The Master of Disciplines adds some physical resistance like the upgraded version, I think 10%. It does maybe another minor thing too, but the physical resistance seemed to be the one you are after.

To be honest, there are actually several other ways for bards/rogues to get physical resistances in IA, if not permanently then at least for long enough to finish a battle. Remember there are items added to the game which do not feature on the item upgrade list. So I recommend you play the game and try to find them! If you haven't actually played the mod it's hard to theorise about what item combinations are the most effective.

- The recipe to forge Flail of Defending and Wounding contains an ingredient which is not usable by other warriors except rangers. Consequently, the forged fail is such as well. It also has sharped edges and inflicts wounding damage which makes it unusable for R/Cs.

- Axe of the Lakesider: Is a relic item in possession of the swanmay community. You can't even find it in the game if your protagonist is not a vagrant. Remember that the new quest added to the ranger stronghold is a vagrant-specific quest. You will visit characters and places in that quest which you won't see if you don't have a vagrant protagonist.

- Red Coral Armor: contains an ingredient acquried from deep lakes.

Stalkers as the closest characters to vagrants are also able to use these items.

If we stick to the upgraded items:

My only problems why can't use thief/fighter-barbarian-ranger multi or dual classes that JD sword for example? If you chose thief mixed with warrior, then you change some weapon stars, thaco and HP for thieving skills. Also if thief is your main class in dual, you change the very very good warrior HLAs to mediocore thief ones also. I think thief duals and multies should use that sword as I wrote in other topic. But it seems, Sikret, you don't understand with me.

My dear shadan, JD sword is almost a holy item. Seeing it in the hands of a thief just doesn't make sense to me. Have you forged the sword in practice? Have you had the dialogues or played the JD quest in your game?

OK, that is reasonable answer. Of course I haven't forged that sword yet, will do it soon btw. My opinion was based on purely balance issues not on roleplaying one. Of course this is an RPG, so roleplaying reasons are so good as balance ones.

And I made a mistakes also in my post. I wanted to write "you don't agree with me" instead of "you don't understand with me". Sorry, if that was confusing.

Nvm, my question is pointless now, I restart from an older save.

That Orcus fight was not difficult at all. Maybe I was too high lvl for him I dunno, but imho you should make it harder. He could get 1 noble marileth + 2 abyssal escort, or some nasty spells, triggers, contingencies erc. Or both.

What was your level when you went to meet Orcus? What was your level when you defeated the Grave Lich?

I don't remember my level at Grave Lich, since I was not enough brave to try Orcus after I have got Daystar, since I thought Orcus is one of the hardest fight. My F/I is lvl 18/17, Keldorn lvl 27, Anomen lvl 34 I think, Haer lvl 36, Nalia lvl 24, Cernd lvl 27 appr. if I am right.
I did all IAs quests, all strongholds quests, ToD, WK 1st and 2nd lvl etc. and I am at end of SoA now, only Irenicus and the Hell left.
Anyway, I think Orcus has a godly power, Hesperus is one of the best weapon in the game (OK, there are 3-4 better than this), so it is not problem if you need high lvl, strong party to defeat him.

Yes, your levels are a bit too high. Hopefully, with the new level progression tables I have implemented to v4.3, it will no longer be possible to hit such high levels in SOA portion of the game. As for the battle with Orcus, I'm sure you would have found it more challenging if you had tried him a little bit earlier in your game (at least this is how my testers reported about the battle; they didn't find it easy.)

I'll ask Raven to test it once again.

Thx, Sikret. Surely in IA4.3 with nerfed level progression, with 5 man party, it should be harder. And now I know I can try it earlier.
Short question: Monster XP will be reduced in 4.3. Right? You will do new level progression tables to all classes, won't you? Will these tables in 4.3 readme? Will you tighten the gap between different classes at high level? I mean Haer is lvl 36 now at me, Nalia is lvl 24 with almost same experience. Haer has some lvl 8 spells, his Remove Magic beat anything, his buffs are undispellable, he fights very well, his THACO in pair with Keldron, and Keldron is single class warrior. I think lvl 9 spells at Nalia doesn't compensate these advantages...

Yes, playing most parts of the game with at least 5 party members is surely a good idea. IA is not a mod for soloing or even for parties with less than 5 party members. Six members is the ideal, but 5 is also fine. Of course there is no need to hurry to collect the 5 NPCs. One can take the time to collect them gradually (ex: travel to Umar Hills to take Valygar, travel to Trademeet to take Cernd and so on.), but the main point is that a party of 5 or 6 should eventually be gathered around each gether. You had better not keep playing for too long with a small party.

If one plays IA with a solo character or with few party members, the game's balance will be affected in an inappropriate way. Some battles may become too easy (because you have higher level characters than you should); while on the other hand, some other battles will become too difficult and almost impossible to win (because you are too few and you don't have enough active characters in the party).

Sry, I just edited my post with some questions.

Not all of them, but yes, most of them will have less XP value.

Yes.


Yes.


To some extent, yes.

All classes will require more xp for level up. If we consider percentage, then yes, thieves and bards are penalized more than other classes. As for your example,

- In the vanilla game, a mage requires 5,250,000 xp to hit level 24. In the new table she will require 6,250,000 xp for the same level. With 5,250,000 xp the mage using the new table will still be level 21 (though close to level up; she needs 5,300,000 xp for level 22).

As for bards,

- A bard with 5,250,000 xp is level 33 (close to 34) in the vanilla game. With the new table, he will be level 28 with the same xp.

- With 6,250,000 xp (the xp a mage needs to be level 24) the bard will be level 31.

So, yes, as you can see, not only the progress will be more difficult for both the mage and the bard, but also the gap between the bard and the mage's levels will also be tightened to some extent.

@ shadan

At Sikret's request I tested the Grave Lich and Orcus again. I do not find the battle with Orcus too easy - my v4.3 test party was level 18-20, with not having completed all the quests in the game yet (although I am in ch. 6).

You mention Orcus' godly power as a justification for why the battle should be more difficult. The way I see it is that Orcus is indeed exceptionally powerful, but not when he manifests himself on the material plane. Only e.g. in the Abyss would Orcus' true power be realised (and indeed it should not be possible for a party from SOA to defeat Orcus on his home plane). It is a similar argument to the Demon Prince of Judgement day, or Demogorgon; these individuals are simply not at their full strength when encountered on the material plane.

Yes Raven, you are right. However I think this weakened thing from manifested on Prime, this is why the party has ANY chance against these immortals. In Abyss, they would be no more than a mere thought to be annihilited by these powerful beings.
If testers and you Raven says, that fight is quite challenging at level 18-20 (question if this is bard level or mage level ), then I think we all will enjoy this in 4.3.

Raven is testing with a ranger protagonist and doesn't have any bard or thief in the party if I'm not mistaken.

Well, actually I soloed the game. Although I have to admit that I had to lower the difficulty when doing EDE.
The balance problem you mention here is something which hit me quite early. The start was terrible but later on it got easier and easier. Especially after I got the first really strong items forged... well let's say that most battles weren't really difficult at all later on. After my F/M/C gained quite a lot of equipment and exp reloading wasn't needed anymore most times, exceptions were EDE, for example.
Good thing about the soloing: I improved my tactical skills. I intend to try soloing 4.3, or use a small party... maybe.

Regarding Orcus: you should think about changing this battle. IIRC he summons some minions, casts a Remove Magic (?) and has some lesser buffs applied to him (?). Afterwards he goes to melee you down. That's it. The point is... well... I mean... damn, it's Orcus! Why should *Orcus, Prince of the Undead* be such a simple enemy? Except it's a lesser avatar, of course.
Thinking about it: Maybe my party and my solo character were too high level at that time.

As mentioned before, it's a very bad idea. I'll add a strong warning about this to the readme.

Why? I know the game is intended for 6 person party, but if one want to whip his own back?

See this post for my reasons, Shaitan! But yes, a player can always ignore my recommendations, but then, I may ignore his reports as well . (of course, I don't mean that I will ingore all sorts of reports from a player who decides to solo the game; I will just ignore reports such as 'this battle is too difficult' or 'that battle is too easy'. Also if a player wants to submit a report to the mod's walkthrough, he/she need to play the mod with a party of at least 5 members; otherwise his submission won't be accepted).

Ah

As for Orcus, I just changed the battle to make it a bit more challenging. He will summon "Master Vampires" rather than ordinary ones. Each master will summon a number of ordinary vampires.

And of course any undead creatures summoned by you will immediately turn hostile (Orcus is 'Prince of the Undead' after all). This latter feature was already added to v4.3 before the recent discussions about Orcus.

ooohh another delay... ahh probably wort it

Will any of these enemies be affected by a cleric's turn undead ability?

Of course not!

Hmm, I don't understand this Illasera fight... True Seeing, Dispel and Remove Magic at very high level, and he is still invisible. What type of invis and protection is she using?

This is thetruth's little secret. I will not spoil its fun until thetruth decides to do so himself.

I know one tactic that a lot of tactical mod/tactics experts like to use, is Mislead+SI: divination and SI: Abjuration, or hide either the real version or the mislead clone (I can't remember which).

SI: Div and SI: Abj. doesn't stack in IA... If any of them would be up on him only, either True Seeing or Dispel should work... Ti hide Mislead is not pssobile, imho, since I tried it. But I checked surroundings for this... I am getting real frustrated...

I would use my thief with detect illusions if i see that coming....altho i haven't tried

Vanilla:
- Hiding the clone makes it undispellable by true sight. I'm not certain whether it's full-proof against dispel magic or remove magic.
- Multiple spell immunities did stack.

In IA it's apparently different.

I thought a bit more and found your suggestion a good one, Ryel ril Ers!

It's now added to the list.

Thank you.

OK, I figured out that Illasera invis thing... Was what I suspected. I don't write down here cause Sikret wants to be secret, but if you want to know, send a PM to me.

Glad to hear that you figured it out. And thanks for not spoiling its fun.

I have a question:
I just realized that Keldorn's THACO progression stopped at 0 base THACO, despite of he is lvl 28 now. I have Ease of Use Unnerfed THACO, spell progression etc. component installed. Is this normal? I thought this mod makes TAHCO progression continues beyond lvl 20. Other characters like Haer'Dalis continue their THACO progression yet since they haven't reached 0 THACO. My F/I lvl 20 fighter now, so he has 0, Haer is lvl 39, he has 1, Anomen is 30+ (I don't remember exatly), but he has -1 base THACO (maybe that 1 below 0 comes from an item). Is there any tables about this part of Ease of Use mod, where I can check new THACO, save and spellprogressions?

It's in file ..\ease\high\THAC0.2DA

This is normal. All classes except for mages, sorcerers, thieves and bards eventually cap at THAC0 0 (mages and sorcerers cap at 7, thieves and bards at 1). So the advantage of fighters is just that they get to THAC0 0 earlier.

Thanks. Another question:
Haer'Dalis has ** in his short and long sword proficiencies. Despite of this, his attack number with only 1 short sword is: 1. Keldorn or my F/I has number of attacks 2 with their ** weapons. I think with specialized (**) weapons you should have to attack more than 1 time. So what's the problem with Haer?
Ease of Use: True Grand Mastery is installed.

shadan: Well, I don't really have any experience as a programmer, but from my experience, Keldorn's THAC0 should go below 0 with Ease of Use Unnerfed THAC0 installed. Also, ** in short sword proficiency should net any character an extra half attack. Perhaps you should re-install your Ease of Use Mod?

LZJ, no and no
First question is answered already, about second:
** give extra half-attack only for fighter classes (paladin, fighter, ranger, barbarian)

Toxeus: Woops my bad regarding Haer-Dalis. I just checked: yup, he does not get an extra half-attack.

However, I have to disagree with Raven's answer to the first question. I have Ease Of Use "Unnerfed THAC0" installed (which sets the bottom limit of THAC0 to -10 instead), and my Keldorn (and Jaheira, Valygar etc.) can all reach Base THAC0 levels below 0. For example, my level 23 Keldorn has a Base THAC0 of -2. (Not modified THAC0, Base THAC0. I'm sure on this point. Ie no gauntlets of Expertise, Helmet of Balduran etc.)

Therefore, I suspect that shadan may need to re-install that particular component of the Ease of Use mod.

@LZJ

Go to your main BG2 folder. There you will find a folder named "ease". Inside that folder, there should be another folder named "high". There is a THAC0.2da file inside that folder. Please, attach it to your next post here. Thank you very much.

I reinstalled yersterday, and nothing changed. I will check that file what Toxeus mentioned when I get home. Btw when should the THACO change, when I uninstall and reinstall this mod? Immidiately after install and load then game, or at next lvl up or when?
And will unistall reinstall cause any problem with spells?

Anyway, I don't really understand this. OK, Haer doesn't get extra half attack, so basically 1 THACO and 2 dmg what he gets from **. But if ** gives an extra half attack, how in the hell has Keldron 5/2 attack number with 2H swords without any other increaser. In this case he should get only 3/2 attack.

In PnP D&D 2nd ed. this is very different, and if you are specialized for one weapon, your attack number increasing at lvl 7 and 13. But that is only for fighters.

In BG, you have ***** instead of simple proficent and specialized.

As per Sikret's instructions, I've attached my THAC0.2da file. I realized that it dates back to 2002... so perhaps I'm at fault here for using a very old version? If so, my deepest apologies to all involved.

And to shadan's latest post: the Blade does not get extra attacks from ** proficiencies, I'd guess... only fighter-type classes do, like paladins, rangers and multi-class fighters. Also, they gain extra half-attacks (twice or thrice altogether) upon reaching certain levels (unfortunately, I can't remember which levels they are). Therefore, 1 + 0.5 (1st threshold level) + 0.5 (2nd threshold level) + 0.5 (** proficiency) = 2.5. Therefore, Keldorn's 5/2 attack number is perfectly legit.

Thanks all for fast reply. Seems everything is ok at me, and now I know how should I calculate these things, so if any problem pops up, I can recognize it.

@LZJ

I checked the attached file. THAC0 progression in your game should not be different from what Raven has described. (You haven't installed any tweakpacks which may have possibly changed THAC0 tables, have you?)

Oh... I finally realized what the matter was. Thanks Sikret, and apologies to all. I installed a number of components from BG2_Tweaks, including their unnerfed THAC0 table, and I never realized it was different from the one in Ease Of Use.

Shucks, now I have to play IA all over again to experience its true difficulty.

LZJ, simply uninstall BG2 Tweaks. You only got 2 THACO so far with Keldorn, and I suppose no difference with other chars compared to Ease of Use. Not big diff, you uninstall it, and no problem. Don't need to start the whole game again.

Yes G3s BG2 Tweaks had a component, which made thac0 go down to -10. It was however discovered, that it wrapped around making the thac0 high (20?) again. Use the EoU component as per the readme.