Hello all. I started with IA3 and left it due to work commitments. Hopefully i'll be able to finish IA4.1 this time round. Before I start, I'll explain my choice of protagonist, planned party etc etc. Hopefully this will be of some help to all players.

Choice of protagonist : Blade with maxed str/dex/int, 16 con, 3 wis, 15 cha.

Why: It was a tough choice between a f/m as recommanded by thetruth, and my own previous experiences with the blade. However, the blade finally wins out as:

1. With offensive spin and tensers, the Blade's thaco is equivalent (give or take minus 1) to the f/m.
2. With un-nerfed tables (recommanded component of IA), blade gets lvl 7 spells
3. By soloing the un-modded parts of the game, a blade can reach lvl 12-13. Which means when I pick up my party, they will all be at a higher level, as opposed to being xp hogs
4. I hate haer delis
5. I have a blade from BG1 tutu

With my choice of protagonist made, I know I will miss out on the expanded mage/ranger quest. maybe next time.

Choice of NPCs
1.A multiplayer created R/C kicked out till i reach desired level to recruit NPCs.
2. Nalia, to be replaced by Imoen
3. Minsc SK'd to berserker
4. Keldorn

I'll post again once I get underway.

Regards

It's true that with T.Transformation the Blade will have an equivalent THACO to the F/M, but please DON'T use it. Trust me

With TT the Blade will be trapped since he will not be able to cast any spell for many rounds and he will need to cast again his buffs in the tough battles of IA.

The enemies of IA will bring down your protective spells in no time and if you are not able to renew them then the Bard becomes a plain Fighter.

Moreover TT cannot even be dispelled, so your only option will be to cast spells from scrolls.

Also I recommend to choose between Nalia or Imoen. This way you will not have any waste of XP.
Nalia gets some nice items made for her in IA + you will have her from the beginning (though I like Immy more).

Played for awhile. And already I'm ready to tear my hair out. For blade fans, just be aware that the item randomization program has really made the beginning of the game a whole new and very tough experience. Also, now that kundane and belm are off limits till mid game, its even worse.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback thetruth. Better that I restart now then late game.

Note that the Blade can still be a very useful class in IA (Haer'Dalis was for my party).
I just say that the F/M is a better choice for your PC (additional content for Mages) and a more powerful class in IA.

I am aware of how useful the blade can be. However, early game blades depend on

1. Pickpocketing from shops for cash
2. Robe of vecna, belt of hill giant str and vhailor's helm
3. rush for kundane and belm

All of which has been nerfed by IA. Blades are now feasible only mid game, when your party has gathered the necessay equipment. While I am quite confident of making through the early game with extensive use of offensive/defensive spin, it is VERY exasperating. Think I might just break my habit and start off with a full party from the beginning, something I haven't done since my first BG game!

Update: Restarted the game as a f/m, and have completed most of the un-modded parts solo except for trademeet. Picked up korgan, nalia, yoshi and my multi-player created R/C for suna and party though, before dumping them again.

I'll pick up my final party members after trademeet. Hopefully my f/m will be 10/11 by then, so that edwin will be at least lvl 10. Decided on edwin over nalia. +3 extra spells per lvl is just too good to pass up even for a good party. I'll just convince myself that my protagonist is smart enough to realise the usefulness of edwin, even if he is a SOB.

Current equipment - short sword +2, arbane's sword, helm of balduran, 2 rings of prot +1.

I'm taking a day's break. IA is knda frustrating at the early lvls, even for a f/m. Luckily i had experience from IA3, or i might have given up at all the improved mages and clerics already.

Right now, I'm thinking of SKing one character to a thief/fighter or Swashbuckler. Candidates are Viccy for f/t or Nalia for Swashie. More inclined toward Nalia atm. Will decide when I'm ready to dive into IA4 again. New final party will be

1. F/M
2. R/C
3. Minsc SK'ed to berserker
4. Edwin
5. Nalia SK'ed to Swashbuckler

The only problem if you take Edwin in your party is that you won't be able to have a rep. of 20, needed in order to start a new quest.

I don't know if you can dump Edwin, reach a rep. of 20, complete the new quest (which has 2 very difficult battles) and then take again Edwin.

Anyway in IA there is a very powerful ring made for Nalia:






This will make her as good as Edwin (power-wise).

I'll be taking edwin nevertheless, at least until I can forge that ring for nalia...

Do you mean Sk'ing Nalia to a single class swashbuckler or to a dual-class Swashbuckler mage? If the former, then her new ring will not be useful for her even if you forge it. None of your other party members have also any specific items to be upgraded by IA. You can probably replace your custom R/C with Valygar and add a cleric (either Anomen or a custom one) as your 6th party member. In this way you can, at least, upgrade Valygar's armor and Katana. Anomen's shield is also upgradable (unless you have some other plan for your 6th party member).

Nalia will be a dual class swash/mage, or probably a pure thief/mage with higher thief levels. I plan to use her as my main thief, with high detect illusion and traps. Potion of thievery will settle the rest.

6 slot is reserved for sarevok or imoen. No offence sikret, but I'm not really a fan of valygar, despite his prowess and improved items

Update. I've completed all unmodded quests with my solo f/m, bringing him to lvl 10/11. I then picked up Minsc, Nalia and my custom r/c.

f10/m11
+2 scimitar
Arbane's sword
helm of charm protection
adventurer's robe

r8/c8
gnasher
+1 mace
plate mail
helm of infravision

minsc SKed lvl 11 berserker
+1 flail
shield of harmony
platemail +1
ring of protection x2
cloak of sewers
helm of balduran

Nalia lvl SKed 9 thief lvl 10 mage
naked. She has absolutely nothing except the stuff she came with.

Either the unseeing eye or de'arnise keep is next. Will prob be picking keldorn up as well. once my average character lvl is 12.

As thetruth states, the f/m is a true powerhouse.

Update: Cleared de'arnise keep. Its not as difficult as I remembered in IA3. Then again, perhaps I was better prepared. What i really liked (and didnt notice in IA3) was how the improved creatures switched targets. Glacias especially, for when he realised he couldnt hit Minsc more then half the time, he promptly switched and started attacking my r/c. Great AI modification there.

Good call making the new monster stick close to torgal as well, since I remember in IA3 you could lure out torgal alone and tank him with just one beserker.

From what I've seen and read, IA4 seems to require more melee and tanking power then magic alone.

So far, the biggest problem is inventory management. I'm hoarding everything I can except ammo to sell in the sahuagin city to raise funds for the hugely expensive stuff in IA4, and all my charcter inventories are close to bursting. I am so tempted to SK in a few bags of holding right now...

There is a new bag of holding available in chapter 2 if you can just find it. I really don't think that you will be looking for spoilers about its exact location.

I CLUA'd in a bag of holding (bag04) at the beginning of my run, but not the bottomless one. I hate having to micromanage my inventory or stash stuff all over the game, and refuse to play without a bag. But even so my bag is full, and I havent even finished act III yet. Is it possible that the 'new bag' of holding is an additonal bag, different from the 04 version you usually find in spellhold?

Yes, the bag is a "new" one and it has double capacity compared to the one you find in spellhold. It's appearance is also different.

The new bag with double the capicity won't slow down the game?

No, don't worry. It's just the bottomless bag which may slowdown your game.

Update: I'm done with the unseeing eye. Still have a problem with the inventory. I have a vague remembrence of where the bag os holding is. Thing is, I'm too scared to go get it yet haha. My typical battle is now

Minsc charges in with his low ac to tank.
Buffed up f/m casts malison, then jumps right into the fray
r/c cast insect swarm, then jumps right in
Nalia casts chaos, emotion etc etc
Keldorn guards nalia and cast dispel and true sight if need be.

This order works well for most of the athkatla improved battles with some micomanagement.

[update] Amazing how quickly i've had to eat my words. I've just encountered Tougher Tarnor the Hatchetman and party, and damn were they tough. Someone please tell me they were meant for a lvl 14 party so I know I'm not dumb or something. My usual tactics did nothing against them. I wont post spoilers, just be aware they are bloody tough for a lvl 11-12 party. Managed to defeat them after several tries, but it was very exasperating. No point in trying to kill the mage early, so take out the rest first, and save the mage for last.

Forged clock of prot +2 and ring of prot +3 for minsc. Am totally broke. Next stop, planar prison. Anyway, any idea where I can get more laerel's tear necklaces?

You can forge as many protection cloaks and rings as you wish; they are not too expensive. But then, it won't be easy to save money for the bigger and more expensive item upgrades. Perhaps, it's a good idea to have a longterm agenda for items you want to forge in each game and to save money for them as well.

I'm having problems with the shadelord. I can polish off all his minions easily, but his undispellable field of death and x3 horrid wilting contingency gets me all the time. Any tips on whacking him?

Shade Lord had to be just about the hardest battle in SOA at least for me personally, same reason as you, would get his protections down but then he would whack me with the abi dalzims thing soon as I really started hurting him. Best way round this is simply to get lots of protection from magic damage on one or preferably two fighters. Either try using belt of inertial barrier, cloak of mirroring or valygar's new armour any combination of which will offer 100% immunity, have this character deal the damage while your mage sits back at a safe distance and keeps his protections down. In your case probly best with Minsc using the belt and cloak as you dont have valygar.
Also try using the fighter mage with protection from magic energy then spell immunity abujuration to do the same job or just to do it quicker. If the Shade Lord takes down your spell immunity too quickly try mixing in a few higher level spell protections so he needs more ruby rays to bring it down.
Anyway hope that helps and good luck as I said I found him a real tough one.

I'm aware of using prot from magical energy. But since lvl 6 slots are taken up by improved haste, I was trying to prevent casting from scrolls to save it for later battles. Oh well I've finally done it by using 2 scrolls.

I've finally made it to the underdark and gotten my 1st HLAs for my f/m and r/c. What are the HLAs i should pick? I usually just stick to GWW but critical strike is going to be useful against those high AC enemies later. Suggestions?

I *usually* go for some GWWs, some hardiness and mostly CS for melee characters. Though it depends. If an enemy is immune to critical hits you should pay attention to your attacks per round. With a improved hasted character you can get like 5-10 attacks depending on class, weapon mastery grade and the weapon itself (two weapons or one, that is). If you can have like 9 attacks per round anyway, why choose a mere 10/round HLA? If you strike the enemy 9 times with a critical hit, it's first of all a guaranted hit, whether he's immune or not. If he isn't immune to critical hits it's like 18 hits, in theory.

Though I don't know what would be the greater help in IA.

For the F/M: as you said you will need many Critical Strike HLAs.
Critical Strike is useful not so for the double dmg, but because they let you hit even the enemies with the lowest AC; and you meet many enemies with low AC later.

Then Mage HLAs (mainly the +1 6,7,8 spell) and the rest for GWWs (always useful in long duration battles) and a few Power Attacks can be useful (stun for 2 rounds with a -4 save).


For the R/C: I wouldn't pick not even one Cleric HLA.
Go for many GWWs and Critical Strikes again.

The R/C will need the GWW since his I.Haste can be dispelled without SI.

Hmm... I have to disagree, thetruth. At least the Implosion spell is something I enjoyed with my M/C, as it would deal a good amount of damage (10D10 fire and crushing iirc) *and* stun the opponent, giving me time for more spells. Although I haven't tried it so far, the spell might be useful... don't you think so?

Lets just say there are more useful spells for your lvl 7 slot, greater restoration being one of them.

Greater Restoration Rocks!
Devas used to be better undead slayers than Planetars, as they had disruption weapons. I think Planetars are even better at that now in IA.
I'm not sure if Storm of Vengeance is worth buying and fitting in a level 7 slot either. Apparently, thetruth doesn't think so...

I don't think the cleric quest spells suck per se, it's just they're nowhere near as good as a speedily-cast, infinite range, mass heal, that also cures confusion.

I just entered the drow city, and have some spoilerish questions. Regarding the 'mystery of the 3rd color' quest, will it develop as part of the story line, or do i have to search all over the place for it? Also, does anyone has exp with the deeper dungeons? i hate mazes...some basic directions to get started would be great

You need to search.

Yes Implosion can be useful (ignores also MR) as Storm of Veng. can be (spell disruption), but the problem is that they are not so effective against the tough enemies.

A M/C or a pure Cleric should pick them but a R/C who is one of your main tanks will find more useful the fighter-HLAs IMO.

And as the other guys said, G.Restoration is extremely useful in the harder battles of the mod, so my 7 level spell slots would be for that spell.

The best thing to do is making a map. There are about 15 areas IIRC, give a number to each area you enter and try to understand to which other areas lead the exits. If you have problems with it, dropping some items on the ground in each new area could help "identifying" them.

Or you can put identifying items inside the containers in each area.

Well I've made it through the maze. Only to be continually pummelled by the dracolich. A word of advice to all, buff BEFORE going to the final area! The dracolich just rushes straight in your face. Now, does anyone has any advice how to defeat the drcolich with an unbuffed party?

Buffing your party is many times a waste anyway as the bad guys have a high level dispell/remove magic so it all goes away anyway. Here is what I did.

On the second try (the first he rushed me and waxed my pc before I knew what was coming), I rushed him with my fighters and summoned planatar, then the battle got bogged down, meaning that I was hacking on him and he went through his many protection from magical weapons. When those ran out it was nothing to kill him with my two fighters. The trick becomes his wing buffects. I always have my fighters so that they get knocked back near my other characters, many dragons that if they knock out the front line fighters will head for the other party members anyway, so as my fighters are getting back up they meet him again before he gets to my pc. I also tried the ruby rays and so forth but found that was a waste of time basically and took a chance of putting my sorcerer in the line of fire.

Front line fighters with low AC was the way to go, I also used my cleric for restoration when the damage became too great.

Romulas

So, you didn't actually ignore the maze, Romulas!

Sikret, Crom faeyr seems to do extra electrical dmg. It is mentioned in the description, but not in the dmg. IMO, thors hammer doesnt offer enough incentive for me to spend so much gold on...

No I did not. The first time I tried it during the underdark I faced the wall of frustration and left it. Later on I went back and noticed the patterns for it. Pretty nice way to do a maze actually.

As for thors hammer, I forged the thing and it is defineately worth it. I noted that keldorn on a single hit did the normal hammer plus electrical damage along with 68 points more, this was the extra damage of 10d10 given 10% of the time. I would say that it was worth the bucks.

One suggestion though sikret. Since the hammer is named for the thunder god (even though no association is given), perhaps it would be fitting to also be used as a missile weapon just as the real hammer is. Just my opinion.

Romulas

You could rest and buff your party in the last area before the Draco-Lich's lair.





There is a way to become immune to the Wing Buffets.
Both to their damage (bypasses PfMWs but not Stoneskin and M.Image) and to their throwing back effect.

The Spell Shield can protect someone from both effects
Moreover it doesn't get dispelled after a Wing Buffet (like with the Beholders' Dispelling Rays).

And also from what I have noticed the same Spell Shield makes someone immune to the Dragon's Breath Weapon.

The only problem is that it gets dispelled with any spell cast at the character, so only with a little micromanagment someone can see the benefits of this immunity.

Yes, I noticed this as well, with the shadow dragon's breath.

It must surely be a bug, however.

What!? All the time I thought wing buffet etc were not counted as spells! Damn I'm taking out that dracolich now

Spell Shield can be a solution but requires first to make the Draco-Lich waste his single target spells on another character (spell-caster). Only this way you can keep Spell Shield up.

The better way in my experience to avoid (partially) the throwing back effect is to surround the dragon. Usually the wing buffet has a range of 180°. This way not all of your fighters will get thrown back from it. And is generally the best tactic when fighting Dragons.

Just defeated the twisted rune. Sikret, you might want to take note of layene's script. During her double length timestop, she casted death spell thrice at my one single summon, a skeleton warrior! That gave me enough time to GWW her with keldorn with the holy avenger, and she went down very quickly after that.

Which version of IA are you playing? In v4.2 what you reported is absolutely impossible. We had encountered that problem during our previous tests and I had revised her script. Now, she ignores all summoned creatures during her TimeStop. Why didn't you update the mod to its latest version, Mongerman?

EDIT: And how was Keldorn immune to timestop to be able to attack?

If you are indeed playing the latest version of the mod (v4.2) and if you don't have any cheesy item from some other mod which grants immunity to timestop, then your game is bugged for some unknown reason. Perhaps a re-install may help. If you have items which grant immunity to timstop, then you should drop/sell them immediately.

Sorry. i meant she was casting death spell repeatedly during her time stop, hence she didnt cast any damaging spells, allowing my unharmed pc and keldorn to attack her after her timestop ended.

And yes I'm playing 4.1. been meaning to upgrade but i havent gotten around to it yet.

And how do I solve vanya's second quest? I am so sick of killing cobras...

Find their queen. Do you need spoilers? I think solving the puzzles by yourself (without asking for spoilers) will give you more satisfaction. Just think a little about where she might be hidden.

Lol maybe I'm stupid but I've looked most places for her. Fiikraag's lair, fire elemental tomb, adamantium golem cave etc. Has it something to do with the gems the mutated cobras are dropping? I wouldnt mind a spoiler in a PM now haha

The PM is sent.