I am level 12 in my main playthrough, in Act III. I have one-shot Gortash, killed Raphael pretty easily, and only have two characters in my party. Yesterday I cleaned the Counting House going straight inside and attacking everyone. The game isn't fun anymore. I have cheesed it to death. I love it so much until then, and I like exploring the city, but from the challenge standpoint, it has lost its appeal.
So, I'm starting a new run...
This time, I'll start in Tactician mode (I should have done that from the get go, I might have kept playing with more companions). I will also add some rules to the run:
- Every character has to have some tie to the Wild Magic. Either one level of Wild Mage Sorcerer, or Wild Mage Barbarian.
- I will try to use Companions and classes I haven't used in my first playthrough.
- I will live with the consequences of my actions. I will reload my games only on game overs (and when testing stuff and not wanting to waste consumables, but not for anything story related).
I also don't want to level up too quickly, so I might not do all quests, or find a way to reduce the amount of XP I gain. Maybe I'll force some challenge on myself, like do Act 1 at max level 4, Act 2 at max level 8 and Act 3 up to 12.
Also, I might decide to drop one Companion each act. So I can have a party of up to 4 in Act 1, up to 3 in act 2, and only a duo in act 3?
My current plan is to have the following party comp:
- I play as Astarion, a Necro Bard. He has lives live to the fullest, always saying yes to the weirdest things offered to him, and likes to "have fun" and basically be an element of chaos. He raises his own army of undead, and specialize on spells that alter people mind. He grabs all the potions and drinks everything. His quirk is that he embraces Chaos and likes to do the unexpected, he hates routine. CHA/DEX
- Gale as a Magic Addict. He will have one level of Wizard, and the rest in Cleric, to have access to as many spells as possible. He is addicted to magic and can't do a mundane task without using a spell to do it. He hoards the spells and cast them all the time. WIS/INT
- Karlach hates Magic, it makes her angry. She tries to destroy magic, and doesn't want to use any magical items, she prefers trusting her fists. She will hit hard, throw things and have fun. STR/CON
- Wyll is the good guy, trying to do the right thing, but that is unlucky and have the universe against him. I'll have him as a Lockadin, pact of the blade, doing smites and smites, some kind of gish. CHA/CON
So, I'm going to be Astarion.
But, as I want to play him as someone with a very high Charisma, but a complete disregard for social convention, I'll swap his Firebolt with a Friends spells. As I'm playing in Tactician, this will have an impact, and we're going to see what.
That's exactly it. Manipulation, exaggeration, bending the truth and turning allies against each other. Oh, I love that. Mind Manipulator. Puppet Master. This is how I'm going to play it. With this little part of Wild Magic to throw my plans away.
I got my first pet. I decided to not use violence, and solve every problem with words. I decided I wanted to make allies. Lots of allies. Have them do the work for me.
Oh shit. I attacked another Intellect Devourer and Us turned on me. I liked the little thing. Shit, I need to stop attacking neutral people and just be glad they don't attack me.
One can break the red cannister, that then ooze Caustic Brine. Unsure what it does.
So I got a candle from my backpack, put it on the floor, dipped my crossbow in it and fired at Us. The Caustic Brine surface turned into an explosion that didn't do any damage, but made the Prone Us jump away.
I made the Cambion drop this. Now let's see if I can loot a bit more before leaving. Hmm, a few things but not a lot.
My what? DLC content?
I took everything from Shadowheart inventory that could be useful (somehow I could take the artefact). And will discard her and play solo until I have my real companions.
And with that I can level up; I'll give him his first level of Wild Magic and the adventure will begin!
Minor Illusion for kitting monsters. Mage hand as my first invoked friend. Bone Chill for the Necromancy theme and Shocking Grasp to have something to do in melee.
Disguise Self for the RP, and Sleep. I thought about taking Charm Person instead of Sleep, but it seems so lackluster: preventing someone from attacking me (DIS when used in combat, so will never work).
I disguised myself, and saw that it could have triggered a Wild Surge. Considering it's a ritual I can cast at will, that's funny. Anyway, time to stop this first foray.
First fight. The hardest. I died there on my first playthrough, and I died here again on this playthrough. But this time I'm on Tactician, and with only one character. So I'm adding some Nautiloid Tanks next to the uglies.
Hmm, what? I misclicked and got away from my hiding, and they flee.
I died, but this time I placed my tanks correctly and three an oil flask and killed both. I flee the fight, and am going back.
Gale... You're not very good at remembering faces.
But, I got one of my companions. Gave him his level of Wild Magic right away.
I tried to cheat my way around Mage Armour by casting it, then forgetting the spell, but it then removes the buff.
I had never found this chest in my first run. \o/
First Wild Surge while putting two Goblins to Sleep. Fog. That's actually pretty good. The fight was hard but I managed. Mostly, I let my allies do all the work for me.
Got my Wyll, and his mandatory Wild Magic level. I plan on making him either a Lockadin, or an Eldritch Knight. Firing Eldritch Blasts, and using a Two-Handed sword.
Now I need to get over there to grab Karlach.
All I needed was some crates.
Let's see if I can jump all the way to Karlach.
Seems like I can.
My first ribcage.
Got 4 of them next to the Tyr Paladins.
Some stack, and one is the outlier. The stacking ones are the bad ones, that make content disappear when stacked. I'll distribute them to my people, to store stuff.
Add, got Karlach! But... I'd rather have her alive. Let's see if I can find a way to make her a zombie.
Hmm, think I got it.
That's very true.
Haha.
OK, so here is how I did it.
- I moved Wyll far away from Karlach (on the roof of the Tyr house)
- I attacked Karlach before speaking to her. I killed her, and looting her corpse had the option of removing her head.
- Before I clicked on that, I switched to another character and resurected her, then removed her head.
- She was now walking without a head, and I could talk to her and invite her to my party.
- I then went on a long rest, triggered the Wyll/Karlach discussion and smoothed things over.
I will now play Karlach in my head cannon as the first Zombie Astarion raised.
What the fuck is this outfit. I will never understand the dye system.
Ok, so Wyll also has some memory issues. I'll just put that on the spells I cast on him to alter his memories. Let's make Wyll my second spawn then. This one I controlled through spells that misfired.
And with all that, I have Karlach Wild Barbarian, and already level 3. I have my team completed. I now need to go save Withers so I can respec and have them with the correct stats and classes.
Oh, on Tactician it's 80 supplies. I might actually need to hoard them.
We are going to need to kill the Paladins of Tyr, but it's Tactician, so let's close this issue first.
Hmm, I managed to get a barrel through the roof.
Critical Divine Smite is no joke.
First Wild Barbarian Effect, +1AC.
I doused myself with water, which makes me Immune to Burning, meaning I can walk on the fire surfaces.
Come on! Again!
I cast Grease on the fire, hoping to create some explosion, but it only did 2 fire damage. Grease might only be useful when there is no fire, to make them fall prone, or to create a burning surface. And I also got myself in a weird sphere.
It's gonna last for two rounds, so I might as well run in the fire, to keep the enemies in it. Ah no, forget about that, they broke the ladders...
Shit fuck shit. They managed to get from behind me and Hold Person me.
I cannot harm them.
I cannot jump.
I can't even resurrect. That wasn't written anywhere!
I cannot throw. FUCK!
I can't even push. Ok, so I CANNOT DO ANYTHING. But am also impervious to damage.
Everybody is dead. I'm alone.
I looted Astarion, drink one of his potions of Speed, and double resurect Astarion and Wyll. I then rushed to the hatch, changed zone, got out of the fight, healed, recuperate one spell slot, and cast Blade Ward on myself.
I tried to cheese and put two people downstairs to short rest, but the game wouldn't let me.
I have ONE scroll of resurrection left. And only 7 potions. I've trapped the entrance. I'll try to kill Anders and then I'll flee the fight.
They jumped above my Grease trap and attacked me from behind. I managed to bite Anders and then put him to sleep. Now I need to take down the other mage.
The mage put down Wyll with some Melf Acid Arrow, and the Mage Hand managed to remove a Mirror Image by throwing an apple. This fight is tight!
Astarion helped Gale and did the coup de grace on Anders. Finally!
FINALLY. What a fight. I love Tactician mode.
Well, I'm behind you, so maybe you sight got affected, Gale.
What a party of adventurers.
This is Karlach.
Using the Soul Coin makes her add d4 Fire damage when raging or when low on HP. I wonder if it stacks with the toxin.
Her flames can't be dipped though.
Oh, ok. I've now understand the trap. Good thing it was Karlach and her fire resistance that triggered it. The vats were spilling grease, and the gargoyles firing bolts.
I spent a lot of time disarming gargoyles and vents one by one, while under the torrent of fire, while all I had to do was press the button.
I think the Soul Coin overwrote the Toxin dip. Or maybe not. There is not dip mention, maybe I lost it when I was doused in fire in the previous trap room, actually.
That very subtle hint right at the beginning of Act 1, one line in a book in Act 2, and a reveal in Act 3. This is some dope story act writing here.
Interesting little glitch. If you go into Turn Based Mode, pickpocket an NPC and keep the pickpocket window open, then go into your team menu (as above), whenever you move items from your party members inventory into your own, it rolls a Sleight of Hand check, so it can fail and the item would not be moved. I have no idea why it would be useful, but it's an interesting component to keep in mind.
I tried to reverse pickpocket a corpse into Withers, but it disappeared the moment I dropped it. I then tried to add a cup, and it also disappeared, but made the scrollbar appear. I might have glitched it somehow.
Oh, I think I managed to drop the corpse, but it just didn't display it in his inventory.
Withers is losing his head. Anyway, I tried to put a lot of stuff in Withers inventory, but it seem to not allow me to put more than his carrying capacity. I think I managed to put one corpse though.
I really love Tactician. Every fight is hard. This one was against the bandits in the first dungeon. So many of my team down, that I have to revive again and again. I'll soon need to stock a little bit in Resurrection Scrolls and healing potions.
It's like the developers knew someone would play with her headless.
And with that, I got to level 3. And Gale became a Cleric/Wizard/Sorcerer. I'll only keep him one Sorcerer level, for the Wild Magic. As for Cleric/Wizard, I'm unsure. I'll try to mostly use him as a Cleric of Mystra, with some scribing to do as well.
Wait, not proficient with Heavy Armor? I thought all Cleric were? Mean I need to respec again?
The only ones that give Heavy Armor are Life, Nature, Tempest and War. Life might be useful, for him to be the healer/buffer. Nature gives me access to some Druid spells I wouldn't be able to cast otherwise, but it doesn't really align with the RP I have in mind. Tempest seem to be a very good damage dealer, combined with the Lightning Charge gear. War is too much melee-oriented.
I think I'll go with Life, right now. Maybe I'll test Tempest in Act 2, if I need to drop a character.
Why do I have two versions of Friends? And why is one marked as INT? I never had been a INT-based caster before respec. Oh maybe because I took...
Yeah, I see. I changed the Half-Elf starting Cantrip for Friends, and I re-took it as a Sorcerer. I could actually have picked another Cantrip as a Sorcerer. I'll do that next time.
I wanted to pickpocket this one. But 33 HP is more than what my Sleep spell can do (32). Let's see if Fog Cloud would help.
Hmm, Fog Cloud wasn't enough apparently.
For this session, there are 3 things I want to do:
- Fight the bandits above Withers dungeon
- Save Lae'zel to get back my fiery sword
- Get the Guidance Medallion
That part is done. I had some fun Wild Surges, like being able to use Telekinesis, everyone is blurred, or having some temp hit points. No magic loot, though.
I got the blade, but it's like it has a constant Fire fip. I can't dip it more.
Got the medallion, and also some nice spider bags.
Now, let's fight the Owlbear and get Scratch.
Hello, we're the Purple Brothers.
There is this note for Nine-Fingers and a M Kurwin tomb. Not sure I found it in my first playthrough.
I discovered that Hex and Arrows of Acid add the Necrotic damage to both the Acid and the Piercing components.
I'd love to be able to do something with this chest. 4-24 Radiant Damage is no joke.
I can move it by using the improvised weapon action to throw it far, and cancel while the carrier is still moving. But I don't think it will hurt unless someone actually try to open it.
Only the one opening/throwing it takes damage. Seem to take damage on picking it up, and throwing it. People in the vicinity don't take damage.
If I throw something at it, I take the damage.
Interesting. Whatever I put into a corpse in my inventory is not considered part of my inventory. The Thieves Tools in it don't register when I try to lockpick something. That might be an interesting way to "shield" some quest items. Also means I need to put my quest items somewhere else.
Hmm. I had a display bug where moving the candle just duplicate it.
Very deep Barcus, very deep.
By using Improvised Melee Weapon to pick something and ask Karlach to throw it somewhere else, then cancelling right before her throw, she can carry heavy objects over long distances without triggering them. This allow me to stack those coffins neatly before opening them.
And we'll actually make them all explode at once.
Oh, this didn't work. It only broke the coffins, and spawned them all at once.
We kinda survived, but many companions were down, we used a few health potions and one scroll of resurrection. I messed up the initial AoE, and then they were hitting pretty hard. The MVP was Karlach, as she is the only real level 3 character as she has 3 levels in the same class, while the other are spread over 2 or 3 classes. It will get better as I level up. Now, I often need long rests between fights.
I don't want to do a long rest right now, otherwise I'll lose the spider I just invoked. I need to find a way to heal easily though. I'm going through my healing potions pretty fast. I might need to either get a hireling to cast Goodberry for me, or find a reliable way to steal healing potions from vendors.
I prevented the trap from going off by putting a book of the same weight on the pressure plate, then taking the cursed book.
I tried to break a wall throwing Karlach's head, and it got stuck in a creepy way.
I never realized there were specific description on trapped chest.
This is the default trap kind, some small damage.
Fuck. I installed the latest patch, and it seems it doesn't like Karlach to be headless, and so it killed Karlach. Damn! My first animated dead pet is now dead for real!
Oh shit, it even removed all the loot she was carrying.
Hmm. That's a bummer. I really wanted to play with her in my party. I could work with it, make it look like it's a failed necromancy attempt and this is what makes my Astarion turn completely evil but... losing all her gear. Dammit.
Actually, it's just a display bug. Maybe because the patch messed up some of my mods.
The same bug happened in my camp Traveller's Chest. And even if I pick the items and put them back, They are still invisible. Hmm, that is going to be a problem.
Oh. I can't even load my old save from Act 3. Hmmmm. That definitely might have been caused by the BagsBagsBags mod (I had a message about that).
Well, maybe I'll just restart a new game then, this one seems pretty buggy. That's a bummer. That actually make me lose momentum and wanting to play the game.
My first run got me to Act 3, but was getting too even with only two characters. My second run in Tactician was fun, but losing Karlach make me not really want to continue. I cannot even continue my first run as the patch and my mods make it all buggy.
So I will have to restart a whole new run, but I don't really want to right now, so I'll put BG3 on a hiatus for now.