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View Full Version : A wizard experiment, 1 wizard instead of a party of 8



taltamir
2010-04-29, 10:51 PM
Can a single wizard do what is normally the job of a party of 8? (5 core PCs + 3 "NPCs" which use PC classes; but predetermined leveling path)

I thought I would share this:
http://www.co8.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8045
You might also take a look in the original attempt:
http://www.co8.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8028
I abandoned that one due to bugs, especially with being a specialist wizard, so I had to play a generalist isntead.

The game is a PC adaptation of D&D. It is designed for a party of 5 with up to 3 NPCs... And it requires some measure of charOp to not die horribly.

I decided to attempt this with one lone wizard. And elf because I was challenged to use an elf instead of a human by someone else in said forum...

I have to say I learned tons about what works and what doesn't. And it made me got over a lot of hangups I had about crafting and the usefulness of spending XP on consumables. (I used to consider that taboo).

Not to mention getting more concrete examples that XP is a river.

I now valuate GP in terms of XP... I can get a certain amount of GP for a certain amount of XP. I can use GP and XP (aka, just XP) to craft permanent items and to craft consumables... burning 2XP worth of consumables (considering both XP and GP cost) on killing something that nets you 380XP is actually quite a good deal...
Please note that the game is actually nerfed from PnP values to give you 60% of the written XP value for monsters. And it is further nerfed in that multiple monsters don't increase the CR of the encounter... fighting 10 trolls gives you 10x the XP you would get for defeating one single troll.

The key to victory has been terrain control and, surprisingly, enchantment.
Sleep is an awesome save or die which I used to greatly under estimate. Deep slumber works just as well. The undead can be handled with a combination of web, summon monster, and magic missile.

Doug Lampert
2010-04-29, 11:34 PM
And it is further nerfed in that multiple monsters don't increase the CR of the encounter... fighting 10 trolls gives you 10x the XP you would get for defeating one single troll.

Eh? That's the rule in the DMG. Fighting ten trolls gives you an ENCOUNTER LEVEL higher than a single troll, and the treasure is based on EL, but that actually averages LESS than ten separate trolls. But XP is based on CR and CR is individual, XP is based on CR, CR is not EL and the rules are rather clear on this if you actually read them through.

Godskook
2010-04-29, 11:40 PM
Can you link to what you're attempting to overcome?

taltamir
2010-04-29, 11:42 PM
Can you link to what you're attempting to overcome?

The entire game from beginning to end. I am trying to see if a single elf wizard can do what normally takes a party of 5+3.

here is a walkthrough for the game:
http://www.gamebanshee.com/templeofelementalevil/walkthrough.php

EDIT: to clarify. The wizard needs to single handedly fight and kill hordes of monsters, or just very tough monsters. or a combination of both.
my biggest problems thus far were "scripted surprise rounds" where by going to place X the game is scripted to give a surprise round to some monsters. (which is especially bad at earlier levels where a single crit kills you and you don't yet have good protective buffs)

Overly powerful random encounters (for which I have purchased a teleport scroll many levels before I could get the spell; but I had to die a couple of times to come up with the idea).

And random encounters where you are boxed in by enemies and cannot get out, and I don't mean you trigger an AoO I mean you literally are not allowed to move by the game (I have never seen such placement when playing with more then 1 character). a lucky defensive casting of sleep can allow you to run over your downed opponent. Dimension door doesn't really help as its useless in that game, I suspect teleport will work perfectly, but I have gotten powerful enough that I don't need to. I can just web the whole area, survive their first round thanks to enough AC and HP, and then deep slumber and run out through the hole it makes.

Sophismata
2010-04-30, 05:31 AM
Good luck, and very interesting.

When I played, I ran through the game with a party of 5 Druids (NG, TN, LN, CN and NE) but was put off by the bugs and lack of polish.

I was amused, though, by a group of orcs in a cave that had 81 strength instead of 18.

taltamir
2010-04-30, 12:29 PM
Good luck, and very interesting.

When I played, I ran through the game with a party of 5 Druids (NG, TN, LN, CN and NE) but was put off by the bugs and lack of polish.

I was amused, though, by a group of orcs in a cave that had 81 strength instead of 18.

ha... must have hit like a truck.
Yea, the game was released as an early beta... and never finished.
But that is what co8 does, fix all those bugs.

A party of all druids is on my list of things to do... maybe I will just try a lone druid after my current experiment.

monkey3
2010-05-03, 10:50 AM
Speaking of soloing (and the power of arcane casters), one of my fondest gaming memories is of soloing Balder's Gate II (I think) with a sorcerer. He would run around with a gaggle of summoned monsters in front of him.

I even killed Dritzs and his gang, just to put his scimitars in my bag of holding as mementos :)

Lycanthromancer
2010-05-03, 10:57 AM
Speaking of soloing (and the power of arcane casters), one of my fondest gaming memories is of soloing Balder's Gate II (I think) with a sorcerer. He would run around with a gaggle of summoned monsters in front of him.

I even killed Dritzs and his gang, just to put his scimitars in my bag of holding as mementos :)I've never soloed any of the BG games (I love Minsc and Boo too much), but I make frequent and varied use of summons as well. I like sneaking a character into an area to clear away the Fog of War, then start sending in the meat shields summoned creatures, after tossing in a half-dozen skull traps, ghoul glyphs, symbols of pain, and such.

Makes the harder difficulty levels a bit more viable (as I hate it when I have a character gibbed by a critical hit; losing an awesome character with no hopes of resurrection makes me sad).