Combat tactics and strategies?
Hi all,
I was wondering about what tactics/strategies everyone uses during BG. It's always interesting to learn what others are doing and go, "hey, why didn't I think of that?"
For me, I have a few key strategies I use against enemies.
Archers - my party has four archers, so when I see enemies I just start blasting away until they reach my front line. I try to have my two tanks fight with melee weapons while my elf fighter and thief continue to blast away with arrows. This is probably a common strategy among gamers.
Choke Points - These are great. Find a narrow area where there is only room for one or two of your PCs (doorways are great for this, or outside natural narrow places). Have them block here, keeping the rest of the party safely behind them. This way, your two front liners only have to fight one or two creatures at a time. This works well when you have a large mob coming after you. While the foes are blocked battling your tanks, your archers or other PCs with missile weapons can blast away, while the front liners take care of the rest.
Flanking - I like to engage a foe with one character, then flank with the others. I will have another PC come up behind the foe, and if there are any more available PCs, they will flank from the sides. I don't think this gives any bonuses, but I have noticed that the foe usually stays focused on his first PC, so the others on the sides and/or back can chop away with impunity.
Doors - I have used this trick in BG1, BG2, and Icewind Dale, so I can't recall if it works in BG1. When faced with many enemies, I will have all my PCs wait in a room, while one PC stands off to the side right near the door. If you time it right, and the monsters are spread out a little, you can let a few of them in and then have your PC shut the door, thus blocking all the other monsters. They are unable to open doors. I think Siege of Dragonspear changed this though, because I tried this on that game and the monsters just opened the doors up.
With this tactic, you can take on the foes a few at a time instead of all at once.
Magic - Grease, grease, grease. This spell is so underrated! I love to use this to keep enemies at bay so I can pepper them with missile weapons while they plod along. Grease combined with Stinking Cloud and Web will usually render most if not all the foes incapacitated. Then a nice Fireball or two mops up the resistance. Bless and Doom are also good buffs. Animate Dead and the Monster Summoning spells come in handy when you need a little more muscle.
Withdrawing - This is probably a no brainer, but if my party is in a bad spot, I will have them retreat. I use Boots of Speed on all my PCs, so they can usually outrun their foes. This helps them reposition themselves, get healing, or use missile weapons.
Fighting spellcasters - This is probably a no-brainer, but I pick out spellcasters right away and start blasting them with missile weapons or spells to disrupt their casting. My cleric will use Hold Person and Silence 15' Radius to try to immobilize the spellcasters. Sometimes a straightforward charge works wonders as well. The spellcaster may get a spell or two off, but then has to contend with some beefy tanks right in his or her face.
Spread out - This works well when you are facing an enemy spellcaster. Have your characters spread out as far as they can, so they won't all get nailed by an area effect or a fireball.
Scouting - I usually send my thief and one of my tanks to scout ahead, the thief using his Find Traps ability. This way if you run into something, you will have an idea of what you're facing without your entire party blundering into some huge fight. The scouts can race back to the party and you'll have a little extra time to prepare.
Taking out missile weapons - When faced with foes where some have melee and some have missile weapons, take out the ones with missile weapons first. Otherwise while you're in melee, you're getting blasted with arrows or whatnot.
Some of these might be "duh!" tactics, but I just wanted to share my tactics and see what others are doing!
I was wondering about what tactics/strategies everyone uses during BG. It's always interesting to learn what others are doing and go, "hey, why didn't I think of that?"
For me, I have a few key strategies I use against enemies.
Archers - my party has four archers, so when I see enemies I just start blasting away until they reach my front line. I try to have my two tanks fight with melee weapons while my elf fighter and thief continue to blast away with arrows. This is probably a common strategy among gamers.
Choke Points - These are great. Find a narrow area where there is only room for one or two of your PCs (doorways are great for this, or outside natural narrow places). Have them block here, keeping the rest of the party safely behind them. This way, your two front liners only have to fight one or two creatures at a time. This works well when you have a large mob coming after you. While the foes are blocked battling your tanks, your archers or other PCs with missile weapons can blast away, while the front liners take care of the rest.
Flanking - I like to engage a foe with one character, then flank with the others. I will have another PC come up behind the foe, and if there are any more available PCs, they will flank from the sides. I don't think this gives any bonuses, but I have noticed that the foe usually stays focused on his first PC, so the others on the sides and/or back can chop away with impunity.
Doors - I have used this trick in BG1, BG2, and Icewind Dale, so I can't recall if it works in BG1. When faced with many enemies, I will have all my PCs wait in a room, while one PC stands off to the side right near the door. If you time it right, and the monsters are spread out a little, you can let a few of them in and then have your PC shut the door, thus blocking all the other monsters. They are unable to open doors. I think Siege of Dragonspear changed this though, because I tried this on that game and the monsters just opened the doors up.
With this tactic, you can take on the foes a few at a time instead of all at once.
Magic - Grease, grease, grease. This spell is so underrated! I love to use this to keep enemies at bay so I can pepper them with missile weapons while they plod along. Grease combined with Stinking Cloud and Web will usually render most if not all the foes incapacitated. Then a nice Fireball or two mops up the resistance. Bless and Doom are also good buffs. Animate Dead and the Monster Summoning spells come in handy when you need a little more muscle.
Withdrawing - This is probably a no brainer, but if my party is in a bad spot, I will have them retreat. I use Boots of Speed on all my PCs, so they can usually outrun their foes. This helps them reposition themselves, get healing, or use missile weapons.
Fighting spellcasters - This is probably a no-brainer, but I pick out spellcasters right away and start blasting them with missile weapons or spells to disrupt their casting. My cleric will use Hold Person and Silence 15' Radius to try to immobilize the spellcasters. Sometimes a straightforward charge works wonders as well. The spellcaster may get a spell or two off, but then has to contend with some beefy tanks right in his or her face.
Spread out - This works well when you are facing an enemy spellcaster. Have your characters spread out as far as they can, so they won't all get nailed by an area effect or a fireball.
Scouting - I usually send my thief and one of my tanks to scout ahead, the thief using his Find Traps ability. This way if you run into something, you will have an idea of what you're facing without your entire party blundering into some huge fight. The scouts can race back to the party and you'll have a little extra time to prepare.
Taking out missile weapons - When faced with foes where some have melee and some have missile weapons, take out the ones with missile weapons first. Otherwise while you're in melee, you're getting blasted with arrows or whatnot.
Some of these might be "duh!" tactics, but I just wanted to share my tactics and see what others are doing!
5
Comments
This works especially well combined with the Choke Point option. You can have one or two tanks slashing away while they're being healed from behind, so they remain strong enough to prevail!
It actually takes time to think of new tactics. I spend more time in Near Infinity looking at game files and running numbers in Excel than playing the game. I start with something that looks weird and then try to figure out how to exploit it. A good example would be Fire Seeds: when I realized that on-hit effects would apply to area-effect weapons like Fire Seeds, flashers, Arrows of Detonation, and the Scorcher Ammunition and Frag Grenades--and therefore would bypass weapon immunities and spell protections, due to how projectiles work--I asked myself what the best on-hit effects would be, and the answer was Poison Weapon and Wizard Slayer spell failure. That was the whole basis of my Fire Seed run in the "Maybe this time" no-reload thread, one of the easiest playthroughs I've ever had of BG2. I also tend to focus on spells and items that don't require much investment (Fire Seeds are available very early in BG2).
Or, there's one thing I call the PWWP strategy, or Provoke, Withdraw, Weaken, and Pounce. Enemy spellcasters don't have the AI to set priorities, so you can bait a mage into wasting its best spells by approaching it with well-buffed characters or cheap, disposable summons and then repeatedly retreating. The enemy will activate its stronger defenses and throw out its stronger attacks first, but the enemy can't make much use of them if you're always on the retreat, refusing to engage them. All the while, you use those rounds to strengthen your defenses and finally pounce on the enemy when it is weak and drained.
You can also neutralize enemy archers by rushing them with a melee character, forcing them to switch to a melee weapon to avoid suffering penalties for using a ranged weapon at close range. It's the inverse of the common "kiting" strategy, in which you continually run from a melee-oriented enemy, turning around just long enough to hit it with a ranged weapon.
Archers (especially the class) are over-the-top powerful in BG1 and stay strong throughout the series. Having an eighteen strength and a composite longbow just wreaks things in BG1!
Tactical retreat (kiting)
Not only will it get a wounded character out of harms way but, if done properly, it keeps the pursuer(s) aggro'd on the PC in retreat, giving other characters a free hit or two as the enemy walks by.
Boots and belts
Whether you're out 'clubbing' or trying to avoid getting clubbed, the whiffs just keep on rolling when equipped with these wonderful fashion accessories!
Pièce de résistance
95% of BG1 can be handled with sleep and/or animate dead [drops mic].
In the same vein, Invisible thief with maxed out detect illusion, armed with a Dagger of Venom is also very deadly to mages who prebuff (I don't think any Mage uses Stoneskin in BG1, so Mirror Image is usually their only defense against backstabs). I have done this with my 19 Str (from potion) Fighter/Thief Charname. What did you say about my feeble skills again Davaeorn?
Often the biggest priority for me is to get 1 character with super low AC. Ankheg plate, gauntlets of dexterity, +1 large shield and a ring of protection will give any character -6 AC which will protect any character from almost any enemy in the early game.
A common strategy that I use is to pay for a few points of reputation at a temple and then get the rest of the points via quests to get to 20 rep as quickly as possible (or 18 for an evil party) and then buy lots of nice gear with the sweet discount. Then I get up to the bandit camp and find an innocent to kill (Drizzt makes a good target) to drop down to 10 to gain Horror on level ups and keep my rep low until I finish Cloakwood (for 2*Horror) before boosting it up again in the later chapters (for cheap deals in BG and 2*DUHM).
Once in combat, you can't change your armour, but you can interchange other things between characters: Girdles, Boots, etc.
There are a few things it's easy to identify about your opponent. One of this things is which of your characters they're attacking (it tells you in the dialogue box - although it's normally the closest of your characters to the opponent anyway); another is the weapon they're carrying (it's visible, and unlike armour easy to identify).
If you're being attacked by a character with a B. sword for example, you know you're going to face a slashing attack. Therefore, when combat begins, why not make sure your attacked character is wearing the Golden Girdle (-3 AC vs. slashing) rather than, for example, the Girdle of Bluntness (-4 AC vs. blunt weapons). And, if they're not wearing the right girdle pause the game and shift them around. -3 or -4 AC is a big deal.
To handle one of the weirder weapons... if you're going to clear out the Gnoll Stronghold, for example, you'll see they all have Halberds. Halberds uniquely do slashing or piercing damage, whichever it's easiest to hit with. Therefore, if you have a fighter who's wearing Plate Mail (0 AC against slashing and 3 AC against piercing), put the Girdle of Piercing (giving a straight 0 AC) to remove the armours weakness against Halberds. Again, -3 AC is quite a big deal.
Fighters' guard ability is underrated. Keeps them from chasing fleeing enemies, establishes an intelligent formation to prevent spreading your party thin, and lets your archers have a few free shots before enemies can engage.
for me, im very lazy when i play, i play no mods and on insane difficulty and i mostly can just sit back ( because regardless of team composition i power game them, even if it's not possible heh ) and the scripts i made are godly good for what i need them to do, but here is how i run my games:
first party composition, my favourite formation is the tighter "default" one, where it has all 6 party members in a tight zig zag sort of speak, helps getting through those tight maze like areas
next is the order of character types, which are as follows:
3 melee'ers of some sort
1 cleric type using a sling
1 thief type using a bow
1 mage type using a sling/throwing dagger
next is armor class, i always try and make it so my 3 melee chums have as even an AC as possible, if all 3 of my melee chaps have 18 DEX then ACs look as follows:
BG1 - 3 melee chars will have -9 each
SoA - 3 melee chars will have around -12/-13 each
ToB - 3 melee chars will have around -15/-16 each
so when it comes to battle i will have my 3 melee guys go out into the fray without a worry or care ( unless they are a monk/swashbuckler or bard ) and then i will have my other chumettes ( usually ) in the back firing spells and missile weapons
when it comes to the ranged cleric type the spell set i have is as follows:
1st level:
command x all slots
( cure light wounds x2 ONLY in bg1 )
2nd level:
slow poison x2
hold person x the rest of the slots
3rd level:
holy smite x all slots
4th level:
protection from evil 10' radius x1 ( sometimes x2 if the script is working right )
lesser restoration x2
defensive harmony x2
mental domination x the rest of the slots
5th level:
true seeing x1
( mass cure x the rest of the slots in SoA only )
greater command/flame strike share the rest of the slots ( ToB )
6th level:
heal x all slots
7th level:
finger of death all slots ( pre quest spells )
mass resurrection all slots ( after obtaining spell )
so for me, clerics are good disablers and healing comes second, once spells are warn down, then sling bullets start a flyin'
for my thief types, i never backstab, except only in one area ever ( there are 2 duegers in irenicus' dungeon standing on the want traps, so every time i get to this part i always have my thief use stealth to get the wands, ring of pro +1 and just for the lulz i backstab the one dude just for kicks ) other than that i NEVER use backstab, when it comes to traps the only time i use thief traps is: killing off all the cowled wizards in athkatla usually once i hit level 11, and for one of the seal fights in watchers keep - the one that summons the succubus and beholder and marileth and all that crap - oh and actually, i use them 2 other times: the shade/elemental lich for kangaxx's quest, other than that i never use traps else where, so other than that, just shot arrows until baddies die ( quite effective with a level 11 swash/fighter 12+ )
when it comes to the wizerd harry, these are the spells i have set:
Level 1:
magic missile/blindness share the rest of the slots ( with maybe 1 or 2 identifies in BG1 only )
Level 2:
glitterdust/melf's acid arrow share the rest of the slots
Level 3:
haste x1
flame arrow/slow share the rest of the slots
Level 4:
stoneskin x2
emotion hopelessness takes up the rest of the slots
level 5:
breach x1 ( SoA only )
hold monster takes up the rest of the slots
level 6:
chain lightning takes up the rest of the slots
level 7:
mass invisibility x1
finger of death takes up the rest of the slots
( or power word stun if n/a for FoD )
level 8:
abi-dalzim's horrid wilting take up the rest of the slots unless:
n/a for ADHW then symbol stun if melee guys have good saves if not then;
bigby's level 8 spell fist takes up the rest of the slots
level 9:
comet for all slots
now with these spells and the scripts i made, the AI is pretty damn good at casting these things off, and helps make my play throughs very lazy like, although every once in a while i will have to take a guy out and micro manage a little bit, but not much, i HATE games where i have to tediously micromanage hence the reason why i dont play games with blades and class make ups of that calibre, seriously, the time a blade hits candlekeep dungeon in chapter 6 of bg1 im facing off mellisan in ToB in chapter 10 with a half-orc berserker in the same real life time frame ( slight exaggeration but you get my point )
there are only 5 times i will ever use poitions 2 in bg1, 1 in SoA, 2 in ToB
1- the fight with the demon dude in ulgoth's beard, while battling him, my melee chums each will drink: potion of cloud giant str, potion of heroism and potion of invulnerability x2
2 - the final fight with sarevok, potions drunk: potion of storm giant str/power on all the warriors, potion of shielding on all 6 team mates
3 - in the drow city for the lerz, i pick pocket a bunch of potions from the potion dude and when it comes time to swap the eggs and finish off all the extra quest stuff i have my 3 melee chaps drink: potion of mind focusing/invulnerabilty/magic protection/regeneration/storm giant str/magic shielding makes fighting those jellies to the south and the house of ja'lanth or whatever it is a little easier and for the lulz
4 - for the demogorgon fight i have the 3 melee chums drink: potion of absorbtion ( so then he can ACTUALLY miss ) potion of storm giant str, potion of magic shielding and potion of magic protection
5 - and then lastly, potions of superior healing, i use these if my cleric cant get to a holmes in time, but other than these circumstances all potions get sold
the only time i ever use wands is in bg1 and there are only 2 wands i use: fireballs and paralyzation, and where i use them:
fireballs - the bassilus fight, with all those skellies, pew pew some fireballs and watch them all burn, next will be in durlags tower where all those skellies are in the stinking cloud plat forms with all those arrows, peace out skellies taking those arrows, the fight right before sarevok, the fight on the top floor of the iron throne building the first time, and the chess match in durlag's tower; cast protection from fire on the 3 melee guys then huck fireballs like mad, works like a charm, the only other time would be if i get waken up by the x10 low income baddies or if i find a whole group of low income baddies coming towards me
paralyzation - as far as i know i only use these in durlag's tower to get extra suits of full plate mail, every once in a while i might use it on a "boss" type baddies but usually it's only used on the dopplegangers of durlag, if you can kill those guys they drop a nifty suit of full plate mail, i've had excursions where my whole team was full plated up and i still had an extra 4 or 5 suits leaving that dungeon, simply top notch
so other than that, i play pretty lazy and power game like, for bg1 i always have to play gold piece runs or else i just get bored ( don't know why my brain is wired that way but i will go with it ) and i have some rules on how this run is done:
- cannot on purposely farm baddies for money
- cannot reload game before certain baddies for better treasure ( intentionally )
- when it comes to the ankheg area i am only allowed to carry as many shells as my team can carry, after that i can never sell any more shells from that area
- the only time i am allowed to reload the game for "treasure" is the x5 ogre mage house in bg the city, but that is only for getting a scroll of invisibility 10' radius ( if i dont have it by now ) and i must accept the first result of finding that scroll, if i dont need the scroll then i have to put up with whatever the first visit gets me
- now using intentional exploits to make absurd money ( aka the *theoretically* infinite rings of wizardry exploit )
- to help get my best totals i never buy anything except for ammuntion outside of candlekeep, every other item i find i will use instead, although the only items i will ever buy are as follows with 20 CHA/REP : claw of kazgaroth ( robes of the magi IF the other ones found aren't enough ) arrows/bullets +2, potion of power, potion of (magic?) shielding x3/ x1, cloak of displacement
- the only items i steal from stores are: potion of (magic?) shielding x1, girdle of bluntness
with these in mind i can usually hit around 650 000/660 000+ GP in a bg1 run
BG2:
as for SoA i try and do things in the best XP order as possible for maximum unexploited* XP as possible
(* the only XP exploit i do is the spell scroll rewrite when i find scrolls, but i never intentionally rewrite scrolls from stores ) so quest wise the order in which i do things:
wauken's promenade:
-circus tent
-hooligans in the inn
-do all the vampire rest spawns and get that crap out of the way
-pick pocket EVERYONE in this area for goodies
slums:
-battle x2 dudes outside copper cohornet
-battle x1 dude in fighter pit
-free hendak quest in copper cohornet
-finish hendak and the slaves quest in copper cohornet
-rob jan's house for the lulz
government district:
-save vicnoia
-talk to kid that gives you the immesvale quest
-talk to jan
-pick pocket EVERYONE in this area for more goodies
graveyard:
-finish the bear quest
-help dude with lestor
-rob all tombs, get red cloth for bridge quest
-go down into the crypt and loot and plunder
bridge district:
-rob house that has the horn of valhalla
-go into house that has hostile baddies and steal their sweet trapped/locked spoils in back of room
-go into saerk's house (via stairs up top) plunder and pillage
-finish skinners quest
-finish red cloth quest the evil way
docks district:
-finish xzar's harper quest
-make jaheira join team ( regardless of team composition ) to get ring of wizardry/buddy inside that one inn quest for the lulz, then boot her out ( if im not using her )
temple district:
-go into the sewers and clean them out all good like
-go to the slave lord compound and plunder and pillage that area
-finish the ryan trawl quest
docks district:
-start/finish renal bloodscalp quest
-bring 15000 GP back to gaeylen bayle and start chapter 3
-do the aran linvail quests
-finish all aran linvail quest ( tell the holmes that i'll be back )
bridge district:
-start/finish the planar prison quest
-tell haer'dalis to go pound sand politely
wauken's promenade:
-kill off all the cowled wizards
-pick pocket scroll of limited wish from lady bleh blah in adventurer's mart and start the "go on an adventure like i've never done before" quest
city gates:
-get trademeet on the map
-kill lich inside inn
-make all 4 areas accessible from gates
trademeet:
-get all the guards killed by the animals for the lulz
-talk to logan get quest
-talk to genies and ask about the rakshasa
-kill shadow thief for mits of missile snaring
-embarrass wildfred for 1000 GP/XP
-go to grove
-finish gong quest
-finish grove quest
-come back to trademeet and kill all 3 genies
-save town
-help holmes with the skinner quest
-help logan with the feuding families quest
-get bullets from neeber
bridge district:
go to the inn were gong holmes is to finish quest and whack holmes when he walks out for the lulz
d'arnise hold:
-start/finish quest
-if fighter charname, accept keep and forever forget that i own it
temple district:
-start/finish cult of unseeying eye quest
-start illithium mission
-fail sarles by using the substitute, make mace of greater disruption
-finish off the other temple quest
-kill 2nd lich in bridge district
-buy scroll of magic protection and then lol all over kangaxx with mace of greater disruption, grab ring of gaxx when done
immesvale:
-kill rabbit upon arrival
-watch scene in town
-finish off the *monsters?* in town quest for shield of the lost+2
-finish off quest with the mimic, and then whack holmes just before he leaves for a sweet 4k GP
-go to cabin get shade temple on map
-go to shade temple talk to werewolf lady
-finish shade temple quest
-come back to immesvale and whack that moose chillin right there and valygar ( if not on team ) and his buds for items and such
-get reward from mayor
windspear hills:
-kill *monsters*
-do stuff inside the house start firkraag quest
-grab star sapphire from crack inside big rock outside
-give the dryads their acorns and them whack 'em all for potions and a dagger+2
-finish firkraag quest
temple district:
-use key from tazok's body to enter secret sewer area to get hammer of thunderbolts
-go to bridge district next and use rogue stone ( preferrably one stolen from gorch ) to finish twisted rune
-go to select houses through athakatla and get caught stealing and keep reloading untill the big group shows up and wipe the floor of their filth ( same goes for the red cloth quest building )
slums district:
-use valygar to enter sphere
-finish planar sphere quest
now at this point in chapter 3 my guys should all be around 2 million XP each, and it's onward to chapter 4
Spellhold:
-kill calahan for the lulz
-kill holmes with the whacky necklace for the lulz
-kill 20000 XP mage dude for the lerz
-finish the galvery(?) quest with delicious violence
-ask golin on how to get into spellhold
-rob deshirek and talk to him and get into spell hold
part 2:
-rob asylum for that rogue stone and sweet gold
-talk to holmes that gives you x5 random jewelry and keep reloading untill he gives at least 1 rogue stone
-start crap with irenicus
part 3:
-finish spellhold dungeon
part 4:
-help saemon with his problem after going back into spell hold for another rogue stone and a stone golem fight
sahuagin city:
-help prince holmes betray king ( unless i have a monk on the team, then turn prince into mince meat )
-complete cloak of protection +2 riddle
-go into underdark
chapter 5:
-kill x10 elementals on each portal
-use gate to summon vithal
-kill drow in front of sphere trap thing and all baddies in the sphere
-finish vithal quest and whack him when complete
-go to kuatoa dungeon and clean house
-go to beholder dungeon and mop it up of it's filth
-go to illithid lair and rinse lather repeat
-finish deep gnome quest and go to adalon
drow city:
-finish first task and get phaere
-finish aboleth quest with more delicious violence
-go to the inn and fight the drow in drow pit, win all battles
-go to the other fighting pit with the monsters, will all battles
-finish beholder quest at spell jammer ship
-do deep quest killing all the gnerms for their sweetski darts of stunning
-do the solufain killing quest by keeping him alive and tell him to go hide
-get laid if not in romance
-go to the temple and give matron the needed blood
-start the checklist of chaos:
-kill off weirdos by spell jammer ship
-kill lich holmes
-kill the family of holmes and holmettes ja'vel...? don't remember their names
-swap eggs and betray matron and phaere ( get slammed )
-finish off underdark
chapter 6:
-finish nonsense with elhan
-leave area
-get waylaid by angry drizzt ( lol ) and fight 'im and take all the cool goodies if jaheira or keldorn isn't on the team
-wait for night time and come back to underdark exit and fight baddies at exit for longsword+2 x3 and elven chainmail+1 x3
-finish off new forest areas, by killing all baddies and grabbin all goodies
-go to adventurers mart sell all goodies, make all weapons with cromwell then steal from him, make him hostile and make sure big group of cowled dudes and dudettes come by
-go to graveyard and clean shop, finish graveyard quest
-on purposely get waylaid by enemies to have that weird fight with... rakshasas perhaps?
chapter 7:
-kill off all baddies
-collect all pieces and put them on altar
-kill one of the "spirit" dudes lose 10 REP and get a sweet cloak of displacement
-go to the undercity or whatever it's called, and take out irenicus
Hell:
unless i am a paladin ( where i do all the trials the good way, laaaaame ) this is usually what i will do:
top left - kill sarevok out of wrath of that sweet +2 STR
bottom left - kill that genie for that sweetski +15 max HP
bottom - watch one of my team mates die in which i easily resurrect for a +2 permanent AC bonus
bottom right - take cloak and then cast remove fear ( friggin lol? ) go grab tear, then mess up them beholders
top right - question pride and don't fight the dragon for some sweeski elemental resistances
at this point in the game im usually around 3.6-6.8 million XP per character ( last playthrough i was around 3.8 million each )
and then yeah, import over to ToB do all the quest and all that jazz, any spells that im missing at this point in the game i just pick pocket them from the holmes and learn them all
and when i finish the last bhaal spawn challenge i will usually be around 7 million XP per character, and then i will just grind at yaga-shura's enclave until i hit that 8 million mark and never play that file again heh
wowzers, i started this around 11:30 pm and now its 12:30 am, oops a little longer than anticipated heh
I generally rarely move the main party group far from the starting point on the map until the map has been fully explored and all hostiles have been kited to the main group, if they even make it that far before being cut down by arrows or possibly backstabs when weakened and alone. I'll then move the group around, talk to non-hostiles, do quest actions, or move to another area, or whatever.
If anything does make it to the main group, they're all using ranged weapons to start with, even mages. If anything still makes it to melee, then it goes to conventional hacking and slashing.
This results in my protagonist getting 95%+ of the kills and combat exp.
In areas where I suspect or know of traps, I'll have him lead, with some Thief (Imoen most likely) detecting, and inch the pair of them up in a staggered formation. If he sees a monster detected, he pulls it back. If the searching thief finds a trap, he edges up to the trap and makes sure there's no hostiles lurking before the trap Thief disarms it.
The most recent example of this I can think of is Nashkel mine, where there's traps on bridges, with kobolds just across the way. My Ranger would generally 1-shot the kobolds when positioned such that I would only "wake" one at a time, and when clear I'd have Imoen disarm the traps. Like my above, stay at the edge of sight, as soon as the mage starts casting, duck out of range and hide. Caster wastes the spell.
but realistically i either:
a. go after the disablers first before they can get off their whacky spells
b. if i have berserkers in the party then gg
c. i focus on keeping my saving throws good and even them out with my 3 melee nitz guys
d. im pretty darn quick on the draw when it comes to spell casting and usually i can get my disablers off before they can, hence stopping them from getting me
e. sometimes disabling spells land, but usually it's only on the one holmes up front, still have 2 melee'ers left, and by that time all of my disabling spells have been fired off and the baddies are stuck in place while i wave my willy at them and making funny faces
f. in SoA, once i get mass invisibility, its over, with that spell plus the items i use, my top 3 guys will have their save vs spell/death at 0 or lower, hence they won't be failing any save
e. when fighting things like the most despicable illithid i will either use mass invisibility and if i dont have that, then use invisible stalkers ( which are the most powerful summon against mind flayers ) and if i dont have that spell then i will resort down to the skellies
g. or have 3 dwarves/gnerms as the melee chums and gg as well
h. if fight is going awry from enemy disablers, press the mystical "L" key on the keyboard