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The Black Wyrm's Lair - Forums _ Improved Anvil _ Random Questions
Posted by: Vardaman Jun 25 2007, 03:28 PM
Do we have a thread to post questions that don't really belong anywhere else?
Why can't I find the Ring of Holiness? Do I have to import a game from BG1?
For all of the weapons that grant an extra APR, the weapon in the main hand is always the one that takes the extra attack, right?
Does Sikret's item randomizer keep everything that used to be in SOA in SOA or does some stuff get dumped to TOB only areas?
Posted by: rbeverjr Jun 25 2007, 03:45 PM
Do we have a thread to post questions that don't really belong anywhere else?
Why can't I find the Ring of Holiness? Do I have to import a game from BG1?
Ring of Holiness (RING22)
Location(s)
Temple District - Possible reward for intercepting the thief who stole the Dawn Ring and returning it to the Temple of Lathander
right
I don't know, but I hope that SoA items remain in SoA. That seemed to be the case in the one game that I've played.
Posted by: angiras Jun 25 2007, 04:33 PM
Yes the SoA items remain in the areas accessible prior to actually starting the ToB campaign....however, that includes WK. So the item you are seeking may very well lie with the seal bosses, hehe.
Not sure if Demogorgon is included in the randomization scheme. I hope not, because if you decided to skip him and lock him up instead of fighting him, then you would lose those items forever.
Posted by: Vardaman Jun 25 2007, 07:37 PM
Do we have a thread to post questions that don't really belong anywhere else?
Why can't I find the Ring of Holiness? Do I have to import a game from BG1?
Ring of Holiness (RING22)
Location(s)
Temple District - Possible reward for intercepting the thief who stole the Dawn Ring and returning it to the Temple of Lathander
Hmm, my main character was a cleric and didn't even get the ring. Is there a time limit? I know I accepted the quest early in the game but didn't complete it until I was a higher level.
That's kind of what I was expecting.
Posted by: Marceror Jun 26 2007, 02:46 AM
Not sure if Demogorgon is included in the randomization scheme. I hope not, because if you decided to skip him and lock him up instead of fighting him, then you would lose those items forever.
Well, this is true, except, of course, for the small area by Demogorgon's door that allows you to return even after you've sealed him in!
Wait, what, I'm talking crazy now! Just ignore what I said.
Posted by: thetruth Jun 27 2007, 09:43 AM
Why can't I find the Ring of Holiness? Do I have to import a game from BG1?
IIRC, if you are a priest of Helm (only) you get to choose between 3 items as a reward for completing the Illithium quest. One of them is the ring of Holiness.
And Demogorgon doesn't drop any items since you don't actually kill him.
Posted by: Constantine Jul 6 2007, 02:46 AM
I'm not really sure where to post this, but i was wondering if it would be possible to divide the mod into 2 separate components, 1 with the various improvements and upgrades to the game, the second with all the nerfs and item removals. Maybe have the item randomization in a 3rd component, although that isn't as big a deal. The reason for this is that i like what the mod adds, but what it takes away i find quite annoying. For me, a big part of playing BGII is the familiarity, and although additions don't seem to disrupt this at all, suddenly having my favorite items either removed or nerfed because they were deemed too powerful (probably the reason i liked them in the first place) is not good. I know this is probably all in the attempt to make the game more challenging, but i'd rather just give the enemies more power (or just turn the difficulty slider up) than apply handicaps to myself, because then the familiar feeling is still intact
Posted by: Arkain Jul 6 2007, 03:52 AM
http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=2862
http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=1950
Posted by: Constantine Jul 6 2007, 04:58 AM
Ah, I see that I am not the first person with these sentiments. Its a shame that it is impossible to split them. I suppose I probably wouldn't have kept this mod due to incompatibilities with some of my other mods anyways. I guess I'll just try Tactics or some other substitute instead.
Posted by: nataben1314 Jul 18 2007, 07:10 AM
I noticed that an item (eternal melody bard armor) has "wearer's aura is cleansed" as one of its abilities. What does that mean?
Posted by: Sikret Jul 18 2007, 08:05 AM
It means the wearer can cast spells without the usual pause between them. It's a permanent "Improved Alacrity". The ability is very powerful but the armor is only usable by Bards. Also, in IA v4.3, "Use Any Item" ability will not help M/Ts C/Ts and F/M/Ts to wear it. It's exclusively for bards.
Posted by: lroumen Jul 18 2007, 12:07 PM
Oh so that's what it does. That makes bards pretty good spellslingers then. Pity they are just low level ones, but of course that makes it balanced. Maybe I ought to try our Haer'Dalis.
Posted by: (Ø=M)^42 Jul 18 2007, 05:59 PM
It means the wearer can cast spells without the usual pause between them. It's a permanent "Improved Alacrity". The ability is very powerful but the armor is only usable by Bards. Also, in IA v4.3, "Use Any Item" ability will not help M/Ts C/Ts and F/M/Ts to wear it. It's exclusively for bards.
That's a very interesting item. Can't wait for 4.3 so I can finally play this game
I do see why you nerf UAI, but from what I've read, thieves are mostly weaklings brought along just for the traps and saving spell slots for something else than Knock. Do you feel that a single class thief is pretty much as good for a party as most/all other classes? If not, does this bother you?
Posted by: nataben1314 Jul 18 2007, 06:45 PM
I do see why you nerf UAI, but from what I've read, thieves are mostly weaklings brought along just for the traps and saving spell slots for something else than Knock. Do you feel that a single class thief is pretty much as good for a party as most/all other classes? If not, does this bother you?
Of course I can't speak for Sikret, but my guess is that the changes to UAI are not intended to reflect overpoweredness of singleclass thiefs (a class which is one of the weakest in IA I believe), but thief multiclasses. Imagine, if you will, a F/M/T or M/T with that bard armor. It's a decent armor in to begin with without the alacrity part, and stack on top of that permanent improved alacrity! As part of a four person party, and with the XP cap removed as the mod documentation recommends, you would be absolutely insanely powerful. Toss on the ring of power to improve casting speed, and you could go absolutely nuts with spells on top of being already superpowered!
Ideally (IMO), UAI would remain universal for pureclass thiefs and have some restrictions for those multiclasses, though I don't know if this is feasible from a coding perspective and it also seems rather difficult to justify from a RP perspective. So I think Sikret's solution is best. It's not like those superpowered classes need to become even more powerful anyways.
Posted by: Ice Jul 18 2007, 07:04 PM
It means the wearer can cast spells without the usual pause between them. It's a permanent "Improved Alacrity". The ability is very powerful but the armor is only usable by Bards. Also, in IA v4.3, "Use Any Item" ability will not help M/Ts C/Ts and F/M/Ts to wear it. It's exclusively for bards.
That's a very interesting item. Can't wait for 4.3 so I can finally play this game
I do see why you nerf UAI, but from what I've read, thieves are mostly weaklings brought along just for the traps and saving spell slots for something else than Knock. Do you feel that a single class thief is pretty much as good for a party as most/all other classes? If not, does this bother you?
I agree, the only way to exploit that armor would be playing a triple class F/M/T, which has a painstakingly slow advancement anyway. I think it would be better not to restrict UAI, after all Use Any Item should allow a thief to use *any* item...
Posted by: (Ø=M)^42 Jul 18 2007, 08:20 PM
Of course I understand that a singleclass thief gains nothing from permanent improved alacrity and that certain items were not meant for clerics (cleric/thief UAI), fighters or mages. My question regarding the value of a thief was meant specifically for single classed thieves. You surely know there are other powerful items, and more changes to the class than just UAI. No stealing, plenty of see stealth or immunity to backstab on powerful monsters etc.
I can't really get it down to one easy sentence which covers it all, but something like "is thief worth a spot in the group for mostly pick lock/disarm trap while reducing xp for others or taking a spot from a better kit?" It would be nice to see other people's thoughts and views, as I tend to use Imoen, possibly Jan, as only thief, and never even used UAI. I'm inexperienced in good use of thieves, but I do know of the "exploits" like using SotM and backstabbing for ever.
Posted by: nataben1314 Jul 18 2007, 08:40 PM
I don't think you can actually use SoTM to backstab. Although it is a staff which is traditionally a backstab weapon, it is not a staff normally available to thiefs pre-UAI, so it is not considered a "thief weapon" and thus cannot be used to backstab. I could be wrong though. AFAIK the main infinite backstab trick is Mislead + SI: Divination + SI: Abjuration (of course you couldn't do this in IA because you can only use one spell immunity at a time.
Posted by: lroumen Jul 18 2007, 09:07 PM
Except for some logical options like potions, wands, minor spells and armor usage, you probably won't find many singleclass thieves going that far outside the thief epos when items are concerned. Weapons may provide bonuses, but they're better suited in a warrior's hands, plus you won't have the proficiency for them. Armors may seem great, but they disable thieving skills and you will just pick leather again and use some illusion spells or potions to buff yourself (mirror image or something alike).
I think the main bonus for melee oriented single class thieves would be the usage of Tenser Transformation, but where would you find that many scrolls? Mislead for backstabbing yes, Tensers... no. The Eternal Melody chain may look interesting for single class thieves who want to use spells, but you will need many scrolls and you can only keep up a small selection of spells (3 quickslots) unless you intend to swap a lot of scrolls.
I think Use Any Item doesn't necessarily have to be nerfed for single class thieves... that is, unless I have been using my single class thieves in a completely wrong way the last few years.
All thief kits lend to different play styles. And here are my generic tactics. Maybe someone can see where I go wrong then.
A swashbuckler mainly befits 2-handed weapons, some buffing magic scroll usage, AC lowering gear/potions and some strength potions. An increased attack speed helps, but I don't always choose to use it since mages can buff you as well.
An assassin mainly befits a backstabbing weapon, mislead scrolls (for that nice longlasting invisibility), single weapon fighting, Tuigan shortbow or light crossbow of speed and use envenom weapon for either melee or ranged. Increased attack speed for melee is essential as well as strength or thac0 reducing potions such as potions of power / heroism / something-giant-strength.
Sometimes I go for sword and shield style too and use darts or throwing dagger (venomous or not) as ranged ability using the cloak of the star (nice with envenom weapon).
A bountyhunter goes insane with trap setting and ranged attacks, casting buff scrolls whilst lowering enemy resistances, saves and combat abilities with scrolls that allow such things (greater malison, ray of enfeeblement, enfeeblement, things like that).
BTW... I always max out my detect illusions because it can sometimes help in a lot of situations. Besides these generic things, I can come up with little tactics for a single class thief that would make him overpowered. Now when you go multi or dualclass.... yes, then you can whip up a lot of cheesy tactics.
Posted by: nataben1314 Jul 18 2007, 10:28 PM
in IA, swashbucklers are extremely effective, though not generally for their thieving ability. At high levels they have a fighters THAC0 and permanent -24AC. For HLAs they should go UAI, then whirlwind attack and time traps.
Posted by: rbeverjr Jul 18 2007, 11:45 PM
I don't think you can actually use SoTM to backstab.
You can't.
Posted by: Stu Jul 19 2007, 04:44 AM
The way I use my thief post-UAI is to give them all the wands and scroll cases in my mages/sorcerers inventory. I then use them as kind of a backup caster, so I can launch an extra fireball on sight, or an extra lower resistance etc. A single class thief with improved alacrity would be a nice bonus imho; a multiclass mage/cleric thief would be obscene.
You can't.
Can you use it to go invisible and then backstab with another weapon? or does changing the weapon break the invis before you can get a hit off? What about really fast speedfactor=0 weapons? (you can see I've always left SoTM with my mage
)
Posted by: lroumen Jul 19 2007, 07:20 AM
changing weapons will not break its invisibility. But it's strange, I remember me using it for backstabbing quite often....
Posted by: Stu Jul 19 2007, 10:27 AM
I used it with my theif a few times for scouting and occasionally used hit and go invisible tactics against those what-until-recently-seemed very tough Iron golems at low level (yes I used to take on twisted rune at low level, yet struggle with golems 
)
Posted by: Arkain Jul 19 2007, 02:52 PM
changing weapons will not break its invisibility. [...]
It will break invisibility
Posted by: Ice Jul 20 2007, 06:47 PM
How many total mithril tokens are there in the game (with IA, of course)?
Posted by: Stu Jul 21 2007, 03:12 AM
I think there's 21 in the original game, I'm not sure if any were added.
Posted by: Sikret Jul 21 2007, 11:56 AM
Once you kill the Mithril Golem, he will break into pieces of Mithril. 10 of those pieces will be usable as Mithril Tokens.
Some/few more Tokens are also added here and there in the spellhold IIRC.
Posted by: nataben1314 Jul 21 2007, 03:59 PM
Question:
What is a good quest to complete (that is, which is the lowest difficulty quest) for my party to go for now? I've done all the minor quests in and around Athkatla, Mae'Var quests, Unseeing eye, slavers, Renfield/Harpers quests, Trademeet quests (except the trademeet tomb).
Just curious as to some ideas for which quests might be in my league at this point
Posted by: Raven Jul 21 2007, 04:17 PM
You could do WK level 1, or you could do the Chapter 3 quests for Aran Linvail. They shouldn't be too difficult since they are not improved by IA much.
But I can understand if you want to leave the Chapter 3 quests until just before you go to save Imoen. In that case have you done the small things like the golem-making in Umar Hills (is not improved by IA and the shortsword Ilbratha +1 which casts Mirror Image once/day is very useful)?
Onto the harder quests. I reckon de'Arnise hold is easier than, say, Planar Prison (the imprisoned actors), Umar Temple or the Planar Sphere. And if you don't mind doing bits of a quest and then leaving the rest you could start the Windspear Hills stuff.
Posted by: Stu Jul 22 2007, 07:24 AM
Yeah, I'd say give Watchers Keep a shot - parts of level 2 are pretty doable, though chromatic demon is very challenging. I found De'Arnise very difficult (though I did it at level 8-10) though not as tough as the end of the Umar Hills bit (which I did at a higher level).
Planar sphere is very, very well done - the difficulty was perfect for my lvl 12-13 party and it was quite fun.
Posted by: lroumen Jul 22 2007, 05:33 PM
changing weapons will not break its invisibility. [...]
It will break invisibility
Posted by: Ice Jul 22 2007, 07:09 PM
You can only backstab with weapons usable by a single class thief.
Posted by: Arkain Jul 24 2007, 04:42 PM
Yes and no. A quarterstaff is usable by a thief - but Staff of the Magi isn't a thief weapon, if you're precise. That is, it's a mage only weapon which nobody but mages and users of UAI can use. That's why. I think so, at least.
Posted by: Ice Jul 24 2007, 05:09 PM
A generic Quarterstaff is usable by a thief, the SotM isn't: the ability to backstab with weapon X isn't determined by the weapon's class but by the usability of the individual weapon. The SotM could be wielded by a dual/multi mage/thief without UAI, but you couldn't backstab with it anyway.
Posted by: Gorwath Jan 2 2008, 01:12 PM
Since there has been no that much activity in this topic, i hope someone will be reading this....
First i want to congratulate Sikret for his mod. I have been following this forum for some time and I myself am playing IA5.0. At first it was really hard for me becaue i did not know of the recommended quest order and started with the wrong quests and got way to hard encounters for my lvl... but after reloading a dozen times i survived and went on
I have a specific question now to anyone who is able to help me...(it's a bit spoilerish so i guess I'll wright it in spoiler tags...)
My Party:
Jaheira lvl 12/11
Minsc lvl 13 ( thers some mod which makes him to a beserker as a ranger kit
Keldorn lvl 13
Nalia lvl 14
Yoshimo lvl 16
Archer(i know he's not recommended but i managed until now 
) lvl 15
I am at the Planar Prison, now here's where the spoiler begins...
SPOILER!
I wentwith Yoshimo into those fleshy traps north of the entrance point and when i got out i was directly in the wardens hands...
Yoshimo got killed outright but the warden went after my party with his planar hounds.
But instead of coming with alls his thralls and stuff he came alone and i managed to finish him off...
1. Question
Is that some kind of bug/exploit i used because i read that sikret recommended to use that gem to free the thralls....
2. Question
After i finished off the warden i went east and encountered a HUGE amount of spiders and I'm not talking of 10 Spiders(Whisper, Ghost....) . There were 20 or so and some spiders seemed to have summoned even more spiders.
How do i get to beat that amount of spiders?
Do I get that load of Spiders because of my lvl?
I even tried out not beating the warden and going east. It's the same situation. A hell lot of Spiders...
any help is appreciated
thanks
Gorwath
Posted by: Sikret Jan 2 2008, 02:20 PM
Welcome, Gorwath!
SPOILER!
Yes, the spiders are there because of your level.
The general tactics to face those spiders is to cast Improved Haste on your warriors and then buff them with Free Action and Chaotic Command spells. You don't have a cleric in your party to cast Free Action (which is a disadvantage for you), but I guess you have found some Free Action scrolls. If so, you can use them.
Since you have already defeated Warden, perhaps the best choice is to use his key and finish the quest rather than going for those spiders.
Your only arcane caster is Nalia and you have limited Improved Haste spells too. Keeping Yoshimo has weakened your party, IMO. You could have had a more powerful party member instead.
Posted by: Gorwath Jan 2 2008, 02:36 PM
Thanks for the fast reply Sikret!
There's another question i have concerning spiders
SPOILER!
Can you get immune to the web-Lariat ability of the spiders?
It happens sometimes that my warriors are rendered useless becasue of multiple web lariats and it would be quite handy if i could at least make nalia immune to that.
Posted by: Sikret Jan 2 2008, 02:47 PM
@Gorwath
SPOILER!
There is only one item in the entire game which grants full immunity to Web Lariat. It's the fabulous halberd: Dragon Lord +5.
Since, you don't naturally have that item at this stage, there is no way to become immune to Web Lariat. Chaotic Command will grant partial immunity to it (immunity to the unconsciousness effect only).
But note that they won't use the lariat in close combat. They will use it only if you try to keep a safe distance from them. Get into close combat with them and they will not throw their lariats at you.
I hope that this helped.
Posted by: Olbas Jan 2 2008, 06:01 PM
Two more random questions,
1. Why is the mod called 'Improved Anvil', was there ever an 'Anvil'? My best guess is that it's a reference to Cromwell.
2. I know if I become too high a level before Spellhold then it will be much harder(15 I think) but what about if I waste lots of game time before going there? I'm currently in day 151 but only level 14. And does the level restriction come into play when I hit Brynnlaw or Spellhold itself?
Posted by: Shaitan Jan 2 2008, 06:23 PM
1) Cromwell was the original reason for Improved Anvil AFAIK.
2) I think Spellhold gets tougher after level 16-17, I don't remember precisely. Concerning time: I do not now of any troubles with timelimits unless ofcourse some specific quests in ie Underdark.
Posted by: Monkeetroop Jan 2 2008, 06:52 PM
ok, i guess here's a few new questions:
1) how to beat grave liches? ive gotten past their SI w/RoR, but i cant seem to breach his other protections. it always says, spell ineffective...ive tried the lower resistance spell too, but to no avail. the one i encountered was in the crooked crane.
2)mekrath's tower: in IAv5 the staircase that was once not in use, is now accesible, but i need a wardstone to get in there. is that in a fixed place, or is that also affected by the item randomizer?
3)Some items like, Iron Horn of Valhalla and a few other items that Sikret has picked up during his run (yup, following his run cause it's real helpful...and im still new to IA) i haven't found. did i miss them or are they somewhere else in the game due to the item randomizer? thx..
Posted by: Vardaman Jan 2 2008, 09:16 PM
1) how to beat grave liches? ive gotten past their SI w/RoR, but i cant seem to breach his other protections. it always says, spell ineffective...ive tried the lower resistance spell too, but to no avail. the one i encountered was in the crooked crane.
2)mekrath's tower: in IAv5 the staircase that was once not in use, is now accesible, but i need a wardstone to get in there. is that in a fixed place, or is that also affected by the item randomizer?
3)Some items like, Iron Horn of Valhalla and a few other items that Sikret has picked up during his run (yup, following his run cause it's real helpful...and im still new to IA) i haven't found. did i miss them or are they somewhere else in the game due to the item randomizer? thx..
1.) Liches are immune to 5th level spells (even in the orig. game) so that's why Breach doesn't work. Dispel/Remove Magic will work if you're high enough level.
2.) There's a wardstone added to IAv5 but I haven't found it yet. Perhaps someone else can answer if it's random or found during a quest.
Posted by: Monkeetroop Jan 2 2008, 10:25 PM
ive even used multiple ruby ray's on the grave lich, but i can only seem to take down his SI. the screen is saying that im removing his spells....but perhaps fireshield can only be gotten rid of by either breach or dispel? as for that wardstone...i dont feel so bad anymore now that i hear im not the only one who hasn't found it yet. i got a chapel key from the windspear hills dungeon. where does that go to?
Posted by: Ryel ril Ers Jan 2 2008, 10:50 PM
1) how to beat grave liches? ive gotten past their SI w/RoR, but i cant seem to breach his other protections. it always says, spell ineffective...ive tried the lower resistance spell too, but to no avail. the one i encountered was in the crooked crane.
2)mekrath's tower: in IAv5 the staircase that was once not in use, is now accesible, but i need a wardstone to get in there. is that in a fixed place, or is that also affected by the item randomizer?
3)Some items like, Iron Horn of Valhalla and a few other items that Sikret has picked up during his run (yup, following his run cause it's real helpful...and im still new to IA) i haven't found. did i miss them or are they somewhere else in the game due to the item randomizer? thx..
3) The horn of valhalla is in the northest house in the bridge district like in the original game. What are the other items you interested in?
Posted by: Monkeetroop Jan 2 2008, 11:26 PM
wow, i cant believe i missed the horn so easily....i suppose im also wondering where one of the ingredients for phosphorus is: mauler +2 (or something like that). i know/have all the other parts, i cant seem to find that one. maybe because of item randomizer? oh, and thx for the help guys!
Posted by: Sikret Jan 3 2008, 06:28 AM
There is no time limit for spellhold's difficulty to kick in.
Brynnlaw.
Posted by: Sikret Jan 3 2008, 06:32 AM
It can be bought from Bernard after freeing Hendak.
Posted by: Vardaman Jan 3 2008, 08:10 PM
During the battle with the Supreme Leader of the Githyankis on WK lvl 4, do the M'lar and Grak___ keep spawning in as long as the Leader is alive? Will a second set of them not teleport in until the 1st set are dead or do they just keep coming in every couple of rounds? I'm trying to figure out what enemies to focus on first to minimize the crush of bodies that appear.
Posted by: psychlopes Jan 4 2008, 12:43 AM
this is my first time here,so, hi everybody and thank you Sikret for this great mod
my question is how or where do i start the Guarded Ashideena encounter..I looked everywhere..I think
Posted by: Monkeetroop Jan 4 2008, 01:14 AM
thx for the help guys...btw, this thread is awesome.
Posted by: Vardaman Jan 4 2008, 01:46 AM
my question is how or where do i start the Guarded Ashideena encounter..I looked everywhere..I think
It's in the alcove after the riddle bridge during the Unseeing Eye quest. (It's the map with the ancient temple to the North. Hold 'Tab' by the bridge to see the container.) The encounter happens when you open the container and pick up the hammer.
Posted by: psychlopes Jan 4 2008, 02:54 AM
oops...i have been using it in the off hand all the time
at the top left corner of the description page it only says war hammer+2..only in the text its named ashideena..same for boroks fist..this is why i didnt notice it
thanks alot
Posted by: Gorwath Jan 5 2008, 05:45 PM
One question.
Does the recipe for forging Boots of speed work?
I think i have all the ingredients on me but i don't seem to get the dialog options to tell cromwell to make them
Gorwath
One question just ocurred to me...
Is the mod P5TWEAKS compatible with IA?
Posted by: Shaitan Jan 5 2008, 06:37 PM
Can you link to the mod, so some of us can judge
Posted by: Vardaman Jan 5 2008, 06:55 PM
Does the recipe for forging Boots of speed work?
I think i have all the ingredients on me but i don't seem to get the dialog options to tell cromwell to make them
Gorwath
One question just ocurred to me...
Is the mod P5TWEAKS compatible with IA?
There are two types of 'Worn-out boots". There's one that looks like run down boots and one that looks like Boots of Speed. You need to have the 'Worn-out Boots' that look like 'Boots of Speed'. Is that the problem?
I think you can get the wrong kind of worn-out boots from the thief leader that fights the paladins exiled from the Order in the Bridge District. The right kind of boots can be found on a few different enemies; I remember finding one on the Bounty Hunter in the Planar Prison.
Posted by: Sikret Jan 5 2008, 08:45 PM
I don't know, but it's generally recommended not to install any Tweakpack with IA.
Posted by: Gorwath Jan 6 2008, 12:09 AM
That might be the problem. Can I use those worn out boots from the Thief Leader in the Bridge District for anything or can I drop them?
@Shaitan
Here's the Link
http://www.shsforums.net/index.php?showtopic=24586
I stumbled over a topic where some of you guys discussed the disadvantage of Disintegrate and flesh to stone with having a chance to lose some items
Posted by: Vardaman Jan 6 2008, 12:35 AM
That might be the problem. Can I use those worn out boots from the Thief Leader in the Bridge District for anything or can I drop them?
They're useless as far as I know.
Posted by: corpses3 Jan 10 2008, 10:32 PM
Hi, got some questions. I finished BG2 couple months ago with solo mage(questpack+balance modes), and i wanna play a full party game now(with some greater difficutly increasing mod), and i was thinking about IA. I read a bit about it so far, and im a bit hesitant about installing it. The reasons are mostly the randomizer and the overpowered items. So my question is can i modify the item values of the new items? can i CLUA some items? mostly the figures. The reason i ask because i read in the readme that its not a good idea to alter stuff or to CLUA it. Another thing that im wondering is IA that incompatible with other mods, or does Sikret want ppl to play only his mod.
And my weidu log:
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name
~P5TWEAKS/P5TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Drop items on frozen death
~SETUP-Z#MISC.TP2~ #0 #17 // Expanded Spell Progression for Rangers
~SETUP-Z#MISC.TP2~ #0 #19 // Expanded Spell Progression for Paladins
// Recently Uninstalled: ~SETUP-Z#MISC.TP2~ #0 #25 // Halves Weapon To-Hit & Damage Bonuses (Patch)
~SETUP-Z#MISC.TP2~ #0 #25 // Halves Weapon To-Hit & Damage Bonuses (Patch)
~SETUP-IMPROVEDANVIL.TP2~ #0 #0 // Improved Anvil for SOA & TOB
~SETUP-XPMOD.TP2~ #0 #0 // Creature XP Reduction -> Reduce to 75%
Posted by: Vardaman Jan 11 2008, 03:29 AM
The randomizer (for the most part) takes good items that are normally sold in stores and available very early in the game (ie Robe of Vecna) and places them in some of the improved encounters as rewards. The increased difficulty of IA means that the overpowered items aren't as overpowered as they'd be in the regular game. If nothing else, you can choose not to use items you see as overpowered.
I think that disclaimer is primarily to emphasize that it's a bad idea to CLUA in items or weapons that are supposed to be found after finishing some event or quest. (ie Judgement Day sword) CLUA'ing most of the figurines should be ok except the djinni bottle (because it leads to a new scripted fight) and perhaps the spider figurine.
~SETUP-Z#MISC.TP2~ #0 #19 // Expanded Spell Progression for Paladins
// Recently Uninstalled: ~SETUP-Z#MISC.TP2~ #0 #25 // Halves Weapon To-Hit & Damage Bonuses (Patch)
~SETUP-Z#MISC.TP2~ #0 #25 // Halves Weapon To-Hit & Damage Bonuses (Patch)
~SETUP-IMPROVEDANVIL.TP2~ #0 #0 // Improved Anvil for SOA & TOB
~SETUP-XPMOD.TP2~ #0 #0 // Creature XP Reduction -> Reduce to 75%
I'd recommend against using an XP reducing mod. IA 5.0 already changes the level-up tables so characters level up slower. I'll try to find a link to the exact tables.
Also, many enemies have high damage resistances so mods halving the damage would make IA very, very painful.
Posted by: corpses3 Jan 11 2008, 12:19 PM
Nice detailed reply, thx for that. I asked because i find some of the items interesting, their abbilities mostly, i would just like to lower their % and the to hit dmg. With that said, i got into my first improved "battle from IA. Its the Beastmaster from Copper C. I gave up on him for now, seemed a bit out of my league. I was relieved when i noticed the road to my NPC's (Edwin, Keldorn) was not changed. I was afraid there might be difficult battles before i could gather my standard party. Gonna take a look at which encounters have been improved, to do the easy ones first.
Posted by: Vardaman Jan 11 2008, 02:17 PM
Check out this thread for a http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=3155. It's not the only way to start the game but it lists many of the quests for a low-level party.
Let us know how the Suna Seni encounter goes.
And the new http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=1735 The table is in a txt file at the end of the first post.
Posted by: corpses3 Jan 12 2008, 03:37 AM
Qualo's crawler in the Copper sewers needs +4 or +5 to be hit?
Aprox. lvl for that Suna Suni encounter?
Posted by: corpses3 Jan 12 2008, 07:12 AM
lmao as soon as i took edwina finished the beastmaster and suna suni. lvl 9 whole party. <3 edwina
Posted by: Ryel ril Ers Jan 12 2008, 11:49 AM
Quallo's friend needs +3 wepon to hit (it was in my walkthrough in the My experiences with IA 5 topics second post), and he also needs good saves or free action or cure paralisys spells.
The suna sei encounter easy with a whole party where there is one level 8/9 sorcerer and/or specialist mage and/or a level 10 cleric.
SPOILER!
Put your arcane fighter to the third position because that is the most dangerous.
In the start of the battle run with the casters all direction, if your mage have stoneskin on him/her cast malison as soon as possible, attack the enemy cleric with two fighter because if you can break his confusion spell you have the half victory. After the malison cast greater command with your cleric, slow with your arcane fighter and emotion with your mage, after that your cleric cast hold person spells. After the malison their fighters easily fall the save or else nothing spells, so if you are lucky you have one fighter who was roll his all saves so you can kill the mage, if you have thief with good detect illusion it is easier.
The beginning of the battle you can try the silence spell also but it is also effect on party but save your butt against the confusion.
Never use dispel magic with this tactics because the enemy mage has highter level than yours and your dispel will only effect on your spells so you will lose.
Good luck.
Posted by: Gorwath Jan 12 2008, 06:15 PM
Heya
I just got to Imoen and figured out that her stats got to be messed up because she has got 10 INT and that as a sorcerer.
So could anyone tell me how the stats for Imoen are supposed to be.
One question to Sikret:
I have Jaheira in my party and she has got the Harper Pin. I noticed and read that you removed all of those non detection Items in the game. My question is: Is Jaheira's Harper Pin intentionally left with it's Non-Detection and does her Non-Detection work?(I tested it a few times and it seems that her invisibility is dispelled without regarding the Non Detection).
Oh and:
Has the Bag of Holding been added to the Item-Randomizer? I'm quite packed in Spellhold and would like to know if it will show up, or if I can buy it somewhere earlier?
Greetings
Gorwath
Posted by: Raven Jan 12 2008, 08:35 PM
I just got to Imoen and figured out that her stats got to be messed up because she has got 10 INT and that as a sorcerer.
So could anyone tell me how the stats for Imoen are supposed to be.
Intelligence 10 is correct. There is no intelligence requirement for sorcerers.
Has the Bag of Holding been added to the Item-Randomizer? I'm quite packed in Spellhold and would like to know if it will show up, or if I can buy it somewhere earlier?
SPOILER!
Posted by: Gorwath Jan 12 2008, 08:43 PM
thanls alot Raven.
I guess I got confused because in the kit description it says the prime requisite is INT
Posted by: Raven Jan 12 2008, 08:47 PM
I guess I got confused because in the kit description it says the prime requisite is INT
You're welcome.
The sorcerer is a weird class because it does not properly belong in the edition of AD&D on which BG2 was based. It actually does not have a primary stat requirement like other classes. In 3rd edition D&D the sorcerer's Charisma score performs much the same role as the wizard's Intelligence.
Posted by: Sikret Jan 12 2008, 09:38 PM
I have Jaheira in my party and she has got the Harper Pin. I noticed and read that you removed all of those non detection Items in the game. My question is: Is Jaheira's Harper Pin intentionally left with it's Non-Detection and does her Non-Detection work?(I tested it a few times and it seems that her invisibility is dispelled without regarding the Non Detection).
Thanks for drawing my attention to this case. Since I never have Jaheira in party in my own games, I had not payed attention to this items' problems. None of the testers seemed to be fans of Jaheira either. I'll fix this items' problems for the next version. For now, I just suggest that you don't use it.
Posted by: Gorwath Jan 13 2008, 09:09 AM
Hi again.
Here's spoilerish question for you guys...
SPOILER!
I went to Spellhold with lvl 15 or 16. And I knew it will be alot harder because Sikret mentioned it and did not recommend it....
Well anyway I went to Spellhold and figured out that I can't complete the Dungeon because two damn Skeleton Grandlords are blocking my path they are only vulnerable with +4 Weapons. The Point is that I never did find a +4 Weapon in chapter2/3 and to forge that +4 sword requires alot of ingredients and money which I don't posses just before going off to Spellhold (I don't think I even found enough permanency scrolls to forge three Long Sword+3.
So now I would like to know how it is intended to get through Spellhold without even having a +4Weapon or just tell me where i can find a +4 weapon in chapter2/3 without forging
Thanks
Gorwath
Posted by: Sikret Jan 13 2008, 10:14 AM
@Gorwath
SPOILER!
I suggest that You reload the game to a saved game before going to Brynnlaw. Of course, +4 weapons are needed in spellholod only if your party is high level. Mordenkainen swords are +4 and can hurt those Skeleton Grandlords slowly, but I wonder how many of them you will have to cast to actually win that battle without having +4 weapons. Do your mages or sorcerers have the spell? If yes, give it a try before reloading the game.
In addition to the +4 Long sword, there are more possible +4 weapons to be forged in chapter 3 (Phosphorous and Treefolk's Arm, for example).
Posted by: Raven Jan 13 2008, 11:32 AM
@ Gorwath
Who is in your party?
EDIT: It's ok I found where you wrote your party composition.
Posted by: Olbas Jan 15 2008, 06:46 PM
In the Sahuagin City I sided with the Rebels and killed the King and then killed the Prince which is what I thought everyone who wasn't a monk did but I think may be this wasn't planned for since the Prince drops a Permancy scroll and is a completely useless fighter worth lots of experience. I attacked him and he ran off then continues to run everytime untill I trapped him in a corner. Is this fight meant to happen this way or am I just meant to side with one team and leave the others alone?
Posted by: Sikret Jan 15 2008, 07:36 PM
To see IA's Improved Prince Villynaty, you should side with the king. I don't know what will happen if you side with the prince and then betray him. It's never been tested in that way.
Posted by: lroumen Jan 16 2008, 08:54 AM
At first you cannot understand the Sahuagin, but you will after they cast an unknown spell. You then find out that your coming has been prophesised. Their city will be destroyed unless you help to save it. You get the challenge to prove yourself as the prophesised one. Kill the Ettin and become the prophesised one. Here comes the decisive part.
1. The King asks you to kill the rebels.
2. The priestess who sponsored you to be the prophesised one wants you to reason with them.
Generally I would say that the following alignment types could decide which road you pick.
Lawful: follow the Kings will
Chaotic or Good: reason with the rebels. kill Spectator (chaotic), reason with Spectator (good)
Evil: kill everyone
Maybe the Sahuagin King should also be improved then?
Posted by: corpses3 Jan 16 2008, 03:55 PM
Where is the cold flail head located? searched through the forum, but didnt quite understand.
And only 600 gold reward from Nalia after clearing the keep?
Posted by: Daulmakan Jan 16 2008, 04:51 PM
This might be fixed for the next version:
Depending on what condition you're referring to.
Posted by: corpses3 Jan 16 2008, 05:00 PM
so which are the conditions? well 600 gold is not as bad as the missing cold flail head
Posted by: Raven Jan 16 2008, 05:04 PM
Indeed not.
SPOILER!
Posted by: corpses3 Jan 16 2008, 05:09 PM
Well i opened the bridge after i finished torgal. I killed a mage Yuan-Ti on the 2nd floor not sure if it was the "Greater Yuan-Ti". I dont remember if i got a flail from him or not, and where i got the other 2 from . Well i guess its on the whisper spider, and since i dont have a save prior to the torgal fight, I'll have to find a way to clua that whisper spider or the flail head. Any suggestions?
Posted by: Raven Jan 16 2008, 06:31 PM
. Well i guess its on the whisper spider, and since i dont have a save prior to the torgal fight, I'll have to find a way to clua that whisper spider or the flail head. Any suggestions?I strongly recommend keeping lots of saves while playing the game (one before every major battle at minimum). I have literally hundreds of Mb of IA save files archived on my computer. Admittedly many of these are testing-related but even when I am playing I keep loads of save files.
You aren't going to like this but I'd suggest playing on without the completed FOA. I wouldn't start messing around with the Console. The Flail of Ages isn't necessary for any battle; any points your characters spent on Flails/Morning Star are not wasted because there are other powerful weapons of this type.
Posted by: corpses3 Jan 16 2008, 07:07 PM
I want the FoA badly. But it seems i havent killed the Greater Yuan-Ti. I just killed the Mage Yuan-Ti on lvl 2. Was he supposed to be located at the bridge? Now my final question is will he drop the cold head if I CLUA him and will it succesfully forge the FoA? Any help is appreaciated
Posted by: Sikret Jan 16 2008, 07:33 PM
No! There are three layers of anti-cheat protections here:
- If you CLUA him, he won't drop the flail head.
- If you CLUA the flail head, you can't use it to forge the flail.
- If you CLUA the flail (itself), you can't keep it as it will disappear from your inventory.
In general, don't even think of cheating when you are playing IA. If you cheat you may even face bugs and you will be on your own. I do not offer technical support to players who cheat. Sorry.
Either return to a saved game (even if an old one) and do the entire quest afresh or continue the game without the flail. As Raven mentioned, you don't need it to play the game.
Posted by: corpses3 Jan 16 2008, 09:47 PM
Well you can consider it a bug or a glitch. Don't get me wrong, i want the Yuan-Ti and Spider encounter to happen, the problem is it doesnt happen after Torgal is dead. I'm sure I'm not the only one who brought the bridge down after Torgal is dead. Which is what i consider normal, to do the "inside" of the keep first. So since I don't have the time to do research on IE scripting, i kindly ask u for the necessary script editing in a PM, so i can experience the battle with the Greater Yuan-Ti and Whisper Spider at the bridge, so i can finish my FoA.
Posted by: Sikret Jan 16 2008, 10:48 PM
Even in the vanilla game, the Greater Yuan-Ti doesn't appear if you open the bridge after killing TorGal. It's not a bug.
Posted by: corpses3 Jan 16 2008, 10:57 PM
SPOILER!
Posted by: Sikret Jan 16 2008, 11:25 PM
This might be fixed for the next version:
This is true, but just note that it's a vanilla game bug which I'm fixing. The bug is not created by IA or related to it.
In the vanilla game, there are two conditions under which Nalia pays you 650 gp (rather than 10650). In one of these two conditions there is really no justification for Nalia to punish you with a small reward.
Posted by: Daulmakan Jan 17 2008, 02:51 AM
Yes, didn't mean to imply otherwise.
What is the last one?
Posted by: Vardaman Jan 17 2008, 03:16 AM
About the fight with the Githyanki Supreme Leader:
SPOILER!
Spoilered just in case
Posted by: Sikret Jan 17 2008, 03:19 AM
What is the last one?
That's when Nalia asks you to stay a bit longer (to either offer the stronghold or to ask you to take her with yourself) but you even refuse to stand and listen. I didn't change this one. She will give you 650 gp in this case.
The other one (which I changed) is when you treat her kindly, but just didn't have her in your party while clearing the keep.
Posted by: Sikret Jan 17 2008, 03:24 AM
@Vardaman
SPOILER!
He won't die as long as Mlar and Hr'a'cknir are alive. Other Githyankis are not relevant to his dying conditions.
Posted by: Gorwath Feb 2 2008, 02:23 PM
I'm in that maze in the beholder lair in the underdark
I have done everything(even drawn a map )
But now i have the maze key but in the only room where i did not go through every door it says that i need a wardstone to go to the lower levels?
What did I do wrong?
I assure you that i did not cheat anything into my inventory
My Weidu Log:
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2240 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table -> Capped, Best THAC0 is 0 (Blucher)
~P5TWEAKS/P5TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Drop items on frozen death
~P5TWEAKS/P5TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1 // Drop items on Disintegrate
~P5TWEAKS/P5TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2 // Drop items on Imprisonment
~P5TWEAKS/P5TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3 // Restore SoA background music for Promenade cutscene
~P5TWEAKS/P5TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4 // Increased spear range & damage -> Update default descriptions
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Infinite Weapon, Potion and Ring/Amulet Stacking
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #3 // True Grand Mastery (extra half-attack, etc.) (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #6 // Wear Magical Armor AND Magic Rings (etc.)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #9 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table, Saving Throws, Grand-Mastery, and Arcane, Divine Spell Progression (Blucher)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #10 // XP Cap Remover
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #15 // Bonus Merchants (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #18 // Imoen ToB Dialogue Fix
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #20 // Female Edwina
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #21 // Romance: Bug Fixes (required for later components).
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #26 // Low Reputation Store Discount (Sabre)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Ascension v1.41 (requires ToB)
~SETUP-ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2 // Original Tougher Demogorgon (optional, requires ToB)
~SETUP-LONGERROAD.TP2~ #0 #0 // Longer Road v 1.5
~SETUP-LONGERROAD.TP2~ #0 #2 // Restore Irenicus's original portrait from SoA.
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #4050 // Change Jaheira to Neutral Good
~SETUP-BANTERPACK.TP2~ #0 #0 // Pocket Plane Banter Pack for BG2: Shadows of Amn
~SETUP-BANTERPACK.TP2~ #0 #1 // Install SOA Banter Accelerator script? (Increases the frequency of interparty banter)
~SETUP-BANTERPACK.TP2~ #0 #2 // Pocket Plane Banter Pack for BG2: Throne of Bhaal
~SETUP-BANTERPACK.TP2~ #0 #3 // Install TOB Banter Accelerator script? (Increases the frequency of interparty banter)
~SETUP-NPCFLIRT.TP2~ #0 #0 // Aerie Flirt Pack For SOA
~SETUP-NPCFLIRT.TP2~ #0 #2 // Aerie Flirt Pack For TOB
~SETUP-NPCFLIRT.TP2~ #0 #4 // Jaheira Flirt Pack for SOA
~SETUP-NPCFLIRT.TP2~ #0 #6 // Jaheira Flirt Pack for TOB
~SETUP-NPCFLIRT.TP2~ #0 #8 // Viconia Flirt Pack for SOA
~SETUP-NPCFLIRT.TP2~ #0 #10 // Viconia Flirt Pack for TOB
~SETUP-MINSCKIT.TP2~ #0 #0 // Add berserker kit
~SETUP-MINSCKIT.TP2~ #0 #1 // Berserker Minsc
~SETUP-IMPROVEDANVIL.TP2~ #0 #0 // Improved Anvil for SOA & TOB
Posted by: Sikret Feb 2 2008, 02:37 PM
Ascension is strictly incompatible with IA. See the updated readme file in the forum.
All of the battles in your game so far have been much easier than the same battles in other players' games, because Ascension breaks IA's scripts. I wonder how you managed to install IA with no error messages at all.
Uninstall Ascension and return to a saved game before entering the maze and see if it can help. You have some other dubious tweakpacks as well, but I don't think that those few components you have installed could have made this particular problem in your game (though it is strongly recommended not to install any tweakpack with IA. IA has all of the required tweaks for its own optimization in itself. You can use the compatible components of Weimer's Ease-of-Use, but not any other tweakpack).
Posted by: Gorwath Feb 2 2008, 10:01 PM
Uninstalled everything dubious and tried again...
it still doesn't work. I have the key. But I still don't get to the lower levels.
By the way could there be a problem if one Ctrl-Y's those spawning monsters?
That might have been the problem this time...
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 2 2008, 10:43 PM
What did I do wrong?
I assure you that i did not cheat anything into my inventory
Looking at the map I made, there should be another door that requires the key to go through it. The wardstone should be in there.
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 3 2008, 02:36 AM
SPOILER!
Edited by Sikret for spoilers
Posted by: Sikret Feb 3 2008, 09:22 AM
it still doesn't work. I have the key. But I still don't get to the lower levels.
There are two different exits (in two different areas in the maze), one of which requires a Wardstone, the other one requires a key. If you have the key (but not the wardstone), you can only pass the first exit. The key is not supposed to let you go to 'lower levels'; you need to find the wardstone. The key opens a different exit in another area inside the maze.
That might have been the problem this time...
Posted by: Raven Feb 3 2008, 11:26 AM
Please use Spoiler tags for a question including IA quest details. Just because v5 has been out for some time does not mean everyone will have reached that stage in the game.
EDIT: I sent you a PM with the answer to your question.
Posted by: Sikret Feb 3 2008, 12:19 PM
Thanks for the reminder, Raven!
I, too, had neglected the fact that Vardaman's question was too spoilerish. Just edited both his and my posts (again) and fixed the issue.
Posted by: Gorwath Feb 3 2008, 03:50 PM
Thanks guys for your help. I guess I have drawn a wrong map so I did not explore everything in the maze
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 3 2008, 03:51 PM
Thanks for the PM Raven and I'll try to be better about hiding or prefacing any quest specific questions.
Posted by: Gorwath Feb 8 2008, 11:47 PM
Are any of the new Monsters killed by greater deathblow?
Or is this feat useless. I'm asking becasue i have to choose my HLA soon and I don't want to spend point in stuff that I don't need
Gorwath
Posted by: Sikret Feb 9 2008, 08:51 AM
Some of them will be killed, some others won't. That particular HLA is not one of my favorites and I have not thought about it much either. It's not useless of course, but you have better HLAs to pick.
Posted by: Nexiam Feb 9 2008, 07:31 PM
any ideas where to find some remove magic scrolls? im close to brynlaw and dont wanna go witout them
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 10 2008, 12:33 AM
The first time I was able to find one was on SPOILER!
Posted by: Sikret Feb 10 2008, 07:26 AM
SPOILER!
You will find one inside spellhold. Moreover, Imoen knows the spell if you let her join the party.
Posted by: Zarathustra Feb 14 2008, 01:32 AM
Regarding the Shadow Dragon:
During my first attempt at IA (v.5), I encountered what apparently was a vanilla bug which made the dragon's PfMW unbreachable. It occurred once or twice, was annoying, but a reload generally fixed it. Now, I am playing again, with a new party and more experience, and find he's unbeatable because his PfMW is almost never breachable. I reloaded five times in a row, and in each case, Breach got the "Spell: Ineffective" message.
I believe the fight would not be a big deal compared to even, say, Conster and his buddies if Breach worked as it rightly should; the way it is, I simply cannot outlast five or so PfMW with an (Improved Hasted) dragon bearing down on me.
So my question is: Is this some sort of unfixable vanilla game bug? And if yes, is there at least a workaround (other than cheating, which would be justified but boring and apparently risky)? I only have explicitly compatible mods, by the way.
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 14 2008, 04:05 AM
During my first attempt at IA (v.5), I encountered what apparently was a vanilla bug which made the dragon's PfMW unbreachable. It occurred once or twice, was annoying, but a reload generally fixed it. Now, I am playing again, with a new party and more experience, and find he's unbeatable because his PfMW is almost never breachable. I reloaded five times in a row, and in each case, Breach got the "Spell: Ineffective" message.
I believe the fight would not be a big deal compared to even, say, Conster and his buddies if Breach worked as it rightly should; the way it is, I simply cannot outlast five or so PfMW with an (Improved Hasted) dragon bearing down on me.
So my question is: Is this some sort of unfixable vanilla game bug? And if yes, is there at least a workaround (other than cheating, which would be justified but boring and apparently risky)? I only have explicitly compatible mods, by the way.
I'll ask the obvious question about if you removed his spell protections before trying to Breach him. I reloaded an old save on Core difficulty and he started the fight with Spell Turning and Spell Shield. Did you use Ruby Ray of Reversal to get rid of them before Breaching? He also has a spell trigger that fires Protection from Magical Weapons and Spell Turning so you'd have to get rid of that Spell Turning as well.
You are right that some enemies (liches) are immune to level 5 spells (Breach). That can be frustrating that the only way to deal with PFMW then is either waiting them out or being high enough level to Dispel/Remove Magic them. I don't think the the Shadow Dragon is immune to level 5 spells so I'm not sure what's going on in your case.
Posted by: Sikret Feb 14 2008, 07:53 AM
@Zarathustra
Yes, it's the famous unfixable bug of the spell Sheild spell which reappears randomly every now and then. See the mod's readme (fixes' document) about spell shield again.
However, if you installed my recently uploaded http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?s=&showtopic=3148&view=findpost&p=28761, the bug won't appear by any chance if you cast a "SpellStrike" spell on him first. The fix makes the dragon's version of the spell identical with the mage version (which was already fixed by me in v5). SpellStrike is a 9th level spell, but I guess you have already found a couple of scrolls.
Posted by: Zarathustra Feb 14 2008, 09:36 AM
Thanks, Sikret! I'll install the fix and use a Spellstrike scroll if necessary.
Posted by: shadan Feb 14 2008, 02:09 PM
Which is the best choice for a Warblade additional ability, which should be used by a low HP fighter (swashbuckler > fighter dual) who also use halberds and staves?
1- Magic Resistance: +20%
I am not too big fun of low MR. Usually I like to do 1 party member with 50+ MR, so that is more reliable. Simple fighter won't reach this.
2- AC Bonus: +3
This is not bad, but he has -16 AC now, and his AC will be imporved with some better prot. rings, cloak, Girdle of Lordly Might. I think he will reach max. -24 easily later.
3- 10% resistance to damage taken from all weapon types
This is very tempting.
4- Bonuses to attributes (+2 bonus to strength and dexterity)
This is tempting too. +2 Dex. means 20 Dex. +2 Strength means 20 Strength, and I am intended to use Girdle of Lordly Might on, which could mean Str 23.
5- Miscellaneous immunties: Immunity to backstab, Fear and poison
I am not sure how handy is this. Fear is not too useful, since I have 3 arcane and 1 divine caster with Remove Fear. Also my blade can do it from HLA. Backstab is useless, since enemies will chose another target for their BS. Poison is not bad, but not enough to chose this.
6- Regeneration: 3 hp per round
Worst ability from this 6, I think.
So Str or weapon res > AC or MR imho.
Anyway I will use this mostly when I need Immunity to Confusion or Charm, or when I need slashing weapon. I am sure, my fighter will use his halberds mostly cause of their given immunities and higher damage.
Posted by: lroumen Feb 14 2008, 02:35 PM
I would pick resistance for certain... unfortunately I have no fighters in my current party that use two-handed weapons .
Posted by: Raven Feb 14 2008, 02:56 PM
I would pick the Str and Dex modifiers. Btw what level did you dual at? I'd guess 10...
Posted by: lroumen Feb 14 2008, 04:28 PM
Afaik 20 dex doesn't get you anything more than 18 dex. You only gain a bit when you reach 21, and then it's only 1 AC and some bonus for ranged. Also, if you're going for the girdle of lordly might then the +2 strength bonus will not matter that much either, but of course without the belt it will.
I find it much more useful to keep my characters from taking damage or at least reducing it as much as possible.
Posted by: shadan Feb 15 2008, 11:48 PM
Yes, I dualed at lvl 10. Thanks for the tips, probably the resitance will be chosen, but no money yet for this upgrade.
2 strange things:
1. I cannot chose impr. bard song as HLA for bard. Does any prereq for that?
2. Shade Lich still hard enemies, since they can't be breached and lvl 25 Remove magic is not enough for them. I killed 2 of them so far, both of them on very strange mode. Usually 1 of my fighters and 1/2 summoned monster are hitting him, while I am waiting till he is out of more PfMW. But Swanmays killed them both time within a sec with their Wing Swing. 1 secs, and almost my full combat text window is full with swanmay's Wing Sing on lich. Like this:
Swanmay Wing Swing Shade Lich
Swanmay did 1 damage to Shade Lich
Swanmay did 3 damage to Shade Lich
Swanmay did 2 damage to Shade Lich
Shade Lich cursed
Shade Lich Fire Shield Red: Swanmay
Shade lich did 1 damage to Swanmay
This is repeated like more than 10 times, and lich died within a sec.
Suppose this is a bug.
Posted by: Raven Feb 16 2008, 11:12 AM
1. I cannot chose impr. bard song as HLA for bard. Does any prereq for that?
I don't know anything about that, I'm afraid.
Yes we're aware of this happening. It's feedback between the Fireshield and the Wing Swing, which sometimes gets out of control and constantly deals damage back and forth until one creature is killed (which thanks to the Swanmany's fire resistance will be the lich). However, I had tested it some time ago and found it did not occur very often in my tests (the Wing Swing would usually deal damage only once). Have you seen this often? Did it happen first time in both battles with Shade Liches?
Posted by: shadan Feb 16 2008, 12:40 PM
It happened 2 times only, but I ddin't have to many fights with Shade Liches. Anyway, now I know it is a bug and I will try to avoid swanmays when Fire Shielded enemy is there.
Posted by: Zarathustra Feb 16 2008, 04:57 PM
I'm am having most severe trouble with the 1st Drow ambush (I doubt the second one will be easier). My party is:
Vagrant
Minsc (Barbarian)
Anomen
Jaheira (Cleric/Ranger)
Haer'Dalis
Imoen
All have slightly above 2 million XP and decent (+3) equipment, though I did not forge any IA items before Spellhold.
I have already lured out and killed all the spiders without trouble; but despite trying about six times I have never managed to take out more than two Drow before the lights go out. The usual buffs (Free Action, Chaotic Commands, Improved Haste etc.) are in place, and a Death Spell takes care of the summons (except the Fallen Devas), but to no avail. The fact that I am constantly in danger of running into a stray Earth or Air Elemental (from the portals) doesn't help either. Can I divide the group somehow?
I will appreciate any suggestion whatsoever; the difficulty of this battle exceeds even the Mithral and Amber Golem fights in Spellhold, which took me long enough.
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 16 2008, 08:12 PM
I'm stuck in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly quest.
SPOILER!
Posted by: Raven Feb 16 2008, 08:24 PM
Vardaman I'll send you a PM about the quest.
Posted by: rbeverjr Feb 17 2008, 05:07 AM
I just finished up the planar sphere. The hardest part for me was without question <Big Spoiler. Don't read if you haven't done this yet.> SPOILER!
Posted by: shadan Feb 17 2008, 02:21 PM
Zarathustra:
SPOILER!
Hope it helps.
Posted by: Zarathustra Feb 17 2008, 02:40 PM
Thanks, Shadan! I did finally manage to beat them.
Actually, I have a question not relating to tactics etc. When I find Amariel's brother in his lamentable condition, I don't know how to free him. All the conversational options lead to his death. Could someone PM what to do, please?
Posted by: Nexiam Feb 17 2008, 03:42 PM
anybody know if the rod of smiting which u buy from ust natha(+10 vs golems) is any good vs IA new golems? he also has chance to kill golems unless save vs. death. This will also work vs. the new IA golems? any help is thx
Posted by: Raven Feb 17 2008, 05:03 PM
The bonus damage will be effective, but I'm pretty sure none of the IA golems will be affected by the instant death effect.
Posted by: Sikret Feb 18 2008, 08:03 AM
SPOILER!
If the first time you talked to Amariel, you forgot to ask her brother's name, you won't have the option to utter his true name when you find him (this is intentional). At this stage, you have only two choices: Either reload the game to a very old saved game before visiting Amariel for the first time (which will require you to play the entire Drow City again) or just consider yourself as having failed to do the quest in this run-through and continue the game without completing this quest.
@shadan and Raven
I'm not yet sure whether we should mark the phenomenon of the resonance of Fireshield and Wing Swing as a "bug". It may even happen even if your own F/M uses Fireshield and attacks the lich. We can just consider it as an advantage of swanmays (as specialist lich-killers). Moreover, as Raven mentioned, the phenomenon happens very rarely and sometimes it even ends with the opposite result (the swanmay's death).
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 18 2008, 03:26 PM
SPOILER!
If the first time you talked to Amariel, you forgot to ask her brother's name, you won't have the option to utter his true name when you find him (this is intentional). At this stage, you have only two choices: Either reload the game to a very old saved game before visiting Amariel for the first time (which will require you to play the entire Drow City again) or just consider yourself as having failed to do the quest in this run-through and continue the game without completing this quest.
And does the character have to have a minimum Int or Wis score? I seem to remember not getting the dialogue option you need with one of my characters so I had to reload and have my mage talk.
Posted by: rbeverjr Feb 18 2008, 05:00 PM
I have done some experimenting with Samia's group. I have concluded that it is probably not wise to engage in this fight with a level 13-15 party in a no-reload game. I can win the battle at his level, but not dependably. Do the experts agree that this fight should be done later? If not could you suggest some tactics that would allow me to consistently win this battle? Kaol is my big problem.
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 18 2008, 05:35 PM
Yeah, and killing him before he turns red isn't a good idea since a great item won't spawn on him (if the randomizer set it to spawn on him in your game).
I know it really helped to focus on Akae first. Layer up some spell protections and hope Kaol spends time dispelling them with RRR, etc. His 3x ADHW is always a pain.
This will be a hard fight in a no-reload game. What are your conditions or rules?
Posted by: Raven Feb 18 2008, 06:08 PM
I am by no means an expert in playing IA no-reload (I don't think anyone is). But I'd say that this is a fight best left until chapter 6.
Posted by: rbeverjr Feb 18 2008, 06:43 PM
OK, if Raven agrees that this battle should be Chapter 6, then my metagaming map for my no-reload game will reserve Samia for chapter 6. My current game is not a no-reload game as I'm still refining my tactics. Each game I expect to have less reloads. It was that way in the one and half games I played in IA4.2. I don't know when I will succeed in a no-reload game, but even if I someday manage to complete the game with 5 or less reloads, I'll feel like I've accomplished something.
"What are my conditions or rules?" No cheating, except that I will give myself a bag of holding at the beginning. Inventory management is a chore I hate.
Posted by: Sikret Feb 18 2008, 08:15 PM
No, it's not necessary to have a minimum stat.
SPOILER!
A character with high INT will find the chance to ask the question twice; otherwise, only once.
Hence, if you don't ask the question the first time you have the option, you will find it available again during the dialogue one more time if the character has high INT.
Posted by: shadan Feb 20 2008, 11:01 AM
I know it cannot be fixed, but Swanmay/Greater Swanmay killed some Amber Golems and Salamander Princes with her Wing Swing... I wonder if they will kill Raksasha Prince as well within a sec? I will try it, however I am trying to skip to summon them when I see enemy with FS or similar ablitity.
Posted by: Raven Feb 20 2008, 11:07 AM
Hmm, if you've had the Wing Swing feedback effect against several other monsters as well as the liches it would suggest this happens more often than my testing led us to believe.
What are the specs of your computer, out of interest?
Posted by: Sikret Feb 20 2008, 11:22 AM
In my own game, the phenomenon happens very rarely and even when it happens, it ends with the swanmay's death more than 50% of the times.
As I said before, it's a vanilla game issue which can even happen if your own F/M has fireshield and fights a fireshielded enemy; so, I don't consider it as an IA bug in need of being fixed.
PS: Rest assured, shadan! It won't happen against Rakshasa Prince. (Yes, I know you were joking.)
Posted by: shadan Feb 20 2008, 12:29 PM
OK, the "some" was not exact.
Swanmay killed 2 elemental liches (lich at Teshal and one lich in demilich's body quest). And she killed 1 Amber Golem and 1 Salamander Prince at Chromatic Demon, and 1 golem earlier. Surely is doesn't happen always, but in my game it is far from very very rare also. This is why I try to skip to summon them.
Posted by: Zarathustra Feb 20 2008, 03:25 PM
I am looking for some tips regarding either the Illusionist battle or - more importantly - the Queen Spider battle. Both are rather more difficult than I had expected; I don't have a problem with delaying the epic battles with Orcus and the Dracolich as long as possible, but it really annoys me that some puny insect is keeping me from doing even the first level of Watcher's Keep.
Note: Only two of my characters can hit the Spider Queen, and forging another +4 weapon is not possible.
Vagrant 19
Minsc (Barbarian) 20
Sir Anomen 22
Jaheira (Cleric/Ranger) 14/13
Haer'Dalis 23
Imoen 18
Aside from the encounters mentioned above, there isn't much left for me to do before Suldanessallar, except the post-Firkraag Windspear quest. I would really like (in fact, will probably need) some WK loot and experience before wrapping up SoA.
Thanks in advance, everyone.
Posted by: Nexiam Feb 20 2008, 11:11 PM
*nvm
Posted by: shadan Feb 21 2008, 09:50 AM
Zarathustra:
I don't know what is "Illusionist battle", but about Queen:
SPOILER!
Posted by: Dzza Feb 21 2008, 12:23 PM
i have 2 questions, first i imported a 6 man party from BG1. All the chars have around 300k exp so they are about 2 levels higher then a new character would be, they also have some higher stats from the book increases in BG1 for example my cleric has 21 wisdom from the 3 books of +wisdom. i was wonder if this will make the game to easy, i played through the first dungeon and the circus and even in insane difficulty it was kind of easy.
my second question is if the ease of use component "ware magic armor and rings" is recommend or not recommended, i played through the game before with no armor restrictions and havening a fighter with -20AC makes the game to easy, but dose the AI difficulty balance this out?
Posted by: Shaitan Feb 21 2008, 12:59 PM
Hi!
The circus and Irenicus' dungeon hasn't been changed by Sikret, so that's why they'll appear so easy.
At first Sikret recommended the EoU component which let you wear more RoP and the sort, but you'll have to look in the readme or wait for Sikret to emerge to get the correct answer to that. I don't use it.
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 21 2008, 03:56 PM
Some enemies are going to hit your fighters even with -26 AC so I don't think wearing magic rings and armor is too broken but it's up to you.
Posted by: Sikret Feb 21 2008, 04:21 PM
Don't blame yourself for finding the Spider Queen a tad more difficult than what you had expected. She is not a "puny insect". She is a lesser goddess and is surely tougher than Dracolich. The battle with Spider Queen is optional though. You don't need to do that battle to complete the first level of WK.
As for the Illusionist, send either me or Raven a PM and explain your problem. We may be able to provide some tactical hints.
Posted by: Nexiam Feb 21 2008, 09:48 PM
Malakar +2 is randomed or still in asylum?
Posted by: Nexiam Feb 23 2008, 05:40 PM
???
Posted by: rbeverjr Feb 23 2008, 06:27 PM
Apparently Malakar is randomized. At least it is no longer where it was in the vanilla game.
Posted by: Nexiam Feb 23 2008, 07:42 PM
ok thx man
Posted by: Nexiam Feb 24 2008, 06:31 PM
what about usuno blade? didnt find in wk 1st lvl tt
Posted by: Sikret Feb 24 2008, 06:40 PM
Play and find it out for yourself during the game, Nexiam.
When an item is not where it was in the vanilla game, its location is either randomized or simply changed to a different fixed place.
Posted by: Nexiam Feb 24 2008, 06:54 PM
just was thinking i was not high lvl enough, and statue with usuno blade dont spawn
Posted by: Shaitan Feb 24 2008, 09:46 PM
Does it mean that I could be lucky getting another item from that place, or is it put into a pool of better places to be acquired from? Ie the boots of avoiding?
Regards
Posted by: shadan Feb 25 2008, 05:36 PM
I am stucked in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly:
SPOILER!
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 25 2008, 09:24 PM
SPOILER!
SPOILER!
It took me a minute to figure that out too. Perhaps the dialog could be changed or have the person walk to the cave entrance.
Posted by: shadan Feb 27 2008, 03:53 PM
Thank's Vardaman. I run around with my hasted bard to check whole area, before I asked help, but it seems somehow I missed that corner.
Posted by: Zarathustra Feb 27 2008, 09:38 PM
I know this has been asked before, but the answer was via PM, so here we go again:
SPOILER!
Any answer (PM or otherwise) would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Posted by: Vardaman Feb 28 2008, 01:55 AM
SPOILER!
Any answer (PM or otherwise) would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
PM sent.
Posted by: Nexiam Mar 3 2008, 06:51 PM
how many rounds in orc horde?
Posted by: Sikret Mar 4 2008, 08:47 AM
Play and find it out for yourself.
Posted by: Nexiam Mar 4 2008, 09:31 AM
i try man i try
Posted by: Nazar Mar 12 2008, 01:10 PM
Sikret, just one question so far....where is a safe container to store stuff. I would hate to put it in to a chest only to come back and find out I have been robbed 
Also just wanted to let you know that I have been having a blast playing IA. The battles are good and fair. I have had no problem defeating monster as long as I thought about what I was going to do. I had tried to play IA a while ago and gave up to quick. Now I better understand the tactics envolved.
It is really nice having no bugs and playing a mod that when you come to the forum you see topics about tactics and party composition vice....."I have a bug HELP" Keep at it and I will keep playing and encouraging others as well.
Regards, Nazar
Posted by: Sikret Mar 12 2008, 01:33 PM
This question was asked before, but I can't find it to give you a link to the answers. Just don't leave items on the ground; any container will do the job provided that you won't lose access to that area later on. I usually use the chest in Copper Coronet (near Anomen's initial location).
Thank you, Nazar!
The mod's "stability" is one of my main priorities. I remember the old days when I was a simple player and had not started modding yet. On those days, I practically gave up playing any mods because of their bugs. Stable mods were (and still are) very very rare. That's why when I started modding, I paid special attention to the mod's stability and was careful not to "mistake players with testers" (i.e. I don't release a mod without testing it and sit to receive bug reports from players).
I had also the great luck of having the cooperation and valuable help of some of the best BG2 players (thetruth, Raven, Dago, leonidas, and others) as my testers during the creatation of each and every version of the mod. Without their help I couldn't be so successful in detecting and fixing possible bugs.
Edited to fix a typo
Posted by: Nazar Mar 12 2008, 01:46 PM
I concur with you. I was ready to give up playing because i would get half way into a modded game and then have a game ending bug. Of course for me a game ending bug includes using the CLUA. I have had this game since its release and have never used it. Did not want the temptation to change things. I have never even activated it for that matter. With the install I have now (RR included) Avenger said I would need to CLUA in chapter six for the COM encounter. It was due to the graveyard area having some problem that BD Fixpack did not fix. Is there any way that I can fix it by editing with NI? Oh and while I am at it do you have a donation scale for reputation. I can figure it out by paying in 100gp increments at the temple but would rather not waste the time, however if it is meant to be that way i will play thru it! Thanks for the quick response!
Oh and rough estiment on v6?
Posted by: Sikret Mar 12 2008, 02:56 PM
500 (to change 8 to 9), then 700, 900,1200, 1500, 2000, 2500, 5000. Donation won't increase reputation above 16.
I can't give an estimation release date for now. There are a few quests which still need to be added.
Valiant (who is a great graphics artist) is also making a masterpiece (a new large area) for the Expanded Druid Stronghold and I need his work to be done before completing the new druid stronghold's quests.
Then, depending on whether thetruth will be back in time or not, I may start working on the Expanded Fighter Stronghold and the Extended Twisted Rune quests (since thetruth has told me that he has detailed suggestions and ideas for them, I don't want to start working on these two big quests without his presence. He is currently too busy in RL).
After that, we will have the testing stage for which I will need Raven's precious help for sure. Raven is an amazingly accurate player and tester; I won't release the next version without having it tested by him. He is also busy in RL for now. I will use other testers too (will announce for volunteer testers) but I want Raven to be one of the testers for sure.
The whole process may take a few months. If thetruth is not back within a couple of months, I may release v6 without the Expanded Fighter Stronghold and the Extended Twisted Rune quests (and will postpone them to be added to IA v7).
Posted by: Baronius Mar 12 2008, 03:07 PM
The discussion about http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=3280.
About the stability and bugs in mods:
This roots in several things that I won't detail now. One of the reasons is the fact anyone can create mods, and modders aren't professionals. Many of the active modders lack the required theoretical and practical knowledge about development and related software aspects. This is natural, because it's our hobby, but unfortunately, some modders are daring enough to make confident statements in topics they don't know in details. Many readers, including modders that aren't so experienced, take these statements for granted. It results in miscellaneous misbeliefs, which lead to statements such as "Improved Anvil is poorly designed, because it doesn't work well other mods". They don't know that a mod of such complexity can't be kept bug-free with a reasonable effort without strict guidelines (considering the efficiency and services of available development tools). They don't know it because they don't know what controlling complexity means.
The misbeliefs also result in buggy mods, because many authors don't feel (and thus don't take) enough responsibility for their work. Don't get me wrong: bugs are unavoidable -- as I've written, most modders aren't skilled in software development. On the other hand, incorrect information and bad morale makes the situation much much worse. Beyond the misbeliefs and arrogant statements, some sites measure their success in mod forum posts, regardless of quality etc.
Efficiency and services of tools is also important, indeed. Some tools could be improved a lot. If possible, I will hopefully make some tutorials and tools to help those who are persistent enough to wait a few years (but I can't promise anything). Of course, this won't prevent (as nothing can prevent) the harmful effects caused by the attitude of irresponsible or self-important modders (who may mislead both modders and players).
Of course, I didn't intend to be off-topic in this thread (though it's random questions but they are strictly for Improved Anvil!), but I felt it necessary to give some foretaste of the reasons behind these things.
Posted by: Sikret Mar 14 2008, 03:59 PM
Thanks for the link to the storage discussion, Baronius.
I can actually write a tutorial, "How to make your mods compatible with IA", but I don't think that any of those arrogant people will ever use it. The problem here is that even the author of a http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?s=&showtopic=3585&view=findpost&p=29732expects me to revise a huge mod such as IA to make it compatible with his mod rather than re-working his mod and making it compatible with IA or at least making a different (IA-compatible) version of it for IA players (which will take much less time and energy).
Posted by: DavidW Mar 14 2008, 05:33 PM
I can actually write a tutorial, "How to make your mods compatible with IA", but I don't think that any of those arrogant people will ever use it. The problem here is that even the author of a http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?s=&showtopic=3585&view=findpost&p=29732expects me to revise a huge mod such as IA to make it compatible with his mod rather than re-working his mod and making it compatible with IA or at least making a different (IA-compatible) version of it for IA players (which will take much less time and energy).
I think it may be a communications breakdown actually - "making compatible" can be used to mean two different things here.
Notion 1: how easily could two mods be made compatible by content changes? - for which the answer, for mods that introduce new powers or items, is usually going to be "quite easily, providing the mod doing the introducing avoids introducing certain sorts of items/spells".
Notion 2: Is it possible to make two mods compatible with no content changes at all? - for which the answer is usually going to be "yes, but not easily, and the work would have to be done by IA" - which you're quite-reasonably deciding isn't a sensible use of your time.
So when Ronin talks about compatibility I think he means notion 2 - and it's basically impossible for him to do that inside his mod (I think... I'm not clear on the details. Certainly it's impossible inside TS, where the issue is items that give permanent protection.) I think you mean notion 1, on the grounds that notion 2 is unrealistically time-consuming given the complexity of IA and the details of how it's coded.
Posted by: Vik Mar 15 2008, 03:01 AM
well i can tell you that IA is the best mod if you want a challenge . and about mods which are writen and not incompateble with IA ( look at the one of the latest mods asked like Geometric sorcerer which may be compateble with IA, but is way overpowered!!!
P.S.
sorry for my english it may contain some mistakes but i think it is understandable.
Posted by: Sikret Mar 15 2008, 02:38 PM
If he wanted to do it inside his mod, I could tell him how to do it. Or alternatively, he could make a different version of the kit which is compatible with IA (neither of the two solution is impossible, though the second one is more elegant and easier to accomplish).
For big mods such as TS, the solution is to make a separate compatibility patch (as Vlad and I are currently working on it).
In general, two solution are in principle available. Either the mod's author works with me to make a separate compatibility patch or he will work with me to release a different version of his mod which works with IA.
The latter is already done in case of mods for BG1. Some of them have different versions which work with tutu and can use the extra resources tutu offers. In a similar way, it's also possible to make separate and different versions of mods which are made to work with IA and can also use the extra resources IA adds to the game (such as IA's polygonal system, its new creatures, scripts, item randomizer, et al).
Posted by: Hideous the Wu Jen Apr 24 2008, 10:41 AM
In the Umar Hills Temple I defeated the first lich and tried to fight the second but couldn't do it without resting. So I went back to a save, rested and headed for the second lich but there were no enemies there anymore. The lich and crew were just gone. I also had to delay my fight at the Trademeet crypt, forgot about it and went back much later (Chapter 6) and there are no enemies in there anymore. So I'm wondering if these are intentional or a bug?
Posted by: Vuki Jun 30 2008, 09:55 PM
I killed one demon (a Tanar'ri) to get the demon heart for Lavok. There is the other demon Lea'liyl who seems to be quite powerful. Could it be that I miss some important items (for example a randomized item) if I do not care about her/him? I postponed this fight to tomorrow because today I was a bit tired of battles. If I am tired tomorrow I will maybe miss this guy but I would like to be sure to not leave behind a critical item.
Posted by: Sikret Jul 1 2008, 05:53 AM
You will miss a couple of relatively important items, but nothing critical.
Posted by: Vuki Jul 1 2008, 07:19 AM
Thanks! Then I will kill him. I do not want to miss relatively important items. And anyway it seems to be a funny fight. This will be my first real fight against demaons and it will be a valuable experience before I go to WK.
Posted by: Vuki Jul 13 2008, 08:43 PM
I am fighting currently with the Shade Lich in Spellhold. I have not too much chance against it at the moment but I try my best. I am able to kill all the Skeleton Lords here and all other monsters (including Fallen Planetar) but I am not able to kill the the Shade Lord itself. The problem is that I cannot harm him with weapons (because he recast his PfMW and I am not able to remove it) and I am also not able to damage him with magic (because he is immune to everything I have). Any hints would be welcome.
There happened some strange effects during that battle:
1. Minor globe of invulnerability has a strange behavior. Sometimes it protects against dispel magic and sometimes not. That is ok. But it happened once that other spells were removed from the characters but the globe was not removed. IMO it should not happen.
2. Some characters are not able to cast spells. Spell is disrupted but no damage (or other effect) were influenced to the character. When a character started to fail his spells then it last forever, so absolutely no chance to cast spells. On the same time other characters have no such a problem. I checked the characters and there were no effect on them (no silence for example). Is this an effect of the Lich?
3. When I cast dispel on the lich then I am able to dispel some of his spells but not all of them. I am able to remove his mirror image but not his fire shield or PfMW. Is the difference that he cast them on different level (MI from scroll and others from memory)?
Posted by: Raven Jul 13 2008, 09:55 PM
This behaviour is normal - Minor Globe never blocks Dispel/Remove Magic but conversely is never removed by it either. If you see that a Dispel/Remove Magic attempt fails it will not be because of the Globe, it'll be because of the difference in caster levels. Each time you cast Dispel/Remove Magic there's a chance it'll fail because the enemy caster's level was too high. For equal caster levels the chance of dispel is 50%. For every level the enemy caster is higher your chance drops by 10%. So if you are level 16 and cast Remove Magic at a level 19 mage, there is a 20% of his buffs being dispelled.
In addition to (Minor) Globe of Invulnerabililty, no spell protections are removed by Dispel/Remove Magic. By spell protections I mean spells like Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, (Minor) Spell Turning, (Minor) Spell Deflection, Spell Trap etc. The way dispelling works hasn't been touched by IA, all these things were true in the vanilla game too.
In this case no, that is not the reason. Mirror Image is always removed by Dispel/Remove Magic (this is an unfixable bug of the vanilla game) regardless of the relative caster levels.
Posted by: Vuki Jul 13 2008, 10:35 PM
In addition to (Minor) Globe of Invulnerabililty, no spell protections are removed by Dispel/Remove Magic. By spell protections I mean spells like Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, (Minor) Spell Turning, (Minor) Spell Deflection, Spell Trap etc. The way dispelling works hasn't been touched by IA, all these things were true in the vanilla game too.
No, you are not right here. Minor Globe of Invulnerability can be removed by - a successful - dispel magic. Check the last sentence in the spell description!
BTW, even the 6th level globe can be removed by it.I finally killed the Shade Lich however he was able to kill my monk. I have also noticed another bug during that battle, a bug that I noticed in other battles also. Whenever I hit the Lich with a weapon which has other types of damages as well (I mean Treefolk's Arm and Flail of Ages here) then the current casting of the Lich was failed - even he was completely immune all of the damage! I do not think it is fair: if no damage was made then spellcasting should not be interrupted. However I think this bug cannot be fixed.
Thanks for the info about Mirror Image. I was not aware of it.
Posted by: DavidW Jul 13 2008, 11:06 PM
In addition to (Minor) Globe of Invulnerabililty, no spell protections are removed by Dispel/Remove Magic. By spell protections I mean spells like Spell Immunity, Spell Shield, (Minor) Spell Turning, (Minor) Spell Deflection, Spell Trap etc. The way dispelling works hasn't been touched by IA, all these things were true in the vanilla game too.
No, you are not right here. Minor Globe of Invulnerability can be removed by - a successful - dispel magic. Check the last sentence in the spell description!
BTW, even the 6th level globe can be removed by it.The description isn't accurate, though - try it. Globe of Invulnerability isn't actually affected by DM.
Posted by: Vuki Jul 13 2008, 11:20 PM
Thanks. So, Minor Globe can be removed but Globe is not. Am I right?
Posted by: Raven Jul 14 2008, 07:34 AM
Thanks. So, Minor Globe can be removed but Globe is not. Am I right?
No, like I said, neither can be removed by Dispel/Remove Magic. Many of the descriptions of spells are inaccurate. The only reliable way to find out how they interact is to try them in-game.
Posted by: Vuki Jul 14 2008, 08:02 AM
Ok, thanks for the info!
Posted by: Raven Jul 14 2008, 02:13 PM
Actually I should just add that there is one exceptional case when Mirror Image is not removed by Dispel or Remove Magic - if the mirror imaged character has SI:Abj running. Thought I'd mention it since it could be relevant in a battle with liches.
I still cannot think what is causing your characters to suddenly fail to cast their spells - have you had this happen before?
Posted by: Vuki Jul 14 2008, 03:01 PM
It never happened before this battle. I tried this battle several times and sometimes it did not happen. Sometimes it happened and when it occured then it seems to select the character "randomly". Sometimes more than one characters were affected and sometimes only one. It affected priests and arcane casters as well.
I followed the installation instruction and I have not installed anything that is not compatible with IA (at least as I know).
Posted by: Raven Jul 14 2008, 03:57 PM
Can you say exactly what happens? Is it that you select the spell and the character starts the casting animation, then stops mid-casting? Is there any feedback in the dialogue box to do with the spell failure?
Posted by: Vuki Jul 14 2008, 05:32 PM
Yes, the character started the animation and then the ususal message appeared (casting failure). No damage was caused, no influence of a spell, nothing. I try to check it now (I have to look for a saved game) and report back if I find anything interesting.
Posted by: Vuki Jul 14 2008, 06:26 PM
I was not able to find out what caused the problem but I realized that it does not depend on the caster. It seems that all of my characters suddenly have a great chance (appr. 50%) of casting failure. It does not depend on the casting time, magic missile was failed while lower resistance work properly. It also does not depend on the school of the magic. However after some time the effect disappeared and every was able to cast again (5-10 rounds later). I also move away from the lich and it still do not work.
The first time during my tries I killed really fast the Fallen Planetar and the Skeleton Lords. And there was no problem with casting. Second time I wait a bit before killing the planetar and then the effect occurs. Maybe it is not related to the lich but to the planetar?
Raven!
If you send me an email address then I mail the saved game to you and you can test it yourself (and let's hope it depends on the situation and not the installation).
Posted by: Raven Jul 14 2008, 07:21 PM
Yes, I think you're right. I believe the Fallen Planetar is using Unholy Word, which causes deafness and spell failure with no save. The deafness symbol should appear on your characters' records - can you test the battle one more time and see if this is the case?
Posted by: Vuki Jul 15 2008, 07:29 AM
I did not check it but you are sure right. I will check it today evening.
Posted by: Kerkes Jul 17 2008, 12:45 AM
Can somebody help me with location of that 48sided gem for carsomyr upgrade?!
Posted by: Vuki Jul 17 2008, 07:15 AM
I do not know the location of it either but I am sure that you can get it only in chapter 6 (because you are on low level). Sikret can PM you the location if you do not find it. My guess is that it is on a high level monster in BG2 or WK but definitely not in the drow area (areas where you can get back) and not in other areas of ToB.
Posted by: Sikret Jul 17 2008, 08:02 AM
We have had a separate topic about the 48-sided Garnet in the forum (http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=3235).
Before anyone can send a PM to Kerkes, he should probably mention whether he wants a fully spoilerish PM to tell him the exact location or just some general hints so that he can still enjoy finding it by himself.
Posted by: Vuki Jul 17 2008, 08:08 AM
Sikret, am I right that only 34 mithrill tokens can be found? Am I right that the reason is to allow create either the robe or a the melodic chain but not both? You are a real bastard if it is true!
Posted by: Vuki Jul 17 2008, 01:08 PM
Hmm, so nobody knows if there is more then 34 mithrill coins there? I mean the question above was serious. At least the first one.
Posted by: Sikret Jul 17 2008, 01:40 PM
I don't remember the exact number of mithril tokens in v5. In v6, their number is 35 if i'm not mistaken (enough tokens to forge two boots on the machine and keep the rest to forge the flail; if you want the bard armor, you will have to forgo either a boot or the flail). I didn't understand the relation between mithril tokens and the robe you wrote in your other post. which robe were you talking about?
Posted by: Vuki Jul 17 2008, 02:18 PM
Robe of Elemental Resistance or something similar, I am at work and BG2 and IA is noit installed here. I need the two boots (15 tokens) to forge it and as I know these boots can be found only here. I also would like to make the improved version of Melody chain and I need the Jester chain for it. If you sum up it is 35 tokens and I have found only 34 but there is a good chance that I missed one somewhere.
Posted by: Kerkes Jul 21 2008, 12:21 AM
Don't bother with 48 gem, found it. Strange thing, I used to do exactly the same thing in my previous IA runs but didn't get it. Maybe I had a full inventory..ah well.
Posted by: Gorwath Jul 21 2008, 09:43 PM
I don't know if this question was asked before but I looked a bit around and I did not see it....
Why is the Multi-Class-Grand-Mastery not recommended for IA?
Does it have some balance issue or is it because it breaks scripts(i can hardly imagine how that would work...)
Thanks in advance
Gorwath
Posted by: Raven Jul 21 2008, 09:54 PM
Multi-Class GM is not recommended because enemy mulitclass fighters will not have more than 2* in any weapon; the mod was designed under the assumption that this component is not installed. Installing the component hence allows your multiclass fighters to have an unfair advantage. Similarly, the un-nerfed THAC0/spell tables are recommended so the party and enemies are on an equal footing.
One could also argue that Multi-Class GM is overpowered, but I don't think this is the main reason. Sikret will correct me if I'm wrong, of course .
Posted by: Kerkes Jul 22 2008, 12:18 AM
Does un-nerfed thaco table mean that, for example, thieves and bards get base thac0 of 0, like fighters? I think that's way overpowered, actually it's ridiculous. To have Aerie with Korgan's thac0? Much more than multi grand mastery (besides, you need different kind of weapons in IA so I doubt anyone would put 5 stars at the beggining in something, even more so for multiclasses )
Posted by: Raven Jul 22 2008, 09:50 AM
Thieves can get to base THAC0 1, IIRC. Remember, by the time a non-fighter character gets to THAC0 0, a fighter will have many HLA's so the gap in combat abilities is not as small as the THAC0 tells us. I disagree about putting 5* in something right at the beginning, I almost always do this for single-class fighters. Of course, you have to be careful which weapon you choose.
Posted by: Kerkes Jul 22 2008, 11:10 AM
I do put 5 for a ber -cler dual in flails or hammers , but otherwise no. Just like to have everything covered. Now that you've mentioned it, probably staves should cover it for 2h weapon character. It's true about HLA's, but this way for example bards will be pretty much on par with paldins and rangers, which are fighters, while bards are not. I don't use it.
Posted by: Kerkes Jul 24 2008, 11:02 PM
Is having a low AC in IA any good for "difficut" fights? I noticed that, for example, my fight/thief gets slaughered by skeleton lords/granlords, orcs, drow, figh/mages, tethyrn soldiers, golems, fire giants, mind flayers, corpse eating halflings, spiders, demons, deep shadows, slavers, asassins etc... if she doesn't have hardiness up or drinks healing potions regularry (ok, not for mind flayers or shadows, but she dies just the same:)). She has an AC of -13. I tought that's good. It's not:). Even Anomen gets killed easilly with -4 great wyrm, his family shield upgraded, dex braces, rings.... What's up with that? I'm sure that skeletons don't use critical strike, yet he's dead in one round if they get close.
Is it possible to finish IA without "wish" spell ? I have only EDE left to do, so I think I know the game quite well. This is 3rd time I got to that point, with 3 different parties, never actually finishing it.. (just HOW do you kill that guy??) But again, I never relied on wish as much as now.. Wish actually made a lot of battles so much easier, almost to the point where I was thinking that it's pure cheese to use it. With enough luck, you can wish and wish and wish....again and again, never relying on greater restoration, imp haste, resting, etc. Really, has anyone ever tried the game wuithout it?
Do the new upgrades make old "hot weapons" useless? For example, ravager vs.dragon lord? Bleeding bastard vs.foebane and purifier? Grandmaster of asassins vs.dagger of star? (ok, this is a bad comparison:)) and even more, old armor. Does anybody use shurrupak plate when you've got huskar, wyrm, great wyrm?
Imo, much of the vanilla game powerful items are quite useless in IA.
Posted by: Sikret Jul 25 2008, 12:46 PM
1- Low AC is quite useful in the SOA portion of the game; in TOB, its significance diminishes a bit, though it can still be useful if you know how to lower your AC to really good numbers. The point is that sometimes you don't need good AC against all weapon types; if you can find a way to decrease your AC against one or two relevant weapon types, it can still matter a lot even in TOB.
2- Casting wish spell effectively comes with its own price; you need to create a mage with 18 wisdom from the beginning of the game and scrifice having good other stats. Of course, a cheater can use SK to give the mage high wisdom, but for those who don't cheat (= typical IA players), the expense is not small. Even with 18 wisdom, the effect is still random and can sometimes fail to work as you wish! All this said, it's one of my favorite 9th level spells, but using it is bit tricky; you should know when it is the right time to cast it if you see what I mean.
Posted by: Jon Irenicus Jul 25 2008, 10:20 PM
i had a base ac -18 on on my multi fighter/thief and some -x vs certain types of weapons that i don't recall anymore since its been a while since i trashed the guy from EDE, and while having ac is nice to avoid those more regular enemies like gem,coin,amber golems and suff like that i found it tottally unrealible vs the enemies that really matter like those important in EDE, ac was prety meningless,either you get high damage resitance or use protection from magic weapons, maybe with SI:A to prevent dispel, by using use any item HLA.This way i needed only to worry in using assassination with my massive backstab multiplier and critical strike with 8 attacks per round, thanks to that dagger with permanent improved haste for thieves.Enemies like noble rakshasas and other not immune to backstab were chunked easily in less than a round that way.But i am guessing you probably have a dual class F/T no?If that is so then your only choice is to rely on damage resitance , hardiness, wish's hardiness, potions of barbarian essence, there's also a monk amulet that give +5% res to all, but then again you need use any item HLA for this one.For Anomen, its quite simple,don't use him combat on later stages of ToB,it's simply not worth it,any char not protected with massive damage resitance , or protection of magic weapons/absolute imunity will get squashed in an instant, specially on EDE.I always kept him of the fray and used him for some dmg spells,but mostly its just for greater restorations on latter half of ToB.I just leave him out of battle always ready to cast greater restoration, with about 10 castings of that spell,it ensures that in my party no one ever dies,that and the wish spells my 2 sorcs cast both ensures a never ending supllies of fast heals without worring about range, or chances of ever being interrupted
About wish...it's possible to finisih the game without it,though you will be on for some frustating, pulling off your hair types of moments,if you enoy that especially on EDE, go wild .I disagree with fact wish has "high" casting requirements;all you need is 18 wisdom, and at char creation its pretty easy to have it.i had 2 sorcs on this IA run with both 18wisom,18 dex , 16 cons, and rest stats just the on 10, and i didn't feel i sacrificed anything honestly,with them in tob by the end of the game i had about at least 15 cast of wish,(i had a couple of items that gave extra spells on all lv's, like that new IA robe for mages that uses the stuff your aprentices mages make as component, and the robe of eloquence ?, i think it was the name from the mod The Four).Anyway i don't see whats the big sacrifice in stats that you make at startup.Maybe some people like to have their sorcs with 18 str, i personally don't care for that, casters should just do what their best at, and that's casting spells,either offensive,summons,or refreshing other's abilities,especially with my main sorc char that had the robe of eloquence,going in melle between spells would just be a complete waste of his constantly clean aura.the few times i actually used them for combat dmg, i used energy blades spell,which was far more usefull than going with a staff to crack their finger toe nails with 2 lousy attacks per round with poor thaco.Even with energy blades they will miss constantly on those dangerous, hard to hit and crack cookies like the ones in EDE, unless you do what i did which was to use the long sword The Answerer, and waste their defense first with 1 round using my fighter/thief with 8 attacks per round with critical strike,that's about -16 ac in a single round, then you can start popping up all your frisbees your mages created on them,without missing almost none,pretty good to help counter those annoying massive regenaration, massive damage resistance enemies.In my opinion wish spell is overpowered, compared with other lv 9 spells, i mean...in vanilla game pretty much all lv9 spells looked juicy and fun to use, but in IA i found myself using pretty much only wish, with the veeeeery ocasionally cast of spell strike,absolute immunity, chain contingency, and time stop when they were not immune to it.Latter on ToB i even had trouble picking lv9 spells for one of my sorc simply because all were pretty much useless...i ended picking up as my last choice Freedom...lol....that's like the only spell i would never ever pick on vanilla,how ironic.
Pretty much all those weapons cool ToB weapons are now trash,with few exceptions , compared to the IA ones,like staff of the ram.Foebane isn't bad either as the lardorch drain's effect is cumulative now even if they are immune to magic dmg.My multi fight/mage used it some times while having active greater whirl, and was constantly healing himself or with hp going over the 300 easily,though the bastard sword with slashing dmg is better vs those regenaration enemies to help counter it.
Posted by: Sikret Jul 26 2008, 08:02 AM
@Jon_Irenicus
That's because you are playing an evil protagonist; otherwise, you couldn't use (or even have) 'Robe of Eloquence' at all. Playing an evil protagonist may be a good choice for those who want some such powerful equipments from "The Four" with the expense of not seeing lots of new content in IA.
In general, it's not recommended to play IA with evil protagonists; but if you do, then you should just avoid advising others about spells and items, because they can't have things you have in the game. For example, for most players "Improved Alacrity" is also a very important 9th level spell; for you who wear the evil robe of Eloquence, Imp. Alacrity is not needed. This makes your playing style totally different with typical IA players.
Posted by: Vuki Jul 28 2008, 07:55 AM
In the Mistery of the Third Color quest I am not able to answer the right name. I know the reason but unfortunately I have only very old save. So, I would like to avoid to load it back (it should be but I do not want to replay 10 hours of game again). Am I missing an item component if I do not finish this quest? If yes then what? Could someone pm me or post here an answer?
Posted by: Kerkes Aug 6 2008, 09:30 PM
@ Sikret
Tnx for info for AC..
I finished the game for the very first time (EDE included). You're right about AC, it can be very useful.
I still think that wish spell is the best in the game. And about making custom NPC's - I never make a custom sorc, I take Imoen. You made her very well, and I go to spellhold as suggested (13lvl). I did go later once, and had to restart the game. So I don't need a sorc before Imoen. And I ALWAYS take her. She's great.
Btw, I'm thinking of putting up a post with some of my toughts about items, tactics, party composition, how and what to use in EDE etc. I don't know if it would be too cheesy, I think it isn't, but... So I'd like to send it to you via PM, so you can give me some feedback on it. Is that ok with you?
@Jon Irenicus
figh/thief is multi halfling female - starting stats - 17str, 19dex, 18con, 10wis, 10int, 6 cha
didn't use backstab on rakshasa, will do another time. Tought they were immune
About Anomen - trust me, I know
Where is robe of eloquence??!! Not in IA5 for sure.
Staff of Ram is EXELLENT. Period. it sucked in vanilla, in IA it's great.
Posted by: Raven Aug 7 2008, 09:53 AM
It's one of the items which can be found in Sikret's mini-mod The Four.
Posted by: Kerkes Aug 7 2008, 10:17 AM
Thanx! Just read the readme of zhe four... no tnx, robe will kill my mages. Bard item ok, others no no. Will install it, and get Haer'Dalis in party.
Posted by: Kerkes Aug 7 2008, 10:21 AM
One question about compatibility/or is this class overpowered? I found it on sorcerer's place. This is class description:
Blackguards must be of Evil alignment.
Advantages:
Immunity to Fear, Stun and Poison.
Gains +1% Magic Resistance and +2% Resistance to Magic Damage per level.
Gains access to the High Level Ability 'Summon Fallen Deva'.
Gains the following special abilities:
BLOOD TITHE: Once per day the Blackguard may fully restore his health... at the expense of his allies. Blood Tithe will cure the Blackguard of deafness, blindness, disease and level drain, and heal his hitpoints to their maximum; but other party members lose 20% of their current hitpoints. A second per day use is granted at level 20.
FLENSE: Once per day from level 5 the Blackguard can unleash this wild attack style to shred his enemies. Flense lasts for three rounds, during which time the Blackguard gains an extra attack per round, a +20% fire resistance bonus, and a -1 penalty to his THAC0. Each successful melee attack, in addition to its normal damage, will inflict 1d6+1 slashing damage plus a random effect:
50% chance of an additional 1d8+1 fire damage
30% chance of an additional 1d4+1 piercing damage
20% chance of stunning the target for two rounds (no save)
Additional uses per day are gained at levels 14, 23 and 32.
ABLATE: Once per day from level 8 the Blackguard may focus his attacks upon the surgical reduction of his opponents' abilities. This precise combat style of torturous debilitation can be maintained for two and a half rounds, although its effects linger far longer. The Blackguard gains a +1 bonus to THAC0 and a +2 bonus to Armor Class while Ablate is active, but his movement rate is halved. Each successful melee attack made deals an additional 2 acid damage and inflicts the following effects:
THAC0 penalty: -1
Armor Class penalty: -1
Magic Resistance reduced by 5%
These effects are cumulative if a target is struck multiple times. They last for two turns and cannot be dispelled. Additional uses of Ablate are gained at levels 17 and 26.
BLOOD PACT: Also know as 'Dire Rage', for only in the most dire circumstances would anyone willingly partake of such a pact, this ability transforms the Blackguard into a destructive powerhouse. Such power comes at a hefty price and an even greater risk. Blood Pact lasts one turn, during which time the Blackguard gains immunity to charm, domination, confusion, imprisonment and level drain, a +50% resistance bonus to all non-elemental physical damage types, a +25% magic resistance bonus, and +4 Strength. Also, each successful melee strike has a 50% chance of inflicting 2d10 lightning damage. However the Blackguard also has his Armor Class and all Saving Throws penalised by 2, is prevented from activating any other innate abilites (including HLAs) and has his maximum hitpoints halved for the duration of the Blood Pact. Uses per day are granted at levels 11, 20 and 30.
Disadvantages:
Evil alignment.
May not Dual-class.
Loses access to the High Level Abilities 'Hardiness' and 'Resist Magic'.
The Blackguard may use any weapon available to a Fighter of evil alignment, but his weapon proficiency choices are limited. He may not place any proficiency points in missile weapons (bows, crossbow, sling, dart), blunt weapons (quarterstaff, club, hammer, mace, flail), Two Weapon fighting style or Single Weapon fighting style. In the remaining weapon categories and fighting styles, he may only attain the Specialised level of proficiency (2 stars).
Posted by: Sikret Aug 7 2008, 02:27 PM
If you mean that the spell is a tad overpowered, I have good news for you. We are working on rebalancing the spell a bit for IA v6 (nothing very radical though).
Interestingly, when I was going to give Imoen a wisdom of 18 for effective use of wish spell, some people with limited tactical knowldge told me (at that time) that the wish spell is rubbish and is not worth memorizing!
It's a great idea. If you can compose your walkthrough in a story-telling fashion it will be much better; but even if it's normal report, it's fine too. Send the PM.
BTW, the kit you described is incompatbile with IA. Don't use it.
Posted by: Kerkes Aug 7 2008, 06:49 PM
@Sikret
will send it to you soon.
About wish, I don't think it's overpowered. After all, it's highly random. In EDE, the thing that saved me after Imoen wasting all 9th level spells (yes, a lot of wishing) was JD. 20seconds after Immy bashing golems I got "make if party rested..."
What I would do is remove it from JD sword. You'll probably want your fighter guys to have a decent wis anyway due to wisdom draining enemies. I know that JD (and flail of def/wounding) are "trademarks items" of IA (I still have 1.1 version on my Hard Disk ) but I'd nerf JD. But nerfing wish would also do nice. Perhaps "make if rested" should be something like that druid "wonderous recall", so sorcs cannot refresh 9th level spells and not being able to refresh fighter HLAs, or even better, refreshing half of them or so. I'm pretty sure you guys will figure something out.
Posted by: trufa Aug 14 2008, 03:51 PM
The elemental staffs(Noblefire,nobleair,Royal) are usable to fighter-mages (dual) too
Posted by: Raven Aug 14 2008, 05:05 PM
As far as I'm aware, that's what should be happening. It doesn't mention in the description that they should be useable only by single-class mages. Or did you mean that you think it should be restricted to single-class mages?
Posted by: trufa Aug 14 2008, 05:13 PM
No, it was a question, but my keyboard is far from perfect.
Posted by: Raven Aug 14 2008, 05:20 PM
Oh, I see. In that case, yes, they are usable by all mages, not just single class.
Posted by: shadan Aug 19 2008, 12:20 PM
I have a question about (Greater) Whirlwind. My character attacks 2 times per round with his main hand, and 1 time with his offhand. I cast Improved Haste, so he attacks 4 times with main, 2 times with offhand, doesn't it? So what is with GWW, that 10 attacks per round maens only main hand attacks? So while GWW active he won't attack with offhand?
I just started to think about this because you will get 10 atatcks with 2 handed weapon or single weapon also.
Posted by: Daulmakan Aug 19 2008, 01:49 PM
10 attacks per round is a hardcoded limit.
Posted by: Raven Aug 19 2008, 02:27 PM
I'm pretty sure that GWW will include a mixture of on- and off-hand attacks, with 10 attacks in total. I'm not sure what the distribution is, I imagine two are made with the off-hand. For this reason, it may be worth unequipping your off-hand weapon for GWW (assuming it is inferior to your on-hand weapon).
To test for sure, you can turn on the feedback options in the options menu. This then shows you the 'to-hit' roll for each attack, and it mentions as well whether the attack is made with the off-hand.
Posted by: leonidas Aug 19 2008, 03:31 PM
Personally I always equip a two-handed weapon to GWW. Otherwise it just seems like a waste.
Posted by: matti Aug 19 2008, 03:47 PM
I just started to think about this because you will get 10 atatcks with 2 handed weapon or single weapon also.
To put it bluntly, no.
IMO, it works like this:
Normaly, if you have 2 ApR, the main hand will hit once and the off hand will hit once.
With 3 ApR, main hit twice, off hit once, etc...
Let's see
1)
2 ApR with improved haste:
1 hit - main
2 hit - off
3 hit - main
4 hit - off
2)
3 ApR w/ih:
1 hit - main
2 hit - main
3 hit - off
4 hit - main
5 hit - main
6 hit - off
3)
4 ApR w/ih:
1 hit - main
2 hit - main
3 hit - main
4 hit - off
5 hit - main
6 hit - main
7 hit - main
8 hit - off
The off hand will always be the last hit of the round.
Greater Whirlwind sets your ApR to 5, and then improved haste you for 1 round = 10 ApR.
10 ApR when dual wielding:
1 - main
2 - main
3 - main
4 - main
5 - off
6 - main
7 - main
8 - main
9 - main
10 - off
(GWW is definitely for the two handed weapon, folks! especialy with vorpal hit like Silver Sword, drasticly increases a chance for insta kill)
So GWW is pertty much nullified by dual wielding. When dual wield, improved haste + critical strike combo is better than GWW.
sorry for my "english" ;]
Posted by: shadan Aug 19 2008, 07:50 PM
I will try later it in my new game. I just started to think because I have a halfling F/T now, and if I use GoA+5 in his main, and I use GWW, he has 25 % chance to go to invis from the dagger, every 4th attack makes him to invis, so every 5th will be backstab. If I attack 10 times with my main hand, that means 8 normal attack and 2 BS in one round. Ofcourse only when enemy is not immune to BS and if he is not facing toward you. (Or can I BS from invis if my enemy faced towards me?)
Posted by: matti Aug 21 2008, 07:58 AM
Impossible for you (player) but your enemy (hostile thiefs, stalkers and the like) can backstab you from any direction, due to game engine limitations. This is hardcoded.
Posted by: Kerkes Aug 22 2008, 06:20 PM
A question about spell shield - can a succesful "remove magic" remove physical protections even if an enemy has it on? (for example, a 20 lvl enemy with spell shield on is hit by a 21st lvl inquisitor's dispel. will it remove enemy's stoneskin and pfmw, while still keeping spell shield active?)
Posted by: Vuki Aug 22 2008, 07:24 PM
I have found the Ring of Lock Picks in the thief HQ (I got it from the thief who tried to betray Aran). And suddenly it disappeared from my inventory. I checked it carefully and I did not sell it (and definitely did not throw it away). Does anybody aware of this bug?
Posted by: Raven Aug 22 2008, 07:41 PM
As far as I know Spell Shield shouldn't be interfering with Dispel/Remove Magic.
Posted by: Jon Irenicus Aug 22 2008, 08:23 PM
I had that happen in my game too, i remember using an older save when i still had the ring and retracing back what i did again and i found out when i entered the smith's house in docks district(forgot his name) the ring vanished.
Posted by: SpellStorm Aug 22 2008, 08:35 PM
The Ring of Lock Picks is in the Item Randomizer. I remember finding it on the body of Firkraag the Red Dragon.
Maybe the ring should not be in the Shadow thief's inventory at all?
Posted by: Vuki Aug 22 2008, 09:08 PM
Yes, that could happen! I had before I entered there and I missed it after it.
Sikret! Is there a fix for it? I installed all of the fixes that you mentioned in the V6 topic. Or may I put it back using Shadow Keeper? It is not an important item (my thief is dualled to thief, so I will have more than enough thieving points). It is about justice: I deserved this item!
Posted by: Sikret Aug 23 2008, 06:57 AM
It's as SpellStorm said. The ring should be found only at its new location in the game. If you find it anywhere else, it will disappear. Two creatures in the vanilla game had that ring; I took it from one of them, but it seems that I had missed the other creature. I locally fixed the problem to make sure that the shadow thief won't have the ring anymore. For now, let it disappear normally. You shouldn't have found it in the thieve's building in the first place.
Posted by: Vuki Aug 23 2008, 09:58 AM
Ok, I will do it this way.
Posted by: matti Aug 26 2008, 09:47 AM
As far as I know Spell Shield shouldn't be interfering with Dispel/Remove Magic.
Dispel and Remove Magic, if they take effect, will remove all protections.
Posted by: Vuki Aug 26 2008, 09:49 AM
That is not true. Most of the protection spells cannot be dispelled.
Posted by: Raven Aug 26 2008, 10:30 AM
Spell Protections e.g. (Minor) Globe of Invulnerability, (Minor) Spell Deflection, (Minor) Spell Turning, Spell Immunity, Spell Trap are never affected by Remove or Dispel Magic. There are other spells and effects which are not affected by Remove or Dispel Magic as well, such as Tensor's Transformation.
Posted by: matti Aug 26 2008, 12:36 PM
Yeah, my bad.
Posted by: Nivellen Aug 26 2008, 12:41 PM
I haven't been playing BG2 for really long time and i have a question. Is Charisma stat usefull for anything at all?
Posted by: Vuki Aug 26 2008, 01:24 PM
It is good when you buy items in shops. One character with high charisma is usually enough. Pratically it should be a bard or a mage (because of spell Friends).
Posted by: Raven Aug 26 2008, 01:24 PM
I find it useful to have a character in the party with high Cha because it makes a bit of a difference to item prices, many of which are made a lot more expensive in IA. Generally I have a mage with Cha 14 with the Friends spell to take it to 20 (the maximum Cha for discounts).
Bear in mind that unlike in the vanilla game you cannot pick up the Ring of Human Influence from the circus.
Posted by: Sikret Aug 26 2008, 01:32 PM
Charisma can also have some effects during certain dialogues in the vanilla game and the way certain events will happen as well (though such cases are very rare). None of the IA specific events check for charisma.
Posted by: LZJ Aug 26 2008, 01:34 PM
Agreed. I couldn't remember if the maximum charisma needed was 20 or 21 though, but Raven should be right.
Just a note: i think you would have to set the party member with the high Charisma as the leader of the party in order to use his/her Charisma stat for the discount.
Posted by: Nivellen Aug 26 2008, 02:15 PM
I wasn't sure if Charisma have any effect on discounts as i remembered from my previous game that nymph cloak on my protagonist did make changes in prices and in my current game it didn't have any effect (protagonist with 12 charisma, leader) - was wondering if i made a mistake by not buying it(can't buy anymore since i cleared Mae'var guild).
This all may be because i have Keldorn in party and he has 19 charisma atm, 18 of his own and +1 from helm of glory. He though is not set to be a leader. I will check prices i have without him in a party
I found 1 quest where charisma matters but its very very minor. Edwin sends us to retrieve some documents for him. Talking with protagonist i couldn't get documents by threating the guy, but Keldorn managed it somehow
P.S. I remember trying to use friends with Aerie and talking to shopkeeper with her - no effect - maybe high charisma character have to be set to leader - will check.
Posted by: Raven Aug 26 2008, 03:07 PM
Like LZJ said in the above post, the leader has to be the one with the high Cha for the store to give the discount.
Posted by: Vuki Aug 27 2008, 04:30 PM
Is it not cheesy to kill those assassins in the Slaver Ship? I mean to stand there and kill them one by one to get the potion? I know it is a feature and not a bug and you cannot do it too long time (you cannot sleep) but I still have some doubts.
Posted by: geh4th Aug 27 2008, 04:56 PM
This is by no means confirmed by my own testing, but I got the impression that only a certain number of assassins had the potion on them. Those appearing past that number didn't seem to have one, so there was no "reward".
If this isn't already the case, perhaps it's a solution.
Posted by: Vuki Aug 27 2008, 05:23 PM
If this isn't already the case, perhaps it's a solution.
My experience was different. You did not find a potion on him if you cannot kill him in time and he drinks it. Assassins stop to appear when you killed all enemies in the area (or at least the important ones: Haegan and his party, wizard, and the slave golem).
Remark: I did not really use this cheesy tactics. PArty was waiting till thief collected all items from corpses of Haegan's party (+wizard) and then we moved forward. It could be done faster but I did not want to run into traps.
Posted by: geh4th Aug 27 2008, 05:53 PM
If this isn't already the case, perhaps it's a solution.
My experience was different. You did not find a potion on him if you cannot kill him in time and he drinks it. Assassins stop to appear when you killed all enemies in the area (or at least the important ones: Haegan and his party, wizard, and the slave golem).
Remark: I did not really use this cheesy tactics. PArty was waiting till thief collected all items from corpses of Haegan's party (+wizard) and then we moved forward. It could be done faster but I did not want to run into traps.
Yes, you're probably right. I thought I was watching for them drinking their potions though. My impression certainly isn't based on seeing a large number of them; I know every time one of them appeared I killed him as fast as I could. In my last run thru that area I saw maybe... six? of them before I finished off the key enemies you mentioned. I was thinking that the last one or two assassins didn't have potions. Perhaps I'm mistaken.
Posted by: shadan Sep 4 2008, 03:53 PM
I am bored with my wild mage protagonist. What do you think, if I change him to necromancer with SK will I be able to continue my game? I don't want to start the whole game again.
Posted by: LZJ Sep 6 2008, 10:11 AM
Heh, I know what you mean about restarting the entire game. Honestly, I foresee only one problem if you use SK to change your wild mage to the necromancer kit (for IA v5): you might not be able to upgrade the Amulet of Hades.
Of course, others might also frown on using SK to switch kits/classes halfway, especially if you've experienced an easier time in the early game by using the wild mage. Further, you would have had access to useful illusion spells like Mirror Image and Imp. Invisibility (and probably used them), so by switching kits halfway, people might not view your IA run as totally legitimate.
If you really wish to do so however, do remember to delete the Divination spells you've memorized... that's the drawback of being a Necromancer.
Posted by: Raven Sep 6 2008, 11:22 AM
Fixed.
Posted by: LZJ Sep 6 2008, 11:56 AM
@Raven:
Hmm did I type Illusion or Divination in my above post? Illusion is the opposite school of Necromancy so necromancers cannot cast Illusion spells. Conjurers (Edwin) are the ones unable to cast Divination spells.
Posted by: Raven Sep 6 2008, 06:31 PM
You wrote Divination. I corrected it to Illusion in my reply. Sorry for the confusion.
Posted by: LZJ Sep 7 2008, 01:46 PM
Oh, that was rather careless of me. Thanks Raven!
Posted by: shadan Sep 8 2008, 08:00 AM
Of course I deleted all illusion spells. I simply was bored in wild mage... I don't think it is overpowered or my game was easier at start. OK, I was able to make more buffs at low level cause of Limited Wish-Nahal, but it took too many reloads, and in fights I never was enough brave to cast Nahal, and sometimes my normal spells went to wild surge also, which caused some hard time in those battles. So I am bored, I changed to necromancer, and I was able to upgrade the Amulet of Hades. But first I had to rebuy the Amulet of Charon since I sold it. Ah, and I don't want my game wieved as legitimate... I don't write any experinces about this game here on this forum, I am just playing for fun, and wild mage was not fun anymore. Thanks for help, LZJ anyway. 
Just a side comment:
My former IAv5 party was this:
Vagrant
Blade
Swahcbuckler10>fighter
Ranger7>Cleric
Sorcerer
Conjurer
Current party
Wild mage/necromancer
Imoen
berserker
cavalier
R7>Cleric
Fighter/Thief
My former party was much much stronger despite of wild mage imho. Vagrant was stonger than berserker or cavalier. Custom sorcerer is a little bit stronger than Imoen. And Blade is much superior than berserker or cavalier. Blade was a really great tank, and superior dispeller.
I am planning v6 party even now, which will be I hope different from 2 of my former parties.
Posted by: Sikret Sep 8 2008, 08:20 AM
Did you complete your previous v5 game with the vagrant protagonist, shadan? I remember that you were mostly talking about your memories of v4.2 in your other posts.
Posted by: shadan Sep 8 2008, 09:42 AM
Yes I did. Appr. half year ago. Was a good play and good party. Just my memory mixing sometimes what was in v5 run and what was in v4.2. Hopefully after a replay of v5 will make v5 memories much stronger.
Here is my walkthrough link (check post #64 as my final report): http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=3369&st=60
Posted by: matti Sep 20 2008, 08:56 AM
Second drow ambush. 
They are killing and killing and killing me. SPOILER!
Any spoilers, plz??
Posted by: LZJ Sep 20 2008, 09:49 AM
@matti:
The tactics which you could use are dependent on your party composition. Since I do not know your party levels and classes (esp. that of your protagonist), here are a few general hints:
SPOILER!
(2) Try to take note of where the enemies teleport in. You could also try placing the weaker members/spellcasters further away from your protagonist.
(3) Potions of Magic Shielding ensure that you always make your saves.
(4) If your party level is too low, try crossing the bridge to do the Beholder Den and Illithid City first. Levelling up can help in improving your THAC0 and your saves.
I think Sikret mentioned that he will lower the difficulty of the drow ambushes in v6, though I'm not sure if he meant the 1st, the 2nd or both.
Posted by: Apsis Sep 21 2008, 09:51 PM
Is there enough +3 items in SoA part of the game for the upgrades (Dagger+3, Flail+3 etc.) or do i really have to use my precious Permanency scrolls to forge them? So far i only have a +3 dagger which actually doesn't help.
Posted by: SpellStorm Sep 22 2008, 09:38 AM
There are enough, relatively easy to obtain weapons +3. You don't need to waste Permanency scrolls.
A Cleric's Staff +3 when becoming Great Druid.
A Club +3 from the Copper Coronet Beastmaster.
A Crimson Dart +3 from the 1st level of Watcher's keep.
The Root of the Problem is considered to be +3 against unnatural enemies
The BlackBlood club, which may be bought in Trademeet, after freeing the city
The Frostreaver Axe +3, in the De'Arnise keep
There are two more items, which may be obtained early, I read about those in a walkthrough in the other forum:
The Short Sword of Backstabbing +3
The Rifthome Axe +3
And let's not forget about the spell 'Enchanted Weapon', which supplies your entire party with decent +3 weapons for 24 hours.
Excuse me, it seems you wanted information about +3 upgrade components, not weapons. Well, to my knowledge, there is a +3 katana in SoA, as well as at least 2 +3 longswords , 2 +3 shortswords, and 2 +3 two handed swords, but I don't remember finding a +3 morningstar, flail, halberd or dagger in SoA.
Posted by: Apsis Sep 22 2008, 01:21 PM
Ok thanks for the answer yet I had actually meant components as you stated. A pity than you need actually three Permanency scrolls to forge some of these items instead of one.
Posted by: matti Sep 24 2008, 06:15 PM
The tactics which you could use are dependent on your party composition. Since I do not know your party levels and classes (esp. that of your protagonist), here are a few general hints:
SPOILER!
(2) Try to take note of where the enemies teleport in. You could also try placing the weaker members/spellcasters further away from your protagonist.
(3) Potions of Magic Shielding ensure that you always make your saves.
(4) If your party level is too low, try crossing the bridge to do the Beholder Den and Illithid City first. Levelling up can help in improving your THAC0 and your saves.
I think Sikret mentioned that he will lower the difficulty of the drow ambushes in v6, though I'm not sure if he meant the 1st, the 2nd or both.
Yeah, beat them finally, just lowered difficulty settings /shame on me
/ After that i set it on core again of course.But now i'm in desperate need of another kind of spoiler, coz i recently beat the troll mound SPOILER!
EDIT/
OK, I found it!
Posted by: critto Sep 24 2008, 07:53 PM
Hello, everybody!
I have kind of a "random" question. Is there any table or list of changes that were applied to joinable characters? I am not really into digging of the game resources, so if you will help me out, I will be most grateful.
Mod version - v5. So far I know that Imoen now is a sorceress (I totally agree with that) and Anomen's wisdom was increased. Are there any other changes?
I would prefer to plan party and wanna-to-forge list of items before I start the game, because I am not a fan of replaying the mod from the beginning if something is not right (especially when modification is so big and complex).
I read all the FAQ-type topics and did a quick search through this forum before asking, but I don't want to dive into reading deeply in order to avoid possible spoilers.
Thanks in advance.
Posted by: SpellStorm Sep 24 2008, 09:51 PM
Well, the other changes in joinable NPCs are about their equipment upgrade, which is available only to some of them (check the Document Items file in the Documents folder about specific item upgrades). As for PC item upgrades, the Vagrant and the single class Necromancer have the best items. I will not describe the whereabouts of certain ingredients, but some of them may be collected only if certain conditions are met.
Concerning joinable NPCs, one thing comes to mind. In the vanilla game, all NPCs join at xp level, according to PC's current xp total. In IA, all NPCs join at their minimal xp, but some of them receive an appropriate xp boost immediately after joining. The benefit is, that you actually can redistribute all level up skills and proficiencies yourself. The drawback is, that not all of the joinable NPCs will receive such xp boost at joining, no matter how high xp score the protagonist has. I've personally checked about NPC which don't receive such a boost: Edwin, Haer'Dalis, Aerie, Cernd. I've heard of other NPCs which also didn't receive the xp boost, but haven't tested that myself.
Posted by: critto Sep 25 2008, 04:30 AM
Thanks! So, I can be 100% sure that nothing has changed in NPC's classes or kits (except those things that are documented in "fixes and tweaks" file) ?
I also have a couple of starters' questions.
1. Concerning Haer'Dalis: is he going to complain that we are not going to Raelis with the gem after his rescue? It is my understanding that the Planar Prison in this mod is quite a challenge and is more suitable for 12-13 lvl party. So I want to be sure that I can take him in my party even if I am not going straight to the PP after that.
2. That is a financial question. Exactly how many upgrades (in terms of their total cost) I can do? Because after I planned my party I have looked through the list of possible upgrades and picked some awesome items (about ten things, maybe). Well, than I did a quick calculation of the requred gp and got quite a number: 1.2kk. Am I being realistic? Is it possible to get such kind of money in IA? Even if I exclude those nice summonning items (like ring of Djinni summoning and others) it is gonna be around 900000 gold pieces. I never was a fan of the item upgrade mods, and in the vanilla game (that's the term for an unmodded BG2, right?) there're no problems with the money. So, what can I expect?
Posted by: SpellStorm Sep 25 2008, 05:19 AM
1. About Haer'dalis - I don't know if he's going to leave after 10 days, like in the vanilla game.
2. As for the gold part: there are many new encounters and quests that include decent amounts of gold. The Wish spell is apparently a nice source of extra gold, and if you have the Multiple Strongholds component of the Ease of Use mod installed, certain strongholds can be very profitable, namely the De'Arnise keep, the playhouse, and the Thieves' Guild. The rarest resource in item upgrades are Permanency scrolls, so think wisely before using those.
Posted by: critto Sep 25 2008, 06:03 AM
Thanks again.
So, the number of these scrolls is random from game to game ? Or their amount is fixed but the distribution is random? If it is the latter then how many of these scrolls I can collect exactly?
Oh, two more questions.
1.The installation readme says that only the first Baldurdash fix-pack should be applied. But I also have installed an "English-Language Game Text Update v1.2". Is it going to cause me any serious troubles?
If it will, is there any way to uninstall this fix? I backed up my "override" folder and "dialog.tlk" file after I installed, patched and "fix-packed" the game. So we can always do a "clean surgery"
Of course I can just re-install the game, but that's kinda annoying (all those CD changes).2. The randomiser distributes items only between enemies' inventories or also between containers and chests, as well?
Posted by: shadan Sep 25 2008, 07:37 AM
Some spells has effect which increases with caster level. Is there any cap for this level if spell's description doesn't mention it. As far as I know DX/level damage is capped at level 20 (like Holy Smite). But what about 1 round/level spell duration? Does it last for 30 rounds at level 30?
Posted by: Sikret Sep 25 2008, 09:06 AM
I have kind of a "random" question. Is there any table or list of changes that were applied to joinable characters?
Hello, critto!
Just check the mod's readme and the "Fixes and Tweaks" document attached to it in the forum.
Is it possible to get such kind of money in IA?If you play fair and avoid using cheats and exploits, then money is indeed a problem and you need to think well and have a financial strategy for how to spend your gold. This is by itself a cool feature of the mod IMO.
Yes, it will cause problems. Do a clean installation without the game-text-update.
The Wish spell is apparently a nice source of extra gold
This is plain cheat, which has been appropriately blocked in IA v6 (see the progress report for IA v6). If you want to play in this way and gain easy money, at least refrain from advising it to other players as if it is a legitimate way to gain gold.
The vast majority of spells are capped at level 20 regarding damage, duration and all other effects which depend on the caster's level. A couple of spells are capped at level 18 I think (it's how is it in the vanilla game) and a couple of them are capped at level 12 or other levels, but all are intentional and it is mostly mentioned in their descriptions. One of Auramaster's spells were capped (unintentionally) at a level higher than 20; it is already fixed in v6.
Posted by: critto Sep 25 2008, 01:02 PM
Thanks, Sicret.
I have performed a clean re-install of the game without this text fix. I guess, everything should be okay now.
One more question: how can I restore default BG2 Imoen portrait? Of course, if it won't affect the game somehow (and I seriously doubt that; it's just a picture, after all).
Posted by: shadan Sep 26 2008, 04:03 PM
Can someone write me in PM if any of these items are randomized in IA? I am not sure if I missed any of them.
Items:
SPOILER!
Periapt of Proof A. Poison
Dragon Helm
Girdle of Fortitude
Boots of Woodland (only ranger protagonist can get this?)
Mage Robe of Fire Resistance
Ring of Lock Picks
Gloves of Pickpocketing
Thanks.
Posted by: matti Sep 27 2008, 09:26 AM
Darn, that illusionist from mystery of the shimmering light quest is a tricky biatch. Some spoilers, plz?
EDIT/
Problem solved.
Posted by: shadan Oct 2 2008, 03:54 PM
I can backstab with Treefolk's Arm, but can't with Crom Faeyr. Why? Will I be able backstab with Hammer of Thor? I waited this weapon with my F/T...
Posted by: Kerkes Oct 2 2008, 06:18 PM
Wohoo... you cannot backstab with hammers, man. only daggers, clubs (not all!), short and long swords, scimitars, katanas, staffs qualify for backstab - the weapons thieves can put proficiencies in (not missile). I believe the best combo for a f/t (I used it in my last run with an evil f/t) is hindo's doom+4 main, grandfather off-hand. Hindo's does the most damage of all backstabbing weapons. Perhaps a stalker would do more dmg with JD sword, but I never tried it.
Hammer of Thor is a no-no for backstab.
Posted by: Zarathustra Oct 2 2008, 06:36 PM
Mind you, you can have Crom Faeyr or whatever in the offhand while backstabbing. Chances are, your main weapon will strike first (if at all). That way, you can whatever passive bonus the hammer applies.
Posted by: Kerkes Oct 2 2008, 06:44 PM
This true, 25str is good. But hindo's + grandfather combo will still do the best damage. + you'll have a chance to turn invisible and backstab again. "Assasination" is an ultra-powerful ability (hey, a f/t can have 8 attacks per round permanent, each of them doing 6x damage with asassination. Deadly.), and if your f/t is using Crom Fayr you'll be wasting every second hit (won't count for 6x backstab dmg), which is costly.
Posted by: matti Oct 2 2008, 09:00 PM
Jeez...golems here, golems there, golems everywhere...the fight with Supreme Leader is just....insane! And he just won't die. WTF?
Posted by: Kerkes Oct 2 2008, 09:17 PM
He will die.It's not an easy fight for sure. Actually, once I saw it for the first time, I uninstalled the whole mod because I tought that IA is crap .
It's actually quite doable. I can PM some slight spoilers but 'd try to do it myself.
Posted by: matti Oct 3 2008, 02:40 PM
.It's actually quite doable. I can PM some slight spoilers but 'd try to do it myself.
yeah, i know, he was indeed near death when spellstriking my mage and then chunktified him beyond resurrection with his uber sword. that was after hmm... 17 (i MUST deal with him on core!) reloads when i tought i finally got him. and yeah, my vagrant and barbarian (the rest of my party unfortunetly pushing the daisies right now - what a rumble!) smack his ass for sure, the fact that he goes from near death to barly injured just in seconds after his fatal assault on my mage doesn't help him much. i've got the loot and his head under my belt and i'm ready to go for that dreaded improved orc horde but man, not without my mage! but no, seriously, i want my mage back, so another reload is on the end of the tunnel and your pm are welcome.
Posted by: Sikret Oct 3 2008, 03:31 PM
Even though it's doable in SOA, this battle is primarily designed to be done in TOB. If you are still in SOA, I'm not surprised to hear that you have found it a bit too hard. It will be even a tad harder in v6.
Posted by: Kerkes Oct 3 2008, 11:33 PM
A Supreme Leader without a Supreme Golem!? Yeah, buff it up!!
Posted by: critto Oct 4 2008, 08:34 AM
I am playing the mod slowly now. I hope nobody would mind my thoughts here on different aspects? I don't want to start a new topic because I am not sure I am going to write often Anyway...
Did the battle at slavers stockade yesterday evening:
SPOILER!
Other than that, the battle was quite enjoyable. I was storming the place with my prot Vagrant and Valigar (10 lvls both), Anomen (12 or something), Haer'Dalis (10) and Nalia (11, I think). First of all, I tried to enter from the sewers but that was way to big for me. The battle was quite manageable thanks to the Anomen's chaotic commands and free action spells preventing nasty cleric's stuff like Hold. But things has started to go south when the enemy mage has dropped at the party bringing chaos to my operation and this is it
Nalia just don't have the right amount of the protections removal spells to deal with that fella. By the way, how do I exactly remove fire shields? With Breach or Remove Magic?So what did I do? For the first time in many BG2 runs I decided to barge into that filthy den of evil from the front door
And it was quite fun. We managed to kill both mages, because cleric and slaver leader wouldn't get in our way. The golem was even more fun, by the way Thankfully, Valigar had a pair of short swords with him, and managed to put this fella out of his misery. Though Valigar has hardly survived the process because of those damn assassins with their poisoned attacks.And now my party standing near the cages, and I am thinking how to defeat the leader and the cleric. Anomen has no more CCs and free actions, assassins are hitting from the back, and it all seems pointless, but maybe I will think of something, because I don't want to load my early save before I have entered the building
Posted by: LZJ Oct 4 2008, 11:24 AM
@critto:
Hmm... I would normally finish up all of the unmodded encounters before I attempt the slavers' stockade.
As for your concerns in the first paragraph of the spoiler, try defeating Haegan first... he might have something which explains their presence.
Posted by: critto Oct 4 2008, 12:18 PM
2 LZJ:
Well, I think I have already finished all of the unmodded encounters in the Athkatla. And all out-of-the-city areas are improved in one way or another. I was forced to leave the De'Arnise Hold for the better times, though I cleared about 2/3 of it. Did the druids grove (except for the troll cave and the ogre tower). And windspear hills and umar hills, I think, are way too challenging for my party right now.
Maybe I forgot one or two little quests, but they won't make any difference in terms of characters experience. So there's little choice for me but to accept IA challenges
Posted by: LZJ Oct 4 2008, 12:40 PM
@critto:
At your level, I would say that the slavers stockade is certainly doable, but an additional level could help if you find it a little too tough. Alternatively, you would find that Giant Strength potions can help a great deal in the early game, though you might find them expensive. Good luck!
Posted by: matti Oct 4 2008, 02:52 PM
Finally!! Supreme Leader is just a dead meat beneath my mighty feet while all my party members are standing on their ...well.. feet. Thx Kerkes for a very helpful pm.
Wow, that was hell of a fight! Onward into level 5!
Posted by: Raven Oct 4 2008, 04:02 PM
Hi, critto,
Well, I think I have already finished all of the unmodded encounters in the Athkatla. And all out-of-the-city areas are improved in one way or another. I was forced to leave the De'Arnise Hold for the better times, though I cleared about 2/3 of it. Did the druids grove (except for the troll cave and the ogre tower). And windspear hills and umar hills, I think, are way too challenging for my party right now.
The assassins only spawn under certain conditions. If you move through the ship and kill the main enemies quickly not many will appear. They will only seem 'infinite' if you stand around for ages just waiting. Also bear in mind that some assassins are there already (though not necessarily visible) at the beginning of the battle. Their presence may give the impression others are spawning faster than they really are.
@ matii:
Good job!
Posted by: critto Oct 4 2008, 04:16 PM
Hi, Raven.
Actually, I did all the quests before the stockade except for 1st level of Windspear dungeon and Watcher's Keep. In fact, I even forgot about WK, because I never go there until after the underdark or even until the ToB I think I'll pay a visit there, thanks for the hint.Also, I didn't do the Lilarcor quest (couldn't kill the greater crawler) and Pai'na. Well, I will try and win the battle in stockade and then do all these small things first.
But there is one little thing. I have Haer'dalis and Valigar in my party, and Haer is already complaining about gem delivery. And it seems that Planar Prison is going to be very tough for my party at this point. I never actually checked, will Haer or Valigar leave if I am not doing their quests for too long? Well, on the bright side, at least Nalia stopped complaining after I have initiated the De'Arnise quest.
Yeah, I understand that they will stop spawning when I will dispatch of the key enemies. With help of Kerkes I figured that they are golem, mage, cleric and the leader. So, there are only two of them left. We'll see for how long
Posted by: Kerkes Oct 4 2008, 05:20 PM
@critto
I sent you a pm, but now I've read this post here so:
with +3 weapons you can do lvl1 of Windspear Hills without much trouble, just don't go for Firkraag, Conster or Samia
De'Arnise Keep is probably easier than Slavers Compound for your party. I suggest you do that completely first
Greater Crawler isn't hard once you figure him out,and Liracor is a great weapon
Planar Prison will be hell if you go there any time soon. Perhaps there is a way of "cheesing out" Haer'Dalis so he stops complaining, but I don't know which one is it, or if it exists at all. He does leave if you take too long, that's for sure.
I believe Valy won't leave, at least he never complained while I was playing with him.
Posted by: critto Oct 4 2008, 05:29 PM
2 Kerkes:
Thanks for your PMs, they are being very helpful to me. Though it might be more interesting to discuss it here in spoilers so that the other players could take part in our discussion
Well, I think that the THAC0 of my chars isn't good enough for him. My prot Vagrant has a pair of clubs (simple +3 and root of the problem) and he is hitting the beast successfully, but on very rare occasions. Mostly, he misses. I wanted to try Lilarcor quest after 1 or 2 level-ups. Anyway, I don't have a character who wields two-handed weapons
Most of my fighters are dual-wielding and Anomen is a 1hand-and-shield guy.
Posted by: Kerkes Oct 4 2008, 05:48 PM
Uuups...sent a PM before reading post... IA masters, join in to kill Haegan and a nasty cleric!!
I believe you're having some trouble with Cleric and De'Arnise fighter since you don't use "Breach" on them. "Hardiness" goes down if you cast "Breach" on an enemy who has it on. It removes a great deal of Cleric buffs also.
For Thac0, use strenght potions, DUHM, etc.
For 2-h weapons....ahm... you REALLy should have someone using them. Take Keldorn or Mincs. Having 3 pure fighters is good for IA. 2 for dual wielding, and a guy for 2-handed. Some of the best wpns in game (if not the best) are 2-handed. Poseidon's Wrath, to name one.
Posted by: critto Oct 4 2008, 06:12 PM
Don't worry, I am not going to discuss Mencar's party, though I know it's gonna be challenging. I quite used to them being tough from Tactics or SCS
Well, I admit to not knowing that Breach dispells the hardiness, thanks for the hint. But about cleric buffs - I have already used the breaches on the mages (I was attacking from the front, remember?), maybe except one, and I am gonna use it
Yeah, I was thinking of that, but I really wanted to try Haer'dalis for a change (I usually have Minsc in my parties). Maybe I'll switch H'd if the things are gonna be tough.
Posted by: Kerkes Oct 4 2008, 06:23 PM
It's not sarcasm.
Who did you breach in front? Hope note that gnomish mage... I believe the other mage can't be breached for some time due to his SI:abj.
As for Haer'dalis, he's great! As I see, you have Vagrant, Valy, Anomen, Nalia and Herdalis. Just take one more fighter for 2-h wpns (I'd take Keldorn, but I'm sure there are pepole who like Minsc more for IA). I'd also drop Nalia once I get to Imoen, cause I dunno like thiefs but like Immy a lot.
Don't worry about dicussing any fight here at forums (Mencar etc.), I honestly wasn't being sarcastic. I had to reload Planar Prison (when fighting it for the very first time in IA5) for 30+ times, so I dunno think I can be sarcastic to anyone here.
Posted by: critto Oct 4 2008, 07:30 PM
). So maybe I lost some breaches, but some of them did their job. But it doesn't matter because I have managed to win this fight. Heagan sure is a tough one. Also, I got that hint about assassins from Heagan's body, but I still suggest that their amount should be somewhat limited Well, I was thinking that having two mages (Imoen and Nalia) and 4 fighter-types should be more effective rather than 5 fighter-types and one mage. But I am still deciding on that one. Maybe I even drop Haer'dalis for this run. Also, without Nalia, who's gonna do all the thieving (traps and locks) stuff?
Oh, sorry than about that 'sarcasm' thing
Posted by: Kerkes Oct 4 2008, 08:10 PM
No need to aplogize. Congratulations for cpt.Haegan! I too would limit their number. Haer'dalis is practically a mage (he can also dish out "remove magic" like no other, tank, fight, buff your fighters....), he won' t be able to cast 9th lvl spells but with that bard armor upgrade he's more than powerful. I believe that you already know where traps are (you did play the game before, I assume). Cast "Death Ward" or "Prot from petrification" (depends on the trap, but very few will kill you outright. Actually, none, if you've got decent saving throws. Most of them won't harm you if you've got mirror img/stoneskin) and trigger them. For locks, "knock" spell opens everything you need to open. Imoen knows this spell. The truth is - if I wanted a thief, I'd make a custom dwarf (or halfling) multi f/t. Not Nalia, but that's just me. (I hate that "For the needyyyy!" line waaay too much). Jan perhaps? I actually prefer him over Nalia, even tough she's got a nice ring upgrade.
IMO, Haer'dalis is more useful then Nalia. But then again, I'm sure that many people would disagree with this.
Anomen may seem like a powerful fighter, and he is early-on. Late game, he practically turns in a pure cleric, so you won't have 4 fighters.
Posted by: Firefly Oct 4 2008, 08:30 PM
Hi, guys.
I read the Cheap&Cheat file, and still don't get it why contingencies and triggers not to be refreshed in the battle. Enemies surely do this.
Enemy clerics cast all of their enchantments simultaneously when attacked, including True Sight sometimes. Is this fair? They don't have contingencies or triggers to explain it, and their enchantment spells have long casting time and short duration. By the time I buff my cleric with the last of his short lasting buff, usually the first one has almost expired.
Do you consider reloading for each tough battle on easy or core difficulty 10, 20 or more times less of a cheating than the cheats in this file? Sure, for newbies it's OK, but I see that experienced players also do it. From RPG point of view, isn't restarting from the beginning after being killed a more honest thing than constant reloading?
And at what difficulty do you play? Because, some items are surely made to work under Core rules, and will do little good on Hard or Insane. Like Oil of Resurgence.
I get it that if my protagonist is not a Ranger, I will miss most of the game. What if I don't like rangers (and I don't).
Posted by: critto Oct 4 2008, 08:50 PM
2 Kerkes:
Okay, you have persuaded me, I'll take Haer'dalis and Imoen instead of Nalia when the time comes.
Well, I don't remember all of the traps, but the most nasty ones I sure do. Triggering the traps is doable of course (in fact, I usually end up doing it or just installing the "no traps and locks" component from EOU), but it is nice to go with all that thieving stuff once in a while
Oh, I also have a question. Is there any way to raise Nalia's intelligence on early levels so she could learn additional spells? It seems that all the intelligence-boosting potions were cut out from the game. Why so?
Posted by: Zarathustra Oct 4 2008, 09:25 PM
In the readme, Sikret strongly discourages the use of that particular EoU component, though he doesn't state the reasons.
The only way I know of permanently raising anyone's INT in IA is Lum's Machine, which you probably won't be able to reach yet. I presume the temporary INT boosts were removed so that a mage's natural INT now actually has siginificant impact on the game (for scribing scrolls and the maximum number of spells/level). I'm quite in favour of that decision, actually.
Posted by: Kerkes Oct 4 2008, 10:52 PM
@ Firefly
Enemies don't refresh contingencies in battles . They use them , but do not refresh them for sure.
Clerics do that prebuff "as if" they know you are in the area (that's actually quite realistic IMO), and the fact their buffs will last longer isn't that big of a deal. I personaly never buff my cleric will all that spells enemy cleric uses, I use what I need (4, 5 spells max). Besides, breach+secret word gets rid of pretty much everything a cleric has on him.
I, for one, reload a lot. When I was new to the mod, I had to for obvious reasons (I'll never forget Elite Bounty Hunter ). Now, I reload because I want to try some different approaches for some battles, and of course, a lot of them are destined to fail. I don't mind anyway. Cheese? Perhaps. A must? Definitely.
I never played above Core difficulty, I'm not a masochist. , so can't comment on how Oils are useful there. I heard that it's doable. I won't try it.
As for Rangers...you'll miss a very minor part of the game, actually. I also don't like rangers none, same as paladins - too "do-good-be brave-help poor people" for my liking. But IA is doable with any character/party composition, as long as it is well balanced. A f/t or a f/m is far more powerful than any ranger kit will ever be.
Besides, you'll get some extra stuff if you're playing a mage also.
So, if you don't like rangers, don't play them. Regardless of JD sword, Flail of def/wound, boots of imp.haste, IA is more than doable even without all that. I had the easiest run with a f/t protagonist.
As for Nalia's intelligence...aaaah. Haven't played a mage below 18int for sooo long. Now it's all coming back, all the reasons why I liked Edwin so much...
"No traps and locks" from EoU - I believe that this removes not only "mechanical" traps but also some enemies won't trigger (drow ambush perhaps?. I'm not sure. I know that it's noted as "completely incompatible" with IA so I never tried it) you might also be able to open some doors which could not be opened unless some things are done first (Bodhi's lair withot meeting Aran, Planar Sphere without Valygar etc.)
Posted by: Zarathustra Oct 5 2008, 12:11 AM
Regardless of JD sword, Flail of def/wound, boots of imp.haste, IA is more than doable even without all that.Would be a bit of a shame if it wasn't. Still, for a beginner (I'm still count myself as one, but only just) those items can make a big difference.
I'm quite surprised to hear that, actually (assuming you mean the run was easy because you had a F/T protagonist). What with the UAI nerf and the more limited usefulness of backstabbing and traps in IA, I never even considered taking along a non-dualclassed Thief (as in Thief -> X). May I ask what made your F/T so good? I would guess the ability to use scrolls still counts for a lot, but does that really beat the Vagrant's innate immunities and resistances?
Posted by: Kerkes Oct 5 2008, 09:22 AM
@Zarathustra
Yes, it would be a shame if it wasn't doable.
I didn't use any traps, that's way too much cheese for me. I did use asassination and UAI alot. Very few oponnents are immune to backstab - just don't expect to hide in shadows-run-backstab lvl25 mage-run back. You'll need to alter your backstabbing strategies, but it works great.
Vagrant's kit immunities are basically completely obsolete by UAI, but you don't even need it. You'll find so many good armors (a f/t can use any full plate even without UAI), so those immunities are not that big of an advantage anyway.
UAI will be even more nerfed in IA6 I believe.
What made my f/t so good? Besides me, grandfather of asassins, Hindo's Doom, the fact he got evil after Irenicus in hell battle, 8 attacks per round permanent, he was a dwarf (that's +5 to important saves, unlike Vagrant +2 vs.Death) meaning he doesn't need that much micromanaging.
I'd suggest to try the class yourself and see just how many oponnents are immune to backstab. The fact someone can "notice" you even if you're invisible/in shadows doesn't mean he is immune to getting a knife in his back. Try Hendak or Samia goons, for instance.
Any yes, with all those nifty scrolls you find, a f/t is much more durable/better than Vagrant, and it beats Vagrant immunities by long and far.
Posted by: matti Oct 5 2008, 09:54 AM
Aaarghhh, my precious grandfather, i'm give up on that cyphered note, my english is too poor to decypher it. Besides, my prot INT is too low for this task.
Any hints? Town? Wilderness? Vanilla area? Some new area? Do I must talk to someone first?
The second problem is similiar to the first - 48-sided garnet location.
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