Tricky basilisks

griever0483

Hi! I having great problem with the basilisks at the east of the Beregost Temple. I know they are very tricky to deal, but I don't understand this thing: my Dorn is level 5 (Pietrification saving throw: 10) with the Adoy belt (+5), The claw of Kazgaroth (+3) and the Ring of the Princes +1 (+1), so his saving throw vs pietrification is 1. How is possible that basilisks can still petrify him?

PJ_Trewor

Just use Potion of mirrored eyes, it gives you 100% protection.

leeho730

Possibly critical failure at roll of 1. Potion of mirrored eyes or protection against petrification scroll or mage level 1 spell protection against petrification. Other than gaze attack, they're rather unremarkable foes.

Calmar

I used the Protection From Petrification spell on one character who would distract the reptiles while the other group members shot them dead with ranged weapons.

griever0483

Ok guys I'll deal with them with this potion. Thanks! But I continue to not understand a thing: i saw on the console that Dorn saved himself vs pietrification with "1" (and so it should be), but then were pietrified... is then possible for basilisks make attacks "0" or lower?

wild

Rolling a 1 is an automatic fail no matter if it would actually be high enough to save

the_spyder

Also understand that the creatures aren't making a "Roll of '0'". They gaze at the character. That character needs to make a save roll. And as Wild said, any roll of a 1 is a failure. Period.

Best case scenario is to use the Potion of Mirror Eyes. Also there are a number of Protection from petrification scrolls around. And they are level 1 spells, so probably some random drops as well. And if you have a wizard capable of casting it, there you go. 6 protection from petrification spells will be a lot better than 6 magic missiles in that battle.

TJ_Hooker

Does the basilisk's stare maybe have a penalty to save associated with it?

Also, I think the spell/scroll of protection from paralyzations is a better choice than the potion, as I believe the potion has a relatively short duration.

KidCarnival

I had much success with summoned skeletons. Success, as in "skeletons killed basilisks in fog of war" without my party ever seeing the fights. This even worked well after my ghoul friend was out of the picture.

griever0483

Exactly @TJ_Hooker ! I know the BG dynamics and I know the difference between thac0, hit rolls, throwing saves etc. But I had not been able to explain myself. I'm sorry! The question is exactly this: does the basilisks stare maybe have a penalty to save associated with it? Infact I'm sure that Dorn saved himself with "1". So it was not a critical failure! And I think @Tj_Hooker questions is correct because I noticed all basilisks gazes had a low value on average!

Madhax

Protection from Petrification is an easy spell to learn very early in the game, and trivializes Basilisk fights for the most part. They're quite weak once you become immune to their gaze.

Plus, pre-buffing for them is justifiable from a roleplay perspective, since you see their petrified victims before you run into a basilisk yourself!

leeho730

Basilisk gaze attack: save vs. petrification at -4 or be turned to stone. Same for both lesser and greater basilisk.

SamuelVarg

One word: Corax.

SamuelVarg

OK. It's a name. But still. Corax.

TJ_Hooker

@griever0483
I just checked the basilisk's stare ability in Near Infinity, and it does in fact list a -4 penalty to save (I'm no expert with NI, but I think I'm interpreting it right).

Edit: oops looks like I'm a little late here.

Chow

All undead are immune to the gaze attacks. Cast Animate Dead or recruit Corax along and use them as meatshields while the rest of your party whips out at them.

You could also charm a greater basilisk with Algernon's Cloak, then combine his gaze attack with the above for easy kills.

griever0483

Ok thanks to all, guys! Now is all clear!

Jalily

The ghoul's name is Korax...

the_spyder

Jalily said:

The ghoul's name is Korax...

He speaks for the trees.

leeho730

SamuelVarg said:

OK. It's a name. But still. Corax.

Haha someone obviously player Warhammer too!

DrHappyAngry

I think the wizard in high hedge sells protection from petrification spells. I generally have one or more casters memorize a few of those. I then split my party into 2 groups, one for melee, and the mages and other ranged users in the other. I cast the protection spells on the melee group and have them explore out a good distance in front of the others. Once they charge the basilisks and have drawn their attention, the mages and ranged users help from a healthy distance. With that method the only challenge in that area is the group of adventurers, but fighting them is optional anyways. That whole area is just an easy XP farm when you do it that way.

moopy

If you have their locations memorized it is pretty easy to send Korax ahead. I normally don't even use mirrored eye potions or protection spells.

Wilbur

Calmar said:

I used the Protection From Petrification spell on one character who would distract the reptiles while the other group members shot them dead with ranged weapons.

This I what I usually do too and it works like charm.

lunar

There is no critical failure with a saving throw in BG. If you had a save vs petrification of -5, and roll 1 naturally, it will be -3 after applying the penalty of basilisk gaze, and in-game text will be Charname-save vs polymorph:-3. -3 is still succesful as your saving throw is -5.

Wilbur

lunar said:

There is no critical failure with a saving throw in BG. If you had a save vs petrification of -5, and roll 1 naturally, it will be -3 after applying the penalty of basilisk gaze, and in-game text will be Charname-save vs polymorph:-3. -3 is still succesful as your saving throw is -5.

A natural roll of 1 should always be a failure. Whether it's implemented in the game or not I'm not sure of.

Edit. I cannot find a source to confirm this.

Jalily

In Baldur's Gate, a natural 1 doesn't automatically make you fail your save; as @lunar said, it depends on what your saving throws actually are. For instance, take Shandalar. His natural saving throws are all 1's, but his archmagi robe adds a +1 bonus, bringing them down to 0.

Now here's what happens when I spam the charm ability of (the old) Algernon's cloak on Shandalar:

Algernon's cloak makes him save vs. Breath at -1, so in the last line, Shandalar has rolled a natural 1. Even after the penalty, the result is still >= to his saving throw (0), so he successfully shrugs off the charm.

leeho730

Not necessarily. If Dorn's saving throw vs. petrification is 1, then he has to roll 5 or higher to avoid the effect, since with -4 penalty in this instance, the actual saving throw would be 5.

I'm kinda sure critical failure applies for saving throws in BG... I mean, even with my high level parties with really low saves in TOB I occasionally find my party members subject to some negative effects that require saving throws...

Chow

Natural 1 is always a failure, I'm pretty sure.

lunar

It was implemented in the IWD2 game, so that you would fail any save at a normal roll of 1, no matter how high your save modifier was. So you could see Fortitude save:1+35=36 FAIL! Even when the Difficulty Class of the save required was much lower. This was the only way to Disintegrate a tough enemy like a Dragon in HoF mode, for example.

Of course that's 3e rules. In 2nd edition PnP normal creatures failed their saves on a roll of 1,2,3. Minor deities failed on a roll of 1,2. Intermediate powers failed on a roll of 1. And major gods never failed a saving throw. Your actual saving throw mattered though. Example:a dwarf has save vs poison of -1. He is injected witha lethal poison that requires a save vs poison at-4. He rolls a 4. 4-4=0, which is higher than his save, so he succeds. Later, he is required a normal save vs death. He rolls a 2. Crap, it is considered an automatic failure. (Natural rolls of 1,2,3 are) Later, he requires a save vs poison at -4 and rolls a 5. 5-4=1 it's succesful as long as he does not roll any natural 1,2,3 and his modified save after the roll is higher than his saving throw number.

None of this applies to BG:EE. Gulp that potion that makes all of your saves automaticaly succesful, it brings down all your saves to -24 or such. Thus, you can never fail any saving throw. You are hit by a Chaos spell, it forces a save vs spells at -4, you can see a save vs spell:-3 in the dialogue window, which means you rolled a natural 1, after the -4 modifier it is -3 and still succesful. So critical failure on a roll of 1 on any saving throw is not implemented in BG games.

You will still see your characters fail their saves even later in ToB, even if all saves are 1 or 2. Enemy abilities and some spells force saving throws at a hefty penalty most of the time. Then there are spells that reduce saves, like the famous Greater Malison. Or saves are naturally difficult to make, like the basilisk gaze, it requires a save vs polymorph at -4. IIRC it required a save vs death in the original game, with even a bigger penalty. (Which made little sense since it is clearly a petrification effect) Also mind flayer mind blast ability is notorious for its very difficult to make saving throw. (There is a huge penalty to the save)

Quartz

Potion of Mirrored Eyes sucks balls, it lasts like 2 seconds I swear. Just get someone to cast the spell on you.

DinsdalePiranha

1. cast Protection from Petrification on your tanks (basilisks die easy, no need to cast it on everyone)
2. steamroll.

alternatives include the useless potion, or a combination of backstab, hope, and tears - and that only works with a single basilisk, if there's two, you're screwed stoned.