Well now....
Finally got some free time to actually write something down.
I didn't yet try a f/m/c in IA. Actually, I never even used this class in party, did for solo Ascension/Tactics etc.
Very few people use them, I saw only a couple here, and not as a protagonist (Jaheira and a custom I believe).
The class itself is very interesting, it has amazing potential, both as a fighter and a mage/cleric, with the best seq/trigger combos in game. Not to mention endless Chain Contingency possibilities.
Elven Expertise potion is also nice.
So, I decided to make one myself and go for IA glory.
Since multiclasses gain lvls very slowly I decided to go with a 5 member party, all of which are custom made.
2 points did I have in mind when makng a party:
1) no rangers - for more than one reason, I find their equipment and Contact with nature a bit too powerful over any other fighter class, which is not my taste (I believe that a berserker should be able to mop the floor with any ranger, which they cannot in IA, but that's just my opinion. If you like them, play 'em. I don't.)
2) no f/t multiclass - I played them quite a few times, they're killers like no other. Too strong for my liking, UAI makes them monsters.
Therefore, nobody will be running with permanent imp.haste.

The game is already practically finished (I'm on EDE now. my my.... do I miss JD ), but I haven't written down everything I wanted to yet, so I'll be posting fore a few days now. I'll also submit some toughts/questions/suggestions here.
I won't be posting possible exploits. Those I find, I report to Sikret, since I'm not a fan of cheating myself.

One other thing:
I enjoyed going for an IA run with this party a lot but won't be going in with 5 party members any more. Faster level ups are a big advantage, if not somewhat disbalancing, but that's not really the issue, and is somewhat (not completely) counter-balanced with the fact that you have 1 less party member active, which turns in a disadvantage in some fights (1 more pure figter-type with Critical Strikes would certainly be good here. You can't go wrong with Valygar or a barbarian in IA). The real problem is that many of the mod's more interesting battles simply had to be postponed to a later date (after Spellhold) due to the fact that I hate harder Spellhold versions (killing Golems for no exp? No tnx...)


Note:
I have a blade in party. But I dunno use traps. It ruins game. Even if powerful monsters are immune to them, not all are (won't say which) and I believe they are cheese extraordinaire. They can give you a big advantage, are completely bugged, and using them is for chickens IMO. Real heroes use no traps! "Traps? Traps!? We're not hunting rabbits!!! We're here to kick some dragon butt!" So, blade will have imp.bard song, UAI, avoid death and Greater Evasion HLA's. He'll also have one single Spike trap, which will be used to kill Demogorgon (don't ask me why...)
I won't use cheese tactics like scroll casting on inv.creatures, or hitting them with Ruby Rays in Chain Con while they're invisible.
I will use Alcatry, naturally.
I will fight some fights using some, not all party members (others will stay in the back, to cover a possible retreat !).
I don't consider making a f/m type (blade or f/m/c, to be more precise) completely invurnerable to any damage "Cheese" and killing buggers in melee, since enemies do that also, and try their best to make you vurnerable. If they cannot, well, too bad.
I will not write spoilers for pickpocketing.
I will not write spoilers for Randomized items. Players with experience will probably know where did I get a certain piece of randomized equipment by reading this journal, Cromwell visits etc. Others will, ahmm.., not, I guess.
I will not reload if someone dies. I'll raise him. I found out it's actually more fun to be playing some battles when someone is dead. (It's the devil in me, I just know it!) If someone gets chunked, I'll reload of course. I'll also not Raise Dead in battle (I sell Raise dead scrolls, and don't memorise it as a spell until needed (my protagonist is partially a cleric after all, so at least he'll always be able to Raise dead. He will stay alive, I guess..), only after, and will do battle with the members still alive. That's fair, I guess.
I will use Eternal Melody armor and Melodic Fury ring for my blade. Eternal Melody may be considered cheesy/overpowered. I agree, it is. I still think blade is crap compared to Vagrant FoDaW + JD + boots combo.
I will use "wish" spell. Will not "overwish", I hope! Maybe sometimes..
I give every party member minimum Charisma possible. Some consider this to be "powergaming". I dunno care. I rarely buy things anyway, so Charisma is quite useless to me. Sometimes I'll make blade the leader so I get what I want.
I sell every Spellstrike scroll (I also must say, unfortunately. This spell should really be made more powerful. Is the "unfixable Spell Shield bug" the only single reason why this is to be used? It won't work against SI:abj, if something has SI:div you cannot use it since it's under imp.inv. Ok, you can. But it's cheese. 9th lvl spell, in range with TS, Alcatry, Dragon's Breath etc. to be used only vs. very few dragons so that "the infamous bug" (which I have yet to see) doesn't stop you from Ruby Raying him? Ok, enemies do use it. For example, Raamilat if you use SI:necromancy for his FoDs or whatever. But since there is not one single enemy who uses any other SI than abj or div, what good is it?! I never regreted selling those.).
I will not use what are, IMO, cheese methods of gaining money and exp such as leaving an Elemental golem alive so that he summons big amount of Coin and Gem golems, which can be killed easily once you get to somewhat decent levels, even more so with my party composition. I will eliminate Elemental golem as soon as possible, with the resources I have available, and will deal with Gem and Coins he summoned after him (as I do when playing with more pure fighter-types).
Same goes for all inf.money/exp exploits still possible in game, won't use any such "strategy". Gold will be scarce.
For some battles, I won't write everything, just a bit, general strategy, report on how it went, or something else.
Some will be described in detail, especially those which are my favourites.
Some, like Cat 9 Lives, few Liches, etc. will not be described at all, since there's not much to say about them. If you have trouble with them, feel free to ask. Just don't ask "how did you do Shadow thieves?" and such (kensai killed them all solo!!!! Mwhahaha...).
And please, don't comment things such as:
"In IA6 this wont work because...." such as for my use of "spirit armor" (no, I don't cast it more than once per member. I like it cause it lasts for 10 turns, and has great effects.) spell etc.
This is f/m/c and the gang in IA5.
Come IA6, I may (and probably will, for that matter) write something different.
I also have no "moral" issues with killing Valygar (and opening planar sphere door using his body) or Aerie. (I don't take anybody else in my party, come hell or high water. I like my party the way it is. Scram, buggers, away!!!).
Nor killing Edwin, Mazzy (ok, she's a nice lass. She'll live.) or anybody else, for that matter. I won't use their loot, only Aerie's robe. It's crappy anyway, and it's not a unique item.

IMPORTANT!!!
I consider the writings I made full of spoilers.
So, if you haven't played through the whole game (a few times), I strongly advise you not to read it. Play the mod yourself at least once (several times would be better) and read it later. It won't go anywhere, I believe. If you have, feedback/comments/critics are always highly appreciated.
Other mods installed are EoU (suggested components + multiple strongholds), Baldurdash and The Four (1st time ever to try it!).
The journal is somewhat made like Sikret's, which gave me the idea to write one myself.
Any similarities with it are coincidential and were not part my original intent. There are some, because I've read his prior to writing mine (and after playing IA5 more than a few times!). Of course, Sikret and myself have a different writing style, so you'll probably notice quite a few differences as well.
Tnx for reading through all this crap I wrote thus far.


So, without further ado:
Let's get ready to rummmble!
(all party members are custom made)



protagonist - f/m/c - half-elf chaotic neutral male
18/83
18
18
18
11
3 (we know who won't be wishing for anything!)
two wpn style, 2*flails. later, warhammers, maces, staffs

blade - half-elf chaotic neutral male
11
18
16
18
10
15
2* two wpn style, flail, short sword. Eventually, scimitars, bastard, warhammer, long sword, axe...anything. bastard, axe is important here, warhammer also. Simitar for scarlett ninja-to only, since I don't even go for Belm. Also will not be making wishes.

kensai - dwarf, male, lawful evil
18/97
17
19
17
17
2 (yes, it was a killer dice roll!)
2*two-handed, 2*sword, 2*staff. at 9th, another on 2h-sword. After that, max out halberds. Neat little guy.

berserker to be dualed to cleric - female, true neutral (I made a stupid mistake and dualed her at 8th lvl, and she was 15000exp short of reaching 9. Ah well, doesn't matter anyway. If you can't win a battle with 2 "Enrages" you can't win it with 3 either). Another stupid mistake was making a B-C instead of taking Cernd, who would fit sooo good in this party. Ah well.
18/67
18
18
10
18
3
maxed out clubs, two weapon style. Later, maces, flails, hammers, whatever. Clubs are good enough for the entire game.

sorerer, female, human
12
18
16
11
18
10
staff, dagger. Doesn't matter, really, she won't be hitting anything (in melee, that is).

These are the 5 heroes, each one of them will (eventually) become an avatar of destruction.
Onwards then, to victory and spoil(er)s!




P.S.
There are some letters/expressions I often used while writing this. This is their summary, if you have problems decoding something out.

RR stands for "Ruby ray of Reversal"
SI - Spell Immunity spell (usually Abjuration, if not mentioned othervise)
prot, protag - protagonist, f/m/c multiclass
B-C, B-Cler, B-Cleric, ber-cler - berserker-cleric dual-class
sorc, sorcerer - sorceress
FoA - Flail of Ages
AoP - Amulet of Power
TS - True sight spell, or Time Stop. You'll see the difference.
pfmw - Protection from magic weapons
pfme - Protection from magic energy
ADHW - ahm..
wilting - ADHW (ahmmmm..)
DB - Dragon's Breath
globe - Globe of invurnerability, 6th lvl spell
deflection - Spell Deflection, 6th lvl spell
turning - Spell Turning, 7th lvl spell
Archons - Shield of Archons
HP - hit points
mirrors - Mirror image
PW - Power Word spell, either Kill or Stun, you'll see the difference since I'll write down which
DW - Death Ward
Bastard +4 (or any other mention of "bastard", if not mentioned othervise) - Death of a Thousand Cuts, 2nd best weapon available to my party (sometimes the best)
Poseidon - Poseidon's Wrath Halberd, THE BEST weapon available to my party
FoD - Finger of Death spell
MoD, MoD+2 - Mace of Disruption +2
lightning - Chain Lightning, 6th lvl spell
prot energy, energy - Protection from Energy, 8th lvl spell
malison - Greater Malison, 4th lvl spell
CC - Copper Coronet, or Chain Contingency, you'll see the difference
Chain C, Chain Con - Chain Contingency, NOT Copper Coronet
Coins, Gems - Coin and Gem Golems
mordy - Mordenkainen Sword (or something, a floating sword, 7th lvl mage spell)
dmg - damage
PP - Pocket Plane
Restoration - Greater Restoration spell, if not specifically mentioned otherwise
breached - somebody just got hit by a succesful "Breach" spell. Probably dead soon.
nailed - killed, got the killing blow in, Coup de Grace
painful - a lot of reloading included and/or got hurt very badly, taxing on potions, a difficult battle, or a battle badly played if not mentioned otherwise
trigger - Spell Trigger
seq, sequencer - Spell Sequencer
MR - magic resistance
magic resistance (spell) - sometimes used by Dragons when you have a trigger-happy sorcerer to boost up their now decreased inborn magic resistance
gone ballistic, went ballistic - sorcerer at their best, casting mass destruction spells like Wiltings, Chain lightnings or DB spells, wasting and killing everything (or almost everything) not magic resistant (or not fire-resistant!), usually used under Improved Alcatry
won without problems, a walkover, easy, walk in the park, spells "doom" - battle was won with no reloads, by taking minimum or no damage, either due to the fact I played it well, my party composition is good for the particular battle, party levels are high, or my sorceress is angry
stripped, naked - a mage after Ruby rays and Breach or a succesful "remove magic". It's a wonderful sight, if it's not my own mage I'm talking about
opened, open - ready for either "Breach" or "remove magic" or something else, you'll notice what (Imprisonment, magic missile, melee attack for example)
ruby raying - Casting of several Ruby Rays on an oponnent who uses SI:abj (or not, if it's a Dragon who is being Ruby rayed) in conjuction with other spell protections like Spell Turning, Globe of Invurnerability, Spell Shield etc. until SI is finally removed. Prequisite for "breaching".
Thax, Firk, Nizi, Sal - you'll know who they are, sorc kills them solo
crap, crappy - not good, bad, useless, of no use to my party
asap - "as soon as possible", top priority
Spider, Genie - improved versions of the original figurines (I don't use non-improved versions)
running - keep something on, activated, unless mentioned otherwise (usually keep DW running, SI, stoneskins, pfmw etc.)
refreshed - either re-casting of SI and other protective spells like Globe, or sorcerer's wish "make if rested.." You'll see the difference
opened with- 1st spell cast in a battle
res - resistance
chunked - blown to pieces. A bad thing which can happen if somebody gets hurt really bad, so you cannot ressurect him.
Rod - Rod of Ressurection, an important healing device, sometimes consdered cheesy. Looking at it's price, I don't.
other buffs, buffed, usuall buffs - usually imp.haste, haste, prot evil, SI:abj etc. If something out of the ordinary, I'll write it down
gone wild, went wild - castings of a particular spell in a rapid sucession
shines, shining - a party member who is very useful
out of battle - a party member kept away from enemies
doomed - will be/can be killed easily
WK - Watcher's Keep
does wonders - works really good, highly recommended

Will start posting walkthrough (actually, a journal would be a more appropriate word to call it) tomorrow morning.

Exited dungeon, left the tree-hugging duo (Minsc and Jaheira) to rot in their cells and went to Circus. Killed Aerie (my sorc wants a robe!), bought a robe in Adventurer's mart with +1save vs.death for my prot, along with some nifty scrolls. Gov district, Delon, City gates, Umar Hills, standard stuff to avoid Suna Seni for now (I wanted some spell slots). Got Ilbratha for kensai, killed Valygar and took his body (ooops..) . Went to Trademeet, Druid Grove. Used melf's meteors and sorcerer to kill trolls, fireballed the spiders. For druids, enchantment spells worked great , "slow" also. Droped down the druid bunch near grove with malison + emotion. Only the spellcaster remained on his feet, and sorcerer was throwing magic missiles at him so he couldn't cast anything. Challenged Faldorn to a duel, which was easy to win with magic missiles and flame arrows. Accepted first Druid Grove quest, got a nice club to finish it with. Immediately challenged for leadership, killed druid without problems, got a +3 staff and a +2 ring, both for my kensai. Killed Ihtafeer with berserker and kensai before he summoned his helpers, didn't buy anything from him, I attacked him immediately.
Got back to Trademeet, got gold and Harmony shield. Dualed Berserker to Cleric.
Went back to Alkathla, finished non-improved graveyard quests. Went to Slums, payed 15000 to thieves. Next stop, docks. Took Aran's first quest, got a +2 ring and Amulet of Power, both for my protag. Took Shadow thives quest for killing Mae'var. Finished Aran's first quest, reported back to him, and went to Temple to steal amulet from Talos temple. Got "ambushed" by Suna Seni. SPOILER!
FInished the thieves quests (killed Edwin, got his robe also. It's a crap robe, unfortunately). Got a +3 short sword for my blade, who now dual wields Arbane's and Short swd of backstabbing. He's cool, but needs to cast "Strenght" before going melee.
Went to CC to kill Beastmaster. SPOILER!
Got some loot, finished minor quests in Alkathla. Sold stuff, and had about 50000 GP. Bought Blackblood club in Trademeet. My B-Cleric now dual-wields 2 +3 clubs.
Went to sewers below CC to get Liracor sword for kensai.
SPOILER!
Finished 2nd ambush (easier than than the first. No prebuffs were needed, both my sorc and prot fell down to Greater Command but it didn't help those goons much) and Harper's quest for Montaron.
Now it was time to go for Temple Ruins. A bit early, but doable. The big fight here was the Jailor with his skellies. SPOILER!
Sorc died in this battle. Finished all 1st lvl without more troubles (no liches spawned ). Left Thax for a later date. (Turned out, much later.)
I needed money for Treefolk, so off we went for mr.Tazok. The fight was very easy, he was killed while trying to punch through my blade's stonskin/mirrors. No harm done. There were a lot of golems there with some decent loot, but mostly Coin Golems, which was bad since I didn't have any piercing wpns, only +3 short sword. Sorc played a good part here, prot and blade also used Vampiric touch to get rid of them fast.
Sold stuff in Trademeet, bought some scrolls and went to De'Arnise keep.
SPOILER!
Greater Yuan-ti
SPOILER!
party levels:
prot 9/10/9, blade 13, kensai 11, B-C 8-10, sorc 11
Torgal
SPOILER!
Sorc hit lvl 12 after we reported back to Nalia.
Sold some loot, did some very handy pickpocketing with blade and forged Treefolk's +4 for my B-C.
Sorcerer picked imp.haste for her first 6th lvl spell. I went for guild contact. Prot tanked the bride with Harmony shield, and imp.hasted B-C, blade and kensai made short work of contact. Reported back to Aran and went for slavers compound.
SPOILER!
Sold their loot, and forged a +3 morning star.
Party overview:
prot - 9/10/9 - 18% kills, most powerful Bone golem. He's good as a tank, with some extra abilities. Fights decently well in melee with clerical buffs
blade- 13 - 6% kills, Vampire Bride. Still waiting to shine...
kensai - 11 - 46%, Torgal. Main killer here. Liracor goes nice with him
B-C - 8-10 - 27%, Tazok. Very good with her clubs, when buffed unstoppable melee-wise.
sorc- 12 - she's good. Area of expertise - single tough oponnents, she has not yet mass destruction spells. Coin golem.

Bought 2x "Death Fog" scrolls in Trademeet, and went to Graveyard to kill some vampires. Tanova was easy (mirror img is a wonderful spell!). Fight with Pai-na SPOILER!
Reported to Aran for experience. Now, I needed some Ruby rays. Went for mr.Peeblecrusher, Amon, Pooky and the gang. SPOILER!
Sold most of their their loot, bought 6 Oils of Resurgence and went for Conster, the wizard.
A glorious battle emerged...4 reloads, before I figured it out for this party.SPOILER!
Phew!

With him gone, I went to Temple District to finish Unseeing Eye.SPOILER!
Accepted Cleric stronghold, and finished quests there.
Did the "Fallen Paldins" and payed 5000GP for Licence to use magic in city.
Forged MoD+2, and went to Planar Prison with 4 Ruby ray srolls.
SPOILER!
Sold loot I got there (not Ruby scrolls! I always save those.), forged another +3 Morningstar.
Went to Planar Sphere, Blade died in battle vs.halflings there. SPOILER!

Lavok
SPOILER!
Demon Plane
SPOILER!

Tolgerias
SPOILER!

Engine room
SPOILER!
Sold a lot of loot from there, forged Phosphorous for my F/M/C. He now dual wieds FoA and Phosphorous, which is a huge boost for him.
Went for Pirate's Hideout.
SPOILER!

Party:
prot - 10/11/10 - 20%kills, Gem golem. Has a THAC0 of 0 now, with 24 sthenght. Still, not too powerful.
blade - 16 - 9% kills, Coin golem. THAC0 is 6 without spin with Ogre strenght Gauntlets. He's ok.
kensai - 14 - 35% kills, Torgal. He gets slaughtered if golems get near him, but does great damage on a critical hit on them.
Not likely to fail a saving throw, unlike everybody else in party. Reliable little guy.
B-C - 8-13 - 30%, Gem golem. Even more vulnerable to golems than kensai (he has at least Ilbratha). Does big damage.
sorc - 14 - 6%, Coin Golem. Just got Ruby. Killed 5 golems total, all Coin.
Badly in need of money for Ancient Elven Expertise, we went for Temple sewers party.SPOILER!
Did Borinall also, very easy.SPOILER!
Finished non-improved mage stronghold Quests, got Ring of Wizardy for my prot. An interesting thing happened here anyway. I played a mage protagonist for quite a few times. Once, the fabled necromancer. I was never succesful in making that "Memory of Apprenti robe". This time, I saved the game, told them to make the robe. And they were succesful! I reloaded anyway, since Crom can't do the upgrade if protagonist isn't a single class mage.
Forged Elven Expertise (not use it yet, I dunno like V2 spellhold), and sailed for Brynlaw. SPOILER!
Still easy.
Spellhold wasn't tough either. SPOILER!


Underdark (I didn't fight Underwater City Prince snake battle, since I don't need monk bracers. I killed him after the King)

1.st Drow ambush
SPOILER!

Beholder Cavern
SPOILER!

Mind flayers
SPOILER!


Baalor
SPOILER!


2nd drow ambush
SPOILER!

Boz & the gang
SPOILER!


Deirex the Lich
SPOILER!

Noble Efreet
SPOILER!

Demons with Soul Reaver
SPOILER!

Not good at all, but I raised the dead and saved the game regardless.

Dracolich
SPOILER!


Exited Underdark, killed Drizzt and sold loot in Trademeet. Didn't want to go to Alkathla yet. Kruin is....ahm.
Finished Trademeet Tomb without trouble SPOILER!
, reputation is now 20.

Party:
prot - 13/13/13 - 24%kills, Mithril golem. Still a bit weak. Fighter lvl13 is very good, however.
blade - 23 - 11% kills, elemental golem. Just got UAI
kensai - 20 - 37%, Dracolich. I never regreted taking him instead of usual berserker, barbarian etc. Really shines here.
B-Cleric - 8-20 - 24%, Cat 9 lives. Invaluable. My favourite party member!
sorc - 18- 2%, Amber Golem. A few more lvls...

Went to Windspear Hills to kill Samia. I had a lot of gold, but also had a lot of items I wanted to forge, so their loot would help me much. The fight is also easier than Kruin for sure. SPOILER!
Got a lot of useful loot from them, some of which I won't be selling. He he. For my sorc and blade especially.
Went for the Red Dragon Firkraag, who would also give me money. The battle was was won solo by my sorc, despite the mistake I've done.
This how it went:
SPOILER!

I was quite encouraged by this battle, and went to kill Thax.
This how it went:
SPOILER!

(This battles, along with Shade lord battle, should really be done in chpt3 if you want a challenge. My sorc could kill Firkraag and Thax together without taking any dmg by now. But I had too much experience already, so I left them for later. Nobody uses Leather Armors in my party anyway, and Red Dragon Scale is a bit useless for Spellhold and Underdark). I immediately went for mr.Shade.
SPOILER!

Went back to Umar Hills, sold stuff. Didn't report to mayor yet.
Next battle really deserves a special mention. It was to be fought at Docks district (nice, big, clean area. No hiding, no running.) I spent about 4 hours real-time on finishing it (reloads included, of course).

KRUIN the Githyanki mage

SPOILER!
Picked up the loot and sold most of it. Dear Kruin was very kind to leave me quite a few nice srolls.
Safe, at last!
Visited Cromwell. Boy, was I glad to see him. Forged:
Eternal melody for my blade
A +3 halberd
Indigo Ioun stone for kensai
Equilizer long sword (nobody uses it, but it can be useful)
Wave Halberd
Shadow and Red Dragon Armor for my B-C
1 pair Boots of speed for my dwarf kensai

Am now off to eat my lunch. Will post again in 12 hours.

Bah... italian pasta for lunch.

back to writing.


Was off to get the hammer part for Crom Fayer. This battle was like a walk in the park for my party. SPOILER!
Also did Teshal (2 rounds he lived. This is also to be done in chpt3, when your fighters get to lvl13 and you have a mage who knows imp.haste. At my levels, party crushed them before they could blink.) and Ashideena, killed the Lich for Gaxx bones. This concluded my business in sewers.
Forged Crom Fayer for my blade, finished Bodhi and returned Lanthorn.
Next stop, troll family.
SPOILER!
Forged Girdle of Lordly Might for my kensai. He is now a monster.
Visited the Underdark again to finish the imprisonmented mage quest for some exp and loot.
I got very short on money. Decided to finish Temple Compound party. (e.g.filthy slavers).
"A challenge? Let's have it, then!"
"Ho, ho..How bold! Ketta, shall we?"
SPOILER!
Sold most of the loot.
Rested, went to kill Greater Elemental Golem.
SPOILER!
Forged 2nd pair Boots of speed for my protagonist. Bought 2 scrolls Protection from poison, 1 was for my prot and the other for blade. Kensai has Amulet of poison prot.
Went for Vanya's first quest (Rune Asassins).
SPOILER!

Went to Suldanesselar.
Rakshasas were easy. SPOILER!
Nizidramyt turned out to be somewhat of an interesting battle, if only due to a mistake I made (yet again). Won't make such mistakes with Green Wyrm for sure. Still, no reloads were neccecary:
I forgot to memorize my standard trigger with 3x lower resistance (5th lvl spell, same as SI, which is crucial here)
This how it went:
Sorc has Vecna and amulet of Power, buffed with Turning, SI:conj (for insects) and prot energy (which was useless, just a cautionary measure)
SPOILER!
Finished the rest of the battles with my blade and prot, who were invulnerable to Rakshasas.
Sold the loot, went to Alkathla and forged Poseidon Halberd and Talisman of greater protection, both for kensai.
Reported back to Vanya, took 2nd quest.

Party:
prot - 14/14/15. 24% kills, Greater Elemental Golem. Not quite there yet (I can't wait for mage lvl16!)
blade - 27 - 13% kills ,Elemental Golem. Shines as a dispeller.
kensai - 23 - 34 % kills, Dracolich, he's one hell of a fighter.
B-Cleric - 8-23 - 23%kills, Bodhi (Riiight..) my favourite character! More than useful from day 1 till day 134!
Sorc - 21 - Nizidramyt - 4% kills. My special missions expert.

Went to finish exp.mage stronghold. SPOILER!
. For "Mystery of Jewel Cascet" SPOILER!

Deicided to leave "Treasure in the ice" for a later point (wanted imp. Kittix and that Noble Genie ring).
Went for Gaxx. Blade was succesful with his "remove magic" on his Lich form, and he transformed very fast, before he could strip our protections. Nobody got imprisoned. I gave Gaxx ring to my prot to wear. Nothing much to say here. One point still, on why I didn't play with raising dead but reloaded as soon as somebody died. There are many battles which can be won easily even without half of your party. Gaxx is such a matter also. For example, he fires FoD at sorcerers. If they die, they can be raised after battle + you don't have to worry about imprisonment. So, you're better of getting your sorc killed instead imprisonmented.
I was a bit worried how the battle with Viper queen will go. SPOILER!
(kensai had several hardiness and 1 Power attack). Picked up some trigger spells from magical container, set up as follows:
SPOILER!
Reported my success to Vanya, forged Death of a Thousand cuts for my blade. This is his main-hand wpn for boss-type monsters.
Went to WK.
Spider queen
SPOILER!

Chromatic Demon
SPOILER!
Upgraded FoA to +4, finished Chaos monster without trouble, despite the lack of a druid in my party.
Went to tackle Green wyrm. SPOILER!

Thieflings battle wasn't easy, SPOILER!

Killed Aesgareth, went back to Alkathla, sold a lot of stuff. Now have 233000 gold. Forged 4x cloak of prot +2, cloak+3 and warblade with regeneration. Now I had 3000gp.
Went back to WK to do Supreme leader fight. SPOILER!

Back to WK!

Demilich
I love this fight a lot, I must say.
Here's how it went.
SPOILER!

Saladrex
To make this somewhat challenging, Sorc was to go solo under her own buffs, without any scrolls and Chain Con usage. Spellstrike scrolls included, of course, since they're useless. No ADHWs also (she has it, but won't use it. Takes long to cast anyway).
Sorc is buffed with stonskin, haste, prot energy, spirit armor, remove fear, spell turning and SI:abj, all of which are in her spellbook.
Also has trigger 3xlower resistance and a sequencer (she knows both spells, didn't pick Hand of undoing) loaded with magic missiles.
Took 4 reloads.
Sorc took no dmg in the last attempt. If she did, or Sal managed to disrupt her casting, she'd be dead.
SPOILER!
Took the loot, went back to Alkathla.
party:
prot - 16/15/16 - 25% kills, Greater Elemental golem. proved to be a very good choice indeed.
blade - 31 - 14% kills, Elemental Golem. Rules now.
kensai - 27 - 34% kills, Dracolich. Try making one and activating "Critical Strike" on Mlar or Hra'cknir. -22 Thac0 with Poseidon .
B-C - 8-28 - 22%kills, Bodhi. Doesn't kill as much as before, lack of Hardiness. Needs to cast "Regeneration" on self before going melee
sorc - 23 - 3%kills, Green Wyrm.

Didn't forge anything. Went back to WK lvl4. Finished globe machine (not liches yet). In battle against Ultra Golem SPOILER!
No harm done, same as in most of the battles here.
Now I wanted to do some stronghold quests (Umar Witch, Turmish fanatics, Roenall) but no messangers spawned, they probably got lost or stuck somewhere. No matter, went to finish "Treasure in Ice". Also forged Genie ring and Spider Figurine.
SPOILER!
) , did the final quest too. SPOILER!

Gone to WK again, did the Orc Horde. SPOILER!

Went back to Alkathla to finish City Gates lich. SPOILER!
Needed to decide, wether will I go for Twisted Rune goons or Orcus. Orcus's loot is far from useful (I dunno forge that sword, too expensive for what it does) but fight him for the challenge.
Forged Rimed Club +4. It is a good weapon, better than Hespherus anyway.
Went for Orcus. SPOILER!

Took some Raise dead and other scrolls there to sell, bought Rod of Resurrection, rented a room at inn and rested.
Decided to go for the Grave Liches in WK.
The battle was won in this way:
SPOILER!


Went for Twisted Rune party
SPOILER!
Took 4 reloads.
Rented a room in Five Flaggons and rested there.
Went back to WK to kill Aurumachs and Ferumach Rilimanis (or something like that), from there back to Temple to finish Paladin Stronghold duties.
A bit for the party' lvls and important equipment:

prot - 17/16/17 - Greater Elemental Golem. Items : Vecna robe (I give it to my sorc sometimes, depending on the battle), Gaxx, Ring of Wizardy, Cloak of Prot +3, Balduran Helmet, Foa+4, Phosphorous Flail, AoP, weapon expertise gauntlets

blade - 33 - Greater Elemental Golem. Eternal melody, Circlet of Woods, Crom Fayer, Scarlett ninja, Death of thousand cuts, Girdle of Stone giant strenght, cloak and ring +2, Melodic Fury

kensai - 29 - Orcus - Poseidon, Staff of Ram, Warblade with regen, Ilbratha, Talisman of Greater prot, Girdle of might, Indigo Ioun stone, 2x ring+2, cloak +2

B-C - 8-30 - Bodhi - Rimed club, Treefolk, Helmet of Defence, Aeger's hide, Ring of Djinni, Holy Symbol

sorc - 25 - Green Wyrm - robe of neutral archmagi, Staff of Magi, Amulet of Spell Warding, Ring of acuity, ring+2, cloak +1

Sold a lot of loot, raised taxes in De'Arnise Keep, forged 2 more cloaks+3 and went to Hell.
(Irenicus at Tree was killed in 3 rounds, and deserves no special mention. Ruby rays + breach is all there is to it. And do use prot mag energy and lightning.).
In Hell, I took:
+2 Strenght and said goodbye to Phosphorous flail, switch to Storm star mace, which is better now
+2 to saving throws
+2 to Constitution and Cloak of Bravery (sorc gets it)
+10 MR
+20 resistance to Fire, Cold and Electricity
thus becoming neutral evil aligned.
SPOILER!
Illasera the Quick (or, invisible.)
Not much to say, yet again. SPOILER!

I completely forgot to mention my sorc's spell picks. (are written in the order of picking for lvls 4 to above)
So, here's her book:
lvl1 - shield, magic missile, prot petrification, indentify, Larloch's drain
lvl2 - blur, remove fear, mirror img, melf's acid, knock
lvl3 - haste, flame arrow, vampiric touch, skull trap, remove magic
lvl4 - stoneskin, spirit armor, ray of fragmentation, imp.invisibility, fireshield:red
lvl5 - breach, lower resistance, spell immunity, animate dead
lvl6 - imp.haste, prot magic energy, chain lightning, pfmw
lvl7 - ruby ray, mordy sword, spell turning, spell sequencer
lvl8 - ADHW, spell trigger, prot energy, Bigbys clenched fist
lvl9 - Wish (1st hla Alcatry), Time stop (Dragons Breath), Chain Contingency (summon Planetar), Bigby's crushing hand


From here, game turns quite linear, unfortunately. So, next is Gromnir.
SPOILER!

Forged Storm Star +5 for my prot and Foebane +5 for my blade, Ram staff for kensai, sold the most of the loot there.
As for fire giants temple, not much harm done, if any. SPOILER!
Next is to be Undead Horde. Went back to pocket plane, forged Axe of Unyielding +5. Not very useful for my blade since he rarely takes dmg. Still, he might get a vorpal some day. Ended up not even using it. Foebane is a much different matter, one of the best wpns available.
Also forged Circlet of Netheril for protag, to boost his spellcasting abilities. Will have to think about using that one on him, there are very few spells actually useful to cast at lvl7 and 8th now that my sorc is so powerful. Perhaps Balduran Helm was still a better choice.
SPOILER!
went to pocket plane and rested there. Next stop is Yaga-Sura.
Once again, I tought this would prove to be a problem, once again, I was very wrong.
SPOILER!

After the pocket plane dialogue, we got teleported back to camp, one Elite Fire Giant was there. Luckily, kensai got teleported up north, so only prot and blade were in his sight, and killed him under pfmw.
Picked up the loot from few of the Fire Giants slain before Yaga appeared, sold it, went for Oasis.
SPOILER!

Went to Amkethran, did the quest there, sold a ton of stuff (a lot of which I've been saving from SoA), teleported to PP to forge Hammer of Thor (my prot's main hand wpn, blade now gets FoA for when he needs blunt), ring +2, 2 +3 rings. Next stop is Sendai and her Drow.
Party:
prot - 18/16/19, Greater Elemental Golem
blade - 36, Greater Elemental Golem
kensai - 32, Orcus
B-C - 8-33, Bodhi
sorcerer - 27 - Green Wyrm

Thelyssn (or something, drow with a key) SPOILER!


Lasha'ra and Slavemaster
SPOILER!
The problem starts to be, as always here, inventory management. So, some rummaging through my bags was in order. You wouldn't believe the stuff in there. Memory boosting scrolls, The Truth longsword parts, Demon Hearts, Chunks of Amber, Neb's head (!!?)..all gone now.

Odamaron the Lich
SPOILER!

Cpt Egeissag
SPOILER!

"I'm killing drow, I think."

Sendai herself
SPOILER!
Sold most of the loot, forged quite a few rings +3 (not +4 yet), Spectral Brand +5 and went back to WK to take care of Ancient Dragon. Blade hit lvl39.

Ancient Dragon
SPOILER!

Finished the rest of WK, killed Demogorgon via Spike traps. (Yes, it cheese. I like to kill Demogorgon this way just for the fun of it, even if anybody in my party could kill him solo without problems. I had some traumas from vanilla game 9 years ago..) Blade hit lvl 40. Sold the rest of the loot I won't be needing anymore, back to PP to finish 2nd and 3rd challenge there. Prot hit (FINALLY! I didn't think he'll ever get this level) mage lvl18... Abazigal beware now..you're next, mongrel half-breed..not to forget your dear Draconis. He's going down like a house of cards.) I immediately set a CC-hit points at 25% - pfmw, spell shield, Regeneration. Went for final 2 dragons, don't have money for Dragon's Halberd and some rest of the stuff I want still to forge. Will have to sell quite a few scrolls, I'm affarid.

Draconis
SPOILER!


Abazigal
SPOILER!

Went to Amkethran, killed all the guards, sold their loot.
Now is the time to "empty your pockets". Meaning, sell every little scroll you have but leave pfmw and AI scrolls, e.g. sell everything you won't be needing anymore. I left some weaponry for the final showdown:
Hammer of Thor
FoA +5
Storm Star +5
Foebane +5
Answerer
Staff of Ram
Dragon Lord halberd (newly forged)
Warblade with regeneration
Spectral Brand (if only for that Armor Piercing Strike)
Hindo's Doom +4 (only for Greater Restoration)
Rimed Club
Treefolk's
Staff of Magi

In adittion, I had:
prot : Gaxx upgraded (newly forged), ring +3, cloak +3
kensai: ring +3, ring +3, cloak +3
blade: Melodic Fury, ring +4, cloak +3
to boost my saving throws.
others had almost nothing, I sold practically everything

Sold all other rings (Wizardy included), cloaks, Ruby and breach scrolls (there's no need for Rubys anymore. buhuhu..), weapons, some spellstrikes, various other scrolls, EVERYTHING to forge Gaxx ring upgrade, ring +4 and Dragon Lord halberd

I also had 9 barabrian essence potions, 18 Resurgence Oils, a big number of big healing potions (over 300) (sold all minor healing potions, they're useless now), in addition with
54 pfmw scrolls
28 AI scrolls
2 BBoD scrolls
5 invulnerability potions
6 magic shielding potions
6 Wish scrolls

Not much, but it will have to do.
Finished all of the left PP challenges.
Went to do EDE, on day 401 of my adventure.
party levels
prot - 20/18/21
blade - 40
kensai - 38
sorc - 31
B-C - 8-39

Hi Kerkes! Enjoyed your walkthrough. Actually I've done a run-through using a FMC protagonist with a full party before. I found the Elven Expertise potion very useful when used at the right time (after entering Spellhold).

Kerkes, I'm also enjoying your reports so far - I like how you've managed to condense basically the entire game into (relatively) shorts bits, so that someone could feasibly read the whole thing in one go.

A couple of things - how come you went for regeneration on Warblade, rather than damage resistance? Also, you say for several battles that you just used certain party members (e.g. only those who could run PFMW) - personally I prefer making the use of my entire party for every battle, even though this will mean some of them will be in great danger.

As for the Holy Avenger v DoaTC: I agree that Thousand Cuts is pretty much superior, but I suppose if I had a ranger in my party who could use the FoD&W then I wouldn't be so concerned about forging another bleeding weapon and would go for the Holy Avenger (assuming I had a paladin, of course).

Hi Raven. I agree that the Thousand Cuts bastard sword is superior too. However, I would forge both the FoD&W AND the TC... Two are better than one after all, and it kills enemies doubly fast.

@Kerkes: I think a single-class Kensai is awesome too. I've found that the baby-sitting required for him isn't all that much of an issue, but he needs other characters to act as tanks of course.

Tnx guys!

@Raven
As for use of f/m/c and blade only, yes, I tend to use all members also (for example, blade would cast pfme on kensai vs.Rakshasas, he'd also have Hardiness, prot fire, regeneration etc.), Sorc could do Bigby to hold em etc, some summons... The thing with this party was - a lot of buffing is needed. I got a bit tired of it, even more so in ToB, where the game got a bit boring I must say. And my prot and blade were enough for any such fight, so I didn't bother with kensai or others.
As for warblade... I don't know, really. I just like that fast regeneration (indigo stone + warblade). It wasn't much needed anyway, kensai swithched weapons only for golems and several oponnents (usually with Staff of Ram), I rarely even used Warblade. Poseidon is an amazing wpn, all he needs actually from the moment I forged it. It would be better if I saved that money I believe.
I went for Avenger sword only once, and reloaded (started a new game actually, without a paladin. Even when I had Keldorn along once, I SKed his profiencies to flail, bastard, 2wpn style). It's just a pathetic wpn, but that's just how I see it. I'm sure some would disagree, but I hardly find mages with SI a problem once sorc gets Alcatry (and this is basically the time you actually get to forge Avenger), so it's practically useless to me. Just comes in game too late to be of any use. Even more so since blade was so good at dispelling. I mentioned this to Sikret, he said that the Avenger sword is worth it. I just don't see how.
Another good thing is that Bastard does slashing dmg, which is perfect for some very tough golems, unlike piercing. I like bastard even more than ranger flail, it's such a cool wpn. I like dualing Bastard and Foebane a lot, especially with a Riskbreaker.

@LZJ

Kensai is a perfect, perfect choice for 2-h weapons, he never misses in mid and late game. Actually, with a couple of +2 rings, cloak +2, indigo stone, Girdle of Might and spirit armor, he had an amazingly low AC. Dwarf is much better than half-orc, no baybisitting with chaotic commands etc. Only weakness is of course, the extra abilities gained with armors (resistances, immunities etc), but then, those 2 halberds make you immune to a lot of stuff.
Ancien Elven I used when I got to Sahaugin underwater city. Didn't know how Spellhold would turn out, and wanted to be on the safe side. That tougher Spellhold is not my cup of tea.
I also tried f/m/c with a full party, including:
fmc
priest of Talos
Inquisitor
barbarian
necromancer
and somebody I forgot, a kensai maybe, really don't remember.
This journal was actually intended to be written for them, but I simply had too much problems with Inquisitors.
I quit playing them in lvl 5 WK.
I hate inquisitors. I'll post a short summary of their dispelling power, and just how it is useful, and you'll see why the more I play, the more I find them useless.

Yeah I can understand.

It's one of my favourites as well .

This is basically one issue that really kind of gets to me, and because of it, I tend to enjoy early game much more (for example - Torgal, Conster, slavers ship, Underdark) and some after Underdark battles like Rune Asassins (so much fun!), Samia, Ilithid hideout, Slavers Compound, Dragons (ok, not in this run-through, a bit too easy with Alcatry. Fight them before Underdark. I think Thax was gone in 2 rounds. Or was it 1?! ), Demi-Lich in WK is a very nice battle also (really great. Just think about about how good his script actually is.), Planar Prison is also nice, even more so if you don't have 3 mages....
Most of the late-game battles are just not as good IMO, everything is so uber-powerful, so it kind of ruins the real fun and excitement (ok, not Twisted Rune. That's always a challenge!).
My favourite battles are actually Conster and his skellies (always exciting, regardless of my party composition) and WK DemiLich, followed closely by Shade Lord (if I fight him in chpt3). Not that any other improved battle is bad, I just find these to be my favourites.
yeah, Gith Supreme Leader and Kruin are also very nice.


I believe I'll play IA5 one more time for sure, as an evil non-mage protagonist (will have to think on what to choose here), and without any custom NPC's.
Any good suggestions for party composition and protag?
note:
I'll role-play evil. Chaotic evil. Valy will be killed, rep will be pathetic etc. Won't get it below 5 anyway. Who to take?

Yuan-Ti Mages are a hell for me early-game. I noticed that you didn't go for the paths that meet them early on. Is there any reason for that or just chance.


As for the Planar Prison. I always have the problem that the Warden gets healed rather swiftly and lasts very long. As such he keeps summoning hounds to overwhelm my party (even with summons) which makes is a weary fight. Last rundown I had improved haste and ruby ray to off him, but this rundown I don't have those at my disposal and I'm having a lot more problems with him too. How do you manage 10 Planar Hounds?
I guess I ought not to have gone to the Prison without access to improved haste and without scrolls of ruby ray or sorts. It'll be a tough fight which I'm going to tune tonight, but luckily you can rest in the Planar Prison.


D'Arnise Hold. I often try to bring down the Yuan-Ti by using Emotion type spells and I use Secret Word about as often as you described. After he goes down, it's just a target for arrow fire. I always spread my party out such that his spells rarely affect more than one and then he is a lot more managable. The Spider I ignore by sending a hasted warrior to open the gate and come back to kill the Yuan-Ti whilst he is being dispelled. When I'm damaging the Yuan-Ti, the spider finally catches up and after the Yuan-Ti you kill it quite quickly. At first I thought the spider is the key, but he's the least of the worries actually.

Interesting tactic with Pasha. I used mass cure I think. It's a hastle to keep Pasha alive, but with summons to distract them I always seem to manage.

I don't know why you like the fight with the demilich so much. As far as description goes he's mainly trying to dispell enchantments rather than throwing out killer spells. That is also what I've found in previous IA games. He spends so much time dishing out the ruby rays and remove magics that he himself is dispelled rather quickly and is damaged and killed rather quickly. Not much of a fight for a high level party.

A 401 day runthrough. That is a lot more than I generally do. I suspect that it is all due to travelling to Cromwell and the Strongholds.

Blade could dispel yuan-ti mages with a fairly high probability. Elemental dmg is always good for bashing through stoneskins, if he couldn't. Basically, I wanted those acid clubs for them, later FoA. remove magic will always remove mirrors at least. You can also interrupt their spells easilly once you get rid of mirrors with a simple fireball etc.
For greater yuan-ti, so many ways can be used. Doom, slow, malison, all work, he's nice for experimenting. I don't use arrows, I sell them. I wouldn't agree for spider, he's nasty, but can be killed fairly fast if you're not really unlucky with dice throws at this levels.
I don't see even 15 planar hounds as a problem. There are several Chaotic Commands scrolls to be found on Elite B.H., Liracor, you'll have harmony shield also. Enrage will also protect you. It's the Warden who is nasty. But I could use 2 Ruby scrolls and breach in 1 single round on him, so I think only 4 Hounds were left to take care of after he died. Another thing is, if he must refresh his protections, he can't cast offensive spells, allowing you for a very offensive (rather than defensive, which is quite hard here) approach to this battle. I find him hard if I have one single mage in party, but otherwise no. I wouldn't fight him without 2 RR scrolls, since I don't have 7th lvl spells in my spelbook at the time I face him.
As for Demilich - yes, for this party it was very easy (only kensai was vurnerable). But with some other party compositions (say f/t protag, Anomen, Riskbreaker, kensai and 2 mages) you'll see why this is such a good and hard fight : no Enrages, 1 single caster of DW, and 4 people who's only protection from Imprisonment is DW. Killer spells would be useless to him unless he removed spell protections first, my prot was literally invurnerable to everything. He did the best thing possible to him. Some might think it would be better if he only tried to remove kensai's DW, but I had 2 DW casters so he could never be succesful with that. Or, use a lot of Fog spells. Which can be countered with Sweet Air. As I said, his scripting is really good.
For Pasha, yes, summons were the key.
Day 401 - yes, travelling, and a lot of resting, especially early on. Even in Druid Grove area (first battles actually) I had to rest, since my prot had so very few stoneskins. I also traveled to Alkathla from WK for no reason, to see what I can forge and than forged nothing, sometimes I had to rest to prepare different spells for battle (say Faldorn, 3lvl was slow for druids, now I put flame arrows for Faldorn), different triggers, I rested a lot for trying to trigger messengers for Strongholds (who never spawned unfortunately) etc.

Oh, nice job on Twisted Rune.

Final SPOILER!
on Layenne just warms my heart.

Nice writeup Kerkes. I had to stop reading where I've left off in the game though @ Twisted Rune. Some random thoughts after I read:

I had a Berserker>Cleric going as well and loved him. I hate Anomen anyway.

Your faith in your Dwarf Kensai and his saving throws makes me want to make a Wizard Slayer Dwarf and see how that goes. I hope since he can't equip damn near anything saving throws and buffs will keep him alive.

I only hope I can make it to the end one day, I've had some major problems with some battles. But I've gotten pretty accustomed to IA. I've restarted several times and got pretty deep into chapter 6, I just get bored towards the end as well when everyone is uber-powerful.

Kruin seemed like he gave you fits so -

SPOILER!


I could be wrong though, it's been a while.

I also noticed you mentioned fighting the Devas in the first drow encounter.

SPOILER!


Time to go start a new party now!

@ Wu Jen

The problem with WSlayrs is that they'll have a high AC (I don't have a high opinion of it anyway, but ther are some battles in which you'll want a really low AC, otherwise you'll die, make no mistake about it) and they can't us barbarian essence potions, which is a suicide approach to for example Orcus.
I believe they're also bugged, spell failure is 25% I believe not 10 as it should be, it doesn't work with ranged wpns.
I have no experience with them in IA, so I may be wrong about how useful they are. They're not my style anyway.
For Kruin, my party had a relatively high (bad) THAC0 (blade and fmc) and he is fond of using Hardiness. It's a good idea anyway, thanks! Will try it.
For f/m/c (elite bounty hunter) I know she's not immune to normal, but she dispeled my protectons from fire/cold so Fireshields would kill me. Therefore, I had to wait her out concentrating on defence. Luckily, she doesn't know ADHWs...
Believe it or not, in that run-through, I haven't used one single Sunfire spell!!

Known and fixed issue. This was a bug of the vanilla game which is already fixed in IA (the entry for this particular fix has been in the progress report for quite a long time).



Yes, you have certainly confused Kruin with some other foe. Kruin is immune to normal weapons.

Yeah, after typing that I thought maybe I was dreaming something up. You wouldn't have been that nice a guy to make him vulnerable to normal weapons.

Hi everyone!
Been apsent for a long while, had a lot of work in RL so I haven't played in a quite long while (3 months or so), nice progress I see (TS melee no longer a tactic - wooooo...)
Anyway, last time I was here I asked Sikret wether it would be all right if I made a walkthrough with a somewhat mage heavy party which included screenshots. He said fine, I said fine and did nothing, since uploading pics takes forever with my internet connection. I am sorry for that because some of the screenshots were really cool.
Ah well. Maybe I'll get a faster connection this year so I'll upload.
But, to business.
P.S.
Happy New Year to everybody, all the best!

What I had in mind for this run was - which is the better way of killing critters in IA - magery or the usual melee under imp.haste etc.
I had some ideas of some battles (e.g. I tought Thax Dragon is better of by magery. He isn't.) which proved false, of course - perhaps it is my lack of skill which caused problems. I don't think that's the problemm, but still - feel free to comment and try out for yourself. I'm curious of how you can win some battles without mellee.

Anyway, the party was as follows:

protag - figter/illusionist, gnome
f/illus - gnome
fmc - half elf
sorcerer
sorcerer

I have no dispeller this time as you can see, not even a cleric can dispel. I tought about an Inquisitor here (I'd kick out a sorc) but, no. Inq would actually be very nice here, faster lvl ups, everyone can cast SI (but him) etc. But as I said, no. Hate 'em.
I won't bother with their stats, they're nothing special, protag dual wields short swrd and flAIL, f/ill is 2-handed, fmc is going with 2 clubs.
both sorcs have 18 wis, other stats are abysmal.

Oh yeah. Some rules I gave myself to follow - 1 single casting of Wish-make if rested per battle, other Wish options as I please
No casting of Mirror Image unless I'm only fighting golems and melee-only monsters (e.g. no avoiding area damage such as ADHW by mirrors)
And no cheating etc.
forgot this one. I don't ever use Sunfire spell. It's too powerful (5th lvl, bypass MR, and worst yet - area of effect. Powerful? Nooooo...)
Unfortunately, the game got quite a bit boring in later stages (I am a big fan of early quests) but I finished it anyway.

So, here are my toughts.
and this is not a walkthrough. Some battles are described in detail, some I didn't even mention because they were very very easy.
Anyway, be this whatever it is, don't read it if you don't like spoilers.

And here's a question with a reward. If you know the game, and now you know my party, what would you say - which were the 3 hardest battles in game (not EDE)? Whoever guesses gets a reward from me on his messenger.
2 out of 3 are enough for the reward.

Did the usual early quest stuff, did Suna Seni and didn't loose a single HP here (I have a cool picture of it!!!!), SPOILER!
They're dead.
Did Shadow Thieves, Montaron for Harpers, did Beatsmaster in CC.
Here I had to reload once, SPOILER!
.

Lirarcor sword took 3 reloads. SPOILER!
He was gone quite soon.
My prot had an AC of -19 without a shield (effectivly, he was -19 -2(doom) - 2(prot evil) so at -23!)

Next I did Trademeet, solved Skinner and bought Blackblood Cub.
Did 1st Aran's quest for Shadow Thieves, then I went to Temple Ruins and fought Jailor which took 1 reload due to veery bad planning. SPOILER!

party lvls -
prot - 9/10
f/ill - 9/10
fmc - 8/9/9
sorcs - both at 11

Forged a +3 morningstar, pickpocketing was done by mr.Jansen.
Went to Firkraag's lair, finished all but the Dragon, Conster and Samia, SPOILER!

Went to De'Arnise keep.
Big Yuan-ti was the most fun battle by now.
SPOILER!
Torgal - this was also new for me. I was set on killing him with magic alone.
SPOILER!

Did guild contact without trouble, forged Treefolk.

Went for Pooky and his gang. SPOILER!

Bought 3 Sthrenght potions, went for Conster, SPOILER!

Firkraag - SPOILER!
Oh.
Another note. I never, never memorize or cast prot fire. You have 1000+ potions of fire res in game. They're cheap and effective. Not that I spent a single one on Firkraag however.

Went to Planar Prison.
lvls and kills -
prot - 9/11 - coin golem
f/ill - 9/11 - Torgal
fmc - 9/10/9 - Glacias
sorcs - both at 12 - one Adamantine golem, one Firkraag

more tomorrow....

My guess for the 3 most difficult battles:

- Demiliches (Kangax and WK)
- Supreme leader (WK)
- Ancient Wyrm

Let me to write down my thoughts about your party, Kerkes. First of all I want to clear, you did a great job, so I don't want to criticise you.
1. You wrote you want try to decide spells vs melee. Still you have 3 fighter multi in your party. In a 6 man party I usually use 4 character with decent melee ablities (single, dual, multiclass warriors, blade, monk). You have 3 in 5 man party, it is not too much less. I know there are many enemies immune to magic, so you need some melee. My question here do you use melee only against completly magic immune enemies (even most golems are not immune cause of new antigolem spells)?
2. I think game is easeir many many times with full arcane user party. You have SI, elemental protections, melee protection. I found sometimes very hard to keep alive characters without Stoneskin, Mirror Image, PfMW etc. Hardiness can help this later. Also without SI your elemental protections can be dispelled very easily.
3. About Fire Res. potions: Yes, they are plenty of them. But potion can be dispelled easily which is not big deal in your party beacause all of your characters can cast SI, but in normal party spells are better many times, especially from clerics cause of high casting level.
4. Your party's weak point is a lack of clerical support. Since you have a triple class cleric, you will get high level clerical spells only later. Since all of your character is arcane user, so clerical buffs are not so important, only the late Greater Restoration is problem.

My tips: (assuming you don't use melee at all):
Demiliches
Supreme leader
Rakshasas
Mithril golem

If you don't forgot melee completely:
I don't know.

This is my opinion of what the hardest battles are for your party (in no particular order, spoiler tags contain the rationales for my choices):

(1) Ancient Dragon

SPOILER!


(2) Dracolich (assuming that you fight it before Chapter 6... in IA v6, this encounter can only be accessed before Chpt 6)

SPOILER!


(3) Mithril Golem (I assume that you enter before the harder levels trigger? Even so, I am not sure that this would be that difficult for your party but I'll just put it in anyway.)

SPOILER!

@ everyone posting

Thanx all very much!
A bit of an explanation: In early game, magic took ALMOST completely the edge, since most enemies are somewhat vulnerable to it. However, I didn't want to finish the game by practically only magic, because I don't think it is at all possible to do it, regardless of your skills. In late game, I preferred melee simply because it's much more efficient and less time consuming.
Even tough that's not what I usually do, I even fought Green Wyrm in melee..


@Shadan

I completely agree with you, melee is a must, altough you may summon some monsters.
The thing here (which is a BIG problem) is that multiclasses gain HLA's very late.
Their THAC0 is pathetic for most of the mid-game.
you'll see how difficult some battles were because of that.
For clerical support - well, there was 1 single spell I actually lacked. Not Heal, not Greater Restoration (useless practically) but - check this- Zone of Sweet Air.
For fire res potions - enemies don't cast many "remove magics", and you have a ton of different equipment which provedes it. Even with single class fighters I don't cast fire res. Potions also boost up (and therefore negate) "lower fire resistance" abilities, and spells do not if they're already cast.. so, I go potions.
And yes, this is somewhat "uber" party, I agree.


Well, I may say this -
Your're correct about Dracolich, yes, I fought him at sorc lvls 17 and could not finish him, simply impossible dou to bad THAC0, and very few Death Ward spells, horrible battle and the one I had to return again (when sorcs hit 18, not later).

Nicoper has listed an interesting (and brutally hard) battle vs.Demilich in WK, so he also guessed one correctly. However, he did not mention Dracolich.

Ancient dragon was a wuss I'm affraid, I barely lost HP's there (if you can keep SI up, pfmw up, and drink fire res potions, he can't do nothing about it. Answerer took care of his AC, Poseidon of his HP). Nishruu died in 2 rounds Greater WW attack (Ram Staff, Bastard of Wounding, Thor Hammer), so I only wasted 1 Apsolute immunity casting.
I don't know how you can kill Elite Nishruu without melee.

Since this was practically a tie (nobody guessed 2 of 3) whoever guesses the final (3rd) difficul battle gets the reward.
A little help - I don't use potions of power!
(and don't postpone battles to a later date - ok, Draco was really something else this time).
The battle I am talking about is usually relatively (actually, very) easy, and it's post-spellhold.

Hmm I haven't thought much about this but I wonder if it could be the Hybrid Tiefling fight in WK 3?

EDIT: Actually I guess not because you mention not using Potions of Power so maybe the fight in question involves an enemy with outstanding AC (which wouldn't be the Tiefling)... ah well it'll be interesting to see what the answer is.

Well, the Ancient one can easily take care of your fire resistance potions with his lower fire resistance ability. The problem is that some players drink a dozen of fire resistance potions which due to a glitch in the vanilla game stack with each other and result in a ridiculously high fire resistance (ex: 300% fire res). This exploit is effectively blocked in v6.

planar Prison

Note - I forgot to mention some preperations (these apply to battles with both Firkraag and Conster) - both my sorcs know Minor spell trigger (I can afford it with 5 arcane casters) and f/ms also. So, prior to battle, I set 5 minor triggers loaded with (usually) magic missiles. When released, you have 50(!) of them in air, practically wasting buggers like Conster in a single round..

SPOILER!

Next I did Unseeing eye. On a sidenote, play this BEFORE Planar Prison.

Went to kill Thaxsillya.
Not.

SPOILER!
.
Left him for a later date.

Went to planar Sphere, had no trouble whatsoever. Picked up a lot of loot from Magical Container (most important Spell Triggers!!!) and forged some +2 cloaks and Phosphorous.

Went to fight Shade Lord.

SPOILER!

I reload.

2nd time around:
SPOILER!

Game over, protag died.

Ok, 3rd time.
SPOILER!

I liked this battle, since it proves - the more offensively you play, the easier the game gets.

@ Sikret

I din't do that. When Dragon cast his Lower res, I drank a potion. No need to drink healing for f/m's here, since Dragon can't touch pfmw.

@Raven

No, but I played it at practically the same lvls of experience. It's much different than Thieflings however.

lvls after Shade

prot - 11/11 - gem golem
f/i - 11/11 - torgal
fmc 10/11/10 - gem
sorc -13 - Firk and Adamantine golem


Pirates Hideout. A bit long, but I enjoyed it a lot.

SPOILER!


Did graveyard, Tanova was a joke with SI, sorcs hit lvl 14.
One chooses RR for 1st spell, the other one - Mordy sword.

went for Temple Sewers party, SPOILER!
problem.

Since now I had Mordys (verryyy nice spell) I went for Ilithid hideout immediately, found it to be very easy. - SPOILER!
Unfortunately, I found nothing useful in this area, but sold a lot of things, and had over 100 000 gp.

Went for Thax, yet again.
SPOILER!
.

Also did Trademeet Tomb (melee), Teshal (melee, not a single HP lost), did Pai'na (finally SI for fmc), sorcs were great here with Chain Lightning and Larloch's spells.

Sailed for Brynlaw, at lvls:
prot 11/12
f/i 11/12
fmc 10/11/10
sorcs 14

I don' t know why Mithril golem is a problem, SPOILER!

Most of Underdark was not a problem, but I feared Demon Knights.
Anyway, faced them at lvls:

13/13
13/13
11/12/12
17
17

SPOILER!
Oh yeah. I forgot to mention - this game included cheating, in a way. Since I didn't reload if somebody died, I Ctrl-R'ed the dead after the battle (if my prot was alive of course, and fmc was dead - it happened quite often, actually) so I don't have to drag the stuff to a temple and
raise there. I didn't pick up Raise dead scrolls, to counter this somewhat. Yes, I cheated using Ctrl key, sorry, but dragging all that stuff is too taxing for my nerves.

Dracolich

SPOILER!
and we exited Underdark at
14/14 Draco
14/14 elemental golem
12/12/12 Amber golem
18 Firk
18 adamantine golem

Did Samia, very easy (SPOILER!

Kruin Gith mage

SPOILER!

And what do you do when he casts his second and third lower fire resistance abilities? One potion can't keep the fire resistance high for long and multiple potions exploit is blocked. So, I hope that the battle will be a lot more challenging in v6, not only for blocking the potion-exploit but also for a couple of new surprises the dragons in general (and the Great Wyrm in particular) will have in their sleeves.

Forgot about Drow ambushes..
I didn't find them hard, altough during the 1st one not all Drow (4 of them I believe) din't attack immediately so it wasn't a "complete Drow ambush experience". I noticed this late, so I didn't reload.
On a sidenote, SPOILER!


@Sikret

What sholud I do? Drink another one. Check character sheet, search for Fire res, if below 100 drink potion.... They last for a while.
There is one thing you can do, actually. I believe (altough this I haven't tested) that Sunfire SETS FireRes on 100 and then a fireball hits you. So, sunfire will block all fire dmg regardless of fire resistance. As I said, I don't use it, but I'm sure it sets Fire res to 100. So, you can avoid Breaths by it, due to fast casting speed, and the Dragon usually stops a bit, casts lover res and then fireballs you. With experience, you can avoid it.

Yes, that won't work in v6. The multiple potions exploit is blocked.

EDIT:


LOL, yes it will work if you can manage the timing accurately, because the sunfire spell sets fire resistance to 100% only for one second. It's too risky to rely on this and waste 5th level slots on sunfire in a battle against enemies who are totally immune to fire.

@ Kerkes:

Another attempt at guessing most difficult battle with your party, presuming it done soon after spellhold;

One can be postponed till you reach a high enough level:
- greater elemental golem in guarded compound, mostly due to magic purges and AC/thac0 issue with your party

One "mandatory to be done after spell hold":
- Mind flayer boss (don't remember exact name), but IIRC golems which are summoned need to be done with on melee, deal quite a lot of damage, and where not that easy to touch + mind flayers and aloon psionic attacks and spells very nasty for mages .

Viper Queen, perhaps?

Yeah, I would vote for this too. Viper Queen can be very tough for a non-warrior-oriented party.

well done Arkain!!!

yes, it was Viper Queen, Sikret got it right also.

You'll both recieve a pm with your reward, hope you'll like it, in a week or so
will post more tomorrow or Monday

Viper Queen took 34(!) reloads (would be less with Power pootions, but I decided not to, just to check it out), I had 1 single Critical strike (fmc), fighter-illusionistz had none., it was very hard indeed, + her fog etc. Really hard, and she seems to be untouchable by magic.
Interesting thing was, when I finally succeded, the battle lasted only about 30 seconds. The longer she lived, chances for my party decreased (no endless Wishing).
You wouldn't believe the difference someone like kensai(in my previous party) does vs. Viper Queen. Good battle, altough I don't see how magic can kill her, she seems to have immunties to any MR lowering spell, + elemental resistance I believe.

LOL, yes, I had Viper Queen in mind since the very first time you raised the question, but I didn't want to write it (I thought it might be unfair, because I know my own creations better than others) and was just waiting for someone else to mention it so that I can jump in to second his answer.

I think Arkain has not played IA for a long time (haven't read any reports from him since long ago), but he has a very good memory. Well done, Arkain!

Ah yes that does make sense. About the clouds, can you not just use Spell Immunity: Evocation? Or did the battle last such a long time that it needed renewing too many times?

@ Raven
I did use SI for cloud, however, if the battle lasted longer than SI, it was over. I managed once to kill her after a few minutes with refereshing SI, however refreshing SI takes time (Queen regenerates incredibly fast), and I'd run out of PFMWs + so many lesser vipers spawned that it was impossible to kill them all before they kill me.
In the final attempt, I believe luck was the deciding factor to finish it that fast, so only 10 or so vipers were left to finish off. I could have waited for a few more HLA's but I needed something from her.

And an explenation about Demilich in WK, or why was it so hard - he has also amazing AC, didn't even notice this before. Another problem, fmc (the only one with Death Ward casting) had only SI as a spell protection, she failed to learn Globe, Deflection AND Turning...and only she could cast Sweet Air.
It was pretty much like Viper Queen, mostly luck to finish it, + I learned his script by hand since I had to cast spells like SI before he even hit someone with Ruby Ray, since he has ultra-fast imprisonment castings. The battle lasted so long that even figh-illusionists' SI wore off before he died. Hard, and took some real concentration on counting rounds, + some luck to actually hit him hard before he Imprisonments someone, since that scrolls of Freedom can be sold for a lot of money.
As for Dracolich and why it was hard, LZJ described it very well indeed so I have nothing more to add.

@ Sikret
for Sunfire-fire res, yes, it would be difficult of course. However, the Dragon has a behaviour like this - Wing buffet - stop for a second - turn to target - breath attack. It's not impossible to guess when Sunfire needs to be cast.
But, I'll leave it alone anyway, and will not try it.

Forgot to mention the battle in Slaver Compound, did this after Lirarcor
SPOILER!


anway
after Kruin I forged some equipment, did most of the "rest of the stuff", finished various Strongholds, failed to save Pasha from getting killed (shouldn't he be a bit stronger in EDE? he dies so fast), did Green Wyrm in melee after 6 reloads (I fought him with magic 1st time, found it too easy since I had triggers, sequencers and minor seq on 4 out of 5 characters + both sorcs have Alcatry....overkill.) Melee was quite a bit harder, proved quite a challenge. A sorcerer can solo him without any help if you have Dragon's Breath or use Wish to refresh spellbook, Vecna is recommended but I had not found it yet I'm affraid.

Thieflings

SPOILER!
A suggestion : why not make that dog (I believe he's vanilla oponnent) a bit more powerful - say some spell abilities, dmg resistance (druidic spells like Creeping doom for example, wild magic doesn't affect him).

SPOILER!

@ Sikret

SPOILER!

SPOILER!

Will try next time, SPOILER!
He is a nice addition, tough.

Back to some writzing.
Most of the battles encountered with this party proved to be too easy, but there were still a few worth mentioning


Green Wyrm
SPOILER!



Vanya's quests

Asassins
SPOILER!


Vipers

SPOILER!







Githyanki

SPOILER!


Demilich in WK

SPOILER!


Saladrex

SPOILER!


Twisted Rune

SPOILER!


After Twisted Rune, went back to WK to do the Orc Horde. ISPOILER!
Lame....yes. Ah well, it works, perhaps it won't in IA6.
Went for Ancient Dragon.

Took abot 15 reloads before I gave up on him, I lacked Greater WW HLA to kill Nishruu quickly, otherwise it would be doable even at this stage.

Oh yes. For the most of the late-game, my sorcerers had 2 things to do - Wish and cast imp.haste. Why?
Say you fight a Rakshasa - your regular, ordinary every-day Horrid Rakshasa. (You have one in the Sewers beneath Temple District, go check him out!!)
Now, say you want your mage to kill him.
Ok, you buff up your mage (pfme, some fire protection, pfmw, SI:abj) so Rakshasa can not touch him.
You want to hurt Rakshasa.
You can't. Not only is he immune to elemets (all elements I believe) but is immune to Horrid Wilting also. And to all spells beneath a certain (8th I believe, perhaps 7th)
The 2 spells which work (perhaps there is more, but I don't know any) are Bigby's spells.
Now, my sorc knows 9th (powerful?!) lvl Bigby spell.
He casts it.
Rakshasa gets hurt for 7 - 10 HPs which he regenerates almost instantly.
I don't know just what can mages do vs.Rakshasa. Even 6 of them casting Bigby's will die before 1 Rakshasa does. Not to forget that Noble ones spawn more Rakshasa in the battlefield.
However, a fighter-mage can kill them without taking any dmg as long as he's under pfmw, pfme, fire prot and SI. (and wields some powerful weaponry)

I quit my former party (mage-heavy) for a number of reasons, not the least of which are, not in this order - boring, constant prebuffing with a ton of different spell protections, and mainly, due to the fact that game became very unbalanced (this was actually a valid point for throughout the game. Any enemy spellcaster behaved in a somewhat strange manner. One of the best examples of this was Firkraag. The only spell he cast was RR (aside from his silence), while we pumped magic missiles at him until he died. I also had more money than ever, some hot items never needed to be forged, all armor could be sold, so I focused mainly on rings of protection/whatnot, so even protection spells like Chaotic Commands were quite useless. Even Poseidon halberd was not all THAT useful). I quit playing after defeating Sendai and Draconis, right before facing Abazigal. Both Sendai and Draconis (I killed him in Time Stop. He has the same tactic, and I have no moral or gameplay issues wether I'll do the same to him (if I have a figh-mage, of course) proved to be very little challenge (I had finished WK, as I said, Ancient Dragon was very easy fight. However, it's the Drow fights in Sendai's enclave which made me really hate f/m multiclasses since those were not even "fights", merely a slaughter under pfmw. I doubt I'll play a multiclass figh-mage any time soon. If anybody wishes details of some late-game fights like Twisted Rune, WK or whatever feel free to ask.), and therefore, I quit. One interesting thing worth mentioning is that in battle vs.Sendai (everybody was deaf) a sorc managed to cast Wish. I can't remember which option I chose, however deafness was cured. The first time this happened anyway.

Regardless, I haven't played Anvil for some time due to RL work. Now I have some spare time on my hands, so decided to give it a go, in the anticipation if IA6. Since I find that I usually play better if I'm pausing the game for writing, I'll also write notes about progress. Hopefully, some good will come out of it.

I'll also post screenshots, even if I have a slow internet speed my girlfriend does not anymore so I'll post pics also. Of course, screenshots by themselves are spoilerish. So, don't look if you don't want to.
Also, some "hard" fights like say Demon Knights, Dracolich, etc. will be described in full detail, round by round, with pics and all so - enjoy.

Due to my experience (with mage-heavy party) I decided to go with a different (and much more standard, for that matter) party, including:

protagonist - dwarf, berserker, true neutral, name Mephisto (what can I say? Either you like Goethe or you haven't read him!)

18/98
17
19
13
14
2

started ith 5* in flails, * in dual wielding, at lvl 9 * in bastard sword, later we'll see. Probably dual wielding Phosp and DoTC, at least until ToB.
He uses a shield in the off-hand for the beginning and is to be my AC tank. He's cool. Doesn't look like a dwarf, but that's him. Party leader, 1st in line.
There is a reason why I didn't go with a good aligment - I don't like JD sword. It's awsome and all, but no tnx. Turning a single class fighter into a figh/mage with constant stoneskin/mirrors/turning/whatnot is not for me. Fighters are fighters and IMO, should not be able to cast stoneskin (even more, spell turning) on themselves unless they're f/m. (speaking of which, I also don't think druids should cast RR! a forest dweller, casting Ruby Ray, which is pure magecraft? I understand this is important spell for Anvil, but still..) So, no JD.

custom - kensai, dwarf, neutral, name Loren


18/84
17
19
15
15
2

2* 2handed, 2*sword, 2*staff, at 9 3rd for sword, at 12 and later max halberd. After that, max out staff. Has Montaron's portrait. Also doesn't look dwarvish, but that's him.


custom sorc, Dynaheir's portrait, name Sofia

10
16
16
18
10
9

and 3 NPCs from Bioware

Valygar
Nalia (1st time in Anvil for me!)
Anomen (1st time I'll make him good!)


The reasoning behind this is as follows:

1. AC is great early on. Really, it is. Even mid game (Underdark, for example) it's an awsome benefit. A berserker can go very low very fast, even lower with a shield, so there you go, my mega-tank is here. As for wpn proficiencies...I believe the single wpns in which grandmastery from start is useful are either flails or clubs. Since Valy uses clubs, prot took flail. There's no enemy in this game which a +4 blunt can not hurt (actually, there is. Magic golem!!).
2. Kensai is the coolest guy for 2handed wpns in Anvil, and is the only fighter kit who can use GWW HLA with a devestating effect on those hard-to-hit monsters. The fact these 2 fighters are dwarves is for 2 reasons:
1)I like dwarves, even tough I'm not a small person.
2)under Spirit armor and few rings, they have no fear of Web, confusion, Emotion, Slow...whatever. I have yet to see a dwarf failing his save vs. Wail of Dracolich, even if under Malison.
3. sorcerer needs no explanation. I will not supstitute her for Imoen, because Imoen has some spells I don't need (like prot fire, Oracle...) and lacks Spirit Armor, which I need. I have played Anvil without single class fighters, clerics, thieves, whatever. Yet, I cannot imagine myself playing without a sorcerer.
4.Valygar is the best Bioware Npc in Anvil. A bit low on Hp, but nobody's perfect.
5. Nalia - I tend to play wit 2 sorcerers and no thief, regardless of my party. However, I wanted a thief also so I chose her over Jan, for obvious reasons. I have not yet played her in Anvil, I used her in vanilla once I believe, incredibly annoying with her "less fortunate" outlook. Unlike a sorc, Nalia has a customizable spellbook, so she'll certainly come in handy. I redistributed her thieving skills however so she can disarm traps and can not unlock anything, for locks I cast "knock". Maybe I'll switch her for Imoen, I haven't decided yet.
6.Anomen. Ah well. Since I took Nalia and am stuck with "For the needy!" I can as well live with him as his awful banters.
His shield is a double-edged sword however, since he becomes the only one who gains immunites provided with Harmony shield.
Will forge it anyway, after a certain WK battle, and prior to another WK battle. He is also (actually, will be eventually) the main dispeller.
Nalia and Anomen are the reason why I usually play with my headphones on, listening to Pink Floyd.

That's it.

Difficulty is core after lvl 9 (I hate when I have that feeling as if I missed out on something), the usual and standard no cheese philoshopy is used, I guess. No cheap tactics (altough, I know that backstabbing is sometimes considered somewhat unfair. I also know that many people say that it's not that useful or powerful. It is as far as I can tell, if you know who to backstab.. I use it since that's what Valy is here for anyway.), no running away from fights etc.
As for Wishes, we'll see. In the previous run-through, one Wish Make if rested... casting was enough. Don't know about this party since I rarely used such strong melee oriented parties in Anvil (I prefered at least one multiclass, either a f/t - rarely or f/ill, blade or something that can fight melee under mage buffs.) We'll see how it goes anyway. Mirror images are a no-no, only for prebuff and golem/melee tanking fights, along with everything else no cheese written throughout several pages of this post.
I'll try to make this as detailed as I can, so some battles description will probably be very long. (for example, Draco)
My suggestion (if you want to read this, that is) - print it. Less eye-strain.

1 more thing - I posted some pics because of the text in window, not because they're so cool! Read carefully each picture for complete satisfaction!


Left dungeon (2 best mods for BG2: Anvil and Dungeon-be-gone!), did Circus quest, sold loot and bought Amulet +1 and some scrolls. Slums, CC, told Nalia I'll meet her later, Gov.District, Gates, Imnesvale, picked up Valy and did Mimic Blood quest. Went to Trademeet, got quest and went to wilderness.
Faldorn
Dear me...
8 reloads. But doable, even with a berserker with no proficiency in staff. Therefore, I used fist.
The main thing here are Bhaal abilities. Being True Neutral, protagonist had these innate abilites:
2x cure light wounds
1x Vampiric Touch
2x Horror

In addition with 2 Enrages as an 8th lvl berserker. Only 1 is to be used, however.
SPOILER!

Did Rakshasas also.

Returned to Trademeet, got reputation, sold loot.
Went to De'Arnisse keep and picked up Nalia, cleared 1st lvl of keep.
Gone to Docks and went for Beastmaster and Tabitha (do you know what a Berserker and kensai can do to Tabitha?!), finished very easilly.
Went in slums for Lirarcor at fighters lvl8, Anomen 8, sorcceres 9, Nalia 9.

Greater Crawler
SPOILER!

Rats
I had no "Emotion". However, "Slow" worked very well also, and it comes with a -4 penalty. Protagonist got diseased, but Anomen saved him.

Shadow Lover
SPOILER!


The Talking Sword is mine!
[attachment=3502:Baldr002.bmp]

pics are the same. my bad, sorry

1st ambush
SPOILER!


2nd ambush
SPOILER!


Did Shadow Thieves, but forgot to report back for the reward. No matter. Payed 15K to Shadow thieves, finished 1st quest. Went fof Guild contact. A bit early, but still doable.
SPOILER!

Went back to Aran, fought Pai'na so my kensai gets a helmet.
Prebuffs are on the screenshot, as well as a crucial moment of this battle. Go Sofia!
Cleared out the rest of the Vampires on 1st lvl, not Tanova since I have no prot magic energy yet.

Pai na


Greater Yuan-ti

SPOILER!


Lvls prior Torgal battle

protagonist - 10 - Crypt King, 30%
Valygar - 10 - Ihtafeer, 30%
kensai - 10 - Shadow Lover, 38%
Anomen - 10 - bandit
Nalia - 11 - bandit - 0%
sorceress - 11 - nobody!!


Took 1 reload. This is probably a bit early for Torgal, but it's doable.
SPOILER!


Slavers

Got in through the Slums (a back door attack!)
SPOILER!
.


scnd picture is Torgal btw

Went to kill Thaxsillya.

Shadow Jailor

SPOILER!

Finished the rest of Dungeon without trouble, no Liches were there (I had quite a few Chain Lightning scrolls however)
Did the rest of minor Alkathla stuff.

Thaxsillya

SPOILER!


lvls:

protagonist - 12 - wielding FoA+3 and Saving Grace shield
Valygar - 11 - Treefolk, +3 Club
kensai - 12 - Lirarcor
Anomen - 12, +2 Morningstar
Nalia - 12
sorc - 12

Mencar's party


SPOILER!

Did Windspear Hills, forged Horn of Valhalla, bought 9x resurgence, 3 potions of Fire Giant Strenght, went to fight Conster

Conster

Once I wrote that some battles are more fun if someone is dead. This is one such battle:

SPOILER!


Rasied dead, went for Firkraag.
SPOILER!
Sorceress and Anomen hit lvl 13. 2nd pick is Imp.haste.

Visited Cromwell, forged Red Dragon Scale and Shadow Dragon Scale (Red is for my protagonist, Shadow is for Anomen)

Planar Prison

1st fight with Elite Bounty Hunter (EBH)
SPOILER!


Warden
SPOILER!

Kensai, protagonist and Nalia hit lvl13.

Temple Sewers party

This was the most pleasureble battle thus far.
lvls:

protagonist - 13 - Firkraag
Valygar - 12 - Gem Golem
kensai - 13 - Thaxll'ssillya
Anomen - 13 - Greater Wraith
sorceress - 13 - Conster
Nalia - 13 - bandit

SPOILER!

Took loot, sold a lot of it, now had exactly 108,169 gold. I also had everything I need to forge Phosphorous (just needed to upgrade Morning Stars and buy Mauler's Arm)
However, I also had a ton of rings and Cloaks.
Decided not to forge anything, but instead, went for Shade Lord.

What follows here is a rather comprehensive report of how I lost this really awsome fight - Anomen was still lvl 13 and I had no Greater Restoration yet. Nice screenshots included! Somewhat tragic...
Doable, and took 1 single reload.

SPOILER!

Reload.

Get back up there, and change the approach:
SPOILER!

Sold some loot from there I don't need, forged Phosphorous.

Now, what to do?
Pirates are very doable by now, I still have to visit Planar Sphere, and fight Vampires.
But I'd also like to finish Ilithid Hideout in Sewers and Slavers in Temple district to get Celestial Fury for Valygar. (yes, it's hard, and yes, it's doable, even at this lvls, even with this party, and yes, I did it.)
Also that undead cleric with Ghoul Armor (+4 vs Death!!! Draco, where's thy sting?)
I have no RR as a spell yet however, and am left with 3 RR scrolls. No Mordy sword (this is really bad, btw). No Greater Restoration. We'll see how it will go, since I don't like Spellhold V2.

Decided to go for Pirates, since it's near Cromwell, some stuff from there is badly needed, and I won't get much exp there anyway.


Pirates Hideout

Strange thing happened here anyway - I'll explain when it comes to that. No reloads. it's on screenshot anyway.

SPOILER!

Nice loot, however, 1 very useful item and Valygar gets it. Sold everything else (well, not EVERYTHING) but preserved a certain item for a very important upgrade later on.

Now I had 3 Ruby scrolls (badly needed for Sphere) and 38K gold.
Did the Vampires without problem, reported back, Anomen finally hit lvl14.
sorceress still needs 220 000 exp to reach that magic lvl 14.

Went to Planar Sphere.
Had to reload once (Engine room golem battle) since Valygar got chunked. Nothing more to be said since this area is very easy.
Nalia and sorceress are now both at 14 lvl.
After selling loot from Sphere, I had 86 000 gold.

Did Teshal, very easy. SPOILER!


Bought 6 Resurgence potions, 3x Magic Shielding, Frost Giant, Magic Protection and some Invulnerability potions
Went for Ilithid Hideout

This was a mistake actually, but how could I had known they had such crappy loot - nothing I can use, just 1 item which is not so useful by itself anyway. Bah. And a +3 Hammer, of course, but nobody uses hammers yet.
It's a risk, and I always take it, regardless of the party composition.

Anyway, here's the battle:

Note: I don't know wether this is "cheesy", it's not for me but I use 1 character to lure the enemies into the big round room near entrence, since otherwise strange things happen like your fighters will be untouchable by golems (way will be blocked) or some other enemies. So, I fight in the big, clean area, which is fair as far as I can say.

SPOILER!


Alhoon
and Valy did not survive!
3 reloads.

SPOILER!


I decided to write something about these pics. SPOILER!


pic 094 is basically how I lost Valygar here. SPOILER!
This is the 2nd battle where I had Anomen actually fight in melee.


Pic 96 is when Elemental finally went down. Sorceress and Nalia are crucial here.

Pic 98 is the end of the battle. And interesting thing was that Anomen did not use his Greater Restoration in this battle, I always tought "I'll use it later" so I never actually did. Could have saved Valygar, perhaps? Actually, no. Valygar took a hit from an ordinary Golem and immediately took 2nd from an Elemental, and died before I could do anything.
All had full HP anyway, and saving Valygar was not an option I'm affraid.

A mistake was I did not use Ilbratha mirrors on Valygar, however.

some more of Alhoon:

Bought some Resurgence potions, and Potions of Apsorption.

Getting Celestial Fury

SPOILER!


Main group


SPOILER!

Valygar now gets Celestial Fury, I sold most of the other loot.

Pic 102 is the death of Ketta. SPOILER!


pic 106 is basically the winning point of the battle. a party without a mage is a dead party.

pic 110 is pretty much fighting with the leftovers. mages were very useful, and saved quite a few healing potions

Protagonist is very close to lvl 15. Had about 120 000 gold.
Forged:

bastard +3
Improved Dragon Helm for Valygar
ring +2
cloak +2

Now I was left with 5120 gold pieces, and sailed for Spellhold.
things to do and I didn't since I had too much exp:

Returning false Ilithium and 2nd Cleric quest
Trademeet Tomb
Perhaps, Troll family (would think about this. It's hard, but doable even prior Spellhold, and is too easy after)

Party equipment:

protagonist:
Red Dragon scale, Gauntlets of dexterity, Helmet of Balduran, +1 amulet, Phosporous, Saving Grace shield, 2 rings +2, cloak +2, Girdle of Bluntness
most powerful killed - Elemental Golem

Valygar: his own armor, Weapon Skill gauntlets, Improved Dragon Helm, amulet +1, ring +2, ring +1, cloak +1, Belt of Inertial Barrier, dual wields Celestial Fury and Treefolk
- Gem Golem

kensai: Pale green Ioun stone, amulet +1, ring +1, ring +2, cloak +1, Girdle of piercing, Lirarcor, +3 staff - Thax Shadow Dragon

Anomen - FoA, Greater Wraith

sorceress - Conster

Nalia - bandit!

Brynlaw

Only interesting thing here was - I didn't fight Galvena festhall battle. Too much exp. So, I only fought Perth the Adept, but am not going to describe it since there's really nothing special about it.

Protagonist hit lvl 15 after he confronted the depths of his soul.
Still, I got "easy" Asylum. Phew...

As for Asylum, one big fight - Crystal Shard.
Had to relod once, since Valygar got chunked immediately. SPOILER!


Underdark Ambush - made easy!
SPOILER!

Anomen casts 2nd Greater Restoration, and we go exterminate some Fungus while still hasted.


pic 125 is the very start of the battle on the left flank. SPOILER!


pic 128 is the right side of the battlefield. Both kensai and Valygar did a great job here, but that was nothing compared to the job my protagonist had to do - to keep the main force busy. SPOILER!

pic 129 is taken a few rounds before the end. Both sorceress and Drow mage are casting Breach at each other, and the now-visible Priestess is just about to get killed.

Dracolich battle

lvls:
protagonist 17
Valygar 15
kensai 17
Anomen 17
sorceress 16
Nalia 16

SPOILER!

Phew.

Victory!

pic 132 is what you see, taknig on a Chain con.

pic 134 represents Anomen's failed casting of "mass heal" just before we started to hurt Draco badly. SPOILER!
.

pic 136 is the end of the battle. Note, in one run, a summoned Skeleton rolled the last hit vs.Dracolich, therefore killing it. I don't have a screenshot, I'm affraid.

Mind Flayers' Elemental Golem fight

SPOILER!


Another battle which deserves a special mention is, naturally, Demon Knights.
Did this prior to Ust Natha and 2nd drow ambush, kensai wanted Girdle and Soul Reaver!.
Here's the Spoilers!
No "out of the ordinary" tactics, also.

SPOILER!
Took 2 reloads. 1st time they obliterated me in 1st round, 2nd time was better but I lost mages to 2 triggers 3x lightning.

Did the Gnome village Demon SPOILER!
without problem, 2nd ambush was also easy regardless of the fact that buffs get dispelled. SPOILER!





One other Underdark battle I'll mention is Noble Genie in Ust Natha, since I like this battle

SPOILER!



Pic 150 is killing of 2nd Demon, and Anomen getting very close to dying. Actually, Valygar's Air zone probably saved his life.

pic 152 is rushing the 3rd Demon. Not much to be said, no time for buffs, and a Greater Restoration badly needed.

pic 152 is where only 1 demon (actually, the worst one) remained. When I saw the message displayed - trigger - 3x Chain lightning I tought I was gone. Cat figurine was so good, I almost forgot I had it.

Exited Underdark at lvls

19
17
19
20
17
17

Went to Trademeet, sold loot, did Trademeet Tomb
Reported back to Umar Hills Mayor, accepted Ranger Stronghold, did first 2 quests in fighter stronghold
No one leveled up, I still have no HLA's.

Decided to go to Windspear Hills anyway, to fight Samia. Long post!

SPOILER!


No one leveled up, but we're close to HLA's.

pic 167 is when my sorc took FoD with 5% MR.

pic 171 is Kaol forcing a waste of Nalia and sorceress' spells. He didn't live much longer and it's on pic 172.

Also note that I really dislike fighting in such cramped situations, I prefer a clean battlefield. I could also SPOILER!
or whatever, but I decided to take his blows of ADHWs, Comets, simply for the fun of it. Adds some flavour to this battle anyway. The worst thing about Kaoul's positioning was the fact that Legodril and Chack lived for much too long - usually, I prioritise killing the first.

Went back to Alkathla docks, Kruin was there waiting.
I have a way of killing him really fast, and it does not require HLA's anyway - it's right on the screenshot. No one died, Valygar got to 10 HP while Kruin was still alive but Anomen DWarded him ASAP.
No problem.
This tactic I also use on Tolgerias, btw.

Visited Crom, had to go back to Underdark because I forgot to pick up Equilizer Hilt, forged
Indigo stone
2x Speed boots
Crom Faeyr (kensai's back to his original strenght)
Adamantine Valhalla horn
Wave
Imp.Cat Figurine

Still had a lot of money left. A note about money - I don't erase spells to get exp for scroll writing, I sell them. I sell every little Spellstrike, Chain Lighning (once Nalia hit 13lvl), more than a few Absoulte immunities (if I don't have a f/m in party) etc. I also never use missile wpns. There's no spell disruptor like Larloch's!
Did Bodhi, returned Lanthorn, Troll Family - this is too easy for a party with HLA's, however got only crap loot
Did Umar Wich and 1st lvl WK, Spider queen also altough I won't forge Noble Spider since it's simply too weak

Glad to see this topic so active, Kerkes!

Just one note: I think the forum automatically displays thumbnails for .jpg, .png (and possibly other) formats in attachments, and users can click those images to view them. With the .bmp format you use, it does not work so easily (at least in my browser -- if someone has different experience, please share). Just a suggestion, of course; if you prefer BMP, I don't want to change your mind.

@ Baronius

whish I knew how...if someone knows, please share!

Yeah. I forgot to mention this - would like some feedback!

I added some pic description to some battles.

Anyway, if someone wishes for some more details on a battle (for example, Planar Sphere. I find this to be very easy, perhaps some players have different experience) ask away. Note that I have a lot of more screenshots, so, if there's a particular moment you'd like to see, ask away. I probably saved it (for example, Ferric Ironblade of Samia missing my protagonist on a roll of 17, Tazok not being able to hit my protagonist on a roll of 18....whatever, there are many such pictures).

I'll post some more progress next week probably, since I have to write it down on the computer.

there were several very nice fights indeed, including:

Rune Asassins hideout - battle vs. 2 Coordinators - brilliant screenshot and will be described (as well as the outcome) in a very long detailed post which I'll try to make as interesting as I can

Supreme Leader - with a bonus - no Whish casting! 3 9th level spells left unused! Barely doable, but not impossibe, and forced a single reload due to a tragic mistake! Still in SoA

Demilich (or Anomen's shock therapy)

Valygar - a sadistic approach to a Stalker ranger - be sure to view pic 202.

Twisted Rune & Nalia's demise - Valygar's righteous fury (without Critical Strike)


Anyway, I'm now at Sendai's place, a bit bored but we'll see.

I tried Samia before Spellhold once. I've even manged to kill two divine spellcasters and that chick with rather nasty weapon before Kaol dissabled my party and then Ferric slaughterd them all one by one in like three, four hits per party member. Way to go, hehe. Lesson learned.


Anyway, nice read, Kerkes. Want more!

tnx Matti!

Got one photo just for you, you'll know it when you see it!

Nice writings, Kerkes! I wondered why you use so few buffs prior to battles. I usually buff with mage prot. from fire/cold/magic damage and cleric prot. from lightning all of my party members if needed, and I used to use many other buffs. Then I realized your main tactic is to have 2 dwarven warrior which means insane saving throws for them. So you have to protect mostly only Anomen and Valygar. However I really enjoyed some of your battles. You made a few mistakes (I usually make more), but you never gave up a battle after 1-2 mistakes or death. Personally I am thinking to put out of order my "no death" rule in v6 run. I reloaded all of my IA games when any of my character was dead.

Open the screenshots (that you would upload otherwise) in Paint (mspaint), or in any other suitable program. Use the "Save As..." option of the software, and choose "png" or "jpg" as the output file format.

tnx Shadan! As for buffs... yea, Dwarves rule, at lest early on...now I have Valy immune to Fear and Confusion, 95 resistant to fire, 50 resistance to magic dmg (without Belt of Inertial Barrier), permanent imp.haste - all that - undispellable. Rangers are better than fighters, even Dwarven, in IA. + they get that Contac with Nature which beats Enrage by long and far regarding how useful it is. Enrage is great in the beginning, but in late-game, I tend to use it only for avoiding Imprisonment or lvl drain, nothing else.
For some other buffs - I always say - you don't need prot fire. Just take an example of a, relatively standard (and very powerful) party:

vagrant
Valygar
Berserker

now - by the end of SoA, Vagrant is immune to elemental dmg
Valygar - give him upgraded Dragon helm, imp.Corthala and he's at 95 fire res
Berserker - Red Dragon plate, a Fire Ring and there you go, everybody's practically immune.
sure, spellcasters are not but they don't need it that badly and you can have cleric (or ranger) cast it on them.

And I have played Ia for more than a few times, so I know what triggers/contingencies enemies use, and when, so I know who to protect, and how.

@ Baronius
tnx, will do next time

Supreme Leader / to make this a challenge, no Whish castings, otherwise this too easy

lvls :

protagonist - 24
Valygar - 22
kensai - 24
Anomen - 26
sorceres - 21
Nalia - 21

SPOILER!


Killed Saladrex in melee, too easy and does not deserve a mention, didn't even protect Nalia (she was there only for Brach) with DW only prot fire and ONLY on her.

Had to reload on Minotaurs, since even if Rock is SPOILER!
he is SPOILER!


DemiLich

SPOILER!



Now I had over 250 K gold. Items I had in mind were Nalia's ring, Green Wyrm scale (prot poison is good), boots of imp.haste for Valygar, Valygar's katana, Flail of Def/Wounding (still had to upgrade 2 +2 flails), 3x Cloak +3 (for fighters).
Alas, forged nothing. Instead, did :
Globe machine all golems
all mages
1st bunch of spiders
1st bunch of Undead

went back to De'Arnise, forged FoA+4. I also sold Phosphorous.

Did 2nd Temple quest for stolen ring, finally.
Right prior to that I battled an Ultra + a Greater Elemental Golem.
Took Armor of Faith as a reward, which is easilly the 2nd best armor if you have a Barbarian with you (1st is imp. Human Flesh), other armors for Barbarians are crappy.

Forged Ring of Djinni.
Back to WK, did all but 4 Liches.

lvls:

protagonist - 26, THAC0 is -13, has 3x Hardiness, 1x Critical and a Smite
Valygar - 23, -13 THAC0 (has Crom Fayer), CwN, 2x Hardiness, Critical, Smite
kensai - 26, -20 THAC0, 3x Hardiness, 3x GWW no Critcials

See this pic!

Forgot about an interesting battle which was fought before Supreme Leader

Rune Asassins
this took 3 reloads. I completely forgot that I had Periapt of Poison! Once my prot equiped it, it was over.

I won-t write this round by round, but there was a very interesting situation which occured, it-s on these 2 pics.

pic 186:

SPOILER!

Yeah, last time I've fought Saladrex he has "Master! Improve me!" tattooed on his forehead. ;]


Heh, lack of good armors for barbarian is a real pain for me.


Demilich battle in WK is my second favorite battle in IA (my first favorite is Improved Halfling Warriors, sic! ). It's a perfectly disigned, custom made IQ test using infinity engine, imo, not to mention pure frigging fun. I just love this battle. "Hello, Mr. Skull, how are you today?" - Zap! - portrait's gone....

Very true Matti, Demilich is one of my favourites also. However, the difficulty of this battle varies a lot depending on your party. Take for example this - Vagrant, Cernd, Nalia, Barbarian, Valygar, Berserker - Cleric Dual. No problem. But without innate Imprisonment - resistance abilities, this is mega-painful. Or, you have to wait for Cleric to reach high enough lvl so DW does not get dispelled ASAP.

hello all. decided to put a few, hopefully, interesting pictures of some Anvil sessions, still in anticipation for v6.. V5 pics of course, but they're nice.


pic 223 is pretty much straight forward, however I never saw it happen - 3 critical misses in a row by golems..
229 - screen from EDE, my Vagrant wielding 2 awesome wpns attacking the boss..didn't finish that one anyway, this is taken just seconds before he got killed.
Had no cleric in this party, however.
230 - my pride and joy. soceress' level is 13, and Thax falls beneath the spell slinging of 3 arcane casters + Cernd. 1 single time I killed him with 1 single
Breach casting that early in the game.

236 - an AC experiment - inquisitor, swashbuckler, berserker with a shield, some buffs like prot evil - 0(!!!!!) HP lost....never took a hit. Early chapters.
238 - same party, Demon Knights....forcing more than a dozen reloads. Swashes fall like flies in this battle. (and any fighter below 130 HP).
240 - same as 236. check out Skeleton's attack rolls.

241 - Draco battle. Ac is awsome here, and can save you. Not as much as skellies , but very useful. See Draco's attack roll. less than 50%hits.
248- this is the highest attack roll from a Golem I saw missing. 17, miss, attacking my Swashie (still dressed in Shadow Dragon scale! no UAI)

[Edited by Sikret, spoiler removed.]

wicked screen

haha, Lilarcor