While I'm not a fan of the encounter's design, I actually managed to beat Karoug on my first TotSC run without metaknowledge of the weapons needed. All I knew going in was that he had an absurd regeneration rate. I assumed my weapons simply weren't of high enough level to hit him when they weren't effective, and while swapping my weapons about to find a weakness I realized that the Burning Earth longsword from Durlag's Tower worked. From there, I simply quaffed an invisibility potion with my F/T PC and backstabbed him while flamestriking.
How much is meta-gaming to know that werewolves require silver to kill? Presumably everyone in Faerun knows that or has seen the Lon Chaney Jr film.
He is immune to +2 weapons and lower. You need +3 weapons.
Actually, i think it has to be a silver weapon, of which there are only 3 or 4 in the game. Sword of Balduran, The Silver Dagger, the +1 +4 versus Lycanthropes and the Flame blade from Durlag's Tower.
It maybe lorewise, but is it realy implemented in game this way? And i think Sword of Balduran is made of gold, not silver. I may be wrong though.
Turns out you were right. Sword of Balduran (BG1) is made of gold, but is made specifically for the purposes of fighting Lycanthropes. however, the others are silver, and capable of damaging Karoug specifically because of the metal they are made of, not because of their level of bonus. At least i thik that is the reason. A quick search doesn't reveal anything to the contrary, but please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
Greater wolfweres are immune to non-magical weapons and non-silver weapons, so in game-technical terms you need a weapon with both the magical and the silver flag in order to damage them. The enchantment level doesn't matter as long as it's magical.
A quick search for those flags yields Kondar, Werebane, Sword of Balduran, The Burning Earth (Flametongue) and Albruin (sword from Dorn's questline iirc). Greater wolfweres also regenerate 5 hp/s.
It maybe lorewise, but is it realy implemented in game this way? And i think Sword of Balduran is made of gold, not silver. I may be wrong though.
Turns out you were right. Sword of Balduran (BG1) is made of gold, but is made specifically for the purposes of fighting Lycanthropes. however, the others are silver, and capable of damaging Karoug specifically because of the metal they are made of, not because of their level of bonus. At least i thik that is the reason. A quick search doesn't reveal anything to the contrary, but please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
Loup Garou and Greater Werewolves (as opposed to wolfweres) are immune to non-cold-iron weapons, which excludes Albruin and otherwise limits you to the same ones as above.
Some Loup Garou CRE files only have immunity to non-magical weapons though, not sure if those are used in combat.
What annoys me about it to this day are: no blunt weapons (clerics) and the silver attribute is an invisible one. If you need meta knowledge, there's a problem IMO.
I went for the fastest run of all time today the plan was to kill Gorion step outside and kill saverok and his lackeys however after killing Gorion you are stuck in candle keep with nothing to do BROKEN fix please!
All that makes me think of BG2EE... really hoping they fixed (kinda ) the poor Cernd.. under Greater Werewolf, if not nerf that time (no need to add a mod only for that that time i hope^!), could be a little bit funnier to play at lv13+.. well, at least a little up to the end of BG2, not much more always)
ps; for @tenkakahn ; you also have the always excellent http://www.forgottenwars.com/bg1/ar2000.htm , when in doubt with such areas and 'what's next to do' (or if forgotten smthg or not!).. [i wish there was a similarily excellently done walkthrough for BG2 btw..even to simply get all the exact stats/proficiencies progressions of the new NPCs is not obvious for BG2 nowadays..info is more dissiminated now for BG2 it seems - damn it 2!:) ).
He is immune to +2 weapons and lower. You need +3 weapons.
An easy way to test that is with Melf's Meteors. They are considered +5 weapons. As others have indicated, it is a special property of the weapon and not a + cutoff for the greater werewolf on the ship. (He is immune to Melf's Meteors but not to most magic while a Lich, for example, is immune to most magic but not to Melf's Meteors [absent protection from magical weapons, etc.]).
The biggest problem here is that nowhere, anywhere in the game does it tell you about the INVISIBLE flag on the few weapons that can damage the creature. I could get behind it if the description in the Sword of Balduran et al had some text like 'Oddly enough, the blade seems to be forged from silver. That may be important when dealing with powerful lycanthropes...' Or maybe if one of the townsfolk commoners had dialogue to the effect of 'You're not carrying any silver weapons, are you? The pa...er, village doesn't allow those.'
@Cyteen - According to the Baldur's Gate Wiki (take that for what it is worth), the in game description of the Sword of Balduran is:
"This ornate, but poorly balanced, weapon was found within the wreck of Balduran's ship. Gold weapons are not known to be useful in combat, but legends say that only weapons forged of gold can harm such dread creatures as the Loup Garou".
I also think it is listed as "+4 vs. Lycanthropes", so I don't think an argument can be made (always assuming the above is accurate) that they don't tell you that is the weapon to use.
Also, if I am not mistaken, I think the dagger actually says either 'Silver' in the name or makes some indication in the description that it works against Were Creatures. And the blade you find in Cloakwood is +1, +4 vs. Lycanthropes. I'd take that to mean you should at least try it against the big honking Were-Wolves that you encounter on the island, including Karoug.
Basically, you are told what weapons to use (except the flame - tongue). However, I do agree that the "Normal" method would be to find the weapon before combat starts. It just seems a bit wonky that you have to look for the weapon, then identify it, all while your party is getting lunched in the next room.
That description makes things even more confusing in my opinion. It implies that you need a gold weapon rather than a silver one and also that the Loup Garou is immune to everything else (it's only immune to normal weapons, the greater wolfwere is the one with the special immunities).
Basically, it is supposed to be a tough battle. The weapon needs to have the designation 'Silver' in order to damage the beast. And he regenerates quite considerably, so....
You should have found a dagger prior to that encounter that will damage it. Also, they wouldn't give you an encounter and not have the solution somewhere close at hand. You just have to find it. Have your fighters keep the beast busy and look around.
There is another weapon that you could have bought prior to going to the island, but if you don't have that yet, you have to rely upon the dagger and the other weapon.
anywhere on the island you can find identify, or shops that will do that? for some reason, i dont have any scrolls or memorized spells... fail...
Basically, it is supposed to be a tough battle. The weapon needs to have the designation 'Silver' in order to damage the beast. And he regenerates quite considerably, so....
You should have found a dagger prior to that encounter that will damage it. Also, they wouldn't give you an encounter and not have the solution somewhere close at hand. You just have to find it. Have your fighters keep the beast busy and look around.
There is another weapon that you could have bought prior to going to the island, but if you don't have that yet, you have to rely upon the dagger and the other weapon.
anywhere on the island you can find identify, or shops that will do that? for some reason, i dont have any scrolls or memorized spells... fail...
You don't need to identify the weapons to use them. There is a dagger and a bastard sword on the ship. Both of these weapons can be used to kill werewolves/wolfweres.
Comments
You need +3 weapons.
And i think Sword of Balduran is made of gold, not silver. I may be wrong though.
A quick search for those flags yields Kondar, Werebane, Sword of Balduran, The Burning Earth (Flametongue) and Albruin (sword from Dorn's questline iirc). Greater wolfweres also regenerate 5 hp/s.
Some Loup Garou CRE files only have immunity to non-magical weapons though, not sure if those are used in combat.
Those were the days...
ps; for @tenkakahn ; you also have the always excellent http://www.forgottenwars.com/bg1/ar2000.htm , when in doubt with such areas and 'what's next to do' (or if forgotten smthg or not!)..
CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("Gorion")
Gorion will appear and your game should resume.
"This ornate, but poorly balanced, weapon was found within the wreck of Balduran's ship. Gold weapons are not known to be useful in combat, but legends say that only weapons forged of gold can harm such dread creatures as the Loup Garou".
I also think it is listed as "+4 vs. Lycanthropes", so I don't think an argument can be made (always assuming the above is accurate) that they don't tell you that is the weapon to use.
Also, if I am not mistaken, I think the dagger actually says either 'Silver' in the name or makes some indication in the description that it works against Were Creatures. And the blade you find in Cloakwood is +1, +4 vs. Lycanthropes. I'd take that to mean you should at least try it against the big honking Were-Wolves that you encounter on the island, including Karoug.
Basically, you are told what weapons to use (except the flame - tongue). However, I do agree that the "Normal" method would be to find the weapon before combat starts. It just seems a bit wonky that you have to look for the weapon, then identify it, all while your party is getting lunched in the next room.