Having played a Monk through BG2/ToB, it was pretty satisfying to karate chop a giant lizard to a pulpy death. Didn't try Quivering Palm, however. Maybe next time...
@Dragonspear: Peridan doesn't do double damage against dragons, as the description suggests. It works by using an on-hit effect which applies an extra 1d8+2 damage, like the Flail of Ages' elemental damage. Strength bonuses and other stuff don't get doubled. It also won't get multiplied by critical hits for the same reason, as that 1d8+2 strikes right after the normal hit (there's a separate line in the dialog box for it). A Cavalier's bonus damage vs. dragons is different, though: it modifies the actual hit, which means that bonus benefits from critical hits.
A Cavalier with Peridan, specialization, and 19 STR would do 4.5+2+4.5+2+2+7+3=25 damage per hit against a dragon. Carsomyr would do 22.5, or 27.5 against a Chaotic Evil dragon (though a save vs. spell might negate the extra 5 damage). Peridan does have the advantage, however, of being a one-handed weapon, and thus can do a lot more damage than Carsomyr against dragons if combined with a speed weapon in the off hand.
I'd be tempted to argue that is a bug =/ And ya, it also greatly reduces the value of the weapon. Which is a shame, because I love it on my cavalier for flavor reasons =/
Or, if I want an easier but less funny way often I save before the battle, then kill them with the full party using some different tactics, each time reloading and starting again. Then I send each party member solo as the others wait and watch and wait their turn. then after the final reload lower resistance x3, GM, flash to stone, stone to flash, heal, flash to stone, stone to flash, heal, flash to stone, stone to flash, heal, flash to stone, stone to flash, heal and so on. GM, LR and rests or wishes (depending on the level of the main caster) as needed. After the final heal fleeblemind and a plain unenchanted staff. Usually my parties are small so level fast (and the dragons help them in doing it ), and are composed of arcane casters that can also fight with sometime a sorcerer that can eat dragons at breakfast with no problem, so each party member have no problem to solo them after 4 or 5 quests. The whole battle take a long time, some evenings of playing. The first part, when I try different tactics to explore te potential of the party and then solo the battle, is really funny. The last can get quite boring even if healing him keep the interest alive, so often is turned to stone only 3 or 4 times, but I had also parties coming out of the dungeon with 5 levels more.
One time I had my FMT charname talking to Sadalex, insulting him and as he turned red
the circle, he is always red....
using GWW with Carsomyr. I don't remember if a second GWW was needed, was so fast. And was the first battle of my usual routine. OK, I told, this time is good as it is, no reloads this time. I collected the loot and went away. But it was not a big fun. The fun is sending Aerie solo, when she is still at mid-low level, and see her bashing the big lizard in mlee.
The funniest dragons for me are the ones of the Tactics small teeth pass, is really amusing to fleeblemind the red one, sit and wait until he starts:"charname, charname, where are you?" and suddenly wake up from his fleeblemind state that should interrupt all his scripts permanently. AFAIK is the only enemy that can recover from fleeblemind.
Killing a dragon!!!!!!!!!!!!! The easiest + early way to kill a dragon is letting the level 11-15 thief set 7 trap, then hit the dragon with 1 normal atk and run away.....BAMMMM... the dragon was killed by the poison trap. You can kill the black dragon with thief level 11+, but with the red dragon, he has complete fire resit, so the level 16-20 thief cant kill him with trap ( at this level, the trap deal additional fire dam, not poison dam).
@hien2702, I agree that this is one of the easiest way to do it, at least with the dragons that are not hostile. But is one of the things in this game that imho spoil all the fun of playing, even for a new player. And I suppose that 99% of the players know it, I read it everywhere in the internet. I understand that new players can help themselves exploiting the weaknesses of the AI a little more that more experienced players do (in real life a Dragon, that is a very intelligent creature, would never sit there as the thief sets the traps), but Dragons are powerful and terrific creatures, is supposed that the party fight them only when is ready to face them.
For the first 2 Dragons you met the plot let delay their battles and complete the quest just for that reasons, no other example of this in the game.
And a party with a lev 11 or 15 thief should have the power to face a Dragon in more fair ways. Maybe a newbie can help himself attacking him directly instead of talk with him and let him the first move or prepare his summons before the battle, maybe he can soften him a little with 2 or 3 traps. A newbie, and every experienced player has been so, is far less efficient in his combat tactics, if he decide to not delay the Dragon fights and help himself a little imo there is nothing wrong in doing it. As there is nothing wrong in trying the trick a couple of times just for the fun to see the big one explode. But just for that fun, and maybe after reload and try the battle in a way that give at least a minimum of challenge. A game with no challenge at all, even for an unexperienced player, is a game with little fun.
But that is just my personal opinion, everybody is free to find the fun in every way he like in his personal game.
I enjoy it the most doing the honest, and "boring" way of duking it out face to face, w/o extensive pre-buffing. Dragons offer the opportunity to have some those sought out epic clashes, cheesing them is like robbing yourself of the fun. The SCS 4-dragon-clash is one of my favorite encounters in the game.
Killing a Dragon? Depends on the playthrough. With a mage, Time Stop into 82747471737 spells. With a fighter, I yell "Come forth, coward" and then I charge. And sometimes I get whacked. But that's still the idea.
I usually start with a gate spell to make the Dragons hostile. Only started using this spell in BG2EE though.
Firkraag : Gate, then breach and pierce magic on him with my PC/Sorc and Edwin. Follow with 2-3 Lower Resistances and he'll eventually fail a save on Chromatic Orb/Finger of Death.
Thaxyllsillia: same as above.
Saladrex: Gate, then exploit the narrow walkway leading to stairs by having characters equip ranged weapons and shoot at him from a distance while PC and Edwin cast breach, Greater Malison and Lower Resistance. Killed him lastly with a Abi Dalzim Horrid Wilting spell/Magic Missiles
I'm in Chapter 6 though, the first two Dragons mentioned were killed in Chapter 2 with an around level 13-15 party consisting of my PC, Dorn, Korgan, Viconia, Edwin and Hexxat.
Mostly I find that just-charge-right-in-and-kill-it works, but it somewhat depends upon who's in my party and what abilities and equipment we've got.
I often find that Firkraag needs more careful preparation than other dragons, because he's quite tough and you can meet him quite early. The other dragon you can meet quite early (Thaxll'sillyia) is not so tough, and by the time you meet other (later) dragons you're probably pretty high-level yourself, so you can just stomp them.
Is Thaxll'sillyia easier than Firkraag? I hope so.
Oh, I started the whole Temple Ruins Quest, which I really didn't want to do, just so I could get the Crom Faeyr Scroll for Crom Faeyr. Then, you know what? I discovered I didn't have the Sewer Key so I COULDN'T GET THE HAMMER OF THUNDERBOLTS WHICH IS REQUIRED FOR CROM FAEYR. REALLY??!!
That's because it's dropped by an underling of Firkraag's, lol
Edit:sorry, didn't realise it's a 2014 post. I just bought this game, but I've played the original bg2 about 8-9 years ago, that's my first entry into the actual dnd gaming(and the start of my gaming, my first laptop and such), I still suck though. Haven't played the game in like 5-6 years.
Comments
A Cavalier with Peridan, specialization, and 19 STR would do 4.5+2+4.5+2+2+7+3=25 damage per hit against a dragon. Carsomyr would do 22.5, or 27.5 against a Chaotic Evil dragon (though a save vs. spell might negate the extra 5 damage). Peridan does have the advantage, however, of being a one-handed weapon, and thus can do a lot more damage than Carsomyr against dragons if combined with a speed weapon in the off hand.
I'd be tempted to argue that is a bug =/ And ya, it also greatly reduces the value of the weapon. Which is a shame, because I love it on my cavalier for flavor reasons =/
Lower Resistance + Lower Resistance + Greater Malison + Doom and then give them "The Finger"
Do any dragons throw up spell protections? I can't remember... Anyway, obviously Spell Thrust, etc, first then...
My new favorite way to kill dragons is to charge it using Greater Whirlwind, Critical Strike, the Silver Sword, and no pre-buff spells.
The best part? She's a *wizard slayer*.
Risk-free.
Killing enemies through Stoneskin is very satisfying...
[spoiler=ToB Quest]
Or, if I want an easier but less funny way often I save before the battle, then kill them with the full party using some different tactics, each time reloading and starting again. Then I send each party member solo as the others wait and watch and wait their turn.
then after the final reload lower resistance x3, GM, flash to stone, stone to flash, heal, flash to stone, stone to flash, heal, flash to stone, stone to flash, heal, flash to stone, stone to flash, heal and so on. GM, LR and rests or wishes (depending on the level of the main caster) as needed. After the final heal fleeblemind and a plain unenchanted staff. Usually my parties are small so level fast (and the dragons help them in doing it
One time I had my FMT charname talking to Sadalex, insulting him and as he turned red
using GWW with Carsomyr. I don't remember if a second GWW was needed, was so fast. And was the first battle of my usual routine. OK, I told, this time is good as it is, no reloads this time. I collected the loot and went away. But it was not a big fun. The fun is sending Aerie solo, when she is still at mid-low level, and see her bashing the big lizard in mlee.
The funniest dragons for me are the ones of the Tactics small teeth pass, is really amusing to fleeblemind the red one, sit and wait until he starts:"charname, charname, where are you?" and suddenly wake up from his fleeblemind state that should interrupt all his scripts permanently. AFAIK is the only enemy that can recover from fleeblemind.
Bonus points if those eggs can be traded for "a powerful magic item"!
But is one of the things in this game that imho spoil all the fun of playing, even for a new player. And I suppose that 99% of the players know it, I read it everywhere in the internet.
I understand that new players can help themselves exploiting the weaknesses of the AI a little more that more experienced players do (in real life a Dragon, that is a very intelligent creature, would never sit there as the thief sets the traps), but Dragons are powerful and terrific creatures, is supposed that the party fight them only when is ready to face them.
And a party with a lev 11 or 15 thief should have the power to face a Dragon in more fair ways.
Maybe a newbie can help himself attacking him directly instead of talk with him and let him the first move or prepare his summons before the battle, maybe he can soften him a little with 2 or 3 traps.
A newbie, and every experienced player has been so, is far less efficient in his combat tactics, if he decide to not delay the Dragon fights and help himself a little imo there is nothing wrong in doing it.
As there is nothing wrong in trying the trick a couple of times just for the fun to see the big one explode.
But just for that fun, and maybe after reload and try the battle in a way that give at least a minimum of challenge. A game with no challenge at all, even for an unexperienced player, is a game with little fun.
But that is just my personal opinion, everybody is free to find the fun in every way he like in his personal game.
By the way, welcome to the boards!
Dragons offer the opportunity to have some those sought out epic clashes, cheesing them is like robbing yourself of the fun.
The SCS 4-dragon-clash is one of my favorite encounters in the game.
Firkraag : Gate, then breach and pierce magic on him with my PC/Sorc and Edwin. Follow with 2-3 Lower Resistances and he'll eventually fail a save on Chromatic Orb/Finger of Death.
Thaxyllsillia: same as above.
Saladrex: Gate, then exploit the narrow walkway leading to stairs by having characters equip ranged weapons and shoot at him from a distance while PC and Edwin cast breach, Greater Malison and Lower Resistance. Killed him lastly with a Abi Dalzim Horrid Wilting spell/Magic Missiles
I'm in Chapter 6 though, the first two Dragons mentioned were killed in Chapter 2 with an around level 13-15 party consisting of my PC, Dorn, Korgan, Viconia, Edwin and Hexxat.
Edit:sorry, didn't realise it's a 2014 post. I just bought this game, but I've played the original bg2 about 8-9 years ago, that's my first entry into the actual dnd gaming(and the start of my gaming, my first laptop and such), I still suck though. Haven't played the game in like 5-6 years.