Vuki's experience with IA V5.0, Using a special party composition Options

[Kerkes]

FoA bypasses MR, allows a save vs.wands. You cannot disrupt spellcasting via scroll. It is a good thing actually , it's not a bug

[Vuki]

FoA bypasses MR, allows a save vs.wands. You cannot disrupt spellcasting via scroll. It is a good thing actually , it's not a bug

Is it generally true? All weapons bypass MR?

Hmm, you are right. I tested it and my cleric was not interrupted. Strange, because in the past it happened several times to me - at least this is how I remember.

[LZJ]

Hmm I don't think all weapons' effects bypass MR. The Truth's (longsword) Doom effect does not bypass MR, as stated in the description. I'm not too sure about Foebane's Larloch's Minor Drain as well, which is affected by Spell Turning.

[Vuki]

The battle against Conster was entered. Enjoy it!

[Raven]

Vuki, I enjoyed reading about the battle with Conster! It might have been easier if you had tried to affect Conster with Insect Plague, but other than that I agree there was little that your party could do to stop his spells when he was protected by Absolute Immunity.

[Vuki]

Vuki, I enjoyed reading about the battle with Conster! It might have been easier if you had tried to affect Conster with Insect Plague, but other than that I agree there was little that your party could do to stop his spells when he was protected by Absolute Immunity.

The problem is that I can only cast the insect plague to the Skeleton Lords. Hmm, I could run a bit away from them to get closer to Conster and allow the Insect Plague to spread to him but my main target was to kill the Lords and not to be too close to Conster. But to be honest the real reason was that I forgot to try it.

I tried the battle with Firkraag several times but none was succesfull. I do not why but I am not able to disrupt their spells. My party made damage to him but his spellcasting is not failed (I made the damage while he was casting). Is it somehow related to his permanent alacrity effect? Anyway one of the biggest problem is that he casts improved haste and then he kills my party easily. BTW, is it a bug that I do not see what spells are active on him? Is the problem that his animation is to big to show the animation of the spells around him?

Update: It is a tricky method to summon something and then hit it to make it red (enemy) and then cast spells (like Insect Plague) on it instead of the invisible enemy. It is cheesy, isn't it?

This post has been edited by Vuki: Sep 1 2008, 01:38 PM

[LZJ]

Insect plague by itself (since you have no mages) cannot affect Skeleton Lords, so it would be true that there's no point casting it on them, if that's what you meant.

SPOILER!

They have very high, if not 100% MR (definitely more than 90% anyway, from tests with Lower MR).

Update: It is a tricky method to summon something and then hit it to make it red (enemy) and then cast spells (like Insect Plague) on it instead of the invisible enemy. It is cheesy, isn't it?

I don't think there's any point going to so much trouble. I think that you can just target it at a party member, and it will spread from there to enemies. My memory might prove faulty on this though, as I've not used any druids in IA for a long time.

[Sikret]

I tried the battle with Firkraag several times but none was succesfull. I do not why but I am not able to disrupt their spells. My party made damage to him but his spellcasting is not failed (I made the damage while he was casting).

Dragons' spells can't be interrupted. It's a standard and correct ability they have.

BTW, is it a bug that I do not see what spells are active on him? Is the problem that his animation is to big to show the animation of the spells around him?

It's not a bug; dragons use different versions of most spells which have no visual effects.

Update: It is a tricky method to summon something and then hit it to make it red (enemy) and then cast spells (like Insect Plague) on it instead of the invisible enemy. It is cheesy, isn't it?

It's plain cheat to deliberately make your own summons hostile for any purpose.

[Vuki]

Dragons' spells can't be interrupted. It's a standard and correct ability they have.

Yes, I think they use it as an innate ability as I remember. Thanks for clarifying it.

It's not a bug; dragons use different versions of most spells which have no visual effects.

That is pity.

It's plain cheat to deliberately make your own summons hostile for any purpose.

It thought that it is not a good idea. Of course I have never used it (just to make it sure).

This post has been edited by Vuki: Sep 1 2008, 02:53 PM

[Vuki]

We killed our first lich! See the updated walkthrough! I noticed something interesting and I am not sure if I am right or not. During PfMW party hit the lich by non-magical weapons. It does not affect the lich of course but does it remove the stoneskin? My second idea is that it does not affect the lich anyway, so it does not remove his stoneskin.

[SpellStorm]

We killed our first lich! See the updated walkthrough! I noticed something interesting and I am not sure if I am right or not. During PfMW party hit the lich by non-magical weapons. It does not affect the lich of course but does it remove the stoneskin? My second idea is that it does not affect the lich anyway, so it does not remove his stoneskin.

No, it doesn't. Any message in the battle text window which states: 'Weapon Ineffective' doesn't count as a hit, and thus does not remove stoneskin/mirror image, nor does it apply special melee character or weapon effects (no spellcasting failure applied in case of Wizard Slayer attack in this case, for instance).

If an enemy is immune to certain type of damage, like missile damage, and the text in the battle window states '*** was immune to my damage' it still counts as a hit, and will apply any of the other hit effects, such as elemental damage, spellcasting failure for Wizard Slayers, and will also remove a Stoneskin or Mirrored Image.

Besides, since you have Cernd in the party, I'm surprised that you didn't try several Insect Plagues on the lich. The Mace of Disruption also may prove useful.

This post has been edited by SpellStorm: Sep 4 2008, 08:32 AM

[Vuki]

No, it doesn't. Any message in the battle text window which states: 'Weapon Ineffective' doesn't count as a hit, and thus does not remove stoneskin/mirror image, nor does it apply special melee character or weapon effects (no spellcasting failure applied in case of Wizard Slayer attack in this case, for instance).

I knew it, I just confused something. Maybe I sleep less than enough?

If an enemy is immune to certain type of damage, like missile damage, and the text in the battle window states '*** was immune to my damage' it still counts as a hit, and will apply any of the other hit effects, such as elemental damage, spellcasting failure for Wizard Slayers, and will also remove a Stoneskin or Mirrored Image.

Strange thing was that one of my character used arrows against Firkraag and I did not see any such a message however he still did not make any damage. But I will check it again.

Besides, since you have Cernd in the party, I'm surprised that you didn't try several Insect Plagues on the lich. The Mace of Disruption also may prove useful.

I thought that the lich is immune to 1-5 level spells and Insect Plague is 5th level. So, I did not try it. I used the mace against him but I was not able to affect him during PfMW and when it was removed then he died very soon.

[Vuki]

Just one request to everyone (including me )! Please, stop discussing it here, because it is offtopic! Let's move to another topic!

EDIT by Raven: Mace of Disruption discussion can now be found here.

This post has been edited by Raven: Sep 4 2008, 06:02 PM

[Raven]

Also what is the effective enchantment level of the Equalizer?

+3

@ Vuki

I will try to split the off-topic posts for you and move them to a new thread.

[Vuki]

Thanks!

[Vuki]

Hi Everybody!

I started to play BG2 and IA again. It was a long break but I am eager to fight now.

I do not continue my previous party. It was really interesting and challenging but it was also very tough. And I realize that it will be even more tough in the longrun. So, I decided to create a party where I could learn new tactics. I would like to play in a way that I could be prepare also to V6. So, I kept it my mind when I created my party.

- Vagrant protagonist
- Half-orc kendai
- Elf fighter-mage (multi)
- Elf fighter-thief (multi)
- Half-elf cleric-ranger (multi)
- Sorcerer

No blade or gnome/dwarf/halfling in the party beause I am aware of their changes in V6. I think this party is quite strong, I see only two weak points. First is that my only cleric is a multi-class cleric. Do you think it is still ok? Or should I change her to Anomen? Or is it better to create a berserker/ranger->cleric (dual)? Other weak points could be that only two characters are able to use heavy armor. Is it a drawback?

[matti]

Even with all this, extremely biased and unnecessary imo, changes to "short people" saving throws in IA 6, still:

Dwarven fighter/thief > Elven fighter/thief
Dwarven kensai > Half-Orc kensai
Gnome Fighter/Illusionist > Elven Fighter/Mage

;]

[Vuki]

Problem is that their saving throws would be 3-4 better than it will be in V6. So, that is why I ignore them.

What about my cleric? Do you think it is not a problem that she is a multi-class?

[Sikret]

Even with all this, extremely biased and unnecessary imo, changes to "short people" saving throws in IA 6, still:

Dwarven fighter/thief > Elven fighter/thief
Dwarven kensai > Half-Orc kensai
Gnome Fighter/Illusionist > Elven Fighter/Mage

You seem to be replying to your own comment in this post, matti. If despite the changes to short people, you still believe that dwarves and gnomes are more powerful than elves and half-orcs even in v6, it's (by itself) a proof that the changes applied to short people in v6 were welcome and necessary steps towards balance; otherwise the gap would have been even bigger.

@Vuki

If you are practicing for v6, I recommend that you do not use a multi-class mage in your party, because multi-class mages in v6 do not have access to Improved Alacrity and certain options of Wish spell, which is a bigger change than nerfing the saving throw bonuses of short people.

Note that I'm not saying that multi-class mages should not be used in v6; what I'm saying is that playing them in v6 requires a different approach than v5; so, if you want to practice for v6, do not use them as long as your are playing v5.

[Vuki]

Sikret, is it true for dual-class mages as well?