Is there really a downside for my character and Claw of Kazagroth ?

ogreb

It causes blurred image akin to Cloak of Displacement.
Reduces AC -1 ( to - 3)
Reduces missle ( to -11 )
Reduces Saving throws to 12/1/7/8/2, current 9/4/10/11/5

Only downside is the loss of 8 hp and of course 2 Con.
But you'd just use a Remove Curse spell before you level up . My current Con is 18. Current HP 53
And of course the + 3 to every ones favorite...Poison !
I was thinking of waiting until I had finished Cloakwood before trying it out.
Besides the Con I really don't see an issue...raising Con later is not hard, tome for one.
And poison resist rings are around somewhere.

And there is no telling what further ST rolls are going to occur. I guess I could cheat and find out but I like surprises.

Lvl 5 / 4 Gnome Fighter / Ill
18/89
18
18
16
9
13 ( + 2)

ZanathKariashi

Headaches from looking at your character for long periods of time......

HP con bonuses/penalties are retro-active, your HP automatically changes when your Con does, so de-equipping the claw will do nothing, much like casting DUHM before level-ups doesn't nothing.

elminster

I don't recall any item in BG1 giving you poison resistance. Other than scrolls that is.

sarevok57

I've found that while wearing the claw of kazgaroth, poison seems to affect me way more often than it should, its like if you wear the claw, there is a hidden game mechanic that says, okay time to get poisoned regardless on how good your save is, for example, I think I was a fighter/cleric dwarf once with the claw, and may save vs death even with the claw was still really low, but poison seemed to find its way in very often, but other than that, that item is amazing in bg1, I will give it to low con npcs, because A. it doesn't affect their HP ( shar-teel, kivan, come to mind) and B. great saves, having a good save vs spell is VERY useful, infact, save vs death and save vs spell, are the 2 most important saves to have as low as possible

Astafas

There is a bastard sword from Dorn's quest that give you poison immunity (Albruin, IIRC). I seldom get poisoned with the ring on anyway, which I have found a bit strange.

mjs

definitely worth it. the only downside, as you say, is a slight loss of HP and a penalty to death saves. there aren't any insta-death spells in bgee that requires save vs death roll, so the only thing to worry about is poison and there's more than enough to counter that. hundreds of potions of antidote, 2nd level slow poison spell and your PC and dynaheir can get that spell as a special ability too.

Cactus

I found that it is very useful, especially if the PC/NPC using it is someone who stays out of melee combat. For a fighter/Illusionist, who mainly cast spells and than maybe uses a ranged weapon it is very good. Chances to get poisoned is not that great and if you do not tank, the limited loss of HP is not significant. Arrows and spells are most likely to hit you, so it is great to have resistance to those. The CON penalty also reduces your shorty saves, so to make most of the claw bonus, give it to a tall race...

mjs

Cactus said:

The CON penalty also reduces your shorty saves, so to make most of the claw bonus, give it to a tall race...

or to make the absolute most of it, for a great short tank

a dwarf cleric or thief with 19 con+con tome for 20 constitution.

then con penalty won't affect HP (as non fighters only get HP bonuses for max 16 con) and it won't affect short saves (as the bonus only goes up to 18 con)

ogreb

The Shorty Con Throwing Save loss is meaningless with the Claw. Did you see my saving throws ? I'm already dodging 70% of Spell / Wand /Rod / Staff as is.
The perm con loss for HP at level up is something else. Sure I can't just take it off before I level ? I mean just before it goes ding..not save on level then take it off..but take it off a few hundred exp before level ?
My character is a tank.
Wielding the Stupifier or one of Drizzt swords ( the one that lowers AC ) using that sword my AC is -3. Plan on giving Minsc the Mace and then running the rest of the game with Drizzt sword.
I guess I was wrong about poison reduce items . Never got Dorn.
Play so many RPGs it's hard to tell whos who and whats what is in each game.

I am going to give it a run...take it to Cloakwood and see. I'll get my Con back up. And I'll just stock up on poison scrolls.
I'll get my Wand / Rod / Staff and Spell to zero eventually.
And if does get hairy...I'll just Longbow the areas where poison is prevalent. But I'm not going to stop tanking...my little spitfire is just too feisty to stay in the back.
The Cloak of Displacement effect it in tolls would make up for HP loss due to the fact I'm harder to hit ? Throwing in some Mirror Image ?
I've talked myself into it...

Nobody puts Pebbles in the corner.

TJ_Hooker

ogreb said:

The perm con loss for HP at level up is something else. Sure I can't just take it off before I level ? I mean just before it goes ding..not save on level then take it off..but take it off a few hundred exp before level ?

As was said above, this will not make a difference. HP from CON is seperate from base HP, and all changes to CON are retro-active. This is both a blessing and a curse. It's good because it means that if you increase your CON at some point (with the tome, for example), you will get as much HP as if you had had that CON from the start. The downside is that it prevents what you are suggesting, namely the idea that you can temporarily boost your CON (or in this case, remove a penalty to CON) right before level up, get the increased HP, and then keep the HP even after your CON returns to normal.

ajwz

The main downside is that you have to tolerate having the bloody stupid blur effect permanently attached to your character.

Shin

The blur effect can easily be edited away though.

Schneidend

Is there a mod that removes the blur effect? That would be wonderful.

ajwz

BG Tweak pack does something similar I think.

Schneidend

Has that been adapted to EE?

Shin

Put the file below in your override and you should have a claw without the blur effect.

Shin

Managed to upload it here instead, should be a lot faster.

sarevok57

in terms of saving throws for high constitution with the shorties, I believe the claw has no effect on it when it lowers your con, im pretty sure those saves are based on your base con score regardless of how low it goes down

Lateralus

The blur effect keeps me from the claw and the CoD. annoying, not worth it.

TaylorTwerk

I think that it's worth it. Since you have 18 con already 16 is all you really need anyways. I usually make my characters with 16 con anyways.

CaptRory

The blur effect doesn't really bother me. And you can throw them on the same guy so you only need to look at one of them =p

Astafas

If you're tired of the blur effects, here you'll find my edited versions of Claw of Kazgaratoh och Cloak of Displacement. The visual blur effect only lasts for ten seconds. Copy and paste into your override to use.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5vago8lf7sfscnm/PF5QEkjExV

You'll also find an edited Elven Chain Mail that is not green but instead looks like a Chain Mail + 3.