Watcher's Keep issue, need help *spoilers*

[Deleted User]

So, I'm on the third level of Watcher's Keep (the maze), and I'm in the room just after Tahazzar. It's a dead magic room, with a pit fiend, two cornugons, and a number of salamander looking things. There are traps under each arch, including the one you walk through to enter the room.

The problem is this. The room dispels all effects on you every round, so you can't pre-buff in the prior room. None of the party's magic works in the room, including potions. The two Cornugons continually fear the group, and the fear effect doesn't get dispelled by the room. That means by the third round, my entire party except for Dorn is running around feared, setting off traps and dying. There's no way to buff in or before the room, so the only way to avoid the fear is to be innately resistant (like a blackguard).

Now, I've beaten vanilla ToB a number of times, and I don't ever remember having this much trouble with this room. Any advice?

[Deleted User]

Ok, I managed to finish it. It's taken me over an hour and dozens of reloads. This seems to be a very poorly designed encounter as it stands, as it relies on complete and total luck of the draw to survive. I think the way to fix this would be to have the demon fear effect get dispelled along with everything else.

One note - my Charname is a sorcerer, which may contribute to the difficulty I had. Mage or sorcerer with no magic defenses, feared and running over traps = dead. Every time he gets feared, he's dead before the fear wears off. Not sure if the encounter design takes this into account.

MrSexton

Cast Remove Fear before you enter the room.

tennisgolfboll

Stuff like this is bad balance. Trial and error and the load button is the bane of rp, fun and good gameplay.

[Deleted User]

MrSexton said:

Cast Remove Fear before you enter the room.

As soon as you enter the room, the room dispels all effects on you. It's a dead magic zone.

velehal

Magical items. I don´t remember it. Do they work? And HLA?
Items that protect against fear could be useful. There is a cloak from Hell, does anybody know any other item that protects against fear.
If you have Dorn, who is immune to fear, just let him kill quickly all the deamons. Greater whirlwind attack or Improved haste from items (if they work).

[Deleted User]

velehal said:

Magical items. I don´t remember it. Do they work? And HLA?
Items that protect against fear could be useful. There is a cloak from Hell, does anybody know any other item that protects against fear.
If you have Dorn, who is immune to fear, just let him kill quickly all the deamons. Greater whirlwind attack or Improved haste from items (if they work).

Haven't been to Hell yet; still in Chapter 3. Nobody has HLAs yet, and (edit: non-persistent) effects from items get dispelled also.

Not only that, it doesn't really matter how fast Dorn kills the demons if your main character gets feared and runs over a bunch of traps. The fear lasts quite a long time, and the first character to run out into the rest of the room also starts getting hit by the salamander-types with ranged attacks.

This room feels like a case of good intentions with bad results - challenging, yes, but fun? Not in my opinion. I ran out of Power Word: Reload scrolls!

velehal

Keep is primarily for ToB parties. I know that it is accessible from SoA but it has ToB parties in mind. You can always try it in chapter 6. That is how BG works. Not all quest/battles are doable immediately.

[Deleted User]

Usually I do most of Watcher's Keep (everything except the last group of guardians and Demogorgon himself) before I go to Brynnlaw. Looks like I may need to adjust my expectations with this version.

Skaffen

By design you probably shouldn't be there yet... Gave a thief disarm the traps immediately and bard song should help against the fear.

[Deleted User]

Eep, who knew I'd need a bard for something? Hah!

Amazingly, the party made it through the rest of the dungeon and killed Demogorgon without any other major problems. Back to Athkatla to roflstomp some Shadow Thieves.