As a monk your main character should be able to tank vampires. Use the bracers AC 3 and your AC should be low enough to never be hit by a level drain attack, and you get immunity to charm inherently. Shame you ain't Sun Soul, but grab yourself a +2 or better weapon with +1 APR (e.g. Belm) and you shouldn't have any trouble kicking vampire butt.
Hm, in practice the monk is unable to tank well. Are Sun Soul monks just generally overall better than regular monks, you think?
So Sword and Shield sucks because.....two weapons deals more damage? I can't really go back and change it, but I'll be sure not to make that mistake in future. Is it just that two weapons deals more DPS and that it is therefore more reliable long term? I can understand not having Sword and Shield because of tanks not necessarily grabbing all the enemy "aggro" in all situations (often that seems to be the casters).
Also, how does one get Protection from Fear, other than through bards and Remove Fear? Often the cleric (Anomen) will be undergoing fear and thus unable to remove the fear of other party members running around.
Further question: how do I get mages to tank? Thanks for the Stoneskin tip, I had no idea it lasted so long. I assumed it lifted after resting, because on previous occasions that is generally what seemed to happen...
Update: Killed Shadow Dragon on third try using conversation exploit. Had Neera lower the dragon's resistance so that she and Jan could Magic Missile x4 each, and Keldorn slammed Carsomyr into the dragon's torso.
Sword and shield isn't bad, it's the proficiency that's bad because it gives you bonuses versus ranged, and ranged is rarely an issue. In the long run AC is less important and maybe you need to drop the shield (Defender of Easthaven as an offhand can give you 20% damage resistance instead), but a good shield can help early on. There's also one called Shield of Harmony (I think) that protects against a wide variety of mind-effects that mages love to spam.
As for protection from fear, mages have a low-level, party-wide Resist Fear spell.
My main character is a monk (regular monk), lawful good aligned.
Here's what I have (and you may see why I'm having issues killing vampires):
*Neera (Mage)--Meant to be DPS, but wild magic sometimes means her spells don't work out. *Jaheira (Druid/Fighter)--Can cast healing spells. Doesn't do much DPS. *Jan (Illusionist/Thief)--He can pick any lock and disarm almost any trap, both skills are 95 and 105 respectively. He is also handy with a crossbow, but very weak in melee. *Minsc (Ranger) -- The main DPS of the group. Haven't gotten him to tank ably just yet. His HP is relatively low. *Mazzy (Fighter) -- 5 proficiency in shortbows makes her the mage-killer.
Any suggestions on how to rearrange them? What clerics should I pick up to get rid of vampires? Jaheira doesn't have Lesser Restoration, which is a problem. Also, at some point I will need to switch one of them out for Valygar/Rasaad when I do their quests.
I would say: *Neera ( She can pick most of the locks and disarm most of the traps) *Anomen ( Great cleric with high stregth) *Kheldorn ( +5 Holy Avenger and 50% MR) *Minsc ( Get him to either dual wield a mace and LS) *Mazzy ( Good until you get Sarevock give her the bow of Gesen) *** For mage killing I use any remove magic spell with a mage and dispell from Kheldorn that clears most of the mages. I added my final save. ( I was NG until I was greedy that made me NE)
My main character is a monk (regular monk), lawful good aligned.
Here's what I have (and you may see why I'm having issues killing vampires):
*Neera (Mage)--Meant to be DPS, but wild magic sometimes means her spells don't work out. *Jaheira (Druid/Fighter)--Can cast healing spells. Doesn't do much DPS. *Jan (Illusionist/Thief)--He can pick any lock and disarm almost any trap, both skills are 95 and 105 respectively. He is also handy with a crossbow, but very weak in melee. *Minsc (Ranger) -- The main DPS of the group. Haven't gotten him to tank ably just yet. His HP is relatively low. *Mazzy (Fighter) -- 5 proficiency in shortbows makes her the mage-killer.
Any suggestions on how to rearrange them? What clerics should I pick up to get rid of vampires? Jaheira doesn't have Lesser Restoration, which is a problem. Also, at some point I will need to switch one of them out for Valygar/Rasaad when I do their quests.
I would say: *Neera ( She can pick most of the locks and disarm most of the traps) *Anomen ( Great cleric with high stregth) *Kheldorn ( +5 Holy Avenger and 50% MR) *Minsc ( Get him to either dual wield a mace and LS) *Mazzy ( Good until you get Sarevock give her the bow of Gesen) *** For mage killing I use any remove magic spell with a mage and dispell from Kheldorn that clears most of the mages. I added my final save. ( I was NG until I was greedy that made me NE)
Um neera is a Mage, doesn't disarm traps...
Your team has no thief so locks and traps would be a huge issue. He'll probably have to take jan over Minsc in that setup and only one arcane caster would be pretty bad in higher difficulties too.
This game has no concept of threat so whoever is up front "tanks".
Also you can get the staff of the magi that makes you invisible every time you switch to it which makes enemies lose their target and restart their attack round. You can abuse that with a Mage standing and blocking a corridor to good effect.
I'd also say that strength doesn't matter much for clerics because they get so many strength buff spells even if you don't give them one of the 5 strength items in the game that it's a non-issue.
Yep, clerics can use the buff that gives them fighter THAC0 and then use Righteous Magic / DUHM on top of that (if I remember correctly, casting in the other order results in "only" 18/00 strength). Great strength and THAC0 regardless of gear. I'd still give my clerics a decent strength though just to carry things.
Yeah, I have Jan even though he's squishy, because his lockpicking simply can't be beat. His crossbow and Bruisers are useful against Humanoids too.
I don't see the Resist Fear spell in Neera's or Jan's spellbooks...maybe I just haven't come across the spell yet?
As for threat, it's weird--sometimes they target my mages and squishy people outright, other times the person in front. No idea how that's determined. I always have my mages and squishies shoot their ranged weapons/spells AFTER the "tanks" engage the enemy....
So Righteous Magic THEN Draw Upon Holy Might (DUHM) is the best order for cleric-casting?
It's arguably an exploit but bracers of AC 3. Instead of applying monk bonus to 10 it applies it to 3 so you would be at -13.
That's what makes the potion of defense so great for monks since the boni get applied to AC 0. Buy them whenever you see them when you have a monk in your party.
It's only fighters, thieves and monks that can't use it... one of the (few) perks of the ranger class over a regular fighter.
Come to think of it, Minsc is a vampire killing machine because he also has the right alignment to use Azuredge and vampires as his favored enemy. That might make him the best one in the game.
It's only fighters, thieves and monks that can't use it... one of the (few) perks of the ranger class over a regular fighter.
Come to think of it, Minsc is a vampire killing machine because he also has the right alignment to use Azuredge and vampires as his favored enemy. That might make him the best one in the game.
I'd put Anomen as the best in the game - with the Amulet, a Helm of Charm Protection and the upgraded Mace of Disruption +2 he can insta-gib most undead he comes across and destroy everything else with the mace without being able to be touched in reply.
Good point, I guess clerics like Annie are better later on. But Minsc can do it right after you get out of Irenicus' dungeon. Give him Azuredge and berserk him and let him go nuts.
Ugh, Anomen somehow has 2 proficiency in SPEARS even though he can't even use them. I think he had those points when I got him into my party. Auto-level, I guess? I hope this isn't a bug.
Anomen's Turn Undead has been very useful. Insta-kills undead in some cases
@Mythdracon - since Anomen started his career as a Fighter, his points in spear are legal even though they are wasteful. In the original game he had too few proficiency points, so EE added additional ones to make him fit in with the mechanics. I think that Anomen mentions using spears in some dialog (although I've never seen it personally) so those pips are probably just a reference to that.
It's one of his dialogues when he claims to have killed a wyvern with a spear. IIRC The Gibberlings Three forum added in the spears proficiencies into the Fix Pack, as a way to fix his missing proficiencies without actually altering the power level of the character either way. That fix pack is included in EE.
If you side with Bodhi, you might be able to still get it at the end of her questline, but I'm not sure of that.
You kill Aran Linvail at the end of Bodhi's questline, so you get the amulet of power from his corpse. This, of course, assumes that a good party is willing to work with vampires.
If you side with Bodhi, you might be able to still get it at the end of her questline, but I'm not sure of that.
You kill Aran Linvail at the end of Bodhi's questline, so you get the amulet of power from his corpse. This, of course, assumes that a good party is willing to work with vampires.
Almost every good-aligned character in the game leaves the party if you side with the vampires, IIRC, so you'd have to do that swathe of the game solo.
Comments
So Sword and Shield sucks because.....two weapons deals more damage? I can't really go back and change it, but I'll be sure not to make that mistake in future. Is it just that two weapons deals more DPS and that it is therefore more reliable long term? I can understand not having Sword and Shield because of tanks not necessarily grabbing all the enemy "aggro" in all situations (often that seems to be the casters).
Also, how does one get Protection from Fear, other than through bards and Remove Fear? Often the cleric (Anomen) will be undergoing fear and thus unable to remove the fear of other party members running around.
Further question: how do I get mages to tank? Thanks for the Stoneskin tip, I had no idea it lasted so long. I assumed it lifted after resting, because on previous occasions that is generally what seemed to happen...
Update: Killed Shadow Dragon on third try using conversation exploit. Had Neera lower the dragon's resistance so that she and Jan could Magic Missile x4 each, and Keldorn slammed Carsomyr into the dragon's torso.
As for protection from fear, mages have a low-level, party-wide Resist Fear spell.
*Neera ( She can pick most of the locks and disarm most of the traps)
*Anomen ( Great cleric with high stregth)
*Kheldorn ( +5 Holy Avenger and 50% MR)
*Minsc ( Get him to either dual wield a mace and LS)
*Mazzy ( Good until you get Sarevock give her the bow of Gesen)
*** For mage killing I use any remove magic spell with a mage and dispell from Kheldorn that clears most of the mages.
I added my final save. ( I was NG until I was greedy that made me NE)
Your team has no thief so locks and traps would be a huge issue. He'll probably have to take jan over Minsc in that setup and only one arcane caster would be pretty bad in higher difficulties too.
This game has no concept of threat so whoever is up front "tanks".
Also you can get the staff of the magi that makes you invisible every time you switch to it which makes enemies lose their target and restart their attack round. You can abuse that with a Mage standing and blocking a corridor to good effect.
I'd also say that strength doesn't matter much for clerics because they get so many strength buff spells even if you don't give them one of the 5 strength items in the game that it's a non-issue.
I don't see the Resist Fear spell in Neera's or Jan's spellbooks...maybe I just haven't come across the spell yet?
As for threat, it's weird--sometimes they target my mages and squishy people outright, other times the person in front. No idea how that's determined. I always have my mages and squishies shoot their ranged weapons/spells AFTER the "tanks" engage the enemy....
So Righteous Magic THEN Draw Upon Holy Might (DUHM) is the best order for cleric-casting?
Sun Soul Monks aren't better, but they do get a bunch of powers for blasting undead out of existence.
Come to think of it, Minsc is a vampire killing machine because he also has the right alignment to use Azuredge and vampires as his favored enemy. That might make him the best one in the game.
Anomen's Turn Undead has been very useful. Insta-kills undead in some cases
The points are legal, yeah, just very...useless. He can't use spears now so