Improved Encounters Options

[Berzerkerzz]

I figured I change the thread title. The Sibel mod was alright in the end, could use exit points from the village though.

Riskbreaker: This kit was overpowered before and now ever more so. I removed all the speed bonuses but kept the speed bonus from the new boots later on. Did not upgrade the boots however as they are very overpowered. Also the potions of invulnerability makes the Riskbreaker lose all it's cons. I didn't end up using the Risk Decrement ability as it's overpowered as well. Also thanks to the new Flail of Ages buff this kit is ridiculously overpowered now. Even before v7 I was using the Improved Haste ability only once my mages got lvl 6 slots, otherwise it comes a bit early and throws the game off balance. So to recap: no heal/damage spell, no speed bonus, no use of invulnerability potions, and either tone down passive damage or even the new Flail of Ages bonus damage, and no use IH until your mages get it as well.

Wizard Slayer: I played this with Haste, not Improved. So he had one extra attack throughout the game, around 4 if I remember right. There was no way to play without it and have a character limping behind when moving around the map. I didn't upgrade the Regiment boots either as they are overpowered. I tried not to use the purge magic ability too often because it makes certain battles too easy. Purge Magic was used on a few dragons and other foes to speed up their demise. Some notable encounters where this ability was useful, a bunch of Grave Liches in WK and Demogorgon fight. Sibel was my only arcane caster in that run, dualed to a Mage at 9 wearing Vecna, and the Demogorgon fight would have been not doable without the purge magic from the Wizard Slayer. I did cast it in the middle so everybody got purged including Rozvanke which I baited towards the middle, and so it made the fight significantly easier. It really strips the enemies of their buffs this one. Anyway, Purge Magic is very powerful and I tried not to use it too often, perhaps it would be better balanced as a single target instead of area of effect. It's a strong kit now with ridiculous regeneration but needs basic Haste and the Purge Magic ability throws the game off balance if not use sparingly.

Avenger: Did not forge the Avenger Dream gear as it seemed a bit too overpowered, stayed with Rust Armor. Overall this kit is very strong and in another run I'm using it without the Clan Hunter summon, much more balanced imo without the clan hunter summon. The Clan Hunter could be better used perhaps on a different type of Druid kit.

Archer: Once you change missile damage into piercing he becomes a viable character. A ranged Kensai basically. However Called Shot needs nerfing, I set mine to 4 seconds for the effects. So with about ten shots per round, it would lower the Thac0 by about 8 max and Strength about similar. Seemed a bit too strong still, I think the effects should last 3 seconds, this way it would lower Thac0 by about 5-6 max and STR as well but only to the target that he is focusing on. The point is to soften the target. Archer comes in handy in many tight places but is a bit boring to play and the gear selection is not quite linear.
I set Fire, Acid and Ice arrows to +3 and lowered prices for +4 Arrows. He was using Gesen Bow most of the game and switched to Tuigan Bow and +4 Piercing arrows for the tough fights.


Party was: Avenger, Wizard Slayer, Riskbreaker, Sibel(Swash9/Mage), Shaman, Archer
Difficulty: Hard
No use of tomes, no max hp on level up, no milking of spawns as it throws the game off balance completely, no doing quests of random NPCs and no breach on clerics as their power is severely diminished if breached.

This post has been edited by Berzerkerzz: May 28 2025, 01:01 AM

[SparrowJacek]

Made an Odysee account instead since Google doesn't make things easy and uploaded the Bodhi fight in the above post.

Thanks, that's much more convenient.

I've watched only the War Party video, I saw some more prebuffs on Chandrilla (why does she have Acid Shield?), some more resistances on Damien and some more damage on Simbja. It would be nice if you could also provide some very brief info on the changes.

For this fight I hope you'll be satisfied with my changes, as it's already rebalanced for the upcoming version of IATweaks. I've changed not only the stats, but also kits and AI, so the enemies should fight a bit more like a team. And before fighting you, they already managed to dispatch a Drow party, so they wear Drow gear too.

I didn't use any insulation potions, so everybody was at 50% resistance from the guardians. I think for this fight, you should not be able to go above 50% with potions or anything else after the softening. It should be set or capped at 50%. You are basically half vulnerable for the Golems and the Witch Doctor.

Preventing players from going higher than X on some resistance is very hard, but doable if we assume that there can be a delay between your resistances going up and the softening bringing them back down. But the enemies can (and will) already lower your resistances via Improved Chain Lightning or via Golem's Discharge ability, so either you use your rounds on potions of insulation (if you have them) or you fight very low values for your electricity resistance anyway.

[Berzerkerzz]

Made an Odysee account instead since Google doesn't make things easy and uploaded the Bodhi fight in the above post.

Thanks, that's much more convenient.

I've watched only the War Party video, I saw some more prebuffs on Chandrilla (why does she have Acid Shield?), some more resistances on Damien and some more damage on Simbja. It would be nice if you could also provide some very brief info on the changes.

For this fight I hope you'll be satisfied with my changes, as it's already rebalanced for the upcoming version of IATweaks. I've changed not only the stats, but also kits and AI, so the enemies should fight a bit more like a team. And before fighting you, they already managed to dispatch a Drow party, so they wear Drow gear too.

I didn't use any insulation potions, so everybody was at 50% resistance from the guardians. I think for this fight, you should not be able to go above 50% with potions or anything else after the softening. It should be set or capped at 50%. You are basically half vulnerable for the Golems and the Witch Doctor.

Preventing players from going higher than X on some resistance is very hard, but doable if we assume that there can be a delay between your resistances going up and the softening bringing them back down. But the enemies can (and will) already lower your resistances via Improved Chain Lightning or via Golem's Discharge ability, so either you use your rounds on potions of insulation (if you have them) or you fight very low values for your electricity resistance anyway.

I've redone this battle because I realized the mages script didn't work properly and all the characters needed better resistances like Magic and Magic Damage. Removed the Minute Meteors since he has Darts of Stunning and gave him a good Staff (undroppable), he is a Fighter-Mage. He would cast Hardiness below 90% but didn't trigger in the video since he was busy casting something else beforehand. He opens up with ADHW and has two in total.
Average magic resistance is around 50% for this party with the Cleric and Mage having around 80-90% so they can have a good chance to cast their spells. The cleric still fell to Creeping Doom, I had two in total for this try but Cernd has a few more slots if needed.
Damien, the thief, gave me a huge headache and I spent a few hours trying to figure out why he wasn't triggering. He is neutral and normally approaches from further East. Eventually made him hostile like the rest of the crew and moved him near his party. The only problem is the Mage and Boz spawn around the Thief and are facing him for some reason, Boz faces south-west in the video even tough I didn't touch his spawn point. If I reposition the Thief, the Mage and Boz move from their original scripted spawn coordinates. Strange.. All those GOOD/EVIL-CUTOFF and some other commands and variables like that are completely above me, can't really make sense of them.
The Cleric has Acid Shield and Ironskins as prebuff to make him more dangerous and deal more damage. He opens up Storm of Vengeance. Acid resistance slots are somewhat more scarce compared to others. I had no acid resistance for this fight, though I could have had from potions and from two characters with Acid Resistance spells. I gave most Drow Clerics in the Underdark Acid Shield as prebuff to make them more dangerous and I think it fits their theme well and will be giving the Drow in ToB Acid Shield as well, and possibly some other cool abilities since it will be very late into the game by then.

Video: https://odysee.com/@Githzerai:e/War-Party-Underdark1:d
At the end of the video I showcased the stats of the main foes. Everybody here has over 130HP base with Boz having 200HP before bonuses.

As for the Kobold Crystal fight, the Mage needs to be dispatched asap but as you saw the Amber Golems are being kept busy nearby, so if the characters hitting the Mage reup their electrical back to 100% via potions then they dodge those Chain Lightnings, it's why he has a few other spells like Missiles, Arrows and Vampiric Touches. Perhaps the Crystal in the middle could be scripted to unleash some Lightning effects every other round or so on those characters who have 100% electrical resistance and bring them back to 50% but no further than that.

This post has been edited by Berzerkerzz: Mar 20 2025, 11:59 PM