tactics, no, not the mod... Options

[Monkeetroop]

Hi, I'm relatively new to this forum and have been keeping tabs on it since version 4.2. This mod is by far and large one of my favorite ones and I install other mods around it. Despite it being one of my more well liked mods, I still feel I lack the knowledge/skills to play the mod well. I understand that learning new things as you play is part of the process, but it'd be very helpful if I got a few tips here and there. I've been reading various posts on and trying to find out what strategies the veterans here use, but haven't found to many things. If someone could either point me in the right direction (topic wise) or wouldn't mind posting here, that'd be great! I'm sure that there are others out there besides myself who are trying to improve but would greatly appreciate any help thrown our way. Thanks again for an outstanding mod.

[Monkeetroop]

Maybe I'll have questions for certain fights when I get further in my run, and as for party composition I think I'm good. I've read various posts on how people are composing their parties and mine is as follows. PC-Vagrant, Jaheira (F/C...much more useful), Valygar, Minsc (Sked to Berserker), Nalia, and a sorceress. So I guess to be more specific, what spell combinations are good against certain types of enemies? I can't keep up with all the golems for starters. =P For example, I ran into an amber golem and had no idea how to kill it. Stuff like that I guess.

@Raven:
What spell combinations do you tend to use during big fights? Thanks again for the help!

[Raven]

I've read various posts on how people are composing their parties and mine is as follows. PC-Vagrant, Jaheira (F/C...much more useful), Valygar, Minsc (Sked to Berserker), Nalia, and a sorceress.

That looks like a very strong party.

So I guess to be more specific, what spell combinations are good against certain types of enemies? I can't keep up with all the golems for starters. =P For example, I ran into an amber golem and had no idea how to kill it. Stuff like that I guess.

Ah, I see. Most of the IA golems are very difficult to destroy with magic (this is why there are new specifically anti-golem spells in the game). I would recommend trying several different types of weapons (blunt, piercing, slashing and missile). Different material golems are weaker against different weapons. You will need weapons of high enchantment (merely +1 or +2 weapons may not be enough), so if you don't have these yet you may well be trying to take the golems on too early.

In general I find it easiest to have a character protected with Mirror Image and Stoneskin (with more memorised to renew when necessary) stand next to the golem and draw its attacks.

@Raven:
What spell combinations do you tend to use during big fights? Thanks again for the help!

OK this is a good question. Bear in mind that what I would do may not be what others would necessarily do. I am a big fan of defensive magic, even for my sorcerers. So when I tested IA I had my sorcerer running many protection spells, including spell protections like Minor Spell Turning and Spell Immunity: Abjuration. I found this useful because it meant enemy spellcasters had to 'waste' their time removing my protections rather than just blasting away with offensive spells. Those few extra rounds were vital for making sure my fighting characters lasted long enough to win the battle.

As far as buffing melee characters, spells like Chaotic Commands, Free Action and Death Ward are useful, later on also Protection from Magic Energy and Improved Haste.

Something it's important to be aware of is the way magic defences work in IA. The 'standard' magic defence which you will notice many enemies employing is something along the lines of Spell Turning, Globe of Invulnerability, SI:A.

This combination means three Ruby Ray spells are required to get rid of the SI:A, since RR targets the highest level protection. The Spell Turning (7th level) is removed by the first ray, then the Globe (6th level) by the second ray and finally the SI:A (5th level) by the third. Note that Ruby Ray is the ONLY spell which can remove spell protections when SI:A has been cast. This is because all other protection-removing spells actually belong to the Abjuration school and are blocked by SI:A in IA (unlike in the unmodded game).

When I started playing IA I didn't know a huge amount about the spell system. I actually tried to copy the enemy's spell protections to see how they dealt with them . This worked pretty well - there is no quick way to get through the system of spell protections described above and enemy mages are forced to cast RR after RR to get rid of SI:A. Until SI:A is brought down, Breach and Remove/Dispel Magic will have no effect, as you may well be aware.

Feel free to ask if anything I said is unclear.

This post has been edited by Raven: Dec 7 2007, 07:55 PM