Addendum to Chapter 2-3: items and abilities to use
- the Thieves Guild has a mazing trap. Not amazing.
- all the city's special liches can be destroyed after using a single scroll of prot. from undead if you have high enough thaco (clvl 20 should do by far), and use a prot. from undead scroll (should last enough. Speak with the liches yourself, the autospeeches won't automaticly happen). Also, while their doors require higher strength (I think Kangaxx itself needs 24), a simple Rage will give you 4 STR, so it's easy.
- if you plan on assaulting The Sphere, bring a prot. from petrification scroll (one of the halflings can cast the spell once)
Bugs:
- the Boots of Speed seems to enhance my weapons skills to. I gain 0.5 attack when wearing it.
Other:
- Tiris and the return of the tanner quest did not start, Jenia didn't show up. The cause might have been was simply that I forgot to pickup the raw human flesh.
- At a (later) point I got "permanently diseased". Not that the diseased condition ever did anything (noticable), still. I summoned the warrior from the Horn of Valhalla (beljuril-level), removed my equipment and made it attack me until I got hurt enough the churches offer the Heal spell. Solved it.
- In the Illithid City "godly strength" doesn't just mean 25 STR. It - unfairly - means "godly" strength, aka. turning into Slayer (which you should avoid, as for a warrior class the Slayer-form is weak).
Watcher's Keep:
lvl 1 should pose no problem, but for lvl 2 bring Ras, Vhailor's Helm, and Fire Staff. Summon 3-4 fire elemental from the staff so the Chromatic Demon will have something to feed on, and Ras FROM THE SIMULARCUM. That way you too will be able to summon a second Ras if you have to. Oh, I hope you bought the Potion Bag, it is a cool stuff to have. NOTE? you CAN use the wands of coursing.
Both you and the Simularcum should go Greater Whirlwinding the creature to death, maybe with Foebane in hand as it gives better stats because it is a demon you fight against. The damage doesn't matter though as each hit will deal only 2 damage no matter what. At this point you should leave and dump all your stuff and only keep as many item on you you'll be able to carry all new item from lvl 3 (so bring Vhailor's Helm and even leaves Ras at home).
The final room with the Deck of Many Things is interesting. You should definitely gain the Spectral Brand (invoulnerable summon like Ras), and you can safely bet away some exp (you loose 50K exp if you loose what mean absolutely nothing at this point) if you'd try not reloading that much.
During the first run you can get two effect: a permanent CON-drop (curable only by remove course, so you have to leave the level with it), or a Slow effect (which is a winning condition and only temporary - it is rly just a slow spell).
Still on lvl 3 is the tanar'ri vs baatezu conflict. Somehow the tanar'ri ended up as lawful evil, AND they come first. I suggest siding with them (you don't need the exp, and they are though). Before later entering the baatezu cast Draw Upon Holy Might (if you have as baalspawn-sbility) and Hardiness (I was at this point lvl 30, so it lasted very long), than (Greater) Whirlwind them to death. Watch your HP and don't feel shame drinking mega-healing even if you need it.
The
Deck of Many Things when you killed the cambion for it should be played like this:
#1 DonJon (if you reached here early in the game - beginning of Act 3 -, you might settle for Ruin which takes away all your money, but is more frequent)
#2 Star (+1 strength for warrior classes!)
#3 Moon (the +10% HP is more allaround than the 5% fire resist from Comet - yes, you can have both Comet and Erinyes as third card even if you had a "bad" draw)
NOTE: I hope you did not forget about your stronghold. It tends more to eat money than produce, but you probably still wish to have your own cleric in the keep. He's quite a good shopkeeper, has: boots of grounding, staff of striking, 2*prot from undead, helm of charm protection (most of these likely not needed, but still, this is kinda the best this stronghold can offer).
WSK lvl 4: an illithid container and another behind the oil-door drains level.
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Now it is time to go to the Underdark. Before you go prepare!
You'll need items to save your sorry hide, while be able to collect new gadgets. So bring minimal stuff even as you'll have the Bag of Holding.
You'll have to fight beholder(s), so Shield of Balduran should come. All three of your containers too (scrolls, gems, potions). Sell stuff to have a hugh amount of money if you didn't do it until now.
I brought: Shield of Balduran (must have, unless you like to reload a lot, and want to cut yourself off of an area), Helmet of Defense, Wand of Wonder, bow (ANY means of ranged damage, including Wand of Wonders suffice, but
you MUST have at least one item doing it!), both wands of coursing, and the glasses of identification of course.
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Spellhold is straightforward, and you could even actually kip the shaugains, as the only interesting things are the Boots of Etheralness which only have real use in ToB and there will be redundant for the Tears, and the Cloak of Mirroring which doesn't mirror anything in ToB, and isn't actually that awesome in solo.
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Underdark:
- kill the gnome for the light gem. Easier than killing the demon...
- buy 10% magic res amu from shop. 5% more is 5% more.
- inside the city the only subquest you probably will do is the "defeat the cultists", and even that only 'cause some top-hierarchy matron forces you. You'll be close to clvl 40, and there are no items from here.
- from the three outside areas the kuo-toas (who have the megre bracelet of improved haste) you'll have to do no matter what ('cause we're killing dragon), and the beholders offer 0 goodies (unless you want the nonsense Equaliser or a greenstone amulet, or the sling of avoreen). The illithid lair is much better 'cause aside it provides another part of the Equaliser, or the pretty useless-at-this-point staff of domination, it also has the Ring of Fire Control.
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Your next Stronghold-quest will definitely happen.
Going shopping won't be too exciting solo. There's the Crimson Chain and the Helmet of Brilliance (another use-per-day item I tend to have but not use)for ca. 25K gold, but when I have 150K, that's hardly a thing.
Oh, before doing anything (except the Stronghold, which is timed), go for making the Human Flesh Armor. It takes 4 days for completion.
When going to Shuldanesselar collect ALL your stuff you wish to carry further. You should not bother too much with arrows, potions and such, but as you have a potion bag, you should carry away all the best of your selection. The Bag of Holding is also should be accessed fully. Not forget all your enchanted jewelry either - the Gem Bag is excellent to carry. Finally there are scrolls. The two prot from magic from the Adventurers' Mart is a definite go, and a handful of prot from undead is also appointed. Element-protections can also come if you feel like it (1 prot from fire and from cold sounds reasonable).
From Baal's Tears start with Sharevok and scream off his head for +3 STR. For all other tears the "good" reward is way more powerful, although if you really want a debate Selfishness and Greed could be argued marginally.