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Beryl and Saffron: Update 6

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atcDave

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Finished SoD with little drama. Defeating the big bad went faster and easier than ever, once you figure these things out its hard to unlearn it!

Saffron seems to be the real power behind the throne here, she really carves opponents up quickly. Although now, heading into BG2 she has lost her Gauntlets of Ogre Power. Obviously a new strength device is a priority for her. Currently Minsc is the only really muscle on the team.
Beryl is a reasonably capable warrior and a good cleric.
But at this point Jaheira is getting less useful. The changes from Deities of Faerun was appreciated in BG1, but the trade off for her extra offensive spells is less healing magic. And her higher level spells are big on Summons, which don’t really appeal to me. So I may swap her out for someone early?

I might want Mazzy on this run? She’s one of my favorite characters that I rarely run, and for obvious reasons she would fit right in here.
So often I like Aerie, and I want see how she’s been rebuilt by the DoF mod.
And since I don’t have a Paladin, I’ll probably recruit Keldorn eventually.

That plus Imoen, will likely be the final team. But it may be a while until I get there.

7 responses to “Beryl and Saffron: Update 6”

  1. Zeno Avatar
    Zeno

    You going much faster than me. Still early in SoD here – had to take some time to make up portraits for Corwin and Glint once I had interacted with them a little. I’m letting Keira and Kord get to know Minsc and Dynaheir well in SoD, so that when we get to BG2 they’ll really feel both Khalid and Dynaheir (and obviously Imoen).

    I can’t K&K see dropping either Minsc or Jaheira in BG2. That leads to my two, M&J, and a lot of waffling with the last two slots between Aerie, Keldorn, and eventually dropping one of them Imoen. Probably Keldorn – so he can go back to his family.

    That arbitrary size limit really complicates things sometimes.

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    1. atcDave Avatar
      atcDave

      I particularly like some of Dynaheir’s new lines for SoD. And with fewer characters to choose from overall, yeah I pretty much always take Minsc and Dynaheir in SoD.

      I do hate to “kick out” old friends in BG2. But yeah, the party size becomes an issue. I often say I’d run with 8 if it was allowed. But from pretty early on you have extra responsibilities; like maybe a castle to run, a Druid grove, a mage lab…
      I often figure my buddies are just moving around among locations and helping out with all the different chores. And you know we all hang together when we can.

      That, and I will do a bunch of shuffling around with people. I’ll probably recruit Keldorn, let him go for some family time, then have him back to finish up. Speaking as a retired guy, you’re doing him a favor by letting him have one last grand quest before riding off into the sunset!

      Since I added “Skie: Cost of a Girl’s Soul” this may be my first run without her. So there’s another “must have” sort of character for me. But since I always switch her to fighter, and this is my EEKeeper-free run, I won’t want to use her this play. Mazzy is a perfect replacement.

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      1. Zeno Avatar
        Zeno

        Yeah. Mazzy is one I’d have every time if I could. I’m also quite fond of Jan as my “Imoen placeholder”. But man those party slots are precious. Making it harder for my self this time is Keira is a thief over-specialized in stealth with little locks/traps skill. Once those other skills catch up it gets a little easier.

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      2. atcDave Avatar
        atcDave

        Keira is not a type of character I’ve used, but it is a truism whatever choices you make on your PC(s) will dramatically affect who you should take on board. The little complication for me at this time is that DoF has dramatically affected clerics, so it may change some of choices (like making Jaheira more interesting than ever in BG, but less so in BG2… to me).

        I was expecting to not take Aerie this play with a cleric PC. But then I realized Jaheira was not going to have “Heal”. I *really* like having two characters who can throw that! Suddenly Beryl and Aerie sounds like a good team…

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      3. Zeno Avatar
        Zeno

        Once I have the basics covered I typically just go by feel. Whichever personality combo feels best/most interesting for the run. Then the tactical fun comes from making whatever falls out of that work. Just have less leeway this run with running a protagonist duo and still requiring a thief.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Zeno Avatar
      Zeno

      What BG2 mods – particularly story/quest mods – have you had good experiences with? Its been a decade since I ran BG2, and there were certainly a lot of bad ones floating around.

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      1. atcDave Avatar
        atcDave

        I’ve not used a lot. “Skie: Cost of a Girl’s Soul” is a follow up to the ending events of SoD. I love that one, but honestly I was frustrated enough at the end of SoD I would have been pretty enthused with anything that offers resolution for that.

        I used SimDing0’s Questpack years ago, and have just reinstalled it. But mostly I wanted it for a few options it provides to existing quests.

        I just installed “Call of the Lost Goddess”. Apart from getting the initial call to the quest, I’ve not played any of it yet. I think I’ll wait until we have Imoen to follow through on it.

        I think everything else consists of CDTweaks and Voices. I sometimes use EEKeeper to make changes to characters (class/kit stuff).

        So not a lot. Seeing the quality of stuff from Lava and Acifer I may start trying more of those on future plays.

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