Blackguards also eat mages alive for the same reason as Assassins, poison weapon. Even if they're stoneskinned or mirror imaged you can still apply the poison with a successful hit, and if they've got prot. from magic weapons up then switch to a normal one and do the same thing. You can also do it with a bow such as Tuigans to poison multiple spellcasters per round.
In BG1 this was ridiculously overpowered, trivializing fights that should have been quite difficult. In BG2 it gets toned down a bit since more powerful protections are used but it's still absurd.
The only downsides are you can't use Carsomyr or Purifier (thogh you get your own late in WK). One of my favourite classes in the game, easily.
@DragonKing , ahem, Jan Jansen, at your service! I hear you need a high-level thief for your Throne of Bhaal run. Well, let me say, sir, I do think I qualify, and I am also a very high level mage, and I will be able to cast Time Stop or Wish at your request, not all that far into your run.
Did you overlook me in your pocket plane because I am a gnome? Oh, (sigh), it's all right, I'm kind of used to being overlooked by godlike heroes such as yourself, I guess because I'm only a little gnome, and I'm rather quiet and don't talk that much.
Your underestimation of us gnomes reminds me of a time, long ago, when my great-great-great-great-great ... oh, wait, how many "greats" was I on? ... umm, GREAT grandpappy Bre Jansen tried to join the hero of the times... I think his name was Emanrahc, or something like that, who was going to slay the horrible red dragon Gaarkrif, who, well, I suppose it was because he was about to destroy the city of Culver, ... what, you've never heard of Culver? ... Oh, well, Culver was a very nice town, with quite a large population of gnomes, I might add, and then this "hero" had the audacity to rename it after killing Gaarkrif to some rather odd name like "Wafapeep", or "Waterdeep", or...
Oh, yes, where was I? Well, this Gaarkrif had also been breathing fire on turnip crops, causing the First Great Turnip Famine of 1120! How evil could a monster be?
So, my great, great, great... umm, GREAT grandpappy Bre Jansen followed this hero and his party, which did not include any gnome mage-thiefs, such as all of the Jansens before and ever since have been Faerun's greatest practitioners, and, as you might expect, Gaarkrif killed horribly every member of this hero's party, and was about to kill the hero himself, when my grandpappy Bre Jansen ran up underneath Gaakrif's feet, using all of the Jansens' rather amazing talent of hiding into the shadows, and moving about unnoticed and as quiet as a mouse, if I do say so myself, and I might add, I continue our proud family tradition of, ... oh wait, where was I?... oh yes, and placed several most devastating traps there, while the red dragon Gaarkrif was about to finish off Emanrahc, or whatever his name was.
Gaarkrif stepped forward a single step to finish off the great hero Emanrahc, and triggered ALL of the half a dozen traps laid by my great-grandpappy at once, and got all four of his feet sliced off, and then, as he fell, his head!
Imanrahc was so grateful at being saved from Gaarkrif by Bre Jansen, that he took Bre into his party immediately, and never judged gnomes by their small sizes again.
Hmm, what were we talking about, again? Oh, yes, I have some Flasher Master Bruiser Mates to sell you, at a very low cost, but just please don't say anything to those guards over there. Ugh, guards! They remind me of this time, long ago, when...
@BelgarathMTH Sounds about right, you left out the part where he rode on the back of a Dragon while flying upside down and being part lich and part vampire.
I remember bypassing Stoneskin with poison effects in vanilla BG2. Now I use SCS and it seems that in SCS, Stoneskin blocks poison.
I've been heavily using the poison both from the Assassin and Blackguard's special abilities and the poison from arrows/bolts in the SCS ver. 28 and 30 - it works and goes through Stoneskin.
Comments
In BG1 this was ridiculously overpowered, trivializing fights that should have been quite difficult. In BG2 it gets toned down a bit since more powerful protections are used but it's still absurd.
The only downsides are you can't use Carsomyr or Purifier (thogh you get your own late in WK). One of my favourite classes in the game, easily.
Did you overlook me in your pocket plane because I am a gnome? Oh, (sigh), it's all right, I'm kind of used to being overlooked by godlike heroes such as yourself, I guess because I'm only a little gnome, and I'm rather quiet and don't talk that much.
Your underestimation of us gnomes reminds me of a time, long ago, when my great-great-great-great-great ... oh, wait, how many "greats" was I on? ... umm, GREAT grandpappy Bre Jansen tried to join the hero of the times... I think his name was Emanrahc, or something like that, who was going to slay the horrible red dragon Gaarkrif, who, well, I suppose it was because he was about to destroy the city of Culver, ... what, you've never heard of Culver? ... Oh, well, Culver was a very nice town, with quite a large population of gnomes, I might add, and then this "hero" had the audacity to rename it after killing Gaarkrif to some rather odd name like "Wafapeep", or "Waterdeep", or...
Oh, yes, where was I? Well, this Gaarkrif had also been breathing fire on turnip crops, causing the First Great Turnip Famine of 1120! How evil could a monster be?
So, my great, great, great... umm, GREAT grandpappy Bre Jansen followed this hero and his party, which did not include any gnome mage-thiefs, such as all of the Jansens before and ever since have been Faerun's greatest practitioners, and, as you might expect, Gaarkrif killed horribly every member of this hero's party, and was about to kill the hero himself, when my grandpappy Bre Jansen ran up underneath Gaakrif's feet, using all of the Jansens' rather amazing talent of hiding into the shadows, and moving about unnoticed and as quiet as a mouse, if I do say so myself, and I might add, I continue our proud family tradition of, ... oh wait, where was I?... oh yes, and placed several most devastating traps there, while the red dragon Gaarkrif was about to finish off Emanrahc, or whatever his name was.
Gaarkrif stepped forward a single step to finish off the great hero Emanrahc, and triggered ALL of the half a dozen traps laid by my great-grandpappy at once, and got all four of his feet sliced off, and then, as he fell, his head!
Imanrahc was so grateful at being saved from Gaarkrif by Bre Jansen, that he took Bre into his party immediately, and never judged gnomes by their small sizes again.
Hmm, what were we talking about, again? Oh, yes, I have some Flasher Master Bruiser Mates to sell you, at a very low cost, but just please don't say anything to those guards over there. Ugh, guards! They remind me of this time, long ago, when...
Sounds about right, you left out the part where he rode on the back of a Dragon while flying upside down and being part lich and part vampire.