In the grand spirit of Hotfoot, my prototype Hot Babe (Fire Skills ONLY Sorceress), I decided to play a new Hot Babe with a special skill set and some particular restrictions. Her name is Ember, and she is Hardcore. Due to her particular nature, I plan to retire her as a Duchess after defeating Diablo in Nightmare... if she survives that long.

Ember will have only three skills, ever: Firebolt, Warmth, and Fire Mastery.

In Normal Difficulty, she kept her Strength at the default of 10 and did not raise it at any point, not even through the use of magical items. She did not wear any headgear, either, but that is about to change. She used her starting staff through the course of the game, but upon completing Normal, she imbued it and got a bad result. So I will be switching her over to the socketed +3 Firebolt staff I've been saving for just this moment.

With Ember's next level up, I will increase her strength to 12 and allow her to use any equipment that can be worn with a Strength of 12. Strength adders will be wearable (for example, +Str on an otherwise desirable rare) but she may not use any gear that would rely on this added strength. 12 is her max.

I will allow one exception to the skill restrictions I've selected: a Blaze staff for fighting Duriel here in Nightmare. Only for Duriel!

My usual method for playing characters involves full clears. I did so for Ember through Normal, establishing that a sorcie can complete every part of the game with just the Firebolt skill. Now I'm shifting Ember into a new mode. Other than the skill and stat restrictions listed above, there is only one rule now: kill Diablo.

As such, I will be doing many uncharacteristic things, such as skipping whole quests (the Tower, obviously, but it may surprise you to learn that I'll be skipping Radament, too. He, his precious skill book, Atma's discount in town, and that whole bloody horde of fire resistant skeletons can go jump in the harbor for all I care) -- and leveling up a bit in Act One, to get Ember's Fire Mastery in play and try and upgrade her gear while the Merchants are selling stuff she's actually strong enough to wear.

Since Firebolt has a fixed mana cost of 2.5 per casting, Ember does not need much mana. I wish now that I had left her Energy at 75 and just toughed it out for those couple levels when mana sometimes ran low. I'd have five more in Vit, and 75 would have been enough Energy. Oh well, it's done now. I need to get her resistances up, maintain at least one Fastest Hit Recovery, try to upgrade boots to Fastest Run, and so forth. I MAY try my hand at the Ruined Temple in Act 3, with a hair-trigger Quit-n-Save finger ready, or I may skip it. We're only talking ten extra life, vs a serious risk. But I don't have to clear the temple, I just have to grab the book. I'll see how things go and reconsider this later.

Ember's Dream Item is a Demonhide Sash or Sharkskin Belt of Simplicity. Both require 20 strength, but with -40% Requirements, that would come out to 12! The odds of obtaining such an item are slim indeed, but one can always hope. :)

And so it begins again...

- Sirian

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