Author Topic: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread  (Read 60555 times)

Offline SixOfSpades

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Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« on: February 14, 2010, 05:30:29 AM »
The 3rd Edition of Volothamp's Comeuppance is now online. It has two homepages:
www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/home.htm for those whose monitors are set to 1024 x 768 resolution, and
www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/bgguide.htm for those at 1280 x 720 (or greater) resolution.

Crisper, more aesthetically-pleasing design & layout? Yep.
More relevant, prettier pictures? Definitely.
More accurate, better-written text? Of course.
Easter Eggs? Could be.

If you have any questions, comments, or other feedback to offer about the new edition, this is the place to post it, 'cause I wanna read it.

Intended updates to the site already include: A corrected & re-polished Spell Dictionary, and an expansion of the Theology section to include more gods than just the basic Human pantheon.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2010, 11:33:49 PM by SixOfSpades »

Offline jiansonz

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2010, 09:04:18 AM »
SixOfSpades, you have made a truly awesome and unique BG guide - I really wish I had been able to read this before I started playing as a  noob many years ago. Now as a veteran, I can appreciate and understand how you are thinking, especially with the whole 'non-spolier' thing. Very well done overall.  ;)

The armor images with the graphical represenation on how much AC they provide against different damage types are excellent, but it sure took me a little while to understand them (even though I know how the armors are working!). But that´s probably just me being a little slow and dense...




There is one thing I do not agree with you on, though, and that his how low you value the Beast Master. Used as a scout + archer in BG 2, this kit is better than a plain Ranger in that role, imo. If you want to hide in shadows a lot, you don´t use heavy armor anyway, and if you rarely enter melee combat, the 'no metal melee weapons' drawback isn´t significant. And in a pinch, there are some decent clubs and staves in the game that you can use. All magical items, other than heavy armors and metal weapons, that a normal Ranger can use are still available, so I think grouping the kit together with Wizard Slayer as 'really bad' is a major insult to the Beast Master.  :P


And if you consider BG1 played using BGTutu, I think the Beast Master is a great character for the early game (= nearly all of BG1). You get a Familiar while you´re still in Candlekeep! This early HP boost moves you out of 1-2 hit kills territory, which means you are at a lot less risk for an early death due to sheer bad luck. That´s not a bad thing for a newbie player.

While not important at all in BG2 (because you have such high level and good gear), the extra stealth boost is really handy for scouting in the early game.

If you choose Chaotic Good alignment, that Invisibility 10' Radius spell the Fairy Dragon has is immensely useful in the early game, as you can (once per day, and at no cost) turn the whole party invisible! This is available far earlier in the game than any other similar method becomes available. In a no-reloads game I played, the little bugger saved my party several times when I got waylaid by Wyverns and we were probably too weak to fight them.

(The Animal Summonings are pretty redundant unless you play solo, as Druids/Clerics/Mages are far better at summoning, and they also level up faster.)



Last but not least, a Human Beast Master with high enough stats can dual-class to a Cleric. Once the you get the old abilities back, you have the same powerful spell pool as any Cleric/Ranger, plus you have better stealth and a Familiar. However, the weapon selection becomes very limited, as you can only use slings, staves and clubs. You are probably not a good tank either because of the armor restriction, but you will probably be able to hold off something dangerous a couple of rounds, due to Iron Skins.

I still have a succesful no-reloads game going with this class (a Beast Master 7 -> Cleric), having taken her from Candlekeep to early ToB. It´s not a "munchkin" character, but she has been quite useful and versatile along the journey, and many times very interesting and fun to play.
« Last Edit: March 10, 2010, 09:08:22 AM by jiansonz »

Offline SixOfSpades

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2010, 02:11:24 PM »
The armor images with the graphical represenation on how much AC they provide against different damage types are excellent, but it sure took me a little while to understand them.
Hmmm . . . I'd figured my explanation, plus the picture of the Gnome, should have been enough. Maybe for the (eventual) update I'll incorporate the Slashing/Piercing/Blunt/Missile bits into the image of the armor itself, to reduce possible confusion.

Quote
There is one thing I do not agree with you on, though, and that his how low you value the Beast Master.
I won't deny that the Beast Master can, in some circumstances, be an effective character. I simply rated the Beast Master (and the Wizard Slayer) that low because they've always been popularly regarded as the most useless of the kits by far, with advantages that don't even begin to make up for their crippling disabilities. Granted, every playing style has its diehard fans, but the general concensus on the Beast Master is that it really sucks.

Offline Imoen

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2010, 07:34:14 PM »
I found a really small typo on the 'Familiars and their abilities, by PC Alignment' table, you have TN listed as CN.
...

Offline SixOfSpades

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2010, 12:23:12 PM »
Noted, thanks. Good thing this is one of those errors where the player can easily check the game itself to verify the truth.

Offline jiansonz

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #5 on: April 28, 2010, 03:56:02 AM »
Hi,

I found some info in your Chapter 5 that isn´t fully correct.

In the 'Spells and Spellcasting' section, where you mention different types of permanent death, you write that:
"The effects of Charm, Confusion, and Maze also deserve special mention because although their effects are not lethal (or even damaging) under normal circumstances, they will immediately end the game if you are playing a Solo character."

This is indeed true for Charm spells/effects and for Maze, but not for Confusion. I´ve had solo characters that have survived being Confused.

Ravel

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #6 on: November 15, 2012, 01:37:41 PM »
My god, this is the single most useful Baldur's Gate guide I've ever seen.  I'm making a guide of my own, and information which has eluded me for years was right there.

Thank you SO MUCH!

McNoob

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #7 on: December 27, 2012, 02:22:03 AM »
I just got BG 1 + 2 off of GoG, and spent a few hours Googling around trying to reconcile some conflicting information (things erroneously included in the instruction booklet that aren't in the game, or in BG 2 but not BG 1, everything various stats actually, really do, how dual/multi-classing work, etc etc)...

And then everything I could ever want to know all laid out very clearly, very comprehensively, in one place ;D

Not to mention how incredibly newbie friendly the site is, the nice layout and how well-organized it is, how easy to read and digest the information, etc; this site is an absolute god-send for anyone, particularly for someone getting ready for their first playthrough like myself.

So...thanks a ton for putting in the time and effort to make BG1 / BG2 a more enjoyable experience for folks like me.

John

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #8 on: December 24, 2014, 02:19:51 PM »
This-Is-Amazing! I have no more to say than just congratulate on such an amazing guide.

Offline ithildur

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #9 on: March 17, 2015, 05:31:40 AM »
Great guide, lots of useful info that can't be found in other guides to BG1/BG2.

One noteworthy mistake in the ch.8 Enemies section regarding Demi-Liches (well, there's really only one very famous one in the game): the paragraph describing them seems to be implying that they are spellcasters like standard liches in addition to the Demilich Howl and Trap the Soul powers; demi liches in 2nd edition and BG2 do not cast spells other than the 2 or 3 at-will magical abilties.

Offline ithildur

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #10 on: March 17, 2015, 05:35:38 AM »
Oops, make that 2 demi liches, since there's one more available in the expansion.  :)

greenfi

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #11 on: June 05, 2016, 03:02:30 PM »
Hello,

I have read  the following text on the page http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/chap2.htm :
"For example, a Level 4 Mage has three Level 1 spellslots (slots which can be used to cast a Level 1 spell) and two Level 2 spellslots (slots which can be used to cast a Level 1 spell). "

Isn't there an error ? The last "Level 1" should be "Level 2", right ?

As a beginner, I may be wrong.

Anyway, this guide is very useful. Thanks a lot for the work.

Offline ConjurerDragon

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2016, 07:10:03 AM »
On the familiar page
http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/familiar.htm
the Pseudo Dragon currently is listed as Psuedo Dragon.

usesinternetin2018

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Re: Volothamp's Comeuppance -- the Feedback Thread
« Reply #13 on: December 27, 2018, 02:23:44 PM »
what, how do you even code this?

https://i.imgur.com/IGeHhfy.png

 

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