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Originally posted by Sojourner
She grabbed a diamond she had noticed twinkling in a tree, and continued her journey to Friendly Arm Inn...

After several re-loads, I realized Jade could not face Tarnesh at this point, so I decided to save him for later...

I never knew about that hidden diamond. Do you know if it's available in every version of the game?

If you want to use every resource available to you, you can always let the guards help you kill assailants such as Tarnesh. It might be somewhat cheesy, but it's pretty realistic, as far as I'm concerned. Just wait until there are a few guards nearby before you initiate dialogue. The tricky part is avoiding Horror and making the killing blow. To be sure you make the killing blow, you could use the Wand of Magic Missiles, which never misses.

I've never tried to solo the game. The last time I played, I had a Cleric/Ranger and Imoen (a Thief dualled to a Conjurer). They didn't really do anythng out of the ordinary, but they never had any serious problems.

Thanks for the link Ainu,

I have had luck with mods thus far, so hey here comes. I try not to super-cheese, like it is just too odd to carry a 9999 arrows in one's quiver. 120 is plenty.

Spidersbane and web, some sticky situations for the baddies ... Oh assassins do rock, I have one in a 4 member party (assassin, Jan, Viccy, and Heiry, very fun with 3 UAIs).

So here is the new mini-me, one person against all the evil that plagues the sword cost (at least until I braven and take the evil with f/t Moonrae):

Vaelaanthlae, elven male f/m/t, al CG:
Str: 12
Dx: 19
Con: 17
Int: 17
Wis: 10
Cha: 11

Originally posted by VonDondu
I never knew about that hidden diamond. Do you know if it's available in every version of the game?

If you want to use every resource available to you, you can always let the guards help you kill assailants such as Tarnesh. It might be somewhat cheesy, but it's pretty realistic, as far as I'm concerned. Just wait until there are a few guards nearby before you initiate dialogue. The tricky part is avoiding Horror and making the killing blow. To be sure you make the killing blow, you could use the Wand of Magic Missiles, which never misses.

Oh, my PC was making her saves against the Horror Spell - and I had the guards helping, but I couldn't survive his Magic Missile spell. Even with the wand and the guards' help, I just couldn't take down his Mirror Image fast enough to interrupt his spell-casting. Now, for my solo fighter-thief, this was a cakewalk - while he was casting Mirror Image, I would run and hide, then safely watch from the Shadows while the guards removed his Mirror Image, and finally backstab him.

On the diamond - AFAIK, it's in every version of the game.

I have a pre-patched version of the game that does not have the Ring of Wizardry or the Ankheg armor but it still has both the diamond and the +1 ring.

I usually avoid the assassins until I am higher level. Especially the one near Friendly Arm since I never get Khalid & Jaheira so I have really no reason to go there.

One nice trick I discovered when soloing a bard is to sneak into the Ankheg spawning pit and grab the wand of fire early. All you need is two invisibility spells (or potions) and the Ankhegs won't bother you. That wand is a life saver during early, weak levels.

Originally posted by Sojourner
Once out of Candlekeep... ...She grabbed a diamond she had noticed twinkling in a tree...

In the area south of the Friendly Arm, she grabbed the Ring of Protection +1 from a rock... [/b]

Do you know the coodinates of these? I know about the Ring of Wizardry at the Inn, and the armor in Naskell, but I haven't heard about these before. Is there any other "hidden" items anywhere?

Ring of Protection +1:
On the map directly south of the Friendly Arm Inn there is a Ring of Protection +1, in a hole in a rock.

Area S of Friendly Arm Inn (x 1006 y 1114)

A Diamond:
On the east side of the map is a stone path. The path has three curves in it, one to the east and two to the west. At the second curve to the west, the northern most curve, there are two trees standing on either side of the curve. In the west tree, halfway up the treetrunk, a diamond can be found

Area E of Candlekeep (x 4418 y 1956)


The "blue" areas are very small so keep looking!

Thanks, JackOfClubs!

More Easter Eggs:

Wand of Frost - tree stump NW of the mine pit on the Nashkel Mines map.

Ring of Fire Resistance & Star Sapphire - base of cliff in SW section of the map E of Nashkel mines

Scroll of Cloud Kill & Scroll of Chromatic Orb - hole in ground in northern part of Albert's Woods map (W of Nashkel Mines)

See here for approximate coordinates (click on Hidden Items).

Ankheg Plate Armour: Nashkel map, lone pine tree at western edge of farm, it's in a hole near there... it always take me a while to find it but it's worth it

If I'm not mistaken, the scrolls of Cloudkill and Chromatic Orb are not available in "Albert's area" if you use the later patches. But if I'm not mistaken, the Mage in Firewine has a scroll of Cloudkill, and Chromatic Orb is readily available.

Just for the fun of it, I started soloing the game with a Fighter/Mage/Thief a couple of days ago. I don't know if I'll finish the game; I just wanted to see what it was like to solo the game. Sure enough, I've been making use of all of her skills, just like I would be if I were playing a full party. I'm not sure whether I enjoy soloing the game as much as I enjoy playing with more than one character. I think part of the problem is that I'm too familiar with the game to enjoy it like I used to when it was new and surprising. Oh well, what can you do.

I'm using all of the tricks I know, and so far, it hasn't been too hard. I decided to seek out the "experience cows" as soon as possible. The vampiric wolves in the Beregost Temple were a big help, and as soon as I picked up a Protection from Petrification scroll from High Hedge, I headed for the area where all of the basilisks are. I levelled up pretty fast that way. I avoided the party of snotty adventurers in that area for the time being, because I didn't think I was ready for them, but the basilisks weren't as bad as I expected them to be, especially with Korax helping me. The next stop was Gullykin, then Firewine. Firewine was actually pretty easy. Mostly it was just a matter of finding traps, backstabbing, and using the Arrows of Fire I picked up along the way. The trickiest part was preventing the Mage from casting Lightning Bolts; the key was to interrupt his spellcasting at every turn. I didn't have to reload, so I didn't have to worry about excessive respawning. The hardest thing up until that point was dealing with the mercenaries in Gullykin. I used a Potion of Haste, separated them, and killed them one by one with backstabs and arrows. I haven't fought the ogre mage at Firewine yet, and I'm not sure how I'm going to handle that yet.

When I felt sufficiently pumped up, I headed for Nashkel. I just finished the Nashkel mine and the area where all the tombs are a little while ago. The "amazons" were a bit of a challenge, but the most difficult encounter was the Mage and his jellies. I had the Necklace of Missiles with me (I can't remember where I picked it up), which made short work of the Mage, but the jellies were tough, especially with the poison and the paralysis they inflict.

A few notes on strategy: it's important to use fast-acting spells and weapons against enemy spellcasters. Daggers with a speed factor of 0 and Magic Missiles prevent them from casting any spells, which is a life-saver. For large groups of monsters, Sleep and Stinking Cloud are very effective for keeping the encounters manageable. (I don't think Web and Grease will stop them from firing arrows at you, so they're probably less effective.) I don't want to rely too much on the Necklace of Missiles or a Wand of Fire (I haven't gotten one of those yet) because I think they spoil the game.

At this point, I'm not sure which of the upcoming battles are really going to thrill me. The demon knight at Durlag's Tower, and the cultists and the demon at Ulgoth's Beard are worth looking forward to, but I'll just have to see as I progress.

I tried soloing a F/M/T once and found it to be too easy. I just started a straight Druid and an Elven Fighter. I dunno how long either of them will last since I've been through the game so many times and know where just about everything is. It's just not as fun when you already know what's on the other side of every door.

Originally posted by VonDondu
...Korax...

There's one NPC that should've been able to join the party. I always liked that goul.
Too bad he didn't turn up in BGII.

Well I am working on my first solo effort and it is not too bad. I started a f/m/t, but I jumped ship and I am soloing a female elven f/t named Moonrae, al N:
St: 16
Dx:19
Con: 18 (tome)
int: 10
Wis: 15
Cha: 11 (tome)
Life isn't too bad, I havn't been doing every last exp fodder, but have been rather just roleplaying her. She is kind of an assassin striving for balance. She just cleared the Cloakwood mines last night. Wyverns can be a bear, since she had no oil of speed. But between the necklace of missles, backstab (she purchased the ring of invis from Ulgoth's beard inn), and sniping with arrows of biting from good old Thunderhammer forge she is able to take out all in her way. Now she is on her way to Baldur's Gate to really do some "shopping", especially for a fine pair of gauntlets and a mighty helm and cloak, and to finally stock up on some oil of speed to prepare for Durlag's Tower...

What is worrying me is the werewolf island quest. She is going to go for it, but there are some nasty moments where you get really trounced on especially in B's ship. I am thinking of the old arrows of detonation, ring of fire res and potion of fire res, but those buggers are magic resistant. Any tips?

Originally posted by Skuld
I tried soloing a F/M/T once and found it to be too easy. I just started a straight Druid and an Elven Fighter. I dunno how long either of them will last since I've been through the game so many times and know where just about everything is. It's just not as fun when you already know what's on the other side of every door.

Unfortunately, that pretty much sums it up for me, as well. But the fact that people like us have replayed it so many times shows what a great game it is.

Originally posted by Skooter327
I always liked that ghoul.
Too bad he didn't turn up in BGII.

Considering how many NPCs from BG1 showed up in BG2, I'm surprised he didn't.

He was always the frontliner for my soloists whenever I went into that area. And they definately should've brought him into BGII.

Originally posted by Hesperus
What is worrying me is the werewolf island quest. She is going to go for it, but there are some nasty moments where you get really trounced on especially in B's ship. I am thinking of the old arrows of detonation, ring of fire res and potion of fire res, but those buggers are magic resistant. Any tips?

I can't remember how I beat them the last time (with a Cleric/Ranger and a Thief dualled to a Conjurer), but I remember that it was very tough. I think you're on the right track with the fire damage/fire resistabce plan, though. If I'm not mistaken, there's a difference between magic damage and fire damage, so even creatures that are resistant to magic can still be hurt by spells and items that cause fire damage. Just don't burn down the ship.

I can't remember exactly what I did, but I probably used the fire damage/fire resistance trick. If it works, you can use Arrows of Detonation, Oil of Fiery Burning, Potions of Explosions, the Necklace of Missiles, etc. I'm sure I also did everything I could to make my characters resistant to physical damage: Armor of Faith, Blur, Protection from Evil, Mirror Image, Improved Invisibility, Potions of Invisibility, Potions of Heroism, Potions of Power, Potions of Invulnerability, etc. If I were playing a Fighter/Thief, I'd have to think about it, but Oil of Speed would definitely be on the list.

Thanks VonDondu,
I was hoping the explosive arrows would do elemental damage for those dang wolfies (BACK BACK BAD DOG BACK! from Spellhold...). Fortunately B's ship is on the water to help control the blaze . Oh my PC will be gulping the potions before that fight. A nice backstab with the staff of striking should loosen them up a bit as well... Too bad Korax doesn't make his way to werewolf island on the weekends.

Oil of speed and acid arrows have been the main things getting me through Durlag's, as well as those two big stacks of healing potions you find to save on the inventory space. 3 greater dopples at a time, yikes. And beating those Greater Wyverns was really exciting as well, with a backstab followed by a hasted hit and run. If it weren't for the room next to the Wyverns I'd be out of good ammo. Bows really rock in BGI. My f/t Moonrae is on the final level, with only one oil of speed left, which is saved the D-Knight. Soon the staff of striking will be hers, for the mighty X4 backstab with the gaunts of ogre power, look out. Luckliy she has 2 cheesy protection from undead scrolls packed away in the bottom of her bag...

some spoilers below

Well before this thread gets too old I figured I'd post some closing comments on my first solo effort, Moonrae elven f/t, inspired by this very thread.

Some spoilers below:













The demon mission was fun, given a potions of mirror-eyes to block the death gaze. She did run up stairs once or twice to get shadowed for a backstab to that big nasty, as she didn't have a chance to recharge her ring of invis upon the *unanticipated* excitement upon returning to Ulgoth's Beard.

Werewolf island wasn't as nasty as I thought, with oil of speed, backstabs from the staff of striking, potions of strength, power, heroism, invisibilty ring and the good old +3 bastard vs shapeshifters for a one-on-one hack-off with the leader wolfwere, as he was immune to the staff of striking. I tried the arrows of detonation with the ring and potion of fire res, but Moonrae was still getting damaged, and with all those bad doggies hacking at her, she felt it was too great a cost.

The entrapped mage island wasn't hard as well, good old sniping and backstabs. No haste needed for that one.

And the final battle, my gal assassinated all Sarevok's lackeys in the room except for the mage as he continued to mirror image and in all the excitement she got bored and just ditched him and took out Sarevok with a only a few arrows and 2 mighty backstabs, thanks to a potion of cloud giant strength and the old striking staff.

Overall you all were totally right, soloing is a blast. New excitement to a game played so many times through. Now on to solo BGII, after some shadowkeeper cheesing to fulfill her style and turn her into a fighter/assassin multi...

I soloed a f/t multi half-elven female through BG1 couple months ago...

although the beginning was hard, but after getting the dagger of venom, boots of stealth and the shadow armor, it was practically a walk in the park... especially when she was able to buy 100 arrows of detonation and 40 arrows of dispelling (for those annoying mirror images/other prots.) the demon knight died in one backstab and after slowing sarevok down with an dispel arrow and drinking potion of speed/cloud giant strength he died in three(?) or two backstabs... in the end she had 800k exp, and she didn't even do all the areas...

it was fun, and if i would've known you can wear drizzt's armor while hiding/disarming/doing thievy stuff, i might've even killed him... and having the patch to store more than 20 arrows would've been nice as well...