Insomniac Run?

[Giant Octopodes]

So as I'm getting close to finishing my current playthrough, I've got my eye on what I'd want to try next.  There are many options on the table, but the one I find most intriguing is the idea of doing an Insomniac Run, wherein the challenge is to never sleep.  I'd be playing on Hard, I'm not sure such a run is possible on PotD and from what I've heard of it I definitely would not have fun personally trying to make it happen on that mode.  Has anyone tried such a run?  What characters did you use?  What was your overall strategy?  Any key difficulty spikes you found, and how did you deal with them?

 

For the party, I'd be using 3x Ranger for sure, the healthless critters are 100% key to this being even possible.  I'd also bring along a Chanter, for the faster ranged attacks (more interrupts) and the summons, he (and everyone else) would hang in the back with the rest of my party, and everyone would try to ensure no one ever even targets them with an attack.  I'd bring along a Cipher, as the only class which generates its per-rest abilities in encounters, giving me (hopefully) some of the raw power needed to win boss fights, if I can delay long enough.  For the last slot, there's a good chance it would be priest early game (for the AOE per encounter heal) and Druid late game (per encounter spells).  

 

Obviously the biggest challenge will be winning boss fights with low to zero health damage, without the use of per rest abilities.  I don't know if there's formalized guidelines for such runs, but personally I'd be ok with using per rest abilities for party members in the amount they actually have (so it'd be fine to bring along Aloth and cast every spell use he had, as an example), but I certainly wouldn't be ok with abusing Caed Nua party switching to refill those abilities (so once he's used those spell uses they count as gone and can't ever be used again).

 

Consummables and crafting will likely prove to be the key to the success or failure of the run, which is unfortunate for me as I normally just hoard consummables until the very end of the game then blow them all at once in spectacular fashion.  This is all just speculation though, if anyone has already attempted this I'd love your insights as this will likely take a few attempts to get very far at all with it.  Your time is greatly appreciated.

[Boeroer]

I never tried such but animal companions and summons seem to be a good starting point. Healing bonuses in combination with a potion of Infuse with Vital Essence can give you back a good amount of health.

 

I would bring a cipher and a high defense paladin tank - only for Defensive Mindweb. With that power you can make sure you won't get hit a lot in the late game.

 

Per-rest spells can be substituted with scrolls.

 

All in all I would use a very defensive and evasive tactic OR use the stealthy approach where you avoid all combat situations if possible.

[Jaheiras Witness]

How would you get rid of fatigue? You get major fatigue right at the end of tutorial. And you need to rest in Gilded Vale just to progress main quest (speak to Caldara). So I guess you have to rest once at least.

[Boeroer]

That's right. There are some situations where you'll get status effects that only can be removed via resting (e.g. injuries from scripted interactions). There's the achievement "No Rest for the Pro" which requires that you rest not more than 10 times. Maybe that's a reasonable goal.

Edited February 25, 2018 by Boeroer

[Torm51]

Ever the Paladin here, Zealous Charge (zealous retreat Lol) can help you get out fights you don’t want to be in. With defensive mind web late game it can be really good, like boer said and summons chanter can be good. You could use the run speed chant instead of zealous charge but it’s not instant like ZC is.

Edited February 25, 2018 by Torm51

[Madscientist]

I think you should try to combine this with the "relative pacifism" achievement, where you should not kill more than X enemies over the whole game. Less fights mean less chances to lose health. But I think most people did this solo to sneak past many enemies and gain levels faster. With a larger party it will be harder to sneak past things and since your exp is split between all chars your level may be low. Many quests can be done without combat, but not all and you miss many kill exp.

Even with pets it will be hard to avoid health damage entirely. There are also summons (chanter spells and items, but items recharge only on rest )

 

Anyway, good luck for your achievement.

[JerekKruger]

You'll have to rest at least once to have the dream about the hanging Dwarf Animancer in Gilded Vale. You'd also need to rest to start the White March part II, though that's not required to finish the game. There might be other required rests that I'm not remembering.

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

Just avoid the bloody spirits and phantoms. 

[Torm51]

Just avoid the bloody spirits and phantoms. 

Ya in the early game on PotD they are the hardest to deal with, so if you can avoid them do it.