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"Maybe this time" [NO-RELOAD THREAD]: "The Tale of TEN THOUSAND Trials"

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  • StromaelStromael Member Posts: 195
    @semiticgod, thank you, Cuwaert's pic gave me a big chuckle when I scrolled down.
    semiticgoddess
  • StromaelStromael Member Posts: 195
    edited March 2019
    Just curious, @semiticgod: did you choose CG for Frisky Bits to get the Fairy Dragon? Invis. 10' Radius is a life-saver for essentially the entire game, and that familiar gives you one casting a day from first level.

    EDIT: Never mind, I see it got nerfed/corrected in EE. :wink:
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,508
    edited March 2019
    The barbarian rage gives Cuwaert enough strength to have decent damage. The danger is only is getting the unarmed ac penalty. He should be able to use plenty of specialty potions to raise strength as well and therefore punch hard when needed.

    Even a punched out foe just falls unconscious. Sure it takes 1 extra damage to kill but even that means the foe is our of the battle.

    The fun is that he is about as useful as a familiar. But in the end, you can win with anything, right?
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Stromael: Chaotic Good just seemed right for Frisky Bits. The only alignments that feel right to me are NG, CG, CN, and LG. True Neutral is fine if I have to use it for a druid or whatever, but LN and the evil alignments just feel wrong, especially as the main character.

    Fairy Dragons are definitely very special, though there are strong arguments to make for Lawful Evil and the Imp familiar with its Polymorph Self spell, the True Neutral rabbit for its stealth, and the Lawful Neutral ferret and to a lesser extent the Chaotic Neutral cat for their pickpocketing. The Quasit's Horror spell is also very nice, but I think the strongest from a powergaming perspective would just be the Imp. Aside from its innate immunity to fire, cold, and electricity damage, it has 13 THAC0 on top of its Polymorph Self spell, making it an excellent behind-the-lines attacker with the flind form's halberd or the spider attack. The mustard jelly form is already flat-out broken in BG1, since its immunity to normal weapons makes the imp invincible against the vast majority of enemies in the game.
    StummvonBordwehrAerakarBlind_VisionaryCrevsDaak
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    @jessejmc you can easily get the sirines to waste their charm spells - just make them move to interrupt the casting.
    Corey_RussellStummvonBordwehrBlind_VisionaryCrevsDaak
  • jessejmcjessejmc Member Posts: 141
    Grond0 wrote: »
    @jessejmc you can easily get the sirines to waste their charm spells - just make them move to interrupt the casting.

    Is that through breaking line of sight? I was hoping to force them into melee with spirits to preserve the arrows.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @jessejmc: Nope. To waste their spells, you have to do it while they're still charmed. So, charm one of the sirines, order it to cast Dire Charm on one of your characters, let it begin casting the spell, and then order to walk a couple steps away before it finishes casting the spell. The sirine will lose the spell and therefore can't cast it later when you attack it and turn it hostile. You can empty out any character's spellbook this way, as long as you have control over them. It's a good way to make sure charmed mages are helpless when you finally turn on them.
    CrevsDaak
  • YgramulYgramul Member Posts: 1,059
    edited March 2019
    I advise to just edit the first 2 comments to this thread (both of them are by @Ygramul ) to continue the OP there.

    A very sensible advice.

    I shall do that and inform the thread that some real estate is available for the hall of fame.

    Thank you.

    Post edited by Ygramul on
    JuliusBorisovCrevsDaak
  • jessejmcjessejmc Member Posts: 141
    semiticgod wrote: »
    @jessejmc: Nope. To waste their spells, you have to do it while they're still charmed. So, charm one of the sirines, order it to cast Dire Charm on one of your characters, let it begin casting the spell, and then order to walk a couple steps away before it finishes casting the spell. The sirine will lose the spell and therefore can't cast it later when you attack it and turn it hostile. You can empty out any character's spellbook this way, as long as you have control over them. It's a good way to make sure charmed mages are helpless when you finally turn on them.

    I'm pretty sure I did that on the previous run, but there may have been some user error. I did a few tests of new runs and didn't have any issues, but when I finally created the full party again, I had something similar happen. As you can see in the screenshots, the sirine has cast her greater invisibility on Star, and the rest of her spells have been used, greying out the spell button. After I initiate combat, she still goes invisible. She doesn't charm everyone this time, and I kill her easily when she comes back, but she shouldn't have had her invisibility.
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    semiticgoddessCrevsDaak
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @jessejmc: Looks like the script is to blame. Some spellcaster scripts cast spells whether the creature in question actually has them memorized or not; others check the spellcaster's spellbook to see if it's memorized before casting it (I think it's the HasSpell function or something like that). Apparently these sirines' scripts did not perform that check, and therefore were able to cast the spell even after you expended it. Beholders, notably, cast spells without actually having them memorized anywhere.

    There's not really a consistent way to know if emptying a critter's spellbook will truly prevent it from casting spells or not. SCS spellcasters, at least the mages and clerics and druids if not the monsters and supernatural critters, should be limited by the contents of their spellbook, but other critters might or might not. Only experimentation or studying their scripts could make it clear.

    At any rate, you're doing it right; it's just that that method doesn't work with those particular critters in your install.
    jessejmcCrevsDaak
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,305
    edited March 2019
    The method does work in relation to charm. It also works in relation to improved invisibility. However, in SCS there is a chance that the sirines can use invisibility by script rather than casting - you may notice for instance that when you first go into Beregost temple one or more of them are not visible. Sometimes that results in one of them going invisible instantly when you attack it (not by casting the improved invisibility spell).

    @jessejmc if you want to save the arrows (and I like to do that) then it's safest if you wear the sirine down a bit before attacking it (do that by getting it targeted by an enemy like a wild dog and constantly moving it to prevent it going invisible). Once it's low on HPs you can easily kill it before it goes hostile. With a stronger melee party that sort of preparation wouldn't be necessary - you could just surround it and hack it down even if it managed to charm or feeblemind someone first.

    Incidentally, you're right about the impact of line of sight. When playing solo I sometimes take advantage of the fact that the SCS sirines (unlike their vanilla colleagues) break off their dire charm spell if you go out of their sight range.
    Post edited by Grond0 on
    semiticgoddessStummvonBordwehrCrevsDaak
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