Drizzt The Mage

Sikorsky

I just put my Swashbuckler to fight with Drizzt. I was suprised that he can cast spells. I finish BGEE twice and never seen that. First he saw me even when I hide in shadows. Second he casted on himself some buff priset spells and then he casted charm on me, and when I drink speed poison he answer with dispel magic and turn off the effect. WTF?! Beat this guy right now is hard as f**k. For my 5 lvl swash is impossible.

YupImMadBro

Do you have any mods installed?

Sikorsky

UB, latest beta version. You think it can be it?

lunar

Did you have a 'realistic Drizzt component' installed?
Drizzt is a high lvl ranger and high lvl rangers can cast some druid spells.

Sikorsky

There is such a component in UB?! Never heard of it... I just install with all components.

Yamcha

not according to this
http://mods.pocketplane.net/readmes/BG1UB-Readme.html

show your weidu.log file

Sikorsky

// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~BGEE_PL/BGEE_PL.TP2~ #0 #0 // Pliki dzwiekowe z polskiego wydania BG1 dla BG:EE: v1.2
~BGEE_PL/BGEE_PL.TP2~ #0 #1 // Filmiki z polskiego wydania BG1 dla BG:EE: v1.2
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #0 // Przywrocenie drugiego poziomu Lodowej Wyspy: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #1 // Tajemniczy flakonik: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #4 // Mozliwosc ukonczenia zadania Kagaina: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #5 // Coran i wiwerny: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #6 // Kivan i Tazok: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #7 // Branwen i Tranzig: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #10 // Umieszczenie Entara Srebrnej Tarczy w jego domu: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #11 // Scar i corka Sashenstarow: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #12 // Kaplan Quoningar: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #13 // Shilo Chen i Ogrzy-Mag: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #14 // Edie, kandydatka do Ligii Kupieckiej: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #16 // Poprawki istot: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #17 // Przywrocenie istot: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #18 // Przywrocenie imion istotom: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #19 // Przywrocenie pomniejszych dialogow: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #21 // Poprawki i przywrocenia dla sklepow, tawern i karczm: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #22 // Przywrocenie i poprawki przedmiotow: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #28 // Prism i Szmaragdy: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #29 // Ksiaze Eltan w Budynku kapitanatu: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #30 // Spotkanie z Nimem Furlwingiem: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #32 // Svlast, the Fallen Paladin Encounter: v14.0_beta_151227
~BG1UB/SETUP-BG1UB.TP2~ #6 #33 // Mal-Kalen, the Ulcaster Ghost: v14.0_beta_151227

RobertMcDuck

I have a totally clean version of the game, and yes he can cast spells. He is a ranger as mentioned above, and he can cast spell at higher levels.

Michail

Yes. A ranger can cast spells. I' d be intrigued if he could cast a non ranger spell. It would mean they messed with his spells to make him more difficult. But then again, according to the novels he was also trained for a short time in the basics of arcane magic in Menzoberanzan, and actually seemed to like it. But he never followed through and became a scout instead.

Chnapy

He definitey can cast dispel mgic in my (unmoded) game too. Never noticed any other but then again I don't kill him very often. His gear isn't really appealing to me I guess. Save for twinkle, but who the hell plays good?

Sikorsky

I start new game unmodded and you're right. He can cast spells. He cas dispel magic, healing on himself, and some other. But I beat him. There is something that makes him kill the gnolls first, and he only kill gnolls that are in CHARNAME sight. When he killed the gnolls that surrond him he just stand still and do nothing so I finish him with my sword. It;s a bug I think.

Yamcha

Did he cast spells in the original BG1 too ? Never noticed that behavior with the Baldurs Gate Trilogy

Sikorsky

I have killed him like milion times in original BG1 and Trilogy. He never ever cas single spell. And he never see me when I'm Hideing in shadows or invincible too.

lunar

In the novels Drizzt can cast levitate, and darkness orbs. Most drows can do so, they don't need to be learned wizards for that, that's innate abilities for them, taught in their childhood. BG vanilla game does not give drows such abilities.

Also, according to lore, drows have magic resistance and those innate abilities as they live in the underdark. Once they leave and start to live on the surface they gradually lose their specials like magic resistance and those abilities. So, Viconia and Drizzt's high mr is an anomaly.

sarevok57

here is what is going down; in the vanilla bg, all Drizzt could do is attack, no spells no see through invisibility, but when EE came out everyone and their dog was exploiting him out to get his sweet gear, so the devs ramped him up good, they gave him his ranger spells and they made it so he can see through invisibility, so using invisibility on him wont protect you from him, but they also fixed his weapons so now his thac0 is -4 and -2, instead of like -9 or -16 like it was in vanilla, although he can still be taken down at level 1, which I usually do

Sikorsky

sarevok57 said:

here is what is going down; in the vanilla bg, all Drizzt could do is attack, no spells no see through invisibility, but when EE came out everyone and their dog was exploiting him out to get his sweet gear, so the devs ramped him up good, they gave him his ranger spells and they made it so he can see through invisibility, so using invisibility on him wont protect you from him, but they also fixed his weapons so now his thac0 is -4 and -2, instead of like -9 or -16 like it was in vanilla, although he can still be taken down at level 1, which I usually do

What is your strategy then? I'm just courius, I beat him but it was a bug. How can you take him down on level 1?

Gotural

I think using 7 traps at level 1 thanks to a lot of resting still work.

Sikorsky

That's strategy for thief. What about other classes? Any chances?

Yamcha

Kite him, and shoot him with a bow. Pray for crits.

Aside from cheesy tactics that mostly involve canon fodder (summoning staff) he's unbeatable in a fair fight.

Test it yourself, make a fighter. Equip him with the best stuff baldurs gate 1 has to offer and fight him.
If you lose, reload, cheat some exp for a level up and fight him again. At what level could you actually beat him ? (you have to uncap the experience to succeed !)

Gotural

If you have the Poison Weapon ability he's easy to beat in a fair fight, other classes can do it aswell.

sarevok57

Yamcha said:

Kite him, and shoot him with a bow. Pray for crits.

Aside from cheesy tactics that mostly involve canon fodder (summoning staff) he's unbeatable in a fair fight.

Test it yourself, make a fighter. Equip him with the best stuff baldurs gate 1 has to offer and fight him.
If you lose, reload, cheat some exp for a level up and fight him again. At what level could you actually beat him ? (you have to uncap the experience to succeed !)

actually, he is much easier in a fair fight now adays than he was in the vanilla bg, and in the vanilla bg I could take him down with a level 7 team

so if you want to take him down in a fair fight, here is what you need to know about him

AC vs missile/piercing: -16
AC vs slashing: -18
AC vs crushing: -14

thac0: -4 x3.5
off hand: -2

HP: around 102 or so

30 % damage resistance
98 % magic resistance
save vs death: 1
save vs spell: 5

so based on that, there are some concerns here:

- first magic is a no-no, I have seen spells work on him, but in all seriousness, its not realiable
- his AC is the major killer here, so if you can using some blunt weaponry really really helps,
- his thac0 is not as crazy as it was in vanilla ( it was anywhere from -9 to -16 in vanilla) so now he can actually miss
- and another thing, his damage is WAY less now than it was in vanilla, so surviving a fews rounds now is quite plausible

so if you want to take him down fairly this is what you need to do:

you are going to need some items:

full plate mail
golden girdle

those 2 items give a -7 penalty to hit for enemies with slashing weapons, you are definitely going to need as much edge as possible so he doesn't hit you

potion of cloud/storm giant strength
potion of heroism/ power

now I just use potion of cloud giant str and potion of heroism because I like to save the other ones for the final battle, but if you want as much edge as possible then by all means either combo will work, you need to make your to hit as good as possible, with cloud giant str, your to hit is +5, and potion of heroism gives your a +2 to hit, with being level 7 you will have 14 thac0

so lets say your are a level 7 ranger with the scimitar +2 with 2 pips in scimitar and you chug those two potions your thac0 would be:

base 14: -5 from cloud giant str potion
current 9: -2 from potion of heroism
current 7: -2 from scimitar +2
current 5: -1 from proficiency
current 4

now 4 isn't quite enough, but there is more to help out:

current 4: -1 from helm of balduran
current 3: -1 from weapons of specialization
current 2

now with thac0 2 with a slashing weapon were are going to need exactly 20 to hit him, so to give some extra edge, you will need to cast improved invisibility on your ranger, and now his effective thac0 will be -2, which means now you only need a 16 to hit him

( now granted this is just an example of how to get your thac0 low, a figher cleric for example using a +2 crushing weapon with all this sweet gear plus draw upon holy might and improved invis, would have an effective thac0 of -4 which means you could hit drizzt with a 10)

so here is what you do:

first you are going to designate someone that drizzt is going to be fighting against and that someone is going to wear as much AC lowering gear as possible with full plate being the armor and the golden girdle being the belt and make sure this guy have improved invisibility on him at all times, and defensive harmony also works wonders as well

next you can either tank this guy with the good potions or have all your melee guys drink down some potions, but just be careful that drizzt doesn't turn his attention to them, and remember, drizzt's AC is very low especially depending on the weapons you use on him, so if your other melee guys cant hit him even with the potions I would just focus on the tank in this battle

2nd, if you have an archer typle character on your team ( coran, kivan, perhaps your guy) give that character bracers of archery, longbow +2 ( from the bandit camp) arrows of piercing, potion of heroism, and potions of mind focusing until your dex hits 24, with all that, your thac0 should be well into negative territory and then you can have a guy rip it up from long range ( this really helps especially if your tank still cant hit him)

and of coarse you will want haste in battle, that extra attack per round comes really in handy, and make sure to keep up with the improved invisibilities and defensive harmonies, if drizzt cant hit you, that's longer battle time,

also, giving your tank a potion or 2 of mind focusing can bump up your dex to 24 as well giving you a little bit more AC, and especially with the drizzt battle, the more AC the better because he can still dish out damage quickly with his 4.5 attacks per round

so with those above tactics, you should be able to take him out with a level 7 team without exploits or the such, the irony is; when drizzt and sarevok go toe to toe, sarevok always wins, so in retrospect he isn't that much harder than sarevok ( the main killer of drizzt is just that crazy AC he has)

- and in case you are wondering how sarevok always wins against drizzt one on one, I have tested it out; I would summon in drizzt defends and have him go against sarevok and you realize that they both can't miss each other but sarevok does more damage and has more HP, so basically whatever strategy you use to take down sarevok, use it against drizzt and you will probably come out victorious -

JuliusBorisov

sarevok57: the number of Drizzt kills: 585 and counting

sarevok57

bengoshi said:

sarevok57: the number of Drizzt kills: 585 and counting

maybe more like 1200 or so and counting haha :P

Yamcha

@sarevok57 do you have Sarevoks BG1 stats handy too ?

You just delivered the answer why Drizzt doesn't want to get involved in the Iron Crisis. He has no business in the north as he says (prob. plowing Catti Brie). He's just afraid of Sarevok !

sarevok57

Yamcha said:

@sarevok57 do you have Sarevoks BG1 stats handy too ?

let me think here:

- HP: 135
- AC: -5
- Thac0: -9
- he deals 17-26 damage on core rules ( I've seen him deal a 100 damage critical hit on insane - poor mage- )
- Saves: all 1
- 90% resistance to all elemental damage
- 50% missile resistance
- 3 attacks per round