I think that @Wise_Grimwald is right on this one. Game is surprisingly fair with Kangaxx: okay, Skull Boi should be unbeatable, but if you do manage to get him, you'll get nice ring. But with Demonknight - not so much.
With the Demonknight I used to use PfM scroll to stop him teleporting away. The rewards were quite good, helm of opposite alignment, some gauntlets and some plate armour if I remember correctly.
Then the way that the scroll worked was changed so that you couldn't use it upon enemies.
In vanilla it was only the helmet though and you could only get it by casting otiluke's resilient sphere, unequip weapons and punch him unconscious, then wait for the sphere to finish up and stab him to death. Oh the fun times in metagaming.....
Lawd, what an operation that used to be. Glad it changed. I have found NPC's brought into SoD with the helmet, if killed, oftentimes remain changed, when raised.
In vanilla it was only the helmet though and you could only get it by casting otiluke's resilient sphere, unequip weapons and punch him unconscious, then wait for the sphere to finish up and stab him to death. Oh the fun times in metagaming.....
It was a long time before I learned how to do that, but PfM also used to work in the same way. I took great delight in killing the unkillable.
Soo, they put in a critter with no idea, plans, or thought that characters good defeat it. Swell, Id' call that a bad DM if it were PnP.
Nahh... not a bad DM... just a DM who knows their players will accomplish the impossible if loot is involved
What I object to is those DMs who think that they have made something impossible, then when gamers beat their impossible enemies, they change the rules to stop you doing it any more. The demonknight at the top of Durlag's Tower and Tazok at the Bandit Camp being illustrations of this tendency. . If you kill Tazok now at the Bandit Camp, the game crashes!!!
I think that @Wise_Grimwald is right on this one. Game is surprisingly fair with Kangaxx: okay, Skull Boi should be unbeatable, but if you do manage to get him, you'll get nice ring. But with Demonknight - not so much.
Did you know that a mage (single, dual and multi) and sorcerers should consider playing as lawfull neutral in BG2?
A lawfull neutral charname can "find" the ferret as familiar. The ferret is quite good at pickpocketing items.
In the vanilla game (version 1.3) it can pickpocket: the ring of regeneration, the boomerang dagger, the genie summoning flask, and the neklace of Talos/ Marcus documents (effectively dealing with the sub quest in the Maevar main quest).
Ps. If this has been posted already on one of the 104 other pages in this thread, I apologise for the invonvenience...
A multi-class thief/mage can cast Project Image, and the projected image can then set traps. You can then kill the image, and the mage/thief can proceed to set even more traps. This is particularly abusable in late SoA and ToB where Jan Jansen has access to high-level abilities (spike traps) and level 7 spells.
Heh, yeah, the 'Magneto Effect'. On the flip side, that reminds me. I think I might have lost a character or two in a similar fashion, esp. with darn spells, after taking cover or tryin to head 'off map'. It's like they almost have a guidance system at times, with no range limit even, esp. when one is hasted. I used to think they could be outrun, but often now, if separated from the rest of the party I'll start droppin them just to have my PC be able to leave the darn map.
Gather my party first? Heck with that, I wanna live. "Well, we can take em, we can take em (edges further away from party)! Oh lawd, what is that? Shoot, I got ta go, been swell, bye!"
Did you know that the Save vs. Spell penalty given by a level 8 archer's Called shot ignores magic resistance? It can be used to lower the saving throws of creatures that are meant to be invincible.
Also, did you know that the instant death effect from a level 12 Chromatic Orb also ignores magic resistance? It also uses Save vs. Spell.
You can cast Chromatic Orb at level 12 in BG1 if the caster is a level 7-9 wild mage and their caster level is increased by enough to get them to level 12.
Did you know that the Save vs. Spell penalty given by a level 8 archer's Called shot ignores magic resistance? It can be used to lower the saving throws of creatures that are meant to be invincible.
Also, did you know that the instant death effect from a level 12 Chromatic Orb also ignores magic resistance? It also uses Save vs. Spell.
You can cast Chromatic Orb at level 12 in BG1 if the caster is a level 7-9 wild mage and their caster level is increased by enough to get them to level 12.
In the Druid grove there is a group of shadow Druids, right past the group fighting the troll's. If you invis past them and complete the quest, when you come back two of them will still be there. One will apologize and say that he will atone for his actions before leaving.
I count three ways of killing Breudayael, the mod-introduced drow sorcerer who appears in Spellhold and is immune to virtually everything:
1. Spike Traps (the original ones; a modded version does piercing damage which likely wouldn't be enough) 2. Stacking about 50 Symbol, Stun spells in the hallway and luring him into it (which would be more reliable if you used a good-aligned Conjurer to cast the Symbol, Stun spells), then using True Seeing or Detect Illusions to repeatedly reveal him so you can use Wand of Lightning-boosted Potions of Firebreath on him during the half-second when he's still visible before he vanishes again. He tends to pre-buff with Protection from Fire, but if you provoke him and run away, you can wait it out until he's only 75% resistant to fire damage. 3. Create a stack of Fire Seeds or Arrows of Detonation (the latter will likely require the item duplication trick and possibly a mod), give it to a character with a bonus to damage, such as an Archer or Kensai (Kensais can use Fire Seeds if not Arrows of Detonation), and then position a tank next to Breudayael. Attack the tank with the Fire Seeds or Arrows of Detonation and Breudayael will get hit by the missile damage and eventually collapse (he has over 100 HP, but no regeneration or healing options). Called Shot could also kill him through stat drain depending on APR.
(I also once killed him using a Wand of Lightning-boosted grade 3 War Engine, but that requires installing my Alchemist kit.)
I don't see many other options. Breudayael goes invisible almost immediately after being reveal, is immune to death magic, immune to Transmutation spells, immune to offensive damage spells, has -2 saving throws across the board, is 75% immune to magic and all elemental damage, and is immune to +3 weapons and below. He also appears to be immune to +4 and +5 weapons for some reason, though it doesn't seem to come from his equipment (looking at the files in Near Infinity) or any spell listed in the dialog box during the fight.
The one saving grace is that whatever mod Breudayael came from never actually gave him decent AI. If you turn his party hostile and run away, Breudayael won't follow you at all, and the rest of the enemies are easy to outrun and cannot handle invisibility. This means you can divide and conquer them pretty easily.
Breudayael instantly casts Imprisonment on the entire party (which I hear bypasses SI: Abjuration) if his wife, Anastasia, is killed while he is still alive. A good way to isolate her is to lure her into the kobold area, nail her with Feeblemind, go invisible, and sneak past Breudayael. Putting her in the library also works. Breudayael can cast Heal on both himself and Anastasia no matter where she is on the map, curing her Feeblemind, but she won't go searching for you when she's cured.
Note that the dwarf cannot be targeted by elves, Anastasia cannot be targeted by bards, and Drusilia, the other mage, cannot be targeted by evil characters.
The mod-introduced Teleport spell can let you teleport from almost any location, even in the middle of combat. It should be possible to complete the SCS Siege of Ust Natha with a normal party if you teleport away whenever you need to rest.
What a poorly-constructed encounter. That fight was just as dumb as mine.
To simplify a complicated story, I charmed Drusilia (only possible because my main character was a Seducer) and sent her off to die against the three liches to the far south, which she didn't. When Anastasia came after me, I had to flee northwest, into two Balors, a gang of Umber Hulks and Noble Umber Hulks, and two epic-level mages.
I barely made it out alive (my party was largely unbuffed, as I didn't realize sending Drusilia after the liches turned the party hostile), came back after dodging Bodhi's ambush, and lured Anastasia into the kobold room, where I feebleminded her. I walked right past Breudayael while invisible to finish off Drusilia, Thordek, and the three liches by the library, and when some summoned Cornugons sent one of my characters running north, I used a summoned critter to distract Breudayael until I could kill the liches, the umber hulks, and the two epic-level mages.
For some reason I wasn't allowed to rest a second time, even when I returned to the previous area, so Symbol, Stun spells weren't an option. And for some reason, Potions of Fire Breath had no effect on him, so instead, I just let Breudayael attack my tank while I fired Arrows of Detonation.
Probably would have been easier if I had just killed the three liches and eight umber hulks and four Noble Umber Hulks and two epic-level mages before I tackled Breudayael. Instead of fighting them nearly simultaneously.
Did you know that monks can equip weapons in their off hand and still retain their normal fist attack and apr - there is "just" a +4/+8 penalty to their Thaco but you Will be given the extra attack from their off hand weapon (at least in version 1.3).
A high level monk won't suffer to badly from the thaco setback, and can instead enjoy the perks of the off hand weapon resitances - such as free action, negative plane protection, prot against charm and domination... even belm and the scarlet ninjato gives an exces attack on the top (but its capped at 5 apr)
If your protagonist is called Drizzt and has a poor reputation (11 or lower) at the time you meet Drizzt Do'Urden in BG2 (start of Chapter 6), he will be mad at you for ruining his reputation and attack you.
I think you also have to play an Elf for this to work.
And I am pretty sure this is the only time in any of the games where it matters what your name is.
Totally replying to a year old comment, but just wanted to point out that this also works if you are called Drizzt Do'Urden.
@elminster The full range of reputations makes for a wide range of responses, all of which are quite interesting. It is worthwhile playing the game with differing reps just to discover how his responses change.
Did you know that Charm Person can get you out of a real pickle ?
For instance, I recently was "shopping" around Ulgoth's Beard from Shandalar and Dushai with Alora and decided that I wanted my reward from Hurgan Stoneblade early. However, Alora muffed her steal attempt. Everyone then went aggro on me, which was quite a problem because I hadn't bought everything I wanted from the bartender of the inn. I got out to make sure I killed nobody and was sadly contemplating the idea of abandoning the items left in the inn. The Gregan's Harp and the Harp of Descant were my main concern, because I play a bard. Since I play no reload, loading a previous save was not an option.
Then, I decided to try something. I memorized loads of Charm Person with Xan and got back into the inn. I charmed Hurgan to make sure he didn't attack the group and the bartender right after. All the others innocents were not attacking anyway. I then tried to talk to the bartender and it worked ! He accepted to sell me his stuff as usual ! I have to charm him everytime I go to the inn now, but it's a small price to pay to still have access to his stuff.
Comments
Then the way that the scroll worked was changed so that you couldn't use it upon enemies.
Oh the fun times in metagaming.....
A lawfull neutral charname can "find" the ferret as familiar. The ferret is quite good at pickpocketing items.
In the vanilla game (version 1.3) it can pickpocket: the ring of regeneration, the boomerang dagger, the genie summoning flask, and the neklace of Talos/ Marcus documents (effectively dealing with the sub quest in the Maevar main quest).
Ps. If this has been posted already on one of the 104 other pages in this thread, I apologise for the invonvenience...
I used to think they could be outrun, but often now, if separated from the rest of the party I'll start droppin them just to have my PC be able to leave the darn map.
Gather my party first? Heck with that, I wanna live.
"Well, we can take em, we can take em (edges further away from party)! Oh lawd, what is that? Shoot, I got ta go, been swell, bye!"
I'm on Chapter 9 of SoD and Dusty the Mephit has taken down 19 enemies for over 8000 experience, including a Sirine. I'm proud of you little guy.
Also, did you know that the instant death effect from a level 12 Chromatic Orb also ignores magic resistance? It also uses Save vs. Spell.
You can cast Chromatic Orb at level 12 in BG1 if the caster is a level 7-9 wild mage and their caster level is increased by enough to get them to level 12.
1. Spike Traps (the original ones; a modded version does piercing damage which likely wouldn't be enough)
2. Stacking about 50 Symbol, Stun spells in the hallway and luring him into it (which would be more reliable if you used a good-aligned Conjurer to cast the Symbol, Stun spells), then using True Seeing or Detect Illusions to repeatedly reveal him so you can use Wand of Lightning-boosted Potions of Firebreath on him during the half-second when he's still visible before he vanishes again. He tends to pre-buff with Protection from Fire, but if you provoke him and run away, you can wait it out until he's only 75% resistant to fire damage.
3. Create a stack of Fire Seeds or Arrows of Detonation (the latter will likely require the item duplication trick and possibly a mod), give it to a character with a bonus to damage, such as an Archer or Kensai (Kensais can use Fire Seeds if not Arrows of Detonation), and then position a tank next to Breudayael. Attack the tank with the Fire Seeds or Arrows of Detonation and Breudayael will get hit by the missile damage and eventually collapse (he has over 100 HP, but no regeneration or healing options). Called Shot could also kill him through stat drain depending on APR.
(I also once killed him using a Wand of Lightning-boosted grade 3 War Engine, but that requires installing my Alchemist kit.)
I don't see many other options. Breudayael goes invisible almost immediately after being reveal, is immune to death magic, immune to Transmutation spells, immune to offensive damage spells, has -2 saving throws across the board, is 75% immune to magic and all elemental damage, and is immune to +3 weapons and below. He also appears to be immune to +4 and +5 weapons for some reason, though it doesn't seem to come from his equipment (looking at the files in Near Infinity) or any spell listed in the dialog box during the fight.
The one saving grace is that whatever mod Breudayael came from never actually gave him decent AI. If you turn his party hostile and run away, Breudayael won't follow you at all, and the rest of the enemies are easy to outrun and cannot handle invisibility. This means you can divide and conquer them pretty easily.
Breudayael instantly casts Imprisonment on the entire party (which I hear bypasses SI: Abjuration) if his wife, Anastasia, is killed while he is still alive. A good way to isolate her is to lure her into the kobold area, nail her with Feeblemind, go invisible, and sneak past Breudayael. Putting her in the library also works. Breudayael can cast Heal on both himself and Anastasia no matter where she is on the map, curing her Feeblemind, but she won't go searching for you when she's cured.
Note that the dwarf cannot be targeted by elves, Anastasia cannot be targeted by bards, and Drusilia, the other mage, cannot be targeted by evil characters.
You might like this:
To simplify a complicated story, I charmed Drusilia (only possible because my main character was a Seducer) and sent her off to die against the three liches to the far south, which she didn't. When Anastasia came after me, I had to flee northwest, into two Balors, a gang of Umber Hulks and Noble Umber Hulks, and two epic-level mages.
I barely made it out alive (my party was largely unbuffed, as I didn't realize sending Drusilia after the liches turned the party hostile), came back after dodging Bodhi's ambush, and lured Anastasia into the kobold room, where I feebleminded her. I walked right past Breudayael while invisible to finish off Drusilia, Thordek, and the three liches by the library, and when some summoned Cornugons sent one of my characters running north, I used a summoned critter to distract Breudayael until I could kill the liches, the umber hulks, and the two epic-level mages.
For some reason I wasn't allowed to rest a second time, even when I returned to the previous area, so Symbol, Stun spells weren't an option. And for some reason, Potions of Fire Breath had no effect on him, so instead, I just let Breudayael attack my tank while I fired Arrows of Detonation.
Probably would have been easier if I had just killed the three liches and eight umber hulks and four Noble Umber Hulks and two epic-level mages before I tackled Breudayael. Instead of fighting them nearly simultaneously.
A high level monk won't suffer to badly from the thaco setback, and can instead enjoy the perks of the off hand weapon resitances - such as free action, negative plane protection, prot against charm and domination... even belm and the scarlet ninjato gives an exces attack on the top (but its capped at 5 apr)
For instance, I recently was "shopping" around Ulgoth's Beard from Shandalar and Dushai with Alora and decided that I wanted my reward from Hurgan Stoneblade early. However, Alora muffed her steal attempt. Everyone then went aggro on me, which was quite a problem because I hadn't bought everything I wanted from the bartender of the inn. I got out to make sure I killed nobody and was sadly contemplating the idea of abandoning the items left in the inn. The Gregan's Harp and the Harp of Descant were my main concern, because I play a bard. Since I play no reload, loading a previous save was not an option.
Then, I decided to try something. I memorized loads of Charm Person with Xan and got back into the inn. I charmed Hurgan to make sure he didn't attack the group and the bartender right after. All the others innocents were not attacking anyway. I then tried to talk to the bartender and it worked ! He accepted to sell me his stuff as usual ! I have to charm him everytime I go to the inn now, but it's a small price to pay to still have access to his stuff.
Strength: 18
Dexterity: 18
Constitution: 19
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 14
That's a stat total of 97. He has a higher stat total than Sarevok.