possible bug or just possible ass kicking
Mrpenfold666
Member Posts: 428
ok either im just bad / unlucky or this is a bug that is CRIPPLING my party and my wallet.
poison seems to be doing damage every half second to the point where khalid (who has 52 HP at this point) died from half health before branwen could get over to him and cast slow poison. im fighting wyverns and im losing three to four people per encounter and every time its khalid, jaheria, branwen and imoen just getting decimated, AND when branwen is poisoned she can't cure herself because the poison damage iterrupts her casting.
is this a bug or is poison supposed to be this deadly? i don't recall poison causing this high a death count, in both the EE and the OG im literally having to sell al my magical items in order to travel to the FAI to raise everyone, i've spent WEEKS going to and from the cloakwood to the friendly arm in becasue everytime i fight wyverns or ettercaps 2 people die to poison so i have to trek ALL THE WAY BACK raise everyone, travel BACK to cloakwood, get ambushed by ettercaps or wyverns, lose three people. its a never ending cycle of death and spending gold
poison seems to be doing damage every half second to the point where khalid (who has 52 HP at this point) died from half health before branwen could get over to him and cast slow poison. im fighting wyverns and im losing three to four people per encounter and every time its khalid, jaheria, branwen and imoen just getting decimated, AND when branwen is poisoned she can't cure herself because the poison damage iterrupts her casting.
is this a bug or is poison supposed to be this deadly? i don't recall poison causing this high a death count, in both the EE and the OG im literally having to sell al my magical items in order to travel to the FAI to raise everyone, i've spent WEEKS going to and from the cloakwood to the friendly arm in becasue everytime i fight wyverns or ettercaps 2 people die to poison so i have to trek ALL THE WAY BACK raise everyone, travel BACK to cloakwood, get ambushed by ettercaps or wyverns, lose three people. its a never ending cycle of death and spending gold
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But basically, bravely running away was the big lesson for me, usually straight up avoids potential web traps that may be lurking on the screen.
Other options include:
- the potions of health (purple ones) heal 10 and cure poison for a reasonable price.
- summon monsters, either by spell or by wand
- tank with priest behind, followed by arrows
- web + entangle + arrows, grease optional
and there is your Problem , your character is Getting hit..
Armor Class or for short AC does not lower the damage your guys get , it just Determent a Simple "does that attack hit yes/no" having a Bunch of guys with an AC of around -2ish is a Bunch of Dead guys.
so it makes no difference if your character wears plate or a Robe all you want is the lowest Possible AC on a single character on which the enemy's will miss their attacks while the rest pelts them with arrows stones and what else they can throw at them.
Since i already know that you have Khalid and Jaheria i would go with stacking up Khalid since he cant do much aside standing around and bashing faces.
From there travel to the Gnoll fortress across the bridge are 2 dudes dropping Bracer of Dexterity 18
get yourself a ring/necklace of protection (+1AC)
get yourself a Medium or Large shield +1 or Better
if you did not Kill the belt Ogre do it now, or don't be afraid to kill that Halfling who took back the Belt with 3 AC against Piercing/Missile
Naked AC 10
Ahnkeg Plate down to AC 1
Dexterity Bracers AC -3
Ring/necklace (you can only wear one) AC-4
Magic Shield AC-6
Magic Belt against Slashing Piercing ( wyvern and spiders count as Piercing) AC-9
Priest LvL 4 Spell Protection from Evil 10' Radius (most enemy's are evil) -11
the difference between AC -11 and something like AC-2 is a World in between .. like being hit every 10th or less attack or being hit every second..like i already said , chose a "Tank" and stack the best gear on him/her.
you also have to Know how enemy Aggression works , its very simple , they will attack the first thing they See and hunt it until some other thing Hits them very Hard, or they pass bye for some reason at another guy and the first keeps making distance.
so a Easy tactic bringing down enemy's is Arming your Tank with the Best AC letting him walk upfront and equipping the rest of your party with ranged weapons , just pelting away on a focus target while the tank runs around in circles, should one of your Not Designated front liners get the attention of a Nasty melee combatant just run away and kite or you land face down very fast.
i hope that helps you out.
PS: since you fighting in cloakwood , remember there are "WEB" traps , stunning your guys inside the web fields they summon , a stunned character is a Free hit, and a quite dead character.
Hold animals - if you have it works. Use summons if you have them to adsorb some of the damage. Use web or other AoE spells to stop them from engaging in melee if possible. And use cure poison potions enough for each party member with at least one dose.
Buff your front line fighters with buff spells (bless, chant) to lower their AC and get better hits. If you don't have good buff spells then potions will work as well - e.g. giant strength potions, agility potions, potion of defense all work quite well.
What is the composition of your team? What tactics are you using for the battle?
Why is Imoen doing melee battle? - have her hang back and shoot arrows at it. Actually besides two front liners have everyone hang back and use missile weapons and spells - if you are desperate you can fire the lightning wand at them as well.
i didn't think hold monster would work, would charm animal work? hopefully maybe charm a wyvern or an ettercap, as i had xan charm someone at the bandit camp and let him wreck the whole place before killing him myself.
i had loads of healing potions but in my stupidity i left 4 characters inventories on the floor where they died and trekked all the way back, when i returned there was nothing left all their +1 shields are gone
Sounds like it's set very high, as even Wyvern poison shouldn't be killing Khalid in the time it takes to walk 10 feet and cast a spell.
I'm not 100% sure, but since playing above "core rules" means enemies do 50% or even 100% more damage, I suspect that includes poison as well.
If you above "core rules" for setting, try dropping it down to "core rules" and see if the poison is acting just as fast.
Just a thought.
I Play on "Hard" (always have) which is one notch above "core rules" and I've never had spiders, ettercaps, or Wyverns kill a party member as fast as the OP is describing.
edit - those green and purple bottles are still key though, bring lots!
m2c
One thought is Fireballs [or Wands of Fire] even though they may damage some of your party. Much less of a problem than fast-acting Wyvern Poison as it is easily healed. Ignore the spiders at first. Agnazzar's Scorcher is great in this encounter. A first spell for Branwen/Viconia might be Pro Fire/Cold [2nd level Spell, casting time:5] on Khalid which provides 50% protection ~ even before Animate Dead. Remember also that you should have a Potion of Firebreath and Oil of Fiery Burning from the Bandit Camp.
For me the key is to eliminate the Wyvern on the left immediately and then the Ettercap. Picking up a Wand of the Heavens from Ulgoth's Beard can help. Then Wand of Monster Summoning to cover your exit once the first Wyvern is defunct.
If I can dispatch one of the Wyverns and the Ettercap without taking too much damage then there is a possibility of standing my ground and picking up some good loot. But I totally agree that an NPC death from that particular ambush somewhere @Cloakwood 3-4 is a real pisser and in such a case I don't hesitate to Reload the AutoSave. One important point is to ensure access to your best gear, such as Arrows+2, Arrows of Biting, before exiting the previous map.... ~Cheers!
Items needed: cure poison potions; wands of fire and monster summoning - lightning if you like a gamble; potion of str and defense potion; potions of explosion or necklace of missiles (optional but helpful).
Use summons - Brawnen should be able to do 3 skeleton warriors at this time assuming level 6 - or use wands to summon them if you have them. Actually if you have skeletal warriors along with wand of monster summoning - a group of them should be enough with out having to have anyone else engage in melee or the use of fireballs in the next step.
Use fire wands - fireball - drag the wyverns out of their cave with a decoy and have summons occupy them as you use multiple fireballs on them - fireballs from wands, potions, items or spells - 2 or 3 fireballs explosions end the battle quite quickly.
Buff - buff your main fighters as much as possible and engage after the fireballs hit - this should allow you to win the battle with ease. Have everyone else not doing anything to fire missile weapons.
If you are ambushed by them a group of ettencaps - you can run assuming that they haven't surrounded you or engage - if you decide to fight: use your best fighter along with sleep and MM along with missile weapons focused on one ettencap - and go through each one individually. If you are really unlucky and get a group of both ettencaps and wyverns then run for it.
Looking at your party you are lacking a bit in melee power - only Khalid and half of Jaheria - if you have the equipment Jaheria works well as a front liner but if you have no magical equipment - dex gloves - potions of str - because you lost it all - then you are in a bit of a small pinch - requiring you to buff using spells.
With Jaheria in the group in cloakwood - there should have been some interesting encounters with the shadow druids in the area - you should have meet them already - do you have their equipment or was it part of things you no longer have?
For example, do you have the Wand of Paralyzation, an uber-solution for many of BG's more challenging moments?? It can be obtained in one of the 3 Coastal maps. Recommended!