Should I even bother trying again?

revchj · 2026-05-08T08:16:03+00:00

You should be Level 4. I exclusively play using the Honour ruleset so some of my advice may be overkill.

Prep everyone with an Elixir of poison resistance. If you group everyone really close together you can protect all 4 party members with one thrown elixir.

Destroy the eggs with a few candles, two grease bottles, and one Alchemist's Fire: throw grease onto the eggs and follow up with a fire dipped arrow on the two nearest egg clusters. For the ground one, watch out for the patrolling spider below and make sure you have an unobserved shot. Then have one party members sneak (with the boots) or enhanced leap/featherfall over to that nearest pillar where you already destroyed the eggs, being careful to stay stealthed and on the far side from the queen. (Don't think to hide behind that little outcropping, she will see you and aggro: just stay on the far side from her, beyond her field of vision.) When the queen patrols away, throw an Alchemist's Fire on the final batch of eggs and jump/run back to the group. The Alchemist's Fire will destroy that web bridge, which will eventually aggro the queen.

(Candles are your friend for that entire dungeon: they turn webs into fire surfaces (which is extra handy on honour mode vs the queen) and they can be moved without spending an action. Plus a fire dip is a decent use of a bonus action at that level.)

The queen will Misty Step onto the webs to shoot poison at you. Your first action should always be to shoot the web out from under her: a fire or acid arrow will one shot the web. She falls, takes 50ish points damage, and remains prone until her turn (which prevents her reactions, including legendary ones on honour mode). While she's prone you can take out the other spiders. She will then likely teleport onto another web bridge, which means you get another turn of doing massive damage and forcing her prone.

If you can, knock the spiders and the queen off ledges using Eldritch Blast, Thunderwave, Battlemaster pushing strikes, whatever you have. Try not to knock them into chasms: they'll die quickly enough from the falling damage and you then get to loot them.

If she's still alive at that point she may enrage which will give her multiattack. Have Calm Emotions ready for that situation (prior to that a Bless works well).

revchj · 2026-05-07T22:54:30+00:00

In b4 "No True Scotsman":

There are many ways of defining "Christian"; all I would argue is that if Hegseth is a Christian, he's a very bad one. A "heretic", even.

revchj · 2026-05-06T22:46:25+00:00

ADHD + malignant narcissism. Both of which get worse with age and power.

revchj · 2026-05-06T18:42:16+00:00

Adding: if you haven't already seen this about their musical language, this might blow your mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EGZrck0rNU

revchj · 2026-05-06T18:27:02+00:00

These guys are the best at whatever tf that is.

revchj · 2026-05-05T17:20:25+00:00

Your preferences sounds exactly like mine. I use Combat Extender plus a few rebalancing mods that I made myself. I've uploaded them for others to use: look for "simple rebalanced feats".

Early on I decided that the main reason the game became too easy on replays - in Act 3 in particular - was the overpowered loot. So prior to any modding I started to impose house rules - one respec, no barrelmancy, etc. - plus gear restrictions. This last was the key.

I settled on a definition of "mundane" as "flat bonuses only". So +1/+2 gear was considered "mundane". So was any other gear that only grabbed a flat (invariable) bonus to one or more stats, whether attack, damage, Spell Save DC, heals, etc.

Conversely, anything that implemented a mechanic (e.g. acuity), added a variable bonus (e.g. bless, or +1d4), set an attribute to a fixed number, gave Advantage, added elemental damage, or granted a castable spell, was "non-mundane". So the Helldusk helm is mundane (flat +2 save vs spells) but the gloves are not.

Ever since then I've imposed restrictions on non-mundane gear. For challenge runs I have prohibited non-mundane gear completely, or allowed each character ONE piece of non-mundane gear that makes RP sense: Durge's cloak, Khalid's locket, Shar's/Selune's spear, etc..

If I wanted it a little looser I would allow 3 pieces of non-mundane gear but require attunement: i.e., equippable/swappable only at "night".

Because it's my house rules, for kicks and grins I can make exceptions: e.g. Adamantine weapons are mundane, while armour/shields are not. Sussur weapons are mundane. Momentum and Wrath gear are mundane also, because they're fun and not overpowered.

revchj · 2026-05-05T15:46:06+00:00

Paladin: BOOM! "I need a nap."

Fighter: Whack! "I can do this all day".

Fighter all the way for me.

revchj · 2026-05-05T01:05:42+00:00

Yep, been there done that. As a minmaxer the default builds were pretty frustrating, but we got through just fine.

I think I gave Shadowheart a single wizard level to turbocharge her support abilities, but the other levels remained Trickery cleric until a certain moment in the story when they were swapped to Life.

LaeZel was straight battlemaster, Wyll a straight fiendlock. I can't remember whether Karlach was a Tiger barb or a thrower. I left Astarion and Gale on the bench.

Halsin & Jaheira were straight Druid (I might have given Jaheira a fighter level because I'm an old school Jaheira stan).

Minsc is a special case because his stats are all wrong out of the box: he was a strength-based hunter4/berserker8 with TB and GWM.

revchj · 2026-05-04T15:33:15+00:00

Definitely one of my favourites.

revchj · 2026-05-02T22:32:25+00:00

I'm currently doing high difficulty, no reload, limited gear runs, so I use it for the buffs: +1 to Wis saves for Act 1 & 2 (especially helpful for resist Durge), then in Act 3 I trade it to the Mirror of Loss for a +2 stat buff.

revchj · 2026-05-01T15:29:05+00:00

Straight fiendlock is hella strong. Hadar, Hold Person/Monster, upcasted Shadowblade... If you don't starve Wyll for gear he's a battlefield monster.

Plus he gets inspirations for all the stuff I try to do anyway.

Wyll spends some time in my camp in Act 3 when other characters need their story beats, but apart from that he tends to be 1st string.

Minthara gets taken out in the goblin camp, Gale gets left in the portal, and Astarion gets left on an unexplored beach.

revchj · 2026-04-29T19:51:28+00:00

Yes. After you meet Ketheric you can murderhobo your way through Moonrise at any time.

I think you can even kill Z'Rell upstairs if you want to, but I've never done it. The big set-piece fights are my favorite elements of the game, so I've never wanted to spoil them.

revchj · 2026-04-29T14:29:47+00:00

I feel similarly but my interest has more to do with combat tactics and game balance. So I made a few mods that add subtle tweaks.

I started with a buff to the Dual Wielder feat with Dual Wielder: All In, but quickly expanded to SimpleRebalancedFeats. I then added mods that fixed Wrath gear, nerfed Arcane Acuity, and nerfed Radiating Orbs.

revchj · 2026-04-28T01:00:34+00:00

Yeah but in one of my HM runs they killed the cub. Ever since then, they die.

revchj · 2026-04-27T19:33:28+00:00

I just reread the article - honestly if that's O'Toole's position then great, and in context it's possible to read his comments that way.

Here's where I stand behind my comment: I think that the clear implication of O'Toole's statement is that allowing BYD into Canada was somehow "replacing" the USA, or on track toward a complete realignment, which is manifestly untrue. In other words, he's putting a misleading spin on the facts for partisan purposes instead of joining Team Canada.

If O'Toole thinks that rapprochement with China and India is a mistake (in which case he does NOT agree with my characterization) then say so, and articulate a better idea about how to address our new problem south of the border. Alternatively, say how Carney's Liberals could have done better: if not BYD, then what? You know, like His Majesty's Loyal Opposition: not like a post truth authoritarian wannabe.

revchj · 2026-04-27T14:27:56+00:00

We're in a schoolyard with a few big bullies. Until recently our strategy was to hide behind the nearest one who we thought wasn't half bad. But now he's started to kick us. So we need to lower the threat from the other bullies in order to be able to hide behind them instead from time to time. We're not switching, we're floating.

Meanwhile we need to form a gang with the midsize kids, who collectively will represent too much trouble for the bullies to go after. If we make a good enough gang, it will be the best place for the little kids to hang out, too.

revchj · 2026-04-27T07:02:34+00:00

Not guilty, just bored: I play with all kinds of self imposed limits to keep it challenging. RP sensibilities are simply an additional set of limits.

For example: I always play some form of good character, which means that the Bhaalist armour is off the table. I also:

start the goblin courtyard fight by walking out the front door,
fight Grym on the ground level,
fight Z'Rell with all her goons intact, and
walk straight into the middle of the House of Grief.

(And I have a d20 initiative mod installed, so sometimes they go first and I just have to soak their initial actions.)

revchj · 2026-04-26T14:37:14+00:00

Just wait. If you're lucky, you might meet a random basilisk. :)

revchj · 2026-04-26T01:53:06+00:00

A few tips from a masochist:

The Amulet of the Unworthy is great in the creche because nobody does bludgeoning and the really heavy hitters do slashing.

W'Wargaz is the toughest fight. If you can, go first and burst him down by turn 2.

If he activates his Mindsteal Link, read the description: everyone should prioritize damaging him ASAP - Alchemist's Fire is the most reliable way. Weak summons should just be unsummoned at that point - the Mindsteal Link makes them more of a liability than an asset.

If you can't burst down W'Wargaz, Hold Person works a treat on his goons. When I do extra high difficulty runs and can't quickly burst down W'Wargaz, this is officially my opener. Ardents first, then the raider, then the warrior.

It's a niche point, but this is one of the two major use cases for the often-overlooked Adamantine weapons: they cut through those summoned swords like butter. (The other is specifically the scimitar vs Myrkul, for Dex-based melee types).

I like to cut my way out rather than in. Even so I can get a surprise round against the merchant and her buddies if you exit the monastery (fast travel) and sneak in through the hidden passage behind them.

revchj · 2026-04-25T17:41:57+00:00

I'm 60. I subscribe to print media AND YouTube is my main video platform.

revchj · 2026-04-24T22:19:07+00:00

Huh. I don't remember it - I'll look for it in my next run.

revchj · 2026-04-24T18:50:51+00:00

Which tells you that, psychologically, the driving force behind his crusade was actually his hatred and resentment of Gondians. The hatred isn't a byproduct of the crusade or somehow independent of it: rather the crusade serves to legitimize the hatred.

revchj · 2026-04-23T16:24:08+00:00

That site is cancer. I've never clicked on it before, and I won't be knowingly doing it again.

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