Alesia_BH

I enjoyed your last post, Serg. It looks like Astrid and Grim Face are in the same place. First round at the Hound is on Astrid! Astrid has no intention of going anywhere near that cave, but I appreciated your bear fight battle report. It was like a refresher course on early game party play. The Disappointer idea was cool, too Good hunting! A.

Agreed! With three people active, the challenge has a pulse again. We'll soon have it up on its feet, dancing the jitterbug! Best, A. Btw, thanks for the compliment on Astrid. In BG play I had a favorite character, Alesia, a bounty hunter- which as you've surely guessed is where my forum name comes from. Playing Alesia solo no reload style is what really made me learn the game. I'm hoping Astrid will be the same for me in PoE.

Yay! This run should be great! And I think it's pretty cool that our adventures are completely different: full party versus solo, direct route to Thaos versus completionist. Diversity is good! Best wishes for a successful adventure! Cheers, A. Btw, you mentioned that Per is super important in Deadfire. I still haven't installed Deadfire, but I had heard that Dex is more important there. That's kind of why I built Astrid as I did: 20 Dex, 17 Per. I figured she could use Blasconn in PoE, giving her 18 Dex and 20 Per in substantive fights, and she'd have the extra Dex waiting in reserve for Deadfire. Apparently I miscalculated? I could have gone White That Wends and 20 Per (since Astrid was born in The White That Wends but came of age in the Archipelago either would have made sense). Would that have been better?

Astrid, Pale Elf Rogue (Solo)- Entry 1 (Part B) Note to self: key lime pie is not dinner. Note to everyone else: I've eaten and I'm ready to resume. So, where were we? Right: minor quests in Guilded Vale, post Raedric Hold: Smith's Shipment and Late for Dinner. (Against the Grain, too, natch, but we don't need to talk about that.) Smith's Shipment can be done with stealth using the boots of stealth. Astrid waited at the edge of the scout's detection range, in the position seen below, and then broke when he went back to the campfire. We opened the southerly lootable box first. Stealth will also allow you to loot the Shrine of Galawain and the drake skull. The drake skull find is skiddly-diddly because it lets you add burning lashes. After returning the crate, we bought a Blunting Belt and Azureith's. Azureith's got a burning lash immediately. With our loot table, visiting the loose rock over by the wolves in Valewood on the 4th yields a Torc of the Falcon Eyes. Consequently, we chilled at the Hound for a while before setting off. When completing super-easy quests like Late for Dinner, I like to build in miny challenges. In this case we tried to minimize attacks. That went pretty well, given that Astrid is a low level rogue. One hit nixed the first outlaw with the fine crossbow. By range targeting the melee bandit with the crossbow and placing an arrow trap along his attack vector, north of the outlaw's attack route, we effectively one hit the bandit. The next outlaw falls in one hit, courtesy of Azureith's, aided by Dirty Fighting. That's three enemies with three strikes. Crippling Strike let's us take down the last bandit in two (possibly three- I'm not sure). In any case, we did pretty well. Astrid was pleased. She and I are starting to build trust. She knows I'm only moderately proficient at PoE -and thus semi-likely to get her killed- but she thinks I'm beginning to get the hang of it. Onto the wolves! The Torc of the Falcon Eyes can be looted with stealth, but Fulvano's Gloves can't be, as far as I know. The wolves were dropped quickly thanks to an Azureith's Jolting Touch. In game weapon damage is a function of usage: There are no absolutes. For Astrid -who has a high crit percentage and takes very few melee swings per battle- Azureith's is a top tier weapon for a long, long time. We have the Torc. We have the gloves. Astrid is ready to enter the Temple. Wish her luck! Best, A.

Very cool, Serg! Truth be told, I do think concurrent runs would aid our efforts to reboot the challenge. Who knows? Maybe we'll cross over into Deadfire together. And maybe others will be there with us? Cheers, A.

Astrid, Pale Elf Rogue (Solo)- Entry 1 (Part A) Astrid's run is off to a promising start. She's completed her early item collection tasks and is now ready to begin her first significant quest, Buried Secrets. Entry 1 will cover caravan camp through the Gilded Vale minor side quests. That may not sound like much, but there's a lot that matters here. Before I continue: a note. I think I warned everyone that I'm going to cover this run in excruciating detail. That was no lie. My intention is to post in such a way that I and others will be able to replicate. That requires a lot of detail, at least for me. If the minutiae gets boring for y'all, let me know. I'll tone it down and just keep copious off-line notes. Ok! Let's begin! Astrid's run got off to an auspicious start when she crit-chunked her first foe with her opening swing. May those wolfine chunky-wunks be like the ceremonial broken wine glass at a Jewish wedding and may this run not end in divorce. Mazel tov! I'll spare you the details of the rest of the tutorial. On her first level up Astrid took: Gasps from the audience, right? Why one handed? Astrid doesn't fight in melee much. She uses scrolls and item based abilities whenever possible. When she does fight in melee, she's either: 1) mowing down hapless tools; 2) landing an opportunistic Jolting Touch via Azureith; or 3) crit stun/prone locking big bad bady-waddies. In the first case, weapon style doesn't matter. In the second two, one-handed is actually better, at least within the levels that Astrid will be playing (she'll be finishing at 9 or 10). What about the late game? Say if Astrid did White March and lots of side-quest? Well, interestingly, in the late-late game there is an argument that one handed is better than two handed, since you can get recovery down to zero either way and one-handed gets the acc bonus. Ok, but what about those great rogue full attack special abilities? Got me there. That's an argument for two-handed style: no doubt. But tradeoffs in all things, strengths and weaknesses on all sides. I'm not saying that one handed style is better than two weapon in the general case: I'm merely saying that it has merits at certain stages of the adventure and I'm fair convinced that it makes sense for Astrid. Protest if you must. I'll fight you on this with one hand tied behind my back: One hand is enough. With that out of the way... Skill points went to stealth and Astrid went to Gilded Vale. Leveling up again post tree-talk, we took Dirty Fighting. Skill points went to Stealth and Lore (5pts and 1 pt respectively) Here's our heroine: At level 3, fresh off a Mechanics skill boosting Laborer's Rest- equipped and ready for an item raid on Raedric Hold. She's sexy and she knows it. Fine weapons courtesy of the graveyard in Esternwood; Ring and cloak from the Ruins and Hound. Note that there's a crushing weapon in the inventory in addition to the slasher in hand. Time for some shameless meta-gaming! No seriously: I'm embarassed about this. My early route through the game involves random loot table use. That's stupid and I intend to cut it out eventually. But for now: Have you seen my shame? Because I don't: I've lost it all... Right, well...With a non-offset table, opening the roof bin on the 20th gets you boots of stealth. The third bin down in the Sanctuary entrance hall on the 1rst yields a fine brigandine. Locked chest in the bedroom on the 2nd offers Gloves of Manipulations; Loose stone in the jail cell on the 2nd, a Ring of Searing Flames. So how do we do all that? By being sneaky-sneaky. To enter the Sanctuary via the ramparts, wait for the patrolling guard to head away from you and then follow him- just don't follow too closely. Stay away from the stationary guard and you're good. All the world is blind to your passing. You can dance on the head of a pin as well. Into the Sanctuary! The Berath robes look awesome on Astrid. They match her portrait super well. If I weren't adverse to kiting (in PoE) and fog of war play (any game), she'd rock those from here 'till next Christmas. Using the robes and Int >12 gets us to Nedmar. Then it's down, down, down. We rest to dispel our fatigue, and then get to work. Astrid waited for the first patrolling revenant to pass going east and then took the second patrolling revenant down in the corner: Slashing weapons for the revenants; Crushing for the skellies to come. We let ooze #1 pass heading west, disarmed the trap, and then headed down the hall, hugging the north wall to stay clear of ooze #2. We lured skelly #1 into the cell and took him down with our crushing weapon. We got him into the cell by letting him soft detect us (when the circle thingy turns red- you know what I mean) and search. It really is advisable to pull this guy because you can end up with up to five enemies on you otherwise. I lost a character to that in my first unposted solo attempt. Skelly #2 was lured into the same cell using the same method. He was dispatched with the mace. Revenant #2, the stationary one, was drawn away to the south just as the patrolling revenant passed heading west. We intercepted the patrolling revenant at the western end of his route. We've switched back to the fine dagger for the revenants. Last Aumaua skeleton: Crossbow bullet to the face, followed by the mace. You know the Olivia Newton John song (Let's Get) Physical? I'm singing Let's Get Critical in my head now because I'm a dork. (Remember what I said about loosing my shame?) Footnote: The Youtube video for (Let's Get) Physical is fracking hilarious. Por ejemplo... So: We free Giacco, grab the fine brigandine and then detrap -but not open- the chest in the bedroom. What's the logic there? We need our Laborer's Rest bonus to disarm the trap, but its the 1rst now and the Gloves of Manipulation won't show up until the 2nd. We rest three times in Nedmar's room and then claim our prize. Next, it's the Ring of Searing Flames down in the dungeon. With that, we're outy- like those ugly belly buttons (Apologies if you have an outie but outies are objectively less attractive than inies. Don't blame me: Blame your obstetrician.) Like the undead that hopefully haunt you obstetrician's dreams, there are revenants and guls near the exit. We let the patrolling bloke pass the stairs going east, break down the middle, and veer north to avoid the oncoming revenant. Surely there are other ways but this is the one I know works. Ok. I'm hungry now so I'm going to take a break. I'll be back with the end on Entry 1 soon. Toodle-doodles! Best, A.

Alrighty then: Let's get started! I am officially back in action! Meet my new character: Astrid, Pale Elf Rogue (Solo) Game Version: 3.7.0.1318 with White March I & II, Difficulty: Normal, Settings: Maim Before Death: On; Injuries: On; Expert Mode: OFF, Mods: None Character Description: Born in the White that Wends but uninspired by the dreary ways of her people, a teenaged Astrid set off for the Deadfire Archipelago, harboring dreams of gold and glory. The Deadfire had something else in store for her, however: instead of a swashbuckling adventure novel, Astrid's life became a rise and fall tragicomedy of epic proportions. After rapidly ascending to the rank of quartermaster aboard a pirate ship, The Reticent Squid, Astrid found herself accused of treason by her captain, Rai Nui- an Aumaua who had trusted and admired her until he lost his mind to syphilis. When The Reticent Squid was captured -due in no small part to the captain's compromised decision making- Astrid suddenly found herself on the gun barrel end of both pirate law and the law of the authorities. That she is alive today and free is a miracle. If she successfully returns to the Deadfire as she intends it will be a greater miracle still. Gaming Notes: When this challenge opened last winter I had virtually no PoE experience: I had nary a clue how to play. In the two month that followed I became marginally proficient, completing full party no reloads on normal, hard and potd respectively. After a one year break, I've decided to get back in the action, this time tackling solo play, starting at normal and, hopefully, culminating in a potd no reload run. Having practiced a bit over the last week, I'm confident that I'll have a first success soon. Hopefully Astrid will be the one. My intention is to cover this run in significant detail, partly for my own reference, but mostly in the interest of soliciting feedback (I'm still learning!). Please do feel free to chime in with an advice! Astrid needs your help!

It's good to meet you too, Concrete Monster! I'm sorry to hear that Ellana's run has ended, but you're more than welcome to post your progress, nonetheless. Your character's story still matters, even if it didn't have a happy ending. I'll note, too, that we have a Graveyard in our Hall of Heroes for fallen aspirants. Ellana will be eligible if you post. It would be nice to get things rolling here once again. We had great momentum last winter. Sadly, participation dropped off dramatically after I abruptly disappeared. I'll have to leave again once spring comes, but I'll be playing and posting for the next couple month at the very least. And when I do leave this time I'll give everyone advance notice. Between you, I and Serg, we have a good start! Hopefully we can entice a few others to join. @Borco, @Enuhal, @FNGRenegade, @Ivanfyodorovich, @Jaheiras Witness, @semiticgod and anyone else I missed: What are you up to these days? Best, A. NW: I started a solo rogue this morning. I'm excited about her. I'll start posting soon!

Welcome, welcome, welcome, Concrete Monster! I'm glad to see you posting! I'm sorry I wasn't around to greet you when you entered the challenge. Also, please accept my apologies for the response delay to your recent post. It's good to meet you and it's good to see people active. Best of luck to Elanna! A Priest of Eothas is a compelling choice from an RP perspective, in my opinion. I look forward to future updates, Best, A. PS: I'm almost ready to start posting on my solo rogue. I'll likely start today or tomorrow!

Very cool, Serg! Will you be posting your upcoming run? (I'm fiddling with a solo rogue now. I'll let you know if and when I'm ready to share!) Best, A.

Heya! It's me, Alesia- making a sheepish and apologetic return. Those of you who've known me for years are aware that I regularly vanish, often for long periods of time. My last disappearance was especially abrupt, however, and I feel pretty bad about it. I'm sorry, everyone! Life just unexpectedly took me elsewhere (an ecovillage in Central America, to be specific). I really should have let y'all know, though. Despite appearances to the contrary, I do and always have valued your friendship. Once again, I apologize! (And if it's any consolation, I'm known for Irish goodbyes in RL, too...) Anyhoo, I'm back now and I kind of feel like playing again. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that this challenge is still active! I see Serg is still posting, as is Ivanfyodorovich. And we have some new friends. Who else is still following along? Best, A.

It wouldn't be in bad faith to do a regular run first. You're free to do whatever you like. But I think it would be fun to jump off this cliff together and take our chances. If we die, we die. If not, we'll have a blind run NR or two. That would be cool.

Jaheiras Witness: Are you still out there? Whatever happened to your RPed party run, intended for PoE II import? Now would be a great time to fire that up, if you haven't already.

Congratulations on an outstanding run, Ivanfyodorovich! Though the end game may not have tested your limits, you did some excellent work to get to that point. It was a well earned victory, irrespective of whether you ended up over-powered. On the balancing issue, I'll note the following: I sympathize with the view that PoE can be trivialized with safe routing and over-leveling. And I do think that some of us may enjoy taking steps to remedy that, including reduced party size, as Ivanfyodorovich and Semiticgod have suggested, or 0 knockout runs, embraced by Serg and myself. Coming up with strategies to rebalance the adventure and rediscover challenge can be part of the fun. I look forward to that! While some of us may perceive NRing PoE as easy now, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that no one has successfully completed the challenge yet, since we've yet to move on to PoE II. Perhaps we should put a pin the PoE balancing discussion until after we have a least one entry in the Hall of Heroes? Speaking of which: Who is ready to move on to PoE II? If and when we get three yeas, I'll open up a PoE II thread, and we can begin. Since I was distracted by holiday beaching (and, later, Stranger Things binge watching), Arya is still in the PoE midgame. Arcadia is ready to go, however. I can start when others are ready. Who's in? Best, A. Btw, Ivanfyodorovich, I believe you mentioned that you're running PoE II on a MacBook Air. Let me know if you have any tips on making that work.

Sounds great! Looking forward to your updates! Best, A.

Nice work in the Battery, Ivanfyodorovich! Glad you made it through! In Alyssa's run, which I declined to post, we suffered routine knockouts in the Durgan's Battery fights. I felt like I was being sloppy, but now I think they're just kind of hard to stop. Those fights seem to have been deliberately balanced in such a way as to insure that you'll take a mild beating in each encounter. Have you done the Durgan's Battery without knockouts, Serg? Do you have any advice on that? Best, A.

Noted! Early January sounds good to me, too. We seem to have had a lull in activity, likely associated with the holiday. I, personally, will resume playing and posting on the 26th. I'm guessing others will too. Until then, happy holidays, everyone! And if you still feel like posting, over the next couple of days, please do. You will have readers. I'll be among them! Best, A.

Sorry to hear that FNGRenegade! If you do continue your solo run, please do feel free to post it. (And if you move on to PoE II instead, let us know what you think, as a no reloader. Some of us haven't tried it yet.) Best, A.

Glad to see you making progress, nice work! And Ivanfyodorovich: thank you for covering you dialogue choices.There are still a lot of options that I'm unaware of. I learned of a couple in your last post. Thanks! Best, A

Yikes! That was a close call against The Dweller. I'm glad Mira made it! Best, A. Btw, what level was Mira at? I'm curious about the appropriate level for that encounter. I've only done it while severely over-leveled.

Best of luck to Grim Face! May his adventures be injury free! Best, A. Btw, I agree that a no knockout no reload is possible. I just don't think that I, personally, have a high probability of success at this time. Setting aside the times when I've been playing for hours and hours without sleep (or playing on Klonopin and wine, trying to sleep), and speaking solely of the quests that I know and do, I run into trouble in the Skaen Temple and in Durgan's Battery. I can solve the Skaen temple problem by using your approach there. It's the small battles, fought consecutively, with rest restrictions, that get messy. I can just bypass those and drop Wymund. EDIT: Now that I think of it, Arcadia's team did the Skaen Temple without in combat knockouts and without leaving for camping gear. It not so bad, really. Alyssa just fought a sloppy battle there that unnerved me. In the battery, it's the spirit fights that get me They aren't really a threat to my teams, but I do have trouble keeping everyone on their feet. I probably just need to study the problem. I've basically just been lazily AoE bombing my way through those encounters, without carefully studying enemy abilities. Once I understand what they're doing to me I'll be in a better position to stop it.

I think it could be highly effective. I also think it would be challenging, in some respects. One of the advantages of working with a stable team is that you come to know its strengths and weaknesses. You develop a battle plan and you refine execution. You iron out kinks. You remedy unexpected flaws. You stumble; you grow; you get better. I've always believed that knowledge of the resources you possess is often more important than the resources themselves. I feel that the approach you're proposing may sacrifice the former, for the latter. I also don't necessarily think that it would be inconsistent with an RP approach. The very first Alesia run, on the old, old forums was an RPed/novelization No Reload. It was abandoned in Saradush, sadly, because it had become too time consuming (I was in grad school, at the time). Alesia and Imoen were friends. They were a team. They were always together. As for other party members, they were added and discarded flexibly, based on the exigencies of each quest, intersected with RP considerations. Alesia didn't travel with a party. She navigated the world with a friend and assembled teams for each mission. It was a lot of fun. It was also challenging, in light of BG XP system. PoE would be better suited to that approach. As a matter of fact, when I do run Alesia in PoE, I'll probably do it that way, with flexible parties, often small, chosen for each mission, like her first BG run. What you're proposing is little bit different, but there is some similarity, I think. If you'd like to give it a try, feel free. I'll acknowledge, though, that I'm less fond of the respec and disposability parts of your proposal. I'd prefer to see a large stable of characters that you draw from flexibly. It's up to you, though, of course. What is the maximum number of characters that you can build and hold in reserve? Best, A.

Yuppers! (I wasn't basing it on the appearance of the scene; we can do that, too, though)

Best of luck! You're more likely to meet with success in that endeavor, I think. I have levels 1-7 down. My command of higher levels is a little sketch. I don't expect Arya to finish with zero knockouts. We'll try, though! I suppose that could become a new -totally optional- wrinkle on the challenge. Best, A.

That's closer. A captain and crew. Quest related. Upper floor of a centrally located, yet low traffic inn. That's something in SoA exactly.