SCS Kahrk is by far the most difficult encounter for me in all of BG1. These days I usually just buy the ogre mage killing arrow and take the easy path. He is a beast!
I also found the four wizards on the top floor of the magic shop in BG town quite fun. They use wands of fire very generously, so if you aren't prebuffed with PfF, you are roasted...Literally. But Kahrk is a beast even with prebuffing.
Actually, I think it is not as bad as this. I think DD's AC can be -14 (with ring of protection +2 and shield).
I was assuming a "chapter 2" resource restriction - nothing from the plot past the Nashkel mines, nothing from the dungeon part of Durlag's Tower. But you're right, I forgot the shield. So it's a slashing AC of -13 (+1 shield), rather than -15 (+1 shield, +2 protection item, +1 helmet) or even -17 (Pellan's shield, +2 protection ring, +1 helmet, Cloak of Balduran). Not that there's any point in going past -16.
With the 16.5 damage per hit (12-21, not 11-21), reduced to 7.9 after resistance, that 2-point AC improvement reduces the damage rate from 22.1 per round to 15.8 per round. If you come at this after picking up the good stuff from chapter 5, you could get it all the way down to Kahrk needing a critical 19, and that's a damage rate of 6.3 per round. Healing potions can fully keep up with that.
I think you can get +2 AC from the large shield +1, but maybe this doesn't stack with ring. In any case, this makes me want to pause my current party avenger run and roll a DD for the sole purpose of defeating this bitch one-on-one without having to run away like a chicken to wait for his buffs to wear off. That and solo clearing the bandit camp in one go with improved chapter 3 end battle and better class for help...
EDIT: I see that +1 shield is already accounted for in -13 AC, so that seems about as good as you can get in chapter 2.
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I also found the four wizards on the top floor of the magic shop in BG town quite fun. They use wands of fire very generously, so if you aren't prebuffed with PfF, you are roasted...Literally. But Kahrk is a beast even with prebuffing.
I was assuming a "chapter 2" resource restriction - nothing from the plot past the Nashkel mines, nothing from the dungeon part of Durlag's Tower. But you're right, I forgot the shield. So it's a slashing AC of -13 (+1 shield), rather than -15 (+1 shield, +2 protection item, +1 helmet) or even -17 (Pellan's shield, +2 protection ring, +1 helmet, Cloak of Balduran). Not that there's any point in going past -16.
With the 16.5 damage per hit (12-21, not 11-21), reduced to 7.9 after resistance, that 2-point AC improvement reduces the damage rate from 22.1 per round to 15.8 per round. If you come at this after picking up the good stuff from chapter 5, you could get it all the way down to Kahrk needing a critical 19, and that's a damage rate of 6.3 per round. Healing potions can fully keep up with that.
EDIT: I see that +1 shield is already accounted for in -13 AC, so that seems about as good as you can get in chapter 2.