More Question!
Heindrich
Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
It's amazing, nearly 2 full saga playthroughs under my belt, there's still much to learn... I decided to create a generic thread so I can keep adding questions here as they undoubtedly creep up on me.
1) Is there any other means of (permanently) boosting Dex in BG2 apart from the Tome and the Gauntlets of Dexterity (aka Brawling Hands)? As far as I am aware, there is only one Brawling Hands in the game. I have Anomen and Keldorn in my party, I guess one of them (most likely Keldorn since he uses 2H sword) will just have to live with bad AC. ANSWERED.
2) If I complete the De'Arnise Keep quest before Charname reactivates his Kensai class (currently in the process of dual-classing), will Nalia still offer him the keep? ANSWERED.
3) If I console in Keldorn so I can recruit him without going into the sewers, will there be 2 Keldorns in the game. If I ignored the original will "my Keldorn" progress as normal? Which version of Keldorn is the one I should use? (aka console code.) ANSWERED
4) I have (intentionally) "messed up" my weapon proficiencies so that I will only have + in dual wielding for most of BG2. I'd like to confirm what my gut tells me... that trading away a tiny bit of critical hit chance (from Single Weapon Style) and -2 THAC0 is still worth it for the extra mainhand attack per round you get from Belm or Kundane. I don't have any proficiency in either scimitar or short sword, so I don't expect to ever hit anything with my offhand, lol. (Oh yeah I disregard the +2 AC I get from Single Weapon Style as well because mage protections should make AC fairly irrelevant). ANSWERED.
5) Can somebody tell me what Ihtafeer and his/her fellow Rakshasa's immunities are? And/or offer some tips on how to kill them? ANSWERED.
I normally start BG2 with Circus and Slavers followed by De'Arnise Keep. For a difference I decided to go to Trademeet straight after the Slavers, so my party is still seriously lacking equipment and experience. It seems +1 weapons cannot hit Rakshasa and MMMs cannot hit reliably. They also seem to have good magic resistance... perhaps this is too early in the game to attempt this?
6) Is Keldorn supposed to start BG2 with 800k xp? ANSWERED.
7) Are there any consequences for not picking up Draxus and then trying to save the Wild Mages until after the Under Dark. (I am not trying to romance Neera, but I would like to complete her questline and access the ToB stuff.) ANSWERED
8) Is there anything that protects against Imprisonment?
Thanks in advance!
1) Is there any other means of (permanently) boosting Dex in BG2 apart from the Tome and the Gauntlets of Dexterity (aka Brawling Hands)? As far as I am aware, there is only one Brawling Hands in the game. I have Anomen and Keldorn in my party, I guess one of them (most likely Keldorn since he uses 2H sword) will just have to live with bad AC. ANSWERED.
2) If I complete the De'Arnise Keep quest before Charname reactivates his Kensai class (currently in the process of dual-classing), will Nalia still offer him the keep? ANSWERED.
3) If I console in Keldorn so I can recruit him without going into the sewers, will there be 2 Keldorns in the game. If I ignored the original will "my Keldorn" progress as normal? Which version of Keldorn is the one I should use? (aka console code.) ANSWERED
4) I have (intentionally) "messed up" my weapon proficiencies so that I will only have + in dual wielding for most of BG2. I'd like to confirm what my gut tells me... that trading away a tiny bit of critical hit chance (from Single Weapon Style) and -2 THAC0 is still worth it for the extra mainhand attack per round you get from Belm or Kundane. I don't have any proficiency in either scimitar or short sword, so I don't expect to ever hit anything with my offhand, lol. (Oh yeah I disregard the +2 AC I get from Single Weapon Style as well because mage protections should make AC fairly irrelevant). ANSWERED.
5) Can somebody tell me what Ihtafeer and his/her fellow Rakshasa's immunities are? And/or offer some tips on how to kill them? ANSWERED.
I normally start BG2 with Circus and Slavers followed by De'Arnise Keep. For a difference I decided to go to Trademeet straight after the Slavers, so my party is still seriously lacking equipment and experience. It seems +1 weapons cannot hit Rakshasa and MMMs cannot hit reliably. They also seem to have good magic resistance... perhaps this is too early in the game to attempt this?
6) Is Keldorn supposed to start BG2 with 800k xp? ANSWERED.
7) Are there any consequences for not picking up Draxus and then trying to save the Wild Mages until after the Under Dark. (I am not trying to romance Neera, but I would like to complete her questline and access the ToB stuff.) ANSWERED
8) Is there anything that protects against Imprisonment?
Thanks in advance!
Post edited by Heindrich on
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Comments
I've done several playthrough where I've used both Anomen and Keldorn, and as far as I know there is no other way to raise dexterity, other than cheating. Shurruppak's plate raises dexterity by one, but that won't help Keldorn, obviously.
2) I never dual class so I don't know.
3) Yes there would be two Keldorns. Your Keldorn should progress as normal.
Your mainhand Thac0
Your mainhand number of attack.
I would say that you deal more when dual-wielding on average, but the lower your Thac0 is with mainhand compared to ennemy AC, the better will be single wielding compared to dual wieilding, because if that difference makes you hit only on 19 and 20 when dual-wieilding, you will hit with 17 to 20 when single wielding, which is twice as often. In that case single wieilding would be better whatsoever.
It's alright though, Kensai=>Mage is strong enough without being optimal, and having ++ in Single Weapon style really helped with survivability in BG1 when he was just a pure Kensai. It's good to know that Single Weapon Style is still competitive in the tougher battles of BG2.
Namely does a dual-classed character's first class need to be active for him/her to be offered a stronghold for their first class (and assuming no existing strongholds)?
I normally start BG2 with Circus and Slavers followed by De'Arnise Keep. For a difference I decided to go to Trademeet straight after the Slavers, so my party is still seriously lacking equipment and experience. It seems +1 weapons cannot hit Rakshasa and MMMs cannot hit reliably. They also seem to have good magic resistance... perhaps this is too early in the game to attempt this?
Also, don't forget to have a few zone of free air spells on hand to dispel their cloudkills.
This is not a matter of magic resistance (they have no resistance at all).
Rakshasas are immune to spells from lvl1 to lvl7. Thus don't target them directly.
Moreover they are immune to specific spells noticeably their own spell effects and a few lvl8 spells (symbols).
They are also immune to non magical weapons. Ithafeer is immune to magical weapons +1.
Lv1 - lv7 immunity?! That's worse than Liches! Ouch! Unfortunately that's a very nasty combination of immunities that leaves my party in quite the bind. I totally underestimated how difficult Trademeet was cos the last time I came here in singleplayer play was post-Underdark! For roleplay reasons I don't have Lilacor and even if I found Belm, I doubt only one character swinging away can cut it.
Ah well, I suppose I will just have to accept that this is one occasion where I must back off and do without the statues in Trademeet. As Khalid would say, "Better part of valour! Better part of valour!"
But sure here's my party.
Jaheira lv8/10. She has Belm. AC-3, THAC0 10.
Anomen lv7/9. He has a Flail +. AC 0, THAC0 10.
Aerie lv8/9.
Neera lv11.
Yoshimo lv11. Tuigan Bow, some +1 arrows. THAC0 9.
Charname (Kensai/Mage) lv9/9... i.e. not completed dual-class process yet, so no weapons of note.
By the way, is it possible to restore trade in Trademeet without killing the Rakshasa? Is it possible to kill the Djinn?
1st question: how far in EXP is Jaheira for 11th level Druid? A hasted Fire Elemental (hits as +4) would definitely bring you closer to solving the problem
2nd question: what is your spending plan? Do you have the belt of strength? You will have to buy it at some point, so might as well try and save for it now.
If you can't have the elemental, my solution would be to leave the fight to Neera and Jaheira. Neera is the tanker - I don't remember if the Rakshasa hit with normal swords or magical (I think normal...), so you just have her stand in front with Stoneskin and/or Protection from Normal Weapons. Meanwhile Jaheira attacks with everything she's got.
The scrolls you get from Athkatla: Waukeen Promenade (the scroll seller in Adventure Market AND the one above Den of 7 Vales) and from the Bridge District (the shady fellow next to abandoned building in the south-west; he doesn't always appear but you can get some quality scrolls from him quite early).
If you want you could even buy a scroll of improved haste and use it on Jaheira instead of scribing it but it's not what I usually do.
Meanwhile Jaheira casts Iron Skins, gets Haste and tries to do her best.
Am I right to assume that Ihtafeer starts the conversation immediately after you enter? I.e. you don't have time for Yoshimo to set some traps?
The problem with Neera tanking is that those particular Rakshasa are all spellcasters, and hit you with a barrage of Cloudkill and other nastiness. Neera's low hp makes her rather unreliable in that regard.
I am in a bit of dilemma. I've saved the game before the Rakshasa battle so that I can try to beat it with whatever suggestion you or somebody else makes. However, going forwards in my "canon playthrough", I intend to do one of the following:
1) Kill the Djinn in Trademeet. I tested this earlier and confirmed that killing them does complete the quest (and is remarkably easy), so I can shop in Trademeet and the only thing I miss out on is some xp and a bit of loot from the Rakshasa. The problem with this is that I just checked this wiki and Djinni are supposed to be Good, (The Trademeet ones certainly don't seem it!) so it is a bit morally grey.
2) Leave Trademeet for now. Come back when I am a bit stronger and pretend that the party hunts down the Rakshasa in the forest again to liberate Trademeet from the Djinn. I say "pretend" because obviously the Rakshasa don't move at all, which is a little silly given that their hiding place has obviously been discovered.
#roleplayerproblems.
Incidentally... state of the party just before they escaped! I am surprised the Rakshasa didn't pursue. I thought all EE enemies chase after you.
As far as your problem goes, well - if you want to do a canon RP playthrough, there isn't much you can do without going back to Athkatla.
My observations so far: there is no shame in going back and restocking for a fight with Ihtafeer - she is a Rakshasa after all and you can well justify goind back for supplies if you know you have to face her.
If you want to kill Dao, go for it - you referenced entry from 3rd Edition, I could counter it with the one from 4th which lists Djinni as Good or Unaligned. Certainly there is nothing really good about those douches in Treadmeet. They slowly destroy the city's economy with no regard to the inhabitant's well being. They basically hold the whole settlement hostage. Furthermore, they sit on their lazy asses and aren't even bothered to go out of the tent and look for Ihtafeer themselves.
Last but not least, don't buy Full Plate Armor for Anomen. If he has Plate, that's good enough for now and there are plenty places in Athkatla to get one for free (Den of Seven Vales, the group in the sewers) - not worth the cost if you are gathering gold for the essentials (Robe, Girdle)
This is why I don't like Rakshasas. Immunities make fights boring.
http://www.lomion.de/cmm/genie.php
Rakshasas in NWN are immune to all spells level 1-8 so it could be worse...
Yeah, I'm talking about the original BG2, so I'm wrong about the EE.