Ice Storm destroy loot probability
Ygramul
Member Posts: 1,060
What determines if an opponent is chunked when by hit cold damage?
I doubt BG treats creatures (or items) with a special flag to keep them from chunking. So, tomes, plot items, unique magic items etc. can be lost, no? With what chance?
And if there is no protection for unique items, why would anyone choose Ice Storm or Cone of Cold as damage spells?
I doubt BG treats creatures (or items) with a special flag to keep them from chunking. So, tomes, plot items, unique magic items etc. can be lost, no? With what chance?
And if there is no protection for unique items, why would anyone choose Ice Storm or Cone of Cold as damage spells?
0
Comments
I tend to avoid area-of-effect cold magic, since you might well accidentally kill something which you intended to kill some other way (and thereby might lose loot).
You don't always lose loot when killing by cold damage, there seems to be some sort of random roll involved, but no, I'm not sure exactly how it works. Perhaps someone else can tell us.
e.g. Could you destroy the Holy Avenger by chunking Firkraag? (presumably, after Lower Resisting him a few times)
Every single one of his magic items at the time was lost with him! (including, e.g., Lilarcor)
Particularly vexing for a no-reload run...
For example, in my BG1 playthrough, I somehow chucked or disintegrated Kryll (Dorn's necromancer enemy) - I don't know whether this was from a cold spell or some wild surge by Neera. The only thing that was left of her was the letter that tells you where the rest of Dorn's enemies are - so it would appear that quest-related items have something that "protects" them (or at least, should have). However, the remainder of Kryll's items were gone - including a magical necklace that grants protection from spells (I never even knew that I had missed out on this until months later, when I was browsing through a list of new magic items in BG:EE).
I like there being irreversible risks in a no-reload game, but I'm still unsure about if cold damage is worth the hassle...
What is the consensus regarding Ice Storm and Cone of Cold as Sorcerer picks (for a trilogy run in a party)?
For some reason, I like my Sorcerer's to have one spell of each type of elemental damage (Minute Meteors, Cone of Cold, Acid Arrow, Chain Lightning)... But then never use most of them.
Damage is pitiful, but cold-immunity is rare and for 4 rounds casters in an area will be interrupted. It's a great opener against hostile parties - theoretically.
My fledgling sorcerer (newly into chapter 7 in BGEE) has just won several tough fights by Ice Storm -> Fireball -> Fireball after my invisible scout "designates targets" and retreats. I send in my tank Yeslick (packing the resistance helmet & fire ring, taking some manageable damage) to distract the enemies while I carpet-bomb the area. Meanwhile, Imoen unloads Slow->Glitterdust->Grease. Very satisfying!
I don't generally use the spells myself, but understand the value. I much prefer FIRE. Still, 4 rounds of no enemy casting can make a huge difference.
TobEx had (three) options to disable items of being destroyed in this cases.
I choose Cone of Cold because it gets fucking good in ToB, where having an extra ten millions Gold Pieces make no sense since there's nothing to spend the money into. Ice Storm is freaking good for SoA, you can use it too interrupt spellcasters, or, to stack some lots of them when your casters are too low level to cast Cloudkill or others area-stationary-damage spells (mostly of this happens in BG1, but yeah...)
I have created some new cold spells as well, replacing the few spells that are very rarely used. (Infravision is now Gemidan's icicle, a first lvl AD&D ice spell, and I opted phantom blade to flesh to ice:save vs death or turn into frozen statue instant death!) what can I say, I love cold damage ^^ very useless against undead but I just like the dark blue color in the damage text.
If the last hit to kill an enemy is dealt by cold damage, the victim turns into ice statue and shatters. Very rarely the victim may just die, but if the damage done is way greater than the hitpoints it had, the chance of freezing increases. Say, a 4 hit points kobold will be frozen solid by a 10+ cold damage most of the time. I also discovered instant frosty death opcode:I used this in my lvl 5 spell flesh to ice (an existing 3e spell, btw) it does not damage, just kills and shatters the victim, thus the loot is lost. (Much like disintegrate in its effect, but I gave it a save vs death instead of spells. Death save is easier to make for most enemies except pure mages than spells)
IWD2 had so many nice elemental spells. (Too bad the AI sucks -- compared to SCS, that is.)
I'd rather would have them spend time and effort on better AI and challenges.
When I play IWD//IWD2 I usually play with handicapped parties, on no-reload. It is still too easy as it lacks SCS-lvl AI.
I remember it had some huge (read hilarious) let downs on regular difficulty, such as that Hosttower nublet that ambushes you. I had 2 primary arcane casters, 1 cleric and a bard, so the ambush was opened up with 2 fireballs, and 2 quickly cast crowd controls. Same thing for the next round, with my 'rogue' and brute just pinging with arrows. The fight was done before that arrogant jerk could successfully cast anything! This was clearly meant to be a difficult encounter, but good strategy nuked them because of their setup.
In HoF mode I used 8 and 9th level spells, and barely survived despite still dropping the casters early. Had to raise folks. This is just an example. Heck, melee is borderline useless unless you built a very powerful warrior and loaded him with buffs.
I find if you dont prebuff metagame you will be very challenged.
(http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/19962/g3-announces-iwdification-beta-3-available/p1).
It is compatible with SCS and ofc both the EE.
I personally really like it
I will think twice about cold spells in the future...
Lawful Good and all that...
(Seriously, I think it would be not so very nice, or something... it's been 15 years and 100s of runs so far, and I have yet to play an evil character... Should I seek therapy?) *sigh*
'Aren't halflings jolly? WHY ISN'T SHE JOLLY'
I just realized that I have destroyed the singular Ring of Free Action by Ice Storm.
Chapter 5 end fight (atop Iron Throne) is supposed to have a mage wearing this ring apparently -- I do remember chunking one character and not paying it much heed then. Apparently, as a side effect I lost one of the most important items for a safe no-reload run.
Lesson learned: avoid cold damage!
It is risky for a no-reload run.
I have created some new cold spells as well, replacing the few spells that are very rarely used. (Infravision is now Gemidan's icicle, a first lvl AD&D ice spell, and I opted phantom blade to flesh to ice:save vs death or turn into frozen statue instant death!) what can I say, I love cold damage ^^ very useless against undead but I just like the dark blue color in the damage text.
If the last hit to kill an enemy is dealt by cold damage, the victim turns into ice statue and shatters. Very rarely the victim may just die, but if the damage done is way greater than the hitpoints it had, the chance of freezing increases. Say, a 4 hit points kobold will be frozen solid by a 10+ cold damage most of the time. I also discovered instant frosty death opcode:I used this in my lvl 5 spell flesh to ice (an existing 3e spell, btw) it does not damage, just kills and shatters the victim, thus the loot is lost. (Much like disintegrate in its effect, but I gave it a save vs death instead of spells. Death save is easier to make for most enemies except pure mages than spells)