Duoing

[Ysen]

I've read the adventures of soloers and it intriged me. But because I like some diversity and because I soon want to play NWN (you can only create 1 character), I don't want one character but two. I've finished the game twice and have some experience with multiple classes and races.

Can anyone share his/her experience with me and give two builds who can take me to the end of the game. I don't want a Cleric (played it too many times) and I don't want to be a Monk (just don't like them). I definately want one spellcaster and one fighter or fighter/spellcaster. I think they will be neutral or perhaps good, but definitely not evil (which I play most of the times in BG (2) ToB and IWD2).

So again: has anyone interesting ideas?

[lightningpig]

I have played with a two character party (paladin and monk) and I consider it to be easier on the heart than playing solo, since you can make your characters balance out each other's weaknesses. Also, I ended it with both of them at level 24, which is gratifying in itself.

Since you don't like clerics or monks, let me just suggest an idea - I was actually running this party before I started my solo madness, and it worked pretty well. The party may not be 'interesting' due to the fact that their build is pretty bland, but they are quite effective. You could probably glean some ideas from it one way or the other.

It consisted of a human uber-fighter and a human sorcerer. I shall explain the most obvious first. The rationale behind choosing a sorcerer over a traditional wizard is because playing with two characters (like soloing) boosts levels quite quickly. A wizard won't find scrolls for the higher levels til later in the game, and so playing as one would result in a very lopsided spell collection, which won't help your cause at all. Basically the sorcerer's job is to supplement the fighter - so you will pump him/her with the diplomacy skills (diplomacy, bluff, intimidate) and alchemy - these will ensure ease of play throughout the game as well allowing you to maximize experience gains. The sorcerer should be human because they get extra skill points per level and this will allow you to pump up all the skills mentioned to a good level.

Note: You can stop pumping alchemy at 15, because that's all you need to made the brew - once you reach that alchemy level, i suggest you invest in search just so that dragon's eye won't be so annoying. And nevermind knowledge (arcana), there are many NPCs in the game who can do that for you.

Also, don't forget to get the heavy summons at level 9 and power word: blind, these spells are extremely helpful. otherwise, your spells should consist of buffs and area effect direct damage (mostly fire-based)

As for the fighter, you can actually change the race - i just picked human to be consistent. I would suggest some sort of elf (except drow), this is again for an early experience boost. Or you could go with half orc, which is an excellent uber-fighter race. Because you have no healing, you will want to minimize the damage you receive, so you don't have to hunt for an NPC cleric too often. Feel free to totally drop charisma, the sorcerer takes care of the interaction for you. To make an uber fighter, you want to get you dexterity to 14 in the start, pump your strength to 18 (or 20 if you're a half-orc) and get an intelligence of 13. Keep your Wisdom at 10 (so you can make those will saves) but drain your charisma and put the remaining points into constitution (make sure it's an even number). Every subsequent ability increase, put them in Strength.

Dex 14 is optimal, because Aasimar's Aura and Air Genesi Armor allow for a +2 dex bonus (exactly what Dex 14 gives you), and these are the best suits of armor in the game so this will maximize armor defense in the long run. Intelligence 13 is the minimum requirement for Expertise which can raise your AC by at most 5 (which is infinitely useful) - you could even get your AC to above 30 (almost 40 with the HoF items). At the higher levels, you could even run both Power Attack and Expertise at the same time against the weaker armored enemies (this stuff is amazing to watch).

You definitely want axe proficiency because this will allow you to use Haft Over Head (thrown bludgeoning damage) and Cloudkiss (thrown lightning damage) - also it lets you use Backblighter, which is possibly the best one-on-one weapon in most situations. Put your feats into the saving throw boosters first as well as dodge and deflect arrows (min Dex 13) - the early enemies don't have good armor yet, so you can save the weapon proficiencies for last since the fighter is proficient in all weapons. Also put points into improved critical and improved initiative - these are no brainers. The other weapon feats are up to you, though I wouldn't suggest using two-handed weapons since they deprive you the benefits of using a shield.

I think I've typed enough for today, if you have anymore questions just let me know.

[Ysen]

Thanks, quite a detailled info you gave here. I really like the idea of the sorcerer . Never played one before, so it's gonna be a challenge to play a sorcerer. I really like fighters, but I was thinking about a Ranger or Druid for a change. Have you got experience with one?

I've never played a ranger before in IWD2. Played with Minsc in BG2, but I think he really sucked big time (well I liked Boo though). My six player party got a druid and I liked him, but I don't know if they are good at high levels. I really hate shapechanges, so you don't have to put that up as quality of the druid. If you or anyone have experience with druids and/or ranger please share your info.

And don't get me wrong, I really, really like clerics, but I play all my games with clerics, so now I want the challenge of reaching the end without one.

[lightningpig]

Coincidentally, I happen to have a solo ranger who is midway through Chapter 3. I have found that the ranger is basically a fighter who sucks and can cast a not so useful bunch of spells. The only redeeming qualities of the ranger are his free two-weapon fighting + ambidexterity and his favored enemy trait. If you could select 'demon' or 'human' as a favored enemy, then they would be worth it - but you basically you are stuck with a bunch of no-account-i-appear-only-once-in-the-game list of enemies.

You would be better off building a (dwarf/human/half-elf) fighter MCed with one level of ranger - this will grant him the two-weapon goodness (if this is what you are into) as well as the loads of feats that the fighter receives. The feats are especially useful for small parties (solo or paired) because it allows the fighter to use a variety of weapons (different types of damage) with some modicum of respectability - as well as receive the saving throw boosting feats.

Also, having a level of ranger will allow you to get the Heretic's Bane feat, which can be useful as there are MANY priests and what-not (I suppose even Madae counts as one).

Whether you choose to run pure ranger or fighter/ranger, you will have two general paths to select - you can go strength-heavy, in which case just run the aforementioned fighter strat (except you might want to plug your Dex up to 16 this time), or you can go dexterity-heavy (weapon finesse, relatively low strength, max Dex, at least 13 Int).

Strength

Advantages:
You can use your weapons to deal damage quickly, since Str affects hit and damage rolls. Str also affects throwing axe damage. You can be a pack mule.

Disadvantages:
Your AC will be mostly dependent on your armor and items. And also if you've played through the game a couple of times, this style can get boring.

Dexterity

Advantages:
As you raise your Dex, not only does your 'to hit' go up, but so does your AC. You can be a missile weapon whore.

Disadvantages:
You deal weenie damage (though you can partially offset this later with Little Giant (Dwarven Ogre)). Later in the game, you won't be able to force many locks/doors. Your damage type will be one-dimensional (piercing) since Weapon Finesse works only for small blades.

In other news, there are two classes I haven't seriously tried yet, and one of them is Druid - if you give me a couple of days, I might try running a Druid game and give you some feedback, but you're better off asking someone else, since Druids don't particularly excite me (at least not at the moment).

[Ysen]

Thanks Lightningpig. You convinced me, there will not be a Ranger in my party. Really looking forward to your experience with druids. I'll read your experience after my Holliday. After thursday I will not be able to visit this site for three weeks, because I will be in Florence and Rome (Italy) then. But after I'm back I'll be looking forward to your suggestions!

[lightningpig]

It took me most of my allotted game time yesterday to figure out a decent build for an independent druid, so I only started actually soloing with one today and my character is only at level 10, and hence I cannot yet provide any substantial information. I had hoped to get the stuff out to you before your vacation, but it looks like we will have to wait til you get back from Italy. By then I should have long finished the solo game (if plausible, of course) and maybe started another (maybe a solo barbarian, if you haven't tried that yet).

In any case, enjoy your vacation (I wish I could go to Europe sometime) and I'll have my feedback in by then.

[lightningpig]

Ysen isn't due back in a couple of weeks, but since I just finished solo druid - I'll write my comments now while they're still fresh.

Initially, the druid is quite weak owing to the fact that they aren't a melee class and they don't have their good spells yet. But since this scenario was very similar to my cleric solo, I didn't really mind that much.

For early on, major props go out to Barkskin and Smashing Wave. The former is a staple and you will use this until the end of the game. By level twelve Barkskin adds 5(!) to your AC which is invaluable - kinda like Expertise without the to hit penalty. By the end of the game I could get my AC up to 35, which is pretty good. With regard to Smashing Wave (up to 15d8 bludgeoning), I employed this frequently at the Horde Fortress as such (all those little poofy clouds are dead goblins):

http://pubweb.northwestern.edu/~jbf911/swave.jpg

Once I got to level 17 (late Chapter 2), I got my first 9th level spell and it was mostly cakewalk from then on. Summon Nature's All IX calls up either (2 Greater Water/ 4 Water / 4 Earth / 4 Elder Earth / 2 Greater Earth) Elementals. Now that is brute force at its finest - imagine being able to summon 4 Remys at a time. The biggest drawback was the fact that they were hostile to all creatures not under Protection From Evil - and druids can't cast PFE. After a while I got really good at timing my casts so that they appeared directly behind the first enemy line ready to do some busy work on my hapless opponents. I also switched screens once all the enemies were done, since that automatically clears up the screen of all summons. Basically I had Elementals in every major battle, which made them amazingly quick.

http://pubweb.northwestern.edu/~jbf911/elemworld.jpg

As for Shapeshifting - the only one that made sense was Air Elemental which is naturally the last one you get. I used this from the time I got it until I reached Kuldahar, where I was able to get my modded AC up above 32, which was my elemental's AC. All the other forms are useless because they lower your AC which is a premium in solo games. And the Air Elem looks really cool.

Verdict:
If you were to make a duo game with a druid and a sorc, it could definitely work - and it'd be pretty strong late in the game when they both have their heavy spells. Also you might have an easier time since the Sorc can cast PFE. The Sorc's early offensive spells could easily carry the party in the earlier stages (since the Druid can only fight to some degree) while at high levels they could both hold their own. My duo game reached 25 by the end so you should have all the spells and be able to experiment with them. It wouldn't be as easy as if you had a solid melee class but it'd provide a good amount of challenge and is definitely worth looking at. Ysen (when you read this), if you have any more questions let me know.

[Ysen]

Thanks Lightningpig for your detailed info. A Druid and a Sorcerer it will be. I'll tell you about my experience with them. By the way Rome is quite impressive and really worth visiting.

[Celeborn]

Like Ysen I have become very interested by the soloers adventures. I have not even finished the game yet though, so I think I need a little more experience before I tackle a solo game. I got the game in December 02. I took the advice of the game manual for my first party and created a 6 character party with 2 fighters, ranger, cleric, rouge, and wizard. I don't think I did a very good job with the initial build and I know I've made some development mistakes along the way. I lost some enthusiam for the game after reaching the end of chapter 1, but I'm back into it and I got that group into chapter three. I just discovered this post and similar small-party posts. I really like the idea of leveling more quickly. I think I enjoy the character development (in the sense of leveling, not story line) as much as the battles.

So I took lightningpig's advice to heart and started a two character game with a sorcerer and a fighter. Human fighter: str 18,dex 14,int 13,con 16,wis 12, cha 3. I took a little extra wisdom than lightningpig suggested to help with those will saves. My initial feats went to the saving throw boosters and dodge. The sorcerer is also human. I can't remember what her stats are, obviously 18 for cha and I took a couple of points off of strength. For my first spells I took chromatic orb and mage armor. I like the stun side effect of the chromatic orb and it's been quite helpful.

The docks area was very easy thanks to the fighter. The sorcerer sent in a chromatic orb every once in a while, but mostly she stayed back and slung stones. In town, I had trouble with the spy. I decided to skip him and come back when I had leveled up, but waited until after the palisade attack and he was gone. The palisade attack was challenging. I used up the sorcerer's spells on the first group of attackers and she really couldn't take any hits. I had to go for healing several times and I tried to stay near other npc's.

The palisade battle got me to level 4 and my first level 2 spell. I chose bull strength to buff the fighter with. This really helped for the shaengarne pass area. The sorcerer still isn't doing too much, but thanks to mage armor and the deflection +2 robe I can get her ac to 17. I love these long lasting buffs.

The orc camp was fairly challenging, but I accidently lured the orcs to emma moonblade as I was running away for healing and I noticed how quickly she dispatched them. So I stopped running and continued the fight on low hit points, but emma took care of them in no time.

I was level 6 just before reaching the dam section and armed with fireball, my first level 3 spell. Still I found the first battle in this section with the malarites and their animal friends extremely difficult. I repeated the battle several times and finally used the ever brilliant run away and heal up tactic. I used two fireballs to take out two malarites and horor was quite helpful to keep some of the animals off us after we were entagled. Haft over head was useful for taking out another malarite who was outside of the entagle region before the fighter started in on the nearby animals. I didn't think to stock up on healing potions, so I made the trek back to targos. I can't tell if it's cheaper to buy a bunch of healing potions or get healing directly from a cleric. There's a little gambling involved with the direct healing. Anyway, I didn't buy many potions, so I made the trip back to targos a couple of times.

I must take a moment here and vent a little frustration due to some inner turmoil. Resting versus buying potions...what should I do? It seems that the game clock has no impact on the game. Since I have yet to finish the game, I have been paranoid that eventually something would happen to give the game clock importance. Some quest option would not be available to me because I wasted too many days resting before getting to that area. But from the posts I've read it seems the game clock will not affect the game. In fact I noticed after I ran away in the middle of a battle and rested for 5 days or so, that when I returned to that battle not only had the monters that I killed not regenerated, the monsters that I had damaged had not healed. So I keep telling myself to forget the game clock and save my money, but something inside me still cringes when I see rested for X days.

Lightningpig how do you manage to get through on so few rests? I suppose your familiarity with what's to come helps you prepare and you've mentioned taking the healing potion route, but how do you stretch your spells out? I should have probably put this paragraph on your soloing thread. I'm refering to those posts with your solo cleric.

By the time I got to the bridge I had gained another level, now 7, and another level 3 spell: haste. Haste made the battle at the bridge almost comically easy. A couple of fireballs to soften them up and the fighter scurried around at double time finish them up.

The next battle took place at the horde fortress where I meet ennelia(sp?). Haste was still quite usefull, but the first couple of battles were more challenging than the bridge had been. I went to level 8 after a few battles and had a hard choice on my first level 4 spell. I had heard good things about improved invisibility, but thought stone skin might be a better fighter buff. The next couple of battles where quite entertaining as I watched the fighter buffed with bull's strength, haste, and stoneskin have his way with the enemy. A couple of chromatic orbs from the sorcerer kept the enemy mages stunned before they caused too much trouble. There was one battle where the fighter was instantly put to sleep. I was a bit put out and about to reload, because I didn't have enough confidence in my sorcerer, but decided to try a couple of things before giving up. Snilloc's snowball swarm was surprisingly effective taking out 4/5 enemy fighters. The spellcaster didn't seem too upset, so I followed up with a couple chromatic orbs. The caster was stunned and the remaining fighter was running around in a panic, so I just waited until my fighter woke up and he finished up.


Next I went to the gate east of ennelia. I was confronted with 2 ogres and 3 trolls. A carefully placed fireball managed to do damage to 4 of them. The fighter with his 3 buffs and a few more chromatic orbs from the sorcerer managed it, but the fighter took a good deal of damage. The sorcerer was out of spells, but we also leveled up to 9 after that battle. I selected improved invisibility as my second 4th level spell. I was about to go rest and recoup all my spells, but decided to see what I could do with this improved invisibility. I went into the caves and south to the first battle with about 15 enemies. The enemy cleric put up a defensive blade shield, but no-one else reacted as we were invisible. I sent the fighter on his merry way to hacking, my haste's were gone, but it didn't matter, no-one was attacking us. Once again I had reached a comically easy battle. I almost felt guilty. I hope we didn't need to carry out any dialogue here.

I rested before the next battle since our invisibility wore off. The fighter got charmed almost immediately. I tried not to panic. The sorcerer started taking damage and my own fighter was walking back toward her. I went for my new best friend, improved invisibility. Everyone became nice again. I threw a couple of fireballs at the three mages, a snowball swarm at another group, and started picking off the survivors with my crossbow. The fighter's charm expired and he handled the only other enemy to have been outside both the fireball and snowball ranges. It felt a little messy. I used up quite a few spells, but it was a battle that felt wholely won by the sorcerer. It was good feeling.

That's as far as I have gotten. Hopefully more later.

[lightningpig]

it's always nice to read about someone else's efforts.

first off, i would suggest that you download the patch. without it, you won't have access to the best armor - and you won't have to wait til chapter 5 to get good armor (you get nice ones as early as chapter 3). i knew you didn't have it because of the game-breaking ability of your improved invisibility spell. the release version has a small bug with regard to that spell - even if a cloaked character (or creature) makes an attack, there will be no targeting cursor available. which is why no one attacked you even if you were pwning them with impunity. in fact, if you don't have the patch installed (barring the presence of glabrezu) you could just cast imp inv on you fighter and mop up the entire map without incident. i admit this is a very useful bug to have around, but the game will lose its challenge if it is not addressed - besides, from your log i can tell you are pretty capable of figuring out various strategies even if you eliminate this advantage. also, later in chapter 5 - m'darfien, who is one of the enemies who uses imp will have the same benefit (you will have to either area effect kill him or wait until his spell wears off - or of course if you have purge, you can use that) - and he is a lich, so things won't be pretty if you can't target him. the other enemy who uses imp is one of the two final bosses and you can imagine how annoying that will be.

---

about the question you directed to me. i use potions only in battle and only if i have to. otherwise, if there is a healing npc available, i employ them. there are areas where you WILL have to use just potions, and so it pays to have stored up your pots instead of using them carelessly.

being able to stretch spells is largely dependent on the spells that you have available. also, in order to make your spellbook last a long time you have to try to use just exactly what you need and try to refrain from entering into overkill mode in every single battle. for example, if you can cripple an enemy mob with a fireball (or two) and can eke out a relatively quick victory without using haste, this is preferrable to a rout involving all your spells. it also helps to know which spells can last a long time, and try to maximize the use of these - like bull's strength, at mid-level, this spell can last (almost) all day.

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with regard to the game clock - it really doesn't matter, quests will not be locked or anything like that. i am only obssessed with it because it is a statistic that i can maximize (or in this case, minimize). also, if you are rp-ing the game, it makes sense to try to keep the entire story to within a year. but again, technically, if it doesn't bother you - it doesn't matter.

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good luck with your gaming - i will read whatever updates you will post. and if you have any more questions, i will try and answer them as best i can. lates.

[Celeborn]

Thanks for the reply lightningpig. I will definitely apply the patch now. I downloaded it a while back, but have been hesistant to install it because I haven’t experienced the problems I have heard others meantion: crashes and quests not working. Imp Inv does take a little of the fun out of it. Well, maybe not the first time. Perhaps I’ll use imp inv more often instead of as a last resort after the patch.

I was wondering if you could estimate how much healing you tend to purchase, maybe on a per chapter basis? I would say in chapter 1 I have already spent 2000-3000 in healing. Plus I have avoided some spending by resting for long periods. I’m still trying to find a good balance between spending and resting for myself.

[lightningpig]

actually, i only buy potions in the 1st and 5th chapters. i don't remember the exact amounts, but i'm sure i bought all of the battleguard's potions (not the light, inexhaustible ones) in my monk and druid solo games, as well as all of oswald's potions in chapter 5.

the best place to amass healing potions is in chapter 2 - ilium's crew (in particular, the druids) carry a hefty amount of pots. the same goes for the frostmaidens and frosttouches in the ice temple. just be sure to pick up all healing potions that are dropped and you should be fine, healing-wise. stick them all into the potion cases that you find and you'll be able to carry a lot of them at a time.

[Celeborn]

Duo continuation. Still in chapter 1, caves east of Ennelia. The remaining battles in the first cave were not bad. The spiders were actually quite easy. I remember having some difficulty with them when I came through with a party of 6.

I installed the patch before going into the second cave. The first battle in this cave was much more challenging. I fully healed and rested before going in, but I still had to repeat it several times. 5 orog, 1 ogre, 1 pusmug, 5 orc archers, 1 orc shaman, 1 orc witch doctor. The problem were the spell casters; they kept knocking my guys out or holding them. Tried improved invisibility, but I see the effect of the patch. As soon as I made an attack there was retaliation. I could get off 1 fireball, but that wasn’t taking out those spell casters. Finally instead of going to fireball which I tend to try first I used stinking cloud. I had gotten it specifically for casters due to the fortitude check, but hadn’t really tried it yet. It worked beatifully. Both casters were knocked out, a fireball may have been overkill, but I didn’t want them getting back up.

Both character were cut to half hp and I wanted to go for healing, but I had so many spells left that I didn’t want to make the round trip to Targos. So I plodded on to the next battle in the tunnel. Again casters were knocking my chars out. I need more will power. There were 7 half goblin/goblin hordling, 1 goblin sorcerer, 1 goblin shaman and 3 bug bear. I repeated this battle once. Second time around I guess I just got luckier. Didn’t really change my strategy, throw a fireball first. This time it was more effective and took out one of the casters and maybe knocked out the other casters concentration. That remaining caster did get my sorcerer in a hold, just after I got haste on the fighter. I let the fighter slug it out. Luck continued on my side as two of the casters spells failed on the fighter. Fighter finally manager to chop through the bugbears and take that little caster out.

I was definitely in need of healing down to 38/117 for the fighter and 9/36 for the sorcerer, but as I was picking up the loot I stumbled into the next group down the hall: 3 orog, 2 casters, 5 orc warrior and a big ass taskmaster. I forgot to save after the last battle and I figured I would definitely be resting after this one so just unleashed: stoneskin, fireball, several chromatic orbs (to keep the spell casters stunned) and the most useful was horror which got all but 2 of the warrior off the fighter. Horror rarely gets more two guys, but this time is was effective.

Well I still had a few spells left, and remembered to save, so I took a couple of healing potions instead of making the trek to targos. I notice I’m not resting for free healing. That stupid game clock is getting to me. I completed the yquog quest and decided to kill yquog for the xp. He was tougher than I expected. I had to repeat this fight once. First time I tried a snowball swarm, but it didn’t hurt yquog at all and he put fear on my sorcerer. Then commenced to kick the ass of my fighter. Reload. Tactic 2: Blind yquog, ooh, sneaky, sneaky, wasn’t expecting that was he? Worked better than I had hoped. Yquog tried a few spells while the fighter was chopping him up, but they didn’t work. The runts went after the sorcerer, so I put grease under her and added shield to her, to boost her ac by another 3 points. With shield her ac is 22, with mage armor it’s 19 which is what she has basically 100% of the time since armor is long lasting. I think I misspoke in my last post and said 17, but that was before the deflection robe. So base 10, dex +2, generic +1 (from dodge feat I think), and deflection robe +2. Then add 4 with mage armor or 7 with shield. Sorry, I’m sure everybody here knows all this, I just get carried away with the numbers. Give me more numbers, except that damn game clock.

Fighter at 64/117, sorcerer 15/36, going after Yquog's minions in the second cave: 3 hardened fire trolls, 4 young barhgest whelps. Tried a couple of times, but just didn’t think I had the support spells to do it. The trolls were immune to most of my magic, but very susceptible to slashing damage. They were dealing too much damage too quickly. I was about to go for healing and rest when I took another look at my spells. I thought with 2 4th level spells (stoneskin and imp inv). I have got to try again. So I gave the fighter both after approaching the enemy. As soon as imp inv went up everybody stopped attacking the fighter and moved toward the sorcerer. Strange choice to make the fighter invisible instead of the sorcerer right? But she was out of spells, there wasn’t anything else for her to do, so I ran her in circles and I set the fighter to target the trolls first. Once he hit one of them that one would turn to fight him, but now only one opponent attacked the fighter at a time, everybody else was running around after the sorcerer. This way the fighter didn’t take too much damage. Seems like a decent way to use imp inv after the patch. After the battle the fighter was at 50/117 and sorcerer 15/36. I guess she’s a good runner. And we got enough xp to level to 10.

My first 5th level spell: animate dead or cloud kill? I chose animate dead. Now I had more spells and some extra hp from leveling, so I moved forward. I let kruntur live for now and moved on to the next group. The fighter was still invisible so I used one of my animate dead and sent the greater boneguard in with the fighter. Everyone attacked the boneguard while the fighter was only attacked by his target. The boneguard was amazing. He was immune to a lot of the damage and ended the battle only ‘barely injured’. The fighter took no damage and was at 63/117 thanks to the +13 from leveling.

The next group were 4 ogre, 2 witch doctors and a goblin shaman. The casters always cause problems. I was out of stinkcloud; I guess I got no extra level 3 spells when I leveled. Let’s see I had some orbs, blind, snowballs… what to use? Well, my fighter was put to sleep and the ogres killed my boneguard so I used everything, plus another animate dead. But at least I didn’t have to reload!

Then came two Otyugs (aren't they cute) and some fire beetles behind the bars. Well none of them seemed to have a missile attack so picked off the ones I could with crossbow and haft over head. I went in to get the rest was surprised by a fire beetle queen, but with the zombie lord I conjured last it wasn’t a problem. The sleeping group that I ran into next wasn’t a problem. Unfortunately I didn’t have any good area effect spells, so I woke them all up. The zombie lord and the fighter handled them without taking damage. By the way I’m at 43/130 for F and 14/40 for S; the damage came from a snowball swarm from one of those casters a couple of battles back.

And that’s it for the 2nd cave. I can’t believe I finished it without a rest when I wanted to after the first battle. I wonder if I should get those bracers from Kruntur and his 15 decanter goblins? Yeah, why not. Those little guys are tough. I finally gave up on killing everyone and just killed kruntur and ran – hey where did those trolls come from? I’ll come back and get the rest of them after healing and resting.

I went to targos for healing, but I went back into the caves before resting. I completely forgot I had two animate dead left. I should have used those before leaving. By the way the bracers were busted, I could have avoid this entire fight. Hopefully I got some xp from kruntur. Those little decanter goblins are still tough. They took out my two dead pretty quick. Still we didn’t take too much damage. I went back out to ennelia for resting. I tried resting until fully healed. I don’t care about that game clock! It took 6 days to recoup 16 hp. Now that’s just excessive. Reload and rest for only 8 hours. I only recoup 1 hp. I’m a bit grumpy about it, but a 15 hp deficit isn’t bad.

More soon, I've already finished chapter 1, but I'm tired of typing. I think I'm reaching the max text length anyway. I think I got even more detailed this time. I made some notes as I played. Am I a dork or what? Anyway, hope some of you find this interesting.

[Celeborn]

Duo, chapter 1 conclusion. Started outside area above horde fortress. I was rested and nearly fully healed. Started out with 6 archers and an orog commander on the upper level. I figured a horror would distract a few of them then just use ranged weapons. Trouble was I kept moving too much and getting 4 giants and a couple of other warriors into the battle. The groups are tightly packed up here. Finally I managed to handle each group separately. I mainly used horror. We were too close to use any of the other area effect spells.

Next I went up the ramp to the upper part where I ran into a lot of doo-doo: 2 orc shaman, 1 orc high shaman, 1 orc witch doctor, 2 goblin sorcerers, 2 orc archers, 1 orog, 7 goblin hordling, 1 troll, 2 bugbear. 6 casters – yikes! Had to do this battle a couple of times and it was nasty. I think on the third try I managed it ok. Still took a lot of damage, but I was alive. Each time I added something extra. Finally I used 3 animate dead, a couple of fireballs, a snowball swarm, basically a little of everything. At one point the fighter was webbed, held, charmed, and cursed. The sorcerer got surrounded so I used imp inv and just stood there, so no one would attack her. The animated dead continued the fight alone. Time finally ran out on the fighter’s charms; a couple of the dead were wasted but most of the enemy were gone too. Not very pretty, we lived.

Got a chance to save and then headed west in the upper section. Encountered 2 hardened ice trolls and 4 bugbears. Fairly straight-forward axe work (may have used haste can’t remember) and my third dead guy went poof, so I summoned my last dead guy. Saved again and continued west to 3 elite orc archers, 5 orc elite, 1 orog commander, and 1 orc shaman. Used horror on archers while fighter and boneguard took out the others. Still had some haste left over (see I did use it) and rushed the shaman first thing. This got the fighter surrounded, but better to get that shaman out of the way soon. I accidentally activated the next group as I was wiping up the leftovers: witch doctor, orog commander and 7 elite archers. Just felt like more of the same. My haste was gone, but since archers don’t rush you I closed in on the witch doctor.

The next group was on the lower level on the west side: 2 half-goblin, 2 hobgoblin seargent, 5 hobgoblin archers and a hobgoblin elite. I must have gotten tired of taking notes at this point. The last group up here was an orog commander, 5 orc archer elite (3 with flame arrows - ouch) and an orc shaman. I was happy that I managed to finish the screen without a rest, but I used up maybe 8 heal potions.

I went for a rest and full healing before I tackled the indoor portion. First room had 4 bugbear. Haste and stoneskin were enough. The sorcerer just ran around when she got targeted. Then this funny old orc came out said he was going to kick my ass. He didn’t, but he wasn’t trivial either.

Next, to the south west room. I tried only attracting a couple of guys out of the room, but everybody followed. I seem to remember this working when I came through with my party of 6. I was going for the minimalist approach and ended up taking too much damage. On the second try I used haste and sent the fighter all the way into the room to one of the casters. He started getting swamped before he could kill the caster and I didn’t want him to get stuck, so I pulled him out. Gee, it’s nice to be able to run around everybody. Everybody got bunched up in the hall, good time for a fireball. I sent the fireball and pulled the fighter away just as it burst, nice secondary use of haste. I liked it so much I did it again with a snowball and then threw in some grease for good measure. Finished up with axe action and some crossbow bolts from the sorc.

I killed Guthman and minions in the center room with 2 fireballs and axe action. Got pretty low on hp so I drank a couple of potions and conjured a zombie lord to help me clean up the rest of the rooms. Well, that’s chapter 1. I think I’ll try to be more brief from now on. Thanks for reading.

[Celeborn]

Chapter two was pretty easy in general. There were a few tough fights. Illium was tough which surprised me because when I came through with a party of six he had been very easy. With the six I had everyone use ranged weapons, they took him out in no time. Tried that again, but it took too long and he started causing us too much damage, so I ran the fighter up to the ledge to close on him. Memory is a little shady now and I kept very brief notes, so not sure why the sorcerer wasn't more help, probably out of spells. I was almost level 11 after the horde fortress, so the fire beetles were enough get to 11.

The queen remorhaz encountered at the ice wall was tough and so was Lord Rengar. I leveled to 12 after the Lord Rengar battle. Of course the toughest of these battles was sherincal. Here was another fight that surprised me because when I came through with a party of six it had been pretty easy. Not sure why. I guess with more targets I could walk players away from her. Maybe she started attacking one of my non-humans for which her sword isn't as effective. Also I remember she fought us away from the temple, where this time she stayed on the ice ramp where I couldn't close in on her for a while until I remembered that I could change the ramp to stairs. Anyway, I must have walked away for healing 2 or 3 times.

The rest of chapter 2 was pretty easy. Cloudkill is great for the trolls. I started noticing I'm not getting xp for a lot of kills. And I didn't get any crystal golems this time, just ice golems. Thought that was strange. Zack is a great npc for identifying, only 50 gp. I tried to give my figter some arcana knowledge, but he can't identify for crap. So I've given up on that and just boost the fighter's search and disarm traps. The sorcerer is the talker, I just boost the 3 talking skills, alchemy, and concentration. I reached level 13 near the end of the ice temple level 1 and I leveled to 14 after destroying the altar on level 2.

Didn't spend too much time on battle squares, and I just recently learned that I wasn't completing ranks anyway. It takes 25 fights to complete 1 rank, geesh!

Another small observation I'd like to make about the difference between this game and the one with my six-player party is that I have got a ton of money. I've sold most of the weapons and items I have come across. With the party of six I was constantly trying different items and weapons on different people trying to get the most out of each character. With only two chars I'm not interested in a lot of the stuff we get, so I just sell it. Before I really hated to spend money for healing, but now I have almost 100K at the end of this chapter.

Chapter 3 had some tough and irritating battles. All the wandering village quests were fine. Limha was easy thanks to, I think lightningpig's suggestion, power word stun. I had a very tough time with the ghost-lights -- another fight that was easy with the party of six. I wonder if the difference is the patch? I think I walked away a couple of times and got healing from the dryad. A bit of a tough time with the treants, there were so many of them. The cold marshes battles were easier in general with these 2-chars than with my prevous 6, but they were still challenging and required a good deal of resources (spells, hp).

I could have leveled to 15 after the wandering village quests, but decided to squat at 14 in the hopes that some of the cold marshes battles would give xp. Unfortunately, no such luck. I didn't get a single xp for any of them.

At this point I'm going beyond where I abandoned my party of 6 and things will be new for me. The river mouth cave had one white dragon with about 6 or 7 wyverns. It was a tough battle and I repeated it a couple of times until I added enough elements. Still trying not to overkill every battle, but that means I get my butt kicked the first time through. Typically, I add an animate dead or an extra fireball and almost make it without losing someone, so then I add a stun or cloudkill. Usually I get by on the third try if it was a tough battle. Then I go in the cave and the very same fight is waiting for me. Another white dragon with 6 or 7 wyverns. Now here comes the most irritating part of chapter 3. The river caves and all those hook horrors. These hook horrors were kicking my ass. The trouble was there were so many and they come at you from 2 directions. Finally I found that horror and confusion were a couple of good spells against them. And after the first battle you can move the boulder to the dwarf camp. This let me keep the sorcerer behind the fighter and only fight a few hook horrors at a time. I don't mind a tough fight, the irritation...no xp!