It is most distressing that this is the course thou’ve chosen. I remove my support, and will have no further dealings with thee.
-Elminster
In principle, my original intention was to check out the possibilities of soloing the game on Insane difficulty, sticking to hardcore no-reload rules, with a non-Thief character. Gradually, I grew excited about many aspects of playing a ranged (mainly) Blackguard, and decided to record the run in its entirety. It’s a short rush-through, slightly longer than 2 hours overall without cutscenes. I follow the critical path only, though you can notice I, erm, ‘tackle’ two new NPCs and pay a nice visit to Ulgoth’s Beard.
* Why a Blackguard?
The main concept behind this challenge was creating a character with maximum degree of safety: low AC to minimize the chance of being hit, high hp to withstand double damage, ranged for obvious statistical reasons. However, ranged weapons are not exactly the hottest option in IE games due to very low damage in comparison to their melee counterparts. Luckily, Blackguard’s wonderful Poison Weapon ability takes care of this issue formidably.
Sure enough, Assassin’s Poison Weapon was an underpowered ability in a context of a higher-level module (BG2). However, when even end-game opponents rarely have more than 50-60 hp, 12 hp guaranteed damage bonus to every successful attack during the 5 rounds the buff lasts is huge. Not to mention it potentially hits for a ton more, if the target fails a saving throw (and it happens a lot in a low-level module). And, as if it weren’t enough, the ‘hiccups’ caused by damage over time ticks slow enemies down significantly and interrupt spellcasting! In short, Poison Weapon definitely gets my vote as the single most universally useful non-buggy combat ability in BG:EE.
Additional point in Blackguard’s favor is his Fear immunity. Fear is the most important aspect of the instant-solo-death Fear-Hold-Charm triad in BG:EE: all the critical path mages up until chapter IV are extremely Horror-happy, so Fear immunity is a must. On the other hand, you can easily live without Hold and Charm immunities until Cloakwood and Cloakwood Mines.
Last but not least, Blackguard is able to use Rancor. While superficially, that’s a mediocre weapon, there are two huge pluses to it: (a) it transfers its +1 THAC0 buff to any other weapon in one’s quick weapon bar (actually, I don’t consider it a glitch, since the wording is: ‘When Dorn holds this blade, any death that it causes has a chance to grant Dorn an increase of +1 to his to-hit rolls for 24 hours’) – while that’s only really relevant early game (BG:EE does not require fantastic THAC0, as a rule), it is definitely a significant boost; (b) it can be obtained very early into the game, provided you are ready to make the, ahem, necessary sacrifice.
* When rushing the critical path, one is missing a lot of xp, right?
Simply put, that is wrong in a solo run. Consider this: there are 4 guaranteed (eh, if you know how to do it) kills on Elminster’s incarnations in chapters I, III, IV, and V. That alone amounts to 104,000 xp (26,000 x 4). Your limit, being a Paladin kit, is 150,000. You will eventually accumulate the missing 46,000 xp at some point during Chapter VII.
* So you played through the entire BG:EE without saving once? Really?
No. Not really. Initially, I have limited myself to making a save at every chapter’s end. However, several glitchy instances warranted a save beforehand (Senjak & Dorotea, Ducal Palace Doppleganger Conspiracy, Temple of Bhaal). None of these is especially challenging per se, they just can result in being stuck mid-chapter, so the saves were made for purely technical reasons.
* Links to chapters with crucial points summary
Prologue:![image]()
Not much to do here. Killing Firebead for 2700 xp; killing one of the watchers for a plate mail and a helm; speaking to Gorion.
Chapter I:![image]()
Killing Elminster; getting Ring of Protection +1 and Elves’ Bane belt; making some gold out of Ring of Wizardry; getting Rancor; buying a Composite Longbow +1.
Chapter II:![image]()
Getting Ankheg Plate and the Dale’s Protector bracers; taking Rasaad’s Moonlight Walkers.
Chapter III:![image]()
Killing Elminster in Beregost; getting the Dead Shot bow.
Chapter IV:![image]()
Killing Elminster at Friendly Arm Inn; paying a visit to Ulgoth’s Beard for Ring of Invisibility, Greenstone Amulet and Ring of Free Action; getting Boots of Speed.
Chapter V:![image]()
Killing Elminster at Baldur’s Gate E; taking Ring of Protection +2; getting Cloak and Helm of Balduran.
Chapter VI:![image]()
Nothing. That’s correct: nothing at all.
Chapter VII:![image]()
Buying Potions of Invisibility; finishing the game.
-Elminster
In principle, my original intention was to check out the possibilities of soloing the game on Insane difficulty, sticking to hardcore no-reload rules, with a non-Thief character. Gradually, I grew excited about many aspects of playing a ranged (mainly) Blackguard, and decided to record the run in its entirety. It’s a short rush-through, slightly longer than 2 hours overall without cutscenes. I follow the critical path only, though you can notice I, erm, ‘tackle’ two new NPCs and pay a nice visit to Ulgoth’s Beard.
* Why a Blackguard?
The main concept behind this challenge was creating a character with maximum degree of safety: low AC to minimize the chance of being hit, high hp to withstand double damage, ranged for obvious statistical reasons. However, ranged weapons are not exactly the hottest option in IE games due to very low damage in comparison to their melee counterparts. Luckily, Blackguard’s wonderful Poison Weapon ability takes care of this issue formidably.
Sure enough, Assassin’s Poison Weapon was an underpowered ability in a context of a higher-level module (BG2). However, when even end-game opponents rarely have more than 50-60 hp, 12 hp guaranteed damage bonus to every successful attack during the 5 rounds the buff lasts is huge. Not to mention it potentially hits for a ton more, if the target fails a saving throw (and it happens a lot in a low-level module). And, as if it weren’t enough, the ‘hiccups’ caused by damage over time ticks slow enemies down significantly and interrupt spellcasting! In short, Poison Weapon definitely gets my vote as the single most universally useful non-buggy combat ability in BG:EE.
Additional point in Blackguard’s favor is his Fear immunity. Fear is the most important aspect of the instant-solo-death Fear-Hold-Charm triad in BG:EE: all the critical path mages up until chapter IV are extremely Horror-happy, so Fear immunity is a must. On the other hand, you can easily live without Hold and Charm immunities until Cloakwood and Cloakwood Mines.
Last but not least, Blackguard is able to use Rancor. While superficially, that’s a mediocre weapon, there are two huge pluses to it: (a) it transfers its +1 THAC0 buff to any other weapon in one’s quick weapon bar (actually, I don’t consider it a glitch, since the wording is: ‘When Dorn holds this blade, any death that it causes has a chance to grant Dorn an increase of +1 to his to-hit rolls for 24 hours’) – while that’s only really relevant early game (BG:EE does not require fantastic THAC0, as a rule), it is definitely a significant boost; (b) it can be obtained very early into the game, provided you are ready to make the, ahem, necessary sacrifice.
* When rushing the critical path, one is missing a lot of xp, right?
Simply put, that is wrong in a solo run. Consider this: there are 4 guaranteed (eh, if you know how to do it) kills on Elminster’s incarnations in chapters I, III, IV, and V. That alone amounts to 104,000 xp (26,000 x 4). Your limit, being a Paladin kit, is 150,000. You will eventually accumulate the missing 46,000 xp at some point during Chapter VII.
* So you played through the entire BG:EE without saving once? Really?
No. Not really. Initially, I have limited myself to making a save at every chapter’s end. However, several glitchy instances warranted a save beforehand (Senjak & Dorotea, Ducal Palace Doppleganger Conspiracy, Temple of Bhaal). None of these is especially challenging per se, they just can result in being stuck mid-chapter, so the saves were made for purely technical reasons.
* Links to chapters with crucial points summary
Prologue:
Not much to do here. Killing Firebead for 2700 xp; killing one of the watchers for a plate mail and a helm; speaking to Gorion.
Chapter I:
Killing Elminster; getting Ring of Protection +1 and Elves’ Bane belt; making some gold out of Ring of Wizardry; getting Rancor; buying a Composite Longbow +1.
Chapter II:
Getting Ankheg Plate and the Dale’s Protector bracers; taking Rasaad’s Moonlight Walkers.
Chapter III:
Killing Elminster in Beregost; getting the Dead Shot bow.
Chapter IV:
Killing Elminster at Friendly Arm Inn; paying a visit to Ulgoth’s Beard for Ring of Invisibility, Greenstone Amulet and Ring of Free Action; getting Boots of Speed.
Chapter V:
Killing Elminster at Baldur’s Gate E; taking Ring of Protection +2; getting Cloak and Helm of Balduran.
Chapter VI:
Nothing. That’s correct: nothing at all.
Chapter VII:
Buying Potions of Invisibility; finishing the game.