Meatshields - BG2 challenge

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Unfortunately, I got the urge to play BG2 again lately. But I've played it so many times before, so something has to be done to spice it up.

To that end I've cooked up this challenge: Meatshields! The concept is simple. My Wizard Slayer Bhaalspawn will lead an army of warriors - no wizards allowed - across Faerun, meeting challenges with brawn over brains. Monsters? Hit them till they die! Mages? Hit them till they die! Undead? Hit them till they die! ...you get the idea.

My planned party is as follows: Wizard Slayer, Minsc, Korgan, Anomen, Valygar, and Mazzy.

Why no Keldorn you ask? Because he would make things far too easy. His Dispel Magic and True Sight are way overpowered and can rip through a mage's defence in no time, not to mention the Carsomyr Dispel Magic hit.

Here are some general points.

* Anomen is only allowed to cast healing spells, buffs, and utility spells (eg: Find Trap). No summoning, or offensive spells, or Dispel Magic-like spells allowed. Mostly I want to avoid resting after every encounter, for 36 days a time.
* No Turn Undead. We will kill Undead the MANLY way, and that's by hitting them until they die.
* I may ban Anomen's spellcasting completly, depending on how the play goes.
* No Bhaalspawn powers.
* Mazzy IS allowed to use her special abilities (debate if you want)
* We CAN use magical items and potions (we are using magic to kill magic, so it's justifiable)
* In ToB, we may replace someone with Sarevok.
* We will try to kill as many mages as possible, with little regard to alignment or optimal quest solutions.
* I might turn the difficulty up if it becomes too easy.
* I have quite a few mods installed but none should affect this challenge. They are mostly NPC mods anyway.
* No Watcher's Keep until after the Underdark. There's so much you can loot on even the first floor that will make the game easier.


The Star
Tambo, halfling warrior. Raised at Candlekeep, he was initially groomed to be a Wizard, but it was not his calling, and he spent his time practicing swordplay instead. His devotion to martial prowress only increased when Gorion was slain by Sarevok - so much for magic - and skyrocketed when he managed to defeat Sarevok with his own big swords.

Since then he was kidnapped by Irenicus, a crazy mage, and increasingly started resenting magic. If he ever gets out of this hellhole, he swore, he would assemble a band of fine warriors, and hunt down and murder as many wizards as he can. They will PROVE that might is mightier than the mind!

The Stats
CN
17
17
18
12
8
10

+++ in Scimitar and Two-Weapon Fighting (hmm, I just noticed the Drizzt connection)

I could have min/maxed a little, but I'm playing a HALFLING WARRIOR. The point isn't really to powergame here.

General Thoughts:"
No magic rings/belts/etc is going to bite hard, especially with Tambo's substandard Strength.
The Wizard Slayer class sounds kind of weak on paper. The 10% cumulative spell failure is really nice, but to completely lock down a Wizard I have to hit him 10 times. If I can hit him 10 times, shouldn't he be dead anyway? Unless I don't actually have to damage him...
I'm trying to maximize this cumulative effect by having Tambo dual-wield. With Belm, attacks per round should skyrocket.

I do want to goad the Cowled Wizard encounters, since you fight several high-level mages at the end. However, due to the nature of this journey, none of my party members will be able to cast mage spells. I'm taking suggestions as to what to do. I suppose I can "hire" wizards to do this for me and kick them out, but this seems like a really daft solution.

The game will probably be easy at first and gradually get harder and harder as we fight stuff like Liches, etc.

The Story!
Aftering breaking out of the cell, Tambo sent Imoen away. He was grateful to her, yes, but she just haven't been the same since she dual-classed to Mage (with the power of Level 1 NPC she's actually a swashbuckler in my game, but it's the principle of things).

Surveying the room he noticed Minsc and Jaheira. Minsc will surely be a useful man in his upcoming conquest, and the witch he was loyal to was happily dead. So Tambo freed him and allowed him to join.

His eye fell on Jaheira. Tambo was much less uncertain about HER - she practiced dark, strange magics. Obviously not a good sort. He freed her, but made her find her own way out. Maybe later he'll hunt her down and kill her.

A little tinkering later Jasper St. Baird appeared and teleported the duo to the end of the dungeon. Tambo levelled up; his HP is an impressive 128. Under Tambo's direction, the pair dumped ALL the scrolls and wands on the ground ("We don't need this foul magic!"), and exited the dungeon. Imoen was taken away. Good for her - Tambo was beginning to like this city, but obviously there's something wrong with wizardly enforcers.

War cannot be waged without weaponry, so we went to the Adventurer's Mart and purchased a scimitar and a wakizashi. One slashing damage, one piercing. Minsc got a new, dashing suit of chainmail, as Tambo is wearing the Mail of the Dead.

Next, the Circus Tent. The guard at the door said foul magic was involved. Obviously a task for Tambo the WIZARD SLAYER!

Inside the tent, we encountered a foul ogre. A wicked beast! It attempted to explain there was foul magic at work, but OH-HO-HO! Tambo is far too smart for that, and KILLED HER WHERE SHE STOOD. Foolish girl. Upon her death, she transformed into a wizardly elf, but Tambo does not regret the mistake.

The spider, however, did not attack, and Tambo had corresponded with the boy outside. We thus spared the spider and continued inside the circus.

Inside the main tent, a slime on the ground told us his name - Quayle. Quayle? That name sounded familiar. Ahah! It was that annoying gnome outside of Baldur's Gate - an illusionist!
"Attack the slime, Minsc!" Tambo shouted, while he himself dived for Kalah's kneecaps. Minsc obeyed, slashing the slime in half with a mighty blow, and a few rounds later Kalah's shins were struck by multiple deadly cuts, and he fell to the ground, howling.

When the circus was back to normal, nobody congratulated us. Oh well. Upon looting Kalah's corpse we found several scrolls, which Tambo was prepared to discard until Boo quite correctly proclaimed that we could sell them for money. Thus we gathered those too, and exited the tent after speaking to Hannah.

Outside, we reaped our rewards, and a little girl gave us a magic lamp. It obviously warrants further investigation!

Next episode: the Copper Coronet, where Team Meatshield shall bust a crime organisation.

 

Nice

Looking forward to more.

 

Hm, you might get the cowled wizards to appear by using some magic items...IIRC some of those encounters were activated by them, but I can't remember which, since I've come to the impression that not all of them get the cowled wizards attention.

It might have been Vhailor's helm which did it...a fixpack might have ironed this out though...

 

rofl, awesome start!

Tambo the Halfling Blender, Terror of all Wizardry

Remember to report the wicked witch in the Bridge District, Mrs Cragmoon or something, I haven't played in so long!

 

Job Application! Troll Hunting!

We had a number of job applications to team Meatshield at the Copper Coronet.

"I like ta kill things with me axe."
"You're in."

"BANANA!" (Banana mod. Check it out.)
"No. I prefer pears."

"I'm a thief, and a wizard too. Maybe I can -"
"STOP! You're lucky I need your stupid stronghold! Just shut up and leave!"
"What?"
"Go away!"

"I am Anomen, warrior-priest of Helm."
"Well, I like the first part. You can join, but let me have a look at this."
"What the - give that back, you dimunative cretin!"
"Let's see..." *RIP*
"What?! It took me an age to learn that spell!"
"No! From now on, no more offensive spells! Only healing and buff, you got it, idiot?!"
"Fine! I accept your strange bargain Onward, to smite evil!"
"Forward!"
As Anomen walked sullenly behind him, he cursed the foolish writer, for priests did not even have spellbooks.

The only non-Cure-series of spells spared by Tambo were: Armour of Faith, Draw Upon Holy Might, Barksin, and Neutralize Poison. Since Tambo is quite seriously wounded from fighting Amalas, Corhvale, and Braggs, the party rested and then penetrated into the back rooms of the Coronet.

Incidentally, I want to record kills for this game. Tambo has 3 kills and Minsc has 4. At the end I will account for all the differences and see who got the most kills throughout the game.

Tambo was excited to discover a fighting ring at the back; the four men crowded around it. When the slave and the troll entered, there came a great uproar.
"This is inhuman!" cried Anomen, his knuckles white as he gripped tightly onto his mace. "We must stop this, Tambo."
"I know." Tambo said, his eye blazing with anger. "This is just wrong."
Korgan squinted speculatively. "I didn't take ye to be one to get cold feet about these things."
But Tambo did not listen. "Why does that slave get to fight a troll, and I don't?!"
"Ye mean ye've never fought one before?"
"No! They're not in BG1! I MUST fight one of those things!"

With that, Tambo rushed into the back rooms before his well-muscled friends could stop him. Several guards attempted to stop him, but they were steamrolled over by the four.
(Fighting is REALLY FUN. We chunked them in a matter of seconds. None of this pansy spell crap.)

At this time, a man in the cell begged for our help, but Tambo ignored him. There is a TROLL to be found!

We dived deeper into the lair. At the end, an annoying elf threatened us, so Korgan threw an axe in his face, which seemed to upset him a bit. The beasts were released, and while we enjoyed fighting them, there were no troll to be had. Tambo was enraged.
"That devious dog." he muttered. "Put a troll in, and then take it away so I can't find him. Obviously he must be slain."
"Who?" Anomen asked.
"Lehtinan!" Tambo cried. Unaccounted bloodlust raging with him, he seized the key, freed the slaves, and charged through the inn.

Lehtinan saw his approach and glowered. "You dog! You've RUINED me!"
But Tambo was in no mood for words. He leapt onto the table; from there onto the bar counter, and cleanly sliced off his head.

Hendak then made us go hunt some more slavers, pointedly adding that there might be trolls. And so after a night's rest, Tambo began leading his Meatshields into the secret sewer passage.

(I'm beginning to think identifying items will be a problem. Everyone has 0 Lore, except for Anomen, who has 8. We will definitely need those glasses.)
(We made a lot of money by selling scrolls - we have around 6000 GP!)

We then stormed through the sewers. Around here I first felt inconvenienced by lack of spells when we were beset by Carrion Crawlers, and then by Myconids. A Dispel Magic would have really done the trick, but in the end we mananged to bash everything to death, as per our stated goals. We picked up Lilarcor on the way, of course. Tambo levelled up again; I put the extra + into scimitar.

Being manly men we didn't rest before we charged into the Slaver Compound, and finished that battle somewhat wounded. Still we didn't rest, and pressed on. Here Tambo got to fight his trolls, and here again I was worried about a lack of spells, but thankfully there's a bundle of Fire Arrows nearby.

Many, MANY reloads later we managed to destroy the main force in the lounge area. The party was battered, running out of potions, and that annoying Prismatic trap kept setting off. In the end we lured them into the yuan-ti room and chopped them up. This is another point where spells would be useful - magic missile would cancel Mirror Image whilst Dispel Magic would have cured us when we were Confused.
(Korgan is truly uber - his enrage ability is extremely powerful.)
(In one reload, I confirmed that Wizard Slaying's 10% cumulative counts when you HIT things, not when you damage them. So it might be useful after all - you need some extra whacks for Stoneskin and Mirror Image anyway, especially when you don't have Dispel Magic!)

But here we faced a problem: we cannot bypass that damned trap on the stairwell! Anomen have Neutralize Poison, but that bloody trap doesn't disarm once you've walked on it. So, we were forced to turn back and go back the way we had came (admittedly, I CTRL + J'ed).

Once back we reported to Hendak (Minsc levelled up; + in Halberd), and unloaded our loot to Bernand. We have ~13000 GP already! This must be some sort of record.

Rested, and now we're ready for another adventure. What next for the Meatshields?! Only time will tell.

(I think I will pick up Valygar or Mazzy next - probably the former, since he is easier to get to.)

Kill Count
Korgan is in the lead with 28; Minsc slightly behind with 26. Tambo has a rather pathetic 16, whilst Anomen is at the rear with 11.

I predict Korgan and Mazzy will get the most kills, followed by Minsc, then Tambo, then Valygar, then Anomen. There's just something about Korgan that makes him unstoppable...


EDIT:
Thanks, Iku, I'll check it out.

I most certainly will, 8y! That was one of my main goals.
Also, a Mazzy romance would be mighty nice about now.
(just kidding - no stress )

 

Actually, you've given me something to do today
May set up a dummy to see how well it's working so far

 

I can playtest if you like. I mean, I have to take Mazzy on this trip anyway and might as well do something fun on the side.

 

Mazzy is more than fun on the side
She's a spirited warrior! A dedicated worshipper! A considerate friend! Dropkickable!

 

Dropkickable! But watch out, she's just the right size to cause some serious biting damage...

 

You have big problem with traps, I see. First of all, since you're facing traps without spell buffs, you should know the nature of each trap and try to protect as best as you can:

I don't know if you 'banned' yourself from using items which have spell-like abilities. If you use such items, then Ilbratha is your biggest ally vs various traps.

I think that you should allow Anomen to cast Detect Traps. All that this spell does is detecting, and not disarming, traps. This will be effective to some extent, since many traps may be bypassed.

Many traps, however, cannot be bypassed. Like that nasty trap in the Slaver Compound. You may use protective items to limit/negate the damage. That particular trap is non-disarmable and deals significant amount of Acid damage. Use ProAcid green scrolls and items - for example, Valygar in his armor is better protected than the rest of the party. Shadow dragon scale also helps. Against traps which deal magical type of damage (or release spells) you may use Vhailor Helm + ProMagic scroll duplication (just for traps, otherwise battling mages becomes too easy).

If Hasted, you can quickly trigger the Prismatic spray trap and still run away from the area of its effect without taking damage. Of course, if you walk through it in line with all characters, then the party will die. There is one more dangerous Prismatic Spray trap in the sewers, however, so there Mirror Image or ProMagic scroll duplication may be your surest way of evading it.

Valygar with his Minor Spell Deflection (which is antimagic buff and thus IMHO justifiable for your party) can trigger traps which release dangerous targeted spells like Lightning Bolt, Disintegrate, FtS or FoD.

 

Hmm, thanks for your advice. The point about Valygar's Minor Spell Deflection is very nice - I haven't thought about Valygar's spell palette at all. Having no Mirror Image is tough, but good point about Ilbratha.

@dmc: you'd think they could just jump over the side and not take the stairs at all, but nooooo...

It's hard getting into the mindset of no spells. I keep thinking Tambo will be more useful when he gets Haste, but of course, HE WON'T GET HASTE EVER. So next level-up I might put a + into Short Sword, for Arbane's. This means I have to prioritize picking Mazzy up, since otherwise she'll waste her +'s on Short Sword.

---------- Added 12 hours, 7 minutes and 59 seconds later... ----------

Somehow we rested for 29 days. Upon exit, Anomen's messenger came and told him his sister had been killed, and Delon came to pester Minsc.

Thus we headed to the Government District. There we found our old friend Viconia, who was apparently a witch! Tambo was ready to let her burn, but then he realized that the fanatics surrounding her were also practicioners of dark magic. So obviously there was only one solution.

We cut Viconia free and proceeded to tear apart the fanatics. A grateful Viconia attempted to join us, but Tambo glared at her with a wild look in his eye and diced her into pieces. Witches be damned!

Wondering along we soon found a little gnome named Jan. He wore the trappings of a wizard, so when a government official came, we quite happily let him be arrested. Perhaps later we shall sneak into the cell and murder him.

Next Madeen had a job offer for us. Knowing wizardry was involved, Tambo refused, but Korgan persuaded him into it. We spoke to Tolgerias and agreed to do his stupid task, before he spilled the beans: someone had murdered Cowled Wizards! This is clearly someone after Tambo's own heart, so we refused to hunt him down. Tolgerias threatened us, but when was the last time Tambo was afraid of a puny, meaty wizardling?

A little investigation later we discovered Valygar's location. So off to Umar Hills we go.
(In one reload we got the Cowled Wizards + Amnish soldiers on our arses, from Valygar's butler. Tambo was initially happy, but he got less so when the Legionaries proved to be badasses and easily mowed us down.)

Along the way we had a random encounter and picked up Arbane's. I really like that encounter - you get so many goodies out of it! Plate +1 and Mace +1 too!

So we picked up Valygar. Here is the kill count before he joined:
Tambo - 17
Korgan - 31
Minscy - 30
Ano - 15

Accounting for differences:
Tambo - 14
Korgan - 31
Minsc - 26
Ano - 15

So Korgan is clearly the champion here.
It occured to me that I should have recorded XP kills as well, because it's not the quantity of beasts you slay, but the quality. Oh well - I will list the top kills by Chapter when we hit Chapter 3.

We encountered a band of monsters. The leader had the sprite of an ogre mage, so Tambo presumed he was a wizard and launched into a murderous frenzy. After the battle I was surprised to find that the ogre didn't have the shield he'd give you as a reward. Where the hell does he pull it from?

Short update this time, because I got enlisted into RP. Next, we shall find Mazzy, and perhaps complete the Shade Dungeon before heading back to Athkatla and doing Anomen's business.

Also, I think I shall hit Trademeet next. Belm is my main objective.

 

There's a kit mod out there that unnerfs the wizard slayer. I don't remember where I saw it though.

 

I once started to do something similar but with an all wizard party (Aerie is that party's healer).

 

I'm a fan of "The Gang of Thieves" myself. Everybody in your party has to be thief or have some kind of thieving abilities (Hide doesn't count so you can't just tank Minsc).

But back to Meatshields; this is usually how I play the game anyway. I grab Jan for what little uses I have for thieves and mages and the rest is just brute force. Most of the contests in Baldur's Gate 2 can be solved by whacking it til it dies.

 

Haha this makes me want to play BG2 again... le sigh, I might have to whip it out on my laptop. It runs on Vista, right?

 

OT: I'm running mine on Vista atm, just remember to pop it in windowed mode if your on a widescreen...

 

get the widescreen mod. it works great!

 

The... Widescreeen mod?

 

http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/
Here you go Son of Bhaal