Lamentations of a pseudo-solo Sorcerer (SoA)

Remove all ads!

For those who've tried: help. For those who haven't: enjoy.

Our hero Elijah, the elven sorcerer (portrait downloaded from Havak's) escaped with his sister Imoen from Jon Irenicus' dungeon without too much difficulty. (The gods reached down and turned her back into a pure thief, which will be useful once Elijah picks her back up from Spellhold.)

Which means all of Chapter 2 solo.

The first thing Elijah decided to do was to get enough money together, not to save Imoen, but to buy the robe of Vecna. (Goblin archers were giving him a problem with casting times in the dungeon.) After escaping to Athkatla, he ended up with about 5,000 gp. A bit short. Our hero then went to the circus tent, leveled up when he unlocked Aerie, tacked on spell immunity, rested, and cast immunity/illusion. Kalah went down quickly, coughing up chunks of lung.

Here's where it gets sticky.

On the way to the government district, Elijah was attacked by a group loaded with quite a lot of loot for that stage of the game, but had to run away because they kept hitting him with arrows before he could get a spell off. He then decided that perhaps it would be more prudent to hold off on the robe of Vecna and get himself a license...once he realized he couldn't even cast haste in order to run away from bad guys.

In the government district he helped Jan out for 8500XP, and then thought saving his old friend Viconia would be the honorable thing to do. >Ahem< Well, there are *two* archers among the fanatics, not one spell was cast after stoneskin, not one, and Elijah discovered the useful tactic of putting Amnish soldiers in between himself and the incoming arrows. No xp for killing the fanatics, even though Elijah thought the tactic was genius. Viconia died anyway.

Still at AC 5, mind you.

After the gov't district, he was waylaid again, and spent quite a bit of time running around his own web in order to kill the baddies and get Renfeld's body, which he did. On his way to the Harper Hold, the mad priest of Cyric got a hold person spell through and *beat* Elijah to *death* with a *stick.* Reload. After talking to the Harpers, he went off to kill Prebek, *another* hold person, and this time killed by a *goblin,* even though the dire wolves he'd summoned finished off the mages. (No death spell yet, unfortunately.) Reload.

At this time our hero discovered the extremely useful tactic of improved invisibility/spell immunity-divination.

Game over in the harper hold when he was dire charmed by the trapped painting. Reload.

With the aforementioned tactic at his beck, he decided to do Maevar's quests, although he wasn't *about* to try to get the rogue stone out of the trapped safe on the second floor. He was going to skip both the mephits and the golems, and cast his spells before entering the house, but a mephit was *blocking the stairs.* So he had to fight them. No reload.

20000 xp for stealing a necklace? 29500 for bringing it back? He's leveling up like crazy.

And he felt less than brave when he invested in a protection from undead scroll and killed the lich in the gate district. He had to stand in front of that door for, no kidding, five minutes before it turned pink.

I've got some questions for you smug solo sorcerers. This is the first time I've played one.

1) What the hell do you do about traps??? Everybody says stoneskin/mirror image, but it isn't working. Not one little bit.

2) What do you do about undead? There are only so many scrolls in the game, and vampires are magic resistant. Although he's new to this town, Elijah has this funny feeling there'll be a few of them. I count two anti-undead spells in the repertoire...hold and control.

3) With such sucky saving throws, what do you do about the holds/webs/dominations/etc? It's embarrassing to be killed by a goblin with normal arrows when you're an 11th level sorcerer.

I can't think of any others, but feel free to provide as much advice and commentary as you like. I'm certain this is nothing more than a question of tactics, but there are a few quests I'm seriously considering skipping because they don't seem doable.

I'm away 'til next monday, at which time I'll respond to any comments and suggestions.

 

My first idea: Boots of Avoidance >>>> AC +5 vs. Missle weapons.
Later when you get Boots of Speed, use each accordingly, you can change boots in battle (it's just a matter skill )

*Oh yeah a reminder on where you can get an easy pair of Boots of Avoidance>>>>>Buried Alive Quest, loot them from the kidnappers in the Bridge District.

1) well stoneskin and mirror image can't save you from traps like dire charm (that you mentioned)
2) getting the Amulet of Power will at least protect you from lvl drain, that's a start...
3) saving throws can be improved with cloaks or rings of protection

Have fun.


[This message has been edited by Big B (edited September 04, 2001).]

 

What level are you? If you're a fairly high level, I would suggest Flame Arrow as your main offensive spell; mainly for the low casting time (instantaneous with the Robe of Vecna, our nice immortal friend) and fairly nice damage (usually at least 30).

Chromatic Orb is your best friend when combined with a Greater Malison, as it usually takes out enemies in one hit (even some of the mages you find).

Stoneskin is literally a must-cast at the beginning of every day.

Traps, eh? Well...I would cast Spell Immunity before each trap, and depending on the type, I would select the school. The most common tend to be Evocation and Conjuration, the schools of Magic Missile, Flame Arrow, Acid Arrow, etc...

Nice strategy with Improved Invisibility! That should tide you over for a while...as for locked doors, if you picked Knock, you're good to go. If not...oh well, tough.

Melf's Minute Meteors help in tough situations as well, such as those tedious melee combat times. Just run, shoot. Run, shoot. And so on...

Good luck!

 

1) Traps
A minor spell turning can help sometimes.

2) What do you do about undead?
Amulet of Power is a must-have.

3) Saving throws
Blur will lower saving throws also Spell Immunity can be used to avoid some of those spells. Potions of Invulnerability will lower all saving throws by 5 but they are expensive.


Number one tip I would recommend is to head over to Baldurdash - members.home.net/mrkevvy - and read of the adventures of Elmonster. There's lots of excellent battle tactics for a mage there.

 

Frankly say trying to solo a sorcerer will be very tough if not using lame tactics ( some may be reckoned cheating...), well, you want to boost yourself up by equipping some legendary stuffs and armours? You'd die thousands of times before grabbing them I say!

[This message has been edited by Laksol (edited September 05, 2001).]

 

Actually, I soloed a sorcerer through most of chapter two and didn't find it particularly hard. One idea to prevent spell interruptions is to summon monsters to take the hits for you.... Spider Spawn is a good spell, and Animate Dead (after lv15). Just let the monsters whack the baddies and you go hide in a corner to cast Magic Missile. Actually, I never paid for a magic license - I ducked into houses to cast support spells. And, for some reason, the Cowled Wizards do not notice when you cast spells during the random encounters.... Guess they can only keep track of you when you're in a major district, eh? I found that I could beat on the bandits all I liked.

 

Managed to get to an internet post before coming back to work monday...

Thanks for all the tips...I'll give them a try. As for the Robe of Vecna, well...frankly I find it fairly easy to come up with 22 grand in a relatively short amount of time, provided you sell *everything.* Good loot off Kalah (gems, the ring, 700 gold and change...Elijah kept the girdle) and Xzar. Elijah couldn't get any of the cowled wizard's loot because everything on the 3rd floor is trapped, but finishing the Maevar quest gets him 10500 gold and a sword which can be sold for good money.

I can't remember: do you get the amulet of power before or after killing Bodhi? And is the reduction in casting time it affords cumulative with the robe of Vecna?

Again, thanks for the tips...I'll revive the thread when I get back on monday...

 

Amulet of Power: You get this before facing Bodhi from Aran Linvail, in fact you get it before doing Aran's first quest with Mook at the docks. What do you mean by is Robe of Vecna cummulative? The decreased casting time is permanent while robe is worn if that is what you mean.

 

What I mean is the amulet of power provides a reduction of casting time as well IIRC. Is that tacked on to the original reduction provided with the robe of Vecna is my question...

 

Normally, AC isn't very important for a mage in BG2, but when you play solo, you get the hits so it IS important. I don't know what your Dex is, but the best item to get a much lower AC are the Gauntlets of Defense AC 3. This will be a great help and lower your AC. The robe of the good archmagi is also something useful. Later you also get some AC lowering rings. Use also spells to get a better defense. Also get a good ranged weapon to already do some damage before the enemy reaches you. Get the staff of Rhymm to also have a good melee attack. Boots of Speed are great to have the possibilty of moving away from your enemy when he is to close.

 

Staff of the Magi makes soloing a magic user easier by several orders of magnitude. Keep using the invisiblilty by re-equipping it after each swing. Try to get the cloak of Non detection from the group in the inn in the Promenade.

 

VAMPIRES...hahahah they're immune to a lot of magic but not fire.. esp tanovas... all u do is cast a few sunfires or fireballs and if you can feed your summoned wolves some charred Bodhi...

 

Isn't there only one Tanova? Or am I wrong? Oh well...

Amulet of Power's spellcasting reduction stacks on top of the Robe of Vecna, as long as both are equipped, making for almost instantaneous spells. Later, in Throne of Bhaal...well, consider yourself invincible.

Robe of the Archmagi is nothing compared to your prized Robe of Vecna. I've found that the best equipment of the game is like this:

Weapon 1: Staff of the Magi
Weapon 2: Sling of Everard +5
Armor: Robe of Vecna
Gauntlets: Bracers of Defense AC 3
Helmet: Mask of King Strohm III*
Amulet: Amulet of Power
Left Ring: Ring of Acuity
Right Ring: Ring of Wizardry
Cloak: Cloak of Protection +2
Boots: Boots of Speed
Belt: Girdle of Frost Giant Strength (21)**

*(Sorcerer's don't equip much, and I've heard people say this is a must, though I didn't see anything in it myself...)
**(Well, you're not going to be using Crom Faeyr, are you?)

 

so where is this fabled staff of the archmagi?

and king strohm's mask??? please elaborate

=)

 

SPOILERS!>>>>>>>>>>>

Staff of the Magi is in the Twisted Rune. OK, next question, where's the Twisted Rune? Where you least expect...Athkatla, Bridge District in what looks like an ordinary house...I'll let you find it. It's good to explore, especially the Bridge District.

Mask of King Strohm is in the back half of Firkraag's Dungeon in the Windspear Hills. Why a sorcerer would equip this beats me, maybe I'm missing something...

[This message has been edited by Big B (edited September 09, 2001).]

 

MORE SPOILERS

When attempting to find that "ordinary house" in the Bridge District better carry a Rogue Stone with you.

END OF 'EM

 

I always thought that the mask was essential to complete one quest and useless beyond that. Still, as you can't sell it and spellcasters can't wear other hats I suppose it doesn't hurt. /me has just had a thought. Maybe it helps you see invisible stuff at all times, not just in the quest.

 

Re: headgear - I think the point of Strom's helmet is to protect your sorcerer from critical hits. I'd rather use one of the Ioun stones personally.

Re: dealing with undead - your Protection from Undead scrolls are priceless. To re-use them, you can just equip them in quick item slot and cast Project Image. Your projected image casts the scroll on the real you. When you bag the projected image, you are protected from undead and still have the scroll(s).

Re: the equipment list, I'd personally bag the Ring of Acuity favor of the Ring of Gaxx.

Solo sorcerers rock - I'm playing another one right now.

 

That mask is pretty well useless, but it's the only helmet a mage can wear, so you might as well leave it there. (-: I think it may still do the basic protecting you from critical hits thing that your standard 3-gp helmet does.

Trunculo: Magic-users can't use ioun stones in BG2. Though it's apparently a bug, so you might have a patch on that fixes it or something.

[This message has been edited by tjekanefir (edited September 09, 2001).]

 

tjekanefir:
> Trunculo: Magic-users can't use ioun stones
> in BG2. Though it's apparently a bug, so
> you might have a patch on that fixes it or
> something.

Really? - my sorcerer is using pale green ioun stone (from under graveyard maybe?). I do also have TOB installed (but this character is still in SOA stuff) so maybe that's it. Weird.