Okay. Really, the mod is totally fun and pleasure, but in the name of all that sacred, next version should ease up on spiders a little bit.
I thought 2 drow ambushes were hard to beat with those annoying spiders being everywhere. Apparantly, I was mistaken.
Deeper underdark. Cave with an instant supply of whisper spiders (where they just keeping coming from nowhere). Really, how can I beat this thing? They dispel everything, they somehow draw characters from place to themselves, and sometimes they just kill chars instantly. Why is that? Why no info about the damage being done or save-throw being made (dwarf-kensai, instantly dead. huh?). And, finally, there are just TOO DAMN much of them, my characters can't handle them, even though I have a fighter-heavy party (vagrant, kensai, blade, berserker-cleric, sorc, thief/mage). I am doing buffs, of course, but they are being dispelled very soon and there is no point and time in refreshing them. Summons doesn't help much too (tried 5 hasted mordy swords). Tried magic (adwh, chain lightnings), but they are magic resistant, as it seems.
I am no great tactician, but how am I supposed to win that battle? :) Just keep reloading and hope for better save-throws and no instant-kills? I would be really glad to have some advices on that battle. This is the first one in the game which makes me feel annoyed, instead of being interested, having fun and searching for better tactics.
Full Version: Critto's v5 journal
Spider drain stats like Inteligence and Wisdom, much like Mind _Flayers. You'll have a hard time if your characters have low INT and WIS scores. If a score reaches 0, insta death occurs.
SPOILER!
SPOILER!
Try prot evil, def harmony, low AC is good here.
As I remember, mages are also very good here, try malison + Emotion on them.
ADHW should work I believe.
What I would do is try to get a very low AC on Blade (def spin, some buffs from Cleric) and use him as a decoy, while the rest of fighters do the beating.
I didn't use summons here.
For preventing confusion, just equip kensai with Lirarcor, Vagrant with Harmony shield, ber-cler Enrage, go to work under imp.haste and hope for some critical hits
As I remember, mages are also very good here, try malison + Emotion on them.
ADHW should work I believe.
What I would do is try to get a very low AC on Blade (def spin, some buffs from Cleric) and use him as a decoy, while the rest of fighters do the beating.
I didn't use summons here.
For preventing confusion, just equip kensai with Lirarcor, Vagrant with Harmony shield, ber-cler Enrage, go to work under imp.haste and hope for some critical hits
Whisper Spiders don't have the ability to instantly kill characters, but they have a chance per hit to drain INT and WIS. Do your warriors have low INT and WIS? If so, it can explain why they die fast against these creatures.
Also, their ability to pull/draw your characters is due to the "Web Lariat" they throw and you should see the message on the screen when any of them throws a lariat.
To be honest, I don't remember having any problems defeating those spiders in the deeperdark dungeons; so, I can't think of any particular tactical advice except the usual standard buffing (Chaotic Commands + Improved Haste), attacking, etc... Potions of Clarity can also be used to instantly refresh immunity to confusion if the CC is dispelled.
As for a magical approach, you can use spells which bypass MR, or alternatively you can cast "Lower Resistance" spells on a few of them before casting offensive spells.
EDIT: LOL, Kerkes was faster than me to tell you the essentials. It's very good to see that I don't have to worry about questions remaining without a reply here. Thanks!
Also, their ability to pull/draw your characters is due to the "Web Lariat" they throw and you should see the message on the screen when any of them throws a lariat.
To be honest, I don't remember having any problems defeating those spiders in the deeperdark dungeons; so, I can't think of any particular tactical advice except the usual standard buffing (Chaotic Commands + Improved Haste), attacking, etc... Potions of Clarity can also be used to instantly refresh immunity to confusion if the CC is dispelled.
As for a magical approach, you can use spells which bypass MR, or alternatively you can cast "Lower Resistance" spells on a few of them before casting offensive spells.
EDIT: LOL, Kerkes was faster than me to tell you the essentials. It's very good to see that I don't have to worry about questions remaining without a reply here. Thanks!
QUOTE
Spider drain stats like Inteligence and Wisdom, much like Mind _Flayers. You'll have a hard time if your characters have low INT and WIS scores. If a score reaches 0, insta death occurs.
QUOTE
Whisper Spiders don't have the ability to instantly kill characters, but they have a chance per hit to drain INT and WIS. Do your warriors have low INT and WIS? If so, it can explain why they die fast against these creatures.
Well, that certainly explains things. Even I don't understand the logic (how spiders can drain int and wis?), it now makes sense. My dwarf-kensai is not a wise fella indeed :) You know, actually illithids were annoying too because of their INT drain. But that is maybe just me being lame tactician. In fact, I used to "buff" my fighters with intelligence potions in non-IA games before fighting any illithids (maybe it is even more lame by IA standarts, but in fact I don't see any harm or cheating in such pre-buffs). Anyway, at least with illithids we can see who's been drained with help of special pictograms on character portrait. Maybe it's possible to add such a pic (or a message in the log) in case of the spiders? What do you think, Sicret? :) That'd be helpful, I think.
2 Kerkes:
No, ADHW didn't work, because of magic res. Btw, how exactly high is their resistance? Because, it seemed pretty much pointless to me to try and low-res all those spiders. If they have high MR, then it is totally not the right tactic here. Thanks for the other hints, I will try them out tomorrow.
2 Sikret:
Thanks for the info about lariat. I don't know how I missed messages in the log. Still though, that ability creates the main problem in this particular battle, because with every new spider some character (usually, the same one) is being dragged. This is bad for two reasons: a) he's constantly out of action, only takes the beating; b) he's being rounded by spiders which means he's going to be killed very soon. Is it because spiders think that character is trying to run away?
Also, spells that bypass MR - it is a sunfire and fireball, if I am not mistaken (too bad my sorc doesn't know them; we'll see what t/m can do, I guess)?
Well, thanks for your help. I will try another take on them tomorrow :)
QUOTE(critto @ Feb 12 2009, 12:56 AM) 
Well, that certainly explains things. Even I don't understand the logic (how spiders can drain int and wis?)
Well, Whisper spiders are mainly defined as creatures with offensive "mental" abilities.
QUOTE
Anyway, at least with illithids we can see who's been drained with help of special pictograms on character portrait. Maybe it's possible to add such a pic (or a message in the log) in case of the spiders? What do you think, Sicret? 
That'd be helpful, I think.
Their INT and WIS draining ability already adds an "ability score drained" icon to the target's portrait. Haven't you noticed it? The reason you didn't notice the icon can be that your character dies too fast (due to his low stats) before you can even notice that the icon was added to his portrait. That'd be helpful, I think.QUOTE
Also, spells that bypass MR - it is a sunfire and fireball, if I am not mistaken
Fireball doesn't bypass MR. Sunfire, Dragon's Breath and Vampiric Touch do
SPOILER!
Vampiric Touch is not an area affecting spell. It can only be cast on one taret and requires touching the target, but on the other hand, it will inflict more amount of damage than Sunfire to those spiders.
QUOTE
Well, thanks for your help. I will try another take on them tomorrow
You are welcome. Let us know how you defeat them on your next try.
QUOTE(Kerkes @ Feb 11 2009, 07:41 PM)
SPOILER!
Try prot evil, def harmony, low AC is good here.
As I remember, mages are also very good here, try malison + Emotion on them.
As I remember, mages are also very good here, try malison + Emotion on them.
Emotion doesn't work against Whisper Spiders. But you are right, good AC is useful because the Spiders' THAC0 scores are not that good. They hit automatically if you are unconscious from the Web Lariat, of course. Fortunately the unconsciousness can be prevented by Chaotic Commands, even though the drag effect can't.
yes, emotion works on the other type of spiders, sorry, my mistake, same for ADHWs and magic. Go melee on these, or alternatively try Vampiric, Sunfire if you like, but I recommend melee one at a time
Well, I finally managed to beat those things. Used the melee tactic, of course. Blade really helped by being a low-AC decoy. But the spiders killed my b-c and t\m. Thankfully, I had the scroll of raise from the dead to resurrect my cleric. Thanks for the hints on that battle, again.
I have one more question. As I remember, one of the parts of the Wabe halberd was in posession of Sahuagin Prince. Does he still carry that part around? I didn't fight him so it means I have no way to acquire that part of the halberd (thus, I have no chance to forge Poseidon's Wrath)?
Or maybe part of the halberd participates in item randomizer program, so I still have the chance?
And one more question. Is there any way to protect chars from deep shadows' strength drain?
I have one more question. As I remember, one of the parts of the Wabe halberd was in posession of Sahuagin Prince. Does he still carry that part around? I didn't fight him so it means I have no way to acquire that part of the halberd (thus, I have no chance to forge Poseidon's Wrath)?
Or maybe part of the halberd participates in item randomizer program, so I still have the chance?And one more question. Is there any way to protect chars from deep shadows' strength drain?
QUOTE(critto @ Feb 12 2009, 11:34 AM)
I have one more question. As I remember, one of the parts of the Wabe halberd was in posession of Sahuagin Prince. Does he still carry that part around? I didn't fight him so it means I have no way to acquire that part of the halberd (thus, I have no chance to forge Poseidon's Wrath)? Or maybe part of the halberd participates in item randomizer program, so I still have the chance?
Or maybe part of the halberd participates in item randomizer program, so I still have the chance?SPOILER!
I'm afraid, you have lost the chance to forge it in this run-through.
QUOTE
And one more question. Is there any way to protect chars from deep shadows' strength drain?
No, except for 'not being hit' and/or 'killing them fast'.
2 Sikret:
Well, what are you gonna do, huh? I'll forge it another run then. There're still some interesting items I can consider, anyway.
Yeah, I figured so Had to drink strength potions in the battle with this things, but it was fun. Now I'm trying to figure out how to beat 'The Mighty One'. Very tough fella, indeed.
QUOTE
SPOILER!
I'm afraid, you have lost the chance to forge it in this run-through.
Well, what are you gonna do, huh? I'll forge it another run then. There're still some interesting items I can consider, anyway.
QUOTE
No, except for 'not being hit' and/or 'killing them fast'.
Yeah, I figured so
Had to drink strength potions in the battle with this things, but it was fun. Now I'm trying to figure out how to beat 'The Mighty One'. Very tough fella, indeed.
He's really not that bad compared to Green Wyrm, not to mention Ancient Dragon (shivers) and other ToB dragons.
Heh. Finally finished off The Mighty One. Tried unsuccessfully several days earlier (mostly studying the beast's behaviour), and today I defeated him. The most annoying thing about him is his wail, which sometimes kills chars instantly unless they are protected with DW or succeed a saving throw. It was so fun, and I want to congratulate Sikret once again for creating such an interesting and challenging mod. I also enclose a little report of my victory, so maybe more experienced players could comment on that. Also, I've mentioned one nasty bug, nature of which is a mystery to me.
SPOILER!
My initial plan was the following: give draco somebody to kick around, in my case: blade with couple of different protections and potions, kensai and two swanmays. Meanwhile, mages and clerics make draco to waste his death fogs on summoned elementals and using Zone of SA to get rid of the nasty effects. Then I summon some skeleton warriors and mordy swords, 'haste' them and throw into the battle. It happens just about time when dracolich's out of stoneskins and PfMWs. The hardest thing is, as I mentioned earlier, to keep chars, especially mages, alive with DW.
I've made about 5-6 tries and succeed.
The first time around today I nearly managed to beat him, but he killed my prot when we were 2-3 rounds away from victory. It wasn't a good try anyway since dracolich also managed to kill my cleric, which means no resurrection until we go back to the surface. So even if it was a success I still might've reloaded.
Tries 2-4 were doomed from the beginning because dracolich managed to silence my cleric, thus taking her out of action for a long time and leaving us without ZoSA and DWs (vagrant have a couple of the first ones, but that's not enough).
In my fifth try I've experienced very funny problem: when the party was about to finish off dracolich (my plan was going quite smoothly, 4 characters and couple of summons were hitting him), very strange bug has happened. I suddenly lost control of my charaters, and the area switched! I couldn't see the dracolich area anymore, but I could observe the beholder's lair! And the battle seemed to be over, since no messages were being added into the log and I could save whenever I want. Very strange how it's just happened. I haven't used any console commands or keys, in fact, the debug mode was off. And, of course, I've had to load the game, which was the saddest thing of all.
And the six try was the successful one. All the characters held on for a long enough time, so I managed to execute my plan more or less smoothly. Sadly, about the time when the final phase should've begun (draco has no more protections, so we beat him hard), he wailed to death both my mages and the blade. Thankfully, cleric survived this hit (maybe it was due to the last DW I placed on him), summoned a couple of skellies and we finally killed the damned beast!
The good thing about this battle is that, due to the defensive nature, it teaches how to play in 'chess match' mode, making decisions every time the game pauses and not leaving any detail missed.
SPOILER!
My initial plan was the following: give draco somebody to kick around, in my case: blade with couple of different protections and potions, kensai and two swanmays. Meanwhile, mages and clerics make draco to waste his death fogs on summoned elementals and using Zone of SA to get rid of the nasty effects. Then I summon some skeleton warriors and mordy swords, 'haste' them and throw into the battle. It happens just about time when dracolich's out of stoneskins and PfMWs. The hardest thing is, as I mentioned earlier, to keep chars, especially mages, alive with DW.
I've made about 5-6 tries and succeed.
The first time around today I nearly managed to beat him, but he killed my prot when we were 2-3 rounds away from victory. It wasn't a good try anyway since dracolich also managed to kill my cleric, which means no resurrection until we go back to the surface. So even if it was a success I still might've reloaded.
Tries 2-4 were doomed from the beginning because dracolich managed to silence my cleric, thus taking her out of action for a long time and leaving us without ZoSA and DWs (vagrant have a couple of the first ones, but that's not enough).
In my fifth try I've experienced very funny problem: when the party was about to finish off dracolich (my plan was going quite smoothly, 4 characters and couple of summons were hitting him), very strange bug has happened. I suddenly lost control of my charaters, and the area switched! I couldn't see the dracolich area anymore, but I could observe the beholder's lair! And the battle seemed to be over, since no messages were being added into the log and I could save whenever I want. Very strange how it's just happened. I haven't used any console commands or keys, in fact, the debug mode was off. And, of course, I've had to load the game, which was the saddest thing of all.
And the six try was the successful one. All the characters held on for a long enough time, so I managed to execute my plan more or less smoothly. Sadly, about the time when the final phase should've begun (draco has no more protections, so we beat him hard), he wailed to death both my mages and the blade. Thankfully, cleric survived this hit (maybe it was due to the last DW I placed on him), summoned a couple of skellies and we finally killed the damned beast!
The good thing about this battle is that, due to the defensive nature, it teaches how to play in 'chess match' mode, making decisions every time the game pauses and not leaving any detail missed.
Congratulations, Critto!
These are no longer "random questions"; so I collected and split them into a separate topic for you.
These are no longer "random questions"; so I collected and split them into a separate topic for you.
2 Sikret:
Indeed, they are not. Thank you for creating a separate topic I will try and write some more if anything interesting will happen in course of this adventure (and, I'm sure it will).
By the way, have you read about the bug I've mentioned? What do you think is the nature of this bug? I have never experienced something like that before.
QUOTE
These are no longer "random questions"; so I collected and split them into a separate topic for you.
Indeed, they are not. Thank you for creating a separate topic
I will try and write some more if anything interesting will happen in course of this adventure (and, I'm sure it will).By the way, have you read about the bug I've mentioned? What do you think is the nature of this bug? I have never experienced something like that before.
QUOTE(critto @ Feb 19 2009, 09:29 PM)
By the way, have you read about the bug I've mentioned? What do you think is the nature of this bug? I have never experienced something like that before.
I just checked and didn't find anything which might have caused such a thing. Had you possibly attacked the Cursed Ghost in the first area of the maze? Even if so, what you have experienced was not a bug. I will explain what has happened if you tell me that you had attacked (or tried to pickpocket) the Cursed Ghost.
QUOTE
I just checked and didn't find anything which might have caused such a thing. Had you possibly attacked the Cursed Ghost in the first area of the maze? Even if so, what you have experienced was not a bug. I will explain what has happened if you tell me that you had attacked (or tried to pickpocket) the Cursed Ghost.
I certainly never attacked him, of that I am sure. But, to tell you the truth, I do not remember about the pickpocketing. I might have tried out of pure curiosity. Though there were many reloads while I was fighting my way through the maze, so I am not sure that I've saved the game exactly after pickpocketing. Have I done something wrong by trying to pickpocket him? So what exactly has happened there? Why did it occur only once?
As I said, even if you attacked the Cursed Ghost, it wouldn't be a problem. It's abosolutely impossible to leave the final area of the maze without killing Dracolich. So what might have happened in your case is this: While one of your characters were standing at the rear end of the area near the exit, Dracolich has indeed died and you had clicked on the exit without noticing that Dracolich had fallen. The exit in that area doesn't require all of the party members to be close to it. Even if one character is close enough to use it, it will teleport the entire party to the beholders lair provided that Dracolich is dead.
If the Cursed Ghost had not been attacked and left, he would also appear to give his thanksgiving dialogue (that's why I asked about him). Did he appear in your successful run?
If the Cursed Ghost had not been attacked and left, he would also appear to give his thanksgiving dialogue (that's why I asked about him). Did he appear in your successful run?
QUOTE
As I said, even if you attacked the Cursed Ghost, it wouldn't be a problem. It's abosolutely impossible to leave the final area of the maze without killing Dracolich. So what might have happened in your case is this: While one of your characters were standing at the rear end of the area near the exit, Dracolich has indeed died and you had clicked on the exit without noticing that Dracolich had fallen. The exit in that area doesn't require all of the party members to be close to it. Even if one character is close enough to use it, it will teleport the entire party to the beholders lair provided that Dracolich is dead.
It seems like a logical explanation, but there were no messages of the draco dying in the log (or maybe I missed it?) and, what's most important, I do not remember seeing a loading splash-screen. It just went dark, I pressed 'm' key to open the map and saw the beholder's lair. None of my characters were in that area.QUOTE
If the Cursed Ghost had not been attacked and left, he would also appear to give his thanksgiving dialogue (that's why I asked about him). Did he appear in your successful run?
Yes, he appeared after the battle and gave some exp to my party.
I have two questions.
1. About the Shimmering Light quest.
SPOILER!
2. About the battle with the guildmaster of the rune assassins. Trying to figure it out. The concept of it reminds me of the battle with Lord Roenall. What I wanted to ask is,
SPOILER!
1. About the Shimmering Light quest.
SPOILER!
I have found the note on the elite doppelganger body, took it to the knight and got 1 piece of the crypted note. It is my understanding that I should find the second part of the note somewhere myself in order to resume the quest, right?
2. About the battle with the guildmaster of the rune assassins. Trying to figure it out. The concept of it reminds me of the battle with Lord Roenall. What I wanted to ask is,
SPOILER!
those simple assassins (rune and elite rune) keep spawning until all the masters and the guildmaster are dead? Or should I dispose of coordinators as well in order to stop them from spawning? The battle is quite messy because of them so my first priority is to prevent them from reappearing.
QUOTE
1. About the Shimmering Light quest.
SPOILER!
SPOILER!
I have found the note on the elite doppelganger body, took it to the knight and got 1 piece of the crypted note. It is my understanding that I should find the second part of the note somewhere myself in order to resume the quest, right?
Yes, just play all other IA quests normally, you will find it.
QUOTE
2. About the battle with the guildmaster of the rune assassins. Trying to figure it out. The concept of it reminds me of the battle with Lord Roenall. What I wanted to ask is,
SPOILER!
SPOILER!
those simple assassins (rune and elite rune) keep spawning until all the masters and the guildmaster are dead?
Yes.
QUOTE
SPOILER!
Or should I dispose of coordinators as well in order to stop them from spawning?
No.
Sikret, thanks for the answers. I have also a problem.
I just found out that the reputation of my party is 12 (average). How on earth could've that happened?? What are exactly the actions for which game punishes by lowering the reputation? I did not kill any civillians. Neither did I steal anything from anybody. No slayer transformations. No cheating. How else can I loose reputation? It just doesn't make any sense.
It was 20 not so long ago, and I managed to start lady Vanya's quests and the first quest from expanded ranger stronghold. Am I gonna be able to continue them without my reputation being 20? It seems also I that I can't start the second ranger quest now since it also requires reputation of 20, right?
Is there any way to raise the reputation? If I am not mistaken, I can raise it up to 17 in temple, and then how? I do not have much stuff left to do (kangaxx, orcus, twisted rune, wizard and bard strongholds, shimmering light quest, lady vanya, WK, suldanesselar). I wouldn't care about the reputation if it wasn't for the vagrant's quest. I'd really like to see it.
I just found out that the reputation of my party is 12 (average). How on earth could've that happened?? What are exactly the actions for which game punishes by lowering the reputation? I did not kill any civillians. Neither did I steal anything from anybody. No slayer transformations. No cheating. How else can I loose reputation? It just doesn't make any sense.
It was 20 not so long ago, and I managed to start lady Vanya's quests and the first quest from expanded ranger stronghold. Am I gonna be able to continue them without my reputation being 20? It seems also I that I can't start the second ranger quest now since it also requires reputation of 20, right?
Is there any way to raise the reputation? If I am not mistaken, I can raise it up to 17 in temple, and then how? I do not have much stuff left to do (kangaxx, orcus, twisted rune, wizard and bard strongholds, shimmering light quest, lady vanya, WK, suldanesselar). I wouldn't care about the reputation if it wasn't for the vagrant's quest. I'd really like to see it.
SPOILER!
You have most certainly killed the dominated ranger or the dominated paladin during the battle with the enchanter in "The Mystery of Shimmering Light".
One way is to return to a saved game before that fight; the other way is to find some other quests to do to raise your reputation back to 20.
You have most certainly killed the dominated ranger or the dominated paladin during the battle with the enchanter in "The Mystery of Shimmering Light".
One way is to return to a saved game before that fight; the other way is to find some other quests to do to raise your reputation back to 20.
Indeed. Why didn't I thought of that. By the way,
SPOILER!
Well, unfortunately, I do not have any saves before that moment. I'll see what I can do about reputation.
Still, will I at least be able to continue Shimmering Light and lady Vanya's quests, even if won't find the means to raise my reputation back to 20?
SPOILER!
I did not kill the ranger, only the paladin. I remember the first one saying thanks after I've disposed of the evil mage.
Well, unfortunately, I do not have any saves before that moment. I'll see what I can do about reputation.
Still, will I at least be able to continue Shimmering Light and lady Vanya's quests, even if won't find the means to raise my reputation back to 20?
QUOTE(critto @ Feb 22 2009, 06:24 PM)
Indeed. Why didn't I thought of that. By the way,
SPOILER!
SPOILER!
I did not kill the ranger, only the paladin. I remember the first one saying thanks after I've disposed of the evil mage.
SPOILER!
Yes, you have killed one of them. Had you killed both, your reputation would have been 4 (rather than 12) and you would have lost your rangerhood for sure.
QUOTE
Well, unfortunately, I do not have any saves before that moment. I'll see what I can do about reputation.
Still, will I at least be able to continue Shimmering Light and lady Vanya's quests, even if won't find the means to raise my reputation back to 20?
Still, will I at least be able to continue Shimmering Light and lady Vanya's quests, even if won't find the means to raise my reputation back to 20?
Yes, If you have already met Lady Vanya, you can continue her quests. The Mystery of the Shimmering Light can also be continued IIRC, but you won't be able to complete "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" unless you find a way to increase your reputation back to 20 as soon as possible.
2 Sikret.
I finished the Shimmering Light quest.
SPOILER!
After that I visited my cabin at Umar Hills:
SPOILER!
I believe, this is the beginning of the vagrant's new quest? My reputation is currently 16 now (spent some money in the temple).
QUOTE
Yes, If you have already met Lady Vanya, you can continue her quests. The Mystery of the Shimmering Light can also be continued IIRC, but you
won't be able to complete "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" unless you find a way to increase your reputation back to 20 as soon as possible.
won't be able to complete "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" unless you find a way to increase your reputation back to 20 as soon as possible.
I finished the Shimmering Light quest.
SPOILER!
Killed the Grandfather of Assassins, got the reward from the Order of Radiant Heart. By the way, this battle certainly should be improved. I think it even easier than the battle versus guildmaster and his company.
After that I visited my cabin at Umar Hills:
SPOILER!
there was a swanmay waiting for me who asked to retrieve the jewel for their community.
I believe, this is the beginning of the vagrant's new quest? My reputation is currently 16 now (spent some money in the temple).
QUOTE(critto @ Feb 22 2009, 09:49 PM)
SPOILER!
Killed the Grandfather of Assassins, got the reward from the Order of Radiant Heart. By the way, this battle certainly should be improved. I think it even easier than the battle versus guildmaster and his company.
It's improved quite a lot in v6.
QUOTE
After that I visited my cabin at Umar Hills:
SPOILER!
I believe, this is the beginning of the vagrant's new quest? My reputation is currently 16 now (spent some money in the temple).
SPOILER!
there was a swanmay waiting for me who asked to retrieve the jewel for their community.
I believe, this is the beginning of the vagrant's new quest? My reputation is currently 16 now (spent some money in the temple).
It begins but won't continue with a reputation lower than 20. In v6, I've made sure that it won't even begin.
2 Sikret:
Well, that's a shame. Maybe I'll do another run with Vagrant sometime to see this quest.
By the way, I have one more question about lady Vanya:
SPOILER!
QUOTE
It begins but won't continue with a reputation lower than 20. In v6, I've made sure that it won't even begin.
Well, that's a shame. Maybe I'll do another run with Vagrant sometime to see this quest.
By the way, I have one more question about lady Vanya:
SPOILER!
I have finished her second quest. She gave me some exp and money, and vanished. But I suspect that she also can give my prot a 48-sided garnet, if only I had a reputation of 20. Am I right? Even if I am not, the possibility to find this gem somehow connected with the reputation of the party? I do not need any spoilers on the location, I just want to make sure that I still have the chance to find it, since I have done nearly everything in the game. Thanks in advance :)
PS: maybe you can write me via PM, if this information is too spoilerish to post openly on the board.
PS: maybe you can write me via PM, if this information is too spoilerish to post openly on the board.
SPOILER!
You can still find it.
Thanks for the hint, Frazurblu! I think I might've figured out where the gem is, but I am not sure.
Well, speaking of other things, besides my lack of attention (it is a journal, after all). I am facing three difficult battles right now: Twisted Rune, Orcus and the Supreme Leader of Githyankis. Tried to beat the last two ones already, but had no luck yet. The crowd control is certainly an important aspect in these battles. I have nearly managed to win the battle with Orcus, but I lost total control of the situation for a moment, and my blade got killed. With him gone, and being the key figure in this battle, my last two fighters got overwhelmed with skeletons and everything momentarily has gone down the bad road.
It is also quite difficult to get the mages away from the main battle zone quickly, so that they can provide support to the fighters. If it is not done fast enough, Orcus conjurs some more help, and the things immediately get worse for the mages. Though, in the most successful try I've described above I managed to handle the things quite effectively thanks to my sorc, who bought some time by being cornered by orcus and the vamps, thus holding their attention for quite a while due to his large amount of stoneskins, mirror images and other protective spells.
Well, speaking of other things, besides my lack of attention (it is a journal, after all). I am facing three difficult battles right now: Twisted Rune, Orcus and the Supreme Leader of Githyankis. Tried to beat the last two ones already, but had no luck yet. The crowd control is certainly an important aspect in these battles. I have nearly managed to win the battle with Orcus, but I lost total control of the situation for a moment, and my blade got killed. With him gone, and being the key figure in this battle, my last two fighters got overwhelmed with skeletons and everything momentarily has gone down the bad road.
It is also quite difficult to get the mages away from the main battle zone quickly, so that they can provide support to the fighters. If it is not done fast enough, Orcus conjurs some more help, and the things immediately get worse for the mages. Though, in the most successful try I've described above I managed to handle the things quite effectively thanks to my sorc, who bought some time by being cornered by orcus and the vamps, thus holding their attention for quite a while due to his large amount of stoneskins, mirror images and other protective spells.
Sikret, sorry about the spoiler about 48-sided gem. I've tried to make it as spoilerless as I could. The problem I described is not solved yet, so I would be very grateful if you'd give your comment on it (maybe, via PM).
Okay. Now, the battle with Orcus. Today I won it without reloads! So I figured i write a 'little' report about it.
SPOILER!
Prebuffs included protection from level drain (have 10, used 5, since protagonist has an amulet of power), potions of storm giant str for kensai and blade (usually my blade wears crom fayer, but in this battle I gave crom to prot-vagrant, who has boots of ranger lord, and left blade with FoA +4), 2x barbaric essense for prot and kensai. Prot and kensai also use their HLA hardiness. Kensai's AC boosted with spirit armor.
Blade has maximum amount of mirror images, stoneskins and PfMW memorized. Also max amount of Delayed Blast fireballs to kill the vampires. He also has about 15 scrolls of PfMW. Uses one before entering the lower crypts (casting from scrolls takes time, and from spellbook it is done immediately due to Eternal Melody armor and Melodic Fury ring).
B-cleric casts regeneration, she also has a ring of gaxx for an additional regen. Her task is to kill grandlord who spawns on the left side of the battlefield very quickly and run away there with thief/mage and sorc. They need to stay alive and help kill vampires with fire damaging spells. Sorc's job is also to Wish and refresh imp. haste if needed. b-cleric is too weak for such an amount of grandlords, so she stays off the battlefield and casts greater restoration until they are dead, then she joins the fight with the leftover vampires and skeleton lords.
So, the party enters the location. Game is immediately paused, I command vagrant, cleric and t/m to summon greater swanmay, spider and lion into the location where the most of grandlords are going to be spawned. That should give us a little time to regroup properly. Skeletons appear. Cleric rushes for the left skeleton; prot, kensai and blade dive into the center, positioning blade in such a way so that he could be the target for the most enemies. Meanwhile, sorc casts haste to improve his and t/m's speed (forgot to do it while pre-buffing).
B-cleric disposes of the skeleton and rushes downwards. Orcus is still on the south of the battlefield, so there is no chance that his second wave of summons will spawn near my mages. I decide to leave them there, near the entrance to the crypt. Prot, kensai and blade have already killed 2 or 3 grandlords, so about 4 or 5 are still active.
Orcus calls his wave of vampires and skeleton lords. Sorc immediately cats two dragon breath spells, one after another. t/m helps with fireball and blade with sunfire. Vampires are badly injured, as well as some skeleton lords (it seems, that the fire sometimes hits them too, as I gathered). On skeleton lord is throwed away by DB right in the direction of cleric. He engages in battle with her, Orcus comes to help (uh-oh). Sorc casts Wish, and I get "Hardiness on the entire party". Wo-hoo! That was really lucky. Now my cleric in less danger.
Also it really boosts up my frontliners' defensive capabilities. They quickly dispose of the grandlords and vampires, and run to help cleric. They get the Orcus to the "injured" state, and he starts to protect himself with PfMW, which we have no way to dispell from him, as I figured.
So here begins the second phase of the battle: we have to survive the new waves of Orcus's summons. He soon calls the second one, and we start beat them. Sorc, blade and t/m damage vampires with fire spells, fighters are disposing of skeleton lords. My party was severely wounded here, and blade was running out of protection spells. So b-c casts Greater Restoration and sorc wishes one more and (wo-hoo! again) gets "make if rested". That is really lucky, I must say. Fighters immediately refresh their hardiness, blade - his magical buffs. Somewhere in between these actions Orcus's PfMW wears off and we manage to him once or twice before he casts another one.
With the third wave comes another problem: protection from level drain has weared off. Unfortunately, kensai, though he has nice AC and hardiness, gets drained to death. Prot has amulet of power, blade - PfMW and other buffs, b-c usually gets charmed, so no harm comes to her and she just stays that way till we kill all the vampires After that "remove magic" and she's back with us. Tactic is being the same: vampires are hit with fire spells, skeletons are quicky disposed off in melee combat (those boots of ranger lord are quite useful, I must say). After two (I think) such waves Orcus is left with no PfMW and he's down. Vagrant made the last hit. Though her "most powerful enemy disposed" is still bodhi. But they kind of the same really, if we wouldn't count in the mighty escort of Orcus.
The only weak link of this whole tactic is the Wish spell, I was very lucky to get such responses with only two castings. But, things weren't that bad so my party maybe would have a chance even if sorc didn't get such an excelent results from the first cast. But again, careful planning and control was very important. Without it, my party lost the fight in previous runs even with sorc casting several successful wishes.
Still, it was very enjoyable battle. IA is brilliant in the way of presenting such challenges that allow you to spend some time on researching its' aspects, then come up with effective strategy and, of course, receive the satisfaction of implementing it successfully.
Okay. Now, the battle with Orcus. Today I won it without reloads! So I figured i write a 'little' report about it.
SPOILER!
Prebuffs included protection from level drain (have 10, used 5, since protagonist has an amulet of power), potions of storm giant str for kensai and blade (usually my blade wears crom fayer, but in this battle I gave crom to prot-vagrant, who has boots of ranger lord, and left blade with FoA +4), 2x barbaric essense for prot and kensai. Prot and kensai also use their HLA hardiness. Kensai's AC boosted with spirit armor.
Blade has maximum amount of mirror images, stoneskins and PfMW memorized. Also max amount of Delayed Blast fireballs to kill the vampires. He also has about 15 scrolls of PfMW. Uses one before entering the lower crypts (casting from scrolls takes time, and from spellbook it is done immediately due to Eternal Melody armor and Melodic Fury ring).
B-cleric casts regeneration, she also has a ring of gaxx for an additional regen. Her task is to kill grandlord who spawns on the left side of the battlefield very quickly and run away there with thief/mage and sorc. They need to stay alive and help kill vampires with fire damaging spells. Sorc's job is also to Wish and refresh imp. haste if needed. b-cleric is too weak for such an amount of grandlords, so she stays off the battlefield and casts greater restoration until they are dead, then she joins the fight with the leftover vampires and skeleton lords.
So, the party enters the location. Game is immediately paused, I command vagrant, cleric and t/m to summon greater swanmay, spider and lion into the location where the most of grandlords are going to be spawned. That should give us a little time to regroup properly. Skeletons appear. Cleric rushes for the left skeleton; prot, kensai and blade dive into the center, positioning blade in such a way so that he could be the target for the most enemies. Meanwhile, sorc casts haste to improve his and t/m's speed (forgot to do it while pre-buffing).
B-cleric disposes of the skeleton and rushes downwards. Orcus is still on the south of the battlefield, so there is no chance that his second wave of summons will spawn near my mages. I decide to leave them there, near the entrance to the crypt. Prot, kensai and blade have already killed 2 or 3 grandlords, so about 4 or 5 are still active.
Orcus calls his wave of vampires and skeleton lords. Sorc immediately cats two dragon breath spells, one after another. t/m helps with fireball and blade with sunfire. Vampires are badly injured, as well as some skeleton lords (it seems, that the fire sometimes hits them too, as I gathered). On skeleton lord is throwed away by DB right in the direction of cleric. He engages in battle with her, Orcus comes to help (uh-oh). Sorc casts Wish, and I get "Hardiness on the entire party". Wo-hoo! That was really lucky. Now my cleric in less danger.
Also it really boosts up my frontliners' defensive capabilities. They quickly dispose of the grandlords and vampires, and run to help cleric. They get the Orcus to the "injured" state, and he starts to protect himself with PfMW, which we have no way to dispell from him, as I figured.
So here begins the second phase of the battle: we have to survive the new waves of Orcus's summons. He soon calls the second one, and we start beat them. Sorc, blade and t/m damage vampires with fire spells, fighters are disposing of skeleton lords. My party was severely wounded here, and blade was running out of protection spells. So b-c casts Greater Restoration and sorc wishes one more and (wo-hoo! again) gets "make if rested". That is really lucky, I must say. Fighters immediately refresh their hardiness, blade - his magical buffs. Somewhere in between these actions Orcus's PfMW wears off and we manage to him once or twice before he casts another one.
With the third wave comes another problem: protection from level drain has weared off. Unfortunately, kensai, though he has nice AC and hardiness, gets drained to death. Prot has amulet of power, blade - PfMW and other buffs, b-c usually gets charmed, so no harm comes to her and she just stays that way till we kill all the vampires
After that "remove magic" and she's back with us. Tactic is being the same: vampires are hit with fire spells, skeletons are quicky disposed off in melee combat (those boots of ranger lord are quite useful, I must say). After two (I think) such waves Orcus is left with no PfMW and he's down. Vagrant made the last hit. Though her "most powerful enemy disposed" is still bodhi. But they kind of the same really, if we wouldn't count in the mighty escort of Orcus.The only weak link of this whole tactic is the Wish spell, I was very lucky to get such responses with only two castings. But, things weren't that bad so my party maybe would have a chance even if sorc didn't get such an excelent results from the first cast. But again, careful planning and control was very important. Without it, my party lost the fight in previous runs even with sorc casting several successful wishes.
Still, it was very enjoyable battle. IA is brilliant in the way of presenting such challenges that allow you to spend some time on researching its' aspects, then come up with effective strategy and, of course, receive the satisfaction of implementing it successfully.
SPOILER!
On the Githyanki Supreme Leader (cool name btw.) fight, your main priority is to kill this two golem creating with ak47 speed, jokers as quickly as possible. On enter let your strongest fighter/fighters (but not your protagonist, yet.) go straight to them, ignoring evrything else, give him/them two different weapons coz one joker is immune to one kind of damage and the second for another ;] and start whacking like a madman. Let your prot summon two swanmays, let the others summon greater genie, noble spider or three mordekainen swords. And then, this is critical, separate your summons from your party, I mean, leave the summons where they are and let your party go forward to finish off golem hokus-pokusing jokers. The point is to draw attention of the githyanki bunch on your summons and to keep them away from your party concentrated fully on destroying golem creating specialists, as far as possible for as long as possible. This giths are like little puppies severally, but they are pretty annoying and dangerous en masse, not to mention golems will haste them making them quite deadly. It will be really good if you manage to kill Hra'c'knir and Mlar (spelling, LOL) before your summons bite the dust and all the gith bunch returns to entertain you. Don't even think to fight Supreme Leader before you kill everetnig else that moves, try to distract him at all cost, summon rest of the swanmays, summon everything you got I mean everytnig, starting with the strongest summons of course, even hapless kobold may be useful when absorbing Supreme Leader's hit (and he is really, REALLY, good fighter) instead of your prot fighting coin golem. And then, if you have fighter/thief multi, give him a couple of PFMW scrolls and send for the... almost... one on one duel with the Githyanki Supreme Leader... 
QUOTE(critto @ Feb 25 2009, 08:51 PM)
Sikret, sorry about the spoiler about 48-sided gem. I've tried to make it as spoilerless as I could. The problem I described is not solved yet, so I would be very grateful if you'd give your comment on it (maybe, via PM).
No problem. I sent you a PM.
matti, thanks for your input on the Supreme Leader battle. Though I didn't read it fully before finishing the battle myself, I still appreciate it
I will not write a wide report about the battle with githyankis, since it very similar to what matti has written.
But here some key points I figured:
SPOILER!
I will not write a wide report about the battle with githyankis, since it very similar to what matti has written.
But here some key points I figured:
SPOILER!
Getting rid of golem makers is a task for somebody who has the ability to protect himself with magic for a long time. Thus, it should be some kind of F/M or, in my case, blade. I buffed him with Improved Haste, Offensive Spin and Improved Invisibility, so he could quickly get to the golem makers.
While he was finishing them, the rest of my party was fighting the horde of githyankis and the Supreme Leader. Summons really helped here, as matti has pointed out. We managed to stay alive under the Supreme Leader beatings thanks to the good amount of Hardiness HLAs and Contact with Nature of my vagrant. Again, the sorc was very helpful, successfully wishing "make if rested" two times, thus giving the blade an opportunity to hold on a little longer (by the time we finished with the simple gith, blade got rid of the golem makers, but he was surrounded by 20-30 golems!).
I was planning on helping my blade with golems after the Supreme Leader is dead, but I was very surprised when all the golems have vanished after his death. It was very helpful indeed, but I think my party would have managed to finish of the golems (most of them were clay and stone, who are easy killable with Crom Fayer).
While he was finishing them, the rest of my party was fighting the horde of githyankis and the Supreme Leader. Summons really helped here, as matti has pointed out. We managed to stay alive under the Supreme Leader beatings thanks to the good amount of Hardiness HLAs and Contact with Nature of my vagrant. Again, the sorc was very helpful, successfully wishing "make if rested" two times, thus giving the blade an opportunity to hold on a little longer (by the time we finished with the simple gith, blade got rid of the golem makers, but he was surrounded by 20-30 golems!).
I was planning on helping my blade with golems after the Supreme Leader is dead, but I was very surprised when all the golems have vanished after his death. It was very helpful indeed, but I think my party would have managed to finish of the golems (most of them were clay and stone, who are easy killable with Crom Fayer).
QUOTE(critto @ Feb 26 2009, 01:28 PM)
SPOILER!
I buffed him with Improved Haste, Offensive Spin and Improved Invisibility, so he could quickly get to the golem makers.
.
.
Due to a bug of the vanilla game, Blade's Offensive Spin ability stacks with (Improved) Haste resulting in quadruple speed. I have fixed this bug in IA v6, but please don't abuse it as long as you are playing v5. Use either Offensive Spin or Improved Haste on your Blade, but not both of them (don't even use the 3rd level 'Haste' in conjunction with Offensive Spin; it will lead to the same bug).
PS: The same bug existed with the Boots of Speed, but that one has been already fixed even in v5; so, there is no problem/risk in using Improved Haste on a character who has worn the boots.
QUOTE
Due to a bug of the vanilla game, Blade's Offensive Spin ability stacks with (Improved) Haste resulting in quadruple speed. I have fixed this bug in IA v6, but please don't abuse it as long as you are playing v5. Use either Offensive Spin or Improved Haste on your Blade, but not both of them (don't even use the 3rd level 'Haste' in conjunction with Offensive Spin; it will lead to the same bug).
Oh, I didn't know that this was a bug. I thought that is how the things supposed to be under such buff combination. Anyway, I only used this combo 2 or 3 times, and in this battle Blade used it only to get there quickly. His IH soon weared off, so he was using only spins while fighting with the golem makers.
By the way, Melodic Fury ring gives Blade permanent haste, as via the 3rd level spell. So, it turns out, using an Offensive Spin while wearing this ring is also exploiting this bug? Of course, it wouldn't be a problem if Melodic Fury wasn't a cursed item.
PS: I also forged Hespherus sword for my protagonist. It's very useful in certain battles due to it's Sunray ability, but it has one disadvantage also: when the sunray is cast, char just stands there doing nothing for 2 or 3 seconds. Is it a bug or is it how it's supposed to be?
QUOTE(critto @ Feb 26 2009, 03:54 PM)
By the way, Melodic Fury ring gives Blade permanent haste, as via the 3rd level spell. So, it turns out, using an Offensive Spin while wearing this ring is also exploiting this bug?
Unfortunately, yes.
All of the Offensive Spin's bugs (including the other bug which could radically decrease your total number of attacks under certain conditions) are addressed to and solved in v6 (see the progress report for IA v6: Fixes applied to the vanilla game).
QUOTE
PS: I also forged Hespherus sword for my protagonist. It's very useful in certain battles due to it's Sunray ability, but it has one disadvantage also: when the sunray is cast, char just stands there doing nothing for 2 or 3 seconds. Is it a bug or is it how it's supposed to be?
It's not a bug in the accurate sense of the word, but it's not the optimal way this weapon was supposed to work either. As mentioned before in this post, the problem is resolved by replacing the sunray with a much better ability in v6.
QUOTE
All of the Offensive Spin's bugs (including the other bug which could radically decrease your total number of attacks under certain conditions) are addressed to and solved in v6 (see the progress report for IA v6: Fixes applied to the vanilla game).
That's bad. Well, Blade still quite a winner under IH QUOTE
It's not a bug in the accurate sense of the word, but it's not the optimal way this weapon was supposed to work either. As mentioned before in this post, the problem is resolved by replacing the sunray with a much better ability in v6.
That's good to hear. Looking forward to it, because Hespherus seems to be a good pair with FoDaW for Vagrant. Currently my Vagrant does not wield it always, only on occasional battles with the undead.
Some more notes from my current run, since I'm encountering the most fun and challenging battles now.
After the Supreme Leader fight I continued to explore the WK. Saladrex wasn't that hard, but demi-lich battle took some time to win:
SPOILER!
Cleric was a reall winner with his death ward. Also, I forgot that Vagrant's Contact with Nature HLA protects him from Imprisonment. If I were to use it, the battle would've been simplier.
On the fifth level I did everything except Ancient Dragon (tried him a couple of times, but decided to leave him for ToB):
SPOILER!
The most tough battle, after the grave liches, was the 3rd Golem encounter in the Globe. Those Ice Golems really spice things up with their ice storms. Everything else wasn't that tough, since I've got used to dealing with the spiders
The Orc Horde was fun too. I lost the battle for a couple of times because I tried to think offensively rather than defensively. After that I changed my tactic and won.
The Orc Horde was fun too. I lost the battle for a couple of times because I tried to think offensively rather than defensively. After that I changed my tactic and won.
Twisted Rune battle, well... let's just say it was so long that I don't even remember the exact order of things that took place there
SPOILER!
This battle, in short sentence, is a bunch of the most toughies from different types of enemies. Personally, I was more annoyed with Shangalar, than with the beholder. He was running around and casting, and just didn't want to die!
And of course, when you think it is already fun enough, a bunch of golems arrives! Fortunately, I was done with the most of the twisted party, only Shangalar was running like a madman and Layene casting her stuff being invisible. The most funny story about it, when I finished every one off, except the Layne, and she seemed to run out of spells, but didn't want to come out of her invisibility and I had no True Sight memorized! I even thought I'm gonna need to re-do the whole battle because of one spell. But fortunately, we managed to get her break off her invisibility via casting defensive spells which she started to dispell. In that window Blade casted his Breach and fighters were kicking her. Fortunately, we prevailed before sorc ran out of spells
I know, Sikret is going to improve this battle even more, and I'm a little afraid to think about what's going to wait us, humble tacticians, in the next version
And of course, when you think it is already fun enough, a bunch of golems arrives!
Fortunately, I was done with the most of the twisted party, only Shangalar was running like a madman and Layene casting her stuff being invisible. The most funny story about it, when I finished every one off, except the Layne, and she seemed to run out of spells, but didn't want to come out of her invisibility and I had no True Sight memorized! I even thought I'm gonna need to re-do the whole battle because of one spell. But fortunately, we managed to get her break off her invisibility via casting defensive spells which she started to dispell. In that window Blade casted his Breach and fighters were kicking her. Fortunately, we prevailed before sorc ran out of spells I know, Sikret is going to improve this battle even more, and I'm a little afraid to think about what's going to wait us, humble tacticians, in the next version
Everything was done in SoA, so I have gone for Irenicus. The battle in Hell was interesting! Though it is not as hard as an Orcus battle, for example, there are still a lot of things to consider because you cannot let your characters die (their items will get lost during the transportation to ToB). So I had to be sure my fighters protected with Hardiness or magical buffs, and mages should stay quite away from battlefield (and look out for those nasty 3x Finger of Death triggers).
Now I am in ToB. Another funny moment was when I was trying to fight both Nyalie and the horde of skeleton lords. I was thinking that they won't stop until she's dead
Add my beloved spiders on top of that chaos and you can imagine the picture of the battle. But then I figured that the battles aren't connected so I finished them one by one without any serious difficulties.Right now I'm thinking on the Yaga-Shura battle. The main problem here is that my laptop really slows down to the point when the game is like a slide show because of the number of the enemies around. But I'll figure something out.
Okay, I finally managed to beat Yaga-Shura. In order to do that I had to accomplish two things:
SPOILER!
1. Switch off every last graphics settings there is. This will buy me some time before the real slowdown begins
2. Divide and conquer. It is really necessary to use one or two characters to fight with Yaga-Shura escort, so that Shura himself is left alone and unprotected. I used blade for that, since he have plenty of magics to withstand multiple attacks from all those goons. Vagrant and Kensai were kicking Shura. Both drank 3x barbaric essense and used their Hardiness to minimize the damage. It is also a good idea to bring Yaga Shura to someplace where his smite won't throw the characters half the screen away.
Weapons with elemental damage seem to be quite effective against him, but I didn't forge any decent stuff like Poseidon's Wrath or Hammer of Thor, so I tried to maximize the physical damage instead.
Then I went for Ancient Dragon. He was surprisingly easy. Elite Nishruu caused more trouble then the dragon itself. Dracolich was way more chalengable due to character levels not being so high. Finally forged Dragon's Lord halberd for my kensai. The rest of WK was easy.
Oasis battle was quite fun, but I managed to win it with no reloads so there is nothing really particular about the tactics.
Abazigal's hideout was quite easy too. Draconis made some problems, but we prevailed (is it me or is he sometimes immune to Breach? It didn't seem to work every time). Abazigal himself fell so fast like a leaf, I didn't even got time to become frustrated because of the company he summoned to help him. Kensai with Dragon's Lord is a real winner.
Sendai's enclave. Were those drows always so annoying? Anyway, got throught the half of the enclave right now. Sorc with his comets shines here. Kensai also, since his halberd can cast dragon's breath sometimes.
SPOILER!
1. Switch off every last graphics settings there is. This will buy me some time before the real slowdown begins
2. Divide and conquer. It is really necessary to use one or two characters to fight with Yaga-Shura escort, so that Shura himself is left alone and unprotected. I used blade for that, since he have plenty of magics to withstand multiple attacks from all those goons. Vagrant and Kensai were kicking Shura. Both drank 3x barbaric essense and used their Hardiness to minimize the damage. It is also a good idea to bring Yaga Shura to someplace where his smite won't throw the characters half the screen away.
Weapons with elemental damage seem to be quite effective against him, but I didn't forge any decent stuff like Poseidon's Wrath or Hammer of Thor, so I tried to maximize the physical damage instead.
Then I went for Ancient Dragon. He was surprisingly easy. Elite Nishruu caused more trouble then the dragon itself. Dracolich was way more chalengable due to character levels not being so high. Finally forged Dragon's Lord halberd for my kensai. The rest of WK was easy.
Oasis battle was quite fun, but I managed to win it with no reloads so there is nothing really particular about the tactics.
Abazigal's hideout was quite easy too. Draconis made some problems, but we prevailed (is it me or is he sometimes immune to Breach? It didn't seem to work every time). Abazigal himself fell so fast like a leaf, I didn't even got time to become frustrated because of the company he summoned to help him. Kensai with Dragon's Lord is a real winner.
Sendai's enclave. Were those drows always so annoying?
Anyway, got throught the half of the enclave right now. Sorc with his comets shines here. Kensai also, since his halberd can cast dragon's breath sometimes.
Haven't written for a while. Not that there is too much to write right now, since my current run is almost done. Sendai's enclave wasn't that tough, and now I'm thinking how to beat an EDE (I will certainly post a report on it when I beat it).
I decided to try and start another run so I stumbled on some questions while thinking on party composition, so if nobody minds we could have a little discussion about it here.
1. After my first run it seems to me that the party should have two mage-type characters at least. For my current run I was thinking of taking only 1 sorcerer and, maybe, a Cernd. How exactly effective such a combination would be?
2. I was thinking of exploring the thief class and, more precisely, his backstabbing capabilities. How really useful the backstab is in IA? Is it worth it to take a pure assassin into team? There are even some nice items for him in IA to-forge list.
3. Has anybody used monk in IA? I want to try him also since I like monks in general in D&D, but in IA it doesn't seem to be the best choice. From my point of view, he's too weak before 13-14 levels, he gets +3 and +4 enchantment on his fists too late for IA, he cannot be hasted and, since he's not geting his 4 attacks quite right from the start, he's gonna be stuck with low APR for a while. In summary, that means lack of effectiveness. But that's all theory. Anybody tried monks on practice?
In short words, I wanted to bring a little experiment into party composition, go away from standart (3 fighter types, 1 cleric and two mages) party composition. But I don't want to end up being stuck with the party who just not that effective to make it through IA.
I decided to try and start another run so I stumbled on some questions while thinking on party composition, so if nobody minds we could have a little discussion about it here.
1. After my first run it seems to me that the party should have two mage-type characters at least. For my current run I was thinking of taking only 1 sorcerer and, maybe, a Cernd. How exactly effective such a combination would be?
2. I was thinking of exploring the thief class and, more precisely, his backstabbing capabilities. How really useful the backstab is in IA? Is it worth it to take a pure assassin into team? There are even some nice items for him in IA to-forge list.
3. Has anybody used monk in IA? I want to try him also since I like monks in general in D&D, but in IA it doesn't seem to be the best choice. From my point of view, he's too weak before 13-14 levels, he gets +3 and +4 enchantment on his fists too late for IA, he cannot be hasted and, since he's not geting his 4 attacks quite right from the start, he's gonna be stuck with low APR for a while. In summary, that means lack of effectiveness. But that's all theory. Anybody tried monks on practice?
In short words, I wanted to bring a little experiment into party composition, go away from standart (3 fighter types, 1 cleric and two mages) party composition. But I don't want to end up being stuck with the party who just not that effective to make it through IA.
For your questions:
1.Cernd is worth while and makes early and mid-game quite easier, but I don't like him since in late game he is (IMO) just too weak. If I'd take him, however, I'd make a custom specialist mage (conjujer, but that's just me) and dual him to a cleric at lvl9. That way, you have a full-class cleric who can still cast high lvl spells via scroll. A bit low on Hp, however. He'll still have acess to SI, which is good. For more details, you should probably ask people whio have more exp with an Auramaster than me.
2. Asassin is crap. Period. You want to backstabb - fight/thief multi is the way. Or Valygar. Don't dual, since you'll loose acess to fighter HLAs. I believe f/t is one of the best classes in IA, and I had a very easy game with it. HLA Asassination + 8 APR...very quick way of killing numerous oponnents.
Big problem is that you ain't getting HLA's until late, meaning you'll have to depend on your sorcerers Wish - Hardiness to keep him alive. Once in ToB however, there's little they can't respond to.
3. As for Monks...I had Jaheira once as a monk. Nice, but not enough. Magic resistance is good, since mages prioritise Lower resistance prior to killing a Monk with ADHWs. As you already said, inability to be slowed/hasted is practically a pure disadvantage. Slow is useful, but it's easilly countered by a simple Haste. + IA brings in a lot of weapons to forge, most of which are far more powerful than monk's fist will ever be. I got up to the END of WK with monk, but I'd vote against them.
Hope this helped anyway.
1.Cernd is worth while and makes early and mid-game quite easier, but I don't like him since in late game he is (IMO) just too weak. If I'd take him, however, I'd make a custom specialist mage (conjujer, but that's just me) and dual him to a cleric at lvl9. That way, you have a full-class cleric who can still cast high lvl spells via scroll. A bit low on Hp, however. He'll still have acess to SI, which is good. For more details, you should probably ask people whio have more exp with an Auramaster than me.
2. Asassin is crap. Period. You want to backstabb - fight/thief multi is the way. Or Valygar. Don't dual, since you'll loose acess to fighter HLAs. I believe f/t is one of the best classes in IA, and I had a very easy game with it. HLA Asassination + 8 APR...very quick way of killing numerous oponnents.
Big problem is that you ain't getting HLA's until late, meaning you'll have to depend on your sorcerers Wish - Hardiness to keep him alive. Once in ToB however, there's little they can't respond to.
3. As for Monks...I had Jaheira once as a monk. Nice, but not enough. Magic resistance is good, since mages prioritise Lower resistance prior to killing a Monk with ADHWs. As you already said, inability to be slowed/hasted is practically a pure disadvantage. Slow is useful, but it's easilly countered by a simple Haste. + IA brings in a lot of weapons to forge, most of which are far more powerful than monk's fist will ever be. I got up to the END of WK with monk, but I'd vote against them.
Hope this helped anyway.
Thanks for your comments, Kerkes!
1. I think I will try and take Cernd for this run. We'll see how it goes.
2. Yeah, I figured. I've made an assassin for my party, I only left Irenicus' dungeon and I already don't like him. I guess I'll just switch him with Valigar Or with f/t, for that matter. Valigar is cool but I prefer to have somebody with traps and locks skills, since using sorcerer for that stuff is just too annoying for me. Oh, is all that backstabbing forgeable stuff (grandfather of assassins, etc.) usable by f/t? It says 'usable by thief', does that mean 'single-class thief' or 'any thief'?
By the way, what's the opinion on paladins? Are they okay or that 'Enemy evil clerics will control undead and turn paladin' thing makes them less useful? I've made a cavalier as a 2-h weapon expert for my party, but this makes me wonder if I shouldn't have.
1. I think I will try and take Cernd for this run. We'll see how it goes.
2. Yeah, I figured. I've made an assassin for my party, I only left Irenicus' dungeon and I already don't like him. I guess I'll just switch him with Valigar
Or with f/t, for that matter. Valigar is cool but I prefer to have somebody with traps and locks skills, since using sorcerer for that stuff is just too annoying for me. Oh, is all that backstabbing forgeable stuff (grandfather of assassins, etc.) usable by f/t? It says 'usable by thief', does that mean 'single-class thief' or 'any thief'?By the way, what's the opinion on paladins? Are they okay or that 'Enemy evil clerics will control undead and turn paladin' thing makes them less useful? I've made a cavalier as a 2-h weapon expert for my party, but this makes me wonder if I shouldn't have.
Cavalier is definetly the way to go as their immunity to fear makes them unturnable (AFAIK). This will be changed in v6 so enjoy it while you can 
Clerics won't turn any paladin, for as long as it's custom and not your protagonist. You can take an Inquisitor also, and he won't be turned by clerics, only Keldorn and your protagonist (if not Cavalier) will.
Grandfather of Asassins is usable by multi f/t.
Paladins are Ok I guess, altough I would skip over Avenger sword. I find DoTC much more useful.
Grandfather of Asassins is usable by multi f/t.
Paladins are Ok I guess, altough I would skip over Avenger sword. I find DoTC much more useful.
So, I finally made a decision regarding the party composition and started to play slowly in my spare time. Decided to try and write a more detailed walkthrough-style report, if nobody minds. The comments are most certainly welcome. I will update this post with new adventures while I play as per Skiret's request to keep journals in one post.
My current party consists of human cavalier, minsc the berserker, half-elven fighter/mage, half-elven ranger/cleric multi, human swashbuckler and elven sorceress (whom I'll switch for Imoen this time, I think).
Well, anyway, I want to see that JD sword and the grand fight, so I've choosen a single-classed good-aligned warrior (wanted to go with the berserker first, but decided not to). Slightly fixed Minsc was choosen on occasion of me missing his banters ("Boo is outgraged! See his fury? He's small, so look closely. It's there, trust me." - priceless). f/m was choosen since I think it's quite helpful to have one fighter with mage buffs, and blade turned out to be too powerful. r/c was brought in order to introduce a bit more fighting skills to the group at cost of reducing his effectiveness as a divine caster. Swashi is just an experiment: I want to see for myself how exactly (in)effective the pure thieves in IA are.
First of all I've made most of the minor vanilla city quests, raised some initial capital and paid Gaelan Bayle. I haven't gotten out to the out-of-city areas yet, I'm planning on doing it a bit later, when my prot will be strong enough to face Faldorn in 1-on-1 battle (he's a lawful good cavalier, so pure fighting here, no spell disruptions). I've also did both random encounters (Suna-Seni and another one) and improved Copper Coronet. Somewhere in-between these actions I've made one +2 dagger for swashi. The second one we'll find in De'Arnise keep.
After that I went on a little exp-raising adventure: 2 levels of the De'Arnise Keep (except Glacias and the Keep Viper), vanilla stuff in Windspear hills, Umar Hills and Trademeet. Then I've gone for the druid grove. Did everything except Faldorn (my lvl9 paladin couldn't beat her, those damned bears are really annoying). Came back to Trademeet, closed the Ihtafeer quest and bought Blackblood club for my r/c.
After that I've got back to the slums and gone for the sewers. Left Greater Crawler for later date and decide to storm the slavers stockade.
SPOILER!
Two little notes. First of all, the "two halbers +1 = halberd +2" upgrade seems kind of pointless to me. Even though we can get both +1 ones freely (Anarg and Slave Golem), the upgrade itself costs 10000 gp, while I can buy halberd +2 from Ribald for lesser price. I bought one for Minsc after the slavers, the reputation was 18 and the cost was about 4-5k gp.
The second note about swashi. I quite like this character. Though she's not that effective in battle against single tough enemies like Heagan, she's quite useful in distracting and keeping busy the minor troops while Minsc applies the butt-kicking. Back to the report, anyway.
After the slavers I decided to retrieve Lilarcor, Minsc needs +3 sword and a companion for the debates Party goes back to the sewers.
Greater Crawler
SPOILER!
Lilarcor guardians:
SPOILER!
Party levels:
prot - 10.
minsc - 10.
f/m - 9/10.
r/c - 9/9.
swashi - 12.
sorc - 11.
UPDATE: time for some more exp harvesting. Fought guardians near Pai-Na's hideout. I hate spiders.
Went for sewers, I haven't been there yet. Finished Roger's Sea Troll quest. Did the Unseeing Eye quest. Accepted cleric's stronghold.
Decided to go back to De'Arnise keep. Fought Glacias and the Keep Viper first.
Greater Yuan-ti:
SPOILER!
Very funny thing happened here: my prot got feebleminded and his condition wouldn't go away (even after 16 hours rest)! I tried resting even more and he still remained feebleminded. Thankfully, "Dispel Magic" took care of it.
Forged Flail of Ages +3. Now it is time to finish off Tor'Gal.
SPOILER!
Went back to the city, sold the loot, took care of some stronghold duties.
Decided to kill Pai'na.
SPOILER!
Afterwards I went for the guild contact.
SPOILER!
Cleared most of the vampires in Bodhi's lair. Not Tanova though, she's too tough for the party right now. Prot leveled up and got access to the second level priest spells, so I decided to give duel with Faldorn another go.
SPOILER!
The second duel was won easily since character can wear all his equipment. It's funny though, that the great druid gets 10 thousands gp after winning the duel. Like it's some kind of pit fight rather then the challenge for the druid's title. Anyway, I did first druid stronghold quest and went back to Trademeet. Got a lot of exp and gold there, finished off Rejiek for good. Returned to the city, forged Treefolk's Arm +4 and Mace of Disruption +2, both for r/c.
Went to the temple ruins. Shadow Jailor:
SPOILER!
The treasure column in Mazzi's cell gave me one Ruby Ray scroll. Treasure, indeed! Random undead spawns turned out to be pretty tough, so I made a decision to forfeit the exploration of the dungeon until later date.
Returned to the city, forged a Morning Star +3. Performed some stronghold duties, went to rescue Haer'dalis. Also bought some healing potions from Roger. Returned the mirror to Raelis. The troup got busted by bounty hunters, but it's too early to execute a rescue mission yet.
Decided to try battle with Mencar's party. Bought scrolls of Greater Malison and Hold Monster.
Took 2 reloads, the first time swashi got killed.
SPOILER!
Went to Windspear Hills. Cleared everything except Samia, Conster and Firkraag. Returned to the city, sold loot, forged Halberd +3 for Minsc and Improved Dragon Helm for f/m. Also paid a spell-casting license fee and finished cleric's stronghold.
Went to pirates' hideout.
SPOILER!
Sold most of the loot, except for some items. Now, I am very low on money, so I have to consider what items do I want to forge. I can make +2 cloaks, but some of my chars (f/m and swashi) still need +3 weapons for spellhold. So I'll have to prioritize and make equipment for them first. I am also low on permanency scrolls, have only one left. And I will need a lot of them later on.
Rested and fought Borinall.
SPOILER!
Party levels:
prot - 11.
minsc - 12.
f/m - 10/11.
r/c - 10/10.
swashi - 14.
sorc - 12.
UPDATE: Decided to go back to the temple ruins and battle the Shadow Dragon.
SPOILER!
Thax dropped Blade of Roses (random treasure, as I figured), which is nice, since swashi now have a +3 weapon. Went back to the city, forged Shadow Dragon Armor for swashi. Finished the rest of vampires in crypts, reported back to Aran, but refused to go to spellhold yet.
Now it was time to rescue the actors from planar prison.
Elite Bounty Hunter & Co:
SPOILER!
Warden:
SPOILER!
Returned to the city, sold the loot. Forged Morning Star +3 and Phosphorus +4. Went to Planar Sphere.
Halfling Warriors:
SPOILER!
This fight and battle with Pirate Coordinator were really hard without Ruby Ray. Battle with EBH could've been the same, but I got lucky with Emotion there. Now, I have only 5 RR scrolls with me and I need them for Lavok and Tolgerias.
Lavok:
SPOILER!
Demon Plane (took a couple of reloads):
SPOILER!
Tolgerias (took 2 reloads):
SPOILER!
Battle with golems in engine room wasn't that hard. The structure of the battlefield allows to change character positions and heal them if needed. Since I had f/m with magic buffs, I didn't use many potions.
Returned to Lavok and finished the quest. Accepted mage stronghold, sold the loot, paid Ribald for Solamnic Knights, attended to some stronghold duties, forged a +2 ring and cloak. Went to the druid grove, fought spiders in Ogre Tower in order to retrieve Belm for swashi. Returned to the city and sailed to Brynnlaw. Levels are a bit low, but I don't have any encounters which I want to try now.
Party levels, toughest enemy disposed, weapons.
prot - 13, Torgal, dual-wields Phosphorus and Flail of Ages, also has Frostreaver +3.
Minsc - 13, Thax, wields Lilarcor, Cleric's Staff, Halberd +3.
f/m - 11/11, Bone Golem, wields Borok's Fist and Arbane's Sword in main hand, Short Sword +2 off-hand.
r/c - 11/10, Amber Golem, wields Treefolk's Arm and Club +3, also has Mace of Disruption.
swashi - 16, Greater Yuan-Ti, wields Blade of Roses and Pixie's Prick in main hand with Belm off-hand.
sorc - 13, Beastmaster, wields Staffs of Fire and Air, mostly for summoning purposes.
To be continued...
My current party consists of human cavalier, minsc the berserker, half-elven fighter/mage, half-elven ranger/cleric multi, human swashbuckler and elven sorceress (whom I'll switch for Imoen this time, I think).
Well, anyway, I want to see that JD sword and the grand fight, so I've choosen a single-classed good-aligned warrior (wanted to go with the berserker first, but decided not to). Slightly fixed Minsc was choosen on occasion of me missing his banters ("Boo is outgraged! See his fury? He's small, so look closely. It's there, trust me." - priceless). f/m was choosen since I think it's quite helpful to have one fighter with mage buffs, and blade turned out to be too powerful. r/c was brought in order to introduce a bit more fighting skills to the group at cost of reducing his effectiveness as a divine caster. Swashi is just an experiment: I want to see for myself how exactly (in)effective the pure thieves in IA are.
First of all I've made most of the minor vanilla city quests, raised some initial capital and paid Gaelan Bayle. I haven't gotten out to the out-of-city areas yet, I'm planning on doing it a bit later, when my prot will be strong enough to face Faldorn in 1-on-1 battle (he's a lawful good cavalier, so pure fighting here, no spell disruptions). I've also did both random encounters (Suna-Seni and another one) and improved Copper Coronet. Somewhere in-between these actions I've made one +2 dagger for swashi. The second one we'll find in De'Arnise keep.
After that I went on a little exp-raising adventure: 2 levels of the De'Arnise Keep (except Glacias and the Keep Viper), vanilla stuff in Windspear hills, Umar Hills and Trademeet. Then I've gone for the druid grove. Did everything except Faldorn (my lvl9 paladin couldn't beat her, those damned bears are really annoying). Came back to Trademeet, closed the Ihtafeer quest and bought Blackblood club for my r/c.
After that I've got back to the slums and gone for the sewers. Left Greater Crawler for later date and decide to storm the slavers stockade.
SPOILER!
Okay, here's the report. It is not written in round-to-round basis, but gives the main idea of events that took place during the battle.
Party enters through the back door. Buffs: haste, protection from evil, chant, enrage for minsc, SI:Enchantment for sorceress. Then we go in.
Sorceress starts emotion on the cleric.
Prot goes for the cleric with help of the swashi.
Minsc attacks Haegan.
f/m casts slow in direction of the cleric and joins Minsc.
r/c casts hold person on Heagan and also joins Minsc.
Some of the assassins and slavers fell to Emotion.
Swashi and prot are holding the ground.
r/c's Hold person seems to have taken effect on Heagan (no 'saving-throw made' message and the corresponding animation flows over his head), though he still fights actively. Nevertheless his hp's are going down quite fast. Sorc helps with fire arrows.
Mage came to help his comrades.
Prot and swashi are getting overwhelmed. Prot falls to greater malison - emotion trigger. Swashi is all by herself.
Sorc fires another emotion.
Heagan is near death.
Heagan falls. Minsc immediately goes to distract the mage.
r/c joins swashi in battle against the main troops.
f/m is killing the left-over goons near the Heagan's position.
sorc refreshes Haste.
The rest is simple. Mage's SI soon wears off, then Breach and he's history, so are the rest of the troops with him.
The second pack of enemies (golem, mage and goons) are easy. Emotion does the job. Golem is easy too, since I have three chars with piercing weapons.
Party enters through the back door. Buffs: haste, protection from evil, chant, enrage for minsc, SI:Enchantment for sorceress. Then we go in.
Sorceress starts emotion on the cleric.
Prot goes for the cleric with help of the swashi.
Minsc attacks Haegan.
f/m casts slow in direction of the cleric and joins Minsc.
r/c casts hold person on Heagan and also joins Minsc.
Some of the assassins and slavers fell to Emotion.
Swashi and prot are holding the ground.
r/c's Hold person seems to have taken effect on Heagan (no 'saving-throw made' message and the corresponding animation flows over his head), though he still fights actively. Nevertheless his hp's are going down quite fast. Sorc helps with fire arrows.
Mage came to help his comrades.
Prot and swashi are getting overwhelmed. Prot falls to greater malison - emotion trigger. Swashi is all by herself.
Sorc fires another emotion.
Heagan is near death.
Heagan falls. Minsc immediately goes to distract the mage.
r/c joins swashi in battle against the main troops.
f/m is killing the left-over goons near the Heagan's position.
sorc refreshes Haste.
The rest is simple. Mage's SI soon wears off, then Breach and he's history, so are the rest of the troops with him.
The second pack of enemies (golem, mage and goons) are easy. Emotion does the job. Golem is easy too, since I have three chars with piercing weapons.
Two little notes. First of all, the "two halbers +1 = halberd +2" upgrade seems kind of pointless to me. Even though we can get both +1 ones freely (Anarg and Slave Golem), the upgrade itself costs 10000 gp, while I can buy halberd +2 from Ribald for lesser price. I bought one for Minsc after the slavers, the reputation was 18 and the cost was about 4-5k gp.
The second note about swashi. I quite like this character. Though she's not that effective in battle against single tough enemies like Heagan, she's quite useful in distracting and keeping busy the minor troops while Minsc applies the butt-kicking. Back to the report, anyway.
After the slavers I decided to retrieve Lilarcor, Minsc needs +3 sword and a companion for the debates
Party goes back to the sewers.Greater Crawler
SPOILER!
I don't have a lot of +3 weapons. In fact, only r/c has a pair of +3 clubs. So, f/m joins her with the Phantom Blade. Another buffs: Haste, Free Action and DUHM for r/c (actually, I wanted to use Rightious Magic, but forgot to memorize it before resting).
After that it's quite easy. The thing fell just when f/m used up his last stoneskin.
After that it's quite easy. The thing fell just when f/m used up his last stoneskin.
Lilarcor guardians:
SPOILER!
Emotion and blunt weapons are the key things in battle against the rat packs.
The shadow lover is way more dangerous, since he drains strength quite fast and party doesn't have a lot of str potions, so I have to carefully monitor the condition of my characters. Otherwise, it's pretty much the matter of simple "haste-and-slash".
The shadow lover is way more dangerous, since he drains strength quite fast and party doesn't have a lot of str potions, so I have to carefully monitor the condition of my characters. Otherwise, it's pretty much the matter of simple "haste-and-slash".
Party levels:
prot - 10.
minsc - 10.
f/m - 9/10.
r/c - 9/9.
swashi - 12.
sorc - 11.
UPDATE: time for some more exp harvesting. Fought guardians near Pai-Na's hideout. I hate spiders.
Went for sewers, I haven't been there yet. Finished Roger's Sea Troll quest. Did the Unseeing Eye quest. Accepted cleric's stronghold.
Decided to go back to De'Arnise keep. Fought Glacias and the Keep Viper first.
Greater Yuan-ti:
SPOILER!
Pre-buffs: chant, bless, mirror image, stoneskin, haste, chaotic command for f/m, SI:Enchantment for sorceress, enrage for Minsc.
Whisper confuses prot, but dies quickly nevertheless.
Greater Yuan-Ti arrives. Minsc goes to welcome him.
f/m and sorc start Secret Word from scrolls.
Greater casts Remove Magic on Minsc.
r/c joins Minsc.
prot severely injured after spider, so he heals himself with "lay on hands".
Greater casts Greater Malison on f/m.
sorc starts another Secret Word.
f/m starts Lower Resistance.
Greater casts sequencer on r/c, she falls all three saves, whereas Minsc saves against all three
f/m starts another Lower Resistance.
prot and swashi go to help Minsc in battle.
sorc starts Emotion.
Greater uses scroll to read True Sight.
f/m fires Magic Missile (to get read of mirror images, mostly).
sorc starts another Emotion (first one was no luck).
Greater casts feeblemind on prot.
Greater falls to Emotion.
The battle is finished. The rest is done by melee attacks.
Whisper confuses prot, but dies quickly nevertheless.
Greater Yuan-Ti arrives. Minsc goes to welcome him.
f/m and sorc start Secret Word from scrolls.
Greater casts Remove Magic on Minsc.
r/c joins Minsc.
prot severely injured after spider, so he heals himself with "lay on hands".
Greater casts Greater Malison on f/m.
sorc starts another Secret Word.
f/m starts Lower Resistance.
Greater casts sequencer on r/c, she falls all three saves, whereas Minsc saves against all three
f/m starts another Lower Resistance.
prot and swashi go to help Minsc in battle.
sorc starts Emotion.
Greater uses scroll to read True Sight.
f/m fires Magic Missile (to get read of mirror images, mostly).
sorc starts another Emotion (first one was no luck).
Greater casts feeblemind on prot.
Greater falls to Emotion.
The battle is finished. The rest is done by melee attacks.
Very funny thing happened here: my prot got feebleminded and his condition wouldn't go away (even after 16 hours rest)! I tried resting even more and he still remained feebleminded. Thankfully, "Dispel Magic" took care of it.
Forged Flail of Ages +3. Now it is time to finish off Tor'Gal.
SPOILER!
The buffs were very similar to the Greater Yuan-ti battle. I also used 3 fire giant str potions and 1 hill giant to improved THAC0 of my warriors. Took me 3 reloads before I decided to use them.
I don't like to fight in the hall where Tor'gal resides, so I lure him and his goons to the umberhulks room.
Tor'gal slows down a little before going in, so we get about 1 round to do some damage to one of the trolls.
When Tor'gal enters, everybody attacks him, except swashi - she engages the trolls.
Sorc distracts the gem golem, so he won't bother the warriors. Stoneskins and mirror images help her to stay alive. Meanwhile she helps swashi to finish off trolls with acid arrows.
Shortly after that Tor'gal dies, and so does the Gem Golem.
I don't like to fight in the hall where Tor'gal resides, so I lure him and his goons to the umberhulks room.
Tor'gal slows down a little before going in, so we get about 1 round to do some damage to one of the trolls.
When Tor'gal enters, everybody attacks him, except swashi - she engages the trolls.
Sorc distracts the gem golem, so he won't bother the warriors. Stoneskins and mirror images help her to stay alive. Meanwhile she helps swashi to finish off trolls with acid arrows.
Shortly after that Tor'gal dies, and so does the Gem Golem.
Went back to the city, sold the loot, took care of some stronghold duties.
Decided to kill Pai'na.
SPOILER!
I hate spiders!
Anyway, Free Action is necessary here. Also, my sorc hit level 12 after Tor'gal, so she had Improved Haste, which is nice.
Greater Yuan-ti left us a couple of Chain Lightning scrolls which are quite useful to get rid of small spiders.
The most trouble here are killer spiders (char fails save against web - he's dead). Pai'na isn't that hard, it just the matter of breaching her in the beginning of the battle.
Anyway, Free Action is necessary here. Also, my sorc hit level 12 after Tor'gal, so she had Improved Haste, which is nice.
Greater Yuan-ti left us a couple of Chain Lightning scrolls which are quite useful to get rid of small spiders.
The most trouble here are killer spiders (char fails save against web - he's dead). Pai'na isn't that hard, it just the matter of breaching her in the beginning of the battle.
Afterwards I went for the guild contact.
SPOILER!
This battle is quite easy. Improve-hasted warriors took care of Gracen with help of Breach from sorc, while f/m (with Amulet of Power) kept Vampire Bride busy.
Cleared most of the vampires in Bodhi's lair. Not Tanova though, she's too tough for the party right now. Prot leveled up and got access to the second level priest spells, so I decided to give duel with Faldorn another go.
SPOILER!
That was quite fun, actually. I cast Hold Person on her (thanks to Kerkes for the hint) and started to beat her. When she was badly wounded the spell effect was gone, but since she had no ironskins, I was quite successful at interrupting her spells. In the 'near death' condition she just fell unconsious! And for some reason my paladin wouldn't hit her anymore. Though picking up the staff from the ground did the trick: the duel was won (not really in a paladin style, but what the heck)!
The second duel was won easily since character can wear all his equipment. It's funny though, that the great druid gets 10 thousands gp after winning the duel. Like it's some kind of pit fight rather then the challenge for the druid's title. Anyway, I did first druid stronghold quest and went back to Trademeet. Got a lot of exp and gold there, finished off Rejiek for good. Returned to the city, forged Treefolk's Arm +4 and Mace of Disruption +2, both for r/c.
Went to the temple ruins. Shadow Jailor:
SPOILER!
Skeleton lords are quite challenging at this point.
Buffs: Improved Haste, Chant, DUHM, enrage, stoneskins and ironskins. Everybody uses blunt weapons.
The key here is to divide skeleton lords and the jailor. f/m and r/c, having magical protections, take care of lords, while prot and Minsc beat the jailor. Even with this scenario both prot and Minsc got badly injured and had to consume some potions during the course of battle.
Buffs: Improved Haste, Chant, DUHM, enrage, stoneskins and ironskins. Everybody uses blunt weapons.
The key here is to divide skeleton lords and the jailor. f/m and r/c, having magical protections, take care of lords, while prot and Minsc beat the jailor. Even with this scenario both prot and Minsc got badly injured and had to consume some potions during the course of battle.
The treasure column in Mazzi's cell gave me one Ruby Ray scroll. Treasure, indeed!
Random undead spawns turned out to be pretty tough, so I made a decision to forfeit the exploration of the dungeon until later date.Returned to the city, forged a Morning Star +3. Performed some stronghold duties, went to rescue Haer'dalis. Also bought some healing potions from Roger. Returned the mirror to Raelis. The troup got busted by bounty hunters, but it's too early to execute a rescue mission yet.
Decided to try battle with Mencar's party. Bought scrolls of Greater Malison and Hold Monster.
Took 2 reloads, the first time swashi got killed.
SPOILER!
Buffs: Chant, Haste, Improved Haste (for warriors), enrage.
We go in. Swashi attacks the thief.
Prot and Minsc attack Mencar.
r/c attacks Smaeluv (or something, the barbarian).
f/m starts Greater Malison on Pooky.
sorc starts Hold Monster on Pooky.
The fight begins.
Thief goes invisible. Swashi activates detect illusions. Unsuccessful.
Amon got held. Pooky made his save.
sorc starts Emotion.
f/m starts Slow.
Pooky casts Greater Malison.
Thief goes invisible again, hits swashi bad. She drinks healing potion.
f/m casts Slow and goes to help r/c.
Sorc casts Emotion. Amon got hit, everybody else's saved.
Pooky casts Slow. We got hit by it. Everybody, except prot and Minsc, failed saves.
sorc starts another Emotion.
Thief tries backstab on swashi again, but gets detected by her.
Mencar activates hardiness, but that doesn't help him. He dies.
Minsc goes to help swashi. Prot goes to help f/m and r/c.
Pooky and Amon got unconsious. Wo-hoo!
Smaeluv falls.
Thief tries another backstab (unsuccessfully, again) and dies shortly afterwards.
Pooky and Amon are history soon enough.
We go in. Swashi attacks the thief.
Prot and Minsc attack Mencar.
r/c attacks Smaeluv (or something, the barbarian).
f/m starts Greater Malison on Pooky.
sorc starts Hold Monster on Pooky.
The fight begins.
Thief goes invisible. Swashi activates detect illusions. Unsuccessful.
Amon got held. Pooky made his save.
sorc starts Emotion.
f/m starts Slow.
Pooky casts Greater Malison.
Thief goes invisible again, hits swashi bad. She drinks healing potion.
f/m casts Slow and goes to help r/c.
Sorc casts Emotion. Amon got hit, everybody else's saved.
Pooky casts Slow. We got hit by it. Everybody, except prot and Minsc, failed saves.
sorc starts another Emotion.
Thief tries backstab on swashi again, but gets detected by her.
Mencar activates hardiness, but that doesn't help him. He dies.
Minsc goes to help swashi. Prot goes to help f/m and r/c.
Pooky and Amon got unconsious. Wo-hoo!
Smaeluv falls.
Thief tries another backstab (unsuccessfully, again) and dies shortly afterwards.
Pooky and Amon are history soon enough.
Went to Windspear Hills. Cleared everything except Samia, Conster and Firkraag. Returned to the city, sold loot, forged Halberd +3 for Minsc and Improved Dragon Helm for f/m. Also paid a spell-casting license fee and finished cleric's stronghold.
Went to pirates' hideout.
SPOILER!
Pre-buffs are the usual: stoneskins, mirrors, chant, enrage, improved haste, free action, chaotic commands.
Party goes in. Everybody, except sorc, attacks captain.
Coordinator's buffs kick in.
Sorc casts Emotion.
Coordinator casts True Sight.
Captain: GWW.
Sorc casts SI:Abjuration (presumed that coordinator will fire Ruby Ray).
Captain is dead.
Coordinator casts True Sight.
Fighters concentrate on pirates.
Coordinator breaches f/m. f/m refreshes stoneskin.
Swashi and prot drink healing potions.
Coordinator breaches f/m again. f/m refreshes his skins again.
And he breaches again, scumbag!
Swashi retreats to the exit (she doesn't need to be around when damaging spells will start to fly).
r/c tries Silence.
Coordinator throws another breach at f/m, which is strange since he had only mirrors at the time.
Coordinator casts remove magic.
Sorc tries remove magic also, unsuccessfully, of course.
Coordinator fires Malison and 3xFoD contingency at f/m. He dies.
That's it! sorc fires one precious Ruby Ray scroll. SI is down.
Fighters proceed in melee.
Coordinator: Absolute Immunity.
Swashi comes to dispel illusions.
Coordinator: Mirror Image and Contingency: Fire Shield.
Coordinator casts slow.
Sorc casts haste.
Coordinator casts spell sequencer with divination buffs.
Swashi dispels his invisibility.
Sorc breaches him.
Coordinator's contingency: Stoneskin kicks in. He also uses on Absolute Immunity scroll.
Sorc casts breach.
Coordinator fires 3xChain Lightning trigger. Minsc is killed!
And that's it. He has no protections, so he's down. My fighters kill him.
Decided not to reload, though it's shameful that Minsc got killed.
Party goes in. Everybody, except sorc, attacks captain.
Coordinator's buffs kick in.
Sorc casts Emotion.
Coordinator casts True Sight.
Captain: GWW.
Sorc casts SI:Abjuration (presumed that coordinator will fire Ruby Ray).
Captain is dead.
Coordinator casts True Sight.
Fighters concentrate on pirates.
Coordinator breaches f/m. f/m refreshes stoneskin.
Swashi and prot drink healing potions.
Coordinator breaches f/m again. f/m refreshes his skins again.
And he breaches again, scumbag!
Swashi retreats to the exit (she doesn't need to be around when damaging spells will start to fly).
r/c tries Silence.
Coordinator throws another breach at f/m, which is strange since he had only mirrors at the time.
Coordinator casts remove magic.
Sorc tries remove magic also, unsuccessfully, of course.
Coordinator fires Malison and 3xFoD contingency at f/m. He dies.
That's it! sorc fires one precious Ruby Ray scroll. SI is down.
Fighters proceed in melee.
Coordinator: Absolute Immunity.
Swashi comes to dispel illusions.
Coordinator: Mirror Image and Contingency: Fire Shield.
Coordinator casts slow.
Sorc casts haste.
Coordinator casts spell sequencer with divination buffs.
Swashi dispels his invisibility.
Sorc breaches him.
Coordinator's contingency: Stoneskin kicks in. He also uses on Absolute Immunity scroll.
Sorc casts breach.
Coordinator fires 3xChain Lightning trigger. Minsc is killed!
And that's it. He has no protections, so he's down. My fighters kill him.
Decided not to reload, though it's shameful that Minsc got killed.
Sold most of the loot, except for some items. Now, I am very low on money, so I have to consider what items do I want to forge. I can make +2 cloaks, but some of my chars (f/m and swashi) still need +3 weapons for spellhold. So I'll have to prioritize and make equipment for them first. I am also low on permanency scrolls, have only one left. And I will need a lot of them later on.
Rested and fought Borinall.
SPOILER!
Buffs are the usual. Protection from lightning is very important here.
Party enters the house and immediately circles Borinall. f/m stands on the left, so he could also take hits from Amber Golem. The fight begins. Everybody concentrate their attacks on Borinall. When rune assassins appear, f/m and r/c stop hitting Borinall and focus their attention on them (poison attacks are nasty!). Swashi takes care of minor goons, then comes to help with the assassins. Sorc breaches Borinall. Once he's dead, we finish off the golem.
Party enters the house and immediately circles Borinall. f/m stands on the left, so he could also take hits from Amber Golem. The fight begins. Everybody concentrate their attacks on Borinall. When rune assassins appear, f/m and r/c stop hitting Borinall and focus their attention on them (poison attacks are nasty!). Swashi takes care of minor goons, then comes to help with the assassins. Sorc breaches Borinall. Once he's dead, we finish off the golem.
Party levels:
prot - 11.
minsc - 12.
f/m - 10/11.
r/c - 10/10.
swashi - 14.
sorc - 12.
UPDATE: Decided to go back to the temple ruins and battle the Shadow Dragon.
SPOILER!
I haven't made a complete log of my battle, since I forgot to take notes from the start.
The buffs were the usual. DUHM was also used to increase the strength of r/c and prot. r/c also had Zone of Sweet Air memorized.
Sorc casts Lower Resistance to initiate the battle.
Everybody goes into melee. Dragon uses two contingencies first, but Breach takes care of them.
After that he either attacks in melee or tries to breach f/m (he's got enough stoneskins, to keep dragon busy). He also refreshes PfMW a lot, but sorc got enough breaches. Death fogs are no problem, since r/c has ZoSA.
Dragon managed to heal himself once, but that didn't helped him much. He was dead soon enough.
The buffs were the usual. DUHM was also used to increase the strength of r/c and prot. r/c also had Zone of Sweet Air memorized.
Sorc casts Lower Resistance to initiate the battle.
Everybody goes into melee. Dragon uses two contingencies first, but Breach takes care of them.
After that he either attacks in melee or tries to breach f/m (he's got enough stoneskins, to keep dragon busy). He also refreshes PfMW a lot, but sorc got enough breaches. Death fogs are no problem, since r/c has ZoSA.
Dragon managed to heal himself once, but that didn't helped him much. He was dead soon enough.
Thax dropped Blade of Roses (random treasure, as I figured), which is nice, since swashi now have a +3 weapon. Went back to the city, forged Shadow Dragon Armor for swashi. Finished the rest of vampires in crypts, reported back to Aran, but refused to go to spellhold yet.
Now it was time to rescue the actors from planar prison.
Elite Bounty Hunter & Co:
SPOILER!
Buffs are the usual, plus Chaotic Commands.
Sorc and f/m cast Magic Missile on cleric.
r/c and swashi proceed to battle the goons.
prot and Minsc go for EBH and hounds.
EBH casts PfMW from scroll.
Cleric casts Greater Command, everybody saves.
Sorc casts Magic Missile on cleric.
Swashi finishes off the rest of goons.
EBH breaches f/m, he refreshes it.
Prot and Minsc drink potions of fire resistance. They switch to normal weapons.
EBH breaches sorc this time. Sorc refreshes stone skins.
Prot and Minsc drink healing potions.
EBH: PfMW.
The fight continues.
EBH: Remove Magic.
Prot and Minsc take heavy damage.
Sorc casts Emotion.
EBH unconsious! That's fortunate, I gotta say.
Prot and Minsc both drink another potion of fire resistance and start hitting EBH.
EBH's SI wears off. Sorc casts Breach. End of story.
Sorc and f/m cast Magic Missile on cleric.
r/c and swashi proceed to battle the goons.
prot and Minsc go for EBH and hounds.
EBH casts PfMW from scroll.
Cleric casts Greater Command, everybody saves.
Sorc casts Magic Missile on cleric.
Swashi finishes off the rest of goons.
EBH breaches f/m, he refreshes it.
Prot and Minsc drink potions of fire resistance. They switch to normal weapons.
EBH breaches sorc this time. Sorc refreshes stone skins.
Prot and Minsc drink healing potions.
EBH: PfMW.
The fight continues.
EBH: Remove Magic.
Prot and Minsc take heavy damage.
Sorc casts Emotion.
EBH unconsious! That's fortunate, I gotta say.
Prot and Minsc both drink another potion of fire resistance and start hitting EBH.
EBH's SI wears off. Sorc casts Breach. End of story.
Warden:
SPOILER!
This battle is easier than the previous one. Four improved hasted warriors mopped the floor with Warden quite fast.
First we disposed of two hounds. Then the Warden came with an escort of two mordy swords. Two Ruby Rays were immediately fired at him, followed by pair of breaches. He tried to protect himself some more with stoneskins and hardiness, but they were breached too. Swords were taken care of with Death spell. Swashi was distracting the hounds. She's got very nice AC (the highest in the party), so they hit her only on rare occasions.
First we disposed of two hounds. Then the Warden came with an escort of two mordy swords. Two Ruby Rays were immediately fired at him, followed by pair of breaches. He tried to protect himself some more with stoneskins and hardiness, but they were breached too. Swords were taken care of with Death spell. Swashi was distracting the hounds. She's got very nice AC (the highest in the party), so they hit her only on rare occasions.
Returned to the city, sold the loot. Forged Morning Star +3 and Phosphorus +4. Went to Planar Sphere.
Halfling Warriors:
SPOILER!
Pre-buffs, then party goes in.
The first one to appear is Togan the archer. Prot, Minsc and r/c attack him.
f/m goes to distract the mage.
Sorc casts SI:Enchantment (forgot to do it while prebuffing).
Mage casts True Sight.
f/m attack Entu (the warrior or something).
Togan is dead. Minsc goes to help f/m.
Prot and r/c attack the cleric.
Swashi tries to dispel mage's illusion buffs.
Entu does quite a lot of damage to Minsc. He drinks potion.
Mage summons mordy sword.
Sorc casts Fire Arrow at Entu.
Cleric is dead. Prot and r/c attack Entu.
Minsc tries to retreat, but falls (dammit!).
Mage casts Greater Malison.
Entu dies.
Mage casts 3xFinger of Death on f/m. He saves (if he failed, I would've reload).
Everybody's hitting mordy sword.
Mage fires spell sequencer (emotion, etc.).
Swashi and r/c fall to Emotion. Prot and f/m got slowed.
Sorc casts Haste.
Mage casts Wilting. Party takes damage.
Then he Breaches f/m.
f/m refreshes Mirror Image.
Mage continues to fire damaging spells at my party.
His SI wears off. Finally!
Two breaches and he's dead.
The first one to appear is Togan the archer. Prot, Minsc and r/c attack him.
f/m goes to distract the mage.
Sorc casts SI:Enchantment (forgot to do it while prebuffing).
Mage casts True Sight.
f/m attack Entu (the warrior or something).
Togan is dead. Minsc goes to help f/m.
Prot and r/c attack the cleric.
Swashi tries to dispel mage's illusion buffs.
Entu does quite a lot of damage to Minsc. He drinks potion.
Mage summons mordy sword.
Sorc casts Fire Arrow at Entu.
Cleric is dead. Prot and r/c attack Entu.
Minsc tries to retreat, but falls (dammit!).
Mage casts Greater Malison.
Entu dies.
Mage casts 3xFinger of Death on f/m. He saves (if he failed, I would've reload).
Everybody's hitting mordy sword.
Mage fires spell sequencer (emotion, etc.).
Swashi and r/c fall to Emotion. Prot and f/m got slowed.
Sorc casts Haste.
Mage casts Wilting. Party takes damage.
Then he Breaches f/m.
f/m refreshes Mirror Image.
Mage continues to fire damaging spells at my party.
His SI wears off. Finally!
Two breaches and he's dead.
This fight and battle with Pirate Coordinator were really hard without Ruby Ray. Battle with EBH could've been the same, but I got lucky with Emotion there. Now, I have only 5 RR scrolls with me and I need them for Lavok and Tolgerias.
Lavok:
SPOILER!
After the dialog appears, Prot and Minsc rush for Lavok.
f/m and sorc start casting Ruby Ray from scrolls.
r/c and swashi wait for golems to appear.
Sorc casts another Ruby Ray. f/m prepares to Breach.
Lavok: PfMW.
Golems appear.
Lavok casts Ruby Ray at sorc.
f/m casts Breach.
Lavok uses scroll of PfMW, but sorc's Breach already in the air.
Minsc got hurt by golems badly, he retreats. f/m and r/c take his place.
Lavok uses another PfMW scroll, but sorc strikes with Breach pre-emptively.
Prot delivers the final blow. Lavok falls, golems disappear.
f/m and sorc start casting Ruby Ray from scrolls.
r/c and swashi wait for golems to appear.
Sorc casts another Ruby Ray. f/m prepares to Breach.
Lavok: PfMW.
Golems appear.
Lavok casts Ruby Ray at sorc.
f/m casts Breach.
Lavok uses scroll of PfMW, but sorc's Breach already in the air.
Minsc got hurt by golems badly, he retreats. f/m and r/c take his place.
Lavok uses another PfMW scroll, but sorc strikes with Breach pre-emptively.
Prot delivers the final blow. Lavok falls, golems disappear.
Demon Plane (took a couple of reloads):
SPOILER!
Very exciting battle. Pre-buffs: Improved Haste, DUHM, Free Action, Enrage.
Free Action is very important here. If character gets held - he's dead. It's good to have f/m on board. He can take considerable amount of blows without being actually hurt. The key here is to get rid of Skeleton Lords fast. So all warriors attack them, one at a time. Then the demon. Mazureshi (spelled this wrong, didn't I?) are annoying, but not that dangerous. They can be taken care of after the main enemies are dead. Summons are good to divert their attention for a couple of rounds.
Free Action is very important here. If character gets held - he's dead. It's good to have f/m on board. He can take considerable amount of blows without being actually hurt. The key here is to get rid of Skeleton Lords fast. So all warriors attack them, one at a time. Then the demon. Mazureshi (spelled this wrong, didn't I?) are annoying, but not that dangerous. They can be taken care of after the main enemies are dead. Summons are good to divert their attention for a couple of rounds.
Tolgerias (took 2 reloads):
SPOILER!
After pre-buffing (Improved Haste, stoneskins, mirror images, SI) party goes in.
Prot goes for Planetar. Minsc, swashi and r/c go for the side-kick mage.
f/m and sorc start the last ruby ray scrolls on Tolgerias.
Mage summon mordy sword.
Tolgerias casts True Sight.
Planetar casts Greater Command in the same moment sidekick casts Malison!
Prot and r/c fail the save.
f/m casts Slow.
Tolgerias Ruby Rays the sorc. She recasts SI again.
f/m finishes off planetar, goes for the sidekick.
Tolgerias breaches f/m. f/m refreshes stoneskin.
Sidekick's physical protections wear off. Minsc scores a critical, sidekick's gone.
Fighters attack mordy.
Tolgerias Ruby Rays the sorc again. She recasts SI again.
Tolgerias uses scroll (dunno, what it was).
Fighters finish off mordy. Go for Tolgerias.
Tolgerias breaches f/m. He refreshes the skins.
Prot and r/c wake up.
Tolgerias casts Remove Magic. Most of the buffs are gone.
Sorc casts Emotion.
Swashi retreats (ADHW's might start flying very soon).
Fighters deal heavy damage to Tolgerias, but also takes quite a lot from Fire Shield.
Tolgerias fires 3xFoD at f/m, he saves (haven't even noticed this one at first).
Fighters has punched through stoneskins and r/c has delivered the final blow. Tolgerias is finally dead, with his SI still active.
Taking an active action here against Tolgerias is very important. I failed to win the first time because I didn't attack him after the goons, wanted to wait out his SI, so he's gone mad with ADHW's and Comets, which is a most certain reload at this stage.
Prot goes for Planetar. Minsc, swashi and r/c go for the side-kick mage.
f/m and sorc start the last ruby ray scrolls on Tolgerias.
Mage summon mordy sword.
Tolgerias casts True Sight.
Planetar casts Greater Command in the same moment sidekick casts Malison!
Prot and r/c fail the save.
f/m casts Slow.
Tolgerias Ruby Rays the sorc. She recasts SI again.
f/m finishes off planetar, goes for the sidekick.
Tolgerias breaches f/m. f/m refreshes stoneskin.
Sidekick's physical protections wear off. Minsc scores a critical, sidekick's gone.
Fighters attack mordy.
Tolgerias Ruby Rays the sorc again. She recasts SI again.
Tolgerias uses scroll (dunno, what it was).
Fighters finish off mordy. Go for Tolgerias.
Tolgerias breaches f/m. He refreshes the skins.
Prot and r/c wake up.
Tolgerias casts Remove Magic. Most of the buffs are gone.
Sorc casts Emotion.
Swashi retreats (ADHW's might start flying very soon).
Fighters deal heavy damage to Tolgerias, but also takes quite a lot from Fire Shield.
Tolgerias fires 3xFoD at f/m, he saves (haven't even noticed this one at first).
Fighters has punched through stoneskins and r/c has delivered the final blow. Tolgerias is finally dead, with his SI still active.
Taking an active action here against Tolgerias is very important. I failed to win the first time because I didn't attack him after the goons, wanted to wait out his SI, so he's gone mad with ADHW's and Comets, which is a most certain reload at this stage.
Battle with golems in engine room wasn't that hard. The structure of the battlefield allows to change character positions and heal them if needed. Since I had f/m with magic buffs, I didn't use many potions.
Returned to Lavok and finished the quest. Accepted mage stronghold, sold the loot, paid Ribald for Solamnic Knights, attended to some stronghold duties, forged a +2 ring and cloak. Went to the druid grove, fought spiders in Ogre Tower in order to retrieve Belm for swashi. Returned to the city and sailed to Brynnlaw. Levels are a bit low, but I don't have any encounters which I want to try now.
Party levels, toughest enemy disposed, weapons.
prot - 13, Torgal, dual-wields Phosphorus and Flail of Ages, also has Frostreaver +3.
Minsc - 13, Thax, wields Lilarcor, Cleric's Staff, Halberd +3.
f/m - 11/11, Bone Golem, wields Borok's Fist and Arbane's Sword in main hand, Short Sword +2 off-hand.
r/c - 11/10, Amber Golem, wields Treefolk's Arm and Club +3, also has Mace of Disruption.
swashi - 16, Greater Yuan-Ti, wields Blade of Roses and Pixie's Prick in main hand with Belm off-hand.
sorc - 13, Beastmaster, wields Staffs of Fire and Air, mostly for summoning purposes.
To be continued...
QUOTE(critto @ Apr 2 2009, 03:25 PM)
SPOILER!
r/c's Hold person seems to have taken effect on Heagan (no 'saving-throw made' message and the corresponding animation flows over his head), though he still fights actively. Nevertheless his hp's are going down quite fast.
He's immune to hold, I guess he should also be made immune to the hold animation that appears above his head.
QUOTE
He's immune to hold, I guess he should also be made immune to the hold animation that appears above his head.
Agree. I also noticed that if character is held and "Free Action" is being cast on him, then hold effect wears off, but the animation still exists.
Some toughts of mine just for you:
Swash is very good actually. Up until you exit Underdark, he's awsome. Just get that +3 buckler upgrade for him + Belm + Bluntness Girdle. However, from my experience, low Hp, inability to use Hardiness and such will get him killed on a regular basis in late fights, like Chromatic Demon. Takes a lot of micromanagment. As I said, in early and mid-game, you'll love him. He-ll get better in a month anyway.
For item upgrades - I believe (I'm not sure about it) that +2 Halberd you can buy is actually Suriys (or something) halberd. It is a +2 halberd. But not the one you can upgrade to a +3 wpn. Your point is valid however, there are upgrades for +2 flail which are more expensive than the flail itself.
For partty composition / well, good luck. I never played multi rang/cler in IA. You get Restoration very late, and with your party (swash, berserker, cavalier) you will need it as soon as possible.
Faldorn will be very hard without spell disruption. Very, very hard. Those bears are deadly when your AC is 6.. Or, uninstall Multi Stronghold and let Cernd beat the crap out of her. Or some spell slots (SPOILER!
Swash is very good actually. Up until you exit Underdark, he's awsome. Just get that +3 buckler upgrade for him + Belm + Bluntness Girdle. However, from my experience, low Hp, inability to use Hardiness and such will get him killed on a regular basis in late fights, like Chromatic Demon. Takes a lot of micromanagment. As I said, in early and mid-game, you'll love him. He-ll get better in a month anyway.
For item upgrades - I believe (I'm not sure about it) that +2 Halberd you can buy is actually Suriys (or something) halberd. It is a +2 halberd. But not the one you can upgrade to a +3 wpn. Your point is valid however, there are upgrades for +2 flail which are more expensive than the flail itself.
For partty composition / well, good luck. I never played multi rang/cler in IA. You get Restoration very late, and with your party (swash, berserker, cavalier) you will need it as soon as possible.
Faldorn will be very hard without spell disruption. Very, very hard. Those bears are deadly when your AC is 6.. Or, uninstall Multi Stronghold and let Cernd beat the crap out of her. Or some spell slots (SPOILER!
Hold person could work on her).
QUOTE
Swash is very good actually. Up until you exit Underdark, he's awsome. Just get that +3 buckler upgrade for him + Belm + Bluntness Girdle. However, from my experience, low Hp, inability to use Hardiness and such will get him killed on a regular basis in late fights, like Chromatic Demon. Takes a lot of micromanagment. As I said, in early and mid-game, you'll love him. He-ll get better in a month anyway.
Yeah, I know. Things could get tough for swashi in mid-late game. I even considered to dual her into fighter until it's too late, but decided not to. Micromanagement indeed is an issue with swashi but it's kinda fun. So, I'll just play and see what happens QUOTE
For partty composition / well, good luck. I never played multi rang/cler in IA. You get Restoration very late, and with your party (swash, berserker, cavalier) you will need it as soon as possible.
Good point here too. I thought of it while planning the party. But I've seen some positive opinions on r/c's in IA, so decided to try one for myself. Well, anyway, it's an experiment of sorts.
QUOTE
For item upgrades - I believe (I'm not sure about it) that +2 Halberd you can buy is actually Suriys (or something) halberd. It is a +2 halberd. But not the one you can upgrade to a +3 wpn. Your point is valid however, there are upgrades for +2 flail which are more expensive than the flail itself.
This halberd is indeed "Suriys something", but Cromwell can forge a +3 weapon from it, I just checked After all, it just a Halberd +2 (judging by its primary name and stats). "Suriys" is a part of the description only.QUOTE
Faldorn will be very hard without spell disruption. Very, very hard. Those bears are deadly when your AC is 6.. Or, uninstall Multi Stronghold and let Cernd beat the crap out of her. Or some spell slots
Agreed. I've thought about using Cernd to win this battle, but I'm unsure if everything will be okay because of these re-installs (I've already started thief and cleric strongholds).
QUOTE(Raven @ Apr 2 2009, 08:04 PM)
QUOTE(critto @ Apr 2 2009, 03:25 PM)
SPOILER!
r/c's Hold person seems to have taken effect on Heagan (no 'saving-throw made' message and the corresponding animation flows over his head), though he still fights actively. Nevertheless his hp's are going down quite fast.
He's immune to hold, I guess he should also be made immune to the hold animation that appears above his head.
This has been already fixed in v6 since a while ago.
QUOTE(critto @ Apr 2 2009, 08:45 PM)
I also noticed that if character is held and "Free Action" is being cast on him, then hold effect wears off, but the animation still exists.
There is no way to fix this one.
Updated journal post with some new adventures.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.