Pool of Radiance Saga: Arabel Edition
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So something I've been talking about at times on Discord is doing a run of the Pool of Radiance saga, using characters named after Arabel PCs. I decided the best way to do the naming was taking names, upto a certain amount and put them in a pool, then randomize!
There are some caveats, however, as racial choices need to be taken into account. Also classes, which I will lay out below.
Bear in mind that starting with the first entry, Pool of Radiance, will be using First Edition rules. So paladins can't show up until the Curse of the Azure Bonds stage. There are five entries in the series: Pool of Radiance, Hillsfar, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades and Pools of Darkness. The final entry features epic-level gameplay.
Other notes: Will be streamed live on Twitch (http://www.twitch.tv/negatis) for each session per game, ideally aiming to get each done in less than 4 hours total for sake of run time. VODs available later on Youtube.
The class/race layout:
Left is the starting class in Pool of Radiance, the right is the intended final class in Pools of Darkness.
Male Human Fighter / Human Fighter/Paladin
Male Human Fighter / Human Fighter/Thief
Female Human Fighter / Human Fighter/Ranger
Male Dwarf Fighter/Thief / Dwarf Fighter/Thief
Female Human Magic-User (Original term for Wizard) / Human Magic-User/Ranger (Will remake as Ranger then change classes to Magic-User)
Female Human Cleric / Human Cleric/Paladin (Will Remake as Paladin in Azure Bonds then change classes to Cleric)Notes: Humans are the preferred race due to 1E and 2E limitations of them having higher level caps than other races.
So for name wise, I'd like at least 5 per class. I'll put them in a randomizer and when I have all 6 chosen, announce. If you decide to participate, please make it clear which name you are attributing to which combo by listing it by number.
IE:
- Samplename (Is being attributed to the Fighter/Paladin)
- Anothersamplename (Is being attributed to the Fighter/Thief)
- Gettheideayet (Is being attributed to the Fighter/Ranger)
And so forth. Any other questions not covered already, ask here or on Discord.
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Some updates:
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Naming rules are relaxed, the name will determine the gender though I do want to have at least 2 male melee fighters (due to how 1/2E did racial+gender strength caps, males had 50% higher than females).
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Must have at least 1 female character in the party, due to certain games having bonus options for females (Swanmay assistance in Azure Bonds, etc)
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Alignments will be good-aligned. Required for the paladin multiclasses, and paladins can't travel with evil, it's hardcoded in the game mechanics.
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Names will be using the first one only due to character limitations in names.
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To add on to the previous post, humans (except for the one dwarf) are being used due to level cap and multiclass limitations. Elves aren't usable due to 1/2E rules of permdeath.
Current list of names:
1 (Fighter/Paladin) Ky'ran Lordoron, Bradley Larks, Zacharias Whitedawn, Alexandria Whitedawn
2.(Fighter/Thief) | Jhavier Lizardclaw, Duncan Nottias
3.(Fighter/Ranger) Alexania Datson, Wanderer
4.(Fighter/Thief, Dwarf) Dorna Bouldershot
5.(Mage/Ranger) Laya Delaqua, Lilyis Wellington, Alisan Lightstaff
6.(Cleric/Paladin) | Lisa Amraphen, Aliri Danmukmul, Ophirae Miavyre, Shauna Atreides -
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Character name pool has been updated, thanks to people throwing in suggestions so far. I've decided to limit it a bit to make it more thematically Arabel:
1 (Fighter/Paladin) Ky'ran Lordoron, Bradley Larks, Zacharias Whitedawn, Alexandria Whitedawn, Enlo Arna, Arvan Denethiel, Nathan Goldmane, Richard Stallner
2.(Fighter/Thief) | Jhavier Lizardclaw, Duncan Nottias, Cornelius Honeydew, Elestra Thundersword, Victor Eagleguard, Rebecca Kelten, Morich Leonson, Sai Meir, Nikko Amraphel
3.(Fighter/Ranger) Alexania Datson, Wanderer, Aelin Kingswood, Corynt Senethent, Abigail Crows, Evelyn Bleucroft, Rienna Rosewood, Oliver Baba, Calder Daxx
4.(Fighter/Thief, Dwarf) Dorna Bouldershot, Kimli, Borin Battleborn, Gunjar Trollslayer, Kuldar, Rarin Kivna, Karl Stoneguard,
5.(Magic-User/Ranger) Laya Delaqua, Lilyis Wellington, Alisan Lightstaff, Victoria Coltsbury, Aeriel Reinholdt
6.(Cleric/Paladin) | Lisa Amraphen, Aliri Danmukmul, Ophirae Miavyre, Shauna AtreidesNew changes:
Wizards must be War Wizards.
Ranger currently favors Purple Dragon Scouts, but can be changed with more names.
The character pool draws from v3, v4 and v5 as a majority of people playing are from those time periods.
As a reminder, the Fighter multiclassing with Paladin and Ranger does not need to reflect any actual multiclassing in NWN. This is meant to avoid remaking (and multiclassing in general for Pool of Radiance Saga is actually extremely strong and necessary in late stages of the campaign) more than necessary. Paladin and Ranger didn't exist in Pool of Radiance 1, thus require some workarounds.
As part of the planning, it comes to mind that a New Game+ can be adopted, details below.
New Game: Start at level 1, no gear or items past default on creation. Game is appropriately balanced.
New Game+ (Limited): Start at level 1, with full gear of an endgame save (so max weapons and armor to put it one way). No extra gold, items or gems/jewelry other than what's given on creation of a new character. It upsets game balance early on, but evens out towards the mid/end as more powerful spawns appear. You're also still vulnerable to mages and clerics (spells bypass AC). With the difficulty selector, this may be more of a game balance issue in Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds as Secret and Pools will counteract this by making monsters tougher via increase in difficulty.
New Game+ (Full): Same as above, but with high money + boost to game maximum level.
This applies largely to Pool of Radiance 1, Curse of the Azure Bonds and Secret of the Silver Blades as those three auto-wipe gear imported from the previous game (due to some items not existing in the sequel they're imported into, but done for story reasons). Pools of Darkness takes your character as-is from point of export.
Limbo Cheese: Yes or No?
In Pools of Darkness, a game mechanic when traveling outside of the Prime Material Plane is that you have to store items in an extraplanar vault to avoid them being destroyed. A way to get past this is to remove characters from the party, save your game after you go through Limbo, and readd the characters to the party to avoid losing gear. As Pools of Darkness gets extremely difficult later in the game, this may be an option.
Difficulty Selection?
Secret of the Silver Blades and Pools of Darkness feature adjustable difficulty levels. By default, the game is on Veteran which is standard difficulty. There are 5 levels: Novice, Squire, Veteran, Adept and Champion. Mostly this gives monsters HP and damage adjustments depending on level.
I'll take strawpolls and such when its time to start this.
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I do not see Myron O'Connor here. Bad campaign. 1/10.
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Updated List. Except for wizards and clerics, pretty much ready to draw names.
1 (Paladin) Ky'ran Lordoron, Bradley Larks, Zacharias Whitedawn, Alexandria Whitedawn, Enlo Arna, Arvan Denethiel, Nathan Goldmane, Richard Stallner
2.(Fighter/Thief) | Jhavier Lizardclaw, Duncan Nottias, Cornelius Honeydew, Elestra Thundersword, Victor Eagleguard, Rebecca Kelten, Morich Leonson, Sai Meir, Nikko Amraphel, Abbas Saladin, Geralt Woodsmont
3.(Fighter/Ranger) Alexania Daxton, Wanderer, Aelin Kingswood, Corynt Senethent, Abigail Crows, Evelyn Bleucroft, Rienna Rosewood, Oliver Baba, Calder Daxx
4.(Fighter/Thief, Dwarf) Dorna Bouldershot, Kimli, Borin Battleborn, Gunjar Trollslayer, Kuldar, Rarin Kivna, Karl Stoneguard, Yurin Kegjaw
5.(Magic-User/Ranger) Laya Delaqua, Lilyis Wellington, Alisan Lightstaff, Victoria Coltsbury, Aeriel Reinholdt
6.(Cleric/Paladin) | Lisa Amraphen, Aliri Danmukmul, Ophirae Miavyre, Shauna Atreides, Katrina Darkhavien, Elodie LedouxBios will be read of the winning characters prior to the campaign start and recorded in a separate VOD.
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Final list, I will be drawing today and posting the results on here and Discord.
1 (Paladin) Ky'ran Lordoron, Bradley Larks, Zacharias Whitedawn, Alexandria Whitedawn, Enlo Arna, Arvan Denethiel, Nathan Goldmane, Richard Stallner, Hope, Salviran Vanderdraak
2.(Fighter/Thief) | Jhavier Lizardclaw, Duncan Nottias, Cornelius Honeydew, Elestra Thundersword, Victor Eagleguard, Rebecca Kelten, Morich Leonson, Sai Meir, Nikko Amraphel, Abbas Saladin, Geralt Woodsmont, Valisa Aideen, Francis Galloway
3.(Fighter/Ranger) Alexania Daxton, Wanderer, Aelin Kingswood, Corynt Senethent, Abigail Crows, Evelyn Bleucroft, Rienna Rosewood, Oliver Baba, Calder Daxx
4.(Fighter/Thief, Dwarf) Dorna Bouldershot, Kimli, Borin Battleborn, Gunjar Trollslayer, Kuldar, Rarin Kivna, Karl Stoneguard, Yurin Kegjaw
5.(Magic-User/Ranger) Laya Delaqua, Lilyis Wellington, Alisan Lightstaff, Victoria Coltsbury, Aeriel Reinholdt
6.(Cleric/Paladin) | Lisa Amraphen, Aliri Danmukmul, Ophirae Miavyre, Shauna Atreides, Katrina Darkhavien, Elodie Ledoux, Rodon Rogermane, Jaron Wendon, Deirdre O'Connell -
And here is the winning list. I will write up bios and post them here before Act I (Pool of Radiance). I'll make the polls for the game customization as well.
What I did was reroll each one THREE times for THREE UNIQUE names. The winner is the third unique name. I then went and rerolled those again for true randomness (aside from the third unique clause, otherwise I'd have been rolling all day).
This is akin to the SRD 3.5 rule of rerolling and accepting the highest roll or a new roll (I forget the specifics of that rule).
Paladin (Leader of the Party): Nathan Goldmane
Fighter/Thief: Geralt Woodsmont
Fighter/Ranger: Calder Daxx
Dwarf Fighter/Thief: Yurin Kegjaw
Magic-User/Ranger: Aeriel Reinholdt
Cleric/Paladin: Katrina DarkhavienThe rolls:
The initial selection:
1 Nathan -> Richard -> Bradley
2 Victor -> Abbas -> Geralt
3 Calder -> Corynt -> Oliver
4 Kimli -> Yurin -> Dorna
5 Aeriel -> Laya -> Alisan
6 Shauna -> Elodie -> KatrinaThe rerolls:
1 Nathan -> Bradley -> Nathan
2 Abbas -> Geralt -> Geralt
3 Calder -> Corynt -> Calder
4 Kimli -> Dorna -> Yurin
5 Laya -> Alisan -> Aeriel
6 Elodie -> Elodie -> Katrina -
So I had some time to think. Given the difficulty (even for me) of acquiring information on the Magic-User and Cleric characters chosen by RNG, as they were extremely early v3 (15 years ago....), I will have to change the names on those to ones with more accessible history.
It goes against the idea of adhering to true randomness, but I wanted to be able to tell a story past "Not much is available about this char, due to lack of records." about each character. It may suck, it may not, but I'm doing what's best for entertainment. I will however honor them being originally selected and make a small bio for them.
I also won't be using the final two names for either role (especially since I showed up in both!) out of interest of fairness.
That being said, here are the replacements:
Wizard will be Lilyis.
Cleric will be Deirdre.
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Here's the character bio list. Any corrections are to be told to me immediately so I can alter it, this is a copy/paste from the writeup for the stream/VOD:
Formerly the party leader: Nathan Goldmane, a member of the Knights of the Merciful Sword. In Arabel, the Chapter acted as a source of guidance for all Tyr-friendly orders. Nathan himself was sworn to Helm and rose to the rank of Senior Knight.
Interesting fact: Nathan Goldmane was the only player Helmite paladin to reach the rank of Senior Knight.Formerly the party magic-user: Aeriel Reinholdt. Sadly, information about her is scarce. What is known, however, is that she was one of the first War Wizard player characters in server history, and the first of Version 3.
Interesting fact: She was the only other female player character War Wizard in Version 3.Formerly the party cleric: Katrina Darkhaven. She was a cleric of Kelemvor who founded the House of Death, which served as a player faction based around fighting undead and safeguarding the City's Morgue.
Interesting fact: She is possibly the only female Kelemvor cleric of any note within all of the server's 14 year history.Our party leader is Ky'ran Lordoron. One of the most famous paladins sworn to Torm in server history, Ky'ran represented what it meant to be a Tormite. He stood for duty, honor and fairness and never complained IC or OOC about his setbacks. He remained endeared to many players on both the good and evil spectrum. He was played by a well-liked player who unfortunately passed away many years ago.
Interesting fact: Ky'ran died well over 100 times throughout his lifetime, a testament to the player's tenacity.Our thief is Geralt Woodsmont. A Militiaman, he rose to the rank of Sergeant and had many dubious methods of enforcing the law. He was known for a voracious appetite, earning the name of Private Porkchop, and provoking fights with the local clergy. He died in an assault on a Temple of Bane, led by the High Priest of Tempus.
Interesting fact: He had his hair turned the color of sewer water, after an accident involving a cansin.Our ranger is Calder Daxx. A member of the Purple Dragon Scouts, Calder rose to the rank of Pathfinder and participated in numerous Purple Dragon operations. Daxx was involved in many important missions, such as exterminating an undead stronghold and recovering the Paragon of Moradin, a dwarf of great importance to the local dwarven kingdom.
Interesting fact: The original Calder Daxx was a water genasi, where here, he is only a regular human.Our dwarf is Yurin Kegjaw. A barbarian shield dwarf, Yurin was afflicted with a strain of lycanthropy that gave him the ability to turn into a wereboar. Yurin participated in many missions in the area, including alongside Calder, rescue of the dwarves' Paragon. In his pursuit of a cure, he consumed one of the people responsible for it, a hag, and spent the rest of his days hunting the others involved.
Interesting fact: Yurin's appetite extended to even magical items, where he could consume them and absorb partial powers.Our magic-user is Lilyis Wellington. Lilyis rose to the rank of Alarphon (which in setting is the highest, as opposed to being an internal police-class unit in FR canon) while combating major threats such as the Grey Circle (a merchant cartel), the Shadovar and demonic invasions. She cultivated many relationships and had staunch allies in the Harpers, and contacts among even the underworld.
Interesting fact: Despite her position, she had a negative constitution modifier and had an extremely low HP total, yet died very few times.Our cleric is Deirdre O'Connell. A fighter/cleric of Lathander, Deirdre was a member of the Knights of the Red Hart, a successor order to that of the Knights of the Merciful Sword. She attained nobility and the rank of Dame, and the inner circle of Red Hart leadership. After the dissolution of the Knights, she then took a position within the bodyguards of the local Mage Guild, rising to become the overall commander until her retirement.
Interesting fact: She learned of a deep secret within the Red Hart, but nobody knows what! -
Here are the polls.
https://www.strawpoll.me/18203435 New Game+ Poll
https://www.strawpoll.me/18203440 Limbo Cheese Poll
https://www.strawpoll.me/18203445 Difficulty Selection PollI'll run them for a few days.
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No voting so I'm making some choices.
New Game+ Limited
Yes Limbo
Adept Difficulty (may raise to Champion if still too easy with gear)In picking NGL, I realized to keep the game difficulty overall balanced, I needed to increase the monsters' power as well. Akin to DMs balancing for certain levels of gear/consumables/levels, this is meant to provide an equal playing field. Limbo Cheese is just to make it a house rule due to game nonsense.
Also looking to do the first one in a few hours (like 3-4) or Saturday due to Final Fantasy XIV being down for maintenance.
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After Action Report for Pool of Radiance (Act One):
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Lilyis is a boxing machine, as she killed many things unarmed before she could have access to spells with AOE.
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Calder gave his life (he got raised later) to help the party brute force an ungodly maze and skip ahead to the endgame's location.
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Private Porkchop is a dragonslayer, as he managed to kill an ancient bronze dragon with two swings.
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Thanks to the goofy scaling of Pool of Radiance, the party is now responsible for likely hundreds of dead goblins, kobolds, orcs and more. The monster deities and Bane are not happy
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After Action Report for Hillsfar (Act Two):
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Ky'ran was chosen as the single party member to do a Hillsfar run.
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In the process of adventuring in Hillsfar, he proved himself an excellent marksman, beat minotaurs, lizardmen and even an armored knight in 1-on-1 combat within an arena, using quarterstaves.
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Ky'ran's further adventures involved him breaking into a cemetary to retrieve lost Fighter's Guild documents, investigating a murder-robbery, foiling a framing attempt by a corrupt Advisor to the King of Hillsfar and breaking up a slave trading ring!
Party Status:
Pool of Radiance
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Ky'ran 8 FTR
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Geralt 8 FTR
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Calder 8 FTR
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Yurin 6 FTR/7 TH
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Deirde 6 CLR
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Lilyis 6 MU
Start of Curse of the Azure Bonds:
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Ky'ran 1 PAL (Previous 8 FTR)
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Geralt 1 TH (Previous 8 FTR)
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Calder 1 RNG (Previous 8 FTR)
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Yurin 6 FTR/ 7 TH
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Deirdre 7 PAL/8 CLR (Previous 6 CLR)
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Lilyis 7 RNG/8 MU (Previous 6 MU)
Note: Deirdre and Lilyis were remade with their previous XP levels to accommodate for Ranger and Paladin being unavailable in Pool of Radiance.
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After Action Report for Curse of the Azure Bonds (Act Three):
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The party killed four Black Dragons!
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Yurin killed a Dracolich.
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He also killed a Dark Elven Lord with a huge backstab blow.
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Ky'ran got run over by a horse ridden by Princess Nacacia. (Yes, that Nacacia)
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Lilyis killed Geralt with a Fireball more than once.
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Deirdre was chosen to become a member of the Swanmays.
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Lilyis killed two avatars of Moander, the god of rot and corruption.
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Unexpectedly, the hero killing Tyranthraxus (this time possessing the body of a Storm Giant) was Porkpie once more.
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Calder appears to be a magnet for death magic and hold person magic.
Note: Will be doing offscreen grind to get them to level caps before moving on to Secret of the Silver Blades.
Party Status:
End of Curse of the Azure Bonds (before grinding)
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Ky'ran 8 PAL
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Geralt 8 FTR/9 TH
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Calder 8 RNG
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Yurin 9 FTR/10 TH
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Deirdre 7 PAL / 10 CLR
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Lilyis 7 RNG / 11 MU
Start of Secret of the Silver Blades (will start when hitting the cap for each class)
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Ky'ran 8 FTR/11 PAL
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Geralt 8 FTR /12 TH
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Calder 8 FTR / 11 RNG
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Yurin 9 FTR / 12 TH
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@Forte said in Pool of Radiance Saga: Arabel Edition:
Calder appears to be a magnet for death magic and hold person magic.
'> _ >
'< _ <bwahahahahahaha
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After Action Report for Secret of the Silver Blades (Act Four)
- The party is proficient at murdering evil creatures. Total kill count of special monsters:
Remorhaz: 13
Pyro-Hydras: 11
Iron Golems: 16
Adult or Older Dragons: 42The party also saw numerous firsts!
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Deirdre killed the first Iron Golem
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Calder killed the first Adult Dragon, an Ancient Red Dragon
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Geralt killed the first Remorhaz
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Yurin went berserk as a result of Umber Hulk magic
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I might be mixing it up, but Lilyis killed a dragon or golem, maybe even a Storm Giant
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Yurin, with a DEVASTATING backstab (sneak attack in 3E+) killed the Golden Warrior, the elite bodyguard of the final boss
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Ky'ran dealt the killing blow to the Dreadlord, a Banelich that was sealed away for 300+ years
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The big death trippers this act were Lilyis, Calder and Yurin. Usually from dragonbreath or double Lightning Bolt.
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Note: Difficulty appears to be spot on with Veteran going via New Game+ Limited. One short segment towards the end proved extremely difficult due to circumstances, so I moved it to Novice to clear the two battles, putting it to Champion for the final segment immediately after.
Start of Pools of Darkness:
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Ky'ran 8 FTR/15 PAL
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Geralt 8 FTR/18 TH
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Calder 8 FTR/ 15 RNG
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Yurin 9 FTR/17 TH
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Deirdre 7 PAL/15 CLR
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Lilyis 7 RNG/15 MU
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After Action Report for Pools of Darkness (Act Five)
Campaign complete!
Numerous events happened during the finale, detailed below.
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Ky'ran, through the POWER OF TORM, turned a lich in the first encounter with one.
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During one wipe, Calder and Yurin were charmed by white dragons, leading to them killing the party.
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Geralt may've been the first to achieve Epic leveling due to thief's faster level progression.
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Lilyis killed the first dragon encountered, a blue dragon posing as a cloud giant.
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Lilyis solo killed an entire Zhentil Mage group, estimated 12 to 16.
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Lilyis solo killed 2 Ancient Red Dragons
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Ky'ran dealt the final blow on Thorne, a superpowered ancient red dragon.
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Calder dealt the final blow to Manshoon's personal beholder servant.
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Ky'ran killed Kalistes, a Marilith sworn to Bane.
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Geralt killed the first Rakshasa Rajah encountered.
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Calder killed the first Banshee encountered, a servant of Marcus, a cleric of Bane.
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Ky'ran killed Marcus.
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Yurin killed Tanetal, a Glabrezu lieutenant of Bane.
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Calder killed the first Death Tyrant encountered by the party.
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Ky'ran killed Arcam, a high-ranking beholder within the Mulmaster Beholder Corps.
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Deirdre turned Cadorna, a traitor NPC from Pool of Radiance.
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The wielders of the artifacts gained from Bane's lieutenants: Kyran, the Talisman of Bane, Calder the Horn of Doom and Lilyis the Crystal Ring.
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Calder killed Xoham, an Elder Orb servant of the Balor Gothmenes, the top lieutenant of Bane.
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Lilyis, wielding a Vorpal Long Sword, dealt the final blow to Gothmenes.
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Calder, Ky'ran and Geralt died during the final battle, sacrificing themselves to drop the final remaining monsters.
The party's kill count has to be genocide in levels, I couldn't keep track of all the dragons, drow, Bane minions and other assorted monsters slain on the way to saving the day. The text descriptions in the final dungeons implied it was straight out of Doom.
The biggest death trippers this act: THE ENTIRE PARTY. Usual cause of death: Minion of Bane dragonbreath or Pet of Kalistes Disintegrate. Calder and Yurin IIRC were the biggest targets, with Geralt and Lilyis right behind. Estimated death count is double digits for each member, minimum.
In bizarre incidents of near TPK, Ky'ran would solo entire swarms, demonstrating how absurd paladins actually are.
The difficulty curve in Pools of Darkness was extreme. Even on easiest level, the sheer number of AOE/magic spammers could take down a well-equipped and leveled party. This is because of how strong, regardless of difficulty, the Pet of Kalistes (Disintegrate spammers with save-or-die poison bites with -2 save penalties) and Minion of Bane (Blue) with lightning breath spam actually are.
End of Pools of Darkness levels:
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Ky'ran Level 29 Paladin
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Geralt Level 32 Thief
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Calder Level 27 Ranger
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Yurin Level 24 Thief
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Deirdre Level 29 Cleric
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Lilyis Level 25 Mage
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