Infinity Engine Ironman Extravaganza

[Shannow]

Thibbledorf was sent through the Chambers of Eight and actually pulled through. If some puny monk can do it a dwarven fighter can do it twice. (Khelgar, natch, natch)
And anyway, those eyebrows will grow back in no time. It isn't as if anything could further damage his looks anyway.
Bruenor was really angry with those stupid monks. If one of his party members had died because of them, he'd have wiped out the whole blasted monastary.
They considered looting the tomb after all that those monks put them through, but 4 iron golems made them change their minds.
Nothing much stands in their way until they reach Kandahar and rid it of the invaders...eh...I mean Kuldahar.
In the humid jungles of Chult they meet the first challenge for quite some time.

Since they were prepared for the Guardian he wasn't soooo tough. He ripped through the summons in no time. Then he thaught that Bruenor looked kinda yummy.

After Heal from Cobble Bruenor was able to go on. Only to be chewed on again... This time it really hurt but he managed to get away before being chunkified. Thibbledorf has the honor of playing with the Guardian now. Bruenor tries to get to Cobble for a second Heal and Morinda and Furin are pumping magic missiles into the Guardian who has been quite damaged by Katharina's lightning, statics and flamestrikes.

Just before Bruenor reaches his second Heal...disater strikes! For the Guardian. Hurt by Furin and Morinda he finally succumbs to a further static charge from Katharina.

Running back to Kuldahar as fast as they can they arrive just in time to be attacked by neo-orogs and yuan-ti.
Those orogs actually pack some punch and Bruenor needs a Heal, again. Cobble just hopes that he won't lose all this powers in the years to come. It could come in handy if he were ever to defend his Clanhold.

But there is only one out-come to this battle:

Now the party is off to Dragon's Eye. Will they finally meet their end at the fangs of some snakes?

 

[Moradil]

It is time for another update on Moreseia and The Shriekers.

Still feeling that aditional rehearsing is needed prior the gig in the Bandit camp club, the band exterminated monsters in studio-cave with good acoustic (notice that Moreseia decided to change her image a bit).

Finally, the band arrived to bandit camp. Some uninformed metalhead tried to block their way inside, but soon was persuaded to let them in.

Despite frequent distractions from arrow shooting fans, the band members were finally ready to enter music hall and start shredding.

The gig was absolute success. The fans were literally overwhelmed by killer music of The Shriekers.

Surviving fans even asked for bonus song.

The Shriekers entered Chapter 4 of this rocking story. Thanks to their musical abilities, they were invited to play in the most renowned underground club in the entire Sword Coast - Cloakwood mines club!

 

[Moradil]

The Shriekers continue their trip. During their travels, they often stop and shred to death.

As their fame grows, the internal tension in the band grows stronger, too. Sometimes, it just goes over the top.

Sometimes, it is necessary to remove competition. Sirines with their sweety voices have no chance against The Shriekers.

The band explored mysterious cave and found nice stage. It would be great to play a gig here.

With growing fame and reputation, Jaheira started to utter comments about change of leadership and such. Consequently, Moreseia kicked her from her band. Instead of Jaheira, new bow string player was hired.

The band found something, which looked like entrance to underground club. They decided to eplore possibilities of making some money there.

But soon they discovered that this is definitely not a club.

The proprietor of this abode recommended them to die... and Moreseia uttered her last shriek.

She rocked hard and died young, as it should be.

 

[fastpunk]

I abandoned my BG2 playthrough because of boredom. I don't know what is it about that game but I just can't get into it. So I guess you can sign me up for that BG2 deaths list!

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Just like this thread, The Metagamers refuse to die.

They smack the hell out of an undead happy cleric.

More smiting because using some robes as a disguise got boring really fast. On a side note, improved haste is really good. As is Recitation, Emotion: Hope, and Defensive Harmony.

Snakes have been squished. Feeling rather suicidal, the Metagamers decide to do something really stupid, that will end in an incredibly epic and immersive death.

They called this bad boy up. It promptly rips through all of the summoned creatures, lays some pain on the party with punishing melee attacks, and resists most spells. Save electricity ones however.

Tortoise Shell is one hell of a lifesaver, being like a great damage control spell, saving both Crazy Motherfucker, the sorcerer, and Eco-Terrorist Guy, the druid. Too bad I didn't have more....

Unfortunately Eco-Terrorist Guy bites the dust, and the cleric of the group along with Angry Short Guy are thrown in front of the dragon to buy time for more Arrows of Piercing to fly into the dragon. It's nice that some Infinity Engine staples actually did stay as good in Icewind Dale 2 as they were elsewhere. In the end, the beast succumbs to the volly of arrows, but does down both priestly spellcasters. Normally it would be a minor inconvenience, but with a huge fight in Kuldahar coming up alongside some strange glitch that made all of their downed equipment disappear after the Guardian died, things went a bit sour. See, the two divine spellcasters were carrying all the potions and the like, which was going to make the next sections rather difficult.

It begins.

The bodies pile up.

Keep em' coming.

A slight change of scenery.

Back to the killing fields. And am I the only one who wonder how a bunch of cold-blooded snakemen were able to trek across some icy tundra to get here anyways?

It's over as The Metagamers resurrect their fallen. They're a little behind on experience though.

More snakes and lizards to knock down...

I sense the need for rest...and a lot of undead...

Take that random imprisoned super-mage......

Go undead go!

And the Metagamers leave off here as they continue their descent into the bug-ridden hell (both in game and meta-game) of Dragon's Eye. Will they emerge victorious? Probably not...

 

[Shannow]

Wow, I'm really impressed that you survived Kuldahar with the healers down
I'm also in Dragon's Eye but I'm not in the mood of continuing. I'll pick it back up sometime though, so don't strike us out yet

The equipment might have disappeared because you auto "rest" after the dragon fight.
Is your version patched? Because I noticed your drowned dead summon. IIRC, they patched the summon undead because it became too powerful too fast. I thought that drowned dead were out completely...

 

[Murk]

^ Yep, the auto-rest after the dragon fight was retardedly retarded and makes a lot of stuff go poof.

I'm sure there's a minor fix out there that will uncheck that flag and allow you to skip it.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Nice, thought this thread was dead. I've never seen the end of IWD2, so it would be cool to see it, if you can be bothered, Mr. Murrow.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

It isn't over yet...

If I were more creative I'd make an Indiana Jones reference here. I'm not though.

Fire works well on these chumps. Burn baby burn!

Not so well here though....Snilloc's Snowball Swarm to the rescue!

I'm not going to bum rush you.....these undead and spell protections are not in any way indicative of some assault upon you....

Uhhhh....ooops?

More killing before the bug-ridden mess that is the random "time-travel" sequence that serves no purpose other than to be a bug-ridden pain in the ass of scripted sequences thrown together.

And here's the end of it. Yay.

Demon-killing for the old-man from the ice temple in the second chapter. It's free experience and easy as can be, so why wouldn't anyone do it?

All in a fraction of a day's work....

Big welcoming party at the entrance to the rather appropriately named Fields of Slaughter....

The Metagamers begin to mop the floor with the enemies, although the Fallen Bladesingers deal some nasty damage and things seem pretty bad when a bunch of them are lured to the battle...

A Mass Invisibility scroll saves the day however....and seems like a decent choice for a new seventh level spell....

The welcoming crew is taken care of.

My undead are bigger than your undead....

Slaughter time!

This lich is kinda lame, especially compared to the BG2 ones.

The undead are easily routed. Take note of the typical loot on the undead elves. Talk about a monty haul...

The closest the Metagamers have come to death yet. I forgot about the exit party, and one of their spellcasters dropped a symbol of hopelessness upon the party, wreaking EXTREME amounts of havoc. Luckily, two party members manage to survive, regroup, and kick ass. That encounter did teach them something though....

Saablic Tan is demolished, the Metagamers level up, and Crazy Motherfucker picks out his first eighth level spell....Symbol of Hopelessness.

All that remains in the Metagamers way is the Severed Hand, and only the Xvim fight and the last battle are of any concern. The end is coming soon.

And somebody try and ironman BG2 for cryin' out loud.

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

I'm still here.

Good job! I've never seen any of this before.

As for BGII, I'd have a go, but I actually kinda suck at it.

 

[Pussycat669]

Judging by the long silence I presume that the Metagamers never made it? This thread was a good read though nevertheless.

 

[Redeye]

... somebody try and ironman BG2 for cryin' out loud.

I might do that soon.

Maybe.

Is that Projected Image/Simulacrum trick allowed?

I'm not sure if I should try Iron-manning all the way through BG1/TotSC then hitting BG2, or just start out in BG2.

Let's assume i just start fresh in BG2:

Since I have to stick with just the available party members, what are suggestions on my character's class?

No as far as the Kensai-Mage thing is concerned.
I'd love to have a Kensai Quarterstaff-wielder (Staff of Magi)
But no. Just no Kensai stuff. It's been done.

I was thinking Archer then switch to cleric, but when I tried that before my proficiency points in sling didn't transfer over. Also, can't get grand mastery in sling as archer- even if I chose a halfling (since halflings can't use longbows and slings are a racial weapon for halflings... it would be reasonable to allow the substitution.)
Then all I would need to do is grab Sling of Seeking and Girdle of Giant Strength for some munchkin fun- with access to both cleric and ranger spell lists.(See bottom for alternative)

cleric/wizard?
There is that sploit with projected images/simulacrum... but that's been done.
no

Barbarian? The Rage would be great vs Mind Flayers and Demi-liches. Also the Flametongue sword (available cheap close to start) counts as +4 vs undead...
So there is some potential there for early ubering.

Hmmmmm.
Too bad kits can only be chosen on first class.

Bards can do a lot of ubering by reading scrolls- like the fast level-up stunt for wizard/sorc in the Kensai/wiz build- except with even more favorable xp requirements.
The Blade Guide at Sorcerer's Place was quite instructive. (though the pickpocketing/reload stunt would be ruled out by ironman rules).
I'd probably go for a Jester. That stunt with Jester Confusion Song/Improved Invisibility seems like it would be quite fun.

Bounty Hunter... tempting. Traps traps traps.
But no dragon-chunking sploits.

I noticed that gnomes have illusionist/cleric/thief and other juicy things greyed out.
If that option was available it would be like that game where you can powergame by picking a half-elf magic-user/cleric/thief and make the other 3 characters half-ogre fighters.
I suppose half-elf cleric/magic-user/thief would be ok. (Is this another greyed-out one?)
Leveling would be a problem, though.

Druid. The werewolf specialist kind.
rawr.
Problem is it takes forever to get Greater Werewolf form.
"Transform and roll out!"
At least the flameblade spell counts as the flametongue sword (+4 vs undead)

I'm leaning toward the cleric/wiz/thief.
Fighter/mu/cleric or fighter/cleric/thief? (moar greyed-out options?)

ideas?

 

[Melcar]

Just play a sorcerer. Wild mages can be fun. Berserker/clerics are cool too. Cleric/thief is always interesting to play.

 

[Tigranes]

My favourite Codex thread! It lives!

I'm not sure if I should try Iron-manning all the way through BG1/TotSC then hitting BG2, or just start out in BG2.

Start out in BG2 so you don't spend a week dying to goblins then giving up.

I remember going pretty far as a specialist wizard solo ironman in SOA.

 

[BethesdaLove]

I've never seen the Pantaloons Enigma result in action. Do it.

 

[elenai]

What about powerleveling in bg2. Solo first chapters then take companions at high levels?

 

[Redeye]

Alrighty then!

I am not going through BG1/ToSC first.

Just BG2.

I chose a bard, specifically a Jester.

Why a Jester?

Because Raphael Argus will Sail the Seas Of Cheese.

Yes, suboptimal. I should have given him only 16 constitution because in 2E non-fighters can only get +2 hp/level maximum from constitution. This is Ironman, so those HP are very important.

Also, there is a Ring Of Human Influence available early in the game. This grants 18 Charisma.
My Ironman Plan called for some realism to be mixed with the cheese, so I avoided that easy cheesie.
I did go for the Hill Giant Strength Girdle to compensate for having crap strength - but I didn't buy it until after I had enough cash for the trip to Spellhold.
Still, I could have arranged the points a little better. For example a few more points of wisdom for mental saving throws.

It doesn't matter- 3 minutes of clicking the reroll button and I have a cheesemensch, just not an optimal one.

Ironman calls for caution, nay, cowardice!
However, my Jester has a below average Wisdom score.
So some stupid things must be done to stay in character (I can freely violate this by claiming that wiser companions guide him).
Example of Stupid Thing Not To Do In Ironman:

Smart thing to do:

More Stupid Shit:

End Of Dungeon Final Stats:

Pretty much all of the retarded shit (self-endangerment) in the beginning dungeon was due to a desire to level Imoen up as much as possible.
I hope she doesn't "autoadjust" on return to party later.
If that is the case- I will use the cheat console to give her a free level to compensate; if the game cheats I will balance it out.

So it begins...

The actual Ironman Let's Play will be more entertaining. I just wanted to get the really early stuff out of the way.

Truly fun Let's Play starts around entry to the Brynnlaw because I was too absorbed in playing/cheesing to do enough screenshots and write down witty notes about the action before that point.

Stay Tuned!

More and better stuff to come.

edit: got to look into making short clips of the hilarity of an invisible Jester sowing confusion in the enemy ranks

Another edit:

I'm using the BG2 Fixpack. with everything installed more or less.

I am playing on By The Book, not normal. So spells are not automatically learned from scrolls, and hit points are rolled not maxed.

By Brynnlaw I have lost 7-10k gold on scrolls I failed to memorize (plus 100,000 xp missed out on. Well not really, since I bought replacements for some of them)
Yes, I used Potions of Genius before going through stacks of scrolls. Still a bunch of failures.
Also: I forgot to use the temples to get my reputation up for better prices.
Also: I rested rarely. Not at all in opening dungeon.

Update later today.

 

[Murk]

I'm willing to try an iron man run of BG2, but I really suck at making Let's Play threads. I guess I could take a bunch of screenshots and present a shitty simplistic flowchart of what was up. I'm currently in IWD2 tho, so once I finish this I'll throw on BG2 with ToB installed over, but I doubt I'll get even halfway through BG2.

Once the high magic starts pouring in death becomes a little too common.

EDIT: Forgot, you have to use the in-campaign npcs, can't make more than one character for the BGs, lame. I was going to try a 3 man fighter/cleric party. Oh well, I'll try anyway I guess.

 

[Ammar]

Pretty much all of the retarded shit (self-endangerment) in the beginning dungeon was due to a desire to level Imoen up as much as possible.
I hope she doesn't "autoadjust" on return to party later.
If that is the case- I will use the cheat console to give her a free level to compensate; if the game cheats I will balance it out.

Everything that happens to Imoen in the starting dungeon *does not* carry over. That includes experience and her spell book. However, when you gets her in Spellhold she has a higher level. I think there's a Level 11 and a Level 13 version of her, which one of these you get depends on your own level/XP.

 

[Ammar]

EDIT: Forgot, you have to use the in-campaign npcs, can't make more than one character for the BGs, lame. I was going to try a 3 man fighter/cleric party. Oh well, I'll try anyway I guess.

You can actually do that. Just start a Multiplayer game and play it by yourself. You'll be able to create all six characters (or as many as you like).

 

[Redeye]

EDIT: Forgot, you have to use the in-campaign npcs, can't make more than one character for the BGs, lame. I was going to try a 3 man fighter/cleric party. Oh well, I'll try anyway I guess.

You can actually do that. Just start a Multiplayer game and play it by yourself. You'll be able to create all six characters (or as many as you like).

I think he was referring to the Rules posted by the originator of the thread.
"no making your own party"

I would have made 4 Archers and 2 cleric/wizards.
Switch one Archer to cleric to get the druid spell selection mixed with cleric one.

A squad of Totemic Druids would rule.
(6 Greater Werewolves, rawr!)

 

[Murk]

As Redeye said, the thread's rules for the BG games was you only make one character.

I'm currently at Chult in IWD2 so I'm near the end already, its weird but I've been having a lot of fun playing a bard in both games, unfortunately due to some weird glitch the War chant of the Sith wont work in IWD2 (health regen). That was a major let down ;(

 

[gunman]

You made me start a BG1 in Iron man mode, using the Easytutu conversion to BG2 engine. I have tried Tutu before but the monster random spawns were screwed up (with dread wolves and elite archers around Candlekeep and Friendly Arm Inn). Now, with the latest version of Easytutu and with the spawn patch things seems to have been fixed a lot.

The PC is a Skald named Harold. The Skald kit with its special song makes the game a lot easyer in the begining (+2 to hit and -2 to AC is a HUGE bonus for level 1 characters in BG).



The BG2 engine seems to disrupt the spell casters much often than the original. Tarnesh was a huge liability for playing an Iron man game in BG1, it was just a matter of luck to survive the meeting with him at the doorsteps of FAI. Now I've dispatched him fast, disrupting his first spell with a crossbow bolt, followed by a magic missile from Imoen's wand to finish the job.

After cleaning up the surroundings of Friendly Arm Inn of nasties, as well as the map south of it, Harold gained a level and is heading to Beregost. The party consists of Harold, Imoen, Khalid and Jaheira.

 

[WetWorks]

So, heres Maneater: an elven beserker who has had a hard life, and has a loathing of men in general. Maybe its because Gorion kept telling her that she and her good-for-nothing-murder-god-genes would never amount to anything but a bar-maid in a sleazy luskan tavern. Or maybe its because some of those Candlekeep monk instructors were a bit too fond of the ”hands on” approach. But anyway, her goal is to make men miserable, and help her forgotten realms sisters escape penis- tyrany.

Maneater starts her illustrious career with some petty theft.

Awww yeeeeaaahhhh!!!

Maneater pokes around Candlekeep for a while, doing trivial tasks for the local dullards. Then someone tries to kill her!!! Dun-dun-duuuun!!! *Cue longswords akimbo*

First Blood: A filthy male. And his filthy black chest-square.

Then follows more Candlekeep drudgery. A book, a cow, some bolts, meh!

Stupid friendly inbred candlekeepers.

Another bold career move: rat-exterminator.

So, after having single handedly solved Candlekeeps epic rat/cow problems, Maneater and that old goat, Gorion, heads out into the wilderness. Here Gorion is promptly maced to a gory pulp. Meh!

Next morning Maneaters goody-two-shoes sister joins up. They run into a fat random bastard, who comments the future of the boobified duo.

Two wankers with a bad case of vagina-envy, joins the Matriarchy.

The Matriarchy assaults some innocent diseased gibberlings.

Looting the old bastards corpse.

More diseased gibberlings gets euthanized.

Maneater and the Matriarchy, decides to head down to beregost. Beregost is full of more slow witted villagers and inept bounty hunters. The Matriarchy picks up Kagain, a dwarf with an attitude problem.
Plans for global vaginal domination are brewing.

Maneater and the Matriarchy helps out poor defenseless Silke, against some well-dressed ruffians.

The drunken lout, Marl, gets a full body massage.

The party leaves Bereghost, to roam the countryside looking for things to dismember, shiny baubles and much needed XP. Hobgobbos, kobolds, ogrillions are all squished 'neath their chainmail stilletos.

Maneater and the Matriarchy courageously decides to flee some ghasts just north of Nashkel.

Kagain drops his quest and suckles the Matriarchys bountyful bosom.

Branwen, the stoned cleric, is recruited from the carnival near Nashkel. This is just the start of plan to recruit more females into the group.
Further east they find Shar teel, a female fighter, who will join if a male fighter can beat her. Kagain bungles it, and forces the matriacrhy to kill their sister. A harsh blow. Plans for female domination are iced, and the group heads towards Nashkel. Here they stumble onto....

The Terror of all Terrors!!!

Having bested the terrible Noober in a tense and suspenseful shut-the-fuck-up-contest, Maneater levels up.

Off to the nashkel mines, where the group kills some dogs and some ghouls. They also encounter the emo-artist, Prism. And as we all know, women have a soft spot for artsy wankers, so the Matriarchy decides to protect him from the foul bounty hunter, Greywolf.

”That better be a goddamn masterpiece!”

Greywolf takes an arrow in the ol' windpipe, but Kagain bites the dust.

A quick trip to the local temple and they are back on track. Down the nashkel mines to fight a gazillion kobolds, and trip a dozen traps.

*Ohhh! Shiny stuff!*

Having commited mass murder on the puny kobolds, the matriarchy have reached the bottom of the mines. Ahead lies the boss lair. Its do or die time!

A tough fight. The bastard kept spawning in kobolds and skeltons, and then paralysed both Maneater and Kagain. Montaron got shanked in the gut by a skeleton early on, and Xzar found himself sourrounded and beaten to red goo a few rounds after. Branwen took on the mine-boss, and Imoen managed to keep the hordes at bay with just a dagger. The boss was then dispatched by the recovered fighters.

Things are now looking up. More gold, better equipment, more levels. Bounty hunters pose no threat.
The Matriarchy might actually make it!

Random encounter....
Those ghasts from some 8-9 pictures ago must have tracked them down.

And hereby ends the little known saga of Maneater, meanest longsword akimbo bitch on the Sword Coast.

 

[gunman]

That was kind of suicidal character, if you used her as a front line fighter. Usually ghasts can be outrun easily. Ghasts in Tutu are a good source of experience early in the game, giving ~650 xp each. I killed about 6 of them on the map south of Beregost, using entangle and runing around. A bigger problem was a vampiric wolf I have encountered on the way to Nashkel, I had no other option than to flee to the edge of the map, as all my weapons were ineffective.

The party of Harold has done quests and clear some maps around Beregost and Nashkel and now it's ready to explore the mines. Minsk has been just recruited, at level 4. The only death that occurred until now was of Khalid's, as fighting the spiders in the house in Beregost he panicked under the effect of poison and thus he was unable to use healing potions. He was raised at the temple soon thereafter.

The current party consists of Harold (lvl 4), Khalid (3), Jaheira (3), Imoen (3) and Minsc (4).