Gloin Bonehead the soloing Wizard Slayer's notes

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*** Spoiler warning! It's inevitable that there'll be some spoilers in this thread! ***

Background:
Nobleman and I decided to try playing a Wizard Slayer solo after disussing it in a topic started by Avooch Dar: http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/Forum2/HTML/002665.html
We wanted to play a kit/class that's considered very bad and the choice fell on the Wizard Slayer kit. That's not to say that this is the worst kit, but most would agree that it is one of the worst.

Avooch Dar, in his initial post, wanted to limit the character to 80 stat points to keep the character a bit weaker than normally.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As promised here is the report of my first day with...
Gloin Bonehead, a Lawful Good Dwarven Wizard Slayer and soloist.

Voice: Korgan!

Stats (80 points)
Str: 18/99
Dex: 17
Con: 19
Int: 14
Wis: 10
Cha: 2 - Yep, dwarves can have 2 (and halforcs can have 1) charisma.

Starting Weapon Proficiencies:
Axe ***
Short Bow ***


I will rate how difficult it was for Gloin Bonehead at the time he did the quest to complete the quest by using *'s.

* Very Easy (usually only non-battle quests will be rated Very Easy)
** Easy
*** Tough
**** Very Tough
***** Near impossible


Chapter 1 quests finished:
* Free Rielev.
** Free Djinni.
* Frennedan released.
* Jaheira released.
* Minsc released.
** Find boys mother in circus.

Chapter 2 quests finished:
** Find kidnappers
* Caretaker for Risa
** Riddle in the sewers
* Bohdi's offer rejected
** Free Hendak
* Spirit of child Wellyn
** Find out about Montaron
** Mae'var's treachery
* Viconia
**** Bridge murders
* Fee for Gaelan Bayle
** Sir Sarles illithium

Chapter 1
Irenicus Dungeon was very easy. Gloin even killed the vampire for good measure. He left Irenicus Dungeon as level 8, almost level 9.
The circus was a short side trip and was finished in a few minutes. Loads of xp for very little effort.

Chapter 2
Several small quests were done parallel to the main ones. First we free Hendak, again very easy. Next was the sewer riddle and Gloin got held by a measly kobold shaman and then rapidly killed by his group of kobolds. Owchh! Gloin vows to be more careful against minor wizards like shamans.
After meeting with Mr Bloodscalp and accepting his quest, Gloin run over to Mae'var and wraps up the thief stronghold quest with little trouble. His charisma of 2
was of no help in trying to persuade a merchant to sell some documents. Gloin had to whack him with his axe and reputation dropped by 10!
Next stop the temple and give gold 'til it hurts in order to make amends for this hideous deed.
By giving gold Reputation is pushed up to 18 (again...) and then Gloin finishes the Bridge murder mystery and Neb the killer quests for two more reputation points.
It's Shopping time!

Next up is helping Nalia.

General notes:
- Backstabbing is a major threat since Gloin can't detect invisibility.
- He can't use rings, belts, cloaks, amulets, gauntlets, potions or most scrolls. A light in the dark is that protection and restoration scrolls are usable.

Current equipment:
Battle Axe +3, Stonefire
Azuredge
Tuigan Bow +1
Plate Mail +1
Helm of Balduran
Vhailor's Helm
Reflection Shield +1 (reflects missile weapons)
Boots of Avoidance

Bhaal abilities for soloing
- Slow Poison is the only totally useless ability for a soloist since you will fail in casting it if you are poisoned.
- Horror is great for a non-spell caster.
- Draw Upon Holy Might is good for anyone and extra good for anyone with 18 or so constitution since you can cast DuHM before sleeping and you'll regenerate lots of HP over night.
- CLW is a perennial favourite.
- Larloch's Minor Drain is like a Magic Missile in that you can interrupt spell casting by using it. Very nice.
- Vampiric Touch is another useful ability, especially for those with good THAC0 i.e. fighter types.

 

You should try wearing the Orcish Leather for fun ;->

 

Day 2:

Chapter 3 quests finished:
* Roger's Sea Troll
** Rescue Haer'Dalis
* Mission for Temple of Lathander
*** de'Arnise Keep
** Trademeet Genies

At the start of chapter 3 Gloin is a level 13 Wizard Slayer.

The party in the Temple sewers was encountered by mistake and this may have been a good thing because Bonehead felt no shame in running away. Well, he will not tell his clan about that but still...
This managed to break up that tough crew and after "sleeping on it" in the south part of the sewers Gloin returned to finish them off.
It was surprisingly easy to take them out when he only had to fight them two or three at a time.
The loot included a Full Plate +1 which is awesome and will last a very long time since Gloin can't use Ring, Cloak or Amulet of Protection.

A rumor talked about a wizard hater living in the Docks so Gloin made a visit there but a butler or something said Valygar wasn't home. When Bonehead asked if it was ok if he searched the house for clues as to Valygar's whereabouts the butler took offense and called the authorities. Damn that abysmal charisma!
Two cowled wizards and six Amnish guards quickly arrived. Gloin gleefully charged the wizards but those soldiers were surprisingly powerful. Gloin had to flee - again - into the streets. After much running through the docks Gloin ran into the temple of Oghma and asked for a Heal. "And make it snappy, human!"
In full vigor Gloin hacked into the four soldiers that had kept up with him and though it was a hard fight Gloin won. Those guys wore Full Plate! No wonder they were so tough! Taking care of the two remaining soldiers and the wizards was relatively easy in comparison. Good thing is that killing these did not result in any loss of reputation.

With plenty of gold and a reputation of 20 new equipment was bought.
- Defender of Easthaven +2, a flail that bestows +1 AC bonus and 20% resistance to slashing, piercing and blunt damage. This is now the default weapon for Gloin thanks to it's defensive powess.
- Plenty of scrolls - Protection scrolls of all types and lots of Restoration scrolls. Five restoration scrolls are at all times in one of the quick slots. Protection against Undead is also very useful.

Trouble in Trademeet is done with the exception of the last detail which I need a specific character class to perform the way I want. There may be a way to finish it without using an NPC...

The real prize of the Trademeet adventure was the Shield of Harmony +2 he got for taking care of the genie problem. That's one fantastic shield!

At this point Gloin Bonehead is a mighty level 17 Wizard Slayer!

Weapon Proficiencies:
Axe ***
Short Bow ***
Flail **
War Hammer *

He is ready to leave Athkatla and has the following equipment:
Full Plate +1
Helm of Balduran (and Vhailor's Helm)
Shield of Harmony +2
Boots of Avoidance
Defender of Easthaven +2
Battle Axe +3, Frostreaver
Azuredge
Mace of Disruption +2
In the backpack:
Tuigan Bow +1
Flail of Ages +3

A nice tactic Gloin likes to use is to cast Simulacrum with Vhailor's Helm and let the simulacrum use the scrolls - in the quick item slots - on Gloin. That saves restoration scrolls and can come in very handy if he would need to use one of the really rare scrolls.

The simulacrum from Vhailor's Helm is also the only way Gloin can get someone to fight with him since he can't use any figurine, the Horn of Valhalla or any kind of monster summoning.

 

Poll:
Should Gloin buy the Shield of Balduran? (It's the one that reflects Beholder rays.)
I'm thinking not since IMO it's almost too cheesy to swallow.

Reply to Cathon:
Orc Leather? Do you realize you're talking to a dwarf!?
LOL

[This message has been edited by Earl Grey (edited June 06, 2001).]

 

What would happen if you wore the orc leather? Isn't it -2 to your cha and since you cha is 2 it would bring it down to 0. Would you die if you wore it since one of your stats is 0?

 

I believe it's Charisma -1 so Gloins charisma would be 1. However a halforc could start with charisma 1 and then equip that armor. It really should be checked out, I hardly think the character would die from it though.

Btw, Gloin Bonehead just finished Spellhold with flying colors.

He is level 19 now and is looking good. I can't believe it's this easy to play a solo Wizard Slayer! The hardest thing with Spellhold was telling Imoen to make it out on her own.

 

About the Vhailor's Helm being the only way to summon. I suppose you could use that dancing sword Ra? But maybe it's not worth it.

 

Its nice to see Your progress Earl. You are a pearl to my confidence.
Its so wizard, ani (may seem like nonsense to non-sw-fans ) Since You fare so well, There is really no reason for me to do it too I wonder how Avooch is doing with his Avenger

By The Way: SPOILER: How did You defeat the beholder in Spellhold. The one You summon when turning pages from a book. Did It have spelcasting failure penalties from Your blows?

 

Am I missing something here? I have read several threads talking about soloing. The chracters soloing are often described as having gobs of magical items purchased at the shops. Where are you soloists getting all the gold for this (In chapter one, no less)!?! Some of the items cost 20K+ gold! Not using a cheat, are you?

 

Good grief Earl Grey, more impressive than the wizard slaying exploits is the fact that you appear to have finished most of BG2 in about 2 days real time. Ease up man before you get chronic repitive strain injury in your mouse hand!

God at this rate you'll finish before my party of non-magic users and they started ages ago. Just one thing though, I stil think Nobleman should continue. Earl Grey's record is impressive but Nobleman seems to be roleplaying more. In particular, the use of the inate spell abilities (vampire touch, minor drain etc) seem out of character with a wizard slayer.

 

Money? A solo Character has only one character to equip... Yeah right. The fact is that a wizard slayer can't use much magical hardware. So all magic picked up is sold. Scrolls, rings, gems, cloaks etc. This gives a huge pile of gold. I'll wager that Gloin will have a lot of cash again when leaving the underdark. Money that can be used to scrolls of protection towards any kind.

BTW Earl. I think Your Simulacrum trick is most awesome And Retsnimle will continue. Just in a pretty much slower pace. Damn You have been fast Earl. Almost scary. Remember to eat and work out. I'll hate to loose a nice pal because of BG2

[This message has been edited by Nobleman (edited June 06, 2001).]

 

Zorac,
Unfortunately I can't buy the dancing sword since I have to finish the main Trademeet quest to be able to buy things from most of the merchants there. Maybe I'll finish that quest the "evil" way. I've read that it can be done in a way that doesn't require a druid.

Nobleman,
One Beholder he can handle. With magic resistance, very good saving throws, lots of HP and a great offense it was "quick and painful".

Spoiler on Beholder spells!
I did a very small test a long time ago and Beholders use of "spells" might be roughly something like this:
20% chance to cast:
- Anti-Magic Ray
- Cause Serious Wounds
- Lightning Bolt
10% chance to cast:
- Death Ray
- Domination
- Flesh to Stone
- Slow
5% chance to cast:
- Charm Person
- Fear
I would really like some feedback on those numbers! (Yes, it adds up to 110% but it's just an estimate I made)
Gloin is using the Shield of Harmony which protect him against Charm, Confusion, Domination and Hold.
Of these only Flesh to Stone is lethal and with both MR and saves it's a good bet that he'll survive it. He tries enter battle with max or at least most of his HP's and work fast to keep the odds good. Against multiple Beholders/Gauths the prudent solution is to run away and try to take them one at a time. If necessary he will use the simulacrum to draw attacks away from himself.

Sarin Voltei,
Gold is only an initial obstacle.

Cheating would make the whole idea of seeing how tough it is to solo a Wizard Slayer pointless. I used ShadowKeeper once to make Gloin... worse. After rolling stats he got that 18/99 in strength. I liked the way that looked but the total stats was over the 80 we agreed on so I used ShadowKeeper to lower them!

Slappy,
I've been reading your story and really look forward to every new post there. http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/Forum2/HTML/001920.html

I'll give it another 48 hours to finish the game.
About the innate abilities. Being Lawful Good Gloin Bonehead had CLW, DuHM and Slow Poison, all priest based abilities. He felt it was ok to use these abilities.

Using any spell like ability from equipment feels a little bit like out of character for a WS. Mirror Image from a sword, simulacrum from a helmet are examples. Equipment restrictions are very harsh as it is so I stick to what the game allows instead of making it worse.

I will say it again:
Nobleman's story is gloriously funny!

[This message has been edited by Earl Grey (edited June 06, 2001).]

 

So will you finish trademeet and get the dancing sword? Also, can you get that infinite spellbook? (Supposed to be castable by anyone?) It can cast a wyvern, which could be useful...

 

Wizard slayers can use scrolls? I never played one but i thought they could only use magical weapons and armors?

 

Thank You. And a pearl to You
I can't play much so the next days there will only be a daily episode. I agree that using special powers is ok to a wizardSlayer. Else he wouldn't or shouldn't use special weapon abilities like Simulacrum either. I admit its a grey Zone of how to play it. Basicly a wizardslayer just hates wizards and has practiced out a way to resist their magic.

I hope the underdark will go smoothly for Gloin Bonehead. Watch out for those mindflayers They suck the bones out of his head if they can.

 

I soloed the Trademeet quest with a sorcerer and you can finish by letting Cernd do the fighting himself. You never have to add him to the party, just talk to him.

 

Graz 73:
Can't use the Book of Infinite Spells.

Zorac:
Thanks for the tip! I was seriously considering letting Gloin turn evil.

Nobleman:
When Gloin meets too many Mind Flayers at a time he runs and uses his bow. At five attacks/round (Tuigan Bow) and Boots of Speed they have a hard time hurting Gloin.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Warning: Location spoiler on Crom Faeyr!
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Edited in later:

Gloin Bonehead just made a discovery!

Crom Faeyr is the only way to improve on Gloin's strength, since Wizard Slayers can't use Girdles etc, and he really wants that war hammer.
One of the items for Crom Faeyr you can only get if you sacrifice some living thing (usually via Animal Summoning or something similar). How was Gloin going to do that? He can't even use the Spider Figurine let alone any summoning wand.
In the Mind Flayer area in the Underdark he picked up a few mind control collars and these he could use! So he used one one on a Kuo Toa and had it walk up to the Demogorgon statue. Yey! It worked just fine. Ok, so the ensuing battle was the toughest in the Underdark for him but at this stage a tough battle is a good thing.

How shall Gloin handle the Planar Sphere quest? Valygar is needed dead or alive but Gloin has to go solo all the way so does that mean he has to kill Valygar?
(The Planar Sphere holds yet another piece of Crom Faeyr.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Temporary update:

Gloin is level 19 (max level) now. He has finished the Underdark including Kuo Toa, Mind Flayer and Beholder dungeons as well as defeated the "Swirfneblin demon". Time to enter Ust Na'tha!

I'll make a more in depth post about Spellhold and Underdark tomorrow - after I get some sleep...

[This message has been edited by Earl Grey (edited June 07, 2001).]

 

Day 3:

Chapter 3 quests finished (continued):
* Chicken
** Juggernaut golem
* Madulf and the village

Chapter 4 quests finished:
** Ginia's Tale
** Inside the Asylum
* The dream
** Dace apparition
*** Escaping the Asylum


- Umar Hills vacation -
Gloin didn't head straight for Aran Linvail but instead toured the Umar Hills countryside. This was Gloins vacation. Umar Hills is a beautiful area with many animals, streams, trees and rocky hills. Along the stay a few minor quests popped up which were finished.


- Leaving Athkatla -
Refreshed and eager to go, Gloin sailed to Brynnlaw.
Brynnlaw is a beautiful little town but feels a little short on adventure. Gloin is not interested in being called a mad dwarf and the other option did involve killing a cowled wizard so the choice was easy.
Chop-chop! What's that you say? Spell Failure? "Let's see what yer guts look like!"
Gloin can't use that nice looking book he gets. Oh well, so what's new?


- The Asylum/Spellhold -
Captured? Oh no!

In the dream Gloin sacrifices one point of his wisdom.
Bhaal abilities are now gone! Gloin had been using Draw upon Holy Might to increase his strength in case a stubborn lock needed some bashing. No more of that!

Bag of Holding gets secured and Gloin is off to do some dungeon crawling. Two riddle quests are done.

Rakshasa with allies are defeated so Gloin can activate the portal. In turn a Greater Wolfwere and a Demon are defeated to get an armor that goes "straight to video", i.e. into the Bag of Holding.

Next he encountered lots of Kobolds and there was much slaying.

A book stood on a pedestal in an empty room and Gloin prepared for the worst by calling on his Simulacrum. The pages were then turned and monsteres were slain.

Rushing on he encounters several Umber Hulks and has quite a tough fight. Had to use a scroll of Restoration. Turns out to be the best fight in the Asylum.

After opening a door and peeking around a corner Gloin finds himself under attack by a Lich and several other tough undeads. This would normally be the toughest fight here but Gloin uses a scroll of Protection from Undead and proceeds to hack them all up while they can't even attack Gloin. Too darn easy! It could have been done with the attack-retreat tactic I guess but this was faster and you gotta use those scrolls sometime.

The "builder" is found and a stake found among the kobolds gets used.


- Next level of Spellhold -

This is all about bashing monsters and collecting mithril tokens. With 15 tokens Gloin happily exchanged those for a pair of Boots of Speed.
Bohdi again makes an appearance but that's when the Slayer makes it's first showing. Bohdi was visibly shaken by that and ran away.

There were a few more tests and then Gloin escaped Spellhold and returned to the Asylum.
He had to slay the keeper of the key since he could not persuade him to help out and then gathers the mad residents to help against Irenicus.

The fight looked nasty when Irenicus got off a Time Stop but all together there was never any danger. Gloin concentrated his attacks on Irenicus and after he was forced to retreat it was a big but normal fight.

On the way out Saemon appears. He's as friendly as ever and Gloin accepts his offers. Gloin has no intention of following that traitor anymore. Sure he will meet Saemon at the docks... when he's ready for it, which may well be never.

Gloin takes the portal to the Underdark.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

That was Brynnlaw/The Asylum/Spellhold.
Gloin next skips the Sahuagin city since there's not much point in going there for him and instead heads straight for the Underdark.

Gloin is now at maximum level - 19.
His vital stats look like these:
Base THAC0: 1 (Helm of Balduran included)
THAC0: -6 (with Battle Axe+3, Frostreaver)
Attacks per round: 3 with melee, 5 with bow.
AC -8 (When using Defender of Easthaven and Shield of Harmony)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I'll try to post what happened to Gloin in the Underdark later this evening. At the moment he's about to enter Ust Na'tha.

[This message has been edited by Earl Grey (edited June 07, 2001).]

 

Oh Lord that went fast. I think You have proven some things about the Wizard slayer. HE is awesome!! What next? A bard? To test Your wits It seems all to easy. As far as I can read You have only died once!!! Keep up the good work and remember to eat and wortk out sometime between Your sessions. I am worried

 

I need a new keyboard. Spilled water on this and its screwed up.

Finished:
Ch 5 and 6
Killed Shadow Dragon
Ran through Firkraag dungeon
Trashed Illithid lair in temple district sewer
Did Planar Sphere
Now have Crom Faeyr!

Just entered Suldanesselar.

Sorrhy abougt shyorgt posgt bugt hygtis kehyboard is all messed up ogtgta buhy a new one gtomorrow.