The Insane Dual-Class

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No if I am not mistaken he will do the whole thing in a single, mod-enhanced hard run. So let's wish him good luck, shall we?

 

WHAAAT! How does he expect to do the whole game, solo for that matter, in a mod-enhanced game?!?! I don't understand how he will survive alone if he has some psycho mods on ...

 

@$ilvershield - it will be very hard, but keep in mind that the first 10 or so levels come pretty quickly and he will have the hit points of a lvl 31 mage and most importantly the items. The mods are required to get enough XP to make it all possible.

 

That I understand, but HOW does he survive with all those mods??? I heard a few people only had a few tough ones installed and they couldn't even tackle them with a whole party!

 

Wild mages can be dual-classed.

 

Hey guys, sorry I've let this thread go to seed...but the demands of real life make posting very hard!

Anyway...here's a very brief update, after hitting lvl 15 by completing the Unseeing Eye cult quest (without talking to the head cleric for the XP mind you), I've pushed off for Brynnlaw, killed Perth (sp??) the Mage in Spellhold, been through Spellhold and then fought Irenicus as well.

Oh and I forgot to add...I couldn't resist the temptation!! I did go get the SotM...but its okay, I'm not going to be able to use it once I dual-class anyway...and so far, its been a text-book run.

Anyway...to get back to the point, I beat Bodhi again in Spellhold, finished all the riddles and what not and am finally out in Brynnlaw again. My character is at lvl 18 and I have JUST got my first HLA...Improved Alacrity obviously! Now...I need to rush to Amn for those awesome lvl 9 scrolls...but then I won't be able to cast any of them cuz I'm going to dual-class anyway!! Hmm...no matter! The reactivation shall always be there!

Now...back to BG2...I'm off to the Sahuagin City now.

@Silvershield: Hm...I'm going to be playing the whole game, only one run-through with the character. Yes, you are right, I'm going to hit 8 million XP somewhere during Chapter 6...and then I dual-class.

Its not going to be THAT hard...because I'm going to be preparing my game in a particular manner.

Oh and btw...I'm NOT playing the game on Insane, just Core rules...its hard enuf as is!

What else did I fail to address? Lets see...

@Camdawg: Wow, thanks, that is one COOL mod!

@Everyone else: I'm not going to post too much stuff over the next few days...mostly because the Mage part of the solo is nothing great anyways.

 

Faraaz, if I were you, I would buy any useful scroll I found in my way.
Especially Prot.f.magical weapons,stoneskin,mirror-image and every spell-scroll you like using a lot.

You may need them in the future ...

 

@thetruth: Yep...I've learnt a couple of things through reading about your adventures mate, and the most important thing is...You have to be a pack rat to be good at these difficult encounters! My bag of holding is full of all sorts of scrolls, items, equipment and other miscellaneous junk.

Ah well...

UPDATE: In the Underdark now, I helped that Vithal dude out, and he gave me a Time Stop scroll and Wail of the Banshee scroll!! Wow! Incendiary Cloud and Nahal's Reckless Dweomer -> Incendiary Cloud(s) were a big help in getting rid of those elementals in the portals.

Also, I've got another levelup to 19 now, and I picked Summon Planetar!

 

Just in case this happens to you too.

 

@Felinoid...ah, thanks! I've never really had any problems like that, but if I do...hm, it should come in handy.

Edit: Seeing as no one has posted again, I'm forced to edit my last post to give an update!

Lets see...SO Much has happened since I last posted.

But, alas, due to work and deadlines, I don't think I'll be able to post too much.

In a nutshell...I have dual-classed to Cleric AND re-activated my previous class!!!!

When I left the Underdark and re-emerged, I was around lvl 26-28 Mage. I then went ahead and finished the Umar Hills quest which pushed me up to lvl 29, then I finished off the three dragons in Small Teeth pass as well as various other quests and a few random encounters. This pushed me up to lvl 30 eventually.

After that, I just sat and went through my Bag of Holding, erasing and memorising spells till I hit lvl 31! So sue me...I couldn't wait to dual-class!

When I DID dualclass, I did the following quests:
Collected all the saved up XP from before I left for the Underdark...(pushed me to lvl 11 approx.)

Firkraag
Trademeet
Bridge District Murders
Bodhi and the Rhynn Lanthorn
De'Arnise Keep
Planar Sphere

After this, I headed off to Watcher's Keep. Also around this time, I had got FoA +3 and Crom Faeyr.

When I entered Watcher's Keep I was lvl 22-24 approx. Right now...I'm on lvl 3 of Watcher's Keep, about to enter lvl 4, where I have stopped for today! I'm lvl 32 Cleric with approx. 5.7 million XP. Reactivating was easy...also, lvl 3 of WK is just FILLED with easy XP!! Just buff yourself up and wack all those pesky demons for loads of XP! Globe of Blades really helps, as do Energy Blades and Implosion.

Aesgareth's band was slaughtered for the XP unfortunately, and this was the last push I needed to hit lvl 32.

From here on out...its just CARNAGE!!

PS: It was REALLY easy playing with a Cleric...is it just me? I got my AC down to -17 and then just hit ppl over the head with FoA till they died. It took AGES...but I didn't care! Also...Firkraag went down to Harm, those Rune Assassins went down to Globe of Blades + Sanctuary...Vampires I just turned etc etc...

[ March 27, 2006, 12:20: Message edited by: Faraaz ]

 

^Another player proves that high level clerics are just powerful. We all know how high level arch-mages are powerful too. But a level 31 arch-mage plus a level 32+ hierophant? Oh my...and I thought my PC was the most powerfull...

Congratulations, pal, are you afraid that the game will be boringly easy from now on?

And I must admit you played really fast. Good job!

 

@ Faraaz


Wow ,that was really fast. You have almost finished SoA in something more than 10 days real time

Good job You didn't seem to have any problems reactivating your mage class.


And some questions:


- What was the most difficult fight so far ?

- Have you finished all the quests-fights in SoA (before ch.7 of course) ?

- How did you kill improved Bodhi without HLAs? If I am not wrong you faced her before level 22 or not ?


But now you will have a little problem.The game will become too easy for you
Although there are still some challenging fights ahead (especially imp. Irenicus).

Keep us updated ...

 

@thetruth: Okay...if you think THAT was fast...I've finished Improved Demogorgon AND Improved Irenicus AND Improved Illasera (who was a pushover ) and about to start on Improved Gromnir's dungeon as of now!

Before I get started though, a couple of questions...

HOW do you fight that Vecna dude and the other bosses from the Improved Planar Sphere Quests? I finished the whole quest, AND all the stronghold quests...and couldn't find them anywhere!!

Well...RIGHT before I enter Suldenesselar I've got a savefile ready, so once I figure this out, I should be able to take those guys on!

Now for the update:

After having left off at lvl 4 of WK...I went in, found a bunch of Illithids etc, Project Image-> Planetar x5 SPAM!! Ah, I missed doing all these things!! Anyway...I finished the entire level this way. The Dragon went down to Imp. Alacrity + Lower MRx4 + Greater Malison + Doom(x6!!!)+ Finger of Death.

I'm really appreciating the usefulness of Cleric/Mage overpoweredness at the moment!

After lvl 4 with nothing else that great, I went down to level 5. This one was easy as well. Just turn undead for all the undeads, Planetars for all the other critters, that Deconstructor club from the BoM itempack for the Golems etc.

Anyway...the final battle with the Guardians was too easy...I've got screenshots uploading, I'll edit this later on with the links.

The Final Guardian group with Ytossi et. al was a bit hard though. The first few times, that stupid Hive Mother kept hitting me with that unblockable dispel, and Anti-Magic Ray...until I remembered that I had Shield of Balduran!! I put it on, but it still didn't help against that Anti-magic Ray. So...here's what I did...

Before the fight started, I cast my usual buffs -> Stoneskin, Spirit Armor, Improved Invisibility, Mirror Image, Free Action, Chaotic COmmands, Remove Fear, Spell Immunity Abjuration, Spell Immunity Divination, then I opened the seal, and immediately started casting Improved Alacrity...luckily, it finished casting just when their party spawned...then it was Time Stop immediately, with my fingers crossed that the Hive Mother wouldn't hit me with that gay ray again...and YES!! It went off fine...now for the bombardment!

I tried casting stuff like Skull Trap, Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting etc the last couple of tries, but the HM had loads of MR...so...desperate times and all that...I just started spamming all 7-9 of my Implosions on it. It had Stoneskins active, so half my damage was wasted, but I didn't care...I got it down to Badly Injured, then I chucked out a Dragon's Breath and poof! No more HM!! Once the first Imp. Alacrity ran out, I started casting my second Time Stop...got interrupted...no matter. Quick pause, switch over to FoA + CF, melee that archer dude a little, then try casting Time Stop again...this time it went off. Now...I just spammed Lower MR, some 6 ADHW, 6 Skulltraps, 4-5 Sunfires etc...everything died!

Okay...Improved Demogorgon next.

Note...by this time, I was about 100,000 xp away from Lvl 40.

For Improved Demogorgon, I did NOT want to mess around. I set up a Chain Contingency with 3x Pierce Shield, then I cast Improved Alacrity BEFORE talkin to him and making him show himself. Then I kept my eyes peeled at the info bar. The minute the CC triggered, I started spamming ADHW like crazy, and at the end of it, he made his save EVERYTIME, and he was only down to Nearly Dead...then I hit him over the head with my Staff of the Ram +4 and he popped it!! Then it was mostly a matter of spamming Timestop + Improved Alacrity for the demons which were left over.

Okay...now I spent the rest of my time doing my Stronghold quests I had neglected, and tried to activate those improved Planar Sphere boss fights, but to no avail. Again...need help with this please.

Went off to Suldenesselar, nothing noteworthy here...everything is TOO EASY!! Nizdramaniyyt (sp?) fell to 3 LowerMR+GM+7 Dooms+FoD! I love this combination for Dragon Slaying.

Ahh...if Improved Alacrity weren't in this game, what oh what would I have done?

Okay...next, I took on Irenicus on the Tree of Life, which was a JOKE of a battle if you ask me. All I did was melee him with my ridiculous 2 attacks (+1 from Oil of Speed) per round with the Staff of the Magi...and he died!! (Of course, I was wearing Cloak of Mirroring at the time, but STILL!!)

Now for Improved Irenicus (II)!!

Oh and in case anyone is interested, I did all the hell trials in the good way. 20 WIS!!

Anyway...once the fight started, my Amulet of Power was taken away, after which I got NAILED with that Dragon's Breath...level drained to lvl 34 in the blink of an eye!!

So...in response to that complete and utterly unreasonable SPAM, I just spammed him right back! I took off Shield of Balduran, Crom Faeyr, Staff of the Magi, Amulet of Power, Cloak of Mirroring etc and put them on the ground right next to my spawn point. Then I cast all my protections which I mentioned above and can't go through typing out again... Oh and one more addition to that list, Chain Contingency, Project Image x3 on Helpless!! This is just EVIL!!

Now, I had 4 Project Images, and all these enemies before me! For the sake of simplicity, lets arbitrarily label them as I1, I2, I3 and I4.

All start casting Time Stop at the same time, with about half a second delay in between. IIRC, they don't attack you for the first 3 seconds or so...Robe of Vecna + Amulet of Power + Archmage Gloves (BoM Itempack) really help you to get these off ASAP! Anyway...once they went off here's what happened (simultaneously mind you)...

I1 - Dragon -> Lower MR x 3 + Greater Malison + Doomx4 + Skull Trap x 6 + ADHW x 3.

I2 - Wraith -> Summon Planetar x4, ADHW X4 on the Sword.

I3 - Orb of Fear -> Magic Missile, Ruby Ray of Reversal, Pierce Shield x1, Lower MR x3, ADHWx4, Implosion X4

I4 - Wraith -> Summon Planetar x4, ADHW on Orb of Fear, Skull Traps on Shadows and Hobgoblins. (Note, I have NO idea where these came from).

I'm assuming you guys know I cast Imp. Alacrity before hand...I'm not going to be repeating myself over and over again.

Anyway...when I came out of the time stop...all my Project Images were gone!! Gah, I wish BG2 had an 'mp_friendlyfire 0' setting! Anyway, the Sword, Wraith, Dragon were all dead. The Beholder was still alive for some reason!! I just sent two of the Planetars over for a mop up job.

Only guy left was the Selfish Irenicus. This is CRAZY!! This is why I hate Imp. Irenicus! THIS is why I REALLY enjoyed kicking his ass!

He casts Prot. from Magic Weapons over and over again. Normal weapons don't hit him I'm assuming, I couldn't keep up with his Dimension Door. Yes, that's right, 25 Dimension Doors in 25 rounds? Gimme a break. I had positioned my Planetars all over the arena...but to no avail.

Anyway...at the end of a LONG period of Stalemate, my spells would not affect him and after trying in the beginning, I just gave up and settled down to running around with my Cloak of Mirroring on. All my Planetars unsummoned, this guy couldn't hurt me.. (Ilyena - Spell Ineffective!! )

After a period of time, I dunno why, I could hit him!! But he kept teleporting away...when I hit upon an idea. Well, more like FINALLY struck, because its obvious really...Boots of the Hornet go on, Crom Faeyr in off Hand, Skullcracker mace or something, the one with bonus damage to Humanoids, improved with the Item Upgrade mod...in main hand. Drank an Oil of Speed...then hit him once. Once he started casting DD, I cast Time Stop. He was still in front of me, when the TS trigerred. I got another hit in on him. He teleported away, but he DID NOT HEAL!!!!

I ran up to him and hit him again and again, and he died by the end of my Time Stop. Mind you, I was getting him for 32-35 damage a hit!

Anyway...the Slayer came in, but this bit was EASY. I just cast Stoneskin, Spirit Armor, Mirror Image again, then put all my items back on. Summoned Improved Kitthix to act as a meat shield, and then summoned a Planetar as well, then continued meleeing him as before. And he died in like 4 rounds...pitiful!

The third phase was annoying. I hit him and he runs away again. So...I set Autopause to End Round, and then timed it so his Prot. from Magic Weapons ran out, and cast Time Stop with precise timing, same as for Selfish Irenicus...and it worked!! He cannot heal during Time Stop!!

And then he died...hehehe.

I'm having troubles with Photobucket. The images are uploaded, but the site is undergoing maintenance apparently, so I'll edit with the links later on. I also managed to get some WICKED wild surges SS'd...

Anyway...thats all for now, I'll post again later.

Edit: As promised...here are the screenshots...

WK Lvl 3...getting MAD xp for Demon Slaying...
Crazy wild surge when up against the Final Guardians
DOOM DOOM DOOM!! Deakin Style!
Demogorgon
This surge is crazy...

Improved Irenicus SS:
It begins...
Part one...
Part Two...
Slayer Irenicus...but no spells left!
Timestop Melee...

[ March 28, 2006, 16:29: Message edited by: Faraaz ]

 

^Hah! That was awesome display of godly magical prowess, my friend. Congratulations!

Though I admit you use a lot of cheese. 4 PIs and multiple planetars, plus stacking dooms! Don't get me wrong, I loved these methods and have used them before. But nowadays I rule myself not to abuse game engine to my own evil ways. It makes the game way too boring and easy, even with all those mods and insane difficulties.

So try without these cheese next time. I am attempting such a run right now. Wish me luck!

 

@Silverstar: I only use such spam for Improved Irenicus, because I HATE how unreasonable the fight is...

SO yeah, its cheese, but look at it this way...if a newbie who didn't use cheese tried to take him on in the honest spirit of the game, he'd get CREAMED!

Besides, you'll notice I didn't do that Planetar trick with the Final Guardians or Demogorgon...JUST Improved Irenicus, cuz I hate the bugger.

Edit: Forgot to add...I used a Nahal's Reckless Dweomer -> Wish while fighting Irenicus, the Shattered One and got the sleep for a night etc etc option!! Man, was I lucky!

Edit Again:YAY!! New Gem!! Jus seven more to go!

 

^Well, you still call yourself newbie? You are soloing with the hardest possible battles, and I am sure you could beat them without cheese, abeit it would be harder...and fun!

PS:From now on you will get new gems at each next 150 posts! Good luck pal!

 

Not a newbie really...trying to look at it from the point of view of the guys who wrote the Tactics mod...and then exploit it every which way I can.

Honestly, do you think Imp. Irenicus is a legal, normal fight? Shatter Magic anyone?

 

Shatter Magic, Endless spells, dimension door around, unlimited healing, heh heh heh very cleverly prepared mod indeed. He is IRENICUS afterall, he needed to be as strong as those in cut-scenes! IMHO.

 

And yet...falls to the might of the Cloak of Mirroring! Heh..I don't care if its cheating to put it on the ground before the fight...I AM a "lvl 31 Archmage, lvl 40 Hierophant" with 19 Int and 20 Wis after all...

 

Hey Faraaz, WAIT !! I have started first,you can't finish the game before me !


Hehe,I could imagine what whould happen after reactivating your mage class.I didn't have any doubt about the power of a normal mage/cleric.
Not a dualled wildmage-cleric with 30 levels in each class

I think that now you could definitively raise the difficulty to insane.Nothing to be afraid of anymore

Very cool the screenshots,btw
These wild surges are just awesome !

I had the same problem.From the read-me : ...After you have completed the old Planar Sphere's quests,simply create the creature psq01 with the Cheat Console on the first level of the Planar Sphere and you can start the mini mod...

It will create Teos again and you can start the mod ...

IIRC if you have the Baldurdash fix-pack, dooms will not stack.


@ Silverstar:

Silverstar's conversion is on the right way.I can see it ... Some more time and you will be like Valygar,you will hate any magic user

Seriously though, mage-classes are too powerful in BG2.Even if you don't use ''cheese'', they have too many ways to deal with every situation.
Not abusing the game engine or limiting yourself in the use of some spells-tactics will make the game much more challenging but still far from impossible.The only way I have found to counteract this is to ...not use a mage at all.It added a lot of replayability in the game.At least for me...