Gloin Bonehead the soloing Wizard Slayer's notes

Remove all ads!

- Final day of Gloin Bonehead's solo adventure. -

(Bought a new keyboard today!)

Instead of posting a list of the quests and battles Gloin faced during the last three chapters I will try to summarize what I learned.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

But first here are Gloin Bonehead's stats from the last save:

Lawful Good male dwarf.
Str: 25 - using Crom Faeyr (otherwise it's 18/99)
Dex: 17
Con: 19
Int: 14
Wis: 9
Cha: 2

170 HP's (Helm of Balduran gives +5)

- Weapon Proficiencies:
Axe ***
Flail **
War Hammer **
Short Bow ***

Armor of the Hart +3
Helm of Balduran
Shield of Harmony +2
Boots of Speed

Crom Faeyr +5 --> THAC0 and damage bonus from this is huge.
Flail of Ages +3 --> Often slows target and deals extra damage which is good against spellcasters.
Morning Star --> Non-magical weapon, useful sometimes!
Ilbratha +1 --> Mirror Image

Quick Slot #1: Restoration Scrolls *5
Quick Slot #2: Restoration Scrolls *5
Quick Slot #1: Tree of Life Nuts *4

Bag of Holding
Gem bag
Scroll Case *3

Vhailor's Helm --> Simulacrum
Pearly White Ioun Stone --> Slow Regeneration, good for healing while sleeping.
Ras +2 --> Dancing Sword (for 4 rounds)

- Notable items in Bag of Holding:
Mace of Disruption +2 --> Immunity to level drain
Azuredge +3 --> Good for slaying vampires.
Tansheron's Bow +3 --> Good short bow for the rare occasions when missile weapon is called for.
Mind Control Circlets --> From Illithid Lair in Underdark. Excellent item.
Staff of Command +2 --> Casts Domination.
Brine Potions --> Against psionics and can actually be used by a Wizard Slayer, but Gloin never used any.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

- What was most dangerous for Gloin?

Backstabbing enemies who kept turning invisible was extremely lethal. There was no way of dispelling the invisibility and backstabs did very high damage. This was the most dangerous thing Gloin encountered in the early parts.

Mind control of any kind is the bane of the soloing character. This is what makes the Shield of Harmony so great.

Maze and Imprisonment. Gloin had no safe defense against these. In the latter parts he was killed two times by being Mazed.
To avoid it Gloin used the simulacrum and sometimes Ras - the dancing sword - and kept these between himself and the enemy. The closest target gets hit with Maze spells, so that made him safe.

Dragons were very tough. Gloin killed the Shadow Dragon and the Black Dragon, because he had to for different reasons.
For the last dragon fight Gloin used this effective tactic:
1. Lots of Restoration scrolls were equipped in the quick item slots. Equip bow and best arrows.
2. Cast Simulacrum with Vhailor's Helm.
3. Cast Mirror Image with Ilbratha and have Ras start "dancing".
4. Talk to Dragon and start the fight.

Now Gloin attacks with Crom Faeyr (or Flail of Ages +3 if dragon is hasted) in melee and his simulacrum attacks with arrows.
The dragon will put the hurt on Gloin pretty bad, but as soon as his HP's dropped too much the Simulacrum used one of the restoration scrolls on him, so Gloin just kept swinging away, getting knocked back and rushed right in again.
Meanwhile the arrows from the simulacrum also adds up to some damage.
In the end the dragon had no chance of keeping up and he was defeated.


- What was Gloin's strong sides?

Mages were easily dealt with, especially when they were not strongly supported by other monsters. Gloin could hit a spellcaster a few times and then switch target to someone else feeling pretty sure that he had pretty much neutralized the threat.

Magic Resistance made it at least feel easier. It helped keeping Gloin healthy during big fights anyway.

Raw power is any fighters strong side and it always helps. One tactic when up against many enemies was to use Flail of Ages and hit each opponent once or twice to hopefully slow them and then go ahead with killing them one by one.


- What to aim for as a Wizard Slayer?

Swords, Armor, Helmets and Shields with special abilities. Some give a spell like ability and others give immunity, things you can't get any other way.

Scrolls! Protection scrolls are relatively plentiful so as many as you can.

One warning: If you are fatigued and use a restoration scroll I think this results in much worse fatigue making it almost impossible to hit something. Keep using more restoration scrolls and the fatigue adds up. You can see how this is bad a for a soloing character.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I hope you enjoyed the effort by Gloin Bonehead and that some of the tactics were new to you. Happy gaming!

 

To Earl Grey:

Well done sir! I know I'm a little late in replying here, but I just found this string after searching for "solo" in the topic.

Anyway, I just wanted to know a couple things.

1. What was your final MR%

2. How did you heal? IIRC you couldn't use healing potions. (pre ToB)

3. Have you continued your solo adventures with Gloin into ToB? If so, how goes it?


-Immoral

 

Well done earl grey... and now for the next challange... solo bg2 with... a JESTER!

 

A Half-Orc Jester at that!

 

It's very nice to see you enjoyed this!

Ummm... Jester? I recall someone soloing a Jester some time ago but don't remember if he finished. Since the Jester's song confuses enemies a normal bard would actually be harder to solo than a Jester! I've never ever played a Bard. Perhaps someone who finds that class interesting could have a go at it? I enjoy reading about bards, just not playing one myself.

To Immoral:
1. Inherent MR was 38% (2% per level).
2. Healing. With Bhaal abilities he cast Draw Upon Holy Might and rested. The super high Constitution this gave healed all overnight. IIRC later on he equipped the Ioun Stone that regenerates before sleeping.
Scroll of Restoration was a last option.
3. I haven't finished ToB with a normal party yet so soloing has to wait a little longer.
Gloin will most likely continue his adventure in ToB "Fer there be still many a wizard that needs slaying!"

 

I would like to see somebody solo with an Archer. That seems challenging to me, maybe I should try it.

 

I was thinking of the lack of melee proficiency. You would not be able to run and fire forever.

 

IMO if you use careful tactics and get hold of some hasty items early then you should get through 99% of the game with an archer and not have to resort to hand to hand combat.


PS. I realise that none of you noticed but i have been offline for a month due to modem failiures and lack of funds. I realy missed the boards and it's great to be back!

 

Well you dont know me then. /me shakes Avooch dars hand.

 

Maybe I'm just clueless, but how did you escape the billions of traps in the game? I wan't to solo something, but I keep thinking I need to be a theif/something.

 

Either avoid the traps or set them off and just take the damage. If you don't know where the traps are you should make sure to save often.

The instant death traps are few and there is absolutely no need to deal with any of them. Consider what equipment you need to get for the character and you will see that there is little point in opening everything just to get some extra treasure which you don't really need.

 

I solo-ed with an archer before, it was hell. I got backstabbed so many times because of my relativly high AC, and just got owned. I didn't do well until I got the boots of speed, which helped, but not enough. I couldn't beat any of the dragons, and it took me about 50 tries to beat the demilich, which at that point I was about ready to smash my monitor into the wall. Anyway, archers are not easy to solo with unless you really know what you're doing. I didn't