Yes, that's exactly why I didn't bother to mention this exploit in the pdf document. It won't work in v6.

I agree. It's a known cheesy tactic in the vanilla game. In the past, I've read of people doing this to Firkraag in the vanilla game.

I did not know that it is cheesy. I thought that it is working in the way as it was intended.

I will not use it anymore.

Part 3 is partially entered. It will be updated soon.

I think if this is how it's suppose to work, it would be the only spell in game which gets worse as you level up
Btw, nice walkthrough you're writing. Looking forward for updates!

Thanks. I tried the Planar Prison but I had absolutely no chance there. I will try Conster, I could have more luck there.

BTW, my walkthrough is updated with the fight against Tor'Gal and Chaos.

Conster may be doable. Firkraag probably less so. I would say the Planar Sphere will be easier for you than (say) the Shadow Temple.

I tried Conster 2 times but no success up to now. My berserker->thief have an affinity for dying and he died permanently (disappeared from character screen). Next time Conster removed protections from my characters and I had no chance anymore.

My current party level is:

Vagrant: 11. level (only 5k XP is missing from level up, so he will level up during the fight)
Barbarian: 12
Ranger->Cleric: 7/12
Inquisitor: 11 (same situation than vagrant: 5k is missing)
Berserker->Thief: 9/13
Auramaster (Cernd): 13

Funny thing, I usually find Conster to be far more difficult than Firkraag. But then again, I tend to have a few mages to breach Firkraag.

I killed Conster! Wow! It was the hardest battle up to now. Couple of interesting things occured during the fight:

- Excatly after Conster died the text "Contingency Fired" appeared on the screen but luckily for me nothing happened (thanks for fixing it Sikret!)
- The slow effect of the FoA affected him very easily. Is there no MR against it or was I really lucky?
- Scroll reading of Conster was not failed when I damaged him. Is it how it should work or is it an unfixable bug?

Fight was really interesting and extremely hard to win. I was really pride when I win it. Thank you Sikret for this! I had to find the perfect tactics during that battle for winning it and I learnt a lot during that process. I will write about it in the usual place, in the 2nd post in this thread.

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.

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.

The battle against Conster was entered. Enjoy it!

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?

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!




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.

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

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



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

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

That is pity.


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

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.

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

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.


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.

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.

+3

@ Vuki

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

Thanks!

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?

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

;]

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?

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.

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

Only single class mages have access to the 'most powerful' Wish options (rest and double Alacrity/Time Stop), but dual class mages still have access to the Improved Alacrity HLA.

Ok. So, I think it is ok if I keep this party and my multi mage will not learn Improved Alacrity and do not use this wish options. Am I right?

BTW Raven, do you think that my multi cleric will be enough? Or should I replace her with Anomen?

If you do that then your multiclass mage will be under the same restrictions as they will be in v6, yes.




I would recommend not relying on a multiclass cleric as your only divine caster, so replacing that character with Anomen sounds like a good idea yes.

Ok, thanks, I will do this way.

Imho Ranger7>Cleric dual is better than Anoman. But you need a single class or early dual class cleric, that is sure.

I agree, but I have already advanced a bit in the game and I am too lazy to restart. Or do you know any way to import newly created character to the game? Is it possible to modify Anomen to be a custom character? Rename it by SK, modify class and XP (it should be reduced because he has more XP). Will the game identify him as not Anomen? Could it cause problem?

It's not a good idea to modify Anomen's class by SK or some other means.

You can however add a new character by kicking Anomen out, then saving the game and moving your save from the save folder to the mpsave folder, starting the game in multiplayer mode and creating a character to fill that sixth slot. Once the character's made and the game loaded I'd recommend saving it then transfering that save back from mpsave to save and continuing in single player.

Hello Vuki glad to see you back!

I believe the changes apply to dual mages as well.
You'll lack a healer for sure.
I'd rather go with another sorcerer than a multi cleric for Wish healing, but you'll lack high-lvl prot spells like prot Evil, fire etc.
Anomen is your choice
As for multi alcatry....I never used it anyway so I wouldn't bother. Use triggers. It's end game anyway. And it's hard to roll 18wis for a multi fighter mage.

Hi!

It is good to play again and be here.

I replaced Anomen by a ranger->cleric (dual). Do I understand you properly? Do you use 3 mages in the party? Or whom do you replace by a sorcerer? Fighter/mage? And then who will be my tank?

I think my current party is quite a power party. 5 characters are able to fight in melee (only 4 on high levels), 2 mages, 1 cleric, 2 tanks (only 1 on high levels). Only problem is I have only one cleric, I ususally prefer two.

Like I said, only single class mages will see those top two Wish options (Wisdom stat permitting); single and dual class mages both get to choose Improved Alacrity as a HLA.

So multiclass and dual-class mages are treated slightly differently.

I have played IA 3 times, I always had one cleric. Once I had Cernd beside cleric, but in other 2 I had only one healer. Your party is good imho. 2 arcane caster is enough, however maybe a good necromancer would be better instead of F/M. 4 melee capable character is enough. 5 is better, but 2 high level arcane caster is better than 1 single and 1 dual. Or alternatively you can swap kensai with necromancer.

I always tried to take 3 casters with arcane abilities. 1 pureclass and 2 dual or 1 pureclass, 1 dual and 1 bard.
At the moment I'm toning that down to get more melee capabilities just as your current setup possesses. I find that you only really need the casting of ruby ray, improved haste, breach, lower resistance and wish. No need for two high level casters for that. For the rest you can handle battles quite well with malison/chaos/emotion type disablers and sequencers filled with direct damage such as fire arrow, melf's, magic missiles and the occasional casting of true sight/remove magic/secret word/etc, so a dual class or blade would be fine for that.

Currely I have for my 3rd v5 game the following party: Riskbreaker (prot), R/C, F/T, Undeadhunter, Sorc (to Imoen) and I'll have probably Jan, Haer'Dalis or Cernd. To my estimation, such a party would be fine as is yours.

What type of class is undeadhunter? Is it a warrior sub-class?

My party is really ok. As usual my F/T is the weakest, he can easily die. My sorcerer has level 12 and I just learnt Imporoved Haste and I am eager to use it on Haegan's party. For the current walkthrough I choosed a different mission order and it is much easier than it was in the previous runs.

It is interesting that I did not buy (almost) anything up to now and I did not create any special weapon/item. I have 80k gold, so soon I will make Treefolk's Arm. My reputation is 19 and before I buy anything I would like to have 20 to save money.

It's a paladin kit, came with vanilla bg2.

Ah, ok. Undead Slayer. That is familiar.

Is it worth to buy these items?

- Sensate amulet: I have two priests and the highest charisma is only 14. It can be raised to 15 by Friends but my priest could have 16. I realized there is no difference between 14 and 15 but I think there could be a difference between 15 and 16. Also the +5 HP and permanent prot from evil are very nice. I could buy it for 16k.

- Harmonium Halberd: My Kensai could use it. His strength will be raised to 20 from 19 by using this halberd. It would cost me 35k.

I think the sensate amulet is really worth the money but the halberd not.

I would say not to spend money on either. Cha 16 gives you a small (5%) discount from shops but this isn't really worth it in my opinion. Cha 20 is what you really want and that can be achieved later with the Ring of Human Influence equipped by a mage + Friends. The halberd is ok but not worth the money; Str 20 is not very different from Str 19. Also it is redundant later on (it is not as if you can use it for an upgrade).

Have you thought about which IA upgrades to do in Ch 2/3? I would save money for those.

It's possible, just gotta skip alot of content until chapter 7 and do roadblocks on easy setting. I did a no arcane run with zero ruby rays and breaches cast the entire game except through JD wish.

Vagrant protag (bleeder main dps, evil response bonuses)
Vagrant (JD/DW tank and wishable)
Double R/C multi
B-C (2h staff)
Keldorn (dispels) swap for pickpocketing/quests etc.

Basically I had to skip almost everything until high levels, forge all haste boots as quickly as possible, then go back when I could outlast enemies. Epicly fail on every early-mid game encounter that requires fast debuff and alphakill, especially because early enemies instantly gg a group of six melee with emotion and confusion. Also pretty horrible having no bottomless bag for most of the game. The biggest mandatory roadblocks for me were Tanova due to lack of death fog, kobold shard, and drow ambushes. Other than those roadblocks there's enough easy xp lying around to ascend to high levels.

It is really interesting that how easy the game with a little bit higher level party. I remember my first walkthrough and most of the battles were pain. Now, most of them are really easy. I choosed a different quest order and I am pretty sure that makes a really big different. Tazok was not a challenge at all, Tor'Gal was not a big deal, coin and gem golems are an easy xp source. So, it seems that proper quest order is very important.

Undeadhunter is the english name for the paladin kit . It's my 2H-weapon fighter, whereas the others are all dualhanded (riskbreaker is singlehanded at times).

Yes, but that is true in vanilla as well. Mostly you're just traveling a lot from one place to another to make that quest order work out well enough for a party that is not specialised in one way or another, be it low on arcane, low of melee or low on divine.

For the moment I've got a run-through with little need for arcane, but that will change when I will start on the road to D'Arnise, Temple Ruins or something like that and I hope my one arcane character can match those battles.