Strength drop fighting Schlumpsha the Sewer King

hazmatzak

A little into the fight Minsc is encumbered and can't move. His strength is down to 16. He drops some items and keeps going until the fight is over. His strength is down to 8. A Dispel Magic and it climbs back to normal.

My question is: what exactly is this effect? I didn't see any indicators or combat details that described it. Was it something specific to Schlumpsa? If I had let it run, would he have turned into a shambling mound or something? Would it have worn off? Any other cure/fix besides Dispel Magic?

Eudaemonium

I can tell you that it wears off. I think the effect is called 'weakness', but I'm not sure if that is the name of the spell or whatever.

Gallowglass

Some enemies in BG2 have attacks which cause a temporary stat-drain, but I hadn't noticed any BG1 enemy which could do this. Perhaps Schlumpsha has a strength-drain attack and Minsc failed his save?

Jalily

Correct, Schlumpsha's attack does 2 Strength damage for 1 turn when you fail a Save vs. Death at -4.

Another BG1 enemy that deals Strength damage is the wraith spider, whose attacks deal 5 Strength damage for 5 turns when you fail a Save vs. Spell at -2.

lunar

Hmm I always thought Schlumpsa was a green slime abomination so I never ever let any character targeted by him. Green slime is the most horrible killer in the game, you know?

Gallowglass

Thanks for explaining, @Jalily. I guess I must have never been hit by Schlumpsha, or at least never hit enough that I noticed the effects before it wore off.

I'm surprised about the Wraith Spider. That's a pretty big and long-lasting STR hit, and there are several Wraith Spiders to fight, so I'm pretty surprised that I've not noticed it. Although I do usually squash spiders pretty fast, so maybe they've never yet got me (or at least not since so long ago that I've forgotten about it).

@lunar, depending upon the dialogue options you choose with Schlumpsha, he sometimes implies that he's actually a permanently-polymorphed mage, not originally a slime at all.

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Tresset

lunar said:

Green slime is the most horrible killer in the game, you know?

Yes. Inevitable perma-death if you get hit and fail a save vs. death at +4. Quite nasty.

Wanderon

Tresset said:

lunar said:

Green slime is the most horrible killer in the game, you know?

Yes. Inevitable perma-death if you get hit and fail a save vs. death at +4. Quite nasty.

I think there's one of those in my bathroom...

stygga

Wanderon said:

Tresset said:

lunar said:

Green slime is the most horrible killer in the game, you know?

Yes. Inevitable perma-death if you get hit and fail a save vs. death at +4. Quite nasty.

I think there's one of those in my bathroom...

My ex is in your bathroom?