Post by johannhowitzer on Nov 21, 2022 10:47:32 GMT
This is going to sound crazy, but I'm tinkering with lowering the level to 25. I've run into a wall and I'm not sure how to squeeze out enough to make it work, I'm 2 skill short!
To quickly review the rules of the speedrun:
- Get to immortality
- No help from any other character or player, no pre-obtained items or gold
- Get every tag that could not be gotten post-immortality without a proxy
(This last rule means if I stop at 25, level 25 tags are not required in the speedrun. If I level to 26, I have to get them.)
Benefits to running at 25:
- Less levels needed, so less time questing and/or grinding before heading to Xulrae.
- Kardkildontar and Spawn of Uro get skipped; Deep One still needs to be visited for the Ancient Tome.
Challenges of running at 25:
- Queen Matron has a 25% chance to resist spells instead of 0%, and other matrons have 15%.
- Ice Storm base damage is 3d6 lower, and Lore ranks are 5 lower.
- Four feats are lost, most likely this would have been some Great Intelligence.
- A handful of spellslots go away thanks to missing out on the Arch Wizard Robe.
- Pixie BARELY misses the Mat'lis'sk book trap.
That last point is what's sticking me, and I think Kard and Uro may be back on the menu, at level 26. Pixie can reach 78 Disable Trap, with a high roll on Empowered Fox's Cunning, and Take 20; the trap is DC 80.
So the options here are 1) take level 26 and kill the dragons, or 2) go pure Wizard at 25 for the extra level on pixie, which sacs another useless pre-epic feat and more importantly, the Oltum. Oltum was only used for one East Road pass, one Farm pass, and some Plains of War Nine Lives finishing blows. That experience is massively powerful, BUT the landscape of the leveling process has changed significantly, and hasn't yet settled into place:
- Fifteen levels are getting axed.
- Reincarnation is no longer involved, which used to reset quest progress and allow doubling up.
- Many areas will be tackled at far lower levels than normal for important items and quests, and as a result, kill XP will go way up. For example, Axilar's Cloak of the Fold warrants a trip to kill a fair number of Shrikes.
- Higher-end quests can be considered at lower levels, moving all quests lower down. Of particular note is the long train of Drow-area quests that can be fetched near endgame and redeemed via Supergate.
So I do have a point to making this post - a question. Can anyone think of a way to scrape together that extra 2 Disable Trap to get the sixth book, without dumping Ranger or going to 26? I already considered prayer and bardsong; prayer needs high casterlevel to give 2 points, so casting prayer via item is no good; and bardsong's bonus is offset by the need to drop another wizard level for it.
To quickly review the rules of the speedrun:
- Get to immortality
- No help from any other character or player, no pre-obtained items or gold
- Get every tag that could not be gotten post-immortality without a proxy
(This last rule means if I stop at 25, level 25 tags are not required in the speedrun. If I level to 26, I have to get them.)
Benefits to running at 25:
- Less levels needed, so less time questing and/or grinding before heading to Xulrae.
- Kardkildontar and Spawn of Uro get skipped; Deep One still needs to be visited for the Ancient Tome.
Challenges of running at 25:
- Queen Matron has a 25% chance to resist spells instead of 0%, and other matrons have 15%.
- Ice Storm base damage is 3d6 lower, and Lore ranks are 5 lower.
- Four feats are lost, most likely this would have been some Great Intelligence.
- A handful of spellslots go away thanks to missing out on the Arch Wizard Robe.
- Pixie BARELY misses the Mat'lis'sk book trap.
That last point is what's sticking me, and I think Kard and Uro may be back on the menu, at level 26. Pixie can reach 78 Disable Trap, with a high roll on Empowered Fox's Cunning, and Take 20; the trap is DC 80.
So the options here are 1) take level 26 and kill the dragons, or 2) go pure Wizard at 25 for the extra level on pixie, which sacs another useless pre-epic feat and more importantly, the Oltum. Oltum was only used for one East Road pass, one Farm pass, and some Plains of War Nine Lives finishing blows. That experience is massively powerful, BUT the landscape of the leveling process has changed significantly, and hasn't yet settled into place:
- Fifteen levels are getting axed.
- Reincarnation is no longer involved, which used to reset quest progress and allow doubling up.
- Many areas will be tackled at far lower levels than normal for important items and quests, and as a result, kill XP will go way up. For example, Axilar's Cloak of the Fold warrants a trip to kill a fair number of Shrikes.
- Higher-end quests can be considered at lower levels, moving all quests lower down. Of particular note is the long train of Drow-area quests that can be fetched near endgame and redeemed via Supergate.
So I do have a point to making this post - a question. Can anyone think of a way to scrape together that extra 2 Disable Trap to get the sixth book, without dumping Ranger or going to 26? I already considered prayer and bardsong; prayer needs high casterlevel to give 2 points, so casting prayer via item is no good; and bardsong's bonus is offset by the need to drop another wizard level for it.