Grachus Options

[Lemernis]

I hate to admit it, but I wonder if Grachus's Wind Horrors are too much for the particular party I'm using. My guess is I could probably take Grachus and only the three summoned undead humans. But not along with those four Horrors as well.

I'm using an unconventional party composition, and I guess it's now catching up with me:

PC Wild Mage 7
Imoen Thief 8
Minsc Berserker 8 (via Drew's mini-mod)
Xzar Necomancer 7
Tiax Cleric 6/Thief 7
Finch Cleric 7

I just cannot seem to find a way to fend off Grachus' seven powerful undead summons. I'm at the point where I'm considering going back to a pre-Grey Clan save and leaving this adventure for a future, more conventional party.

Before I give up, any thoughts on how I can get defeat Grachus with this bunch?

(Note: I'm playing with Sword Coast Stratagems installed. I have no idea if those amazing AI tweaks overlap with TGC's content or not, but they don't appear to.)

This post has been edited by Lemernis: Sep 6 2006, 06:44 PM

[Baronius]

It seems Grachus improved as much in Tutu as the graphics of BG1. But you shouldn't give it up so early! Your character levels are okay, and the party is capable of defeating Dark Grachus. Well, I suspect you've already loaded your previous save, but I'll give some hints to your party anyway:

If you've slain the zombies and the horrible Wind Horrors, you have half success. There are two major things that make Grachus so powerful:
* Melee attacks, he is a master of flails and maces
* Rune magic, contingencies and necromantic powers

The first problem can be avoided by not fighting him in melee. I'm sure you've done so.

The second one is the real threat. He has magical regerenation, continously activates protections and heals himself, this is why he was uninjured when you tried to face him the last time. He has three blue tattoos, which create mirror images. If he gets seriously injured, contigency magic also triggers, and while invisible, he heals himself. If he is out of these abilities and gets severely injured, he sacrifices a part of his soul (Necromantic soul split) which heals a lot on his body.

The key is dispelling and dealing high damage simultaneously, and in a very short time. You can dispel invisibility and mirror images by using Dispel Magic, your priests should have it. Is the spell's BG2 version used in Tutu? If so, it's not that easy, I admit. But mirror images aren't as dangerous as invisibility. And you can dispel invisibility with other spells as well. If you dispel his invisibility while he is trying to heal himself, you can interrupt his healing spell with arrows! And here comes the most important part. Imoen and Minsc can fire arrows. Minsc has higher THAC0, so he is our VIP now. Do you have arrows of dispelling? Use them! But prepare a quiver of Acid Arrows as well. As soon as Grachus losts his invisibility and/or mirror images, attack him with bows and other ranged weapons! If you manage to deal a lot of damage to him, he will die very quickly. Additionally, Tergius should cast Lower Resistance several times on Grachus which decreases his magic resistance. Furthermore, you should summon creatures to occupy the Moon Horrors. These creatures are dangerous to your weaker characters only.

They are far, but Damien & co. are very powerful, so it may be worth the trouble.