Rajaah's CRPG Blog

Rajaah · Mar 30, 2023

Raes Damn, I misread the definition of Gifted. I thought it reduced your SP gain by 5 per level. I think that's what the description says. So I thought that meant you only gained like 2 SP per level or something. Didn't know it was 5 percent. Almost considering starting over just to get it now, but I made enough progress not to want to. Game isn't exactly hard either way and I'll probably be done with it pretty soon once I dedicate a day to it.

Burns Switching between the two games probably isn't a good idea due to how different they are. I think what I'll do is dedicate a big day or two to FO1 and then dedicate a big day or two to BG2 rather than playing both every evening and confusing myself. Tough part is finding days to put aside. Right now BG2 is much more successful at locking in my attention.

Raes · Mar 31, 2023

Rajaah said:
Raes Damn, I misread the definition of Gifted. I thought itu reduced your SP gain by 5 per level. I think that's what the description says. So I thought that meant you only gained like 2 SP per level or something. Didn't know it was 5 percent. Almost considering starting over just to get it now, but I made enough progress not to want to. Game isn't exactly hard either way and I'll probably be done with it pretty soon once I dedicate a day to it.

Burns Switching between the two games probably isn't a good idea due to how different they are. I think what I'll do is dedicate a big day or two to FO1 and then dedicate a big day or two to BG2 rather than playing both every evening and confusing myself. Tough part is finding days to put aside. Right now BG2 is much more successful at locking in my attention.

Yeah, no real point in starting over. Mainly wanted to let you know for Fallout 2 (which I am currently replaying thanks to you.) Also, while Fallout 1 is awesome, Fallout 2 is streets ahead.

Rajaah · Mar 31, 2023

Since the subject of D&D lower planes came up earlier, and "Descent Into Avernus" talks about the Blood War quite a bit, I've got a question for D&D lore hounds.

If Hell and the Abyss fought to the death, which side would win? They're the two biggest and baddest monster-oriented planes in the D&D multiverse and either of them could likely kick the asses of the other individual evil/neutral planes (obviously not Mount Celestia).

The Blood War seemed inconclusive, and only involved some of Hell's planes from what I can tell. I think the Demons stormed the first and fifth layers, and probably others, and basically won both before being pushed back by Asmodeus' special forces battalion that he'd been assembling down in the Ninth during all of that. So Hell technically "won" by repelling the invasion but also suffered catastrophic losses in the process while the Abyss was business as usual.

That's just the impression I'm getting from a brief look at the material. I haven't studied the subject.

The Abyss seems to have a lot more demons in it than Hell has devils. The Abyss is also likely larger: 666 layers compared to Hell's 9 planes. The 9 are likely much, much larger domains than a single Abyss layer, though.

The individual big names in both layers aren't that far apart in power. Hell's big names tend to be a bit stronger, but it isn't by a mile or anything. Asmodeus pretty much defeats anyone, but Demogorgon (Abyss' top guy AFAIK) could probably defeat other archdukes like Belial and Dispater.

The sense I'm getting is that the Abyss has the numbers, the space, and the raw viciousness. While Hell has the military tactics, organization, and stronger big names for the most part. Curious what anyone else thinks on the subject.

TJT · Mar 31, 2023

I understood it as neither side can really win. Abyss vs Avernus is the lower planes form of Chaos vs Order.

Rajaah · Mar 31, 2023

Grabbit Allworth said:
To answer your question -

In my opinion, the Abyss would win because it would likely come down to a battle of attrition. And though the Hell's are massive planes with some incredibly powerful inhabitants, demons/devils require souls to be created, while the Abyss is effectively endless and the creation of its inhabitants are not limited by a resource like the Hells are. And like the Hell's, the Abyss has some mind-bogglingly powerful beings that call it home.

Additionally, it's impossible for the Hell's to attack the Abyss as a unified force because the Bloodwar has raged for tens of thousands of years and will do so for tens of thousands more. It will never end unless is unified intervention by half a dozen evil gods which is even less likely than a cease fire.

That's a good answer. Hell would almost certainly be playing defense the whole time and fighting on their own terrain. I never even considered the idea of Hell invading the Abyss and conquering it because such a thing seems impossible. And the attrition would be a big thing too.

Somebody should make a Blood War based RTS or sim game. That could be pretty insane.

^ I think we've got the question pretty well solved already. It's a stalemate.

Tuco said:
Paladins are strong in BG2 because they get higher levels and better abilities but also because they get the biggest dick weapon in the game, Carsomyr On an umodded BG a paladin (especially an inquisitor kit with Truesight rolling) can start swinging that thing and destroy mages and their pathetic bullshit defenses. On a modded BG2 with harder difficulties, dispell magic is only one piece of a larger puzzle.

Keep getting sidetracked with quest after quest, but I'm still on Chapter 2.

Running into a lot of "weapon has no effect" as the game progresses and I'm not sure why. Maybe weapons aren't magic enough? IDK.

Just got the big dick weapon, Carsomyr. Damn, that red dragon was basically Nagafen, dishing out AOE Fear and fire breath.

Next I gotta find out who's doing the murdering in Umar Hills, then it's back to Gaelar to turn in the 20k gold and actually progress the plot. Reached 20k a while ago and just kept getting pulled into one quest after another. The amount of content in this game is INSANE. I might try to stay on the main story path from here on, in the interest of BGII not taking an age and a half to finish.

Was up way too late again. I'll do another image-filled post tomorrow of these BGII developments.

TJT · Mar 31, 2023

Rajaah Since you went to Firkraag's hideout make absolutely sure you found the key there. It is on one of his minions. It's not part of the plot, but it is badass.

You have what? +1 or +2 or better weapons? The + indicator is a threshold for doing damage against certain monsters. Similarly you also need + arrows to do the same with ranged.

Rajaah · Mar 31, 2023

TJT said:
Rajaah Since you went to Firkraag's hideout make absolutely sure you found the key there. It is on one of his minions. It's not part of the plot, but it is badass.

You have what? +1 or +2 or better weapons? The + indicator is a threshold for doing damage against certain monsters. Similarly you also need + arrows to do the same with ranged.

I got the key off the wizard guy. I think it was used up when I freed The Child from the jail cell though cause I don't see it in the inventory now...

One of my party members (the girl with the wealthy friends) just got arrested out of nowhere so I'm down a member.

Yeah I've got +1 across the board pretty much. Stuff like Stone Golems and shadow-type enemies were giving me a lot of "immune", plus Trolls once they collapse would just "immune" everything until someone cast a fireball or shot an acid arrow.

Should be fine now since I have the powerhouse +5 two-hander.

Man, I cannot seem to turn this damn game off.

TJT · Mar 31, 2023

Rajaah said:
I got the key off the wizard guy. I think it was used up when I freed The Child from the jail cell though cause I don't see it in the inventory now...

One of my party members (the girl with the wealthy friends) just got arrested out of nowhere so I'm down a member.

Yeah I've got +1 across the board pretty much. Stuff like Stone Golems and shadow-type enemies were giving me a lot of "immune", plus Trolls once they collapse would just "immune" everything until someone cast a fireball or shot an acid arrow.

Should be fine now since I have the powerhouse +5 two-hander.

Man, I cannot seem to turn this damn game off.

No no bro. This is an entirely separate key that is not used anywhere near Firkraag or his hideout in any way. Refrain from looking up a guide about it. Just make sure you have it.

Rajaah · Mar 31, 2023

TJT said:
No no bro. This is an entirely separate key that is not used anywhere near Firkraag or his hideout in any way. Refrain from looking up a guide about it. Just make sure you have it.

Is it the Keep Key? That's the only key I've got in the inventory. Might have to go back in there and figure this out.

Just finished the longest quest I've done so far in the BG series (go into the Ruined Temple and defeat the Shade Lord to basically free the nearby town from their murdering). The reward? The mayor gave us 100 G and Leather Armor and acted all shifty about it. That's gotta be someone's idea of a hilarious joke.

Alright, main plot from here on out, next time.

reavor · Mar 31, 2023

Rajaah said:
Is it the Keep Key? That's the only key I've got in the inventory. Might have to go back in there and figure this out.

Just finished the longest quest I've done so far in the BG series (go into the Ruined Temple and defeat the Shade Lord to basically free the nearby town from their murdering). The reward? The mayor gave us 100 G and Leather Armor and acted all shifty about it. That's gotta be someone's idea of a hilarious joke.

Alright, main plot from here on out, next time.

No thats a different key, the key is used somewhere in Athkatla

The shade lord quest is kinda funny with the blair witch references. As with most quests the reward from the quest giver is kinda meh but the loot from the dungeon and bosses are the real treasures

TJT · Mar 31, 2023

Just got to act 4 of my DOS2 run. The item generation outside of uniques has sortof fucked me in that I was unable to truly beef up some stats but it hasn't mattered. I simply do way too much damage as an archer with multiple movement skills and stealth. Straight up unload AOE arrows on fuckers. I wonder how many turns it will take me to do the last fight.

Tuco · Mar 31, 2023

Rajaah said:
Running into a lot of "weapon has no effect" as the game progresses and I'm not sure why. Maybe weapons aren't magic enough? IDK.

It depends on the mob. Some mobs are immune to certain weapons, some have immunity to magic weapons, some only require +1 (which you probably have on all your chars), others require +2, +3, etc.

It's part of the difficulty of the game where you start wailing on some clay golem, Minsc starts whining about No effecctt???? and you have to give him a magic crushing weapon to start blowing him up. Get used to having a different assortment of weapons for your characters.

The radar mod might help let you know what the immunities are (idk I haven't played BG again and used it yet), but is a cheat. Beamdog Forums - [2.6] BG2 Radar Overlay Released!

Urlithani · Mar 31, 2023

Rajaah said:
Since the subject of D&D lower planes came up earlier, and "Descent Into Avernus" talks about the Blood War quite a bit, I've got a question for D&D lore hounds.

If Hell and the Abyss fought to the death, which side would win? They're the two biggest and baddest monster-oriented planes in the D&D multiverse and either of them could likely kick the asses of the other individual evil/neutral planes (obviously not Mount Celestia).

The Blood War seemed inconclusive, and only involved some of Hell's planes from what I can tell. I think the Demons stormed the first and fifth layers, and probably others, and basically won both before being pushed back by Asmodeus' special forces battalion that he'd been assembling down in the Ninth during all of that. So Hell technically "won" by repelling the invasion but also suffered catastrophic losses in the process while the Abyss was business as usual.

That's just the impression I'm getting from a brief look at the material. I haven't studied the subject.

The Abyss seems to have a lot more demons in it than Hell has devils. The Abyss is also likely larger: 666 layers compared to Hell's 9 planes. The 9 are likely much, much larger domains than a single Abyss layer, though.

The individual big names in both layers aren't that far apart in power. Hell's big names tend to be a bit stronger, but it isn't by a mile or anything. Asmodeus pretty much defeats anyone, but Demogorgon (Abyss' top guy AFAIK) could probably defeat other archdukes like Belial and Dispater.

The sense I'm getting is that the Abyss has the numbers, the space, and the raw viciousness. While Hell has the military tactics, organization, and stronger big names for the most part. Curious what anyone else thinks on the subject.

There are different versions of the narrative depending on the edition, but neither side is really in position to attain full victory.

2nd edition: The Abyss vastly outnumbers the Nine Hells, but is not as formed and disciplined. The demon lords also hate and fight each other as much as they care about fighting the Nine Hells. The devils are often outnumbered 20 to 1 in each battle, but have discipline and formations to stem the tide of gibbering masses of demons with little strategy.

IIRC in later editions the Blood War is still mentioned, but more excerpts are mentioned of most of the other planes (upper and lower), collaborating to smack the Abyss down when they launch a massive invasion. Celestials, devils, and inevitables/modrons temporarily ally to stop them for their own reasons; celestials do it to stop evil overall, the neutrals do it to preserve the multiversal balance, and the devils do it to stop the demons from gaining more territory.

Caliane · Mar 31, 2023

abyss is threatening to overrun everything always. both in dnd and pathfinder.

its kept in check, firstly due to constantly at war with itself. Then secondly constantly at war with Hell. pathfinder doesn't specifically have the bloodwar, but, its still happening without the name.
And then, any forces not preoccupied with the first two are a stalemate with mortals and heavens.

which gives you an idea of the powerlevels of each. the entirety of LG, NG, and CG heavens combined only can stalemate like a 1/10th of the Abyss.
These universes are multiverses, and entire planes fall into the abyss constantly, as it expands across the multiverse.

in pathfinder, CG gods are specifically known for going into the Abyss and stirring up shit, to purposely keep them fighting each other.

Szeth · Mar 31, 2023

Are there novels in the Pathfinder universe?

TJT · Mar 31, 2023

Tuco said:
It depends on the mob. Some mobs are immune to certain weapons, some have immunity to magic weapons, some only require +1 (which you probably have on all your chars), others require +2, +3, etc.

It's part of the difficulty of the game where you start wailing on some clay golem, Minsc starts whining about No effecctt???? and you have to give him a magic crushing weapon to start blowing him up. Get used to having a different assortment of weapons for your characters.

The radar mod might help let you know what the immunities are (idk I haven't played BG again and used it yet), but is a cheat. Beamdog Forums - [2.6] BG2 Radar Overlay Released!

View attachment 466704

I am going to do a full autist BG run as Rajaah has inspired me. What mods package did you install?

Also this build might be fun GNOME FIGHTER ILLUSIONIST BUILD, Baldur's Gate 2

I've done Shapeshifter, Solo Kensai, Solo Berserker... so we'll see what I figure out for this run.

Tuco · Mar 31, 2023

TJT said:
I am going to do a full autist BG run as Rajaah has inspired me. What mods package did you install?

Also this build might be fun GNOME FIGHTER ILLUSIONIST BUILD, Baldur's Gate 2

I've done Shapeshifter, Solo Kensai, Solo Berserker... so we'll see what I figure out for this run.

So, I dug out my old BG1 run I configured in 2019 and remembered that when I configured it I just used a mod loadout for Project Infinity ( Beamdog Forums - Project Infinity - mod manager for Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment, and EET ) that a co-worker made for himself and shared with me. That loadout is irrelevant now because of development of mods, but I was able to play it as it was installed.

My plan was to finish up BG1 (I just had a few things to wrap up before smashing Sarevok) and move to a fresh install of BG2. I looked into creating a full-autist mod loadout smashes a few of the standard gameplay mods (Tactics, Sword Coast Strategems, the tweak packs etc) with a ton of quest mods. The problem is that there's no widely used system like Nexus mods that hosts, sorts and allows the community to rate the mods while providing a standard method to discuss or get help with the mods. Nor could I find any examples of someone providing a mod configuration anywhere close to what I want.

The closest thing I could find to that is a thread by one person rating all the quest mods: Beamdog Forums - Mod impressions: BG2:EE Quest Mods

I ended up getting discouraged by how much apparent effort it'd take to create a mod configuration I liked for BG2 and shelved the idea until something comes up. I think it's in a ridiculous state because:

A lot of these mods are extremely old
Many of the people who play with mods a lot don't like a lot of content mods?
Many of the people new to the scene are looking for a full BG run use Enhanced Edition Trilogy which I didn't want to mess with, but they probably give up in the middle of BG1 and go play another game and I only care about BG2, so they never sort out problems in BG2.

I'd recommend reading that quest review thread, using the Project Infinity Tool, coming up with a bunch of cool mods and then sharing that configuration with load orders and everything. If you find a ready-to-go mod loadout config, let me know.

Caliane · Mar 31, 2023

Szeth said:
Are there novels in the Pathfinder universe?

yes. note. I've not actually read any myself..

paizo.com - Store / Pathfinder / Fiction / Tales / Novels

paizo.com

Jim Zub did most of the comics. He also did many of the Dnd ones.

paizo.com - Store / Dynamite Entertainment / Pathfinder Comics

paizo.com

Szeth · Mar 31, 2023

Tempting to get some audio books and get more context for Golarion and the actual play pods I listen to.

Gavinmad · Mar 31, 2023

Rajaah said:
Since the subject of D&D lower planes came up earlier, and "Descent Into Avernus" talks about the Blood War quite a bit, I've got a question for D&D lore hounds.

If Hell and the Abyss fought to the death, which side would win? They're the two biggest and baddest monster-oriented planes in the D&D multiverse and either of them could likely kick the asses of the other individual evil/neutral planes (obviously not Mount Celestia).

The Blood War seemed inconclusive, and only involved some of Hell's planes from what I can tell. I think the Demons stormed the first and fifth layers, and probably others, and basically won both before being pushed back by Asmodeus' special forces battalion that he'd been assembling down in the Ninth during all of that. So Hell technically "won" by repelling the invasion but also suffered catastrophic losses in the process while the Abyss was business as usual.

That's just the impression I'm getting from a brief look at the material. I haven't studied the subject.

The Abyss seems to have a lot more demons in it than Hell has devils. The Abyss is also likely larger: 666 layers compared to Hell's 9 planes. The 9 are likely much, much larger domains than a single Abyss layer, though.

The individual big names in both layers aren't that far apart in power. Hell's big names tend to be a bit stronger, but it isn't by a mile or anything. Asmodeus pretty much defeats anyone, but Demogorgon (Abyss' top guy AFAIK) could probably defeat other archdukes like Belial and Dispater.

The sense I'm getting is that the Abyss has the numbers, the space, and the raw viciousness. While Hell has the military tactics, organization, and stronger big names for the most part. Curious what anyone else thinks on the subject.

The numbers of the Abyss are countered by their inability to effectively coordinate and work together. The Blood War has lasted without stop since the beginning of creation, undergoing a brief pause of about a century in the Forgotten Realms setting when Asmozuth threw the Abyss into the Elemental Chaos.

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