Let's Play Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition Solo as a Druid!

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11-Sirines Part 1: Preamble

Spoiler

It's uhh... a bit late for that.

This could be worth some good XP

Let's get our cool new Moonblade out

And fire off an Alicorn Lance

And it died after only hitting us once.

I wonder what it could be.

Oh, just an ochre jelly, It happens to be immune to my ranged damage, so we just kill it to death. No biggie

It was worth quite a bit of XP too

Now in Seawatch, we encounter this desparate woman.

Let's start with some buffs

Now some damaging spells

One down!

And the other down!

Last one.

God I love Call Lightning

That's all, folks!

We decide to drop our dungeoneering Level 2 Spells for some more Alicorn Lances. This proved to be a very good decision, as these are very handy in the upcoming battles.

Well, if you insist...

60 gold? 500 XP? You cheapskate! Though the Reputation point is nice

This here Hobgoblin marks a very important location. The path to the first attribute increase tome.

It dies quickly. This is not representative of the fight to come, no siree.

Here it is! A pretty lady, my arch nemesis!

Let's start with an Alicorn Lance.

Shit! He made me waste my good spells!
End of Part 1...

 

Has the druid died for good :O?

 

No, I am just going to be rather irregular in my posting schedule until the end of the school year.

 

Holy crap it's been a while. Well, here's the continuation.

Spoiler

Heere's our target.

Literally took us five whole seconds to get Charmed (which if you're soloing, means death).

We hit her with a stone! This is a momentous occassion! It even interrupted her invisibility, making her easier to hit.

Woohoo, look at that damage! Alicorn Lance is a godsend from IWD.

Oh no...

But our hero is faster! He manages to interupt her casting for a second time in a row.

Mwahahahaahaha, slaughter!

You won't be getting away from me today, fair maiden!

OW! THAT F***ING HURT!

Luckily, I have more than enough healing potions in my bag.

We start kiting her, as any true hero would!

VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!! It feels so good. And you know what feels even better?

Ring-a-ding-ding! Level up time!

We save and take on the next one.

This worked so well last time, there must be something to this.

We managed to make our saving throw!

And she made hers, but never despair-

Oh.
Death Count: 36

Going good.

Oh no. She called in reinforcements.

Well, let's just focus fire on the already wounded one and hope for the best.

We... actually might have this?

CRAP! We're poisoned!

It was over when we started.
Death Count: 37

Let's do this again.

First, though, let's trade out some of our spells.

It didn't make a difference.
Death Count: 38

Well, we aggroed both at the same time. This can go one of one ways.

And it didn't surprise.
Death Count: 39

Yes, pretty lady, I'll insert this moonblade into my stomach, no problem at all.
Death Count: 40

We try it from a vantage point.

Once they're onvisible, they've pretty much already won.

So, we decide to kite until it runs out!

Ooh, it's close, I can almost smell it.

I don't have time for you stupid dogs!!! :rage:

It got ridiculous.

Let's cast a spell!

Oh. It may look like I'm screwed here...

But I win!

Now to survive this.

I wasted a couple of spells to mop them up.

 

Sirines. Gah. Kill 'em all.

 

I usually just buy the greenstone amulet before i head over to the sirenes - one charge protects you from charm, confusion, fear, domination, hold, stun, sleep and feeblemind for 1 turn.
Takes a few charges to clear all of them, but sure beats having to reload a bunch of times.

 

The tried and true tactic of the most courageous of warriors .

 

Poll added to the thread. Reasoning behind the poll:
Basically, I was reading this glorious LP and realized that he reached levels in the fifties and sixties with a FMT. With a Druid single-class, we would reach levelsof obscenity and so many useless levels. So if I became human, I could dual-class later on (probably in BG2, if I ever reach that) in order to A) Mitigate the ridiculousness of a seventieth level Druid and B) Make those excess levels a bit more useful. However, big decisions should never be made in a vacuum. Vote!

 

Is the xp cap by default removed in BG2:EE?

Because otherwise the guy in that LP has a mod installed to remove the xp cap so he can reach levels higher than 40. For a triple class, removing the xp cap is also necessary to be able to reach lvl 9 spells.

 

No it has the ToB level cap. And I have already removed the level cap, and plan to keep it that way for BG2, should we by some strange twist of fate reach that, but I don't want the levels to be utterly useless, which they would be after 31.

 

Chapter XIII: Sirines Part Three-Victory

Spoiler

Welcome.



Starts off well enough.



Going good



Well, well. Looks like we'll get to finish these things off easily.



Goddamn dire charm.
Death Count: 41



IT SHOULDN'T INSTA-KILL ME, I WON'T EVEN BE ATTACKED BY THEM WHILE CHARMED
Death Count: 42



Good start.



Interrupted its Dire Charm.



Hit it with Call Lightning.



Alicorn Lance leaves it near death.



Shit. We're poisoned.



And the only antidote in my bag was a defective one. *sigh*



Beast Claw to buff me up.



She managed to hit me for the last bit of health I had.
Death Count: 43



Bless might make this a little easier.



The spell got interrupted, so that's good.



Again!



Looks like we've won this one.



Yay for electric bullets.



VICTORY!!!



We just sat here for 16 hours, uninterrupted. That must mean we've finished off the ones that were here.



Here we see two more Sirines.



Let's nail them while their not hostile



Not... terrible.



So one's not invisible



But it wasn't enough
Death Count: 44



A few Miscast Magics should make them unable to Charm me.



A Carrion Crawler. We kill it and move on.



Forgetting about all the problems Sunscorch has, I prepare a few of them.



We switch out Miscast Magic for Rigid Thinking.



Let's hope this plan works.



Well, shit. The Rigid Thinking'd one attacked me still and so does the other one.



Yup
Death Count: 45



Let's try this again.



Oh bollocks.



I think they felt that.



And they did not enjoy it
Death Count: 46



Why are they always making their saves?



There we go, that definitely stopped them from going invisible.



It also attracted Sil's attention.



This was not unexpected.
Death Count: 47



Let's see about just spamming this until it works, eh?



Along with an invisibility purge.



Wait what?



Another Sirine? As a random encounter? This could go very bad.



And go bad it did
Death Count: 48



Ah Christ.



Now I can try again!



Or not :despair:
Death Count: 49



We attracted Sil's attention too early this time.
Death Count: 50



Let's try this to drain some health and cause Miscasts.



First, we cast Summon Insects on this one.



Along with Rigid Thinking (which works this time) to get them to attack each other.



Sadly, we don't get the experience from her death.



But, we can then mop up the remains.



To get the 2000 XP




We rebuild our loadout for the fight against Sil.



Sunuvabitch!



We dispel her invisibility so we can cast spells on her.



Death Count: 51



I tried to hit her with a Potion of Fiery Breath to soften her up, but ended u only killing a poor innocent squirrel.



We once again Dispel her Invisibility.



Come on, we've got this.



Shit! She poisoned us.



Luckily Druids have just the spell for that.



This... could end badly.



So let's kite her.



We've almost won the day.



YEAH!!



Our actual target is in there. We want the CON tome, for 16 CON and +1 health per level. We'll get it next time, I'm sure of it.

By the way, starting next update, all pictures should have a lower resolution(1280x768), which means faster load times.

 

You subtracted your last death from the death count (should be at 51, not 49 ). Using JPEG instead of PNG will significantly cut down filesize if you don't mind the minor quality hit.

 

Thanks, I was actually cutting down to png from bmp. I'll switch to jpeg for the update after next (pics are already uploaded, too much hassle).
Problem was fixed.

 

Chapter XIV-Reaching Nashkel Mines

Spoiler

Here's about where I remembered that Sunscorch has problems in BG, so I switched it out.



Here's Level 2. I kept Slow Poison because for the life of me, I couldn't remember if there were any more Sirines inside the cave and that came in handy.



Level 3 spells loadout. Nothing has changed here.



Flesh Golem, eh? Well let's see what he says to my magical loadout!



Armor of Faith for DR.



Ouch. Looks like it didn't help much.



I run away tactically retreat to heal up.



And cast Bless.



Eat Moonblade!



Oh... Oh, shit. Looks like he didn't care for our Moonblade pie.



For some reason, I don't believe that this will be enough health.



Rigid Thinking did not work
Death Count: 52



Since the Flesh Golem has MR, we'll just buff ourselves.



This'll make it damn near impossible for him to hit me (-15 AC vs Crushing).



A Carrion Crawler snuck up on me in my sleep.



Just to be safe.



I soon realize what a war of attrition this will be and just who the loser will be. So, as all brave heroes do...



I run in between his legs and grab what I want and go!



Oil of Speed, I love ya.



We travel to High Hedge to ID our loot.



Nice for a darts built mage, I guess.



Our target, The Manual of Bodily Health. +1 CON, here we come.



Wand of Paralyzation. Too bad Druids can't use this, or I'd have unlocked a new tool for spamming.



The Cloak of I want to be a Druid. Not really useful for us.



Look at that jump in health guys!



We're also pretty close to a level up.



We drop some of the items off in our stash in FAI.



Hey guys, remember that story thing? You neither? Well, I guess we have to go here to continue it.



Don't care.



We stop in at Nashkel on the way to the mines.



Let's see who's the preist of the better ethos, bitch.



We both Rigid Thinking'd each other.



The effects wear off of both of us.



Looks like Druid gonna win.



Yay for spamming Alicorn Lance!



We decide to stock up on these for the mines.



Taking Barkskin for extra protection, since most enemies in here aren't casters and none use poison.



Priest had Helm of I Hate Being a Human.



Heading out to the Mines.



Motherfuckers.



Now at the map of Nashkel Mines, we decide to do some overland exploring before handling the dungeon.



Who dis?



We tell him that we don't know this Greywolf.



Of course, if this art is important, we will protect this man.



Here's the Greywolf individual Prism was talking about.





We tell him to suck it and fight us.



Fight starts.



Alicorn Lance opens this fight nicely for us.



Holy Christ that was a lot of damage.



...and he made his save vs Rigid Thinking.



I think the ending to this is very predictable.



Reload Time.
Death Count: 53



Good, we managed to get him in Rigid Thinking. It's all over now.



We chase him down and peg him with some spells as we go.



Crap! Either Rigid Thinking wore off or it made him attack the nearest enemy (the least good effect of the spell).



We use Moonblade and try to out-hit him. It seems to work well, our -5 AC (-9 vs Slashing iirc) blocking most of his hits, and our high THAC0 making it a test of luck.



This isn't going too great.



Looks like our godly AC is going to win this day.



This is done.



SHIT!!! Moonblade wore off. Back to kiting I guess. Valiant tactics prevail!



It was about here that I remembered that I had an extra cast of Moonblade ready.



Okay, the odds are more evened now.



YES!! Our tactics have beaten his pure brawn.



Uh-huh. Just gimme my reward now.



Not bad.



We go back to ID the loot from that guy.



It's worth a lot of money. Luckily, we can't use this really good sword.

 

Chapter XV-Nashkel Mines Part 1: The Dungeon

Spoiler

Do I care?



Is- is this supposed to reference rape? Besides, if you were stripped, then what are you wearign clothes now fro? Did you make sure to get dressed before running away?



Here's the kobolds that the other person talked about. We kill them and move on.



Some more kobolds.



A gibberling. That's worth like, 5 kobolds.



A wolf. That's more like it.



Hoh?



Yeah, yeah. Kobolds weren't a threat at level two, I doubt they'll be, no matter their numbers at level 6.



Yeah, let's go there.



A ghoul.



It wasn't a challenge.



'Kay.



'Kay



...How? How did guards die to a few kobolds? Are they that terribly weak?



This won't be a terribly interesting update, unfortunately. Kobolds just aren't a threat.



Give him the dagger, got it.



Uh huh, sure.



We cast Entangle into the shadows.

Why?

Holy shit, I almost forgot you had personality of your own.

Yeah, I noticed. Jesus, those Sirines were painful. I was too traumatized.

Fair enough. We're casting Entangle to slow down the enemies in the shadows.

Isn't that meta-gaming?

Shush.



Shit, you got cauht in your own spell radius.

You're the one that moved me forward.

That's beside the point.



As it turns out, it was a waste of a perfectly good spell.



Down the halls, we encounter, guess what. More kobolds.

I'll be able to die a happy man if I never see another kobold.

Oh trust me, you'll die plenty enough for that to happen.



We're here, O Great XP dispenser.



200 XP? I feel a little cheated.

I mean, it's not like we went out of our way to deliver this unenchanted dagger.

Still, getting 2000 XP for a simple task would be nice.

Oh just you wait for your next adventure.



I honestly don't know why we keep doing this.



Damn, insane damage bonus is really... insane B)

Ugh... Add one to the Death Count. I'm going to kill myself.

Nah. Just kill these guys off.

K. That works too.



Goddamn rest encounters! They actually manage to slow us down for some reason.



These guys are nothing at this point.

THen why do you insist on showing every encounter with them.

You know as well as I do that I didn't.

...Yeah. Let's just move on. The boss better be good for this dungeon.

Oh trust me. You'll love him.



Wha- What the everloving fuck?

This is how they thought to make kobolds challenging. It doesn't really work though. They're stil weak as hell.



Okay, maybe it's a little challenging.

*Spits blood*



They get slaughtered. No biggie.



We go explore off the beaten path some.



Here's the place where I always lose a party member. You see, I always forget to hav my Thief check for traps. Not like we can do anything about it on this playthrough though.



Yeah, they hurt a bit.



Only *does some quick math* 129 more kobolds to a level.

Please, don't say the "K-word" anymore.



A ghast. It dies easily. Next.



Ooh, spiders. These are worth a nice chunk of XP and aren't too difficult. If I didn't abhor mindless grinding, I'd sit here and spam rest encounters of these guys.



Along with the Ghast, only a couple of those to a level.



We've already beat it now that it's entangled.



Sadly, that was the last one and so we move on to more kobolds (plus one kobold commander).


Does the commander actually make much of a difference?

Not really, though his arrows deal some extra fire damage.


Noted. Let's continue and get outta here.



A couple of rest encounters pljus some traps leaves us in this state.



A trap killed us off.
Death Count: 54

I did not just die to kobolds. And you won't say otherwise.



We kill these guys off no problem.



Motherfu-

1 XP? Really, you couldn't have been worth 1 more?



Oh wait there's one more we missed.

Do you know what time it is?

Uh, like 10 PM?

No. Er, well yes, but it's also murder time



Holy shit, this was actually a very potent level. -2 on THAC0 and all saves,



Max health roll, lore increase and most importantly, a new spell level.

I can haz new spells?

Oh yes.





Our first summoning spells, Neg. Plane Protection (more important in BG 2, but still), Cure Serious Wounds, Cloak of Fear, and on. 4th level spells are where Druids really hit their stride.



We take a casting each of our summoning spells.



Static Charge is Call Lightning but infinitely more useful.

And that ends part one of chapter XV. Part Two up whenever I feel like it.

 

Nice you get IWD spells that certainly makes the druid a lot more interesting.

 

Yeah, it's a bit cheaty, but it allows me to actually have tactics to tackle encounters instead of the crappy BG Druid spell list.

 

Honestly I do not think it is bad. There are a number of spell levels that are in a real need for some spells for diversity. Also in this case it makes the druid actually better able to contribute in a party that is not a bad thing.