Solo Cleric help? (Tactics and Ascension)

[wally p]

hi everyone [img]smile.gif[/img] *waves*

i've been vigorously lurking here the past couple days (nothing says procrastination from schoolwork like "internet" and "vanquishing evil" read: baldur's gate! )


anyhow, i've got two projects on the burner at the moment, a solo assassin and a solo cleric of helm, both on Core, for now.

I enjoy the party interactions and the tactical puzzles of soloing the most--so I'm also going through with different varied parties with various joinable NPCs (Valen, Sola, Kelsey, and Tashia added), but for now, I'm cutting my eye-teeth on the Tactics (and if/when I get there, Ascension) Mod, since I'm coming back from a BG hiatus [img]smile.gif[/img]


so far, both chars have finished everything (except the vampire) in the Imp Ilych encounter (well, the cleric also didn't do the Cambion because she was lazy, but after killing Ilych's party, I figure she could have handled it if she wanted to) and the assassin has done Circus, Mencar, Coronet, and Slave Ship quests (including Lilarcor).

I'm interested to see how far I can take these solo chars before the mods/game become impossible for further advancement--but any sort of tips/advice would be helpful too [img]smile.gif[/img] I *think* I've found most of the old threads that helped (and they did help!) but I think I'm gonna need all the help I can get.

For reference, I try not to use cheese that involves severely abusing monster AI--like cloudkilling off-screen or slamming doors on monsters that have the cognitive and/or physical ability to open them (e.g. I will slam them on mephits and animals because I think they're dumb enough not to figure out how to open it).

anyhow, hi again--and send me your cleric and/or assassin tips!

[ 01-20-2004, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: wally p ]

[Q'alooaith]

you'll want your cleric to keep casting find trap's when in places that might be trapped, getting turned to stone is not the most fun thing to have happen..

The assasin, well pile on the find traps, then the stealthy stuff I'd recomend, getting a cloak of non detection so them silly magi don't spell you out work's good, and then backstab your way to the top..

You could, if you play you card's right get though all of SoA with either, as long as your willing to reload a fair bit and not face thing's you don't have to..

[Armen]

welcome to ironworks [img]smile.gif[/img]

[wally p]

yup yup, good advice--but way ahead of you there [img]smile.gif[/img]


for more reference, before my BG hiatus, I took a solo Totemic through all of SoA (no imp bodhi or irenicus, but improved spellcasters, vamps, etc) as well as the entirety of Watcher's Keep excepting Demogorgon, so I know most of the basic things to look out for.

I'm just worried about wiggling around the weaknesses of both classes--i.e. higher lvl spellcasters and what to do about really few attacks per round--and of some of these improved encounters [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Rataxes]

Very impressive feat to solo a Cleric through Imp Ilyich, even if it was on Core rules. Just about the only class I haven't either heard of or gone through with myself. Might I ask how you went about killing Ilyich & Co? Just the broad strokes I mean.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Oil of Speed can greatly help your ApR, and it increases your chances of running away too, if the situation degenerates into an unfavourable one.

Other than that... erm... depend on your summons I suppose (especially the ones with weapon immunities). I am pretty sure there is no blunt/sling weapon that has an increased rate of ApR.

You could dual-wield something if you remember to boost your THAC0 extremely.

Oh... and scavage every single Potion of Invisibility you can find.

If you are a Good-Aligned Cleric, get ready to Turn Undead once you hit level 20+ or so. When you do so, you can casually explode any hostile Undead, be it be a Shadow (15+ will suffice actually) or a Lich. Will not work on Demi-Liches or Greater Mummies though.

[Rataxes]

Are you sure Greater Mummies cannot be instakilled with TU Dundee? I recall repeatedly doing so with my Undead Hunter long ago, though he was probably at lvl 25 by that point.

[ 01-20-2004, 11:46 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

[Dundee Slaytern]

Hmmmm... maybe I am mistaken about that one then. I remember there was a table on the levels necessary to successfully Turn Undead. I think mine was "only" lvl 19 or 20 at that time.

[wally p]

soloing a cleric in Imp Ilych was actually extremely easy, I found, but it was particularly easy for my cleric of helm because of

1) true sight and
2) seeking sword

an immediate casting of sanctuary after resting, animate dead to get an army of skellies, true sight to negate backstab, doom + hold person to freeze the thief (not always necessary).

the ilych crowd itself wasn't too bad--Rasputin has pretty bad saves (compared to some of the others, i mean) and is easy to separate--help him not save a hold person by dooming him.

the glabrezu can be drawn away by sanctuary (he sees through it but zhivago can't true sight it) and prot from evil makes it so he ignores you. then holy smites followed by a holy power + seeking sword = thac0 of 5 (!!!) and 3 attacks per round with a +4 enchanted weapon.

the golem doesn't change targets, so your cleric can tank him for a bit while your 5 skelly army beats him down (they apparently have at least +1 enchantment, i guess--I was surprised).

ilych failed a hold person save (helped by doom), and zhivago and karamazov were taken out by the acorns (miscast magic destroys him), 2 skellies, and holy power + seeking sword.

it was a lot of fun, actually, though not without its fair share of reloads before I figured out exactly how to do it.

[ 01-20-2004, 02:53 PM: Message edited by: wally p ]

[Rataxes]

Yes, I've never taken a good look at the Cleric of Helm until now, and he does seem to have a lot more soloing potential than I have given normal clerics credit for. Like you described, his abilities seem to make him almost as tailor-made for the various challenges of the Imp Ilyich mod as the Thief and his subkits. I'm tempted to try out a Cleric of Helm myself, if only to see how well he fares in the first dungeon on Insane. It was news to me that Prot from Evil works against the Glabrezu.

Just one more thing *Pseudo-analysis about Imp Ilyich following* you apparently took out most of Ilyich's party 1v1 by using Divide & Conquer, but how did you manage to completely separate them one by one without shutting the door? At least in the two most recent versions of Tactics, it's been my experience that, while the rest of the party will not exactly follow you if one of them has been dragged away by you, they will about once every 30 seconds move to the spot where the one you're fighting most recently saw you, and stay there until they either

1) see you
2) update their position once again if the one you're fighting is still within your sight
3) do not have any member of their party in your sight, at which point they stand guard till it's time to update their position, they then go back to patrol mode.

The point being that if you managed to separate one from Ilyich's party and drag him away to the central room to fight him, the rest of the party should after about 30 seconds also move to the central room. I'm wondering whether you experienced this, and if so, how you dealt with it without shutting the doors.

[ 01-20-2004, 03:11 PM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]