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]

mm75: Thanks for confirming that it works with those mods. Practice proves theory. As for the battle with the High Sorceresses, well, to each his own. I know of players who found the final battle easy and the Grachus one hard.

I've tried using Dispel Magic but Grachus doesn't seem to skip a beat. I do my best to get the party to try to do some damage, but either Grachus or the Moon Horrors start whupping on them. They are unable to do much to Grachus, and eventually everyone in the party falls one by one as their spell and potions buffs wear off. As I mentioned, I will not do any appreciable damage with ranged attacks from this party. They pretty much have to melee.

Painful way of suicide. Even Sarevok would bite the dust if he faced Grachus alone.

This is a Tutu game, and one thing I have yet to try is loading up both my mages with Melf's Minute Meteors. That spells gives 5 attacks per round when hasted. Both mages hurling Melf's should be sure to disrupt some important spellcasting. Exactly when would be the best time to attempt this? As soon as Grachus goes invisible?

When he goes invisible, you first have to dispel it, so I guess you meant the moment when his invisibility is dispelled. To tell the truth, I don't think this will result in severe improvements, because when he loses enough HP, a Contingency and/or a Blue Tattoo gets released and he starts to cast healing spells. He needs constant attacks, and your party doesn't seem to be suitable for this (inadequate THAC0). The Meteor "strike" would only be effective after he uses Necromantic soul split. It's his last powerful healing ability. However, based on what you say (or what you don't), you haven't managed to get this far, which is not surprising. You might be impatient in battle, and don't run enough, do you? Although I haven't played the Tutu version yet (except some testing), it's hard to believe that Grachus has too many abilities left after fighting Talibehius, Tergius, the Dwarves and Damien. Somehow you are silent about Damien -- did you make an attempt with him at all? You should run a lot, and let the Flaming Fist and other non-party members do the dirty (melee) work. Remember, Grachus has a limited number of Contingencies, Tattoos and Necromantic Abilities/Spells. He will use them up while fighting the aforementioned allies of you. He shouldn't be too strong when you lure him to Damien. So if his Necromantic soul split hasn't triggered yet, it should really trigger during the battle against Damien's men. When you dispel the mirror images or the attacks of Damien & co. cause them to disappear, you should start throwing the meteors.

[Lemernis]

I've tried using Dispel Magic but Grachus doesn't seem to skip a beat. I do my best to get the party to try to do some damage, but either Grachus or the Moon Horrors start whupping on them. They are unable to do much to Grachus, and eventually everyone in the party falls one by one as their spell and potions buffs wear off. As I mentioned, I will not do any appreciable damage with ranged attacks from this party. They pretty much have to melee.

Painful way of suicide. Even Sarevok would bite the dust if he faced Grachus alone.

... You should run a lot, and let... other non-party members do the dirty (melee) work... You might be impatient in battle, and don't run enough, do you?

Yes, absolutely. I do rotate characters into face-to-face combat, and when the one fighting Gracgus directly is badly injured I move that character away to heal via potions or cure spells.

Although I haven't played the Tutu version yet (except some testing), it's hard to believe that Grachus has too many abilities left after fighting Talibehius, Tergius, the Dwarves and Damien...

... Grachus has a limited number of Contingencies, Tattoos and Necromantic Abilities/Spells. He will use them up while fighting the aforementioned allies of you. He shouldn't be too strong when you lure him to Damien... Somehow you are silent about Damien -- did you make an attempt with him at all?

Well, I have a save where I had led Grachus and his summons directly to Tergius. And as I mentioned Grachus killed Tergius. I hoped Grachus would be substantially weakened after that encounter, having cast most of his spells by then. However he is uninjuredand seems to have plenty of destructive power left. And when I load the save at that point, and lure Gracgus to the dwarves, Grachus simply summons a fresh batch of Moon Horrors. Grachus and his Moon Horrors then eventually prove too much for the dwarves and my party.

Is Damien one of the dwarves?

***

Near as I can tell, the main problem I'm having here is that my party is heavily dependent spellcasting to win (especially with the much more difficult SCS battles, TGC notwithstanding). That is the challenge I intended to set up for myself at the outset with the party composition of two mages, one tank, a thief, a full cleric who supports the party with healing, item identification, and divine spellcasting, and a cleric-thief who suits up for melee. But here, with Grachus and his Moon Horrors, this party is facing SoA/ToB level opponents who appear to have magic resistance (is this correct?). And I don't have the BG2 spells such as Breach, Spellstrike, Lower Resistance, etc., that would allow me to defeat them with magic.