That was one thing that I really liked about my Avenger. He wore hide armor in BGEE (gives the best AC for an avenger with ring of prot. +2). Looked very cool and druid-like. Maybe I will try an avenger one more time... at least the sword-spider form can hit everything... or has that changed in BGEEII?
That was one thing that I really liked about my Avenger. He wore hide armor in BGEE (gives the best AC for an avenger with ring of prot. +2). Looked very cool and druid-like. Maybe I will try an avenger one more time... at least the sword-spider form can hit everything... or has that changed in BGEEII?
The sword spider is the same in BGEEII as it is in BGEE. After they nerfed the sword spider from the original game (BG2) my new favorite form is the fire salamander. But you really shouldn't be using the forms unless there is a specific reason for it, at least not in a no-reload game.
I'm actually making an Avenger now myself and going to try to get him through the trilogy no-reload.
The sword form works well with web for clearing trash mobs, also now has poison in BG:EEII, so I may need use it to poison mages, though I really like the spell "poison" as well for this and made good use of it in my earlier playthrough with my avenger.
I haven't shifted once so far in my Avenger run (which is only halfway BG1). But Web + Sword Spider is something I'll try out for sure. Hide armor sounds like the best option and both barbarian and druidic. Makes me want to try one now @SionIV... What's so good about the Salamander btw? The fire resistance? The small fireballs?
I haven't shifted once so far in my Avenger run (which is only halfway BG1). But Web + Sword Spider is something I'll try out for sure. Hide armor sounds like the best option and both barbarian and druidic. Makes me want to try one now @SionIV... What's so good about the Salamander btw? The fire resistance? The small fireballs?
18/75 STR 19 DEX Haste (All forms have it) Mini fireballs Great damage Fire Resistance
It's probably my favorite form on the avenger right now. The wyvern form is also great for poisoning in BGEE.
I haven't shifted once so far in my Avenger run (which is only halfway BG1). But Web + Sword Spider is something I'll try out for sure. Hide armor sounds like the best option and both barbarian and druidic. Makes me want to try one now @SionIV... What's so good about the Salamander btw? The fire resistance? The small fireballs?
18/75 STR 19 DEX Haste (All forms have it) Mini fireballs Great damage Fire Resistance
It's probably my favorite form on the avenger right now. The wyvern form is also great for poisoning in BGEE.
Ah ok, this looks certainly good enough for BG1. Have you tried this form in SoA? Its halberd has a +3 enchantment apparently.
I haven't shifted once so far in my Avenger run (which is only halfway BG1). But Web + Sword Spider is something I'll try out for sure. Hide armor sounds like the best option and both barbarian and druidic. Makes me want to try one now @SionIV... What's so good about the Salamander btw? The fire resistance? The small fireballs?
18/75 STR 19 DEX Haste (All forms have it) Mini fireballs Great damage Fire Resistance
It's probably my favorite form on the avenger right now. The wyvern form is also great for poisoning in BGEE.
Ah ok, this looks certainly good enough for BG1. Have you tried this form in SoA? Its halberd has a +3 enchantment apparently.
I wouldn't use any of the Avengers form in SoA to be honest. The only reason that the mage with polymorph self and sword spider is so powerful is because of the defensive spells they can throw up to protect themselves before going into a different form. Other than Ironskin the Avenger doesn't have these kind of protective spells, so you'll end up dead very quickly.
The avenger forms are a blessing in BGEE and CAN be useful in BG2EE but it's not something you should build your character around. The reason you picked the Avenger should be the arcane spells you get and you should build your character around that (21 wisdom with the tomes from BGEE) and stand on the backline to throw powerful spells. That they actually give you Chaos (Level 5) Chain lightning (Level 6) lightning (level 3) should show you perfectly fine where you should be standing, behind everyone else. Throw in call lightning, insect plague and other offensive druid divine spells and you always have something to cast.
Chromatic Orb - You have no useful level 1 spells other than armor of faith and healing. Stack up on Chromatic orbs for some extra damage and if you're lucky you'll instantly kill an enemy as well.
Web - Use Freedom (Level 4 divine spell) on your fighters and send them in to fight the enemy, then throw web into the middle.
Lightning - You finally have a powerful damage spells to throw at enemies while inside. Call lightning while you're outside, lightning while you're inside. Protection from lightning (Divine level 4 spell) on your fighters and just throw the lightning around the place.
Improved Invisibility - Great spell that is useful on everyone in your party. Can't be targeted by spells but also get +4 AC so wonderful on your fighters.
Chaos - Amazing spell that can wreck an enemy party. Throw one of these into the mix and then throw an insect plague and you can neutralize an entire enemy team on your own.
Chain lightning - I'll memorize 5+ of these spells and just chain them after each other. You'll get them before the mage and you'll get more of them as well, amazing spell on a druid.
The Avenger is a spell caster first and foremost, and should be played as such. The forms are a flavor thing that are really nice in BGEE and can be useful for some niche fights in BG2EE (like killing trolls).
Like Sion says, shifting is fine for clearing out trash mobs and some niche battles, but you have to be really careful against tougher enemies. You can actually get yourself pretty buff though if you use death ward, imp. inv., defensive harmony, ironskins, and so forth, but you cannot really tank. Its more for a quick burst of some damage applied where needed and then pull back, especially if your iron skins go down.
Like Sion says though, as an Avenger, you have a lot of demand on your higher level spells and can´t afford to use a lot of slots for buffing yourself just to be a short-term mediocre dps, if you really want to get full advantage from the lightnings and the druidic summons. Death ward, for example, is level 4 along with imp. inv., defensive harmony, and call woodland being. I didn´t really use chaos much as it is lvl 5 and those slots tend to be reserved for Ironskins, insect plague, etc. A woodland being can cast confusion, which is almost as good.
One word on the nymphs; they have their own script and will check it frequently against the orders you give them. So you have to try to issue orders to the nymphs just as their action is about to come up in the round; otherwise they will do their own thing. Their script is pretty good, however, tending to fire off hold monsters and confusion into crowds and call lightning outdoors on single targets: mental domination indoors.
Haha... my run of bad luck with druids continues. I picked up Faldorn in Cloakwood and subbed her in for Dorn. She comes without a helmet, however, like all the NPCs, which is really annoying. I figured I would grab a helmet for her in the mines... except unfortunately, a Wyvern chunked her... so I had to return to the FAI and get Dorn back. Guess its Dorn for the long-haul... lol.
Just remember that Chaos is a more powerful version of Confusion. For up to level 4 there is no saving throw, and over that it's -4 while confusion is -2.
@SionIV and @Aurorus thank you for your detailed explanations. The way you play your Avengers is vey similar to the way I've been playing mine so far: as a spell slinger. (I'm only halfway BG1 though.) It's a really nice offensive caster role.
Just started reading this today. @Aurorus this is just an outstanding re-telling of your adventures. Thank you for this; it has been a BLAST to read!
Thank you much. Aurorus´adventures will continue at some point in Amn, but I haven´t played SoA beyond the D´Arnesse Keep in many years, so I want to play someone else through on vanilla first.
I have another journal of my playthrough with my rogue going... The adventures of Amend, Bounty and Treasure Hunter. The Amend thread is better in some ways, because I saved more screenshots. I did not have any screenshots of Aurorus until after Ulcaster, because it did not occur to me to document my playthrough until after Ulcaster.
Aurorus and Amend have been my most successful characters of the 8 or so that I have played in BGI with SCS. The other 6 died... mostly from carelessness on my part, but also it is tougher to get a caster through BGI with SCS, because the enemy places such an emphasis on targeting casters, especially anyone who summons. I also tend to do things with a full party from pretty early on, so that makes it more difficult because I am not high enough level often times to deal easily with things like color spray or sleep. It is probably best to get to level 3 or 4 with just 1 or 2 companions, then pick up a full party, which is what I am doing now with my bard and a new fighter-druid that I just made.
Comments
I'm actually making an Avenger now myself and going to try to get him through the trilogy no-reload.
Hide armor sounds like the best option and both barbarian and druidic. Makes me want to try one now @SionIV... What's so good about the Salamander btw? The fire resistance? The small fireballs?
19 DEX
Haste (All forms have it)
Mini fireballs
Great damage
Fire Resistance
It's probably my favorite form on the avenger right now. The wyvern form is also great for poisoning in BGEE.
The avenger forms are a blessing in BGEE and CAN be useful in BG2EE but it's not something you should build your character around. The reason you picked the Avenger should be the arcane spells you get and you should build your character around that (21 wisdom with the tomes from BGEE) and stand on the backline to throw powerful spells. That they actually give you Chaos (Level 5) Chain lightning (Level 6) lightning (level 3) should show you perfectly fine where you should be standing, behind everyone else. Throw in call lightning, insect plague and other offensive druid divine spells and you always have something to cast.
Chromatic Orb - You have no useful level 1 spells other than armor of faith and healing. Stack up on Chromatic orbs for some extra damage and if you're lucky you'll instantly kill an enemy as well.
Web - Use Freedom (Level 4 divine spell) on your fighters and send them in to fight the enemy, then throw web into the middle.
Lightning - You finally have a powerful damage spells to throw at enemies while inside. Call lightning while you're outside, lightning while you're inside. Protection from lightning (Divine level 4 spell) on your fighters and just throw the lightning around the place.
Improved Invisibility - Great spell that is useful on everyone in your party. Can't be targeted by spells but also get +4 AC so wonderful on your fighters.
Chaos - Amazing spell that can wreck an enemy party. Throw one of these into the mix and then throw an insect plague and you can neutralize an entire enemy team on your own.
Chain lightning - I'll memorize 5+ of these spells and just chain them after each other. You'll get them before the mage and you'll get more of them as well, amazing spell on a druid.
The Avenger is a spell caster first and foremost, and should be played as such. The forms are a flavor thing that are really nice in BGEE and can be useful for some niche fights in BG2EE (like killing trolls).
Like Sion says though, as an Avenger, you have a lot of demand on your higher level spells and can´t afford to use a lot of slots for buffing yourself just to be a short-term mediocre dps, if you really want to get full advantage from the lightnings and the druidic summons. Death ward, for example, is level 4 along with imp. inv., defensive harmony, and call woodland being. I didn´t really use chaos much as it is lvl 5 and those slots tend to be reserved for Ironskins, insect plague, etc. A woodland being can cast confusion, which is almost as good.
One word on the nymphs; they have their own script and will check it frequently against the orders you give them. So you have to try to issue orders to the nymphs just as their action is about to come up in the round; otherwise they will do their own thing. Their script is pretty good, however, tending to fire off hold monsters and confusion into crowds and call lightning outdoors on single targets: mental domination indoors.
It's a really nice offensive caster role.
I have another journal of my playthrough with my rogue going... The adventures of Amend, Bounty and Treasure Hunter. The Amend thread is better in some ways, because I saved more screenshots. I did not have any screenshots of Aurorus until after Ulcaster, because it did not occur to me to document my playthrough until after Ulcaster.
Aurorus and Amend have been my most successful characters of the 8 or so that I have played in BGI with SCS. The other 6 died... mostly from carelessness on my part, but also it is tougher to get a caster through BGI with SCS, because the enemy places such an emphasis on targeting casters, especially anyone who summons. I also tend to do things with a full party from pretty early on, so that makes it more difficult because I am not high enough level often times to deal easily with things like color spray or sleep. It is probably best to get to level 3 or 4 with just 1 or 2 companions, then pick up a full party, which is what I am doing now with my bard and a new fighter-druid that I just made.