My Version of Real Roleplaying

jju_57 · Post by **jju_57** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 6:17 am

I've read many of the posts here and have decided to create a party that should offer some real fun. First the ground rules. No reloads. If someone dies they're dead, no resurrection. If the main person dies I'll try to carry on with the remaining members (using a save SK and CULA). Not sure if I can do it but I'll try. My rational for this is that the main character tells another one that they also are a child of Bhaal. No cheese. If I retreat from an encounter then I skip it if possible. If not I go someplace and rest. No cloudkill and close door stuff. No wands of summoning. The only summoning is from magic and not before a battle. Also no buffs unless if I honestly would believe that some nasty is on the other side of the door. I'm approaching it as I really would if I was there. This means that I may agree to a quest but I won't do it if it appears to be too tough.

I'll use insane level and have installed the smart beholder script. Are there any other scripts like this? Since I have rolled a 90 for character creation I'll use SK to get my characters to the equivalent of 90 points. I just don't want to waste all the time rerolling. Also I'll not allocate what would be extremely low points in an ability just to have more for the 'important' ones. This means that no 3's in charisma. The absolute minimum is a 9 for any ability.

My party will have 3 or 4 characters. One reason is that a solo party gains XP too quickly and unbalances the game after an initial tough start. Three or four still let you gain good XP but it is still spread out. Since I've only played SOA through twice and haven't played TOB yet, many areas (Trademeet, and one of the Hills) are completely new to me. This means that I don't know what's beyond the next door for many of the spots on the map.

I want your opinion on the following party combinations. Which ones would be the most fun, balanced and realistic to play. Note that I haven't dualed or multied a mage since A) I want a sorcerer and B) IMHO a mage type wouldn't have been the fighter first. He's a brain and not strong. Slight build and decided to devote his intelligence to the arts.

Good Party:
Paladin, Swashbuckler, Sorcerer, and either a straight Cleric or a MC Ranger/Cleric

Mixed Party:
Paladin, Beserker DC at 12 to Thief, Sorcerer, Swashbuckler DC at 15 to Cleric

Evil Party:
Berserker, Assassin, Sorcerer, Cleric

Limited Party;
MC Fighter/Thief, Sorcerer, Cleric or MC Fighter/Cleric

What do you think? Any other ideas on a group or how to make the experience as real as possible? Also are there other upgrades that I can download that might make the experience more real and/or enjoyable. Thanks for all your thoughts.

jju_57 · Post by **jju_57** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 6:40 am

Underdog,

Good points. I intend to stick to the party alignments. My argument against wands is that it can be used 50 times in a single battle. Where a spell is limited to 5 or 6 times and it takes away from other spells.

Even though it might be thin, I can rationalize the party going on. There are many children of Bhaal plus all members were caught by Irenicus. They want to rescue Imoen and get back at him. Plus now Irenicus still needs two children of Bhaal to complete his and Bhodi's search. If another party member was a child of Bhaal then they would be hunted and tortured just like the main character.

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 7:46 am

best of luck to you on insane difficulty without the wand of monster summoning. There is a similar thread rolling right now called 'different gaming experience'. I tried to map a link to it here but it didn't work (no time to figure out why). Anyway, check it out. I am in the process of running a game like you own, however, I am using NPC's and if they die, so be it, I go find others. So far the going has been fairly easy but running into spellcasters is brutal with no reloads. Don't let them cast confusion. It will be the end of you.

Overall, this style of play is a great gaming experience.

jju_57 · Post by **jju_57** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 8:51 am

Ned,

I've read that thread. Some interesting posts. Any idea on which combo to try out?

I also won't replace party members. I've sort of viewing it as this is the group I came with and it's do or die. I'll temporarily add a NPC for the quest but kick them out when it's done.

BTW- Do you know od any other changes I can make like the smarter beholders? thanks.

Uther Pendragon · Post by **Uther Pendragon** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 9:49 am

I have done what you are about to do, and belive me it is even harder than it sounds.

I role-played a CN fighter/thief and a LG ranger/cleric duo, multi-player party through BG2 once. It was a lot of fun, but very hard for both PCs to stay true to their nature.

Example:

Theif (Penumbriis) wanted to pick-pocket Ribald the shop keeper, but the ranger/cleric would have nothing do with it.

In fact, he was so upset with Penumbriis, he made him donate 500 gold to the church for his actions or he was going to turn him in to the authorities.

"That damned do-gooder!!" (Quote from Penumbriis as he gave the priest his ill-gotten gold)

In case you are wonder why LG and CN PCs would even travel together, they're brothers. Sighh, you can't pick your family.

____________________________________
Uther Pendragon ~ Knight Of The Old Code

Meerlight · Post by **Meerlight** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 10:02 am

It all sounds good but if you really want to roleplay why not just pick up the normal NPCs and go with the story that the DM (the designers) set you with? And also, having a party of 4 characters with all 90 points in their stats is going to be ridiculously easy. Even on insane. Try roleplaying with one character using the first stats that you roll and pick up NPCs that you think would be good to your characters alignment. (No korgan or Vico if your a palladin for example)

White Rabbit · Post by **White Rabbit** » Tue Aug 07, 2001 2:36 pm

Originally posted by Meerlight:
<STRONG>It all sounds good but if you really want to roleplay why not just pick up the normal NPCs and go with the story that the DM (the designers) set you with? And also, having a party of 4 characters with all 90 points in their stats is going to be ridiculously easy. Even on insane. Try roleplaying with one character using the first stats that you roll and pick up NPCs that you think would be good to your characters alignment. (No korgan or Vico if your a palladin for example)</STRONG>

I wouldn't say it will be rediculously easy, I think jju_57 has a pretty good idea for roleplaying. Jju_57 try the [url="http://www.members.home.net/mrkevvy/"]Baldurdash[/url] site for more tweaks. They have a couple patches to make bosses much harder.

jju_57 · Post by **jju_57** » Wed Aug 08, 2001 6:38 am

In case anyone cares I started my adventure yesterday. I put the game on insane and added all the tough monsters that I could find from the different sites. My first time was with the evil party from above. Let me tell you that this is tough. Real roleplaying is not doing things just because I know a monster to be there.

This party was on the way to the djinni. I knew that there were about 7 or 8 of those air/smoke things but I didn't cheat. Up to this point I only found them one at a time or in a group of two so no preps. I spotted the lead one and before I could cast a summons my main character was stunned. An orb or spray spell then stunned two more characters. Next thing I knew my main character was just about gone. I tried to cast a heal spell but he died. If I was cheating I would have sent in a monster and then cast a few web's with no damage. Since this was near the beginning I decided to start over again with a good party. I used the mixed party as my group. My paladin and sorcerer are LG, the beserker is NG and the swashbuckler is CG.

That insane damage is tough. The clone on the second level hit for 38 and 40 points of damage. The thief near the exit backstabbed for 74 points of damage! I could have cheated and cast a dispel invisibility knowing that he was on the side but as I said I'm playing this like the first time through.

I finally made it out of the prison after 4 days. Being LG is also tough. No pickpocketing and no stealing from houses. I search because some notes or other important game clues are there but I don't steal the money or other goodies unless it's loot from an encounter or the house is owned by the evil people. LG also means keeping your word. If I break my word I'll use SK to lower my reputation by 4 points. This also means that a LG party must respect the law. I haven't gotten to the Viconia part yet but if it's a legal execution then she has to die. If it's a lynching then I have to save her. Same goes for the Valygar quest. Playing in true character is almost as tough as the fighting.

Bottom line is that this is the hardest yet most enjoyable game so far. I have to keep on my toes and think about each action and response. If interested I'll keep posting my progress.

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Wed Aug 08, 2001 9:07 am

Yeah, do so. My pro. is CG barbarian/thief so I've got it a little easier on the decision making process. Myself and another are posting similar progress on the 'different gaming experience' thread which I still haven't had any success in drawing a link to. Keep on getting Java script errors with a request to debug, a little above my league. Don't really know what happened, not too long ago I was able to post links and graemlins, now I can't.

average joe · Post by **average joe** » Wed Aug 08, 2001 12:22 pm

insane difficulty? methinks your future be grim and bloody, no? oh, i forgot to mention a whole lotta pain in all the downtime spots. for reals though, what happens when you encounter an opponent that deals out like 30 hitpoints of damage on a normal basis. make that 60+ on insane, and your dead in a few hits. dead! you can't dodge everything. if this makes it more fun for you, have at it. i just don't see survival as an option.

Jelctu · Post by **Jelctu** » Wed Aug 08, 2001 12:45 pm

I played at insane difficulty and no one survive two hit from an adamantite golem (unless you have 180hp or +)

jju_57 · Post by **jju_57** » Wed Aug 08, 2001 12:48 pm

I do have to admit that since I am going no reload then maybe I'll go back to core rules. That 40 damage from a dagger has scared me. I'll change the name to Chicken Little.

average joe · Post by **average joe** » Wed Aug 08, 2001 3:14 pm

Are you playing to where if a character dies, meaning their pic is grayed they are dead for good? If so, i'd def. stick with core rules. If you are playing where death means they are battered beyond revival, hard is doable through SoA and most of ToB if not all. Draconis and Demogorgon were the only ones i felt the need to fight on the normal difficulty level. Everyone else on hard.

jju_57 · Post by **jju_57** » Wed Aug 08, 2001 3:33 pm

Yes. If they are grayed out I don't resurrect them. I just picture myself walking through a cemetary with the rod of resurrection and zapping all the graves. What a site that would be. I can rationalize hit point loss being wounds that deminish fighting ability and when zero you received a life ending wound like getting your head chopped off. I just can't see the raise dead fixing that. Raise dead is more to help someone dying from old age or a 'natural' cause not from being gutted. Just my opinion.

two · Post by **two** » Thu Aug 09, 2001 10:49 am

This is really obvious, and I'm sure you do it to some degree but...

You should do it a LOT. I'm talknig about scouting. There is nothing wrong, cheesy, or nuts about opening a door, letting your invisible/stealthed guy peek in, walk around, etc. and then go back to the party and form a battle plan. In fact, its' smart to run through a whole dungeon level doing this, or use oracular-type spells to see what's there. Even if YOU KNOW what's there, you can use stealth/inviso to let your PARTY know what's there.

Hey, if I was in a dungeon, for SURE I'd want to know what was waiting for me up ahead. That's what inviso/thieves are FOR. Never go into a room blind. That's one way to survive.

THE JAKER · Post by **THE JAKER** » Thu Aug 09, 2001 11:06 am

Yes, Two - Scouting. Important.

As far as raising the dead, I personally like it. I love the "walk of shame" as the naked, raised adventurer goes over to their pile of gear and straps it back on again. I always say stuff like: "I'm not done with you yet, Keldorn!" and "you think you can get away from me that easily?". Imagine the trauma that some of these people go through - they get beaten TO DEATH and cut limb from limb MULTIPLE times in one day, and they just have to come back and keep fighting. It's sick - it does seem godly, though, to make your servants go through this.