Oh! I have a party with Shar-Teel (Venom Dagger), Dorn and an assassin charname... That's a lot poison for ghost hunting! Very insightful topic, now excuse me, the afterlife is waiting for it's lost children.
That means you can get 3 Plate of Darknesses now (Firewine Ghost, Tamoko, Demon Knight first encounter [same one that gives the Helm of Opposite Alignment]). Suweet.
Between that and the 2 Evil Archmagi robes my team of abominable miscreants are A-OK.
So Shar-Teel has to watch? That's fine, I also have a savegame with Dorn and a Blackguard charname, but I'm not sure if the ghosts are still there in that.
wow... I suppose no matter what ghosts and dead things will always have the best loot... Is there anywhere else in the game where you can find the helm of charm protection? And what about attacking the ghosts in firewine. If you kill one, do they all go hostile?
wow... I suppose no matter what ghosts and dead things will always have the best loot... Is there anywhere else in the game where you can find the helm of charm protection? And what about attacking the ghosts in firewine. If you kill one, do they all go hostile?
I am not aware of anywhere else to find a Helmet of Charm Protection, but every single one of those ghosts carry one, so that's nice.
You may attack the ghosts with complete impunity. Not only do the other ghosts not attack you, but the one you're attacking will not return fire.
You can take down the Ghost Knights only with blackguards or assassins, every save-or-else will fail.
Pardon, SpaceInvader, but the above isn't entirely accurate. It's MOSTLY accurate, though.
Yes, it is true that they are incredibly likely to make the save against Poison Weapon attacks, which means your potential for damage is highly reduced. Since a save against Poison Weapon does not eliminate poison damage taken (it simply halves it), this is of little consequence.
In addition, they will almost invariably make the save against the Dagger of Venom. ALMOST invariably.
I added one of them to my Party (Cntl + Q) to see its stats before, of course, reloading. I did the same with Ulcaster. They and Ulcaster have the same stats (as far as I noticed; I might have missed a minor detail or two).
They have 100 HP each, -10 AC each, and wildly high (read: low) save stats (every single one below zero). All of their resistances but Poison (read: NOT Acid) are at 100 except for, IIRC, Magic, which is 105.
That said, they are not immune to Poison and therefore are not immune to the Dagger of Venom. They are just incredibly likely to make the save against the Dagger of Venom. For that reason, it is almost, ALMOST, entirely useless against them. (Note: Unlike the Poison Weapon ability, a successful save against Death will negate all poison damage done by the Dagger of Venom.)
I can confirm that Ulcaster, at least, is not immune to the Dagger of Venom. I must have gotten wildly lucky, because I had a unit (Ranger; Stalker subclass) attacking with the Dagger of Venom while Dorn attacked with Crossbow of Speed (for the extra attack per round) while Poison Weapon was active. Anyway, Ulcaster finally failed a save against the Dagger of Venom and did, in fact, take the subsequent poison damage. NOTE: I am not exaggerating when I say "wildly lucky"; I only succeeded in doing this once and his save stats are wildly high (read: low).
In addition to all of this, because of Ulcaster and the ghosts' incredibly high (read: low) ACs, it's going to take a while to kill them regardless of the method used.
That said, they DO NOT regenerate after you rest, which you can do right next to all of them (they will never become hostile no matter what you do to them). If you only manage to do 10 poison damage before resting, your target will still have 90/100 HP when you awake. It does not matter, to my knowledge, how many times you rest. I rested at least 20 times per kill (this is not an exaggeration) and not once did they recuperate any HP.
I do not believe the ghosts are carrying all of their amazing items any more. Unless their drops are different between you Cntl + Y'ing them and you actually killing them, the only items which remain on the ghosts is the Dead Shot (on the same ghost as ever; it is still pickpocket'able; personal experience confirms) and the Helmet of Charm Protection (one of which every single ghost except Ulcaster has, IIRC).
They are worth 175 experience each except for Ulcaster (I don't remember how much experience he's worth).
I can also confirm that Ulcaster drops a Robe of Neutral Archmagi.
NOTE: Ulcaster and the ghost guards will NOT return fire. They won't even become hostile (their circle stays blue). You may attack them with impunity. Unlike the ghost guards, if Ulcaster dies, you will lose reputation. In addition, you may attempt to pickpocket all of them without them becoming hostile. It doesn't matter how many times you fail. Only one of the ghost guards has a decent item which you are capable of pickpocket'ing, however, which is the Dead Shot.
(For those who are opposed to cheats; I'm not a fan of using them, either, so I reloaded after using the Cntl commands, which I only did to do the above testing.)
All of the above is confirmed as of 13 March 2013, when I last completed Firewine Ruins (which I always do in its entirety; I've been playing the game for over a decade and I fondly remember my first attempt to complete it all those years ago; it was a complete disaster). I successfully killed the ghost who carries the Dead Shot and Ulcaster (without using cheats; note the reloads after using the Cntl functions), but I had to rest around 40 total times in the process (not an exaggeration; only Poison Weapon is realistically effective against them and Dorn only had it 2 times per day at that point). After seeing how long that took, I declined to finish off the other 5 ghosts. I did, however, Cntl + Y the other five ghosts to see what they carry, which is nothing notable except the Helmets of Charm Protection.
No assumptions were made; testing was done to confirm all of the above. That said, since my memory isn't perfect, you'll notice "IIRC" in a couple spots in the above. I won't pretend to guarantee any claims followed by "IIRC," but you can probably rely on them.
They usually disappear after you have completed the quest. That's what the quest is about: They cannot go away until they have received that armor.
This is correct, but note that you only need one ghost to be alive to complete the quest. They will not become hostile if you attack them and it is entirely possible to turn in the quest to the last remaining ghost guard if you kill the other five.
That said, with the latest patch, if you're capable of killing five of them without becoming understandably frustrated, then kudos.
Honestly, whether I kill them in a somewhat legit way, or CTRL-Y them, I feel like I'm cheating.
I just love Full Plate+1's look. Which makes me ask: Do we kill Tamoko in the canon storyline? I'm pretty sure we do according to Yoshimo, but I thought she was alive in BG2?
I just love Full Plate+1's look. Which makes me ask: Do we kill Tamoko in the canon storyline? I'm pretty sure we do according to Yoshimo, but I thought she was alive in BG2?
You choose whether or not she dies in Vanilla. Immediately before the final battle with Sarevok (in the Undercity), she confronts you and demands that you not kill Sarevok.
If you insist that he has to die, she'll attack.
If you tell her that you'll try to spare him, she'll leave.
She was not in Baldur's Gate 2, as far as I'm aware. There's some dialogue at one point wherein Yoshimo mentions (or you find a note of his that says, or whatever) that the reason he agreed to the geas with Jon Irenicus is because Tamoko is Yoshimo's (half-?)sister and he wanted to avenge her death. Then he got to know you and blah, blah, blah.
Now, I believe you need to download a mod for that dialogue, but I'm pretty sure the dialogue is actually "hidden" within the original Baldur's Gate 2 files. The mod is not so much an addition as a manual unlocking of pre-existing dialogue, as I understand it.
If that's true, then the canon strongly implies that she's supposed to be slain by your hand.
@Mordecai very long post xD To make it short, only Ulcaster has saving-throws high enough to be affected by the Dagger of Venom (as shown in my screenshots). On the other hand, the Ghost Knights have really low ST, so low that you will find impossibile to poison them with the dagger. This leaves only 1 possibility: Poison Weapon ability
Comments
Between that and the 2 Evil Archmagi robes my team of abominable miscreants are A-OK.
NearInfinity knows
100 HP each!
You may attack the ghosts with complete impunity. Not only do the other ghosts not attack you, but the one you're attacking will not return fire.
Yes, it is true that they are incredibly likely to make the save against Poison Weapon attacks, which means your potential for damage is highly reduced. Since a save against Poison Weapon does not eliminate poison damage taken (it simply halves it), this is of little consequence.
In addition, they will almost invariably make the save against the Dagger of Venom. ALMOST invariably.
I added one of them to my Party (Cntl + Q) to see its stats before, of course, reloading. I did the same with Ulcaster. They and Ulcaster have the same stats (as far as I noticed; I might have missed a minor detail or two).
They have 100 HP each, -10 AC each, and wildly high (read: low) save stats (every single one below zero). All of their resistances but Poison (read: NOT Acid) are at 100 except for, IIRC, Magic, which is 105.
That said, they are not immune to Poison and therefore are not immune to the Dagger of Venom. They are just incredibly likely to make the save against the Dagger of Venom. For that reason, it is almost, ALMOST, entirely useless against them. (Note: Unlike the Poison Weapon ability, a successful save against Death will negate all poison damage done by the Dagger of Venom.)
I can confirm that Ulcaster, at least, is not immune to the Dagger of Venom. I must have gotten wildly lucky, because I had a unit (Ranger; Stalker subclass) attacking with the Dagger of Venom while Dorn attacked with Crossbow of Speed (for the extra attack per round) while Poison Weapon was active. Anyway, Ulcaster finally failed a save against the Dagger of Venom and did, in fact, take the subsequent poison damage. NOTE: I am not exaggerating when I say "wildly lucky"; I only succeeded in doing this once and his save stats are wildly high (read: low).
In addition to all of this, because of Ulcaster and the ghosts' incredibly high (read: low) ACs, it's going to take a while to kill them regardless of the method used.
That said, they DO NOT regenerate after you rest, which you can do right next to all of them (they will never become hostile no matter what you do to them). If you only manage to do 10 poison damage before resting, your target will still have 90/100 HP when you awake. It does not matter, to my knowledge, how many times you rest. I rested at least 20 times per kill (this is not an exaggeration) and not once did they recuperate any HP.
I do not believe the ghosts are carrying all of their amazing items any more. Unless their drops are different between you Cntl + Y'ing them and you actually killing them, the only items which remain on the ghosts is the Dead Shot (on the same ghost as ever; it is still pickpocket'able; personal experience confirms) and the Helmet of Charm Protection (one of which every single ghost except Ulcaster has, IIRC).
They are worth 175 experience each except for Ulcaster (I don't remember how much experience he's worth).
I can also confirm that Ulcaster drops a Robe of Neutral Archmagi.
NOTE: Ulcaster and the ghost guards will NOT return fire. They won't even become hostile (their circle stays blue). You may attack them with impunity. Unlike the ghost guards, if Ulcaster dies, you will lose reputation. In addition, you may attempt to pickpocket all of them without them becoming hostile. It doesn't matter how many times you fail. Only one of the ghost guards has a decent item which you are capable of pickpocket'ing, however, which is the Dead Shot.
(For those who are opposed to cheats; I'm not a fan of using them, either, so I reloaded after using the Cntl commands, which I only did to do the above testing.)
All of the above is confirmed as of 13 March 2013, when I last completed Firewine Ruins (which I always do in its entirety; I've been playing the game for over a decade and I fondly remember my first attempt to complete it all those years ago; it was a complete disaster). I successfully killed the ghost who carries the Dead Shot and Ulcaster (without using cheats; note the reloads after using the Cntl functions), but I had to rest around 40 total times in the process (not an exaggeration; only Poison Weapon is realistically effective against them and Dorn only had it 2 times per day at that point). After seeing how long that took, I declined to finish off the other 5 ghosts. I did, however, Cntl + Y the other five ghosts to see what they carry, which is nothing notable except the Helmets of Charm Protection.
No assumptions were made; testing was done to confirm all of the above. That said, since my memory isn't perfect, you'll notice "IIRC" in a couple spots in the above. I won't pretend to guarantee any claims followed by "IIRC," but you can probably rely on them.
That said, with the latest patch, if you're capable of killing five of them without becoming understandably frustrated, then kudos.
I just love Full Plate+1's look. Which makes me ask: Do we kill Tamoko in the canon storyline? I'm pretty sure we do according to Yoshimo, but I thought she was alive in BG2?
If you insist that he has to die, she'll attack.
If you tell her that you'll try to spare him, she'll leave.
She was not in Baldur's Gate 2, as far as I'm aware. There's some dialogue at one point wherein Yoshimo mentions (or you find a note of his that says, or whatever) that the reason he agreed to the geas with Jon Irenicus is because Tamoko is Yoshimo's (half-?)sister and he wanted to avenge her death. Then he got to know you and blah, blah, blah.
Now, I believe you need to download a mod for that dialogue, but I'm pretty sure the dialogue is actually "hidden" within the original Baldur's Gate 2 files. The mod is not so much an addition as a manual unlocking of pre-existing dialogue, as I understand it.
If that's true, then the canon strongly implies that she's supposed to be slain by your hand.
To make it short, only Ulcaster has saving-throws high enough to be affected by the Dagger of Venom (as shown in my screenshots).
On the other hand, the Ghost Knights have really low ST, so low that you will find impossibile to poison them with the dagger.
This leaves only 1 possibility: Poison Weapon ability