Even less violent Cleric/Illusionist

wise grimwald · Post by **wise grimwald** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 1:07 pm

Having played a non-violent fighter/thief, I thought that it might be fun to try with a solo non-violent cleric/illusionist. The advantage is that you can use charm spells and of course sanctuary to avoid fighting. The disadvantage is that you can't get Algernon's cloak without killing him. All went well until I met Mulhaney. He kept saving whenever I tried to make him my friend. However, after sleeping, I was able to charm him and the bad guys that he had summoned then turned on him. I could only take on Durlag's Tower up to the point that Love has to die if I was to . I managed the bandit camp without any fighting at all. The next major problem was the Cloakwood mines.
I couldn't avoid setting off the traps at the bottom which meant that I had both Davercorn and the guys with flameswords to deal with. I thought, now all I have to do is charm either and hopefully Davercorn will be the one that dies. I couldn't charm any of them! I therefore had to sleep in order to try again. I was interrupted in my sleep by two gaurds. Them I could charm and they were immediately attacked by Davercorn. Silly man. He died.
To defeat Saverok I used dispell magic and Cloudkill. That only weakened him.
I then approached him and ran away using a potion of oil of speed. I was attacked with the arrows of detonation and I also set off a trap that produced a lightning bolt. One of them killed him, I don't know which as I was out of sight at the time. Hence, this time I didn't kill anyone, the minimum number of people died, and I didn't even use my fists. Hope this is of interest as I haven't seen any thread where somebody has won without even using fists.

wise grimwald · Post by **wise grimwald** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:34 am

I have been thinking of trying the same type of game with other solo characters. Bard, using invisibility spell to avoid conflict or pure thief using stealth to avoid conflict. The problem with them is the armour that can be worn, as you have to take the brunt of the assault in the Ducal palace. If anyone else plays a similar game, I for one would be interested to hear of the problems and solutions found. One solution in the ducal palace which I tried and doesn't work is using Otilukes Resiliant Sphere on the dukes to protect them. They become hostile!! I ask you! Try and help people, and they get narked! Just like real people!

Crenshinibon · Post by **Crenshinibon** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:50 am

For bard characters, I'd suggest using a Wand of Monster Summoning. I always prebuff before battles and then use the armor. You can ditch it completely and use Spirit Armor instead, found in the ToSC expansion.

There is a secret trigger to open the gates to the Ducal Palace through which you can get in, summon monsters, and then leave, only to return formaly moments later.

Use disabling wands like Wand of Fear, Wand of Paralyzation and Wand of Sleep. They help a lot.

wise grimwald · Post by **wise grimwald** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:12 am

Whilst that is certainly a good way of playing the game, it negates my aim of having minimum deaths, and no killing by my party. The minimum deaths are Mulhaney, Davercorn, The Doppelgangers in the Ducal Palace and Saverok.
When in the first mines, I have to make Mulhaney use his fists and I also have to disrupt his hammer spell otherwise he starts killing Kobolds and Skeletons.
Davercorn is usually straightforward. I charm him and the Flameguards kill him off.
I put the Ducal Palace Doppelgangers to sleep to give me time to charm them so that they kill each other.
I weaken Saverok with spells before letting his allies or traps kill him.
The problem with the Ducal Palace is 1) that I have to stop the Dukes from getting involved (For this I use web). 2) I have to take any attacks by the Doppelgangers myself until I have enough charmed to protect myself. I think that buffing with armour etc. should do the trick. I will get the invisibility ring from the Beard to avoid unneccessary conflict.
I was quite pleased that in the last game I didn't even need to use fists, never mind weapons. As non-violent as you can get in this game I think.

CFM · Post by **CFM** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:47 am

Very cool! A very interesting game, to say the least!

Curious: how much total XP did your non-violent PC's end up with?

wise grimwald · Post by **wise grimwald** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 6:20 am

When played with a solo cleric/illusionist I ended up with 92,000exp points after killing Saverok.
When played with a fighter/thief it was 50,558 before killing Saverok
The cleric/illusionist was definitely more challenging.
Have now finished playing a solo Bard with the same aim.
I was able to do Joia's quest through charm and pickpocket and got the boots of stealth using the same strategy.
I couldn,t do Mirianne's as the letter is not a valid item for pickpocketting. Why?
I did a partial Prism quest by pickpocketting the emeralds. Saved two lives there.
Used Jaheira's potion of invisibility for the Ankheg quest.I got my reputation up to 18 and Cha to 19 before buying the ring of invisibility. I even did the Sulhanar quest and the Ulcadter school quest.
The hardest this time was the final battle until I sussed out a new tactic. New for me anyway. I weakened Saverok using my sco;;s of Cloudkill aand wand of fire. then when they all attacked me simultaneously I SPOILER

Cast the resilient sphere spell. Saverok ended up being blasted by lightning bolts, arrows of detonation and Cloudkill simultaneously. He didn't last long.