Well, if you fought 50,000 high-level enemies and each of them gave 10,000 XP a pop, then wiping out all of them would give about 500 million XP. If we go by 3rd edition leveling growth, looks like that's about enough to hit level 1000, pretty much on the dot. A Chaotic Neutral character could have 100 levels as a mage, bard, sorcerer, fighter, rogue, warlock, barbarian, favored soul, cleric, and druid each.
You know, by the end of the fight, it wouldn't even be that hard.
Well, if you fought 50,000 high-level enemies and each of them gave 10,000 XP a pop, then wiping out all of them would give about 500 million XP. If we go by 3rd edition leveling growth, looks like that's about enough to hit level 1000, pretty much on the dot. A Chaotic Neutral character could have 100 levels as a mage, bard, sorcerer, fighter, rogue, warlock, barbarian, favored soul, cleric, and druid each.
You know, by the end of the fight, it wouldn't even be that hard.
That is accounting for the Multiclass XP penalty, right?
@Pokota: No XP penalty in 3rd edition if all the classes are within 1 level of each other. You'd just have to keep all the different classes at equal levels.
It's too damn simple the way I see. Just ignore the icons on the quickslot or spellbook.
I agree. I'm the same with weapons in Dark Horizons. If I think they are overpowered they go into my back-pack until I come to a mod quest where I think their use is justifiable.
* 20 Con * Doesn't blow off constant conversations on everything * Classic grumpy greedy dwarf, 100% in character. * To my memory, he walks slightly faster than other party members despite heavy armor although I've never really understood why. For a fighter this is a virtue. * "Gold runs the world kid, the faster ya learn that the better life'll treat ya." - True life lesson. * He isn't evil, he isn't good, and he isn't neutral. He is just him, ya bunch of chums!
SCS style "seek and destroy" AI is more immersion breaking than enemies being stupid and standing around. Fighting against some undead summons without ever seeing the summoner should not then send enemies on a beeline towards the party or the mage, likewise a fireball sent off the screen followed by a quick retreat should leave the enemies moving towards the original caster direction rather than following the mage by, apparently, scent. Having an AI enter a "wander mode" activated on damage rather than magical radar would better represent searching for an unseen aggressor or patrolling for additional enemies after dealing with initial intruders (and most "natural" enemies should always have this wandering behaviour rather than standing around in formation waiting to be scouted).
SoA, particularly on insane, has far, far too many enemies and it breaks immersion, and isn't particularly more challenging so much as over-rewarding AOE wand spam which is already one of the strongest strategies in BG. There aren't enough graves in the prologue to contain the vast armies CHARNAME blasts through, and quite why there are so many (giant) trolls in a tiny random cave or standing motionless at the side of a road is beyond me.
Trolls are terribly handled at the best of times and should have been treated like Fission slimes instead - fail to hit them with fire or acid within the round they die they produce a new unconscious troll at self rather than waiting for the script to kick in (or not) - or just excluded from the game entirely.
Person specific item restrictions are absurdly arbitrary, and should not exist save where those items are absolutely necessary to emulate specific kit or character traits, or Boo, who is far too wily to be caught. Of the hundreds of magical items you run across through the series, why are only those items belonging to a dozen or so people somehow exempt? Kang'axx presumably didn't plan on his ring being used by some plebian with a Protection from Undead scroll, and Drizzt probably didn't want his scimitars being handled by a bald tattooed monk, so quite why some +1 Katana or slightly modded ring of protection are restrictive when they aren't is ridiculous.
Tactics Irenicus is most definitely not worth a few tens of thousands of extra XP. Not when you're fighting a shadow dragon, a CON-draining beholder, a superpowered Mordenkainen's Sword, and a fighter with total spell level immunities, all alongside a Slayer with constant effect Improved Alacrity and infinite mage spells.
No, that fight does not make the game easier. Not even remotely close. In a no-reload run, I wouldn't accept that challenge even if it gave a whole extra level to each party member--which it doesn't.
In my opinion Improved Irenicus Tactics/SCS Hybrid from SCSv21 is probably overall the hardest battle in the game. I beat them recently with a party with no lvl 9 spells/HLAs and holy crap I was pulling out my hair trying to protect my party members from his timestop-melee trick during SCS phase - lost four. Protag was half Orc aVenger's Wizard Slayer and it was so friking awesome to use her shatter magic ability against the Shattered One...
Also his cocky speech is really cool imo, kudos to Weimer 15 years later.
@Pantalion I generally agree with you on monster tracking (I call them MetaMonsters, monsters who metagame), and on NPC magic items, with one caveat. I think Nalia's signet ring being restricted to her makes sense precisely because it's a signet ring, it's her signature as a noble, and if you can place enchantments on it at all, one of them should be making sure it can't be used by the wrong people.
Yoshimo's katana, ugh. I honestly feel like they didn't just give him a regular +1 katana to make sure that players specializing in that weapon would have to work harder to find a magical version, instead of stealing his and leaving him with a normal weapon. Not worth it, IMO.
One of the best reasons to choose a ranger, tracking, is not in the game. Mind you, programming it within IE might be problematic, now that i think about it.
One of the best reasons to choose a ranger, tracking, is not in the game. Mind you, programming it within IE might be problematic, now that i think about it.
In SoA It is a high level ability, though. Also, it already exists in iwd (ee) as a 1st level ranger ability.
One of the best reasons to choose a ranger, tracking, is not in the game. Mind you, programming it within IE might be problematic, now that i think about it.
I actually really love its implementation in Icewind Dale. It's not that helpful, as such, but it provides neat extra flavor.
I pretty much never use spellstrike, Pierce Magic, Secret Word, and all of those spells that remove spell protections. Why? Because Spell Turning and Spell Trap and the like only work on things that directly target the caster, and not things like Horrid Wilting or Firestorm or Incendiary Cloud, so if you want to stop an enemy spellcaster, you can skip a step and blast them with one of those. Things might be different with SCS or something, but I'm not sure what spells need preparation like that and are worth using against wizards.
I'm quoting this post from months ago, because upon further experimentation, I now feel compelled to eat my words, in a qualified manner. See, I just finished a run where I brought Minsc and Jaheira for the first time in forever, so when I fought Irenicus at the Tree of Life, I blinded him at the outset with Nature's Beauty, rendering him powerless.
Now, after doing that, I decided to experiment a little. My calling card has always sufficed for interrupting his spellcasting, but he always had Protection from Energy up, so it never did great damage. He constantly spams Mislead, which is annoying, but even when I True Sight through it in the past, I couldn't breach him for some reason. I thought he might be Lich-like and immune to spells below level 6, he certainly sees invis like a Lich, so it made sense, but that apparently wasn't quite true, either. No, I cast Pierce Shield at him out of curiosity, and then Breach. Lo, and behold, it worked! I think I know what he was using that whole time: Spell Shield, and so I needed to remove that spell protection before I could successfully breach him. And the same deal let me beat his Slayer form down in Hell a lot quicker than usual. So, in this one case, a spell protection remover is good to have. Hooray for learning!
1. Quayle, Alora, and Cernd are all awesome characters and I don't get why they get so much hate. I love all three of them.
2. It's really REALLY creepy that Jaheira is romanceable in BG2, sorry Jaheira romance fans. Like seriously, her husband just died, and she spent the whole first game basically being the Team Mom and very much like...surrogate family to CHARNAME. Honestly it feels like you're hitting on your own aunt and it's weird, especially since you're moving in right when she's super emotionally vulnerable and dealing with the loss of the love of her life.
3. There is no such thing as too many wizards. You could have a party of nothing but wizards, and that would still not be too many wizards, party balance be darned!
Quayle and Alora get a lot less hate than they used to (yay!). Cernd's class is super underappreciated though there is no fixing his personality.
He should have been named "Wayne Kerr". He reminds me too much of certain theater people I know.
Edit: You know, the kind who are obsessed by some political morality but try to sleep with anything that moves, regardless gender/age/species/consciousness.
Edit: You know, the kind who are obsessed by some political morality but try to sleep with anything that moves, regardless gender/age/species/consciousness.
Wanting to sleep with somebody who is unconscious is plain weird. Unless by sleep you mean sleep.
Speaking about that: Going to the Ulgoth's Beard (and thus acquiring all the nifty stuff from there and the Durlag's Tower) till defeating Davaeorn feels unnatural to me.
Speaking about that: Going to the Ulgoth's Beard (and thus acquiring all the nifty stuff from there and the Durlag's Tower) till defeating Davaeorn feels unnatural to me.
It is not. It is a likely destination for any player who roleplays a character who says "Hey, Sword Cost, your iron shortage problems are not my problems. I'm though enough to get myself some magic weapons that don't break."
Speaking about that: Going to the Ulgoth's Beard (and thus acquiring all the nifty stuff from there and the Durlag's Tower) till defeating Davaeorn feels unnatural to me.
I see what you mean about Ulgoth's Beard, not so much Durlag's Tower. I can't see why there would be nifty stuff at Ulgoth's Beard. However Durlag's is something else altogether. Having been asked to help find the boy, how can you refuse, particularly when you have also heard of the treasures to be found within?
Sure, but I feel it's unnatural to visit the Ulgoth's Beard and thus meet the boy
That's my unpopular opinion.
I don't. Having been attacked by Tarnesh, it is quite natural to run for your life and Northwards is as good a direction as any. I head for Baldur's Gate in order to hide amongst the crowds there only to be stymied by the bridge being closed. Knowing that there could well be further enemies at The FAI (Having been attacked there, I didn't venture inside) I head in the opposite direction.
Taking out huge golems by ducking into small passageways and snipe them from out of reach is the most logical tactic for squishy adventurers (if they have the means to do it).
Comments
You know, by the end of the fight, it wouldn't even be that hard.
I don't like it, so I just don't use it.
It's too damn simple the way I see. Just ignore the icons on the quickslot or spellbook.
* 20 Con
* Doesn't blow off constant conversations on everything
* Classic grumpy greedy dwarf, 100% in character.
* To my memory, he walks slightly faster than other party members despite heavy armor although I've never really understood why. For a fighter this is a virtue.
* "Gold runs the world kid, the faster ya learn that the better life'll treat ya." - True life lesson.
* He isn't evil, he isn't good, and he isn't neutral. He is just him, ya bunch of chums!
SCS style "seek and destroy" AI is more immersion breaking than enemies being stupid and standing around. Fighting against some undead summons without ever seeing the summoner should not then send enemies on a beeline towards the party or the mage, likewise a fireball sent off the screen followed by a quick retreat should leave the enemies moving towards the original caster direction rather than following the mage by, apparently, scent.
Having an AI enter a "wander mode" activated on damage rather than magical radar would better represent searching for an unseen aggressor or patrolling for additional enemies after dealing with initial intruders (and most "natural" enemies should always have this wandering behaviour rather than standing around in formation waiting to be scouted).
SoA, particularly on insane, has far, far too many enemies and it breaks immersion, and isn't particularly more challenging so much as over-rewarding AOE wand spam which is already one of the strongest strategies in BG. There aren't enough graves in the prologue to contain the vast armies CHARNAME blasts through, and quite why there are so many (giant) trolls in a tiny random cave or standing motionless at the side of a road is beyond me.
Trolls are terribly handled at the best of times and should have been treated like Fission slimes instead - fail to hit them with fire or acid within the round they die they produce a new unconscious troll at self rather than waiting for the script to kick in (or not) - or just excluded from the game entirely.
Person specific item restrictions are absurdly arbitrary, and should not exist save where those items are absolutely necessary to emulate specific kit or character traits, or Boo, who is far too wily to be caught. Of the hundreds of magical items you run across through the series, why are only those items belonging to a dozen or so people somehow exempt? Kang'axx presumably didn't plan on his ring being used by some plebian with a Protection from Undead scroll, and Drizzt probably didn't want his scimitars being handled by a bald tattooed monk, so quite why some +1 Katana or slightly modded ring of protection are restrictive when they aren't is ridiculous.
In my opinion Improved Irenicus Tactics/SCS Hybrid from SCSv21 is probably overall the hardest battle in the game. I beat them recently with a party with no lvl 9 spells/HLAs and holy crap I was pulling out my hair trying to protect my party members from his timestop-melee trick during SCS phase - lost four.
Protag was half Orc aVenger's Wizard Slayer and it was so friking awesome to use her shatter magic ability against the Shattered One...
Also his cocky speech is really cool imo, kudos to Weimer 15 years later.
Yoshimo's katana, ugh. I honestly feel like they didn't just give him a regular +1 katana to make sure that players specializing in that weapon would have to work harder to find a magical version, instead of stealing his and leaving him with a normal weapon. Not worth it, IMO.
Also, it already exists in iwd (ee) as a 1st level ranger ability.
Now, after doing that, I decided to experiment a little. My calling card has always sufficed for interrupting his spellcasting, but he always had Protection from Energy up, so it never did great damage. He constantly spams Mislead, which is annoying, but even when I True Sight through it in the past, I couldn't breach him for some reason. I thought he might be Lich-like and immune to spells below level 6, he certainly sees invis like a Lich, so it made sense, but that apparently wasn't quite true, either. No, I cast Pierce Shield at him out of curiosity, and then Breach. Lo, and behold, it worked! I think I know what he was using that whole time: Spell Shield, and so I needed to remove that spell protection before I could successfully breach him. And the same deal let me beat his Slayer form down in Hell a lot quicker than usual. So, in this one case, a spell protection remover is good to have. Hooray for learning!
2. It's really REALLY creepy that Jaheira is romanceable in BG2, sorry Jaheira romance fans. Like seriously, her husband just died, and she spent the whole first game basically being the Team Mom and very much like...surrogate family to CHARNAME. Honestly it feels like you're hitting on your own aunt and it's weird, especially since you're moving in right when she's super emotionally vulnerable and dealing with the loss of the love of her life.
3. There is no such thing as too many wizards. You could have a party of nothing but wizards, and that would still not be too many wizards, party balance be darned!
4. Icewind Dale was better than Baldur's Gate.
Edit: You know, the kind who are obsessed by some political morality but try to sleep with anything that moves, regardless gender/age/species/consciousness.
Speaking about that: Going to the Ulgoth's Beard (and thus acquiring all the nifty stuff from there and the Durlag's Tower) till defeating Davaeorn feels unnatural to me.
That's my unpopular opinion.
That's my unpopular opinion.
I don't. Having been attacked by Tarnesh, it is quite natural to run for your life and Northwards is as good a direction as any. I head for Baldur's Gate in order to hide amongst the crowds there only to be stymied by the bridge being closed. Knowing that there could well be further enemies at The FAI (Having been attacked there, I didn't venture inside) I head in the opposite direction.
I agree. Yours is an unpopular opinion.