@bbear Chant was fixed for BG:EE so that it affects opponents in the AoE with a -1 penalty to attack, damage, and saving throws. It used to just provide the +1 bonuses to allies in the AoE.
@bbear Chant was fixed for BG:EE so that it affects opponents in the AoE with a -1 penalty to attack, damage, and saving throws. It used to just provide the +1 bonuses to allies in the AoE.
Does the game check the effect instantly right after the spell is cast, at the beginning of each turn or continuously until the spell duration is over?
@bbear Chant was fixed for BG:EE so that it affects opponents in the AoE with a -1 penalty to attack, damage, and saving throws. It used to just provide the +1 bonuses to allies in the AoE.
Does the game check the effect instantly right after the spell is cast, at the beginning of each turn or continuously until the spell duration is over?
@bbear It isn't a continuous aura like the shield of Fyrus Khal's MR aura or The Brick's wild magic aura if that is what you are asking. Chant is just an area of effect spell centered on the caster that hits everyone in the area once at the completion of the casting and lasts for the duration of the spell. People who leave the AoE will still have the effect until the duration expires and people who enter the AoE after the spell has been cast do not gain the effect.
By the way, the Aura of Magic Restitance from the Shield of Fyrus Khal and the Aura of Wild Magic from The Brick aren't really auras either. Their effects are implemented as follows: While the shield or the hammer is equipped they cast an invisible area of effect spell every round which hits everyone nearby and gives them the effects of the spell for the duration of one round. By the time the effects of the spell wear off another spell is cast by the item and hits anyone still within its reach. This way anyone who leaves the AoE of the items only gets to keep their effects for one round and will not be hit by the next spell unless they are in the AoE of the items' spells. In the case of The Brick the spell only takes effect 10% of the time.
Edit: now I think you ment saves against spells, not just saves... I've just thought @Tresset has been rooting for the 1st level spell that is often overlooked
Edit: now I think you ment saves against spells, not just saves... I've just thought @Tresset has been rooting for the 1st level spell that is often overlooked
I'm pretty sure blindness just gives a -4 penalty to AC and THAC0.
But yeah Blindness (the spell) is probably better than most people give it credit for.
I use (well, spam) skull trap. I position my sorcerer just out of sight range, lay out ~6 traps, walk closer, and cast "lower resistance" to make the dragon hostile. When he moves, the traps spring, and he (normally) dies in a second.
Depending on the point in the game, this approach changes slightly. For instance, in ToB I tend to cast time stop, improved alacrity, horrid wilting a few times, then a chain contingency full of horrid wiltings. With the improved alacrity, the contingency is effectively three spells cast in only a few seconds. To cap off the time in time stop, I'll throw out two lower resistances and maybe a command: silence for good measure. Draconis never knew what hit him.
(Also, speaking of Draconis, funny story: My sorcerer was equipped with the cloak of cheese and he had the immunity to normal weapons from the Bhall tears. He walked up to Draconis and proceeded to beat him with his quarterstaff until Draconis morphed. He couldn't do a thing. I doubt that I'm the first person to figure that out, but it was still really funny. Good times.)
I am going to test out beating them by boring them to death and/or getting them drunk. No, seriously. Do you know how many creatures are immune to fatigue or drunkenness? None, as far as I can tell in Near Infinity. Do you know what the results of fatigue and intoxication are, as far as the game is concerned? Negative luck.
in a melee heavy party, buffs (barskin, iron skin, stoneskin, improved invisibility, improved haste etc.) + arcane debuffs to spoil their protections in an arcane heavy party, layers of protection to avoid being blasted away by their breath + summons to tank + debuffs for magic resistance + whatever offensive spell I enjoy the most at that time...
I usually use 3X lower resistance and feeble mind. Feeble mind is permanent and will make the dragon's brain into goo so he can do nothing but stand there in stunned stupidity while you beat him to death at your leisure. I have yet to cast it and not have it take hold on the first try. At this point in the game I have no weapons beyond +3 and my mage's spell selection is limited. My Thaco is usually not all that great on my warriors either. The improved dragons of SCS have 500+ hitpoints and on insane they hit like a tank and the level one blind spell will not work on them.
the above strategy seems to work the best for me on these two early dragon battles. It may be a bit cheap but it does allow a lower level party (level 9-10) to win these epic encounters on the most brutal of difficulty settings and it makes good use of 4 or 5 level 4 and 5 spells which are about the most powerful you have access to at the time you usually encounter these beasts. Of course these encounters are both set up so that you can come back later and brute force them after the underdark but I usually don't want to wait. I want to destroy them when I cross paths with them for the first time because it is more rewarding. After his magic resistance is brought down I hit him with feeble mind and then let my melee fighters go to town while my mages unload all of their missile attacks, magic missle ect.
For later dragon battles I usually give my FT,FMT, or a paladin the holy avenger and have him brute force the dragons in an epic knock down drag out fight.
In the original un-modded game I would usually summon some fire elementals and have all of my fighters attack while hasted and all of my magic users pushing acid arrow, fire arrow, and minor sequencers full of magic missiles in what seemed like a very long and tough battle. Very satisfying actually.
Last night I did a clash of the titans. I wanted to, at least.
In one corner, Firkraag the Red Dragon, powerful red wyrm striking fear in the hearts of adventurers for generations.
In the opposite corner, this region's Great Druid with the forces of nature on her command. She called forth mighty Sunnis, Elemental Prince of Earth to fight as her champion in this legendary contest.
Well...it would be one if Firkraag could harm Sunnis. "Weapon Ineffective" for the win
Yeah, I know, HLA vs. a SoA opponent. Still, it was a fight 1 vs.1 and the only damage Firkraag did was with his Dragon's Breath. I also modified the spell a bit to allow for longer duration because Druids already have the shorter end of the stick when compared to mages and their HLA summoning.
When I faced the Shadow Dragon in the Umar Hills, my sorcerer, fittingly enough, just fireballed it to death. Ever since, I've tried to do the same to every dragon but with very little success.
I actually had the strangest win over Firkraag in my last Monk run. I wasn't in the mood for Quivering Palm cheese, and I only had my PC plus Dace (Bounty Hunter, but I didn't want to use trap cheese either), so I was actually kind of outmatched with no way to beat his spell protections. I wound up running away from him and out of his lair area. When I got back up to the dungeon, he was waiting for me on the other side of the table in the last room, and he was stuck! He was too big to get at me from over there, so I took him down with arrow fire. Weirdest fight in a long, long time. I really wish I'd been able to get a screenshot of his dead body after, it was just the funniest thing.
I recently fought Thaxll'ssillyia (shadow dragon) and I was buffed up for a nice and rough fight. My first move was to have Rasaad use Sun Soulbeam. Sun Soulbeam blinded the dragon and that was the end of the fight. The dragon just started wandering around while I was beating on it. I think that was the easiest dragon fight I ever had. Died in like 10 seconds.
Yes, blinding dragons effectively ends the fight unless you hurt them too much and don't kill them before they manage to cast Heal (which cures blindness). I killed Firkraag this way once before (Nature's Beauty). Apparently their hitbox expands beyond their immediate sight range in melee
Before every dragon fight, I will buff the party and summons with Remove Fear and Haste. I summon creatures such as Invisible stalkers, elementals and aerial servants and I have them charge to absorb initial attacks and probe. My mages are usually flinging Lower Resistance, Pierce Magic, and Warding Whip (if they are high enough level). My warriors are usually keeping the Dragon busy and causing some damage. Once I have the dragon's magic resistance down to a manageable level (as low as I can get it), I begin hurling offe sive spells, starting with the highest-level ones and finishing with Magic Missile.
Between summoned creatures and warriors, we can beat the dragon up and keep it busy while the mages and clerics get their spells off. Once the Maging Resistance is down, it's only a matter of time before the Dragon succumbs.
Saladrex has been the toughest dragon so far. Your warriors are going to need some Hit points and resistances to take him on. Also, in the standard game, he's pretty crafty and attacks the whole party. I usually have at least one death when I fight him.
I am sure another player has a better tactic than mine however.
@abazigal5, can you please tell me how you have Minsc kitted out? Do you have him dual wield? Is he wearing a girlde of giant Strength? I am curious, and would love to maximize my Minsc. Thanks.
I think an important part of fighting dragons is to make sure that you don't let all of your meatshields get wing buffeted at once. If that happens, then the dragon will merrily attack your casters and then you're screwed. To prevent that, I figure you should either split your melee fighters into two groups and only send one straight in to start, or else not fight in melee at all, and just kite the dragon with hasted characters/monsters while your casters do their thing.
Comments
Usually dragon heal can be disrupted. From my experience, the exceptions are Draconis and that Green Dragon right before Abazigal.
By the way, the Aura of Magic Restitance from the Shield of Fyrus Khal and the Aura of Wild Magic from The Brick aren't really auras either. Their effects are implemented as follows:
While the shield or the hammer is equipped they cast an invisible area of effect spell every round which hits everyone nearby and gives them the effects of the spell for the duration of one round. By the time the effects of the spell wear off another spell is cast by the item and hits anyone still within its reach. This way anyone who leaves the AoE of the items only gets to keep their effects for one round and will not be hit by the next spell unless they are in the AoE of the items' spells. In the case of The Brick the spell only takes effect 10% of the time.
Blind your enemy => -4 to saves
Edit: now I think you ment saves against spells, not just saves... I've just thought @Tresset has been rooting for the 1st level spell that is often overlooked
But yeah Blindness (the spell) is probably better than most people give it credit for.
Depending on the point in the game, this approach changes slightly. For instance, in ToB I tend to cast time stop, improved alacrity, horrid wilting a few times, then a chain contingency full of horrid wiltings. With the improved alacrity, the contingency is effectively three spells cast in only a few seconds. To cap off the time in time stop, I'll throw out two lower resistances and maybe a command: silence for good measure. Draconis never knew what hit him.
(Also, speaking of Draconis, funny story: My sorcerer was equipped with the cloak of cheese and he had the immunity to normal weapons from the Bhall tears. He walked up to Draconis and proceeded to beat him with his quarterstaff until Draconis morphed. He couldn't do a thing. I doubt that I'm the first person to figure that out, but it was still really funny. Good times.)
Is it cheep? Sure. Do I care? Not really. :P
Slowly... *grins malevolently*
in an arcane heavy party, layers of protection to avoid being blasted away by their breath + summons to tank + debuffs for magic resistance + whatever offensive spell I enjoy the most at that time...
in all cases, remove fear or similar is a must
Let's Play Baldur's Gate 2 046 tactics scsii insane Saladrex Watcher's Keep level 4 bonus raw fail
like this
the above strategy seems to work the best for me on these two early dragon battles. It may be a bit cheap but it does allow a lower level party (level 9-10) to win these epic encounters on the most brutal of difficulty settings and it makes good use of 4 or 5 level 4 and 5 spells which are about the most powerful you have access to at the time you usually encounter these beasts. Of course these encounters are both set up so that you can come back later and brute force them after the underdark but I usually don't want to wait. I want to destroy them when I cross paths with them for the first time because it is more rewarding. After his magic resistance is brought down I hit him with feeble mind and then let my melee fighters go to town while my mages unload all of their missile attacks, magic missle ect.
For later dragon battles I usually give my FT,FMT, or a paladin the holy avenger and have him brute force the dragons in an epic knock down drag out fight.
In the original un-modded game I would usually summon some fire elementals and have all of my fighters attack while hasted and all of my magic users pushing acid arrow, fire arrow, and minor sequencers full of magic missiles in what seemed like a very long and tough battle. Very satisfying actually.
Worked every time so far.
In one corner, Firkraag the Red Dragon, powerful red wyrm striking fear in the hearts of adventurers for generations.
In the opposite corner, this region's Great Druid with the forces of nature on her command. She called forth mighty Sunnis, Elemental Prince of Earth to fight as her champion in this legendary contest.
Well...it would be one if Firkraag could harm Sunnis. "Weapon Ineffective" for the win
Yeah, I know, HLA vs. a SoA opponent. Still, it was a fight 1 vs.1 and the only damage Firkraag did was with his Dragon's Breath. I also modified the spell a bit to allow for longer duration because Druids already have the shorter end of the stick when compared to mages and their HLA summoning.
Between summoned creatures and warriors, we can beat the dragon up and keep it busy while the mages and clerics get their spells off. Once the Maging Resistance is down, it's only a matter of time before the Dragon succumbs.
Saladrex has been the toughest dragon so far. Your warriors are going to need some Hit points and resistances to take him on. Also, in the standard game, he's pretty crafty and attacks the whole party. I usually have at least one death when I fight him.
I am sure another player has a better tactic than mine however.