 damage.
Armor and Slow Fall, I took 2 that were absorbed, so 0.
And jumping a little further, I take 1. Makes sense.
Wait, I unequipped my weapon and re-equipped it and now the same jump is 4HP? I still have Slow Fall enabled. I took two because of the reduction, but why didn't Slow Fall trigger?
Hmm, toggling it off and on again fixed it. I'll keep the toggle in my hotbar, to fix it a little bit.
Psionic Backlash does not break Invisibility, good to know, I'll use it more often.
I re-equipped Shadowheart with Dual Wielding of (sub-par) weapons. Sure she can have 21 AC with her Shield and Mace, but she wasn't hitting much. I liked it when she was doing a lot of rainbow colored damage with her dual-wielding elemental staves. She can't do that anymore because she no longer is a dual wielder.
I might respec her next level to get back to Fighting Style Dual Wielding and taking the Dual Wielding Feat. Because as a monk she can do a bonus action attack after each attack.
Wait, how does that work? If I do damage with a Cantrip, then for 2 turns I deal additional damage equal to my CHA modifier, or the modifier of the target I damaged?
Haha, the Gith are so stupid that I could cast a Minor Illusion in one of their traps and have them walk right into it. I'm gonna do that again if I ever encounter another trapped area.
I cast one EB on one Hexed target, and the other on a secondary Target. I had charges of Lightning. And Arcane Synergy.
5 Force from the EB itself, 2 Necrotic because of the Hex. Then 1 Lightning because I have charges, 2 Necrotic because Hex procs on the Lightning damage (this is a bug, I expect it to be fixed at some point). The final 3 Force damage are the additional damage from Arcane Synergy. It's wrongly displayed on the tooltip, but I didn't had it before.
Then on the second target 6 Force of the EB, 2 Lightning because it uses 5 Charges (I no longer have charges, so assume this is what was going on) and the final 3 as my CHA bonus.
I found another elemental right, but this one seem to better work with Gish types of characters, where I would cast Cantrips at targets to then deal more weapon damage.
A very specific and not so powerful amulet found as well. ADV to hit on Aberration for 3 turns, for a Bonus Action. Can be useful if I really need to have Sneak Attack on an Illithid every round. The passive is only for Gith, and grants ADV on saving throws, and Aberrations have DIS to hit. So, very good against Illithids, but only against that type of creatures.
Haha, why?
Also, Blood Sacrifice from the dagger, considering I have 2 damage reduction means I barely take any damage, and it still gives me +1d4 to hit and damage. That's a good use of my Bonus Action.
While enlarged, I do +1d4 Damage, even with Finesse weapons. One more thing to add when I want to do a very big Sneak Attack.
That's two EB.
- 12 Force is the initial EB damage
- +3 Necrotic because of Hex
- +1 Lightning because I have a Charge
- Which also triggers +5 from Hex
- +3 Force Damage because I have Arcane Synergy
- +5 Lightning because it uses 5 Lightning Charges
- +3 From Hex
- +3 also for Arcane Synergy
- +5 is the second EB
- +3 from Hex
There is just the Arcane Synergy damage that is weirdly applied. It's applied to the first EB, not to the second, but also applied to the Discharge?
I can somehow trade with Vlaakith. If I had the Sussur plant, I would have sold it, so she could no longer cast spells, but I don't have it on me right now.
Actually, Astarion was not part of the dialogue and could teleport to the camp.
And he could give it to Naeblys, that sold it to Vlaaktih. So now Vlaakith can't cast spells... I wonder what it will do...
When I inflict a condition, I can add my spellcasting modifier to my weapon attacks. Wait, it's only weapon attacks? How come it worked with EB then? Or maybe it was not Arcane Synergy but something else triggering?
My fine group is ready for the next leg of their journey.
Ah, the usual level of floating rocks every video game has.
Oh, an axolotl!
Oh no wait, two axolotles?
Is the d20 I'm carrying a phylactery?
I've also taken advantage of my new Wizard spellbook to activate 2 level 2 spells and 2 level 3 spells, to test them in combat, see what can be done with them.
I won a Bless buff from my trip to the astral plane.
And I also went touching the ritual weapons to get the Morninglord Radiance as well.
Tssk, I wanted to test Flaming Sphere, and then cast Hex and was surprised to not see my Flaming Sphere anymore...
I one shot a Ghast with my rogue. First, Perilous Stakes on it for Vulnerability to all damage, so double damage. Then Luck of the Far Realm for an auto-crit. 28 Piercing and 14 Radiant, without even a Sneak Attack. This combo is probably very powerful for an alpha-strike.
An charged Eldritch Blast on a Death Shepherd. 13 is the first EB, 2 is Hex. Then 1 lightning because Charge and 4 Necrotic. Then there is this weird 3. and same weird 3 at the end.
Oh, one cannot pickpocket Elminster...
Oh, so Elminster is a machine?
Gale? Who? No, never heard of him. He's definitely not the man in its underwear behind me.
I made Dark Shadowheart. I made her kill Gale and carry his corpse in her inventory. It exudes a Necrotic Aura that does 1d4 damage each turn. But because she is wearing Loviatar's Scourge, she only takes half (so maximum of 2), and she is also wearing the plate armor that cancels any first 2 damage.
I'm going to test this build, see how it goes, but thematically I like it already. The difficulty is that she deals damage to everyone around her, including NPCs and friends.
Now, can I reverse pickpocket Gale into someone's pocket to kill it? That would require a lot of STR, but I'll need to try...
Also, the Sussur flower prevents me from casting some spells, but not all. Not Silence nor Darkness from Ki Points.
Nice, I can continue having Gale approving look over my shoulder, even when he's stuck in my backpack.
Shadowheart, exploring alone, got killed by a group of Shadow Shambling Mounds, but even dead, she kept being a nuisance.
I managed to block all of them on the other side of the Chasm (except for one dead harper that managed to jump across). I threw a lighted torch on the other side and will now attempt to cast Grease.
I found a ring that allow me once per Short Rest to set myself on fire for 2 turns, taking 1d4 Fire damage, but dealing +2 and then +1 Fire damage. That seems... meh.
Hahahahaha, the easiest fight I ever did. The ravens just dashed toward me and died one by one.
I just barely got into level 7, I'm going to level up pretty quickly. All I did was kill all Gith in the creche, and now a bit of Shadowland.
Ja. Ja. Jaheira!
A funny thing about my Necrosis Build is that the damage from Gale aura is considered environmental damage, so it does not really damage NPCs. Well, they automatically heal after a while.
Wow, Cull the Weak is very powerful. I have 10 Illithid powers, so whenever I bring a creature to 10 or less HP, it dies, inflicting 1d4 Psychic damage around it. Because I'm a Dual Wielder, I can add +5 CHA to my offhand attacks, and +1 because it's a +1 Handcross bow, in addition to the d6 damage. So my offhand does a minimum of 7 damage, and if it bring a creature to 10 or less HP, it dies. So I can one-shot anything that has 17 or less HP, twice per round, with my off-hand.
That's not even count the +1d4 Psychic damage added when I'm concentrating.
I'm so tempted to answer that.
Found a nice ring.
Jaheira! Where's Khalid?
Oh, she has the stuff of people I can recruit. Not in this playthrough though, I'm too evil for her.
Nice little amulet, shield is an interesting spell to have, in case I don't have a better Amulet.
Scimitars are great. They are Light and Finesse, meaning I can dual wield them while Rapier are only Finesse.
So I'm trying to find the best setup for pickpocketing. So far it requires two characters.
- First, Disguise Self and Guidance on the thief, so I got +2d4 to my roll. Also the Robe that makes me roll with ADV and the Gloves that add +1 to Sleight of Hand.
- Then, have another team member talk to the vendor so they face the other way and we position ourselves behind it easily.
- Now, turn based mode, stealth and steal as much as you can.
If caught, you'll get stuck in this screen.
- Swap character to get back to the main game, and stop Turn-Based mode. Only the thief will be stuck in dialogue mode.
- Take another character, and now you'll have to kill your own thief to make it leave dialogue mode. Use Dimension door to bring it somewhere far, where you can assault him without anyone complaining. You can also shoot them from afar but be careful to stay out of view while doing it. It's ok if your target is visible, but the character attacking should be hidden.
Right here is fine. Knocking out is not enough, if you help the dying character, they will just stand up back in dialogue mode. They need to be killed for real. Be careful as when being resurected, buff can disappear. You need to remove and re-equip the Graceful Cloth for example.
Like this.
And once resurrected, the merchant can be approached again.
Interesting. With my Necrotic Aura, I can push people in certain directions.
"Boo and friend"
That can be useful. Creating icy surfaces and then putting them in electricity.
This is good. This is 10 Turns of Sneak Attack without having to set it up.
Ahem. Shit happened.
I was ~200XP from levelling up and neeeded a long rest. I decided to talk to people until I got the missing XP (surely there would be some quests to validate here?) and then long rest with a level up to start the day anew.
Turned out when I spoke to Isobel, Marcus turned into a fucking traitor and before I could react he invoked a horde of monsters in the inn. I didn't manage to save Isobel (actually, I might have cast an AoE close to her to kill her attackers that put her very weak).
Marcus flew away with her and turned the whole fucking inn hostile against me. Leaving with the consequences of my actions...
I am severely hurt, I'm tapped out of spells and everyone is hostile against me. This is going to be tough, but I'm going to try.
First, Astarion grabbed Naeblys with a Dimension Door spell and they flew to the roof.
Shadowheart is going to pick up her doomed ribcage of no magic and Gale necrosis that she left outside.
She's still under Astarion Haste spell, so first attack it to explode the barrel.
Ok, it killed two.
I healed myself and cast Darkness around me. I hope to avoid being hit my range attacks that way. And because it's a Ki power, it counts as an attack and I can attack again. But... I should have attacked first as now I don't see anything anymore...
Jaheira called an Ice Storm. We might have a chance here...
I conjured two Ice Mephits, to help me with the action economy.
The icy surface made them fall prone when they were running on it.
I will use one action to equip the Gloves of the Automaton, to turn myself into a Construct. If it does grant me ADV on all attacks, it's going to be worth it.
It worked, I have ADV on attacks, but my attack with the off-hand didn't trigger a Sneak Attack, and I misclicked the main attack and actually fired in a Wooden Bench!
I killed the ones around me with Shadowheart, then moved back in the shadow. I realized that moving close/far from the creatures trigger the Necrosis zone each time, so I'm going to weaken them a bit.
The thing is, they are resistant to Necrotic damage, so this tactic isn't the best against them.
Jaheira wild shaped into a Panther.
Astarion is going to use the level 2 slot he got back last round to cast an electric orb in the water zone.
Not sure what effect it will have, but it seems to have done something.
The fuckers are all grouping around me in Darkness.
One of my ice mephits cast a globe of ice and killed one harper
The other got down to help Jaheira, but barely did 3 damage.
I can't sneak attack on them because even if I have ADV, I also have DIS, which prevents Sneak Attack.
Shit. I used one action to cast Guidance and have +1d4 Psychic damage, but they are immune to Psychic, and I only did 7 out of their 8 HP.
Immune to Psychic and Poison, and resistant to Necrotic. Not even worth it to use a Toxin then.
I fired an Ice arrow next to the electrified pool, hoping it would make the pool bigger. But it iced the whole pool instead, removing the electricity. Good to know.
I threw the ribcage of doom on the floor. Now I'll need to have the right count of actions.
I took Hamarhaft and the Gloves of Belligerent Skies. Now with my Bonus Action, I'm going to jump around everywhere.
Here we go!
Astarion is adding arcane traps that should put people to sleep when they step on it.
Shite, they managed to break my Concentration on Darkness.
Whoopsie, I put Catheira prone with my Ice Orb.
I used Naeblys whole turn to go into position behind the enemies, and I'll Sneak Attack them all next turn.
Two actions (each being two big hammer attacks) and jumping around killed them all.
I killed a mephit to damage 2 harpers.
That's a carnage.
Oh fuck, even Counsellor Florick is dead!
But at least, this carnage gave me enough XP to move to level 8. This 7 to 8 levelling has been really fast. Almost too fast, I didn't feel like I had to struggle that much. Killing the whole creche and Last Light Inn is about much of what I did.