Enemies immune to vorpal/instant death effects
Lathspellguest
Member Posts: 60
Hey, folks—
Is there a list of enemies in BG2 and ToB who are immune to vorpal and instant death effects? I assume this includes Irenicus, Bodhi, Amelyssan, and all the Bhaalspawn. Are there others?
Is there a list of enemies in BG2 and ToB who are immune to vorpal and instant death effects? I assume this includes Irenicus, Bodhi, Amelyssan, and all the Bhaalspawn. Are there others?
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Cloak of the Lich as well I believe.
Ah! That item did appear in the search I did but I missed it somehow...
Anyway, I would like to point out that the Kill Target (13) opcode is a bit different from the Slay (55) opcode which is used by most spells. I think there is a lot more stuff immune to Slay than to Kill Target.
Ravager+6 is the terrifying beast of a weapon that offers no save for its brutal vorpal effect. However you get it too late, unless you get lucked out by the item randomiser mod, which I did in my current game.
Yeah, The search I did was for item effects and the majority of those were plot protector items. There are several characters that have the protection from vorpal effect on their character files as well, including most of the named ToB dragons (Saladrex, Draconis)
If I am not mistaken, the green dragon that guards Abazigal's Lair is not immune to Vorpal effect, SoA dragons aren't either, but definitely most ToB dragons are immune to vorpal hit.
The Ravager
Slayer (pocket plane test)
Demilich (Watcher's Keep)
Ice Golem (generic ones)
Saladrex
Shambling Mounds (some of them anyway)
Dolrassa (Dorn's silver dragon)
Ixthezzys (Dorn's silver dragon)
Yaga-Shura
Sendai (the real one)
Abazigal (both forms)
Balthazar
Demogorgon
Amelyssan
Chromatic Demon
Lavok
Irenicus (in Hell and Spellhold)
Bodhi
Kangaxx the Lich (not Kangaxx the Demilich though)
Lassal (Mook encounter only)
Azothet*
Ur-gothoz*
Garfunkle*
Threadsoft*
Vernus*
Xachrimos*
Korkorran*
Phreya*
Szass Tam
Vicross*
Alorgoth
Yxtrazzal*
Githyanki Captain (When they ambush you with Saemon)
Empathic Manifestation
Chinchilla (only in chinchilla form)
Xei Win Toh
As you can see, the only SoA enemies that have this immunity have it for plot reasons.
"He took his vorpal sword in hand"
"The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head"
It has been adopted by D&D to refer to weapons that decapitate an enemy, causing immediate death rather than simply exhausting the enemy's hit points. The weapons that have this property in game include the Planetar's weapon "Silver Sword", code "PLANETAR".
Black blade of disaster has a disintegrate on hit effect, which is also insta-death but in a different way and different enemies are immune to it. It also allows a save vs. death to avoid. Most vorpal hits, including Planetar weapons and Silver Sword +3 have a save (with -2 penalty so it is harder to resist), but most noticably, Ravager +6 halberd is vorpal without a saving throw, making it a surprisingly lethal weapon. (If your party warrior with Ravager+6 is confused/charmed and attacks your party, it is very dangerous! %10 chance of perma-death per each hit!) Also, some (if not all) vorpal effects chunk the character, making them impossible to ressurect.
Halberds are well represented trough all bg2.
Other common opcodes which can kill instantly are disintegration, petrification, and power word: kill. (PW has its own opcode to facilitate the HP check.) You can also technically die instantly from indirect opcodes if you crank the effects high enough (e.g. damage or level drain) or if you configure them in a certain way (e.g. polymorphs).
Most of the creatures list in Tresset's list get their immunity through one of the plot armor items, which generally protect against all forms of death. Disintegration protection is a little more rare though.
I consider Underdark 'late game' in any case. You're right about the others, but there are many more swords to choose from.
Of course, if you're looking to equip a companion ... there's not a single companion in BG2 that prefers halberds to two-handed swords. Three companions (Minsc, Keldorn, Dorn) start specialized in two-handed swords, and none of the SoA companions has even a single point of halberd proficiency.
That last part is the issue. Except for paladins I rarely play a martial class, mainly because there are excellent warrior NPCs (Keldorn, Minsc, Korgan, Mazzy, Anomen etc), while there are arguably less good casters. Edwin and Aerie of course, but Imoen is available too late, Nalia is a second rate Imoen and Jan... Well, he's not bad, but I can roll a better one if I want.
Since my char is a paladin when not arcane caster, I go for Firkraag as fast as I can. And when you've got Carsomyr, you're usually good for the rest of SoA.
for the 2 rangers to put a couple of pips in halberds is a viable choice, +6 dmg against dragons and +1 str, that stacks with str enhancing or setting items, are really useful.
the harmonium halberd is a better weapon then lilacor, when the protection from mind effects from lilacor is not needed, and can be obtained as soon as the party has money to buy it.
for a charname with 18 str to use that weapon is to have a +7 dmg bonus instead of the +2 his natural str grants. or if charname uses the gauntlets for 18.50 str having less then 18 natural str, not all the players roll for user stats, it is going to +7 from +3.
harmonium and gauntlets, so jaheira or some other can use the 19 str belt, then dragon breath and finally ravager is a perfectly viable option for a charname and a not dw valigar, that can use the katana to stab or a 2h weapon depending on the situation. for minsc, given his str, the damage gain from the halbert is not so high, but if someone is tired to have him every time with the 2h sword he is not less powerful with halberds.
by the way both valigar and minsc are much better if dual welding, but as 2h weapon alternatives or when they reach GWW halberd is not a bad choice for them.
probably less strong then 2h sword and halberds, but viable weapons.
if you play with tactics mod or items upgrade mod they are crazy strong, as you can upgrade impaler, for a +1 apr and returning ranged use with items upgrade and you loot from the red badge component of tactics a returning spear that is +5, has the +1 apr and a chance to stun the enemy, even if it lacks the bonus damage of the impaler.
in both the weapons, like it happens for the vanilla returning daggers, the +1 apr is working also mlee, but as a spear can not be dw why someone would go mlee with them? ranged you don't have to relocate and can focus on every enemy that needs to be take down fast in an instant, and this can be even more useful then doing damage protected by a meat shield, an enemy pass your defenses and approach your casters? take him down from the point you are instead of try to run after him. You use them mlee only if an enemy reach you, as equipping a ranged weapon against a mlee fighter hitting at you has some penalty.